Classic Movie Picks: November

by Lani

Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies Now Playing guide for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)

11/1: Writer/Director/Actor

8 PM - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)

9:45 PM - Sleeper (1973)

11:30 PM - Modern Romance (1981)

1:15 AM - Modern Times (1936)

3 AM - Jour de Fete (1949)

4:30 AM - Three on a Couch (1966)

Sure, I've seen most of these before - I've even recommended them here before - but after a month of spooky movies, isn't everyone ready for a good laugh? Tonight's line-up features 6 of cinema's best comic triple threats from America and abroad. If you are a student of comedy, you should check these off your "need to see" list!

11/8: And then that happened...

11:15 AM - The Titanic Incident (1955)

6 PM - The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)

There are some days when I just know the TCM programmers love to have fun with their jobs - how else to explain the scheduling of two stories dealing with best laid plans going awfully awry due to notorious disasters? (It couldn't be a coincidence, right? I prefer to think it is yet another twisted joke from the TCM elves.) In an episode from Screen Director's Playhouse a husband and wife try to con a British lord out of his money...aboard the Titanic. In Pompeii, an ambitious man's position of wealth and power is complicated by his son Christian sympathies (this is 79 A.D., after all)...and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Pompeii also features Basil Rathbone as a scene-stealing Pontius Pilate.

BONUS PICK: 11/17, 9:45 PM - Juggernaut (1974)

More tragedy at sea! From that fertile period of disaster films, the 1970s, Juggernaut puts Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, and a set of bombs aboard a transatlantic ocean liner.

11/10: Four Daughters & Claude Rains

8:30 AM - Four Daughters (1938)

10:15 AM - Daughters Courageous (1939)

12:15 PM - Four Wives (1939)

2:15 PM - Four Mothers (1941)

Most people think of Claude Rains as a worldly, continental type (think Capt. Louis Renault in Casablanca) and not as a small-town family man. However, he plays just that sort of character in this popular series of films. Real-life sisters Priscilla, Rosemary, and Lola Lane, plus Gale Page, play Rains's daughters. Four Daughters, the first film to team this group, was so well-liked, it was nominated for Best Picture of the Year and co-star John Garfield was nominated as Best Supporting Actor. Four Wives and Four Mothers continue where the first film left off; you can probably guess the plot developments from the titles. Daughters Courageous is not exactly a sequel, though it stars most of the same actors in very similar roles to their Four Daughters characters.

11/25, 3:30 AM - UHF (1989)

Something I never thought I'd see on Turner Classic Movies: the "Weird Al" Yankovic movie! With all the weirdness on display, 3:30 AM seems like just the right time slot for this one.

11/27: Sergei Eisenstein

12 AM - Strike (1925)

2 AM - Ivan the Terrible Part 1 (1947)

3:45 AM - Ivan the Terrible Part 2 (1959)

And, finally, one for the film geeks...As one of the greats of Russian cinema, Sergei Eisenstein pushed the film medium forward with sophisticated storytelling techniques. He fought against the common opinion that films should be simple, plain, and realistic. Though he is best-known for Battleship Potemkin, he made many accomplished films, including tonight's selections. Despite his revolutionary tendencies, Eisenstein was commissioned by the Soviet government to create a three-part historical epic glorifying the first tsar of Russia. Ivan the Terrible Part 1, in which Ivan struggles to unite a divided empire, was well-received. However, Part 2 was banned because Ivan's vicious actions began to resemble Stalin's regime a little too closely; and Part 3 was destroyed.

Notes from the 2011 Austin Film Festival

by Lani

The 2011 Austin Film Festival wrapped up on October 27 and after a week of watching films one stood out above the rest: The Artist.

The Artist is set in Hollywood in the late 1920s and early 1930s as silent films gave way to talkies and movie "stars" first took hold of the public's imagination. Jean Dujardin plays popular film star George Valentin, a combination of Douglas Fairbanks, John Gilbert, and Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly's character in Singin' in the Rain). If Valentin's name brings to mind Rudolph Valentino, that's not the only reference to classic movies you'll notice. A sharp eye will spy nods to many well-known films, from The Thin Man to Citizen Kane, as well as bits of true Hollywood history.

Singin' in the Rain is an obvious influence for The Artist as the two films share similar storylines about an actor who can't cope with the change to talking pictures. However, The Artist goes to a much darker place dramatically and contains a lot less singing. In Singin' Don Lockwood bounces back from the dumps after a night of moping over sandwiches and milk. Let's just say that after the failure of Valentin's last-ditch effort to maintain his stardom, he does not head for the milk. Nevertheless, this film closes with the best kind of Hollywood ending: an exultant musical number.

I knew that Dujardin was adept at comedy from his starring roles in the OSS 117 spy spoofs. He can make an entire theater laugh simply by breaking out in a big, cheesy, movie star smile. However, in The Artist he proves that he is capable of much more than campy charm. I was especially moved by a scene late in the film when his star has faded and he encounters a young actress he once helped who is now a leading lady. As he politely listens to her, conflicting emotions of happiness and pain subtly play upon his face, and your heart breaks for him.

Have I mentioned that The Artist is a silent film itself? It could have been a gimmick, but writer-director Michel Hazanavicius uses the lack of dialogue in a very smart way. He highlights physical comedy and visual gags, while the title cards are often punchlines themselves.

This is an excellent film that many people, not just classic film aficionados will enjoy; however, as a "silent" film with a foreign pedigree, it will probably only appeal to a niche market. If you are a film lover, urge your local theater to show The Artist - it is a wonderful big screen experience.

And classic film fans should also keep an eye out for Sal, directed by James Franco. This film follows the final day in the life of Sal Mineo, an actor that Franco and the film's star Val Lauren have long admired. Mineo was twice nominated for an Oscar, but never became a big star. At age 37, he was poised for a career resurgence with his first chance at directing a film, but his life was cut short by a random, senseless crime. Though it is not a documentary, much of the action and characters in Sal are based on real events and people in Mineo's life. It is a quiet and thoughtful portrait of an artist; consequently, Sal seems even less likely than The Artist of reaching theaters outside New York and L.A. However, I think the intimate style of this film will translate just as well on a small screen if you miss it in theaters.