By
Ed Garea
NEWS
Jon
Saia informs us that his latest film project, Extraordinary
Machine,
about one woman's relationship with alcohol and her decision to take
back her life, is up and available on You Tube
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNhD-fQ3X-4).
It’s a beautifully assembled short film starring dancer Nikki
McCabe, and she is the reason to watch. Gorgeous and graceful, she
dominates the camera. You’ve heard the expression “the camera
loves her,” of course. In this case the saying is true. She
reminded me of Cyd Charisse in her movements and motion. The
accompanying soundtrack of “Extraordinary Machine,” by Fiona
Apple, fits perfectly with each movement of her lissome frame. Give
it a view. It’s short, but beware, it is
addictive.
Ms. McCabe is enchanting and you may find yourself watching this
multiple times.
THE
B-HIVE
May
continues on TCM with even more B-movie series - and a few A series
as well.
May
16: 6:30 am - 8:00 pm: The
Hardy Family. 8 pm - 1 am: The
Five Peppers. 1:00
am - Dr. Kildare.
May
17: 6 am - 3:15 pm: Dr.
Kildare. 3:15 pm - 8 pm: Dr. Gillespie.
May
22: 8 pm - 1:30 am: Nancy
Drew. 1:30 am - 6:30 am: Miss
Marple.
May
23: 8:45 am - 8 pm - Torchy
Blaine. 8 pm - 6:45 am: The
Thin Man.
May
24: 6:45 am - 3 pm Perry
Mason. 3 pm - 8 pm: Dick
Tracy.
May
29: 8 pm - 2:15 am: Boston
Blackie. 2:15 am – Bulldog
Drummond.
May
30: 6:30 am - 10 am: Bulldog
Drummond. 10 am - 8 pm: The
Saint. 8 pm - 7:45 am: Lassie.
May
31: 7:45 am - 4:30 pm: Adventures
of Rusty. 4:30 pm - 8 pm: Flipper.
ALASTAIR
SIM - MAY 18
Alastair
Sim stars in a double feature beginning at 8 pm. First up is the
hilarious School for
Scoundrels (1960). Henry Palfrey (Ian Carmichael)
is a poor soul and the newest pupil at The College of Lifemanship in
Yeovil. The owner of a small family business who is bullied and
humiliated by almost everyone he deals with daily, he even lost his
girl, April Smith (Janette Scott), to his rival, Raymond Delauney
(Terry-Thomas). After a short course in Lifemanship under Potter's
paternal supervision, Palfrey is a new man, getting back at all those
who made his life miserable. He even wins back April Smith. As the
film ends, the College acquires a new pupil: Raymond Delauney. Also
with Dennis Price and the talented Hattie Jacques.
At
10 pm Sim stars in The Belles of St.
Trinian’s (1954), a hilarious adaptation of
Ronald Searle's cartoons about a completely crazy school for girls.
The unruly and near bankrupt school is run by dotty headmistress
Millicent Fritton (Alastair Sim), who is delighted to have a new
pupil, the daughter of a wealthy race-horse owner. But Millicent’s
bookmaker brother, Clarence (also Sim), plants his daughter, Arabella
(Vivienne Martin), in the sixth form to pick up racing information
from the new girl. Over the course of the film a valuable race-horse
is kidnapped and must be found, for Millicent has bet the school
funds on the horse. Belles of St. Trinian’s is a
delightful farce, faithful to the vision of its creator, Searle, in
its madcap antics, and a comedy that will actually make one laugh.
ERMANNO
OLMI - MAY 20
Italian
director Ermanno Olmi is featured in two films beginning at 2 am with
his neorealist classic, Il
Posto (The
Job,
1961). The film follows the story of two suburban Italian youths,
Domenico (Sandro Panzeri) and Antonietta (Loredana Detto, who later married the director) who are no more than 17 or 18 and
meet while applying for a job in a big Milan corporation. They endure
a bizarre screening process of written exams, physical exercises and
weird interview questions such as “Do you drink to forget your
troubles?” and “Does the future seem hopeless to you?” Accepted
for employment, Domenico and Antonietta are assigned, respectfully,
to the “Technical Division” and “Typing Services.” Smitten
with each other on the first day at their new job, the two are
separated, working in different buildings with different lunch hours
and clock-out times.
Because
there are no vacancies in his department, Domenico works as an
underutilized errand boy until a clerical position becomes available
through the death of an older employee. From there, he takes his
place as one of 12 clerks in a small windowless room overseen by a
manager from a desk at the head of the room. He hopes to meet up with
Antonietta at the company’s holiday party, but is bitterly
disappointed when she fails to show. Olmi perfectly captures the soul
crushing corporate existence in a maze of hallways, staircases and
claustrophobic offices, as employees perform monotonous tasks and
jump to the lunch and quitting time buzzers for their only source of
relief. The last scene in the film sees Domenico sitting at his tiny
desk in the back of the small windowless room, the only sound being
that of the mimeograph machine as it runs off carbon copies next to
the manager's desk.
