TCM TiVo Alert for September 8-14

TCM TiVo ALERT

For

September 8–September 14

DAVID’S BEST BETS:

TAXI DRIVER (September 8, 1:30 am): This film expertly captures the grit, dirt and violence of New York City in the mid-1970s. Robert De Niro is perfectly cast as a disturbed taxi driver who is obsessed with a teenage prostitute (Jodie Foster) and who thinks a nice first date is going to see a pornographic film. It also gave us one of the greatest lines in movie history: "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the f--- do you think you're talking to?"

BULLETS OR BALLOTS (September 13, 2:15 pm): This is a classic Warner Brothers gangster film with all of the right elements. Bullets or Ballots (1936) is the first of five films to team Edward G. Robinson with Humphrey Bogart. Eddie G. is great as a police detective who goes undercover to infiltrate a gang that includes Bogie, who is suspicious of the supposed ex-cop. Bogart is outstanding as the calculating bad-guy character he perfected before becoming the anti-hero a few years later. Joan Blondell is her typical excellent self, and Barton MacLane gives one of his best performances. The film packs a lot of action and snappy dialogue into 82 minutes, and is such a joy to watch. It is must-see viewing for fans of the Warners gangster film genre and lovers of classic movies for the first-time pairing of Robinson and Bogart. Myah!

ED’S BEST BETS:

CARRY ON CABBY (September 8, 11:30 pm): The Carry On films have always held a special place in my heart. When I was in the 8th grade, they were shown at 1:00 on Monday mornings by Channel 4 in New York, and I used to stay up to catch them, which made for some sleepy Mondays in school. But I loved them; their lowbrow humor never failed to make me laugh, and I count this one as my personal favorite. The great Sidney James is the owner of a successful taxicab company who is so involved in his business that he forgets his wedding anniversary. To get revenge, his wife, played by the hilarious Hattie Jacques, starts her own cab company, called “Glamcabs” and staffed by female drivers. Soon she’s dominating the business and poor Sid can’t figure out why his competition is always one step ahead of him. Also starring series regulars Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey.

A MAN’S CASTLE (September 12, 11:45 am): A great Pre-Code romance of sorts with Spencer Tracy as an unemployed Hoovertown shanty tough guy and Loretta Young as a penniless showgirl who moves in with Tracy, becomes pregnant by Tracy, and sticks it out even when Tracy turns to crime. We know it’s Pre-Code because they never marry. It’s strong stuff and worth your time. Expertly directed by Frank Borzage.

WE AGREE ON … PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (September 12, 8:00 pm)

ED: A. This romantic melodrama, disguised as a ghost story, begins with, as Pauline Kael attests, “a glorious con of a preface, designed to soften the audience for the fantasy to come.”  The narrated preface is from Euripides: Since time began man has looked into the awesome reaches of infinity and asked the eternal question: What is time? What is life? What is space? What is death? Through a hundred civilizations, philosophers and scientists have come together with answers, but the bewilderment remains... Science tells us that nothing ever dies but only changes, that time itself does not pass but curves around us, and that the past and the future are together at our side for ever. Out of the shadows of knowledge, and out of a painting that hung on a museum wall, comes our story, the truth of which lies not on our screen but in your hearts. What follows is a story of painter Eben Adams (Joseph Cotten) during the Depression who falls in love with the spirit of a dead girl named Jennie Appleton (Jennifer Jones) who appears, disappears and reappears as she grows older. Selznick based his exercise in mystical romance on the novella by Robert Nathan, then piled on the glop: a lush score by Dimitri Tiomkin, an over-the-top hurricane scene and the final masterful portraits Adams paints of Jennie, all filmed in glorious Technicolor. It’s downright silly, as are all ghostly romances, but it works, and works magnificently. The result is that we find ourselves glued to the screen. William Dieterle directs, although with Selznick, we wonder just how much input he was allowed. However, the real star is cinematographer Joseph August, whose camerawork produces mystical images to capture the spirit of this fantasy about art inspired by life and death. 

DAVID: A. On its surface, this 1948 film shouldn't work as the plot can be somewhat silly, but between the cinematography and outstanding acting, it's a romantic fantasy classic. Developed by producer David O. Selznick for his muse – and later his wife – Jennifer Jones, it's the story of painter Eben Adams (Joseph Cotten), who has the talent, but not the inspiration to be a great artist. One day in Central Park, he meets a charming young girl Jennie Appleton (Jennifer Jones), who gives him that needed inspiration. He draws her and it immediately attracts the attention of Miss Spinney (Ethel Barrymore), an art dealer who sees great potential in Eben. He meets Jennie on numerous other occasions over what seems like a few months, but she ages far more rapidly, and the two fall in love. While he believes Jennie to be real, she's actually a ghost who died years earlier. The film is supposed to showcase Jones, but it is Cotten who truly shines as he did in so many movies from the 1940s including Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Gaslight, Shadow of a Doubt and The Third Man. Kudos to Joseph H. August for his brilliant cinematography. The use of green in a New England hurricane scene and Technicolor in the final shot of the Portrait of Jennie hanging in a museum are very effective. The rest of the cast – even though there aren't too many of them and they aren't in the film very long – is wonderful including Barrymore, David Wayne and Lillian Gish. A little bit of trivia: in that final museum scene, there are three teenage girls admiring the painting including Nancy Davis, later to be Nancy Reagan.

For the complete list of films on the TCM TiVo Alert, click here.