Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows

By Jon Gallagher

Trailers on TV and the internet make it appear that the new Dark Shadows movie is a comedy, perhaps a parody of the old TV show. Neither is true. There are some funny parts, but I think you’ve seen all of them now if you’ve been watching the trailers.

It’s also not quite a horror film, although it’s closer to that than a comedy. Maybe it’s just a poor example of both. The trouble is, because it tries to do both, it comes off as being a bad comedy, and a not so good horror.

The movie starts off with background on Barnabas (Johnny Depp) and how his mother and father start a very successful fish cannery in Collinsport, Maine. Young Barnabas, somewhat of a playboy, rejects the affections of a servant girl, Angelique Bouchard, who is a witch. Angelique places a curse on the Collins family that kills the mother and father and turns Barnabas into a vampire.

Barnabas is chained in a coffin and buried for 196 years. When he’s unearthed by a construction crew, it’s 1972 and Barnabas is thirsty.

He finds the Collins mansion where he grew up and introduces himself to the family that’s still left. Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer) is the head of the family now, living in the mansion with her daughter Carolyn, her brother Roger, his son David, and a live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffmann. There’s also a caretaker, a maid, and a governess (who has just arrived and is the reincarnation of Barnabas’ lost love).

Barnabas may be an evil vampire who kills his prey, but he’s deeply committed to family and that seems to be the entire struggle in the movie. Angelique is still around, a beautiful CEO (despite her age of 200+) of a rival cannery which has all but destroyed the Colllins’ family business.

The plot is pretty straightforward: Angelique still wants Barnabas. Barnabas wants Victoria (the reincarnation of his lost love). Angelique and Barnabas battle. It’s not much of a plot.

The humorous side of things is seeing a guy who’s been chained up for 200 years pop up in 1972’s society. Barnabas has to deal with electricity, cars, TVs, and Alice Cooper (“The ugliest woman I’ve ever seen!”), and tends to blame anything he can’t understand on the devil. This wears thin quickly.

I could be wrong about this, but it seems that every vampire’s rulebook I’ve ever seen clearly states that vampires aren’t allowed out during the sunlight hours. Director Tim Burton skirts this rule by dressing Barnabas up like Michael Jackson with sunglasses and a huge black umbrella. For a moment, I thought we were going to have a “Thriller” moment.

Burton seems to be confused as to which way to go with the script. He didn’t do it as a complete parody, so the comedy he does use falls flat. There’s little to no suspense (something I thought horror films were supposed to have), so he fails on that front.

The movie is saved by Depp, who works his magic to create a sympathetic character whose evil side kills innocent people. He expertly weaves the two characters (good guy/evil guy) so that we’re left cheering for him when we need to, but feel a little guilty when we do.

I’m not sure why they picked 1972 to set the film rather than today. I thought at first, it might be a salute to the original Dark Shadows, but it went off the air in 1971, not 1972. I then wondered why they didn’t make the year 1974 so that the music they used would have been accurate (“No More Mr. Nice Guy” 1973, “Top of the World” 1974, “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything” 1974). You’d think that if they went to that much trouble to set the year, they’d get the music right.

Fans of the old TV show will not be entirely disappointed by the movie, although I can’t see them jumping for joy either. The movie uses just enough of the elements from the old soap opera to keep it interesting for fans, yet it brings enough new information in to make it interesting for a new generation as well.

This is minor, but I also missed the original soundtrack. The TV show had the most eerie music ever written as an opening theme and the music they played behind the actors’ dialogue had its way of keeping you on the edge of your seat. That was missing from the movie and I was disappointed. Including it might have made the difference.

This isn’t exactly a spoiler alert, but you may want to skip over this paragraph if you haven’t seen the movie . . . The most interesting part I found was when the Collins family threw a big party at their home and Barnabas greeted a group of older Collinsport citizens at the front door, He thanks them for coming and they thank him for inviting them. The four at the door are Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker, David Selby and Jonathan Frid. Fans of the TV show will recognize (the names at least) as the original Maggie Evans, Angelique Bouchard, Quentin Collins, and Barnabas Collins respectfully. Watch quick . . . It’s over very fast.

I left the theater confused. I think that’s because of the conflicting message Burton sent by not being to combine horror and comedy. He did, however, leave the door wide open for a sequel.

I’ll give it a C minus. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it didn’t do much to satisfy the six months I’ve been waiting on it.

