November 2005 – Joan Fontaine
November 2005 – Joan Fontaine
Tuesday November 1 – Directed by John Huston
6:00 AM Angels In The Outfield (1951) – this original version of the divine assisted baseball team is an enjoyable comedy worth seeing if you haven’t. The lead cast includes Paul Douglas Janet Leigh (miscast too young!) Keenan Wynn Lewis Stone and Spring Byington. The supporting players include Hall of Fame ballplayers Ty Cobb & Joe Dimaggio as well as Bing Crosby (as himself) and Barbara Billingsley!
9:30 AM Edge of the City (1957) – an all new capsule review!
5:15 PM The Badlanders (1958) – O.K. full review!
8:00 PM The Misfits (1961) – Clark Gable’s and Marilyn Monroe’s last film; Gable’s exhausting effort onscreen wrestling with horses and off (putting up with Monroe’s "antics") probably contributed to Gable’s fatal heart attack. John Huston directs this story written by one of Monroe’s husbands (Arthur Miller). A modern western about this dying way of life really also features a post-"auto accident" Montgomery Clift a terrifically cynical (as always) Thelma Ritter and Eli Wallach.
10:15 PM The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
12:30 AM The Red Badge Of Courage (1951) – I’ve read Stephen Crane’s novel. But personally I don’t think this film rates more than 3 out of 5 stars. Audie Murphy plays the Union soldier who struggles with his own courage in the Civil War. Andy Devine Bill Mauldin and Royal Dano also star in this John Huston directed film.
2:00 AM The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
4:00 AM The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Wednesday November 2 – Movie Makeup (The Westmore Family)
6:00 AM Pride And Prejudice (1940)
8:00 AM Whistling In The Dark (1941) – if you like Red Skelton … full review!
12:15 PM Keeping Company (1940) – so so B movie; an all new full review!
4:30 PM The Gay Divorcee (1934)
6:15 PM My Man Godfrey (1936)
8:00 PM Sunset Blvd. (1950)
10:00 PM Mask (1985) – No mystery that this film won an Oscar for Best Makeup since Eric Stoltz is unrecognizable as Cher’s deformed son who’s befriended by a blind Laura Dern. Also with Sam Elliot Estelle Getty Richard Dysart and Harry Carey Jr.; directed by TCM’s latest "Essentials" host Peter Bogdanovich.
12:15 AM Touch Of Evil (1958)
2:15 AM The Story Of Louis Pasteur (1935)
3:45 AM Rancho Notorious (1952)
Thursday November 3 – Starring Joel McCrea
9:45 AM The Valley Of Decision (1945) – full review!
11:45 AM Random Harvest (1942)
2:00 PM The Letter (1940)
3:45 PM Mildred Pierce (1945)
5:45 PM Imitation Of Life (1959) – though vastly inferior to the 1934 version with Claudette Colbert & Louise Beavers this film is still probably worth your time. This one stars Lana Turner and Juanita Moore’s Oscar nominated performance. Susan Kohner who plays Moore’s daughter was also nominated; syrupy Sandra Dee plays Turner’s. John Gavin Robert Alda and Troy Donahue also appear in this Douglas Sirk directed soap opera.
11:45 PM Ride The High Country (1962)
1:30 AM These Three (1936)
3:15 AM Dead End (1937)
Friday November 4 – Comedy Thrillers
10:00 AM The Thing From Another World (1951)
3:00 PM Forbidden Planet (1956)
8:00 PM Charade (1963) – an entertaining romp pairing Audrey Hepburn with Cary Grant in a comedy mystery that includes some other named actors in humorous roles: Walter Matthau James Coburn & George Kennedy. Directed by Stanley Donen.
12:00 AM The Trouble With Harry (1955)
2:00 AM Kameradschaft (1931) – a TCM premiere!
3:45 AM Black Fury (1935) – an all new full review!
Saturday November 5 – Starring Joseph Cotten
8:00 AM Rogue Cop (1954) – an all new full review!
