December 2004 – James Stewart
December 2004 – James Stewart
Wednesday December 1 – Typical American Families;-)
6:00 AM Nosferatu (1922) – one of the scariest films ever made (even though it’s over 80 years old!) featuring Max Schreck’s unforgettable performance.
7:30 AM Metropolis (1927) – Fritz Lang’s acclaimed silent!
9:45 AM The Birds (1963)
3:15 PM King Kong (1933)
5:00 PM The Thing From Another World (1951)
10:00 PM Arsenic And Old Lace (1944)
12:15 AM Psycho (1960)
2:15 AM You Can’t Take It With You (1938)
4:30 AM A Thousand Clowns (1965)
Thursday December 2 – Peter Sellers
6:15 PM Escape (1940) – this is actually a very good film with Robert Taylor as an American who is trying to free his mother from a concentration camp with the help of a German officer’s (Conrad Veidt) mistress played by Norma Shearer. Albert Bassermann and Bonita Granville also appear. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy.
8:00 PM The Pink Panther (1964) – this first film with Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau is a comedy classic by director Blake Edwards. With David Niven Robert Wagner and Capucine (before Madonna I guess;- ) it features the great theme music by Henry Mancini as well as introducing the famous "Pink Panther" cartoon even though the film’s title actually refers to a famous diamond.
10:00 PM Lolita (1962)
4:45 AM Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1963)
Friday December 3 – John Ford/John Wayne
9:00 AM Pride Of The Marines (1945) – An Oscar nominated story about a Marine that was blinded and tries to adjust to his life after his injury. John Garfield gives a compelling performance; Eleanor Parker plays his girl.
2:15 PM Desperate Journey (1942) – which also stars Ronald Reagan Alan Hale and Arthur Kennedy (among others) vs. Raymond Massey and the Germans. Very entertaining especially the "double speak" routine by Reagan!
8:00 PM Rio Grande (1950) – better than average Western by director John Ford with John Wayne as a post-Civil War cavalry commander charged with fighting off the Apache Indian attacks. Maureen O’Hara plays his estranged wife; Claude Jarman Jr. his new recruit son. Ben Johnson Harry Carey Jr. Chill Wills and Victor McLaglen are in his unit.
10:00 PM 3 Godfathers (1948) – a most unusual film and a remake of William Wyler’s Hell’s Heroes with Charles Bickford about three outlaws trying to get away from the law and find water that happen upon a dying about-to-be mother and then inspired make it their job to care for the newborn in the spirit of the Three Wise Men. John Wayne stars in this version by director John Ford. Harry Carey Jr. Ward Bond Jane Darwell Ben Johnson and Guy Kibbee also appear.
2:00 AM Ossessione (1942) – this same story was used for film which follows it The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) – which is a much better film IMO though this is considered an Italian masterpiece by director Luchino Visconti.
4:30 AM The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Saturday December 4 – Peter O’Toole
12:00 PM The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) – stylish film about a rich man so bored with his life that he turns to crime for excitement. This one stars Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. It was remade with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo also worth watching. The theme song of the film "The Windmills of Your Mind" won the Academy Award for Best Song. Directed by Norman Jewison (who had directed the Oscar winning Best Picture In the Heat of the Night the year prior to this one).
2:00 PM The Misfits (1961) – Clark Gable’s and Marilyn Monroe’s last film; Gable’s exhausting effort onscreen wrestling with horses and off (putting up with Monroe’s "antics") probably contributed to Gable’s fatal heart attack. John Huston directs this story written by one of Monroe’s husbands (Arthur Miller). A modern western about this dying way of life really also features a post-"auto accident" Montgomery Clift a terrifically cynical (as always) Thelma Ritter and Eli Wallach.
8:00 PM The Lion In Winter (1968)
10:30 PM Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Sunday December 5 – von Sternberg and Dietrich
8:00 AM Dark Passage (1947) – one of the four great Bogie & Bacall pairings. This film noir has Humphrey Bogart as a man falsely accused of murdering his wife he escapes and searches for the real killer with help from Lauren Bacall and trouble from Agnes Moorehead.
