Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Cinéma Inhabituel for May 16-31

A Guide to the Interesting and Unusual on TCM

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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