Classic Movie Picks: December 2015

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.)

Sinatra Sings!
12/2, 8 PM - Frank Sinatra -- A Man and His Music (1965)
12/9, 8 PM - Sinatra Sings (2011)
12/16, 8 PM - Frank Sinatra: Ol' Blue Eyes is Back (1973)
12/23, 8 PM - Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank (1957)
12/30, 8 PM - Sinatra (1969)
Frank Sinatra is TCM's Star of the Month for December and they'll be showing his films each Wednesday - from the effervescent MGM Musicals like Anchors Aweigh and On the Town, to gritty dramas including The Man with the Golden Arm and The Detective, to his capers with the Rat Pack in Ocean's Eleven and Robin and the Seven Hoods, even his Oscar-winning turn as Maggio in From Here to Eternity. But the real treat, in my opinion, will be hearing Frank sing in the five TV specials they've included in the line-up. 

Whether you agree that he's the greatest singer of the 20th Century, or just in the top five, it's hard to deny the quality of his voice and his ability to interpret a song. That heavenly croon and charismatic presence, plus those twinkly blue eyes, made Sinatra the most popular singer in the country during WWII...with young women especially. (At the same time he was hated by American men, who saw him as a draft dodger hanging around the homefront stealing their women.) However, these specials show Frank after his teen idol phase, in full "Chairman of the Board" mode singing songs that have become standards. As a holiday treat, there's even Frank with his idol Bing Crosby singing Christmas songs! 

If you're interested in learning more about Sinatra's career, I highly recommend two episodes of the "You Must Remember This" podcast: episode 41 about Sinatra's rise to fame in the 1940s and episode 2 about his epic and weird triple album "Trilogy: Past, Present, and Future." 


12/17: Once More into the Disney Vault
Film critic Leonard Maltin hosts this evening of 5 movies and 4 shorts, many with a "winter" theme, dating from 1934 to 1983. I've really been enjoying these periodic peeks into the vault because the programming highlights the variety and depth of the Disney Studios output, particularly during the 50s and beyond when they were producing animated features and shorts, live-action films, documentaries, and television specials.

8 PM - So Dear to My Heart (1948)
Burl Ives, Beulah Bondi, and Bobby Driscoll star in this film about a farming family who adopts a black lamb. I haven't seen it, but I predict that Burl will break into song at some point.

9:30 PM - Rescue Dog (1947)
The Grasshopper and the Ants (1934)
Corn Chips (1951)
Three wintry animated shorts starring Pluto and a playful seal, some insects preparing (or not) for winter, and Donald Duck with Chip and Dale.

10 PM - Babes in Toyland (1961)
I enjoyed this film when I was a kid, and I think that it's really meant for an audience of children - adults may find it too cutesy. However, the costumes and score were nominated for Academy Awards, reflecting the high level of quality which was brought to all Disney productions. Former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello stars with Tommy Sands (who I always thought was Annette's Beach Party costar Frankie Avalon) as residents of Toyland and the plot revolves around whether they'll be able to marry as the evil Ray Bolger throws obstacles in their path to the altar.

12 AM - Never Cry Wolf (1983)
Far, far from Toyland, Charles Martin Smith stars as a biologist sent alone up to the Yukon to study wolves and their impact on the caribou population. Filmed in Alaska, this movie is praised for its beautiful visuals including scenes of the native wildlife. 

2 AM - White Wilderness (1958)
One of Disney's famous "true-life adventures," this film spotlights Arctic wildlife. It won the 1958  Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

3:30 AM - Polar Trappers (1938)
Back to cartoons with Donald and Goofy in their first short together without Mickey.

3:45 AM - The Island at the Top of the World (1974)
End the evening with this adventure tale about a Victorian Englishman who discovers a lost civilization of Vikings in the Arctic.