3:15 PM Birdman Of Alcatraz (1962) – great if sympathetic movie about Robert Stroud a real life convict that became an expert on birds while imprisoned (actually in Leavenworth). Stroud is played by Burt Lancaster nominated for a Best Actor Oscar and is supported by Telly Savalas Thelma Ritter (who were both nominated for Oscars) Karl Malden as the warden and Edmond O’Brien in this John Frankenheimer directed film. #76 on AFI’s 100 Most Inspiring Movies list.
8:30 PM Shanghai Express (1932) – A classic Oscar nominated film by director Josef von Sternberg (also nominated) starring Marlene Dietrich as a woman on a train and other intrigue. It won the Oscar for Cinematography.
10:15 PM Morocco (1930)
12:00 AM The Phantom of the Opera (1925) – an essential silent starring Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin
1:45 AM Number Seventeen (1932) – an early Hitchcock I haven’t seen!
3:00 AM The Lady Vanishes (1938)
4:45 AM The 39 Steps (1935)
Monday December 6 – James Stewart TCM’s Star of the Month for December
6:15 AM The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) 6:15 PM Johnny Belinda (1948)
8:00 PM You Can’t Take It With You (1938)
10:15 PM Destry Rides Again (1939)
12:00 AM After The Thin Man (1936)
5:30 AM The Murder Man (1935) – James Stewart’s first film with Spencer Tracy & Virginia Bruce.
Tuesday December 7 – Buster Keaton and REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR!
12:00 PM Our Town (1940)
4:30 PM Woman Of The Year (1942)
TCM will feature this new documentary followed by several of his best films:
8:00 PM & 11:30 PM – Buster Keaton: So Funny It Hurt! (2004) – TCM will feature this new documentary and follow it with several of his best films including:
8:45 PM The Cameraman (1928)
10:00 PM Spite Marriage (1929)
12:15 AM Free And Easy (1930)
2:00 AM Parlor Bedroom And Bath (1931)
3:15 AM The Passionate Plumber (1932)
4:30 AM What! No Beer? (1933)
5:45 AM The Balloonatic (1923)
Wednesday December 8 – Starring Betty Hutton
8:00 AM Gaslight (1944)
8:00 PM & 11:00 PM Annie Get Your Gun (1950) – a TCM premiere and I canÃ???????Ã??????Ã?????Ã????Ã???Ã??Ã?¢??t wait to see this Howard Keel Betty Hutton film for the first time!
1:00 AM The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944)
Thursday December 9 – Small-Town Sex
5:30 PM Lust For Life (1956)
8:00 PM Peyton Place (1957) – another TCM premiere this one stars Lana Turner.
11:00 PM Picnic (1955)
1:00 AM Splendor In The Grass (1961) – though you’re sure to get annoyed at Natalie Wood’s endless crying "Bud Buddy Buuuuuudddddd!" she did receive an Academy Award Best Actress nomination for her performance as a sexually repressed young lady in a small town and the story did win William Inge an Oscar for his screenplay. Warren Beatty Pat Hingle Sandy Dennis Gary Lockwood and Phyllis Diller also appear in this Elia Kazan directed film.
5:00 AM Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To (1990) – an excellent TCM documentary narrated by Kathleen Turner.
Friday December 10 – Father Figures
6:00 AM Christmas In Connecticut (1945) – another classic that has been recommended to me which I’m looking forward to seeing! The song "White Christmas" is #5 on AFI’s 100 Top Movie Songs of All Time.
12:00 PM Tortilla Flat (1942) – Victor Fleming directed this John Steinbeck story about the simple life in a fishing community. Spencer Tracy (gotta love that accident;- ) Hedy Lamarr (beautiful as ever) John Garfield and Frank Morgan (who was Oscar nominated for his role) star. You’ll also see some great character actors like Sheldon Leonard Henry O’Neill and Allen Jenkins as Portagee Joe.
