September 2005 – Greta Garbo
September 2005 – Greta Garbo
Thursday September 1 – On the Job (Tall Buildings Low Morals)
6:00 AM The Time Machine (1960) – a sci fi classic which won the Best Effects Special Effects Oscar I actually think the film suffers in the final third with Yvette Mimieux. Rod Taylor plays H.G. Wells in his often copied or adapted story about time travel.
12:30 PM Light In The Piazza (1962)
8:00 PM Executive Suite (1954)
1:45 AM Baby Face (1933) – Directed by Alfred Green this Darryl F. Zanuck (G Men (1935)) story features Barbara Stanwyck in the title role that of a woman whose father effectively trained her to sleep her way to the top floor by floor of a corporation. George Brent Margaret Lindsay John Wayne and Nat Pendleton (uncredited) also appear. This film was added to the National Film Registry in 2005.
3:00 AM The Wheeler Dealers (1963) – only average; read my full review!
Friday September 2 – College Days
9:00 AM A Star Is Born (1937)
1:00 PM The Little Foxes (1941)
4:30 PM Saboteur (1942)
6:30 PM And One Was Beautiful (1940) – O.K. for a B movie; read my full review!
10:00 PM The Nutty Professor (1963) – pretty good Jerry Lewis comedy later remade with Eddi Murphy also featuring Stella Stevens. Added to the National Film Registry in 2004.
2:00 AM Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) – highly rated India film I’ve not seen.
Saturday September 3 – Directed by John Ford
2:00 PM Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) – one of the best horror movie spoofs featuring this famous duo in one of their best comedies. The "boys" play shipping company employees charged with handling the delivery of Dracula (Bela Lugosi) & Frankenstein’s monster (Glenn Strange) artifacts to Frank Ferguson’s museum. Abbott is upset that Costello has a beautiful girlfriend (Lénore Aubert) who only really wants the dim-wit’s brain – she and Dracula have a plan to restore the monster. The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.) warns the duo but has problems of his own given the full moon. An attractive insurance investigator (Jane Randolph) and a duped professor (Charles Bradstreet) also figure in the story as does Vincent Price (uncredited) the voice of the Invisible Man. Added to the National Film Registry in 2001.
5:00 PM Out of Africa (1985) – only listed because it’s an Academy Award winning Best Picture; otherwise skip it!
8:00 PM Mogambo (1953) – this week’s TCM Essential and an all new capsule review!
1:30 AM The Long Voyage Home (1940) – Directed by John Ford this drama gives one a sense of the kind of men who work(ed?) on ships at sea edited together from four Eugene O’Neill plays earning Dudley Nichols a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. The film was nominated for Best Picture; its Special Effects Editing Score and Gregg Toland’s Cinematography also received nominations. The recognizable cast includes: John Wayne Thomas Mitchell Ian Hunter Barry Fitzgerald John Qualen Ward Bond Arthur Shields and J.M. Kerrigan.
3:30 AM The Informer (1935) – Excellent drama about a man who informs on a wanted (by the law) friend for money. Victor McLaglen in the title role won an Oscar (Best Actor) as did director John Ford screenplay writer Dudley Nichols and Max Steiner (Score). The film (Best Picture) and its Editing were also nominated. Preston Foster Margot Grahame Wallace Ford Una O’Connor J.M. Kerrigan Joe Sawyer and Donald Meek among others also appear.
Sunday September 4 – 100th Birthday of Michael Powell
6:00 AM The Tragedy of Othello The Moor of Venice (1952) – though highly thought of I couldn’t stay awake watching this Cannes Film Festival winner from Orson Welles.
8:00 AM Mildred Pierce (1945)
10:00 AM That’s Entertainment! (1974) – an outstanding review of MGM’s best Musicals featuring many of its stars as narrators for the countless clips shown; followed by two sequels.
12:30 PM The Palm Beach Story (1942)
4:00 PM Ivanhoe (1952) – Directed by Richard Thorpe and based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel of the same name this average romantic drama is set during the same time as the more famous Robin Hood story from which it borrows many of the same elements. Scott’s titled character is played by Robert Taylor a knight conflicted by a love triangle involving his childhood sweetheart (played by a very blonde Joan Fontaine) and a beautiful Jewish girl he’s only just met (played by Elizabeth Taylor!). All the while Ivanhoe must fight Sir Brian (George Sanders) who’s allied with the evil Prince John (Guy Rolfe) that wants to take the absent King Richard’s (Norman Wooland) throne. Naturally Ivanhoe finds himself fighting with the woodsman Locksley (Harold Warrender) as he tries to find and free Richard from where he’s been remotely imprisoned. Finlay Currie plays Ivanhoe’s stern and initially disapproving father Felix Aylmer plays Taylor’s; Sebastian Cabot also appears. The film was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar as was its Color Cinematography (brilliant!) and Score.