On a sad note, Jonathan Frid, who played the original Barnabas Collins and who had a brief cameo in this movie, passed away on April 13. He was 87.

Tips on How to Enjoy a Foreign Film for Those Who Avoid Them

By Ed Garea

By now, you probably noticed that I include a lot of foreign films in my recommendations. One reason is because TCM shows the cream of the crop as far as these films are concerned, so the chances of watching a dog are slim. But still, a lot of us have trouble with foreign films. It’s not only the irritation of “reading a film,” (subtitles) but also the fact that European films are paced differently than American films, and they seem to appeal to a different cultural viewpoint than do American films. (Actually they don’t. Compare any great foreign film to a similar American film and you’ll find the plots and concern of each film are practically the same.) I sympathize with your plight and would like to make the following suggestion:

Begin with an American director, specifically one like Jules Dassin, who was blacklisted here and went to England. Dassin directed such noir classics here as Brute Force and Thieves Highway. He also made the splendid Naked City, the charming The Canterville Ghost and the ultimate Conrad Veidt movie – Nazi Agent. The movie by Dassin I would recommend is Rififi, a personal favorite. If you liked The Asphalt Jungle, you’ll love Rififi, which is even more hard-boiled than The Asphalt Jungle (if such as thing is possible). Both films have basically the same plot: the “perfect” jewel heist. But, of course, things always go wrong, and it is in how they go wrong that gives each film its appeal. Rififi moves at a quick pace, leaving the viewer little time to catch his breath. One thing it will not do is disappoint; on the contrary, it will give you a solid introduction to French films.

Then perhaps give Louis Malle a try. Malle employs a distinctly American style in his films, and as he progressed he moved to Hollywood, where he made such films as Pretty Baby, the brooding Atlantic City (with a great performance by Burt Lancaster as an angst-ridden small-time hood), and the vastly underrated My Dinner With Andre, which proved that the art of conversation is not yet dead. The film I would recommend from Malle is Elevator to the Gallows (aka Frantic). I mistakenly thought I was watching this for the first time when, about five minutes into it, I realized that I was watching Frantic, the title chosen when the film, made in 1958, was released in the U.S. in 1962. It was given the title to ride the tide created by Psycho. However, no matter what the title, the truth is that this is an extraordinarily crafted film about the perfect crime and why just one tiny overlooked part can lead not only to the failure of the scheme, but the apprehension of all involved.

Finally, if you love the movies of Quentin Tarantino and want to see from whom he stole, try Bande a Part (released here as Band of Outsiders) by Jean-Luc Godard. Listen to this plot: Arthur and Franz, two crooks with a fondness for old Hollywood B-movies and mimic tough guys (even to the point of acting out scenes) meet Odile (Anna Karina - the then Mme. Godard) in an English class. They learn she lives in nearby Joinville with wealthy benefactors, and that one of them keeps a pile of 10,000 franc notes unlocked in his room. They pressure her to assist them in a burglary while making passes towards her at the same time, with the result that she’s alternately compliant and distressed. Watch for the amazing dance sequence with the three of them in a cafeteria. John Travolta and Uma Thurman perform the same in Pulp Fiction. This film is low budget and looks it, but Godard works best with low-budget movies, as witness his Breathless, another must see. (However, try watching this before viewing the remake with Richard Gere.)

Once you begin to become comfortable, expand your range to other directors. Federico Fellini has many things to offer. He is a bit “talky,” but his style has become so copied in this country that watching his films no longer requires a cultural “quantum” leap.

The same with Bergman, whose style Woody Allen has copied over the years. You may not be awed with Japanese Samurai films; I’m certainly not, but then I’m not a really big fan of Westerns, and that is what the Samurai film translates to in this country. Change, though always slow, is coming to film audiences. I’ve noticed the overwhelming positive acceptance and crossover appeal of films like The Joy Luck Club and Ang Lee’s Taiwanese comedies, Eat Drink Man Woman, and The Wedding Banquet. In fact, Lee has become so successful at what he does that he also directed two mainstream Hollywood films: Sense and Sensibility and Brokeback Mountain.

In other words, it’s best not to think of films from other countries as being “foreign.” Their themes and styles are just like ours, only the actors are different (in most cases). One thing you may try that will help with subtitles is to activate the closed captioning option on your remote. Then, after a while, subtitles will no longer seem so imposing. 

Vive la France

By David Skolnick

As of late, my movie viewing (or as my wife calls it, “your obsession”) has become almost exclusively French.

