TCM TiVo Alert for June 15-22

TCM TiVo ALERT

For 

June 15–June 22

DAVID’S BEST BETS:

THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER (June 15, 8:00 pm): I'm a huge fan of the British kitchen sink/angry young man film genre, and there are very, very few finer than this one. Colin Smith (Tom Courtenay in his brilliant film debut) is a rebellious teenager in post-World War II England who ends up in a juvenile delinquent institution. While there, he discovers he has a talent for long-distance running. He's able to avoid the hard labor the other boys must endure because of his abilities. But the anger and resentment against a system that chews kids like him up and spits them out when they are no longer of any use is always in the back of his mind. The day of the big race against the nearby public school is an opportunity to shine leave Colin conflicted. In the end, he does what he believes to be the right thing to maintain his integrity and independence despite the consequences.

THE GRADUATE (June 20, 3:45 am): 1967 is a landmark year in cinema. Films were more daring and adventurous such as Bonnie and Clyde, In the Heat of the Night, Point Blank, Belle de Jour, Closely Watched Trains and The Graduate. The latter features Dustin Hoffman in his breakout role as Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate trying to figure out what to do with his life. One of his parents' friends, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), a bored and sexy suburban housewife, has something in mind for Benjamin. She carries on an affair that pushes the envelope of sexuality that was rarely seen before in an American film. It's funny, it's dramatic, it's got a great soundtrack from Simon and Garfunkel (even though it's three songs sung differently), and it challenges the conventional Hollywood movie fan. "Plastics."

ED’S BEST BETS:

FROM HELL IT CAME (June 18, 3:15 pm): An incredibly awful film about a South Sea islander put to death for supposedly fraternizing with visiting American scientists. It goes deeper than that, but as the ceremonial dagger is bring plunged into his heart he swears revenge and comes back, with the help of radiation, as a Tabanga, a walking tree monster. Scientists Tod Andrews and Tina Carver dig him up, place him on an operating table and stimulate his heart. He comes back to life and begins his revenge. The Tabanga is a tree with a permanent scowl on his face and walks at the pace of a snail on ether. Yet no one can outrun him. As critic Michael Weldon says, “With native dancers, girl fights, and a half-assed explanation involving an atom bomb of how all this came to be.” Bad script, bad direction, and bad acting make this one to catch. Tina Carver has the worst scream in movies. Don’t miss it.

DOUBLE WEDDING (June 20, 2:00 am): The chemistry between Myrna Loy and William Powell was so great that they could be paired in films other than The Thin Man series and still score a commercial and critical hit. This is another one of those pairings, and though a couple of notches below their other efforts, still a film worth watching, loaded with great dialogue and wit. Myrna is Margit Agnew, fashion executive and humorless control freak who micromanages not only every aspect of her life, but also the lives of her younger sister, Irene (Florence Rice) and her milquetoast fiancee, Waldo Beaver (John Beal). Margit has their wedding planned down to the last tiny detail. The only thing she’s overlooked is that Irene doesn’t want to marry a milquetoast and in a fit of rebellion she tells her sister she’s in love with Charlie Lodge (Powell), a bohemian artist who lives in a trailer. The idea is complete anathema to Margit, who wastes no time in confronting Charlie about giving up Irene. During the course of this Charlie sees that it’s Margit who is the one for him. However, to make everything go smoothly and make everyone happy, Charlie will have to help Waldo get a backbone. A sad note: during filming, Powell’s girlfriend Jean Harlow died from kidney failure and her death left the actor and everyone of the set devastated. Loy commented in her autobiography that this is one film that she cannot bear to watch because of the sad memories.

WE DISAGREE ON ... LILI (June 19, 6:00 am)

ED: A. I wouldn’t exactly describe Lili as a musical; for me, it’s more on the side of a romantic adult fairy tale, with a strong emphasis on the word “adult.” Believe it not, the film was inspired by a 1950 story by Paul Gallico entitled, “The Man Who Hated People,” about an anti-social puppeteer who had his own television show.  Gallico, in turn, was inspired by the television puppet show Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Set in Postwar France, it’s the story of Lili Daurier (Leslie Caron in a beautifully spun and heart rendering performance); a 16-year old orphan who arrives at a small French village, only to discover the family friend she is looking for has died. With no friends or family, she begs a local merchant for a job. He takes her desperation as opportunity and tries to rape her. She is saved in the nick of time by Marc (Jean-Pierre Aumont) a magician in a traveling carnival. She falls in love with Marc, but he is married to his glamorous assistant (Zsa Zsa Gabor in a restrained performance). She joins the carnival, but fails in her job as a waitress in the carnival café.  Now lonely and depressed, she attempts to kill herself, but is saved once more – this time by the lame puppeteer Paul (Mel Ferrer in a brilliant performance as a disabled war veteran who had aspersions of becoming a dancer). He speaks to her through his four puppets: the kindly, helpful Carrot Top, the self-absorbed Marguerite, the wily thief Reynaldo the Fox and cowardly giant Golo, who only wants to be loved. Paul is filled with resentment about his situation, but takes pity on Lili. She, in turn, is so charmed by the puppets that she forgets his presence and comes to view the puppets as real people. The film focuses on their relationship as Lili’s interaction with the puppets brings in throngs of paying customers and makes her the star of the carnival. Through the “love” of the puppets, Lili begins to blossom from waif into a beautiful young woman, and Paul begins to realize his own love for her while she continues her infatuation with Marc. The film climaxes in a fantastic dream ballet, where Lili begins to sort out her feelings. The film was nominated for six Oscars, with a typical Hollywood turn. “Hi Lili, Hi Lo,” for which the film is best known today, was not nominated for Best Song, but composer Bronislau Kaper won for Best Score. But what really amazes me is how they got away with this thinly veiled Freudian story in ‘50s Hollywood.

DAVID: C-. There's nothing adorable about this "coming of age" movie. It's actually rather creepy. Lili (Leslie Caron) is a 16-year-old orphan from the sticks who is rescued by a carnival magician from a rape attempt by a shopkeeper. She falls in love with "Marcus the Magician," who happens to be about twice her age, oh, and he's also married to his assistant, Rosalie (Zsa Zsa Gabor). As she considers killing herself, Lili is saved by puppets. Yes, she is saved by puppets. She talks to the puppets as if they are real which begs the question: is Lili an incredibly immature 16-year-old or is she mentally challenged? The puppets are controlled by Paul (Mel Ferrer), who used to be a great dancer but is lame after a war injury. He is now working the puppets to make a buck. Like Marcus, he's also a lot older than Lili, and in love with the underage girl, but too shy to tell her. It's either that or he's concerned about being charged with statutory. He also gives her a nice slap across the face for still loving Marc after it's revealed Rosalie is his wife. Meanwhile, the Lili-puppet "act" – I use quotation marks because the audience is led to believe Lili thinks the puppets are real – draws crowds to the carnival. After realizing that she needs to wake up from her childlike dream, she decides to leave the carnival. But Lili apparently still lives in a dream world. As she's walking away, she imagines she's dancing with Paul's puppets, only they are life-size and they all turn into their puppeteer. Lili then runs back to Paul and he passionately kisses the 16-year-old girl with the puppets applauding. When you look at it that way, it's not a charming film. It's only 81 minutes long so it's not like viewers are wasting a lot of time on the movie. But there are plenty of better things to do with your time than watch this.

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