Classic Movie Picks: November 2014

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.)

11/17, 8 PM - The Last Command (1928)
TCM's November Star of the Month is technically many stars -- the notable names of the silent film era. Emil Jannings, the star of my pick for tonight, was a popular silent film actor and even won the first Academy Award for Best Actor in 1928. However, his thick German accent made the transition to talkies problematic and his Hollywood career ended soon after the advent of sound. Starring alongside Jannings in The Last Command is an actor who was not held back by the change over to sound, and would become a huge star in the decades to come: William Powell. Jannings plays a former Russian Imperial general who, 10 years after the Russian revolution, is scraping by a living in Los Angeles as a movie extra. Powell is a famous film director, and former Russian revolutionary, who recognizes Jannings as a bully from the old country and casts him in a film as an act of revenge.


11/21, 8 PM - Duel (1971)
This month, TCM's Friday Night Spotlight features "Road Trip" movies hosted by comedian Bill Hader. The featured movies run the gamut from romantic comedy (It Happened One Night) to crime drama (Detour). I'm especially interested in this thriller starring Dennis Weaver as a lone motorist menaced by a mysterious truck driver. Though it was originally made for television, an extended version of Duel was released in theaters overseas, making it director Steven Spielberg's first major motion picture. I've always heard that it's a fun and suspenseful film which marked Spielberg's debut as a filmmaker to watch, so I'm looking forward to finally seeing Duel!

11/23, 8 PM - Plymouth Adventure (1952)
MGM gave the epic treatment to the Pilgrims' journey from England to America with this film centering on the captain of the Mayflower, played by Spencer Tracy. The Captain must deal with sea storms and a forbidden romance with Dorothy Bradford (Gene Tierney), wife of the Pilgrim's leader William Bradford. The film won an Oscar for its special effects, but ultimately was not a big hit. There aren't many movies with a Thanksgiving theme (granted, this one doesn't even really about the first Thanksgiving, just the Pilgrims), so I'm willing to give this one a try for the sake of getting in the holiday spirit.
If you are looking for some movie picks to build up your appetite in anticipation of the turkey dinner, check out my previous blog "A Filmable Feast."


11/25, 8 PM & 11:15 PM - A Night at the Movies: George Lucas and the World of Fantasy Cinema (2014)
9:15 PM - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
This installment of TCM's "classic film 101" documentary series, A Night at the Movies, looks at the broad category of fantasy film, featuring an interview with filmmaker George Lucas and clips of films through the decades, from King Kong and The Wizard of Oz in the 30s to Back to the Future and Labyrinth in the 80s, and of course a discussion of Lucas' Star Wars series.
The evening's (and next day's) line-up includes notable films from the fantasy genre, starting off with a favorite of mine, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty starring Danny Kaye as an average man with a better than average imagination.


11/26: Art Thefts
8 PM - Arsene Lupin (1932)
9:30 PM - Gambit (1966)
11:30 PM - The Fake (1953)
1 AM - The Happy Thieves (1962)
2:45 AM - The Light Touch (1952)
4:30 AM - Crack Up (1946)
I'm glad that this line-up of films about art thefts comes the night before Thanksgiving -- since I'm not going to work the next day, I'm free to stay up all night and watch movies! As a former art student and lover of a good heist, these films are right up my alley. Gambit, starring Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine, is a favorite of mine which takes a fresh approach to the story of a meticulously planned heist; however, the other films are new to me. The line-up features stars John Barrymore, Rex Harrison, Rita Hayworth, Stewart Granger, George Sanders, and Claire Trevor (just to name a few) and the stories include stolen sculptures, forgery rings, fake daVincis, and even murder - should be an exciting evening!

Classic Movie Picks: March 2014

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.)