I don’t know why. There are hundreds, and probably thousands of great American films that I haven’t seen that interest me.

A few things attract me to French films. First is the quality. Now, I’m not watching Poverty-Row-type French movies. I’m watching true New Wave masters at work like Francois Truffaut, Robert Bresson and Jean-Luc Godard.

French New Wave was a film style during the late 1950s to the early 1970s that showed the dark side of society as seen primarily through the eyes of disenchanted young intellectuals with a healthy dash of politics, sex and religion. (Sounds pretentious, right?)

New Wave films were also known for unusual storylines, dialogue and unique cinematography. The New Wave directors were heavily influenced by Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Orson Welles, and amazingly, Monogram Studios, the Poverty Row studio that gave us dozens of terrible Bowery Boys movies.

This isn’t meant to be a history lesson on the French New Wave movement as I’m ill-equipped to teach one. I’m simply sharing what I’ve been watching lately.

In the past few weeks, I’ve watched 12 Truffaut films. In addition to what I had previously seen, that leaves me two short of seeing his entire 21 feature-length film career. Truffaut was a natural choice for me as I was already a huge fan of The 400 Blows, Jules and Jim, Fahrenheit 451 (his only English-language film), The Last Metro, Stolen Kisses and Love on the Run.

Thanks to HuluPlus, my trusty Roku LT and the Truffaut400Blows channel on YouTube, I was fortunate to see several more of the legendary French director’s films.

Truffaut excels at crime dramas and the more “traditional” New Wave style.

In the crime-drama category, I highly recommend Shoot the Piano Player and The Bride Wore Black, the latter starring the great Jeanne Moreau as a woman who’s husband is murdered as they leave the church after being married. The plot is far-fetched, but the acting and action are so good, you can forgive the holes.

As for what people would consider a New Wave film, there are few better than Two English Girls, similar in plot to Jules and Jim, except the former has a man in love with two women and the latter is the opposite. Two English Girls stars Jean-Pierre Leaud, who played Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel (a character based on the director) in four feature-length films and one short.

There’s rarely a happy ending in any of Truffaut films, and without giving away too much, three others are must-sees: Day for Night, The Man Who Loved Women (an exceptionally funny film), and The Story of Adele H. I’d also recommend The Soft Skin and The Woman Next Door.

Not everything Truffaut directed is excellent. I’m not a fan of Wild Child or Small Change.

This led to me to Robert Bresson, who some consider the godfather of French New Wave or the inspiration for the movement even though he made films around the same time – and well after – the peak of the movement.

Apparently, Bresson moved at his own speed. He made only 13 feature-length films over a 40-year time-period between 1943 and 1983.

I’ve watched six of them recently, and the overriding theme of his films is “life ain’t happy, bad stuff is going to happen to you and eventually it’s going to leave you miserable or dead.” There isn’t a happy ending in any of the six films I saw.

The main character dies in two of them, including a suicide. In two others, the main character ends up in jail, including one who turns into a serial killer. A donkey is one of the main characters in another film, Au Hasard Balthazar (he lives a parallel life with a woman who is abused, ignored and victimized throughout the film). The donkey dies but is considered saintly for his dignity in the face of how he was treated. Yeah, don’t go running out to see that one.

L’Argent and Pickpocket, in which the main character ends up in jail, are excellent.

An unusual film, A Man Escaped, about a French soldier being held captive by the Nazis during World War II, is also a must-see. The ending is unresolved, which isn’t a bad thing.

In between, I also saw two Godard films: Masculin Feminin and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her, both released in 1966.

Both are weird and while I liked Masculin Feminin, I don’t have much praise about 2 or 3 Things. Both films are filled with strange dialogue with some of it obviously ad-libbed. The gist is Godard is disillusioned with 1960s society and the lack of communication among people and the influence of America on Europe. He’s still alive and I can only imagine what he thinks of today’s society.

One interesting sidenote is Godard also made Made in U.S.A. in 1966, an excellent crime drama heavily influenced by The Big Sleep. It’s completely different than the other two movies.

In addition to Made in U.S.A., other Godard movies I’d highly recommend include Breathless and Band of Outsiders, two of the greatest films ever made. The iconic dance scene in Pulp Fiction is a direct rip-off of or tribute to the “Madison Scene” dance in Band of Outsiders.