6:00 PM Mogambo (1953) – repeat of this week’s TCM Essential!
8:00 PM The Edge of the World (1937) – a TCM premiere!
9:15 PM Return to the Edge of the World (1937) – a TCM premiere of this 23 minute documentary!
9:45 PM The Thief of Bagdad (1940) – a TCM premiere of this four star film I’ve not seen!
1:15 AM Straight Place and Show (1938) – pretty awful; read my all new full review!
2:30 AM Horse Feathers (1932) – very funny Marx Brothers film in which Groucho as the newly appointed president of a college tries to improve the school’s reputation by trying to build a winning football team. Naturally Chico Harpo and Zeppo (playing Groucho’s son) assist while Thelma Todd & David Landau work at cross purposes; Nat Pendleton appears as a football recruit that’s also a hindrance for the brothers. #65 on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list.
3:45 AM Animal Crackers (1930) – the Marx Brothers find themselves involved in a stolen painting farce. Groucho plays a famous hunter invited to be a houseguest by Margaret Dumont; Chico’s his assistant Harpo’s a professor (!) and Zeppo appears as well. Otherwise there is almost no plot or purpose other than to feature Groucho’s monologues (including #53 on AFI’s Top 100 Movie Quotes list "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I don’t know.") Chico’s piano playing and Harpo’s harp talents as he chases a blonde around the premises or the brothers’ other antics. Lilian Roth plays Dumont’s daughter.
Monday September 5 – 24-Hour Tribute to the Telluride Film Festival
7:45 AM I Walked With A Zombie (1943) – I’ve been a little confused as to why this Jacques Tourneur directed film is considered a horror classic. Frances Dee stars as a nurse assigned to help a comatose patient (Christine Gordon) the wife of Tom Conway’s character who’s mysteriously drawn to a purveyor of voodoo. James Ellison plays Conway’s half brother; Edith Barrett plays his mother; James Bell plays the clueless doctor. It’s not a bad film or anything I just didn’t think it was anything special.
9:00 AM The Narrow Margin (1952) – A relatively short film yet highly regarded. A gangster’s former moll (Marie Windsor) asks for protection which the police provide during her train journey to police headquarters where she’ll be expected to give testimony against her former lover. The cop (Charles McGraw) assigned to escort her is not so friendly and is perhaps even a little resentful at first but must do his job against the odds. Directed by Richard Fleischer (Design for Death (1947)) it was nominated for a Best Writing Motion Picture Story Oscar.
12:00 PM The Magnificent Seven (1960)
2:15 PM 3:10 To Yuma (1957)
4:00 PM Touch Of Evil (1958)
6:00 PM Sunset Blvd. (1950)
8:00 PM Funny Face (1957) – Fred Astaire plays a much older photographer than Audrey Hepburn’s character but that doesn’t keep a romance between them from blossoming when Astaire’s character "discovers" Hepburn’s making her a famous model the world over. Directed by Stanley Donen this average musical features several George & Ira Gershwin tunes as well as one of Kay Thompson’s three on-screen roles. It received four secondary Academy Award nominations for: Art Direction-Set Decoration Cinematography (Ray June’s last of three unrewarded) one of Edith Head’s many & Hubert de Givenchy’s only for Costume Design and Leonard Gershe’s only for his Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.
10:00 PM Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
1:45 AM Metropolis (1927) – Fritz Lang’s acclaimed silent!
Tuesday September 6 – Greta Garbo TCM’s Star of the Month
6:00 AM Imitation Of Life (1934)
8:00 AM Wuthering Heights (1939)
9:45 AM The Great Lie (1941)
11:45 AM In a Lonely Place (1950)
1:30 PM Romance On The High Seas (1948) – pretty entertaining fluff; an all new full review!
3:30 PM Imitation Of Life (1959) – though vastly inferior to the 1934 version with Claudette Colbert & Louise Beavers this film is still probably worth your time. This one stars Lana Turner and Juanita Moore’s Oscar nominated performance. Susan Kohner who plays Moore’s daughter was also nominated; syrupy Sandra Dee plays Turner’s. John Gavin Robert Alda and Troy Donahue also appear in this Douglas Sirk directed soap opera.
