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: Traveltalks in Europe
9:45 PM - Looking at London (1946)
10 PM - Seeing Spain (1953)
10:15 PM - Paris on Parade (1938)
James A. Fitzpatrick, a.k.a "the voice of the globe," produced and narrated a popular series of Traveltalks shorts which took viewers around the world to famous and "exotic" destinations. The shorts featured tonight were filmed in Technicolor and distributed by MGM. TCM often inserts the Fitzpatrick shorts in between scheduled films, but as part of their "European Vacation" programming on Fridays in June, the shorts are getting prime time play. The films concentrate on showing scenery and cultural heritage sites, rather than the daily lives of the people living there, and avoid any mention of politics or social issues. Made at a time when the average movie goer did not have the opportunity or means to travel, these shorts gave them a look at the places that Fitzpatrick believed any tourist would want to see. Today, the shorts are notable for the glimpses of landscapes from a bygone era, before major cities became dominated by skyscrapers or urban sprawl reached the countryside. Looking at London highlights historic landmarks in the UK capital city, as well as areas damaged during WWII. Seeing Spain features several cities around that country, while Paris on Parade provides a tour of the Paris International Exposition of 1937.
6/9, 2:15 AM - To Paris with Love (1955)
In this romp through the City of Light, Alec Guinness stars as Sir Edgar, a British widower who brings his 20 year old son, Jon, to Paris to give the boy an education on romance. Edgar seeks out just the right woman to set up with his son, while Jon tries to find the perfect match for his dad. Of course, it gets complicated when the women turn out to have romantic ideas of their own. Perhaps not as funny as Guinness's other comedies of the era, but as light romantic comedy, this film is a fizzy sip of champagne. It's worth seeing for Guinness's charming lead performance and comedic skill.
6/13: Starring Marlene Dietrich
8 PM - Desire (1936)
10 PM - Song of Songs (1933)
11:45 PM - A Foreign Affair (1948)
2 AM - Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
4:15 AM - Rancho Notorious (1952)
Highest-paid woman in America in the 1930s, WWII war hero, Medal of Freedom recipient, world's most glamorous grandmother -- believe it or not, these are all titles applied to tonight's featured star Marlene Dietrich. Chances are that you have a very specific image of Dietrich: platinum hair, pencil-thin eyebrows arched over bored eyes, and that husky, German-accented voice. She had an iconic style, but as tonight's line-up shows, Dietrich took on personas in her films as diverse as those in her real life, while somehow maintaining that essence of "Marlene" with each one. The films tonight also pair Dietrich with some of the best directors of the era, demonstrating her ability to be equally at home in a Billy Wilder comedy or a Frank Borzage romance.
In Desire, directed by Borzage and produced by rom-com master Ernst Lubitsch, Dietrich plays a jewel thief and phony European aristocrat who falls for all-American Gary Cooper. Song of Songs, a TCM premiere directed by eclectic innovator Rouben Mamoulian, gives Dietrich a suitably scandalous role as a German peasant girl who gets caught up with free-living artists in the nightclub culture of Berlin. In Wilder's satire of post-war Germany, A Foreign Affair (released the same year she became the world's most glamorous grandmother), she spoofs her own image as a sultry cabaret singer; and cast as a former saloon girl in Fritz Lang's Western-noir Rancho Notorious, Dietrich brings new depth to this familiar character as she intimidates and beguiles while presiding over a den of criminals. Witness for the Prosecution, also directed by Wilder and based on an Agatha Christie story, shows another side of Dietrich in a less overtly glamorous and sexual role as the wife of an accused murderer; however, as in many stories by Christie, the characters are not all that they seem.
6/19, 1:15 PM - My Name is Julia Ross (1945)
I've recommended this sharp little thriller before, but think it's good enough to recommend again! The story begins with a young woman, Julia, who takes a job as a live-in secretary for an older lady. After going to sleep in her employer's London apartment, she wakes up in a remote Cornwall estate on the southern coast of England. She's told that her name is Marion and she is the wife of the lady's son, a spoiled creep who likes to play with knives. Nina Foch (perhaps recognizable as Milo in An American in Paris) is excellent as Julia/Marion as she struggles to maintain her sanity and identity while her captors' scheme unfolds. At a breezy 65 minutes, you could watch this movie on your lunch break; however, the gothic atmosphere is probably more effective late at night.
If you enjoy the plot of My Name is Julia Ross, consider seeking out 1987's Dead of Winter starring Mary Steenburgen, Roddy MacDowell, and Czech actor Jan Rubes -- the story of an actress held captive in service of a blackmail plot bears a strong, though uncredited, resemblance to this earlier film.
6/19, 3:45 AM - Gaslight (1940)
Consider making a double feature with My Name is Julia Ross and this psychological thriller set in the Victorian era about an evil husband who attempts to drive his wealthy wife mad in order to get at some jewels hidden in their home. As the husband, Anton Walbrook serves cold sophistication masking cruelty, which he did so well again as the ballet svengali of The Red Shoes. Diana Wynyard, an Oscar nominee for 1933's Best Picture Cavalcade, co-stars as the wife.
This British film was made four years before the Ingrid Bergman/Charles Boyer film of the same name and source material; however, despite being well-received, it is much less familiar even to film fans. That may be by design -- according to Hollywood legend, MGM ordered all copies of the 1940 film destroyed to avoid competition for the Bergman version. Fortunately, they did not get the negative and so now we can enjoy both films. Here's a chance to make that comparison which MGM feared so much -- is one better or are they just as good in their own ways? (By the way, the 1944 version, for which Bergman won an Oscar, will air on TCM in August.)