As for a final French film, I saw The Passion of Joan of Arc, a 1928 silent movie directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. For years it was considered a lost film until an original version was found in the 1980s in a Norwegian mental asylum, according to the book, 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

Ed Garea is always telling me to consider a film in the context of the time it was released. He’s correct. But this film is rather boring.

The movie is a silent film, and that’s what it is. There is no music soundtrack that goes with the film because it was expected that live music was to accompany it at a theater. There’s nothing that shows Dreyer had a definitive soundtrack for the movie.

There is some groundbreaking and interesting camera work with many close-ups of people’s faces and quick back-and-forth camera shots of Joan and her accusers.

There is a ton of talking, but Dreyer doesn’t include a large majority of it on the dialogue cards. We see the English leaders of the church yelling a lot at Joan, but we can only guess what they’re saying – and it’s not because it’s a French movie.

It left me disappointed, but it was only 81 minutes long so I survived.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Dinner and a Movie

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in Beranes

By Steve Herte

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012 – 2011 in U.K.)   

Adapted from a novel “These Foolish Things” by Deborah Moggach, seven English retirees leave the life they’ve known in London to stay at a hotel for seniors (technically “the elderly and beautiful”) in Jaipur, India, lured there by a well-written brochure. The hotel itself is a deteriorating monument to classic Indian Moghul-style architecture with few windows, fewer doors, no working phones and dripping faucets, a room full of pigeons, and the usual six-legged creatures. 

After their ordeal of getting there, by plane, bus and chuk-chuk (a three-wheeled motorized vehicle where the two passengers sit facing the rear) the audience is treated to their various attempts at adapting to their new lifestyle. 

Evelyn Greenslade (Judi Dench) is a widow who, after a 40-year marriag, had to sell her flat to pay off her husband’s debts. Even after this, she has to get a job in Jaipur to supplement her income and pay the rent. 

Graham Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson) is a member of Parliament, who dreads his retirement party and dashes of to India to look up his gay lover of 40 years ago.

Douglas and Jean Ainslie (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton) have a marriage that is only being held together by his devotion to her. We find them in London flat hunting and being treated as old invalids by the condescending real estate agent.

Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) is a xenophobic in need of a hip replacement who chooses India rather than wait three months in England for the operation.

Norman Cousins (Ronald Pickup) is a single senior looking for love. He’s first discovered at a dating service in England speaking to a woman about half his age who states, “I wrote 30s to 40s in my application!” “So did I,” he replies.

Madge Hardcastle (Celia Imrie) is socialite senior who denies her age and is looking for some wealthy upper-class gentleman to settle down with in comfort.

Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) is the extremely young, enthusiastic manager of the hotel who is desperately in love with Sunaina (Tena Desae) but has to face up to his mother (Lillete Dubey) before he can have her. He has the definitive line of the movie, “In India we have a saying: Everything works out in the end. If things haven’t worked out, it is not yet the end.”

It’s a delightful film with well-written clever dialogue, excellent photography and a wonderful cast. Madge to Evelyn: “I haven’t spoken to you much, have I?” “Much to my loss, I see,” Evelyn to Madge. 

The maddening colors, the lively marketplace and intense street life, the over-crowded public transport and the antiquity of India form a patchwork quilt background for these fine actors and they perform beautifully in it.  

There is laughter, conflict, drama, and pathos and I only wish it had opened earlier in America. 

Benares West

240 West 56^th Street (Broadway/8^th Avenue), New York 

Two months after being Baluchi’s West, this Westside Indian food-fest attracted me with the look as well as the impressively large selection on the menu. The décor is simple, gray walls (one open brick face) chairs and banquettes with butterscotch leather backs and chocolate brown seats, and floors looking like random cobblestones. The only touch of Indian ornamentation is the chandelier set in a dark wood carved circle surrounding a mirror, and having 10 globes of candy-colored, flower-shaped stained-glass in the center of the ceiling.

The menus were even more impressive in person revealing choices unexpected in an Indian restaurant, especially one named after the holy city of Varanasi (Benares is the Islamic name). I started with one of their own cocktails, the Benares Martini - gin, Lillet, grapefruit and orange peels soaked in housemade bitters - which turned out to be the perfect light starter.

The wait-staff definitely aims to please because the amuse-bouche – a potato puff in tamarind sauce - arrived at my table twice. I didn’t complain, it was lovely both times. 

Trying to get the distinct flavor of this innovative eatery, I spent some real time on the appetizer (both hot and cold), soup (four of them), entrée, bread, and side-dish menus and, by the time my martini was finished, had a selection.