8:00 PM Going My Way (1944)
10:15 PM The Quiet Man (1952)
12:30 AM Boys’ Town (1938)
Saturday December 11
6:00 AM Body And Soul (1947)
8:00 AM Touch Of Evil (1958)
2:00 PM Arsenic And Old Lace (1944)
6:00 PM A Christmas Story (1983) – this holiday classic stars Peter Billingsley as a boy who wants a BB gun for Christmas and his somewhat wacky family which includes Darren McGavin as his father and Melinda Dillon as his mother.
8:00 PM Citizen Kane (1941)
3:00 AM Rope! (1948)
Sunday December 12
6:00 AM The Old Maid (1939) – certainly worthy of some tearjerking. Miriam Hopkins’ character spurns soldier (George Brent) who her cousin (Bette Davis) has always liked. While comforting him before he goes off to fight in the Civil War Davis becomes pregnant. When Brent is then killed Davis starts an orphanage to prevent scandal. Later out of financial need Davis seeks Hopkins now a rich widow help who adopts her child and pretends to be the mother. Of course the women fight over what’s best for the daughter played by Jane Bryan who doesn’t know the secret. The always excellent Donald Crisp plays a doctor who is also a go between that helps smooth things over between the two ladies.
8:00 AM Suspicion (1941)
10:00 AM Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)
12:00 PM The Bishop’s Wife (1947) – another great Samuel Goldwyn produced film with Cary Grant playing an angel who helps a church bishop (David Niven) and his wife played by Loretta Young. Initially Grant was signed to play the bishop Niven the angel. And Billy Wilder was asked to improve the script. The film and its director Henry Koster were Oscar nominated; it won for Sound Recording.
6:00 PM Citizen Kane (1941) – this week’s Essential is repeated
12:00 AM The General (1927) – a classic Civil War silent starring Buster Keaton!
1:30 AM The Freshman (1925) – a Harold Lloyd silent classic!
2:45 AM City Lights (1931) – this Charlie Chaplin silent is a masterpiece one of his best and its ending is a real tearjerker! #76 on AFI’s 100 Greatest Movies list. #38 on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list. #10 on AFI’s 100 Greatest Love Stories list.
Monday December 13 – James Stewart TCM’s star of the month for December
8:00 PM The Shop Around The Corner (1940)
12:00 AM The Philadelphia Story (1940)
3:45 AM Wife vs. Secretary (1936) – Clark Gable is married to Myrna Loy and has an assistant played by Jean Harlow who is being pursued by James Stewart. Gable’s mom is played by May Robson. It’s a comedy. What else do you need to know;- )
5:15 AM Come Live With Me (1941) – a beautiful foreigner (Hedy Lamarr) who’s also an illegal alien is being "kept" by a rich married publisher (Ian Hunter) who can’t or won’t get a divorce from his wife in order to marry her and keep her in the country. So when she meets a struggling author (James Stewart) who’ll do just about anything to survive they agree upon a platonic relationship in which Lamarr satisfies only Stewart’s financial needs. An arrangement he of course later comes to regret and then hopes to alter.
Tuesday December 14 – Martin Scorsese night
6:45 AM Ziegfeld Girl (1941) – feast your eyes on this lavish spectacle of MGM’s most beautiful women; whether it has a plot worth following or not is debatable. The ladies are showgirls in Ziegfeld’s stable and film "explores" the effect it has on their lives and loves. It features Hedy Lamarr James Stewart Judy Garland Lana Turner Jackie Cooper Philip Dorn and Edward Everett Horton as well as several Ziegfeld sized musical numbers.
1:00 PM Festival of Shorts #13 (1998) – a collection of Holiday Greetings and Christmas Wishes from MGM’s stars of old!
8:00 PM The Last Waltz (1978) – a four star movie by director Martin Scorsese which I have yet to see!
10:00 PM & 2:00 AM – a new TCM feature Scorsese on Scorsese (2004) 86m. LBX
11:30 PM Raging Bull (1980)
Wednesday December 15 – primarily Howard Hughes films
6:30 AM Stars In My Crown (1950) – a charming film starring Joel McCrea as a parson in the West who is also talented with a pistol helping to keep the peace while he preaches in the community. Dean Stockwell plays his son Alan Hale his friend Ellen Drew his wife and other prominent roles played by Juano Hernandez (Intruder in the Dust (1949) James Mitchell Lewis Stone and Ed Begley (Sr. who specialized in playing racists). Directed by Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past (1947)).