10:00 AM Tomorrow the World! (1944) – an all new full review!
4:00 PM Captain Newman M.D. (1964) – full review!
8:00 PM Gaslight (1944) – this week’s TCM Essential
10:00 PM Portrait of Jennie (1948) – Jennifer Jones is the "muse" for painter Joseph Cotten who is supported by gallery owners Ethel Barrymore & Cecil Kellaway. But does she really exist? Lillian Gish and David Wayne also appear as does Nancy Davis Reagan (at the very end) in this unusual yet captivating story. A Best Special Effects Oscar winner also nominated for B&W Cinematography.
11:30 PM Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
3:15 AM The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Sunday November 6
6:00 AM Jezebel (1938)
8:00 AM All Fall Down (1962) – average (except for its cast) full review!
10:00 AM Shall We Dance (1937) – another of the wonderful Mark Sandrich directed Fred (Astaire) & Ginger (Rogers) dancing Musicals with George & Ira Gershwin tunes like "Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off" and "They Can’t Take That Away From Me" (nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar). Humorous support provided by Edward Everett Horton & Eric Blore as well as Jerome Cowan and Ketti Gallian.
2:00 PM Madame X (1966)
6:00 PM Gaslight (1944) – TCM Essential repeat
12:00 AM The Battle of the Sexes (1928) – a TCM premiere!
Monday November 7 – Joan Fontaine TCM’s Star of the Month
and an unannounced tribute to Cary Grant
6:00 AM Gunga Din (1939)
8:00 AM North By Northwest (1959)
10:30 AM Penny Serenade (1941) – Cary Grant and Irene Dunne are a young married couple who adopt a baby after their’s dies. They must struggle every step of the way. This unusual role for Grant earned him his first of only two Academy Award nominations. Ms. Dunne’s favorite of all her films reportedly. George Stevens directed; Beulah Bondi provides support.
12:30 PM The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer (1947) – Sydney Sheldon (TV’s I Dream of Jeannie‘s creator) won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar on his only nomination for this love triangle comedy between a high schooler (Shirley Temple) her older sister (a judge played by Myrna Loy) and Cary Grant.
2:15 PM Arsenic And Old Lace (1944)
4:15 PM Bringing Up Baby (1938)
6:00 PM The Philadelphia Story (1940)
12:00 AM Quality Street (1937)
Tuesday November 8 – Based on Frederick Forsythe
6:00 AM Sailor Beware (1952) – an all new full review!
10:30 PM The Day Of The Jackal (1973)
1:00 AM The Dogs of War (1980) – a TCM premiere!
3:15 AM Mogambo (1953)
Wednesday November 9 – Making Faces (Deformity Disguise and Disfigurement
also Hedy Lamarr’s birthday
9:45 AM Come Live With Me (1941) – an all new capsule review!
11:15 AM H.M. Pulham Esq. (1941) – an all new capsule review!
3:00 PM The Heavenly Body (1943) – only O.K. an all new full review!
12:00 AM Tootsie (1982)
2:00 AM Raging Bull (1980)
4:30 AM The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939)
Thursday November 10 – Starring Carole Lombard
also Claude Rains’s birthday
9:45 AM Four Daughters (1938)
1:00 PM Now Voyager (1942)
3:00 PM Mr. Skeffington (1944)
5:30 PM Deception (1946) – if A Stolen Life (1946) doesn’t serve as the end point of Bette Davis’s 10+ year run of unsurpassed greatness of films then this ill-named drama certainly does. Not that Ms. Davis isn’t terrific in it especially as she matches talents with the equally able Claude Rains but the "deception" itself is as all but non-existent as the rest of the plot in this one – a love triangle which also includes Paul Heinreid. We can all be thankful that the "great Bette" was able to give us more examples of her immense talent some years later in films like the Academy Award winning Best Picture All About Eve (1950) and her characterizations in (e.g.) A Catered Affair (1956) and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).
