Classic Movie Picks: June 2013

by Lani

Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies schedule 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.)

6/9: Crime Comedies
8 PM - The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
9:30 PM - A Slight Case of Murder (1938)
The Essentials Jr. series for kids is back this month with host Bill Hader. The second week of the series brings The Lavender Hill Mob, a british caper comedy starring Alec Guinness as the unlikely leader of a gang set on robbing a gold bullion truck. The film won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay and the clever ending will prompt some post-movie discussion for kids and parents (such as, what is bullion anyway?). 
The official Essentials Jr. entry is followed by another crime comedy in which Edward G. Robinson spoofs his tough gangster persona as a bootlegger determined to go straight after Prohibition ends. However, honest living is not so easy when he discovers his house full of dead thieves and loot.

6/11: Working Women Who Surrender in the End
8 PM - Baby Face (1933)
9:30 PM - Female (1933)
The oddly titled theme for tonight's line-up of 5 films hosted by film critic Molly Haskell pretty much spells it out -- in what was a conventional Hollywood story for decades, an independent career woman is drawn to the domestic life once she finds the right man. Baby Face, starring Barbara Stanwyck, and Female, starring Ruth Chatterton, are notable as two of the most daring films from the Pre-Code era. Stanwyck is a tough orphan who uses men to improve her station in life, literally sleeping her way to the top floor of a company in one memorable sequence. Chatterton is a female CEO, who prefers to "shop around" rather than settle down with a husband. Though today's films discuss sex in a far more open way, films made before the production code can still shock with their frankness. The shock is mostly because we're not used to seeing people in black and white movies being so...forward.

6/18, 8 PM - Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
If you're in the mood for a more conventional romance, one that's staying well within the boundaries of the Production Code, you could do worse than Three Coins in the Fountain. When a film's tagline is "You've never lived until you've loved in Rome!", it's easy to roll your eyes and dismiss it as a mindless chick flick. However, this film about 3 American roommates in Rome wishing for love received several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture! So, enjoy the Italian scenery, 50s fashion, and the title song sung by Frank Sinatra and just except that romantic froth can be sometimes be satisfying.

6/23, 10 PM - The Crimson Pirate (1952)
This one was new to me, perhaps because I've never been a particular Burt Lancaster fan. However, I'm really intrigued by this film which is both a salute to swashbuckling pirate films and a spoof of the genre. Lancaster was an acrobat before coming to Hollywood and here he puts those skills to use alongside his real-life circus partner, Nick Cravat. Lancaster and Cravat use the ship as a jungle gym as the leap, swing, and bounce away from the swords of their enemies, all in service of a plot about a Caribbean island rebellion.