3:00 PM A Thousand Clowns (1965)
7:00 PM Private Screenings: Patricia Neal (2004) – a very good TCM documentary hosted by Robert Osborne
3 TCM premieres back-to-back which I’m looking forward to seeing for the first time:
8:00 PM Two Arabian Knights (1927) – a silent film directed by Lewis Milestone with Mary Astor
9:30 PM The Racket (1928) – another silent by director Milestone
11:00 PM The Mating Call (1928) – a silent film by director James Cruze
Followed by Hughes/James Whale directed film with Jean Harlow I’ve not seen:
12:30 AM Hell’s Angels (1930)
2:45 AM The Front Page (1931) – later remade as His Girl Friday (1940) with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell this "original" featuring Pat O’Brien & Adolphe Menjou (and one of my faves Edward Everett Horton) still holds up pretty good. Directed by Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)). The film Menjou and Milestone were all Oscar nominated.
4:30 AM Morning Glory (1933) – Katharine Hepburn received her first Best Actress Academy Award for this role and her co-stars are Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Adolphe Menjou and C. Aubrey Smith is all I know.
Thursday December 16 – another Howard Hughes film
6:00 AM The Paradine Case (1947)
5:00 PM The Great Train Robbery (1979) – Jurassic Park’s Michael Crichton not only wrote the book but faithfully adapted and directed this film with Sean Connery Donald Sutherland and always sexy Lesley-Anne Down.
7:00 PM Private Screenings: Shirley MacLaine (2003) – I really enjoyed this original TCM documentary hosted by Robert Osborne when I saw it last year.
8:00 PM The Outlaw (1943) – the most infamous film by director Howard Hughes? Enabled Jane Russell to become a top saleswoman for bras;- ) Jack Beutel is Billy the Kid Walter Huston is Doc Holliday.
Friday December 17 – still more Howard Hughes & films starring "his" women
8:00 PM Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies (2000) – first time this documentary has been shown on TCM.
9:00 PM Bringing Up Baby (1938)
10:45 PM Bombshell (1933)
Saturday December 18
10:00 AM The Big Country (1958)
3:00 PM Jaws (1975)
5:15 PM The Color Purple (1985)
8:00 PM Some Like It Hot (1959)
2:00 AM The Misfits (1961) – Clark Gable’s and Marilyn Monroe’s last film; Gable’s exhausting effort onscreen wrestling with horses and off (putting up with Monroe’s "antics") probably contributed to Gable’s fatal heart attack. John Huston directs this story written by one of Monroe’s husbands (Arthur Miller). A modern western about this dying way of life really also features a post-"auto accident" Montgomery Clift a terrifically cynical (as always) Thelma Ritter and Eli Wallach.
Sunday December 19
8:00 AM To Have And Have Not (1944)
12:00 PM Christmas In Connecticut (1945) – I was reminded of Man’s Favorite Sport? (1964) with Rock Hudson when I first saw this favorite of many for the first time recently on TCM. Barbara Stanwyck plays a fake Martha Stewart-like woman who’s "forced" to portray the character of her creation when her unknowing publisher (Sydney Greenstreet in a most untypical role) bullies her into hosting a soldier (Dennis Morgan) for Christmas as a circulation boosting gimmick. S. Z. Sakall steals every scene he’s in as her "Uncle" Felix.
2:00 PM Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
6:00 PM Some Like It Hot (1959) – this week’s Essential is repeated
8:30 PM It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) – a farcical film that’s really just an excuse to provide cameos for all the great comedians of the movies (including silent stars) which has become a model of sorts for the reality television of today. Produced and directed by Stanley Kramer it won an Oscar for Best Special Effects (and received 5 other minor nominations). The cast is headlined by Spencer Tracy Milton Berle Sid Caesar Buddy Hackett Ethel Merman Mickey Rooney Dick Shawn Phil Silvers Terry-Thomas Jonathan Winters and Edie Adams. The movie’s length exceeds 3 hours though it feels much longer;-)
12:00 AM The Cameraman (1928) – Buster Keaton’s first film for MGM is a silent classic. Some great scenes include the comedian running up and down stairs to answer a telephone and a gang war in the streets which he tries to film while staying alive almost by accident.