5:45 PM The Loved One (1965) – Directed by Tony Richardson (Tom Jones (1963)) with a screenplay co-written by Terry Southern (Dr. Strangelove (1964)) this above average black comedy stars Robert Morse Jonathan Winters and Rod Steiger among many others. Morse plays an Englishman who ends up in Hollywood and eventually finds himself competing with a mortuary run by Winters’s character. Steiger plays a truly memorable Mr. Joyboy who maintains a really bizarre home life living with his mom (Ayllene Gibbons). Morse’s and Steiger’s characters compete for the affections of one of Winters’s employees played by Anjanette Comer. Dana Andrews Milton Berle James Coburn John Gielgud Tab Hunter Margaret Leighton Liberace Roddy McDowell Robert Morley Barbara Nichols Alan Napier Paul Williams and Jamie Farr (uncredited) appear among others.
8:00 PM & 11:30 PM Greta Garbo Documentary (2005) – a TCM premiere!
9:30 PM Flesh And The Devil (1926) – essential silent film; read my full review!
2:45 AM The Temptress (1926) – pretty good silent; read my full review!
Wednesday September 7 – Elia Kazan’s Birthday
8:00 AM Torrent (1926) – O.K. silent; read my full review!
8:00 PM Baby Doll (1956)
11:30 PM On The Waterfront (1954)
1:30 AM Splendor In The Grass (1961)
Thursday September 8 – On the Job (Going into Labor)
8:00 AM Cry Terror! (1958) – better than average until the final third; read my full review!
1:45 PM Lolita (1962)
4:30 PM The Night Of The Iguana (1964) – a cult classic!
8:00 PM Salt Of The Earth (1954) – a formerly blacklisted film that was added to the National Film Registry in 1992.
10:00 PM The Valley Of Decision (1945) – pretty good film with outstanding cast; read my full review!
12:15 AM Black Fury (1935) – the third of Paul Muni’s six Best Actor Oscar nominated performances and one I’m looking forward to seeing.
Friday September 9 – Starring Gary Cooper
8:30 AM Dangerous Female (1931) aka The Maltese Falcon (1931) – very good in its own right; read my full comparative review!
8:00 PM Sergeant York (1941)
10:30 PM Along Came Jones (1945) – perhaps I didn’t get the joke. This is supposed to be a comedy Western (a spoof of the genre); it comes off as badly as Howard Hughes’s drama The Outlaw (1943) which is unintentionally funny and hence awful. This one isn’t funny at all and instead comes off like a terrible drama. What a waste of Gary Cooper Loretta Young and William Demarest! Dan Duryea also appears.
12:15 AM The Fountainhead (1949) – what does one say about such an unusual film? Ayn Rand’s novel about individualism vs. collectivism is perhaps too complex for Hollywood to produce yet First National & Warner Bros. did try. Unfortunately the material is not well adapted which could be in part because its actors didn’t understand or subscribe to Rand’s advanced views … or director King Vidor wasn’t sure what to make of it either. In any case the result is a film filled with actors even terrific ones like Gary Cooper (playing an independent architect no less) Patricia Neal (a really strange character) and Raymond Massey (a newspaper tycoon who suddenly develops a conscience) saying lines without the appropriate emphasis or feeling. In fact it’s this absence of credible feeling that marks their performances. Kent Smith (as a talent-less architect who gives the people what they want) and especially Robert Douglas as "the villain" (a power hungry man without scruples) provide perhaps the most believable characters in this complex drama. Ray Collins Moroni Olsen and Jerome Cowan also appear.
2:15 AM Titanic (1943) – a TCM premiere!
3:45 AM The Last Voyage (1960) – Co-produced (with his wife?) directed and written by Andrew Stone (Julie (1956)) this average drama details the sinking of a cruise ship 12 years before The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and the rash of disaster films released in the early 70’s. It earned a Best Effects Special Effects Oscar in part because it used a real (retired) ship as the backdrop to the story. Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone play the married couple with a child that are the center of the story around which the sinking revolves. Of course the decisions its Captain (George Sanders) makes throughout are integral as well. Edmond O’Brien plays the ship’s engineer who questions the "retiring" Captain’s every decision; Woody Strode plays a strong crewman who helps the couple.
Saturday September 10 – Directed by Vincente Minnelli
6:00 AM Dead End (1937)
8:00 AM Dark Passage (1947) – one of the four great Bogie & Bacall pairings. This film noir has Bogart as a man falsely accused of murdering his wife he escapes and searches for the real killer with help from Bacall and trouble from Agnes Moorehead.
