TCM TiVo Alert for September 15-22

TCM TiVo ALERT

For

September 15–September 22

DAVID’S BEST BETS:

TAXI DRIVER (September 17, 12:15 am): This film expertly captures the grit, dirt and violence of New York City in the mid-1970s. Robert De Niro is perfectly cast as a disturbed taxi driver who is obsessed with a teenage prostitute (Jodie Foster) and who thinks a nice first date is going to see a pornographic film. It also gave us one of the greatest lines in movie history: "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the f--- do you think you're talking to?"

CAT PEOPLE (September 18, 8:45 am): If you're going to make a successful B-movie on the cheap – 1942's Cat People reportedly had a budget of less than $150,000 – you better be sure to be imaginative. And that's exactly what this film is. It's the story of Irena (Simone Simon), a Serbian fashion designer who is convinced she is the victim of a curse that will change her into a killer panther if she is sexually aroused. She is obsessed with a black panther at the Central Park Zoo, often sketching and visiting the creature in its cage. Irena falls in love and marries Oliver Reed (Kent Smith and not to be confused with the actor Oliver Reed), an engineer, who she is never intimate with fearing a transformation. What it lacks in special effects – which are virtually nonexistent – it more than makes up in atmosphere and exceptionally good use of cinematography, especially shadows and black-and-white framing. 

ED’S BEST BETS:

THE LONG VOYAGE HOME (Sept, 15, 2:00 pm): When we consider John Ford’s oeuvre, this film tends to fall into the underrated category. It’s a quietly moving story of merchant seamen returning to England on the tramp steamer Glencairn from the West Indies after stopping at Baltimore to pick up a supply of munitions just as World War II breaks out. Adapted by screenwriter Dudley Nichols from four short Eugene O’Neill plays, it boasts a stellar ensemble cast, headed by Thomas Mitchell, Ian Hunter, Barry Fitzgerald, Wilfred Lawson, Mildred Natwick, Ward Bond, and a surprisingly effective John Wayne playing a Swede, no less. John Qualen is memorable as Wayne’s fellow Swede and older protective friend. Look for Barry’s younger brother, Arthur Shields. Gregg Toland, who captures and sets the mood of the film, beautifully photographs the film. It’s par for the course today to praise Toland’s work, but I think this is one of his best efforts. It’s also one of Ford’s best efforts and definite one to catch.

THE RULES OF THE GAME (Sept. 16, 2:00 am): Director Jean Renoir’s satiric farce of the manners of the French is a classic and one of the best films ever made. A group of wealthy aristocrats assemble for a weekend hunting party at a country chateau on the eve of World War II. Before long, however, the façade breaks down with the guests, hosts and servants involved in rather complex romantic problems. Renoir’s point is that beneath the polite and civilized façade lies a world of casual cruelty and betrayal, for we are all playing by the rules of society (“the rules of the game”), and those who don’t suffer the consequences. The film itself is beautifully made with every shot and frame composed with care and an eye to the overall story. Anyone interested in the history of cinema or just looking for a good movie should take this one in. You won’t be disappointed. Renoir tried to save the film by cutting it, but the film closed after three weeks and was banned for being “demoralizing.” After the war prints of the film were occasionally shown, missing 20 minutes from its premiere length. In 1956, two lab technicians found bits and pieces used to assemble the film and with the help of Renoir, restored it to almost its original length. When the newly restored film premiered at the 1959 Venice Film Festival it was hailed as a rediscovered masterpiece. How time changes everything.

WE AGREE ON … THE STRANGER (September 22, 12:00 am)

ED: A. Orson Welles said it was his worst film. And the French, who usually fall over anything Welles makes, see the film as impersonal and bland. This is because Welles, directing his first film in four years after being blacklisted in Hollywood, was told to direct the film straight from the script and allowed none of his usual wiggle room. But pay no attention to that, for this is a first-rate film noir directed and starring Orson Welles as Franz Kindler, a Nazi who helped mastermind the Holocaust, and who, as Professor Charles Rankin, is hiding in the picturesque village of Harper, Connecticut as a history instructor at a private school. Not only has he ingratiated himself seamlessly with the locals, he plans to marry one – Mary Longstreet (Loretta Young), daughter of the town’s esteemed judge, Adam (Philip Merivale). Having strong suspicions that Kindler fled to the U.S., Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) of the War Crimes Commission has released Konrad Meinike (Konstantin Shayne), hoping he will lead Wilson to Kindler. But Meinike is killed before he can identify Kindler, and Wilson’s only clue as to Kindler’s whereabouts is his fascination with antique clocks. It’s a beautifully written and directed cat and mouse game, with Robinson essentially reprising his role of insurance investigator Barton Keyes from 1944’s Double Indemnity and Welles anticipating his performance in The Third Man as Harry Lime, a wanted war criminal. There are many excellent scenes in the movie, but none as powerful as the one in which Wilson attempts to deprogram Mary by showing her films of concentration camp horrors, explaining how Rankin, as Kindler, developed the idea of genocide. This marks the first time (1946) that such footage was incorporated into a studio film. There is also the scene where Wilson, suspecting Rankin, but having no proof, tricks him into exposing himself, is also notable. The performances across the board are near perfect, except for Welles, who comes off rather over the top. (A case of the director not being able to reign in the star?)

DAVID: A. Orson Welles' third film as a director was also his third straight masterpiece. This one has Welles as a Nazi fugitive, who supposedly came up with the idea of mass exterminations, in 1946 settled down in small-town Harper, Connecticut, as Charles Rankin, a teacher at a prestigious preparatory school. There's only one person in the world who knows Rankin is really the notorious Nazi Franz Kindler: his former right-hand man, Meinike (Konstantin Shayne) who is being held in prison and allowed to escape at the request of Wilson (Edward G. Robinson), who is essentially a Nazi hunter. The thought – and it's the correct one – is Meinike will lead Wilson to Kindler. Kindler has it good and isn't going to let Meinike get in his way so he kills him. That happens on the day Kindler is marrying Mary Longstreet (Loretta Young), the daughter of a Supreme Court justice. The psychological cat-and-mouse between Welles and Robinson is brilliant as is Welles' signature film style with lots of shadows, darkness, unique camera angles and depth-of-focus shots. The acting is as good as it gets. Not only are the three leads splendid, but Billy House, a burlesque actor who plays the town clerk and owner of its drugstore, steals nearly every scene he's in. Welles liked House so much that he added scenes with the actor to the movie to the chagrin of Eddie G. It's also the first commercial film to use footage of Nazi concentration camp atrocities. There's a lot to admire in this film and it's definitely one to see if you've never viewed it. Or you can be like me and watch it twice in one day. It's that good.

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