TCM TiVo ALERT
For
June
8–June 14
DAVID’S
BEST BETS:
GOING
IN STYLE (June 9, 8:00 pm): For a movie about a
bank heist, this is sweet and sentimental working largely because of
the acting and chemistry of the three leads: George Burns,
Art Carney and Lee Strasberg. I first saw this 1979
movie on a flight from New York City to Fort Lauderdale, and while
it's been a few years, I've seen it a number of times. The three
are senior citizens living a very boring existence together in a
Brooklyn apartment. One day, Burns suggests the three rob a bank,
which breathes life into the trio. Wearing novelty glasses and large
plastic noses, the three pull off the robbery
though Strasberg's character dies later that day from the
excitement. There are some fantastic scenes in the film, including
Burns and Carney as unlikely high rollers in Las Vegas. It
could easily crash and burn, but fortunately it's a fun film with
some great lines and excellent acting.
VILLAGE
OF THE DAMNED (June 14, 6:30 pm):
A very well-done and thoughtful sci-fi film. One day all
the people and animals in a quaint English town become
unconscious, wake up and two months later, all the women capable
of having children are pregnant. In all, 12
very white-looking kids are born. The children are
geniuses, are able to read minds and control others to do whatever
they want, including murder and suicide. As time passes, a professor
from the village (George Sanders) decides he's going to teach the
mutant kids, who want to take over the world, to use their powers for
good. While a nice idea, it's also poorly thought out as these
children are serious about world dominance. Realizing he's not
going to win, the professor plants a bomb to destroy the kids,
and thinks of a brick wall in order for the children to not read his
mind. Films like this can easily become cliche, ridiculous and
bad, but this one is special. Sanders is fantastic as usual and
the kids are great. It's a very entertaining horror film.
ED’S
BEST BETS:
GUN
CRAZY (June 12, 9:45 pm): Director Joseph H.
Lewis’s ahead-of-its-time noir about two lovers (Peggy Cummins and
John Dall) who go on a crime spree. Low-budget specialists Frank
and Maurice King, whose only caveat to director Lewis was not to go
over budget, produced it. Lewis, as I‘ve noted earlier, was a
specialist at saving a penny, as his career was spent in Poverty Row.
It also takes a load off when one is working from a terrific script
from blacklisted Dalton Trumbo (fronted by Millard Kaufman)
and MacKinlay Kantor, who wrote the original story. While
it was just another low-budget film here in America, over in France
it was discovered by the Cahiers crowd and lionized
as one of the great films from America. Such was its power that
directors Truffaut, Godard, Melville, and Chabrot all
stole from it. Its always great viewing and a Must See.
NIGHTMARE
ALLEY (May 12, 1:15 pm): Who knew Tyrone Power
could act? Well, he’s utterly magnificent in this film from
director Edmund Golding as ambitious carny worker
Stan Carlisle, who learns the tricks of the mentalist con
from Zeena (Joan Blondell) and her alcoholic husband,
Pete (Ian Keith). Having absorbed the act, Stan leaves for the big
time and become a famous mind reader, engaging in a confidence game
that ultimately leads to his downfall. Some critics have called it
the best B-movie ever made. It is also one of the classics of
film noir – and an essential.
WE
DISAGREE ON ... WHITE CARGO (June 10, 5:15 am)
ED:
B-. This is a hoot of a movie. Watch Hedy.
Watch Hedy try to act. Try not to laugh yourself silly
while watching Hedy try to act. Hey, she’s great to look
at, but when she openers her mouth the mystery disappears. With her
cocoa butter makeup and Pidgin English Hedy comes off like
a parody of the oversexed exotic temptress in this overcooked piece
of dated over-the-top misogyny. But, sad to say, she’s playing this
on the level, and it was not a performance that would help establish
her as a serious actress. Let’s face facts: if Monogram, Republic
or PRC put this out, I’d have given it an “F.” It’s
the sort of crap they would put out. But when MGM does it,
it makes to a classic of Trainwreck Cinema and hence the
enhanced grade. It’s always fun to watch big stars like Lamarr and
Walter Pidgeon embarrass themselves in crap like this. Just
watch, relax, and enjoy. It’s awful – and marvelously so at that.
DAVID:
D+. I largely agree with Ed on the many shortcomings
of this film, primarily the ridiculous plot and the terrible acting
of Hedy Lamarr. Where we differ is he is far more forgiving
of how bad this film is, giving it a B- compared to my more realistic
D+. MGM tried to pass Lamarr off as Tondelayo,
a half-breed African sexpot who seduces and then discards various
English men who work at a rubber plantation in Africa during World
War II. The acting is awful, even Walter Pidgeon, who is typically
very good; the storyline is absurd; and besides Lamarr's body, there
is nothing worth seeing here. This film does nothing to convince
anyone that Lamarr had any talent, and she would establish that
inability to act in other movies though this may be her worst role.
It could have been played for laughs because believe me there is
plenty to laugh at. Instead of being a satire on white men getting
jungle fever, it's simply a terrible film.
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