12:00 PM Welcome To Hard Times (1967) – unusual but decent Western; read my full review!
8:00 PM The Band Wagon (1953) – this week’s TCM Essential
10:00 PM An American in Paris (1951)
12:00 AM Gigi (1958)
2:00 AM Brigadoon (1954) – Directed by Vincente Minnelli and written by Alan Jay Lerner (An American in Paris (1951)) this average Musical features Gene Kelly and Van Johnson as "Americans in Scotland" who discover the titled town amongst the heather & in the mists during their hunting trip. They meet the locals and learn their secret (the town appears only once for one day only every 100 years since 1754) after the engaged Kelly falls for a local lass played by Cyd Charisse from the town’s elder (Barry Jones). But there’s more to the secret which along with a love triangle among some supporting characters (Jimmy Thompson Elaine Stewart & Hugh Laing) adds some drama extending this fantasy for more dancing and forgettable Lerner and (Frederick) Loewe songs. The film’s Color Art Direction-Set Decoration Costume Design and Sound received Oscar nominations.
4:00 AM The Pirate (1948) – If you believe in love at first site you might enjoy this average Musical featuring Gene Kelly Judy Garland and Walter Slezak; Gladys Cooper also appears as Garland’s Aunt Inez. Kelly plays an actor who pretends to be a notorious pirate to win orphan dreamer Garland away from her dull fiancé Slezak. The joke’s on Garland though since unbeknownst to her though known to Kelly Slezak actually IS the notorious pirate who’s now hiding out as the mayor of their small town on the Caribbean. Reginald Owen George Zucco and the dancing Nicholas Brothers also appear. The film’s Score which includes Cole Porter songs like "Be a Clown" was nominated for an Academy Award. Directed by Vincente Minnelli with some clever dialogue by screenplay writers Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett.
Sunday September 11 – 100th Birthday of Michael Powell
10:00 AM Follow The Fleet (1936) – one of the more average Fred (Astaire) & Ginger (Rogers) films directed by Mark Sandrich. This one has Randolph Scott as one of Fred’s fellow Navy sailors romancing both Rogers’s sister (Harriet Hilliard) and a wealthy woman without strings (Astrid Allwyn). Meanwhile Fred & Ginger who used to be part of the same dance team can’t decide whether they want to be together or not. Betty Grable Russell Hicks Brooks Benedict and Lucille Ball also appear.
12:00 PM Monkey Business (1952) – Howard Hawks directed this comedy starring Cary Grant as a scientist searching for a fountain of youth formula. Unfortunately the product he doesn’t realize he’s invented and administered makes him act like a child in lieu of changing his physical appearance etc.. Ginger Rogers plays his wife; Marilyn Monroe his boss’s (Charles Coburn) non-typing secretary; Hugh Marlowe a friend of the family. Oh yeah and there’s a chimpanzee too! A little too silly and too late to be classified as a screwball comedy. No relation to the 1931 Marx Brothers movie with the same title.
2:00 PM Alfie (1966)
6:00 PM The Band Wagon (1953) – this week’s TCM Essential is repeated
8:00 PM 49th Parallel (1941)
10:15 PM The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) – a four star TCM premiere!
1:15 AM Flesh And The Devil (1926) – full review!
Monday September 12 – Guest Programmer: Liz Smith
1:30 PM The Story Of Louis Pasteur (1935)
3:00 PM The Life Of Emile Zola (1937)
8:00 PM Tootsie (1982)
10:00 PM The Barkleys Of Broadway (1949) – thanks to Judy Garland’s various problems Fred & Ginger made one more film together 10 years after their last (The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)) and their only in Technicolor earning Cinematography Harry Stradling Sr. his (first for Color) third (of fourteen) Oscar nomination(s). Ironically its story is about a (married) song & dance team that split because the woman (Rogers) feeling overshadowed by her Svengali-like husband (Astaire) wants to become a dramatic actress. Oscar Levant plays their wisecracking "match making" piano playing friend; Billie Burke a philanthropist. Gale Robbins & Jacques François play an understudy & serious play director respectively that provide "jealousy angles" for the couple in this average Musical the highlight of which is a dance featuring a song ("You Can’t Take That Away From Me") from their earlier collaboration Shall We Dance (1937).
12:00 AM Double Indemnity (1944)
2:00 AM Kitty Foyle (1940)
Tuesday September 13 – Greta Garbo TCM’s Star of the Month
6:00 AM The Secret Heart (1946) – average; read my full review!
