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.)
7/4, 4 AM - Miss Firecracker (1989)
This slice of Southern Americana is perfect programming for the Fourth of July, if you are in the mood for something slightly bittersweet and satirical. Holly Hunter stars as Carnelle, a young misfit obsessed with winning the annual beauty contest in her small town of Yazoo City, Mississippi. After seeing her elegant cousin Elain (Mary Steenburgen) win the pageant 10 years earlier, subsequently marry up, and become a local celebrity, Carnelle is sure that the title of Miss Firecracker will be her ticket to a new life outside her hometown.
While not her first film, Miss Firecracker may be the first time I saw Holly Hunter on screen. Mild-mannered child that I was, Hunter's intensity and energy, not to mention her flame red hair, were a bit frightening; however, I did admire her determination and spirit. The highlight is the performance by Hunter, as well as a very strong supporting cast including Steenburgen, Alfre Woodard, and Tim Robbins. The film was adapted from an off-Broadway play, and while far from perfect, it - like Carnelle - is worth giving a chance.
7/7: Hitchcock in the UK
8 PM - Number Seventeen (1932)
9:30 PM - The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
11 PM - The 39 Steps (1935)
12:45 AM - The Lady Vanishes (1938)
TCM is spotlighting filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock on Wednesdays and Fridays this month, moving chronologically from 1927's The Ring on July 5 to his final film, 1976's Family Plot, on July 28. You're sure to find something interesting on any evening devoted to Hitchcock's work, but I've chosen to focus on this batch of films from the 1930s. At the time Hitchcock was working in England making films with steadily bigger budgets and production value, and not only gaining acclaim in the UK, but in America with his first trans-Atlantic hit, The 39 Steps.
The 39 Steps also made a film star of British stage actor Robert Donat (four years later Donat would win an Oscar for Goodbye, Mr. Chips). Donat plays that favorite Hitchcock character: an innocent man accused. After a spy is killed, and Donat blamed, he goes on the run across Scotland, all the while handcuffed to the woman who turned him in; together, they must discover the real killer and expose a spy ring.
Among the other films tonight is the original version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, a big hit in Britain and the first English-language film for character actor Peter Lorre. Hitchcock liked this story about a vacationing family accidentally drawn into international espionage so much, he remade the film in 1956.
The low-budget thriller Number Seventeen is not one of Hitch's most celebrated works, but it is notable for possibly introducing the director's signature gimmick, the "Macguffin" - an object that drives the plot, but is basically irrelevant to the overall story. In this case, the Macguffin is a stolen necklace which draws the characters to a spooky old house where they encounter a string of mysteries, including a man's corpse.
1938's The Lady Vanishes was Hitchcock's biggest hit to date and helped him to secure a lucrative Hollywood contract. The plot - including a sudden disappearance, a plucky heroine, secret agents, and plenty of sly humor - is a treat for any Hitchcock fan.
7/25: Lili Damita Double Feature
10:45 AM - Friends and Lovers (1931)
12 PM - The Woman Between (1931)
French actress Lili Damita was one of the many foreign beauties brought to Hollywood during the silent era - including Pola Negri, Greta Garbo, and Marlene Dietrich - to play exotic temptresses. Cast for their ability to give meaningful glances rather than speak lines, not all the imports made a successful transition to talkies. However, Garbo, Dietrich, and, yes, Damita were among the few who did. Today she's remembered as Errol Flynn's first wife; although, when they married in 1935, Flynn was just a handsome newcomer and Damita was the star. An old-fashioned gal, Damita gave up her career after marrying Flynn...which may be why she's better known for the divorce which bankrupted Flynn than for her own movies, but that's a story for another day.
Today's double feature includes two films made in 1931 with director Victor Schertzinger for RKO Studios. In Friends and Lovers, Damita flirts her way through British society in India, blackmailing her conquests under the (monocled) eye of her unscrupulous husband, played by Erich von Stroheim. Adolphe Menjou and Laurence Olivier, in his first American film, star as young British officers ensnared by Damita's charms.
In the second film, Damita is the titular Woman, this time unintentionally coming between a father and son. Happily married to a rich older man, Damita is shocked when her husband's son returns from WWI and it is revealed that her stepson is also her former lover. (Since we're all thinking it, I'll just say that I have found no evidence that this film was the inspiration for the classic 1997 TV-movie My Stepson, My Lover.) You may recognize O.P. Heggie, who plays Damita's husband, as the blind hermit from Bride of Frankenstein.
7/27: Star of the Month Ronald Colman
8 PM - A Double Life (1947)
10 PM - Random Harvest (1942)
12:15 AM - The Talk of the Town (1942)
The suave British actor Ronald Colman is TCM's Star of the Month with his films scheduled in primetime each Thursday in July. Colman was a top leading man from the silent era through the 1940s, equally popular with men and women for his dashing manner and handsome good looks. I plan on watching several of his movies this month, including early hits like Bulldog Drummond (1929) and Raffles (1930), but I am recommending three of his most popular films from the 40s.
In the politically-tinged comedy The Talk of the Town Colman shares leading man duties with Cary Grant. Grant plays an accused arsonist on the lam who hides out in the home of schoolteacher Jean Arthur. He enlists Arthur's help to convince Colman, a respected law professor, of his innocence. Of course both men develop romantic feelings for the lovely Ms. Arthur and the film leaves you guessing until the end as to which man she will choose. This may be the only instance in which a love triangle involving Cary Grant felt equally weighted. Apparently alternate endings were filmed, one in which Arthur chose Grant and one in which she chose Colman; see if you agree with the final outcome.
The Talk of the Town was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture and breathed new life into Colman's career and he followed it with another hit, the romantic drama Random Harvest. The plot is a bit convoluted, but basically it involves Colman getting amnesia - twice! - and forgetting the love of his life, played by Greer Garson. Director Meryn LeRoy quipped that "the English language was never spoken more beautifully on film." The film received seven Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Director, and Best Actor. However, most of the awards that year went to Garson's other hit, Mrs. Miniver; Colman lost out to James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy.
For Colman, fourth time was the charm when he finally won the Best Actor Oscar for A Double Life playing an actor in a production of Othello opposite his own wife who finds his character's jealousy seeping into his own psyche. Married writing team Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin originally wanted Laurence Olivier for the lead role, but jumped after Colman when their first choice was unavailable. It was Colman who wasn't sure if he was right for the role; despite a stage background, he had never been a Shakesperean actor. However, the Kanins got Colman to sign on by promising him that the role would earn him that elusive Oscar - and they were right!
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