I started with Crab Milagu – lump crab seasoned in buttermilk with herbs and spices (cumin and cardamom were most evident), served on a tomato and plum chutney – a flavorful, not too spicy dish with a generous amount of crab meat and two wedges of toasted Indian bread to assist in eating it.

Since the wines were all very affordable I ordered the 2010 Mondeuse by Franck Peillot, Montagnieu vineyards, Bugey, France – a medium-bodied red table wine that paired with all my dishes without over-powering any of them. That was good because next was the Kashmiri Soup – a puree of roasted turnip, beetroot, and pigeon peas flavored with fennel, cumin, ginger and garlic – not spicy at all, the mildest of my courses.

After 120 Indian restaurants, I’m no longer prepared to be blown away as I was by the main course. I figured that with a seafood appetizer, a vegetarian soup, a meat main dish would be routine. However, the Tharavu Curry – duck meat simmered in a brown onion, ginger, garlic and coconut sauce with chilis and spices – had me asking, “This is duck?” There was none of the fatty, ducky taste and each piece melted in the mouth like the finest lamb shank. The manager was proud that I asked the same question the Village Voice reviewer asked. It was the only spicy dish I had and still it wasn’t fiery. The Cucumber Raita – a yoghurt dip – toned it down even further and the Onion Kulcha (a bread) and the Peas Pullao (basmati rice dish) made it a feast.

Dessert was a must by now.  I had them pack up the remaining rice (way too much) and the raita and ordered the Mango Kulfi (Indian ice cream – only creamier than what we’re used to) and a Masala Tea (a spiced – mostly cardamom and cinnamon – tea) and was happier than a Raja. 

Benares is a good place to go if you have never tried Indian food or have tried it and hated it, because the selection is so wide and the staff so willing to please it would be impossible for you not to have a wonderful dining experience.

TCM TiVo Alert for May 15-22

TCM TiVo ALERT

For

May 15–May 22

DAVID’S BEST BETS

DEAD END - The sound you just heard was a pin drop. I hate the Dead End Kids/East Side Kids/Bowery Boys. But their first movie: a gritty, authentic look at life in the slums of New York City is a keeper. It's based on a play of the same name and the movie is filmed like a play. Humphrey Bogart as Baby Face Martin, a gangster who returns to his childhood neighborhood, shows flashes of brilliance in this film that would return in movies such as Casablanca, The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon and Key Largo. As for the kids, Billy Halop (as Tommy Gordon, the leader of the gang) is one of the most annoying movie actors I've seen. This is easily his best role as it's downhill for him after this film. Also, the other kids - Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and Billy Jordan - peak with this film. The film also sports nice performances by Joel McCrea as an unemployed architect down on his luck and Claire Trevor as the neighborhood prostitute with syphilis.

BLACKBOARD JUNGLE - An excellent JD movie with Glenn Ford as the teacher trying to put the high school kids on the right track. Sidney Poitier and Ford work exceptionally well with Poitier as the defiant student and Ford seeing promise in him and trying to bring it out into the open. Vic Morrow plays the worst of the worst kids to near perfection. The scene in which Morrow’s character destroys a teacher's most-beloved items, his record collection, in class as the teacher is trying to reach the kids, is an incredibly haunting piece of cinema. And the soundtrack is great, particularly the opening credits with “Rock Around the Clock.”

ED’S BEST BETS

THE RULES OF THE GAME – This is Jean Renoir’s biting satire of the French middle class, their foibles, rituals, and most of all, their class distinctions. A heavy hand at the helm could have sunk this movie before it gets going, but Renoir keeps a light and skillful touch at all times. His fluid camerawork and adept staging still keeps this film fresh after all these years. We in America didn’t catch on to this sort of comedy until the arrival of Upstairs, Downstairs on Masterpiece Theatre.

RIFIFI – Leave it to a master craftsman like Jules Dassin to make one of the great Heist-Gone-Wrong films. Four cronies plan the perfect crime and have everything figured out to the letter – except for each other, and this proves to be the fatal mistake. Because it was a low budget film, Dassin couldn’t afford a star like Jean Gabin, but he does quite fine with the hand he’s dealt. In his review for the French newspaper Arts, Francois Truffaut wrote: “Jules Dassin made the best ‘noir’ film I have ever see from the worst roman noir I have ever read.” The novel’s author, Auguste LeBreton co-wrote the screenplay and later wrote Bob The Gambler, another top-notch crime thriller, for Jean-Paul Melville. It seems LeBreton translated better into film than he did into print.