8:00 AM Midnight (1939)
10:00 AM Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) – compelling drama until the final third; read my full review!
12:00 PM Without Reservations (1946) – so so story about a writer (Claudette Colbert) who writes a novel that becomes the rage. On her way (by train and then car) to Hollywood where her book is to be made into a movie she meets the perfect unknown man (John Wayne) and military officer to be its protagonist. Unfortunately for her without knowing who she is he shares his view that the ideas expressed in the popular book are nonsense. However an unlikely romance develops between the two which leads to many silly interactions. Don DeFore as the Duke’s fellow Marine pal Donna Drake as a sexy Mexican (and Frank Puglia’s daughter) they meet along the way and Louella Parsons as herself are among those who lend their support to this below average romantic comedy. Cary Grant uncredited appears briefly in a Hollywood dance scene. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy.
2:00 PM It Happened One Night (1934)
4:00 PM Imitation Of Life (1934)
6:00 PM Cleopatra (1934)
8:00 PM Anna Christie (1930)
9:45 PM Anna Christie (1931) – German language version of the above film which marked Greta Garbo’s first words on film!
2:15 AM Mata Hari (1931) – though not one of her best this one is still vintage Garbo
Wednesday September 14 – Happy Anniversary!
8:00 PM Blackboard Jungle (1955)
10:00 PM Jaws (1975)
12:15 AM The Pawnbroker (1965)
2:15 AM Raging Bull (1980)
Thursday September 15 – On the Job (Workplace Romance)
4:30 PM Treasure Island (1934) – another pairing of Wallace Beery & Jackie Cooper and perhaps the first sound version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s oft-filmed classic tale; it’s pretty good but not great. Directed by Victor Fleming. Other actors which round out the cast include Lionel Barrymore Otto Kruger Lewis Stone and Nigel Bruce. Beery plays Long John Silver Cooper is Jim Hawkins and Barrymore is Billy Bones; Charles Sale gives the film’s most memorable supporting performance as Ben Gunn.
6:30 PM The Champ (1931)
8:00 PM Desk Set (1957)
10:00 PM Lover Come Back (1961) – Doris Day/Rock Hudson/Tony Randall comedy
12:00 AM The Shop Around The Corner (1940)
1:45 AM The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) – full review!
Friday September 16 – Scores by Ennio Morricone
6:00 AM The Big Sleep (1946)
8:00 AM Key Largo (1948)
10:00 AM Designing Woman (1957) – full review!
12:00 PM Private Screenings: Lauren Bacall (2005) – new this year!
1:00 PM Duel In The Sun (1946) – to see the ending of this film is to see something truly odd & unusual. Gregory Peck and AA Best Actress nominated Jennifer Jones headline an all-star cast including Joseph Cotten Lionel Barrymore Herbert Marshall Lillian Gish (also nominated) Walter Huston Charles Bickford Harry Carey Otto Kruger even Butterfly McQueen. Directed by King Vidor; produced by David O. Selznick.
6:00 PM Destry Rides Again (1939)
8:00 PM My Name Is Nobody (1974) – average comedy Western
10:00 PM Fistful Of Dollars (1964) – the first of several great spaghetti Westerns that director Sergio Leone made with Clint Eastwood. In this one loner Clint injects himself into a feud between two families much like the titled samurai in Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961). His final confrontation scene with rifleman Rojo is unforgettable.
2:00 AM Munchhausen (1943) – a TCM premiere!
4:00 AM Watch On The Rhine (1943)
Saturday September 17 – Starring Jane Greer
8:00 AM Kiss Me Deadly (1955) – Directed by Robert Aldrich this movie adapted from the Mickey Spillane novel features Ralph Meeker as Mike Hammer who picks up a trenchcoat clothed hysterical woman (Cloris Leachman in her film debut) on a lonely highway at night only to find out that she’s an escaped mental patient. After he’s almost killed when some unknown assailants do succeed in murdering her Hammer is questioned by the police. He then decides to unravel the mystery himself which leads to the discovery of a dangerous (e.g. Pandora’s) box and one of the most bizarre movie endings you’ll ever see. Also with Albert Dekker Paul Stewart Juano Hernandez and Maxine Cooper. Added to the National Film Registry in 1999.