1:15 AM Buster Keaton: So Funny It Hurt! (2004) – an insightful new documentary by TCM and provided on their new CD set about the downfall of the great silent comedian once he signed with MGM.
3:15 AM Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) – a classic Keaton silent I’ve not seen yet
Monday December 20 – James Stewart TCM’s Star of the Month
8:00 AM Show Boat (1936) – it’s hard for me to choose between this one and the 1951 version. Lots of great songs of course in both. This one has Irene Dunne who’s hard to beat as well as Allan Jones Charles Winninger Helen Morgan and Paul Robeson (who sings "Old Man River"). Directed by James Whale (Frankenstein (1931)) it was added to the National Film Registry in 1996.
12:00 PM Love Affair (1939)
1:30 PM Penny Serenade (1941) – Cary Grant and Irene Dunne are a young married couple who adopt a baby after their’s dies. They must struggle every step of the way. This unusual role for Grant earned him his first of only two Academy Award nominations. Ms. Dunne’s favorite of all her films reportedly. George Stevens directed; Beulah Bondi provides support.
8:00 PM The Shootist (1976) – It’s been a long time since I saw this Western starring John Wayne Lauren Bacall Ron Howard James Stewart Richard Boone Harry Morgan and John Carradine (among others) … so I think I’ll watch it again. Directed by Don Siegel.
12:00 AM The Naked Spur (1953)
2:00 AM How the West Was Won (1962) – a glorious epic told in three parts which won three Oscars including for Writing and was nominated for several others including Best Picture. Directed by John Ford and a bunch of others it features a "boatload" of stars including Carroll Baker Lee J. Cobb Henry Fonda Karl Malden Gregory Peck George Peppard Robert Preston Debbie Reynolds James Stewart Eli Wallach John Wayne Richard Widmark Walter Brennan Andy Devine Raymond Massey Agnes Moorehead Thelma Ritter Harry Morgan Spencer Tracy and Russ Tamblyn. Added to the National Film Registry in 1997.
5:00 AM The Stratton Story (1949)
Tuesday December 21 – George Stevens’ 100th Birthday
12:00 PM The Train (1964) – pretty good (Oscar nominated) story about the French resistance trying to stop the Nazis from taking a trainload of art treasures to Germany. It stars Burt Lancaster Paul Scofield and Jeanne Moreau. It was directed by John Frankheimer.
7:00 PM Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire (1991) – a Richard Schickel documentary I’ve not seen hosted by Sally Field.
8:00 PM The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) – a TCM premiere I’m looking forward to seeing for the very first time.
11:00 PM The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) – Director George Stevens’ LONG epic featuring an all-star cast was nominated for five minor Oscars. The cast includes Max von Sydow Dorothy McGuire Claude Rains and about two dozen others.
2:30 AM George Stevens: From D-Day to Berlin (1994) – Stevens’ Emmy award winning personal record of the critical final months of World War II in Europe.
3:30 AM Woman Of The Year (1942)
5:30 AM Swing Time (1936)
Wednesday December 22
10:00 AM Gunga Din (1939)
12:15 AM A Christmas Story (1983) – this holiday classic stars Peter Billingsley as a boy who wants a BB gun for Christmas and his somewhat wacky family which includes Darren McGavin as his father and Melinda Dillon as his mother.
2:00 AM Father Of The Bride (1950)
Thursday December 23 - some Christmas Classics
1:00 PM Divorce Italian Style (1962)
8:00 PM A Christmas Carol (1938) – a short and sweet telling of Charles Dickens’ classic tale. This one features Reginald Owen as Scrooge and Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit. Also appearing are Kathleen Lockhart Leo G. Carroll Ann Rutherford and June Lockhart makes her screen debut.