WE DISAGREE ON . . . LOLITA 

ED: A+. Stanley Kubrick took Vladimir Nabokov’s tale of youth, obsession and sex and, to get around the censors, turned it into a dark comedy for the ages. James Mason is brilliant as a man trapped by the inner demons trying to break through the refined, intellectual shell. And Sue Lyons hits all the right notes as the object of Mason’s desire. In fact, this was to be the high point of her career. Never again would she even come close to the praise she received for her role as Lolita. Mason and Lyon aside, however, it is Peter Sellers and Shelley Winters, the supporting actors, that walk away with the film. Sellers is his usual brilliant self, playing three characters, with his Mr. Quilty clearly the best of the lot, a real scene stealer. Winters gives what I think is the finest performance of her career as the lonely, sex-staved shrill of a housewife who knows men are attracted to her only for her daughter. Adrian Lyne’s remake is closer to the novel, and Jeremy Irons is excellent in the Mason role. But Melanie Griffith only goes to show just how good Shelley Winters was in the role. Watch the remake by all means, but this is the best version by far.

DAVID: C+. When I first saw this film I was disappointed more than anything else. I'm a fan of James Mason, Peter Sellers and Stanley Kubrick. It's not a bad movie, but I expect so much more from that three. Actually, the best performance comes from Shelley Winters. The movie is far too long; more than 2 1/2 hours with no purpose for some scenes, particularly the ones with Lolita and Humbert Humbert (Mason) "on the run." It just kept going on and on, boring me at times. To me, there is no more damning indictment of a movie than making me bored. It's worse than being confusing or ridiculous. It has its funny moments, but not nearly enough to merit the length of the film.

Schedule Subject to Change (All Times Eastern)

May 15

10:00 am -- LOLITA (MGM, 1962): Peter Sellers, James Mason, & Sue Lyon. Stanley Kubrick’s classic about middle-aged man Mason in love with teenager Lyon. Rating: See Above.

12:45 pm -- UNDER CAPRICORN (WB, 1949): Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotton. Newly arrived in Australia, a man discovers his childhood love is now an alcoholic. C

2:45 pm -- THE MAN WITH A CLOAK (MGM, 1951): Joseph Cotten, Barbara Stanwyck, & Louis Calhern. A mystery man helps a young woman escape from a murderous housekeeper. B

8:00 pm -- GUN CRAZY (U.A., 1949): John Dall, Peggy Cummins. The ahead-of-its-time sex and guns cult classic that helped inspire the French New Wave directors. Loosely based on Bonnie and Clyde, Dall and Cummins star as the murderous couple. A+

9:45 pm -- REMEMBER THE NIGHT (Paramount, 1940): Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray. Arrested on Christmas Eve, shoplifter Lee Leander (Stanwyck) ends up spending the holiday at the home of Assistant D.A. John Sargeant (MacMurray). A-

4:15 am -- MIDNIGHT MARY (MGM, 1933): Loretta Young, Ricardo Cortez. Anita Loos penned & William Wellman directed this story of an abused orphan that drifts into a life of crime. B+

May 16

9:15 am -- THE LONG NIGHT (RKO, 1947): Henry Fonda, Barbara BelGeddes, & Vincent Price. Anatole Litvak’s noir is about a suspected criminal (Fonda) who reflects on the circumstances that led to his predicament when the police surround his apartment. A

1:15 pm -- MISTER ROBERTS (WB, 1955): Henry Fonda as an officer aboard a supply ship who yearns for transfer to a fighting ship. With James Cagney, William Powell, and Jack Lemmon, who won the Academy Award for Supporting Actor. A

8:00 pm -- DEAD END (U.A., 1937): Humphrey Bogart, Joel McCrea, Silvia Sidney, The Dead End Kids. Gritty urban drama as The Dead End Kids, an unemployed architect (McCrea), and gangster Baby Face Martin (Bogart) interact in an East Side neighborhood over one day and one night. A

2:30 am -- THESE THREE (Goldwyn, 1936): Joel McCrea, Merle Oberon. William Wyler directed this film version of Lillian Hellman’s play, The Children’s Hour, about how an invented scandal destroys the lives of two schoolteachers. A

May 17

10:45 am -- PARADISE FOR THREE (MGM, 1938): Frank Morgan, Robert Young. A business mingles with German laborers to learn more about their lives. C

