TCM TiVo Alert for April 23-30

TCM TiVo ALERT

For

April 23–April 30

DAVID’S BEST BETS:

OUT OF THE FOG (April 23, 6:30 pm): They Made Me a Criminal (1939) brought the great John Garfield to the attention of movie fans. Two years later, Out of the Fog proved that with the proper script, Garfield was among the elite actors of his era - an era that included Humphrey Bogart, Joseph Cotten, Cary Grant, James Stewart and Orson Welles. In this film, Garfield plays Harold Goff, a sadistic gangster who demands protection money from fishermen at a Brooklyn pier. He is incredibly cruel yet also charming as he falls for the daughter, played by Ida Lupino, of one of the fishermen he is terrorizing. It's one of Warner Brothers' best gritty film noirs. There is nothing likable about Goff, but you won't be able to stop watching until you see how he gets it in the end. 

THE APARTMENT (April 24, 8:00 pm): Director Billy Wilder's follow-up to the overrated Some Like It Hot, this wonderful comedy-drama stars Jack Lemmon as an opportunistic office worker who sort of sleeps his way to the top. Well, he lets his office managers use his apartment as a place to have sex with their various mistresses. Because of that, he gets promoted to the personnel department, where his supervisor, Fred MacMurray, so deliciously sleazy in this role, convinces his new assistant to let him have the apartment on an exclusive basis. MacMurray's latest mistress is the company's elevator operator (Shirley MacLaine), who Lemmon likes a lot, but doesn't say anything to her. A fabulous cast with one of Hollywood's best directors and an intelligent, funny script, and you have 1960's Oscar winner for Best Picture. It was nominated for nine others, winning four of those. Incredibly, MacMurray wasn't even nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

ED’S BEST BETS:

THE CREEPING UNKNOWN (April 28, 8:00 pm): The first in Hammer’s Quartermass Trilogy, starring Brian Donlevy as Professor Quartermass. He has just shot a manned rocket into space, but when it crashes upon return, one of the astronauts is missing and the other is in bad shape. The surviving astronaut, played well by Richard Wordsworth, has been infected by an alien fungus that is slowly changing him into a version of itself. A wonderfully creepy, tense, well-written and well-acted film based on the hit BBC miniseries by Nigel Kneale. Look for Jane Asher as a young girl Wordsworth encounters while on the run from the hospital.

THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE (April 29, 2:00 am): The films of Max Ophuls are noted for their subtlety, and this film is a prime example. Taking a simple premiss, that of a French woman whose series of white lies does her in, Ophuls raises it to the level of high tragedy. although it opened in the U.S. to mild praise, the film is viewed today as one of the greatest gems of movie history, and perhaps the acme of Ophuls’ career. Of course, a good cast helps, and Ophuls has a terrific one with Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux and Vittorio De Sica as his leads. Ophuls is in his element here, painstakingly designing mies-en-scenes that frame and define his characters, and combining that with close-ups that allow us some psychological insight into the characters. The plot is beautifully staged, opening and closing on the consideration of the eponymous piece of jewelry that passes from owner to owner until returning to Darrieux. This is a film of charm and beauty with a marvelous subtext of the pain that goes hand in hand with vanity and which no amount of lies can cover or explain.

WE AGREE ON ... THE WRONG BOX (April 26, 1:30 am)

ED: A. The Wrong Box is a beautifully constructed dark comedy centered around two brothers, Masterman Finsbury (John Mills) and Joseph Finsbury (Ralph Richardson), who are the last survivors of a tontine investment scheme. Whoever outlives the other will inherit the entire fortune. A tontine usually doesn’t work like this. Usually, each member gets a regular annuity payment which increases over time as investment members die. But then it wouldn’t be funny; having the last survivor get it all leads to all sorts of comic shenanigans. The brothers haven’t spoken for 40 years, despite living next to each other. When Masterman, who is desperately poor, learns he and his brother are the last two survivors, he plans to kill him and claim the money. Also complicating matters is Michael Caine as Michael, Masterman’s grandson, who falls in love with Joseph’s granddaughter, played by Nanette Newman. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are also aboard as Michael’s greedy cousins who are also after the fortune. However, it’s Peter Sellers, in a minor role as befuddled and bumbling Doctor Pratt. Although he has only two scenes, he nearly walks away with the picture, turning a couple of routine criminal encounters in his office, which is loaded with cats, into a full blown comedy of errors. At its heart, The Wrong Box is a delightful farce, backed by a superior script and loaded with outstanding performances, especially from Mills and Richardson. It also has what most farces lack: restraint, subtlety and a sly underlying wit. 

DAVID: A. Ed perfectly describes the plot so there's no need for me to restate it. It's an exceptionally funny dark comedy featuring some of the best British comedians of the era – notably Dudley Moore and Peter Cook, who were a legendary team, and the always brilliant Peter Sellers – along with excellent "serious" actors – in particular Ralph Richardson, Michael Caine and John Mills – who show their comedic talent. The 1966 film is an adaption of an 1889 book. While the film has a detailed absurd plot, it is the quips and sight gags that make me laugh out loud every few minutes. Because the plot is so outrageous, it's a testament to the actors that they're able to show some restraint as to not let the film's story spiral out of control. If you haven't seen it or it's been a few years since your last viewing, you owe it to yourself to watch it. If you've seen this film a few times, well, I don't need to convince you to watch it again. 

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