9:30 PM The Man Who Came To Dinner (1941)
11:30 PM The Bishop’s Wife (1947) – another great Samuel Goldwyn produced film with Cary Grant playing an angel who helps a church bishop (David Niven) and his wife played by Loretta Young. Initially Grant was signed to play the bishop Niven the angel. And Billy Wilder was asked to improve the script. The film and its director Henry Koster were Oscar nominated; it won for Sound Recording.
3:00 AM Hell’s Heroes (1930)
4:15 AM Pride Of The Marines (1945) – An Oscar nominated story about a Marine that was blinded and tries to adjust to his life after his injury. John Garfield gives a compelling performance; Eleanor Parker plays his girl.
Friday December 24 - Robert Osborne’s Christmas Eve Picks
6:15 AM Little Women (1933)
8:15 AM 3 Godfathers (1948) – a most unusual film and a remake of director William Wyler’s Hell’s Heroes (1930) with Charles Bickford about three outlaws trying to get away from the law and find water that happen upon a dying about-to-be mother and then inspired make it their job to care for the newborn in the spirit of the Three Wise Men. John Wayne stars in this version by director John Ford. Harry Carey Jr. Ward Bond Jane Darwell Ben Johnson and Guy Kibbee also appear.
11:30 AM Since You Went Away (1944)
8:00 PM Christmas In Connecticut (1945) – I was reminded of Man’s Favorite Sport? (1964) with Rock Hudson when I first saw this favorite of many for the first time recently on TCM. Barbara Stanwyck plays a fake Martha Stewart-like woman who’s "forced" to portray the character of her creation when her unknowing publisher (Sydney Greenstreet in a most untypical role) bullies her into hosting a soldier (Dennis Morgan) for Christmas as a circulation boosting gimmick. S. Z. Sakall steals every scene he’s in as her "Uncle" Felix.
10:00 PM Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)
12:00 AM Holiday Inn (1942) – famous for the song "White Christmas" #5 on AFI’s 100 Top Movie Songs of All Time this Bing Crosby/Fred Astaire collaboration is a holiday classic. Also featuring Marjorie Reynolds Virginia Dale Walter Abel and Louise Beavers.
2:00 AM The Shop Around The Corner (1940)
Saturday December 25 - MERRY CHRISTMAS! – Christmas with Capra
6:00 AM Going My Way (1944)
10:30 AM Ben-Hur (1959)
2:30 PM The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) – Director George Stevens’ LONG epic featuring an all-star cast was nominated for five minor Oscars. The cast includes Max von Sydow Dorothy McGuire Claude Rains and about two dozen others.
6:00 PM Annie Get Your Gun (1950) – "There’s No Business Like Show Business" is just one of the memorable songs in this musical but my favorite is "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)" though neither were selected by AFI members in their 100 Top Movie Songs of All Time. The story of wild West sharpshooter Annie Oakley (enthusiastically played by Betty Hutton) and her rival love interest played by Howard Keel. Louis Calhern looking a lot like Frank Morgan (who was originally signed for the role but died before filming) plays Buffalo Bill. Edward Arnold (I didn’t even realize it was him!) plays his rival and Keenan Wynn is the promoter of the show.
8:00 PM Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
10:00 PM Meet John Doe (1941)
12:15 AM It Happened One Night (1934)
2:15 AM Lady For A Day (1933)
Sunday December 26
8:00 AM Forbidden Planet (1956)
12:00 PM Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
2:00 PM Marnie (1964)
4:15 PM Notorious (1946)
6:00 PM Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) – this week’s TCM Essential is repeated
8:00 PM The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
10:00 PM Gigi (1958)
12:00 AM Spite Marriage (1929) – the second and last silent Buster Keaton made for MGM is also perhaps his last great work. He plays a pants presser that wears his clients’ clothes in order to make an impression on an actress he has fallen for but she (of course) is interested in another actor in the show. Memorable moments include Keaton "ruining" said show marrying the actress and putting her to bed and several scenes on a boat. Keaton later assisted Red Skelton in ripping off most of his genius by helping him recreate most of these bits in I Dood It (1943).
