TCM TiVo ALERT
For
May 23–May 31
DAVID’S
BEST BETS
THE
MORTAL STORM (May
25, 10:00 pm) – I'm amazed this hard-hitting anti-Nazi film was made in 1940
and released about 18 months before the United States got involved in World War
II. An extraordinarily powerful film about what happens to a group of friends
in a small Bavarian town when the Nazis take over Germany and attempt to
conquer Europe. Not only is the acting great, particularly Jimmy Stewart as an
anti-Nazi, and Robert Young, who become a Nazi zealot, but the story is
uncompromising and tragic. It's one of Stewart's finest roles. It's still as
important today as it was in 1940.
BADLANDS (May 31, 8:00 pm) – Martin
Sheen and Sissy Spacek show their incredible talents in this 1973 film, loosely
based on a serial killer and his girlfriend on a cross-country killing spree
during 1958. The two become more detached to reality as the film progresses.
The film focuses on the alienation and hopelessness felt by the two doomed
young criminals. Despite their horrific actions, you can't help feel somewhat
sorry for them. An excellent script and outstanding acting.
ED’S
BEST BETS
BABY FACE (May 29, 7:30 am) – Pre-Code films carry with
them a certain notorious cache, but this is the apex of the mountain. Stanwyck
is at her absolute best as a slum girl in Erie, Pa. whose father runs a
speakeasy and features her as “entertainment” for the customers. When he dies
in a still explosion, she takes the advice of a kindly old bookseller who has
been instructing her in the philosophy of Nietzsche and decides to be the one
this time that will exploit others. Landing in New York with her friend Chico
(Theresa Harris), she literally sleeps her way to the top, ruining several
lives in the process. Though it ultimately cops out in the end, there’s still
enough there to make your jaw drop. Hey, they just didn’t make films like that
back then . . . or did they?
CRIME DOCTOR MARATHON (May 31, beginning at 6
am) – Do you like a good mystery? Hey, who doesn’t? This marathon of seven
films features the exploits of Warner Baxter as Dr. Robert Ordway, a former
criminal gang leader who loses his memory in an accident while fleeing the police
and reinvents himself as a criminal psychologist with the help of kindly shrink
Ray Collins. There are seven movies in the marathon, all of them entertaining,
in which the Crime Doctor solves case after case without so much as the company
of a sidekick. In the hands of a master technician like Baxter, the series
never loses its edge and always remains fresh, even after repeated viewings.
WE DISAGREE ON . . . SERGEANT YORK (May
27, 8:00 pm)
ED: A+. Along with the later Air Force (also
directed by Howard Hawks), this is the best of the morale pictures. Gary Cooper
delivers a powerful performance as Alvin York, a man bedeviled by alcohol who
gets his soul back one rainy night, only to be caught up in the conflagration
known as World War I. Can he . . . Should he . . . abandon his newly found
pacifist principles and fight? That’s the crux of the movie and Hawks
delicately maneuvers it around to the dilemma America was facing in 1941 before
Pearl Harbor decided the question for us. As with any Warners picture, the supporting
cast is also compelling: Margaret Wycherly as York’s long-suffering mother;
Walter Brennan as the pastor who becomes York’s moral compass; Joan Leslie as
Alvin’s devoted sweetheart; Stanley Ridges as York’s commanding officer, who
uses tact to convince York to stay in the Army; and, finally, George Tobias as
York’s war-time buddy and who has one of the corniest death scenes in movie
history. Also be on the lookout for such stalwarts as Howard DaSilva, June
Lockhart, Tully Marshall, and Ward Bond, among others. It’s a definite “Must
See.”
DAVID: C+. Over the years, Club members have joked about
Gary Cooper's range as an actor. While I love his performances in a number of
films (High Noon, Meet John Doe and Ball of
Fire, to name a few), he usually acts like a block of wood thus the clever
nickname of Gary Cooperwood. Cooper won the Oscar for Best Actor for Sergeant
York. The title character, Alvin York, was the most decorated American soldier
during World War I. To me, the film is dull and at 134 minutes, it drags. It's
a war film so you'd expect a lot of action. There is some, but not nearly
enough. There are so many dead spots as we are painstakingly given way too much
information on York. It never keeps my interest for more than a few minutes at
a time. While considered a classic, I could never recommend someone investing
the time to watch this film.