8:00 PM To Be or Not to Be (1942) – an all new essential (capsule) review!
10:00 PM My Man Godfrey (1936)
12:00 AM Nothing Sacred (1937)
1:30 AM In Name Only (1939)
Friday November 11 – Under the Sea
8:00 AM The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
10:00 AM To Hell And Back (1955) – incredible true story of the most decorated soldier in U.S. history starring the man himself Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy. Pretty good film too a faithful to his own autobiography (which I’ve read).
12:00 PM Hell is for Heroes (1962) – full review!
2:00 PM Command Decision (1948)
6:00 PM Battleground (1949) – full review!
8:00 PM Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) – a TCM premiere!
Saturday November 12 – War in the Pacific
8:00 AM The Narrow Margin (1952) – A relatively short film yet highly regarded. A gangster’s former moll (Marie Windsor) asks for protection which the police provide during her train journey to police headquarters where she’ll be expected to give testimony against her former lover. The cop (Charles McGraw) assigned to escort her is not so friendly and is perhaps even a little resentful at first but must do his job against the odds. Directed by Richard Fleischer (Design for Death (1947)) it was nominated for a Best Writing Motion Picture Story Oscar.
9:30 AM Walk Don’t Run (1966) – Cary Grant’s last film a remake of The More The Merrier (1943) not so good otherwise
4:30 PM Man in the Shadow (1957) – O.K. for a while; full review!
8:00 PM They Were Expendable (1945) – this week’s TCM Essential is a terrific film about the surprising successes of the PT boats during World War II initially thought unworthy of any role in the conflict. Directed by John Ford and starring Robert Montgomery John Wayne Donna Reed Ward Bond Leon Ames and more; it was nominated for two Oscars Special Effects & Sound.
10:30 PM Bataan (1943) – solid World War II (not PC) action film named for the real battle with memorable ending featuring Robert Taylor. George Murphy Thomas Mitchell Lloyd Nolan Lee Bowman Robert Walker Desi Arnaz and Barry Nelson among others also appear.
3:15 AM So Proudly We Hail! (1943) – full review!
Sunday November 13 – Dumb and Dumber
6:00 AM Topper (1937)
8:00 AM The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
10:00 AM Guys And Dolls (1955)
4:00 PM To Catch a Thief (1955)
6:00 PM They Were Expendable (1945) – TCM Essential repeat; see my 11/12 comments
8:30 PM The Pink Panther (1964) – this first film with Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau is a comedy classic by director Blake Edwards. With David Niven Robert Wagner and Capucine (before Madonna I guess;- ) it features the great theme music by Henry Mancini as well as introducing the famous "Pink Panther" cartoon even though the film’s title actually refers to a famous diamond.
1:45 AM Counsellor at Law (1933) – full review!
Monday November 14 – Joan Fontaine TCM’s Star of the Month
12:00 AM The Women (1939)
2:30 AM A Damsel In Distress (1937) – an all new full review!
Tuesday November 15 – Curses
6:00 AM Scaramouche (1923) – an all new capsule review!
8:15 AM The Lost World (1925) – not as impressive as it must have been at one time this silent prompted a slew of copycats and/or remakes. It’s about an expedition into the jungles of South America to prove that dinosaurs still walk the Earth. It stars Bessie Love Wallace Beery and Lewis Stone among others and features a cameo by its author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was added to the National Film Registry in 1998. TCM shows the fully restored 93 minute version.
3:15 PM Sworn Enemy (1936) – not so good but an all new full review!
8:00 PM The Time Of Their Lives (1946) – full review!
11:15 PM I Married A Witch (1942) – O.K. this is not really a great film. But how can you pass up a film starring Fredric March & Veronica Lake (Susan Hayward’s in it too as are Robert Benchley and Cecil Kellaway). And apparently director Danny DeVito’s planned a remake (co-produced by Tom Cruise) for 2006 or later. Lake plays the titled several hundred years old witch (who doesn’t look a day over 32); March is the current descendant of the man who burned her and her father (Kellaway) at the stake. Bent on ruining politician March’s pending wedding to Hayward Lake inadvertently changes his (and her) life forever with a love potion gaffe. Most memorable scene occurs in a burning downtown hotel. Features an Oscar nominated Score.