1:30 AM Annie Get Your Gun (1950) – repeated this week see my Saturday comments
Monday December 27
- James Stewart TCM’s Star of the Month
6:00 AM The Blue Angel (1930) – Emil Jannings plays a boring professor who becomes enchanted with a nightclub singer played by Marlene Dietrich. Directed by Josef von Sternberg Dietrich sings her trademark song "Falling in Love Again".
8:00 AM Morocco (1930)
10:00 AM Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song (2000) – a terrific TCM documentary of the actress including interviews with Rosemary Clooney and Burt Bacharach
12:00 PM Destry Rides Again (1939)
6:00 PM Rancho Notorious (1952) – while trying to find his fiancee’s killer Arthur Kennedy finds a "bad guy" hangout (the titled location) by pretending to be "one of them". The ranch is run by Marlene Dietrich who’s in love with the baddest of them all Mel Ferrer. Though perhaps not great this is a very enjoyable film by director Fritz Lang with a cast that includes William Frawley Jack Elam and George Reeves.
8:00 PM Vertigo (1958)
10:30 PM Rope! (1948)
12:00 AM The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
2:15 AM Rear Window (1954)
4:15 AM The Mortal Storm (1940)
Tuesday December 28 - Sidney Poitier
12:30 PM The Thin Man (1934)
2:15 PM After The Thin Man (1936)
8:00 PM The Defiant Ones (1958)
10:00 PM In The Heat Of The Night (1967)
12:00 AM Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light (2000) – a documentary about the actor
2:45 AM Edge of the City (1957) – pretty good film by Martin Ritt (his first) which is typical IMO featuring a developing friendship between John Cassavetes & Sidney Poitier and their conflict with dock boss Jack Warden.
4:15 AM Blackboard Jungle (1955)
Wednesday December 29 - some Heist Films
6:00 AM Buck Privates (1941) – grossed more than the Oscar winner that year How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Citizen Kane (1941)! Nominated for the two Music Oscars including for The Andrews Sisters song "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B".
7:30 AM Knute Rockne All American (1940) – A biography of the legendary Notre Dame football coach played by Pat O’Brien which features Ronald Reagan as "the Gipper" a fated player on his team. Also see Donald Crisp and Albert Bassermann. Directed by Lloyd Bacon and added to the National Film Registry in 1997.
9:15 AM The Pride Of The Yankees (1942)
11:30 AM Dark Victory (1939)
1:15 PM Imitation Of Life (1934)
3:15 PM Lolita (1962)
6:00 PM The Lady Vanishes (1938)
10:00 PM The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) – stylish film about a rich man so bored with his life that he turns to crime for excitement. This one stars Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. It was remade in 1999 with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo also worth watching. The theme song of the film "The Windmills of Your Mind" won the Academy Award for Best Song. Directed by Norman Jewison (who had directed the Oscar winning Best Picture In the Heat of the Night the year prior to this one).
12:00 AM High Sierra (1941)
2:00 AM Point Blank (1967)
4:00 AM Topkapi (1964)
Thursday December 30
- Whistle films;-)
11:30 AM Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954)
8:00 PM To Have And Have Not (1944)
10:00 PM The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
3:00 AM M (1931)
Friday December 31 - some Concert films
6:00 AM Dead End (1937)
8:00 AM They Drive by Night (1940) – Ida Lupino is oh so sexy in this remake of Bordertown (1935). George Raft Ann Sheridan and Humphrey Bogart also star in this Raoul Walsh directed film about a couple of truck driving brothers who are framed for murder by a lady psycho.
10:00 AM High Sierra (1941)
12:00 PM The Maltese Falcon (1941)
2:00 PM The Big Sleep (1946)
4:00 PM 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.
6:00 PM Key Largo (1948)
10:00 PM The Last Waltz (1978) – a four star movie by director Martin Scorsese which I have yet to see!
12:00 AM ABBA: The Movie (1977) – a TCM premiere which I haven’t seen
1:45 AM The Song Remains The Same (1976) – ditto