.
Schedule Subject to Change (All Times Eastern)
May 23
6:00 am -- THE KENNEL MURDER CASE (WB, 1933): William
Powell, Mary Astor. Society sleuth Philo Vance investigates a murder tied to a
Long Island dog show. A MUST SEE! A+
7:30 am -- SAN FRANCISCO (MGM, 1936): Clark Gable,
Spencer Tracy, & Jeanette McDonald. A beautiful singer and a battling
priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloonkeeper in the days right before the
big earthquake. B
5:45 pm -- THE V.I.P.S (MGM, 1963): Richard
Burton, Elizabeth Taylor. Wealthy passengers fogged in at London’s Heathrow
Airport struggle with a variety of personal trials. C
8:00 pm -- THE VIRGINIAN (Paramount, 1946): Joel
McCrea, Brian Donlevy. Best friends soon become sworn enemies when one signs on
with a rustler in this remake of the 1929 classic. C+
10:00 pm -- UNION PACIFIC (Paramount, 1939): Joel McCrea,
Barbara Stanwyck. A crooked politician tries to stop the completion of the
transcontinental railroad. Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. A-
May 24
7:00 am -- GAMBLING LADY (WB, 1934): Barbara
Stanwyck, Joel McCrea. Two gamblers fall in love, but one is already married to
a possible murderer. B
8:15 am -- THE SPORT PARADE (RKO, 1932): Joel McCrea,
William Gargan. Football teammates McCrea and Gargan follow different paths
after graduation. One becomes a sports reporter while the other fails in the
pro game and ends up as a pro wrestler. B
12:00 pm --
LADY OF THE LAKE (MGM, 1947): Robert
Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan. Hard-boiled private eye Phillip Marlowe
(Robert Montgomery, who makes his directing debut) is on the case again. The
movie is filmed from the viewpoint of Marlowe. At times, the plot is confusing,
but a solid film noir. B+
3:45 pm -- THE LADY EVE (Paramount, 1941):
Wonderfully witty Preston Sturges film about a con-artist (Barbara Stanwyck)
who goes to take a wealthy but naive scientist (Henry Fonda) for a bundle but
ends up falling in love with him. It’s one of Sturges’ best. Charles Coburn is
in fine form as Stanwyck’s con-artist father. A
8:00 pm -- DILLINGER (Monogram, 1945): Lawrence
Tierney, Elisha Cook, Jr. Totally fictionalized account of the famous gangster,
but Tierney is great in the role. C+
9:30 pm -- AL CAPONE (Allied Artists, 1959):
Rod Steiger, Martin Balsam & Fay Spain. Steiger is Al Capone in a great
drama that uses more of the fact than others. Steiger just doesn’t chew the
scenery in this movie; he swallows it whole. It’s the best of the gangster bios. B+
1:15 am -- THE RISE AND FALL OF LEGS
DIAMOND (Allied
Artists, 1960): Ray Danton, Karen Steele. Budd Boetticher directed this
above-average tale of the dancer-turned-hoodlum. Look for Warren Oates and Dyan
Cannon in small roles. B-
3:00 am -- THE VALACHI PAPERS (Columbia, 1972): Charles
Bronson, Lino Ventura. The story of the man who came forward to expose the
inner workings of the Mafia after learning a contract was put out on him in
prison. C+
May 25
8:30 am -- DODGE CITY (WB, 1941): Errol Flynn,
Bruce Cabot. Soldier of fortune Flynn takes on old enemy Cabot, who runs Dodge
City. B-
11:30 am -- WYOMING (MGM, 1940): Wallace Beery, Leo
Carrillo, & Ann Rutherford. Beery and Carillo are outlaw pals tempted to go
straight. C