12/18 - Christmas with Criminals
8 PM - I'll Be Seeing You (1944) [also showing 12/25, 12:30 PM]
11:30 PM - Remember the Night (1940)
If you're looking for new movies to add to your usual Christmas line-up, consider the mini-genre of holiday love stories between a strait-laced guy and a wayward gal. Two films in this category (actually, the only two I'm aware of) are showing tonight! 

In I'll Be Seeing You, Joseph Cotten is a shell-shocked soldier on leave from WWII who meets Ginger Rogers on a train. She's also on leave, but from prison where she's serving a sentence for manslaughter (it was an accident though!). A few days spent celebrating the holiday with Ginger's family brings the two lost souls closer together.

Remember the Night casts Fred MacMurray as a District Attorney who feels sorry for accused shoplifter Barbara Stanwyck. Rather then letting her spend Christmas in jail, he bails her out and brings her home with him and the two are brought closer together...you know how it goes.


BONUS PICK: 12/5, 3:45 AM - Haxan (1922)
If you aren't into the warm and fuzzies going around during the holiday season, here is an antidote -- a bizarre silent film about witchcraft through the ages.

As my blogging partner put it in his recommendation of Haxan last Halloween:
"It’s one of those movies that you’ll want to watch with someone so there’s another witness to the crazy, bizarre, spooky, and oddly funny scenes that make up this silent movie. Haxan is a truly unique film: part documentary, part history lesson, part folklore study, part 'reenactment' of witchcraft confessions, and part social commentary."

This film has everything: medieval depictions of witches and demons, trial and torture of those accused of witchcraft, a Witches' Sabbath ritual, and, of course, Satan himself churning butter (what else?). The weird juxtaposition of the disturbing and ridiculous makes this an oddly funny film, despite the filmmaker's intentions to horrify. And it may horrify you, too; there's a lot of weird stuff here! Whether humorous or horrible, Haxan is the total opposite of the typical holiday film.

Classic Movie Picks: July 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.)

7/12, 8 PM - The Bride Wore Black (1968)
This month, TCM is spotlighting the films of French director Francois Truffaut on Friday nights. The Bride Wore Black stars Jeanne Moreau as a woman on a mission of revenge. The film was conceived as an homage to Alfred Hitchcock (Truffaut had recently published his now-classic book of interviews with Hitchcock) and was an inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movies. So, if you like any of those three directors, this film may be worth a look.
BONUS PICK: 7/26, 8 PM - Day for Night (1973) - Truffaut's Oscar-winner for Best Foreign Film is about the making of movies, lovingly depicting the contrast between the actual tedious labor of filmmaking and the captivating magic of a finished film.

7/22: Big Band Music on Screen
All day long, 6 AM to 8 PM, enjoy musical movies and shorts featuring Big Band stars of the 30s and 40s. For an added level of fun, try to pick out future A-listers like Ronald Reagan, Ava Gardner, and Dale Evans in blink-and-you'll-miss-em roles.
In Ship Ahoy (1942), airing at 12:30 PM, dancing dynamo Eleanor Powell and Red Skelton get mixed up in a spy plot to smuggle a magnetic mine on a cruise ship to Puerto Rico. It's got the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, including a young Frank Sinatra, plus Eleanor tapping out messages in Morse code - what more do you need on a summer afternoon?

7/22: Fred and Ginger
9 PM - The Gay Divorcee (1934)
11 PM - Top Hat (1935)
1 AM - Follow the Fleet (1936)
3 AM - Swing Time (1936)
5 AM - The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
After a day of Big Band musicals, what's better than more musicals? Tonight's mini-marathon includes some of the best films featuring Hollywood's quintessential dance team: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

7/25: Controversial Teachers
8 PM - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)
This film kicks of a night of stories about students and teachers; however, it is not the usual story of an unconventional teacher who is championed by her students and ultimately vindicated (see Stand and Deliver, Mr. Holland's Opus, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, etc.). Anchored by an Oscar-winning performance by Maggie Smith as the arrogant, manipulative Miss Brodie, the film also contains strong performances by Celia Johnson as the school principal and Pamela Franklin as one of Brodie's favored students.
10 PM - Dead Poet's Society (1989) - If you haven't seen this "new classic" then seize the day - carpe diem! - or night, as it were.
12:15 AM - These Three (1936) - Lillian Hellman adapted her controversial play The Children's Hour into this film about the power of a lie.