Il
Posto is based on the director’s own experience working as
a clerk for the Edisonvolta electrical company. The beauty of the
film lies not in the shared experience of the self-conscious
bittersweetness that comes with starting a new job and remembering
what it’s like to meet a new co-worker, hoping in time they may
becomes more than a friend. Critic Matt Bailey brilliantly makes the
point that while Fellini, Visconti, and Antonioni show us our lives
as we might like to imagine them to be, with lots of whimsical
romance, earth-shaking melodrama, and periods of insufferable ennui –
Olmi shows us our lives as they truly are: mundane, unimportant, but
touched with the occasional small moments of sublime pleasure and
crushing heartbreak. This is a finely crafted, unassuming and gentle
film, but one with the clarity of insight into the human condition.
Following Il
Posto at 3:45 am is Olmi’s 1963 romantic drama, I
Fidanzati (The Fiancees) a deeply
affecting, bittersweet film that could be subtitled “The Loneliness
of the Long-Distance Relationship.” Long-time sweethearts Giovanni
(Carlo Cabrini) and Liliana (Anna Canzi) have reached the stage in
their relationship where passion has given way to habit. The Milanese
factory where Giovanni works has offered him a promotion if he will
transfer to Sicily for 18 months or so to help with the new plant. He
accepts the offer and we see him arrive in Sicily, where he leads a
solitary and lonely life between his work and what passes for his
leisure time. He is an outsider who never quite fits in. (One of the
most poignant moments in the film is when he attempts to join in the
late-night antics at the factory’s residential hostel, as things go
from bad to worse.) In his solitary moments he hinds himself
constantly thinking about Liliana, as his melancholy moods stir up
memories, including those that aren’t particularly happy, as when
he treated Liliana poorly. Olmi uses a delicate parallel between
Giovanni’s situation and that of his elderly father, whom he placed
in a nursing home before he left. The caretakers assure him that life
will be good for his father, but the elderly can have a difficult
time, feeling abandoned when left on their own in this manner. If
they don't adjust, they will waste away. Giovanni realizes that here
in exile he could suffer the same fate. It is Liliana who throws him
a lifeline in the form of letters from home. As they correspond
they draw closer through the openness of this new form of
communication. Liliana notes the irony that when they were together,
they didn't talk nearly as much, which sets up a beautiful ending
from the director the offers hope for the couple.
PRE-CODE
May
18: At 8:45 am Ivan Lebedeff is sent to Bucharest to capture
a Mata Hari type spy in The Gay
Diplomat (1931), but many different women fit the
bill and are attractive enough to make him question his allegiance.
Speaking
of Mata Hari, Garbo stars as the famous spy, along with Lionel
Barrymore, in Mata Hari (1932),
at 6:15 pm.
May
21: A morning and afternoon dedicated to Robert Montgomery
contains the following Pre-Code gems: Private
Lives (7:30 am), But
the Flesh is Weak (9:00 am), Made
on Broadway (10:30 am), and When
Ladies Meet (11:45 am).
May
22: At 6:00 am, Sylvia Sidney stars in Elmer Rice’s
adaptation of his play about life in the New York tenements, Street
Scene, directed by King Vidor. Beautifully realized
and heartbreaking.
Marion
Davies poses as a French maid to win singing star Bing Crosby away
from tempestuous screen star Fifi D’Orsay in MGM’s Going
Hollywood at 12:15 pm. However, it’s Patsy
Kelly who walks away with the picture as a wisecracking, out-of-work
actress who befriends Marion.
May
25: Kay Francis is a doctor who has a secret to keep from
her partner Lyle Talbot in Mary
Stevens, M.D. at 7:30 am. Following at 8:45 am,
Greta Garbo is the title character in Queen
Christina. And at Noon Barbara Stanwyck schemes her
way up the corporate ladder by jumping in and out of beds in Baby
Face. Look for Theresa Harris as her BFF Chico.
PSYCHOTRONIA
May
19: Red Barry continues
his quest for two million dollars in stolen bonds at 9:30, followed
by Tarzan and the Huntress,
from 1947 at 10:00 am.
Barry
Newman is an ex-cop Vietnam hero who bets he can drive his Dodge
Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours despite being
chased by the police in 1971’s Vanishing
Point at 1:30 am. Cleavon Little and Dean Jagger
also star. Following at 3:30 am, it’s Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood)
versus vigilante motorcycle cops in Magnum
Force, from 1973.
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