1:00 am -- SAN ANTONIO (WB, 1945): Errol Flynn, Alexis
Smith. A reformed rustler tracks down a band of cattle thieves and tries to
reform a crooked dance-hall girl. B+
3:00 pm -- VENGENCE VALLEY (MGM, 1951): Burt
Lancaster, Robert Walker. An honest rancher must block his evil brother’s plots
while hiding them from their father. C+
10:00 pm -- THE MORTAL STORM (MGM, 1940): James Stewart,
Frank Morgan, and Margaret Sullavan. An uncompromising look at what happens to
a small college town in Germany when the Nazis come to power. A MUST
SEE! A+
12:00 am -- STRANGE CARGO (MGM, 1940): From Weldon:
“Atmospheric-allegorical adventure of whores and Christ-figures involved in a
Devil’s Island penal-colony escape. With Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Ian
Hunter, Peter Lorre (as M’sieur Pig), and Albert Dekker. Different and recommended,
it was condemned by the Catholic Legion of decency.” A
May 26
9:00 am -- THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE (WB, 1953): Errol Flynn, Roger
Livesay. Flynn is a Scottish lord involved in the plot to put Bonnie Prince
Charlie on the English throne. C+
10:45 am -- THE PHANTOM THIEF (Columbia, 1946): Chester
Morris, George E. Stone. Murder strikes at a séance and Boston Blackie is
called to investigate. B
1:30 pm -- ANGEL AND THE BADMAN (Republic, 1947): John Wayne,
Gail Russell. Nursed back to health by a Quaker, a gunman tries to adopt her
peaceful ways. B-
3:30 pm -- OPERATION PACIFIC (WB, 1951): John Wayne,
Ward Bond. A dedicated submarine commander will stop at nothing to defeat the
enemy. C+
5:30 pm -- RED RIVER (U.A., 1948): John Wayne,
Montgomery Clift. A young cowhand (Clift) turns against his tyrannical adoptive
father (Wayne) during a big cattle drive. A+
8:00 pm -- DINNER AT EIGHT (MGM, 1933): Wallace
Beery, Jean Harlow, & Marie Dressler. David O. Selznick produced this
excellent ensemble piece about the goings-on behind the scenes during an
elegant dinner party. A+
10:00 pm -- TOPPER (Hal Roach/MGM, 1937):
Constance Bennett, Cary Grant, & Roland Young. The classic story about a
fin-loving couple that discover that they are dead and have come back as
ghosts, decide to shake up the stuffy lifestyle of their friend, Cosmo Topper
(Young). A
May 27
7:00 am -- COMMAND DECISION (MGM, 1949): Clark Gable, Van
Johnson. A general must face the terrible decision of sending his flyers on
suicide missions over Germany in the last days of World War II. A
9:00 am -- BATAAN (MGM, 1943): Robert
Taylor, Lloyd Nolan. Thirteen soldiers must hold a bridge against the advancing
Japanese. A-
12:45 pm -- BREAKTHROUGH (WB, 1950): David Brian,
John Agar, & Frank Lovejoy. An American infantry unit is followed from
basic training to fighting in Normandy. B
2:30 pm -- THE HILL (MGM, 1965): Sean Connery,
Ossie Davis. Prisoners fight to survive in a British military stockade. Great
film. B+
6:15 pm -- MERRILL’S MARAUDERS (WB, 1962): Jeff
Chandler, Ty Hardin. Sam Fuller directed this film about the general who led
his troops against the Japanese in the jungles of Burma. B
8:00 pm -- SERGEANT YORK (WB, 1941): Gary Cooper,
Walter Brennan. Rousing morale film based on the true story of Alvin York, a
hell raiser who got religion and wound up winning the Congressional Medal of
Honor in World War I. Ratings: See above.