1:00 AM The Thief of Bagdad (1940) – Outstanding Technicolor delight that won Oscars for Color Art Direction & Cinematography as well as Special Effects; its Score was nominated too. Michael Powell had a hand in directing this remake of the 1924 classic which stars Sabu in lieu of Douglas Fairbanks in the title role. June Duprez plays the Princess coveted by the evil Jaffar (Conrad Veidt) that falls in love with Prince Ahmed who’d been blinded and made a beggar. With Abu’s (Sabu) help after he himself had been made into a dog and more magic that includes a mechanical flying horse a genie in a bottle (Rex Ingram) an all seeing jewel a flying carpet and a multi-armed statue Ahmed must battle Jaffar to save & win the Princess.
3:30 AM The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) – a slightly different version of the Arabian Nights story than the previously shown film. Lotte Reiniger animated this silent film by using silhouetted paper cutouts and stop motion photography to illustrate her storytelling in a most remarkable way. Worth a look if you’ve never seen it!
Wednesday November 16 – Making Faces (Historical Make-up)
6:00 AM You Only Live Once (1937) – pretty good film by director Fritz Lang (one of his best?) featuring Henry Fonda as a criminal who Sylvia Sidney believes is basically good. Lots of familiar faces in this one including Barton MacLane William Gargan Jerome Cowan and Margaret Hamilton and Warren Hymer among others. Even more uncredited like Ward Bond and Al Bridge!
7:30 AM Western Union (1941) – colorful but otherwise so so; an all new capsule review!
8:00 PM Marie Antoinette (1938) – average unless you’re a Norma Shearer fan; full review!
10:30 PM Cleopatra (1963) – first half good second half not; an all new capsule review!
3:15 AM Cleopatra (1934) – has its moments
5:00 AM The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) – O.K.
Thursday November 17 – Guest Programmer: Alfred Uhry
7:00 AM Magnificent Obsession (1954) – one of the early Douglas Sirk soapers has Jane Wyman (Johnny Belinda (1948) who received her last of four Best Actress Oscar nominations) as a woman whose husband’s death (and her subsequent blindness!) was in part caused by a reckless wealthy playboy played by Rock Hudson. That’s the simplest part of this otherwise convoluted ( unbelievable) and almost religious-based story which begins with Hudson’s character wanting to make it up to the older yet attractive widow with whom he falls in love. This remake of the 1935 film by the same name was responsible for launching Hudson’s career as the original had been for Robert Taylor’s. Supporting cast members include Barbara Rush as Wyman’s skeptical daughter Agnes Moorehead as her nurse-friend and Otto Kruger as the purveyor of Wyman’s deceased husband’s do unto others anonymously "religion".
9:00 AM All That Heaven Allows (1955) – only including it here because it was added to the National Film Registry in 1999 for some unknown reason. It’s a horribly dated May-December romance (Douglas Sirk soap opera) between a 40 something widow (Jane Wyman) and a 30 year old independent (Rock Hudson). The highlights are the supporting cast which includes Agnes Moorehead Conrad Nagel and Virginia Grey. Otherwise skip it!
12:30 PM The Tarnished Angels (1957) – I watched this Douglas Sirk soap opera based on the William Faulkner novel when it premiered on TCM last March because Maltin’s guide gave it 3 ½ (out of 4) stars. Well even Leonard can’t be right all the time. Robert Stack plays a former World War I flying ace who only finds work now in air shows racing around pylons. Dorothy Malone plays his too attractive for "his" own good wife especially with Rock Hudson around. Jack Carson is his socially dim-witted too old to still be attractive longtime friend & mechanic. The three (four with Stack’s & Malone’s 10 year old son) barely get by financially as they travel the country with Stack’s stunts providing their only means. Hudson plays a reporter in the town they’re currently in who finds a "how the mighty have fallen" story in the tension these three adults exude. Robert Middleton plays Stack’s former boss now competitor and soon to be partner through circumstances he can’t avoid. Interesting but average. None of the character’s are particularly credible and none of the acting performances are memorable either (though Malone is beautiful even in B&W).