1:45 pm -- WE WERE DANCING (MGM, 1942): Norma Shearer, Melvyn Douglas. A Polish princess gives up society for the love of a gigolo in this hokey adaptation of Noel Coward’s Tonight. It’s Ava Gardner’s movie debut. C-

3:30 pm -- GOVERNMENT GIRL (RKO, 1944): Olivia DeHavilland, Sonny Tufts. A production expert and a secretary are thrown together in wartime Washington. C

5:15 pm -- A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA (UA, 1946): The next to last Marx Brothers film finds them fighting Nazi spies in Casablanca. Better than their last three pictures for MGM, but they clearly show their age.  Harpo, however, has one of the best sight gags in the history of movies. C+

6:45 pm -- SPY CHASERS (A.A., 1955): The Bowery Boys. Slip, Sach and the gang get mixed up in political intrigue when they try to help an exiled European king and his daughter regain the throne that is rightfully theirs. D

10:00 pm -- CALL NORTHSIDE 777 (20^th Century Fox, 1948): James Stewart, Richard Conte, & Lee J. Cobb. Convinced the man is innocent, reporter Stewart re-opens a ten-year old murder case. A

4:45 am -- DR. CRIPPEN (WB, 1964): Donald Pleasance, Samantha Eggar. True story of a doctor hanged in London in 1910 for poisoning his wife. B

May 18

6:30 am -- THE MIRACLE WOMAN (Columbia, 1931): Barbara Stanwyck, David Manners. The story of a woman that has lost her faith until an encounter with a blind man leads to its restoration. Directed by Frank Capra. B+

12:00 pm -- IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (Columbia, 1934): Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable. It’s the classic movie that elevated Gable from contract player into a superstar. He plays a reporter pursuing runaway bride Colbert. A+

2:00 pm -- YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (Columbia, 1938): James Stewart, Jean Arthur. Frank Capra directed this adaptation of the Kaufman-Hart stage play about a man (Stewart) from a stuffy family who is engaged a woman (Arthur) from a decidedly eccentric family. The families must meet before the wedding, and chaos erupts. B+

6:00 pm -- MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (Columbia, 1936): Frank Capra’s film about a simple Vermont man (Gary Cooper) whose life is thrown in chaos when he inherits $20 million from a distant relative. A classic. A+

8:00 pm -- AMERICAN GRAFFITI (Universal, 1973): Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard. George Lucas directed this film about four high school seniors facing an uncertain future as they try to live through their last big school dance. B+

10:00 pm -- ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK (Columbia, 1956): Sam Katzman, who always seems to cash in first on every trend, made the first film actually about rock ‘n’ roll. Supposedly the story of Bill Haley and the Comets, watch it for the music. C

4:30 am -- THE SLAMS (Penelope Productions, 1973): Jim Brown, Judy Pace. An imprisoned man (Brown) gets several offers to help him escape, if he will reveal where the $1.5 million he stole from the mob is hidden. B

May 19

10:45 am -- A CLOSE CALL FOR BOSTON BLACKIE (Columbia, 1946): Chester Morris, George E. Stone. Blackie rescues an old girl friend from a kidnapping and becomes involved in murder. B-

4:30 pm -- THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE (MGM, 1955): Glenn Ford, Anne Francis. Ford is a teacher who must face head-on the problems of juvenile delinquency in his high school. Vic Morrow, Sidney Poitier and Jamie Farr supply the delinquency. A-

10:00 pm -- THE LONG VOYAGE HOME (U.A., 1940): Thomas Mitchell, John Wayne. John Ford directed this tale of a merchant ship’s crew trying to survive the loneliness of the sea and the coming of war. A

12:00 am -- THE OUTLAW (Howard Hughes Productions, 1943): One of the great bad movies, it was hyped with Hughes’s latest discovery, Jane Russell and promising to be bad. Yes it was. Supposedly the story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, it’s a badly directed, badly acted, badly written laugh riot. Total Entertainment!! Rear projection dominates to the point where it’s even funnier. And the soundtrack has a trombone that goes WAHWAHWAH whenever a scene is supposed to be funny. Great stuff. F

2:00 am -- THE GRAPES OF WRATH (20^th Cent. Fox, 1940): Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell. John Ford’s masterpiece about disposed Okie farmers; based on the novel by Steinbeck. Fonda stars, but Ford regular John Carradine has some great moments. A+