10:30 pm -- TORA! TORA! TORA! (20th Century
Fox, 1970): Joseph Cotten, So Yamamura. A docudrama reenactment of the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor, before, during, and after. C
2:45 am -- GERMANY YEAR ZERO (Tevere Film, 1948):
Edmund Moeschke, Ernst Pittschau. Roberto Rossellini directed this stark look
at Postwar Germany. C
May 28
11:45 pm -- WHERE EAGLES DARE (MGM, 1969): Richard
Burton, Clint Eastwood. An Allied team sets out to rescue an American officer
held prisoner in a mountaintop castle. C-
2:30 pm -- THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (Columbia, 1961): Gregory
Peck, David Niven, & Anthony Quinn. A team of Allied saboteurs slips behind
enemy lines to take out a pair of big Nazi cannon. B
8:00 pm -- THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (Columbia, 1957): Alec
Guinness, William Holden. David Lean directed this epic re-telling of the story
of POWS forced by the Japanese to build a strategic bridge in
Burma. A++
11:00 pm -- THE GREAT ESCAPE (UA, 1963): Steve
McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, & James Donald. An all-star
cast enlivens this great docudrama about the largest P.O.W. escape ever to take
place in Nazi Germany. A+
2:00 am -- KELLY’S HEROES (MGM, 1970): Clint
Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, & Telly Savalas. American soldiers
plan a bank heist behind German lines during World War 2. Based on an actual
incident. B
May 29
7:30 am -- BABY FACE (WB, 1933): Barbara Stanwyck,
Theresa Harris. In this, the most notorious of the Pre-Code films, a beautiful
schemer sleeps her way to the top of a banking empire. A+
9;00 am -- EVER IN MY HEART (WB, 1933): Barbara
Stanwyck, Otto Kruger. In this soaper set during World War I, a woman suspects
her husband of being a German spy. C+
10:15 am -- LADIES THEY TALK ABOUT (WB, 1933): Barbara
Stanwyck, Preston Foster, & Lyle Talbot. After taking part in a bank heist,
tough cookie Stanwyck is sent to women’s prison, where she ends up as boss of
her cellblock. B+
1:15 pm -- THE SECRET BRIDE (WB, 1934): Barbara Stanwyck,
Warren William, & Glenda Farrell. State Attorney General (William) secretly
weds governor’s daughter (Stanwyck), then learns that her father may be at the
heart of a bribery/corruption case. B
8:00 pm -- CARMEN JONES (20th Century
Fox, 1954): Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte. An all Black cast updating
Carmen Jones to an army base. The operatic singing is dubbed, but Dandridge is
a delight. Directed by Otto Preminger. A-
10:00 pm -- BRIGHT ROAD (MGM, 1953): Dorothy Dandridge,
Harry Belafonte. Dandridge is unforgettable as a young elementary school
teacher who sees the potential in a trouble-making student. B
11:30 pm -- THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS (Columbia, 1951): Thomas Gomez,
Dorothy Dandridge. A programmer built around the famed basketball team with a
little romance thrown in. C
2:30 am -- TARZAN’S PERIL (RKO, 1951): Lex Barker,
Dorothy Dandridge. White gunrunners try to get Tarzan to stir up trouble
between warring tribes; failing that they try to kill Tarzan. C-
May 30
6:00 am -- THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET (MGM, 1934): Norma
Shearer, Frederic March, & Charles Laughton. Shearer and March are poets
Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning in this film about their
romance. Charles Laughton steals the movie as Elizabeth’s villainous
father. A+
1:00 pm -- NO MORE LADIES (MGM, 1935): Joan
Crawford, Robert Montgomery, & Charlie Ruggles. A society girl tries to
reform her playboy husband by making him jealous. C+
6:30 pm -- IRVING THALBERG: PRINCE OF HOLLYWOOD (Turner, 2005): A
documentary about the life and career of studio executive Irving Thalberg. A+
8:00 pm -- RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (MGM, 1962): Randolph
Scott, Joel McCrea. Sam Peckinpah’s tale of two aging gunslingers who sign on
to transport gold from a remote mining town. C
11:15 pm -- WELLS FARGO (Paramount, 1937): Joel
McCrea, Frances Dee. McCrea, struggling to build his express shipping service,
loses wife Dee in the process. B+
May 31
6:00 am – 2:45 pm -- CRIME DOCTOR MARATHON (Columbia, 1943-49):
Warner Baxter stars as Dr. Robert Ordway, a criminal that suffered amnesia and
later re-invented himself as a crime-fighting shrink in this series of seven
highly enjoyable mysteries. Overall Rating: B-
8:00 pm -- BADLANDS (WB, 1973): Martin Sheen, Sissy
Spacek. Sheen and Spacek (who narrates) play the real Charles Starkweather and
Caril-Ann Fugate, who went on a much-publicized killing spree through the
Dakota badlands in 1958. Well acted and directed. B+
10:00 pm -- BONNIE AND CLYDE (WB, 1967): Warren
Beatty, Faye Dunaway. Arthur Penn directed this highly stylized biopic of the
murderous duo. A-
12:00 am -- DOG DAY AFTERNOON (WB, 1975): Al Pacino,
John Cazale. A man tries to rob a bank in order to pay for his lover’s
sex-change operation. A
3:35 am -- INSIDE THE MAFIA (U.A., 1959): Cameron
Mitchell, Robert Stauss. A mobster out to rule the underworld takes hostages at
an international airport. C+
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