TCM
TiVo ALERT
For
January
8–January 14
DAVID’S
BEST BETS:
METROPOLIS (January
10, 8:00 pm): Not only is this 1926 masterpiece, directed by Fritz
Lang, the greatest silent film ever made, it's one of the 10 greatest
films of any kind in cinematic history. The special effects are at
least 40 years ahead of time, the set designs are stunning, and the
scenes with thousands of extras moving as one entity are incredible.
The compelling storyline is of a futuristic society in which the rich
live above ground while the workers live and work below ground
providing energy for the upper-class. The son of a rich industrialist
falls in love with a woman who wants to lead the workers in a
peaceful uprising for equality. A mad scientist at the behest of the
rich industrialist makes a robotic clone of the woman to lead the
workers astray. Lost scenes have been found and added numerous times
over the years. TCM is showing the restored 149-minute version of the
film, which includes some still photos and extra footage found in
2010 in Argentina. It's regularly on TCM. If you haven't seen it in a
while, definitely watch. If you have never seen it, you must.
ANNIE
HALL (January 11, 4:00 pm): The movie that
changed the cinematic career for Woody Allen, its lead
actor, director, and co-writer - and his fans. While Allen's previous
films weren't conventional comedies, the main focus was on being
funny; and so many of them were. There are still great comedic scenes
in Annie Hall, but this 1977 film is far more serious
than anything Allen ever made to that point. Allen plays Alvy
Singer, a neurotic intellectual comedian who falls in
love with the movie's title character (Diane Keaton). Hall is
fun-loving, carefree and a bit naive. Singer wants to change
Hall - including buying her books about death - and make her smarter.
The love affair falls apart, but the film delivers some great laughs
and an insightful analysis of relationships. The characters break the
"fourth wall" to deliver some of the movie's best lines,
including the opening with Singer saying, “There’s an old joke.
Two elderly women are at a Catskill Mountain resort, and one of them
says, ‘Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.’ The other
one says, ‘Yeah, I know, and such small portions.’ Well, that’s
essentially how I feel about life – full of loneliness, and misery,
and suffering, and unhappiness, and it’s all over much too
quickly.”
ED’S
BEST BETS:
MINISTRY
OF FEAR (January 10, 10:45 pm): Fritz Lang, along
with Alfred Hitchcock, was a master of the espionage thriller. And
this film is a prime example of what Lang could do when given the
right source material (Graham Greene’s novel of the same name), the
right screenplay (by Seton I. Miller), and the right cast, led by a
superb Ray Milland. And yet, Lang thought the film was not up to par;
he didn’t like the finished product. Well, Herr Lang, I did - I
loved it. Milland is superb as a recently released mental patient,
sent there after being wrongly convicted of killing his wife. He gets
caught up in a web of espionage, and we begin to wonder if the mad
house is the asylum or what passes for the real world outside the
asylum’s walls. It’s a film that pulls us in, whether we want to
enter or not, and one which builds to a great finish, Lang style.
Lang rarely lets me down.
THE
MALTESE FALCON (January 11, noon): Yeah, I know, this
is a no-brainer. But, believe it or not, there are some out there who
have never laid eyes on this masterpiece. And it’s time they
should. Humphrey Bogart was born to play Sam Spade, and he’s aided
and abetted by a stellar supporting cast, including Peter Lorre,
Sydney Greenstreet, Mary Astor, and Lee Patrick. It’s hard to
believe that this was John Huston’s directorial debut; it's handled
with the polish of a 30-year veteran. Huston also wrote the
screenplay, being judicious to stick as closely to the Dashiell
Hammett’s novel as was possible. It all makes for one of the most
unforgettable - and best - movies ever to come out of Hollywood. This
Best Bet commentary is aimed at those who have not yet seen this
wonderful noir, and an invitation to you to tune in. You’ll love
it.
WE
DISAGREE ON . . . CALIFORNIA SUITE (January 9, 1:30 am)
ED: A-. For
me, this is what I would describe as a “desert movie,” an
enjoyable piece of fluff whose main purpose is to entertain. And that
it does, a wonderful quartet of stories whose only connection is the
venue - the Beverly Hills Hotel - where each vignette takes place. It
boasts a terrific cast, with such players as Maggie Smith (who won
the Oscar for her performance), Michael Caine, Walter Matthau, Elaine
May, Jane Fonda, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, and Alan Alda. Director
Herbert Ross does a great job intercutting between the vignettes,
unlike the Broadway production, which featured each story in its
entirety. And if I were to choose one special reason for viewers to
watch, it would be the segment with Maggie Smith and Michael Caine.
Smith is absolutely brilliant as a distinguished British stage
actress who “slummed,” playing a supporting role in a film. To
her surprise, she’s nominated for an Oscar. The segment revolves
around her pre-ceremony anxiety, and after she loses, her drunken
despair. The writing here is possibly Neil Simon’s best,
with Smith and Caine, playing her homosexual husband, exchanging
cutting one-liners while coming to face the hard truths in their
relationship. As noted by author Roger Fristoe in TCM’s article on
the movie, Maggie Smith became the only person to win an Academy
Award for playing a person who loses an Academy Award. Although
I‘m not the biggest Simon fan, I find some of his works minor
masterpieces of comedy. This is one of them.
DAVID:
C-. The terrific cast – including Michael
Caine, Maggie Smith, Bill Cosby, Walter Matthau, Richard Pryor and
Jane Fonda – is the sole reason this film gets a passing
grade. The 1978 film adaption of this tired Neil Simon play doesn't
have anything else going for it. By this time, Simon had run out of
creativity and ideas. This is a recycled version of Plaza
Suite, a good 1971 film and a play before that, which is also
about people at a luxury hotel and the misadventures they have there.
Simon had a very good 10-year run of writing movies, mostly from his
plays, such as The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, The
Heartbreak Kid, Murder by Death and The
Goodbye Girl. The last one on that list would be his final
excellent movie. Instead of quality, moviegoers got garbage such
as Seems Like Old Times, I Ought to Be in
Pictures, Max Dugan Returns and a lot of sappy
Simon semi-biographical films. As for California Suite,
it tells four separate stories of people staying at the Beverly Hills
Hotel and the problems they experience. The movie is badly edited
going from slapstick comedy to really depressing scenes. The film is
stale with one-dimension characters and poor directing. While Pryor
and Cosby were in more than their share of film flops, you can't deny
they are two of the funniest comedians of their time. So what is done
with their story of two competitive doctors who end up waging war
during an intense mixed-doubles tennis game with their wives? It's an
after-thought, sliced and diced into small sections throughout the
movie. Yes, the story of Smith as the older actress and Caine as her
gay husband in a marriage of convenience is the best of the four.
Despite some strong acting, the film's plot and storylines are weak.
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