1:45 PM Battle Of Britain (1969) – excellent story about England’s aerial fight against the relentless attacks and bombing raids made by Germany during World War II. The feats of bravery and other ways that they hung on against enormous odds to hold their own versus a much superior (in numbers at least) force are incredible. It features virtually all of the best British actors including: Laurence Olivier Michael Caine Michael Redgrave Trevor Howard Ralph Richardson Robert Shaw Edward Fox Harry Andrews Ian McShane Nigel Patrick Kenneth More Susannah York plus Canadian Christopher Plummer and more.
4:00 PM Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8:00 PM Out of the Past (1947) – this week’s TCM Essential
10:00 PM Man Of A Thousand Faces (1957) – Cagney plays Lon Chaney interesting insight into Irving Thalberg (Robert Evans) and his relationship with Chaney (whether it’s a true biographical piece or not;- ) Early scenes of Cagney becoming the "title" are the best I think. Also in the cast are Dorothy Malone Jane Greer Marjorie Rambeau Jim Backus and Jack Albertson.
Sunday September 18 – 100th Birthday of Michael Powell
6:00 AM The Lady Vanishes (1938)
8:00 AM Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1941) – though nominated for 3 Oscars (B&W Cinematography Editing and Score) most agree that this was one of Spencer Tracy’s lesser films – a waste of a good cast which included Ingrid Bergman as the street woman the Hyde character menaces Lana Turner as Dr. Jekyll’s comely fiancée Donald Crisp as Turner’s disapproving father Ian Hunter as Jekyll’s closest friend Barton MacLane and C. Aubrey Smith among others.
12:00 PM To Have And Have Not (1944)
2:00 PM Notorious (1946)
4:00 PM 12 Angry Men (1957)
6:00 PM Out of the Past (1947) – this week’s TCM Essential is repeated
8:00 PM A Matter of Life and Death (1947) aka Stairway to Heaven (1947) – a TCM premiere!
10:00 PM Black Narcissus (1947) – a TCM premiere! Deborah Kerr plays a nun sent to a remote hilltop in the Himalayas to establish a convent on the site of an "ancient" brothel. She is assisted by a local Prince (Sabu) who craves an education and a handsome English government official (David Ferrer) while she struggles against the jealousy of a local beauty (Jean Simmons!) and a straying nun (Kathleen Byron). Breathtaking cinematography and color despite the dull plodding story; won Oscars for its Color Art Direction-Set Decoration and Cinematography. Flora Robson Jenny Laird and Judith Furse also appear.
1:30 AM Bullitt (1968) – great car chase not much else
3:30 AM Point Blank (1967)
Monday September 19 – When in Rome …
9:15 AM Father Of The Bride (1950)
8:00 PM Cleopatra (1963) – a TCM premiere!
12:15 AM The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
3:30 AM Julius Caesar (1953)
Tuesday September 20 – Greta Garbo TCM’s Star of the Month
3:15 PM Dangerous When Wet (1953) – if you like Esther Williams movies read my full review!
8:00 PM Grand Hotel (1932)
10:00 PM Queen Christina (1933)
5:00 AM Greta Garbo Documentary (2005) – an all new TCM documentary!
Wednesday September 21 – Kiss My Grits (Waitress Movies)
7:45 AM Ivanhoe (1952) – Directed by Richard Thorpe and based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel of the same name this average romantic drama is set during the same time as the more famous Robin Hood story from which it borrows many of the same elements. Scott’s titled character is played by Robert Taylor a knight conflicted by a love triangle involving his childhood sweetheart (played by a very blonde Joan Fontaine) and a beautiful Jewish girl he’s only just met (played by Elizabeth Taylor!). All the while Ivanhoe must fight Sir Brian (George Sanders) who’s allied with the evil Prince John (Guy Rolfe) that wants to take the absent King Richard’s (Norman Wooland) throne. Naturally Ivanhoe finds himself fighting with the woodsman Locksley (Harold Warrender) as he tries to find and free Richard from where he’s been remotely imprisoned. Finlay Currie plays Ivanhoe’s stern and initially disapproving father Felix Aylmer plays Taylor’s; Sebastian Cabot also appears. The film was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar as was its Color Cinematography (brilliant!) and Score.
12:15 PM The Time Machine (1960) – a sci fi classic which won the Best Effects Special Effects Oscar I actually think the film suffers in the final third with Yvette Mimieux. Rod Taylor plays H.G. Wells in his often copied or adapted story about time travel.