4:30 PM Man’s Favorite Sport? (1964) – Directed by Howard Hawks Rock Hudson plays a fake – a sporting goods salesman & author who uses the information he hears from others to great success making his clients & readers think he’s a great fisherman. Paula Prentiss plays his love interest the one who gets the chance to call his bluff when she’s responsible for entering him in a angling tournament. Average dated screwball comedy.
12:15 AM Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
2:15 AM The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)
Friday November 18 – Country Music Legends
4:30 PM The Big Country (1958)
10:00 PM Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) – one of those "Only in America" true stories about an ignorant girl from the sticks who makes it big as a country & western singer. A biography of Loretta Lynn featuring Sissy Spacek’s (only to date) Oscar winning Best Actress performance in which she sings all the songs herself! Tommy Lee Jones plays ‘Doo’ her #1 fan & supporter husband who strays when her limelight and newfound independence overshadows his contributions to her success. Beverly D’Angelo plays fellow singer and Lynn friend Patsy Cline. Six other Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Screenplay.
2:00 AM Jour Se Leve Le (1939) – an all new full review!
3:45 AM Modern Times (1936) – Charlie Chaplin goes against the grain by making a silent film with sound effects many years after the advent of "talkies". This movie is an allegory about how man has become too dependent and/or obsessed with machines and technology in general as the tramp struggles to survive in "modern times". Paulette Goddard plays the girl in this one. The skating scene in the department store is unforgettable. Also #33 on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list.
Saturday November 19 – Starring Barbara Stanwyck
6:00 AM The Sisters (1938) – I watched too long ago to remember too well other than that I enjoyed it. It has a fabulous cast including Bette Davis Anita Louise and Jane Bryan as the titled "sisters" with Henry Travers and Beulah Bondi as their parents. Errol Flynn Dick Foran and Alan Hale play their suitors. Lots of melodrama I do remember that including Flynn marrying Davis and taking her away (to San Francisco?) where his drinking and gallivanting lifestyle lead to tragedy for their (expected) baby. Louise marries an older gentleman Hale; Foran gets to marry Bryan who then has a baby. The cast also includes Ian Hunter Donald Crisp Patric Knowles who I think pursues Louise Lee Patrick Harry Davenport and more (like Susan Hayward uncredited). Directed by Anatole Litvak.
8:00 AM The Hitch-Hiker (1953) – someone else told me about this one and I’m glad they did. A great Ida Lupino directed film with a terrific performance by Edmond O’Brien. Added to the National Film Registry in 1998.
2:00 PM The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
4:15 PM The Naked Spur (1953)
8:00 PM The Lady Eve (1941) – this week’s TCM Essential
12:00 AM Stella Dallas (1937)
2:00 AM Christmas In Connecticut (1945) – I was reminded of Man’s Favorite Sport? (1964) with Rock Hudson when I first saw this favorite of many for the first time last year on TCM. Barbara Stanwyck plays a fake Martha Stewart-like woman who’s "forced" to portray the character of her creation when her unknowing publisher (Sydney Greenstreet in a most untypical role) bullies her into hosting a soldier (Dennis Morgan) for Christmas as a circulation boosting gimmick. S. Z. Sakall steals every scene he’s in as her "Uncle" Felix.
4:00 AM Double Indemnity (1944)
Sunday November 20 – Harold Lloyd
6:00 AM A Day At The Races (1937) – Chico and Harpo Marx "enlist" Groucho a horse doctor to help a young woman (Maureen O’Sullivan) save a sanitarium from bankruptcy by winning a stakes race at the track. #59 on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list.