7/24: Tribute to Mel Brooks 
8 PM - AFI Lifetime Achievement Award: A Tribute to Mel Brooks
9:30 PM - The Twelve Chairs (1970)
11:15 PM - Carson on TCM: Mel Brooks (9/21/83)
11:30 PM - Excavating the 2000 Year Old Man (2012)
2 AM - Young Frankenstein (1974)
4 AM - The Producers (1968)
5:30 AM - The Dick Cavett Show: Mel Brooks
Tonight we celebrate the work of Mel Brooks with a tribute show, three comedies, two talk show clips, and a documentary; take your pick or enjoy them all! I'm looking forward to The Twelve Chairs, which seems to be the Mel Brooks film no one remembers. Set in Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution, it follows a once-wealthy aristocrat, a con man, and a priest in a race to find a fortune of jewels hidden in one of twelve chairs.

7/28, 8 PM: Great Expectations (1946)
John Mills, Jean Simmons, and Alec Guinness star in this Essentials, Jr. installment about poor orphan Pip who is raised up into society by a mysterious benefactor. Though the original story has been greatly pared down to focus on Pip's journey, this film version directed by David Lean remains the definitive screen adaptation of Dickens' novel.

Classic Movie Picks: April 2013

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.)

Game of Thrones returns to HBO tonight and I can only determine that my excitement for the new season has made me a bit bloodthirsty. How else to explain why almost all my picks for April revolve around murder?

4/7, 10 PM - Diabolique (1955)
On this evening devoted to masters of suspense, my pick would be this classic French thriller from director Henri-Georges Clouzot. Two women conspire to murder a cruel, abusive school master in a meticulously plotted crime; however, once the deed is done they continue to feel his presence - is it a ghost or did he somehow survive?

BONUS: 4/7, 2 AM - The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (1947)
Clouzot's first film is a bit lighter than the thrillers for which he's best known; however, murder is still at the heart of the story. Inspector Wens of the Paris police and his girlfriend Mila are like a French answer to Nick and Nora Charles as they track down a serial killer.

4/8, 8 PM - Roxie Hart (1942)
Ginger Rogers stars as the fame-hungry Roxie, who sees a murder trial as her ticket to stardom during the Roaring '20s, in this earlier version of the story made famous by the stage and screen musical Chicago.

4/9, 4:15 AM - The Verdict (1946)
This film bears little resemblence to the Paul Newman vehicle of the same name, starting with leading man Sydney Greenstreet. Warner Brothers supporting player Greenstreet and fellow character actor Peter Lorre are the stars for a change in this film about a "perfect crime." Of course, half the fun of a perfect crime is watching the perpetrators squirm as their plan inevitably unravels.

4/13, 10:15 PM - Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
In this screwball comedy from writer-director Preston Sturges, Rex Harrison played an egotistical symphony conductor who believes his wife has been unfaithful. During a concert he imagines three scenarios for dealing with her - including murder; however, his bumbling actions thwart his plans in the real world. Linda Darnell, "the girl with the perfect face," co-stars as the accused wife.

A Women's World: The Defining Era of Women in Film
TCM's Friday Night Spotlight this month features "woman's films" from the 1930s through 50s. The series is co-hosted by Robert Osborne and Cher, which would be incentive enough for me to tune in; however, the line-up of films showing life from a female perspective would be strong enough to draw me in without the promise of intros by Cher. I'm especially interested in the theme for week four, Women Taking Charge, featuring Ginger Rogers, Claudette Colbert, and (of course) Bette Davis.
4/26, 8 PM - The Great Lie (1941)
10 PM - Kitty Foyle (1940)
12 AM - The Palm Beach Story (1942)
1:45 AM - The Women (1939)