2:00 PM The Fountainhead (1949) – what does one say about such an unusual film? Ayn Rand’s novel about individualism vs. collectivism is perhaps too complex for Hollywood to produce yet First National & Warner Bros. did try. Unfortunately the material is not well adapted which could be in part because its actors didn’t understand or subscribe to Rand’s advanced views … or director King Vidor wasn’t sure what to make of it either. In any case the result is a film filled with actors even terrific ones like Gary Cooper (playing an independent architect no less) Patricia Neal (a really strange character) and Raymond Massey (a newspaper tycoon who suddenly develops a conscience) saying lines without the appropriate emphasis or feeling. In fact it’s this absence of credible feeling that marks their performances. Kent Smith (as a talent-less architect who gives the people what they want) and especially Robert Douglas as "the villain" (a power hungry man without scruples) provide perhaps the most believable characters in this complex drama. Ray Collins Moroni Olsen and Jerome Cowan also appear.
8:00 PM Never Give A Sucker An Even Break (1941) – a W.C. Fields classic in which the comedian is trying to have a film made featuring himself and his niece singer Gloria Jean. He describes his idea to producer Franklin Pangborn (Mona Barrie plays his wife) who’s really not interested. In the movie within the movie Marx Brothers actress Margaret Dumont appears. Irving Bacon appears as a soda jerk. It ends with a wacky automobile chase complete with a fire engine ladder truck.
9:30 PM The Petrified Forest (1936)
11:00 PM Mildred Pierce (1945)
Thursday September 22 – On the Job (Meeting the Press)
7:30 AM The Secret Fury (1950) – O.K. thriller read my full review!
6:00 PM The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
8:00 PM Libeled Lady (1936)
10:00 PM Roman Holiday (1953)
12:15 AM His Girl Friday (1940)
2:00 AM Meet John Doe (1941)
4:15 AM Five Star Final (1931) – full review!
Friday September 23 – Robert Wise tribute
6:00 AM Citizen Kane (1941) – as editor
8:00 AM The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) – as editor
9:30 AM The Curse of the Cat People (1944) – his directorial debut was a sequel to director Jacques Tourneur’s classic
11:00 AM The Body Snatcher (1945) – director
12:30 PM Born to Kill (1947) – director; I’ll be looking forward to seeing this one for the very first time!
2:30 PM The Set-Up (1949) – director
4:00 PM Executive Suite (1954) – director
6:00 PM Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) – director
8:00 PM West Side Story (1961) – director/producer
10:45 PM Run Silent Run Deep (1958) – director – recently rated the 3rd best submarine film by USAA members (behind Das Boot & The Hunt for Red October) this WW II film provides its two stars Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster a chance to argue. Jack Warden and Don Rickles also appear in this Robert Wise directed film.
12:30 AM The Haunting (1969) – director/producer; the original! This horror classic earned the director a Golden Globe nomination. It stars Julie Harris Clair Bloom Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn among others.
2:30 AM Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) – director/producer – full review!
4:30 AM Blood on the Moon (1948) – director – full review!
Saturday September 24 – Unplanned Pregnancy Night
6:00 AM Arsenic And Old Lace (1944)
8:00 AM Detour (1945) – A cheaply made film noir that’s good enough to have been added to the National Film Registry in 1992.
12:00 PM San Antonio (1945) – O.K. full review!
4:00 PM The Nutty Professor (1963) – pretty good Jerry Lewis comedy later remade with Eddie Murphy also featuring Stella Stevens. Added to the National Film Registry in 2004.
8:00 PM The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944) – this week’s TCM Essential
12:15 AM Alfie (1966)
2:15 AM All Fall Down (1962) – not real good; full review!
4:15 AM The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (1964) – I couldn’t get into this Oscar nominated foreign film but a lot of people really like this Catherine Deneuve film; all the dialogue is sung!
Sunday September 25 – 100th Birthday of Michael Powell
8:00 AM Pat And Mike (1952)
10:00 AM The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) – exuberant; an all new capsule review!
2:00 PM The Court Jester (1956) – beautiful color production – a four star comedy that was added to the National Film Registry in 2004. It’s #98 on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list. Starring Danny Kaye in the title role it also features Glynis Johns as his assistant/love interest Basil Rathbone as his foe and Angela Lansbury as a Princess who falls for him among others.
4:00 PM Funny Face (1957) – Fred Astaire plays a much older photographer than Audrey Hepburn’s character but that doesn’t keep a romance between them from blossoming when Astaire’s character "discovers" Hepburn’s making her a famous model the world over. Directed by Stanley Donen this average musical features several George & Ira Gershwin tunes as well as one of Kay Thompson’s three on-screen roles. It received four secondary Academy Award nominations for: Art Direction-Set Decoration Cinematography (Ray June’s last of three unrewarded) one of Edith Head’s many & Hubert de Givenchy’s only for Costume Design and Leonard Gershe’s only for his Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.