8:00 AM The Shop Around The Corner (1940)
10:00 AM Vogues Of 1938 (1937) – better than I expected it to be; an all new full review!
12:00 PM It Happened One Night (1934)
2:00 PM It Should Happen To You (1954) – full review!
3:30 PM Sense and Sensibility (1995) – even if Hugh Grant normally annoys you like he does me this is a pretty good film adaptation of Jane Austen’s story about two sisters (played by Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet both Oscar nominated) who live with their mother and are romanced by Grant and Alan Rickman. Thompson (Howards End (1992)) won her second Oscar for Writing she adapted the novel for the screen.
6:00 PM The Lady Eve (1941) – TCM Essential repeat
8:00 PM Safety Last! (1923) – Comedian Harold Lloyd’s most famous silent comedy featuring the classic scene where he climbs a skyscraper and ends up clinging to a clock as he hangs out stories above the ground over traffic. Added to the National Film Registry in 1994.
1:30 AM The Freshman (1925)
4:15 AM Speedy (1928) – which earned director Ted Wilde a nomination for Best Director Comedy Picture in the only year this Oscar category existed losing to Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)) and the Howard Hughes produced Two Arabian Nights (1927). Lloyd is an obsessed baseball fan whose love for the game prevents him from keeping a job. Great scenes of Coney Island NY (that must have been a fun place to visit!) a Babe Ruth cameo a funny street fight copied many times over and a perilous chase through the city make this a silent classic not to missed.
Monday November 21 – Joan Fontaine TCM’s Star of the Month
Eleanor Powell’s birthday also
8:00 AM Born To Dance (1936) – average; full review!
8:00 PM Rebecca (1940)
10:15 PM Suspicion (1941)
1:30 AM Orson Welles: The Tragedy of Othello The Moor of Venice (1952) – though highly thought of I couldn’t stay awake watching this Cannes Film Festival winner from Orson Welles.
Tuesday November 22 – Merian C. Cooper (Happy Birthday to me;-)
6:00 AM Mata Hari (1931) – O.K.
12:00 PM Saboteur (1942)
4:00 PM Notorious (1946)
6:00 PM The Ipcress File (1965) – pretty good spy movie with Michael Caine in a star making role as secret agent Harry Palmer from the Len Deighton novels. Begins rather slowly but moves quickly once the bodies start piling up. Also with Nigel Green Guy Doleman Sue Lloyd and Gordon Jackson.
8:00 PM 11 PM & 3 AM I’m King Kong (2005) – all new original (Kevin Brownlow) documentary & a TCM premiere!
9:00 PM King Kong (1933)
Wednesday November 23 – Making Faces (The Art of Aging)
6:00 AM The Cocoanuts (1929) – not as good as the films that follow it; an all new capsule review!
7:30 AM Animal Crackers (1930) – the Marx Brothers find themselves involved in a stolen painting farce. Groucho plays a famous hunter invited to be a houseguest by Margaret Dumont; Chico’s his assistant Harpo’s a professor (!) and Zeppo appears as well. Otherwise there is almost no plot or purpose other than to feature Groucho’s monologues (including #53 on AFI’s Top 100 Movie Quotes list "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I don’t know.") Chico’s piano playing and Harpo’s harp talents as he chases a blonde around the premises or the brothers’ other antics. Lilian Roth plays Dumont’s daughter.
9:30 AM Monkey Business (1931) – not quite as funny as most of their movies but still a pretty good Marx Brothers film featuring a few classic scenes. The four brothers are traveling to America as stowaways on a cruise ship during which they become involved with competing "gangsters". Groucho falls for one of their molls played by Thelma Todd.
11:00 AM Horse Feathers (1932) – very funny Marx Brothers film in which Groucho as the newly appointed president of a college tries to improve the school’s reputation by trying to build a winning football team. Naturally Chico Harpo and Zeppo (playing Groucho’s son) assist while Thelma Todd & David Landau work at cross purposes; Nat Pendleton appears as a football recruit that’s also a hindrance for the brothers. #65 on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list.