4:15 am -- CITIZEN KANE (RKO, 1941): Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten & Everett Sloane. Cited by many critics as the best movie ever made, it’s the story of newspaper mogul Charles Foster Kane and what made him tick. Kane is loosely based on real-life newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst and his newspaper chain tried to shut the film down during and after production.  A++

May 20

10:00 am -- THE GREAT McGINTY (Paramount, 1940): Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff. Presrton Sturges directed this satirical classic about a hobo (Donlevy) that eventually rises to become governor after hooking up with a crooked political boss. A+

10:30 pm -- A GENTLEMAN AT HEART (20^th Century Fox, 1942): Cesar Romero, Carole Landis. A modest comedy about a bookie (Romero) who discovers a talent for art forgery. C+

2:00 am -- RULES OF THE GAME (Janus Films, 1939): Jean Renoir, Nora Gregor, & Marcel Dalio. Renoir directed and stars in this satire of the upper class set at a French country estate, where romantic intrigues play out both upstairs and downstairs. A++

4:00 am -- A DAY IN THE COUNTRY (Un Partie de Campagne) (Pantheon, 1936): Sylvia Bataille, Jeanne Marken. Jean Renoir directed this tale of a mother and daughter finding romance at a picnic while the men are out fishing. B+

May 21

6:45 am -- FAITHLESS (MGM, 1932): Tallulah Bankhead, Robert Montgomery. A spoiled rich girl is wiped out in the Depression. B

9:45 am -- WHEN LADIES MEET (MGM, 1932): Ann Harding, Robert Montgomery, & Myrna Loy. A female novelist doesn’t realize her new friend is the wife whose husband she’s trying to steal. B

11:15 am -- TROUBLE FOR TWO (MGM, 1936): Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell. An offbeat black comedy about a European prince, about to marry, who joins a suicide club. A-

12:45 pm -- MR. AND MRS. SMITH (RKO, 1941): Carole Lombard, Robert Montgomery. Alfred Hitchcock directed this comedy about a quarrelsome couple who suddenly discover their marriage isn’t legal. B

8:00 pm -- NORMA RAE (20^th Century Fox, 1979): Sally Field, Beau Bridges. A young single mother and her co-worker try to unionize the mill where they work. A+

10:00 pm -- PLACES IN THE HEART (Columbia, 1984): Sally field, John Malkovich. A farmer’s widow fights to keep her land during the Depression. B+

12:00 am -- ABSENCE OF MALICE (Columbia, 1981): Paul Newman, Sally Field. An ambitious reporter unwittingly slanders a businessman under federal investigation. A

May 22

6:00 am -- THE GREEN PROMISE (RKO, 1949): Walter Brennan, Marguerite Chapman. A tyrannical father (Brennan) forces his daughter into a hard choice between love and her obligation to help him work the family farm. B

7:30 am -- BLOOD ON THE MOON (RKO, 1948): Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes. A gunslinger, hired to drive off a rancher, falls in love with the man’s daughter. C+

10:45 am -- TERM OF TRIAL (WB, 1962): Laurence Olivier, Simone Signoret. Olivier is a schoolteacher accused of molesting a student. B+

12:00 pm -- THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN (U.A., 1969): Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, and Trevor Howard.  An all-star cast heads this excellent recreation of one of the greatest battles of World War 2. A+

6:30 pm -- IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (Columbia, 1955): Faith Domergue, Kenneth Tobey. Fun opus about a giant octopus, disturbed by H-bomb tests, who then decides to sightsee in San Francisco. Tobey is the hard-bitten Navy man and the luscious Domergue is every young boy’s favorite scientist. Produced by Sam Katzman, whose cheapness caused Ray Harryhausen to give the octopus only six legs (!). B

8:00 pm -- THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA (MGM, 1964): Richard Burton, Ava Gardner. John Huston directed this adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s play about a defrocked priest who travels to Mexico, where he confronts his destiny while exploring the sins of the flesh. B+

10:15 pm -- WINGS OF DESIRE (Argos Films, 1987): Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin. An angel, tired of overseeing human activity, wishes to become human when he falls in love with a mortal. Directed by Wim Wenders. B

12:45 am -- RIFIFI (Pathe Consortium Cinema, 1955): Jean Servais, Carl Mohner, and Robert Manuel. Jules Dassin’s brilliant crime caper about four men who plan the perfect jewel heist, but forget human frailty. Think of The Asphalt Jungle, but even more hard-boiled. A MUST SEE!  A++