6:00 PM The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944) – this week’s TCM Essential is repeated
8:00 PM The Red Shoes (1948) – an all new essential capsule review!
10:30 PM Peeping Tom (1960) – a TCM premiere!
3:30 AM 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Monday September 26 – Robert Osborne’s Picks
7:45 AM The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) – full review!
9:30 AM Between Two Worlds (1944) – pretty good; full review!
11:30 AM Of Human Bondage (1946) – better than the original? An all new full review!
1:30 PM Lassie Come Home (1943) – a family classic featuring the famous titled collie who returns home against all odds after an incredible journey to her family which includes Donald Crisp Elsa Lanchester and child actor Roddy McDowall. Dame May Whitty Elizabeth Taylor (in only her second film) Edmund Gwenn and Nigel Bruce (to whom with Taylor Lassie had been sold by the impoverished family) also appear. Nominated for a Best Color Cinematography Oscar it was added to the National Film Registry in 1993. Hugo Butler (Edison the Man (1940)) adapted Eric Knight’s novel of the same name.
6:15 PM The Trouble With Harry (1955)
8:00 PM Phantom Lady (1944)
9:30 PM The Prizefighter And The Lady (1933) – average; an all new capsule review!
Tuesday September 27 – Greta Garbo TCM’s Star of the Month
7:45 AM Picture Snatcher (1933) – slightly better than average; an all new capsule review!
11:00 AM The Dawn Patrol (1938)
1:00 PM Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) – above average WW II true story; full review!
3:30 PM Air Force (1943) – above average B movie; full review!
8:00 PM Anna Karenina (1935)
10:00 PM Camille (1936)
12:00 AM Ninotchka (1939)
2:00 AM Greta Garbo Documentary (2005) – an all new TCM biography!
3:30 AM Conquest (1937) – pretty dull; an all new capsule review!
Wednesday September 28 – Directed by William Wyler
12:00 PM Trial (1955) – surprisingly timely; full review!
2:00 PM The Paradine Case (1947)
4:00 PM The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955) – interesting historical biographical drama
6:00 PM 12 Angry Men (1957)
8:00 PM Counsellor at Law (1933) – full review!
9:30 PM The Big Country (1958)
12:30 AM The Westerner (1940)
2:15 AM The Letter (1940)
4:00 AM The Little Foxes (1941)
Thursday September 29 – On the Job (Strong Medicine)
6:00 AM Pride And Prejudice (1940)
11:15 AM Random Harvest (1942)
1:30 PM The Valley Of Decision (1945) – full review!
3:30 PM Mrs. Miniver (1942)
6:00 PM Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939)
8:00 PM Captain Newman M.D. (1964) – full review!
10:15 PM Magnificent Obsession (1954) – one of the early Douglas Sirk soapers has Jane Wyman (Johnny Belinda (1948) who received her last of four Best Actress Oscar nominations) as a woman whose husband’s death (and her subsequent blindness!) was in part caused by a reckless wealthy playboy played by Rock Hudson. That’s the simplest part of this otherwise convoluted ( unbelievable) and almost religious-based story which begins with Hudson’s character wanting to make it up to the older yet attractive widow with whom he falls in love. This remake of the 1935 film by the same name was responsible for launching Hudson’s career as the original had been for Robert Taylor’s. Supporting cast members include Barbara Rush as Wyman’s skeptical daughter Agnes Moorehead as her nurse-friend and Otto Kruger as the purveyor of Wyman’s deceased husband’s do unto others anonymously "religion".
12:15 AM Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940)
2:00 AM Dark Victory (1939)
4:00 AM The Citadel (1938)
Friday September 30 – American Idols
7:30 AM Nothing Sacred (1937) – average screwball
8:45 AM Holiday (1938)
10:30 AM Desk Set (1957)
12:30 PM The Lady Eve (1941)
2:30 PM It Should Happen To You (1954) – full review!
4:00 PM Roman Holiday (1953)
6:00 PM To Catch a Thief (1955)
8:00 PM To Hell And Back (1955) – incredible true story of the most decorated soldier in U.S. history starring the man himself Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy. Pretty good film too a faithful to his own autobiography (which I’ve read).
10:00 PM Knute Rockne All American (1940)
12:00 AM Abe Lincoln In Illinois (1940)
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