TCM
TiVo ALERT
For
May
1–May 7
DAVID’S
BEST BETS:
THE
MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (May 1, 3:45 am):
Orson Welles' brilliant follow to Citizen Kane stars
Joseph Cotten (one of film's greatest actors in only his second
movie) as Eugene Morgan, a charming and successful automobile
manufacturer in the early 1900s. Twenty years after he returns to
town, Eugene falls in love with Isabel Amberson (Dolores Costello), a
former flame who is widowed. But Isabel's son, George (played by Tim
Holt), steeped in his family's tradition and name, interferes in the
love affair between his mother and Eugene, who want to marry. The
film is beautifully shot with incredible acting and a compelling
storyline about those who go to unbelievable lengths to
keep their pride at the expense of their own personal happiness and
of their families.
THE
SCARLET PIMPERNEL (May 6, 12:30 pm): Leslie Howard is
perfectly cast as the title character in this film about the Scarlet
Pimpernel, a mysterious hero who saves the lives of French nobles
during the height of that country's revolution. Howard is an effete
English nobleman who is so meek that even his wife doesn't suspect he
is the heroic Scarlet Pimpernel. The storyline is entertaining and
smart with a wry sense of humor, the film is fast paced and the
acting is excellent. Howard's ability to go from the weak English
aristocrat to the heroic Pimpernel is remarkable and makes this film
a fun one to watch.
ED’S
BEST BETS:
WHITE
HEAT (May 1, 10:15 pm): Jimmy Cagney was never better
than in this gangster saga of a psycho gang leader dominated by his
mother. Edmund O’Brien is also great as the federal agent that goes
undercover to help catch him. And don’t forget Margaret Wycherly in
probably her best performance as Cagney’s mother. With Virginia
Mayo as Cagney’s disloyal wife and Steve Cochran as gang member
“Big Ed,” a man with big ideas and nothing else. It boasts one of
the best endings in the history of film.
GALLIPOLI (May
2, 10:00 pm): Peter Weir’s masterpiece about the failed invasion of
Turkey in World War I, recreates not only stirring battle scenes, but
also the culture of patriotism and mythology that led a volunteer
army of Australians and New Zealanders to fight in a European war
that meant little or for both nations. Mark Lee and Mel Gibson are
exceptional as the two Australian buddies who enlist, one out of
patriotic fervor, and the other out of comradeship and a chance at
glory and promotion. The Battle of Gallipoli is still remembered and
commemorated today in Australia and New Zealand as “Anzac Day.”
WE
DISAGREE ON ... IMITATION OF LIFE (May 1, 8:00 pm)
ED:
C+. The professional wrestler known as The Rock used
to have a slogan, “Know your damn role.” The slogan fits this
remake of the 1934 original perfectly. This film is a lot slicker and
boasts better production values than the original, but in the end
it’s a maudlin, preachy, lifeless, and rather shameless piece of
celluloid notable only for the performances of a talented cast. In
this version, Lana Turner as a movie star replaces the hard-driving
executive Claudette Colbert played. Lana is bad because she devotes
so much time to her career that she neglects daughter Sandra Dee, who
winds up playing patty cake with Lana’s boyfriend, John Gavin.
Turner’s maid, Juanita Moore, is subservient, which is good (she
knows her damn role) and has a daughter who can pass for white, as in
the original. But the kid is ambitious and doesn’t want Mommy
around to inform people that she is black (bad - she doesn’t know
her damn role). The kid thus becomes the villain of the piece; she
degrades her mother at every turn and ends up worrying Mother to
death. Only then is the kid truly sorry, realizing she didn’t know
her damn role. The film fits the classic definition of “contrived,”
for I can’t buy into one second of this suds-filled melodrama. The
original’s also no favorite of mine, but I can let it pass because
of the time it was made. Back then it’s theme almost seemed
liberating, as it pushed the African-American characters to the
forefront with little or almost none of the usual stereotyping to
common to films of that era. But this is the late ‘50s. We should
be beyond that point in dealing with race relations, and the fact
that Hollywood still doesn’t get it at this late point is yet
another indictment against an industry that should have us looking
forward rather than backward.
DAVID:
B+. Ed makes
a persuasive argument and I agree with some of his points.
The film's cast is talented, actually very talented. As for the
production values, they are exceptional, and the storyline holds a
lot of promise. Based on those attributes, this movie should rate an
A+. But for some of the reasons Ed articulated – I
personally felt frustrated watching the supposedly enlightened Lora
Meredith (Lana Turner) employing only "House Negroes" after
making it big and never really treating her maid/best friend Annie
Johnson (Juanita Moore), who is black, as her equal – I
dropped it a full letter grade to B+. But make no mistake about it,
this is a fine film with many levels of a sophisticated story shown
in very subtle ways that the viewer may not pick up on them watching
it one time. The most significant examples occur when Johnson is
dying. In one case, Meredith is hugging Johnson as she dies and the
camera shows for just a few seconds a photo behind them of the dead
woman's smiling daughter, the same girl who rejected her mother's
love because of her color. The daughter, Sarah Jane, is so
light-skinned that she passes for white and enjoys the benefits of
not being black except when people see her mother and reject the
daughter. The other is while Sarah Jane is devastated by the passing
of the mother – who died of a broken heart because of her
daughter's rejection – she is also almost relieved,
hoping that will change her life, which has already spiraled out of
control. The movie's strength isn't in its attempts to show racial
tension, but in its presentation of the breakdown of family bonds.
Turner is the star and gets top billing. However the best
performances come from Moore and Susan Kohner, who plays Sarah Jane
when she's older.
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