Carson on TCM
On Tuesdays at 8 PM, TCM will air 1-hour blocks of interviews which originally aired on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson between 1972 and 1987. It was a transition period in celebrity culture; gone were the days of the studio publicity machine which crafted each star's public persona, but we had not yet achieved the "all-access" overkill of today in which any mystique is quickly dissolved by looking at a star's Twitter feed. 
I find these interviews intriguing because for many of the featured stars, such as James Stewart (1976) and Lauren Bacall (1980), the height of their careers occurred decades earlier, so we are seeing Hollywood royalty with nothing to prove. For other stars, like Diane Keaton (1972) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (1982), the interviews took place as they were getting their big breaks and a good appearance on Carson was an important step in their careers. Plus, the 70s and 80s era fashions are always a delight. (Check out Ed McMahon shilling Jaymar slacks in this clip from 1973.)

Friday Night Spotlight: Food in the Movies
This month's spotlight rests upon films in which food plays a major role -- whether it drives the plot, as in Big Night, or features in one memorable scene, as in Cool Hand Luke. There are 16 films total, each introduced by celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. Here are a few that I'm looking forward to, including two of my favorite foodie films on 3/28. 
3/7, 8 PM - Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
3/7, 10:15 PM - Mostly Martha (2001)
These two films both center around the complicated personal lives of talented chefs. In the first film from Taiwan and directed by Ang Lee, the chef must deal with the tangled love lives of his three daughters. The second film features romance between a driven female chef and her more carefree sous-chef. Mostly Martha, which is a German production, was blandly remade in the U.S. in 2007 as No Reservations. 
3/14, 12 AM - My Dinner with Andre (1981)
Featured under the theme "Dinner and Conversation," this film is more about food for thought than what's on the plate. (And after an evening of banter with Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, the whole family will surely be begging for My Dinner with Andre action figures to act out the scenes again and again.)
3/28, 8 PM - Big Night (1996)
3/28, 10 PM - Babette's Feast (1987)
Best not watch either of these on an empty stomach. The feasts which make up the climax of each film are truly extraordinary, though I might give the edge to Big Night's timpano.

One year, in honor of Thanksgiving, I devised a "filmable feast" of great movies which went from cocktails to dessert; you can read that here.

3/12: William Powell's Birthday
William Powell was one of the suavest leading men of the 30s and 40s, a reputation well-deserved from films such as My Man Godfrey and the Thin Man series. However, I think that half of the fun of a Powell movie is seeing the interplay between him and his leading lady. In Godfrey, he is the calming force opposite Carole Lombard's dizzy heiress.  As Nick to Myrna Loy's Nora in The Thin Man, he gets to be a bit goofy and broad while Loy maintains the more even keel. Today's birthday tribute includes nine of Powell's less familiar films, each one featuring a different co-star. They all sound intriguing, but here are my top 5 picks based on the top actresses starring in each. I can't wait to see what different dynamics develop with each pairing.
10 AM - Rendezvous (1935), Rosalind Russell
11:45 AM - Reckless (1935), Jean Harlow (Powell's off-screen girlfriend, as well)
1:30 PM - The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937), Luise Rainer
3 PM - I Love You Again (1940), Myrna Loy
5 PM - The Heavenly Body (1943), Hedy Lamarr

3/23, 2 AM - Fists in the Pocket / I pugni in tasca (1965)
Director Marco Bellocchio's feature debut belongs to the radical mid-sixties movement of Italian cinema. Often the films of this era just don't capture my interest; however, Fists did stand out to me, perhaps because it is a bit weird. The story centers on a provincial Italian family consisting of an elderly widowed mother and her four grown children. The members of the family are all in their own way perceived as "defective" -- the mother is blind and utterly dependent, the youngest son is severely handicapped, the daughter is emotionally stunted, and the middle son suffers from epileptic seizures. The oldest son would like to get married, but lacks the financial resources to break away. So, the middle son, Alessandro, devises a plan to kill off the members of his family, ending with himself, so that his older brother can be free of their burden. Alessandro, as portrayed by Lou Castel, is a magnetic and memorable character. His rejection of religion, nationalism, and family pride would be echoed by rebels in the counterculture movement of the late sixties, as well as the punks of the late seventies. If you are looking for movie glamour, this is not your film. As Renata Adler put it in her (positive) NY Times review from 1968, this film is "about as attractive as somebody coughing wretchedly beside you on a subway." However, if you are looking for a unique movie experience, you might give this one a try.

