TCM TiVo Alert for March 23-31

TCM TiVo ALERT

For

March 23–March 31

DAVID’S BEST BETS:

THE PETRIFIED FOREST (March 23, 8:45 am): In one of his first major roles, Humphrey Bogart plays Duke Mantee, a notorious gangster on the run. Bogart was so great in this 1936 film as the heavy – bringing depth, emotion and character to the role – that Warner Brothers spent nearly five years casting Bogart in other movies as the bad guy. But very few were of this quality. Duke and his gang end up in a diner near the Petrified Forest in Arizona with the police chasing them. The gang takes everyone inside hostage, including Alan Squier (Leslie Howard), a once great writer who is now an alcoholic. Not fearing death because of what life has become for him, Squier engages Duke in conversation, pushing his buttons. The interaction between the two is outstanding. Also at the dinner is Gabrielle Maple (Bette Davis), who owns it with her father and grandfather. Davis is excellent and even subdued as a secondary character.

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (March 24, 1:30 am): It's horrifying in parts, but the story is told so well and the acting is superb. Alex (Malcolm McDowell) is the leader of the Droogs, a gang of thugs who get high on drug-laced milk and then terrorize London with "a little of the old ultraviolence," They brutally beat up, rape and/or kill arbitrary people for kicks (pun intended). The scenes are graphic, but some include a bit of entertainment. You'll never hear the song "Singin' in the Rain" the same way again. Alex is caught by the authorities and agrees to go through a process to remove his violent behavior by being repeatedly exposed to graphically violent scenes. He's then sent out into the world without the ability to defend himself, and payback is a bitch. Director Stanley Kubrick points the finger at people and government for society's violence and its failings. It's very well done, but be warned again, it's deeply disturbing. 

ED’S BEST BETS:

GOJIRA (March 23, 8:00 pm): This is not your father’s Godzilla, with Raymond Burr inserted for American audiences. No, this the original, inspired by a tragic accident that took place when America exploded the first H-Bomb in the Marshall Islands, which used to belong to Japan until World War II. A nearby fishing boat, thought to be out of range of the fallout, got caught and the crew died horribly. That was eight months before this film went into production. Godzilla is a metaphor not only for The Bomb, but for America. In other words, Godzilla R Us. Forget about the American version of the film, which at times didn’t appear to make sense amid all the cuts. This version makes perfect sense and it’s meaning is clear. It’s also a very frightening and serious film, in contrast to the ever increasing silliness of its sequels (except for the first, Gigantis the Fire Monster). It’s a picture that deserves to be seen.

THE THING (FROM ANOTHER WORLD) (March 23, 1:30 am): It’s the scientists (led by Robert Cornthwaite) versus the military (led by Kenneth Tobey) in this sci-fi classic about the discovery of a flying saucer and its occupant near the North Pole. The occupant is alive and represents a wealth of knowledge from an advanced society. One problem: he lives on blood and regards humans as only necessary for his subsistence. Also, he’s busy breeding more of him. Written by Charles Lederer, produced by Howard Hawks, and directed by Christian Nyby (though many film historians assert that it was Hawks who actually directed the movie and giving Nyby, his film editor by trade, a director’s credit), it combines horror and thrills with dark comedy, utilizing its setting well to give the film a claustrophobic feeling. If you’ve seen it before, watch it again. And if you haven’t – this is one film you can’t afford to miss. Also of note is composer Dimitri Tiomkin’s haunting score, achieved with a Theremin.

WE AGREE ON ...TORMENT (March 26, 2:00 am)

ED: A+. Director Alf Sjoberg’s bleak, coming of age drama, with a screenplay by Ingmar Bergman, is also an anti-fascist allegory in its study of the relationship between an idealistic and sensitive student (Alf Kjellin) in a strictly repressive school and his bullying Latin teacher (Stig Jarrel), who makes life hell for the young man. The fact that the young man’s father takes the side of the teacher without even listening to his son’s rational explanation is used by the director and screenwriter as a commentary on parents who ignore their children’s inner lives. The student’s ongoing relationship with an alcoholic store clerk who also moonlights as a prostitute leads to the discovery that the man she says is tormenting her is none other than the Latin teacher, and this discovery will lead to the student’s doom. Though the film is somewhat never in its narrative and execution, it gets points for its subject matter and its sharp black and white photography. Consider that while Sjoberg was making this drama, in America the best we could put out was a weak Val Lewton drama on the perils of juvenile delinquency (Youth Runs Wild) and that MST 3000 favorite – PRC’s I Accuse My Parents.

DAVID: A+. Ingmar Bergman wrote the screenplay and directed small parts of this film, including the finale with Alf Sjoberg as the director, If you watch Bergman-directed films you can see Sjoberg’s influence: The crisp black-and-white cinematography, effective use of shadows and  the slow mental breakdown of one of the main characters. Torment is about problems at a Swedish high school, primarily caused by a cruel and sadistic Latin teacher, (Stig Jarrel). We never learn the teacher’s name, but all of the students and some of the other teachers call him Caligula behind his back. (Yeah, he’s that bad.) The movie focuses on one student, Jan-Erik Widgren (Alf Kjellin), the target for much of Caligula’s torture. Widgren falls in love with a slightly older woman who works at a store near the school, selling cigarettes. A troubled soul, she tells Widgren of her victimization at the hands of a mysterious older man. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who is the older man. It's a deep and compelling film with an impressive conclusion.

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