3/31, 8 PM - Eva Marie Saint: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival
In this interview filmed at the 2013 festival, the Oscar-winning actress discusses her long career in which she co-starred with such greats as Marlon Brando, Montogomery Clift, Cary Grant, Elizabeth Taylor, and Paul Newman. The interview is followed by three of Saint's best-known films: On the Waterfront (1954), Raintree County (1957), and North by Northwest (1959).

Classic Movie Picks: December

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.)

12/6, 8 PM & 11 PM - A Night at the Movies: Merry Christmas (2011)
This new TCM documentary is all about iconic holiday films. The Night at the Movies series offers the standard fare of film clips mixed with interviews, but there are always interesting bits of trivia that make these hour-long docs worth a look.
BONUS: TCM has scheduled 30 holiday-themed films this month and you probably haven't seen them all, so why not tune in on December 6, 13, 16, 20, 24, and 25 for a little Christmas spirit!

12/10: Directed by Edward Dmytryk
8 PM - The Caine Mutiny (1954)
10:15 PM - Obsession (1949)
12 AM - Back to Bataan (1945)
1:45 AM - The End of the Affair (1955)
3:45 AM - Till the End of Time (1946)

Edward Dmytryk worked his way up through the studio system from messenger boy to editor at Paramount, and eventually directed films for Monogram, Columbia, and RKO. As one of the Hollywood Ten, Dmytryk was blacklisted for his connections to the Communist Party and imprisoned for 6 months on the charge of contempt of Congress. After a brief exile in England, he went before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951, and agreed to name names. His testimony made him a controversial figure, but he continued to work directing studio films for 20 more years. Tonight's line-up features two pre-HUAC war films (Back to Bataan, Till the End of Time), one psycho-noir made in England (Obsession), and two of his high-profile post-blacklist efforts (The Caine Mutiny, The End of the Affair).

Till the End of Time has particular significance for Dmytryk since it was on this film that he met his second wife, actress Jean Porter. Though they were married until Dmytryk's death in 1999, the union had an unfortunate effect on her career - because their romance began while Dmytryk was still legally married to his first wife, MGM punished Porter by refusing to hire her again. Despite the controversy that surrounded him, Dmytryk was a skilled director whose films are worth watching.

12/13, 11:45 PM - The Great Rupert (1950)
Jimmy Durante and Terry Moore star in this film about a poor family who receives a little help from above - in the form of a squirrel named Rupert. It is a cute, holiday film which young children (and, of course, the young-at-heart) will especially enjoy.

The 12/13 showing is part of TCM's Christmas programming, but this film is also playing on 12/3 at 9 AM.

12/22, 8 PM - On the Case with Nick and Nora!
I'm especially looking forward to the early Christmas gift of all six films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as amateur detectives Nick and Nora Charles. The first, The Thin Man, is probably the best, but all these films are worth watching for the great interplay between Loy and Powell.
BONUS: Star of the Month William Powell is featured every Thursday in December. I always enjoy his mix of wit and style, with a generous dollop of broad comedy, but never more than when he's paired with the delightful Myrna Loy. Including the Thin Man films, Powell and Loy appeared onscreen together 14 times - and you can see seven of their collaborations starting at 8 PM on 12/29 and extending into the next morning!

12/27, 1:15 AM - Daleks -- Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1967)

Attention Whovians! Fans of Dr. Who may enjoy this film which is loosely based on the British TV series, if only to spot the changes made to the characters during the translation from small screen to big screen. Peter Cushing plays a human doctor named Who, not an alien Time Lord as on TV, traveling through time with his granddaughter, niece, and a London policeman to thwart an invasion by the dastardly Daleks.

Happy Holidays!