12:30 PM Duck Soup (1933) – this Marx Brothers classic (the last one with Zeppo) perhaps their best has Groucho playing Rufus T. Firefly the new president of Freedonia so appointed by the richest woman (played by Margaret Dumont of course) in the small country. He declares war on a large neighboring country that of Louis Calhern and spy Raquel Torres (looking an awful lot like Dolores del Rio). Many of the gags and/or lines are classics which have survived and become part of our culture. Directed by Leo McCarey the film was added to the National Film Registry in 1990. Also #5 on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list.
2:00 PM The Merry Widow (1934)
4:00 PM The Prisoner Of Zenda (1937)
10:15 PM The Sunshine Boys (1975) – Neil Simon’s Oscar nominated script turned out to be just the ticket for George Burns who earned a Supporting Actor Academy Award on his only nomination in this story about a vaudeville comedy team who agree to reunite for a TV special even though they haven’t spoken for years. Walter Matthau earned a Best Actor nomination for his role as the other half of the team; Richard Benjamin plays his son the TV producer.
2:30 AM Mr. Skeffington (1944)
5:00 AM Citizen Kane (1941)
Thursday November 24 – All in the Family – Happy Thanksgiving!!!
7:00 AM The Court Jester (1956) – beautiful color production – a four star comedy that was added to the National Film Registry in 2004. It’s #98 on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list. Starring Danny Kaye in the title role (who must remember that "The pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.") it also features Glynis Johns as his assistant/love interest Basil Rathbone as his foe and Angela Lansbury as a Princess who falls for him among others.
9:00 AM Funny Face (1957) – Fred Astaire plays a much older photographer than Audrey Hepburn’s character but that doesn’t keep a romance between them from blossoming when Astaire’s character "discovers" Hepburn’s making her a famous model the world over. Directed by Stanley Donen this average musical features several George & Ira Gershwin tunes as well as one of Kay Thompson’s three on-screen roles. It received four secondary Academy Award nominations for: Art Direction-Set Decoration Cinematography (Ray June’s last of three unrewarded) one of Edith Head’s many & Hubert de Givenchy’s only for Costume Design and Leonard Gershe’s only for his Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.
11:00 AM My Fair Lady (1964)
2:00 PM Father Goose (1964) – slightly above average
4:00 PM Operation Petticoat (1959) – an above average comedy from director Blake Edwards starring Cary Grant as the Captain of a submarine Tony Curtis as his first officer that can get him anything he needs and Dina Merrill as the head nurse of a group which Grant & Co. must transport in close quarters;-) Also features four future television stars: Dick Sargent (Bewitched) Gavin MacLeod (The Love Boat) Marion Ross (Happy Days) and Arthur O’Connell (various).
6:15 PM A Christmas Story (1983) – this holiday classic stars Peter Billingsley as a boy who wants a BB gun for Christmas and his somewhat wacky family which includes Darren McGavin as his father and Melinda Dillon as his mother.
10:00 PM Shenandoah (1965) – O.K.
2:00 AM Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954)
4:00 AM Brigadoon (1954) – Directed by Vincente Minnelli and written by Alan Jay Lerner (An American in Paris (1951)) this average Musical features Gene Kelly and Van Johnson as "Americans in Scotland" who discover the titled town amongst the heather & in the mists during their hunting trip. They meet the locals and learn their secret (the town appears only once for one day only every 100 years since 1754) after the engaged Kelly falls for a local lass played by Cyd Charisse from the town’s elder (Barry Jones). But there’s more to the secret which along with a love triangle among some supporting characters (Jimmy Thompson Elaine Stewart & Hugh Laing) adds some drama extending this fantasy for more dancing and forgettable Lerner and (Frederick) Loewe songs. The film’s Color Art Direction-Set Decoration Costume Design and Sound received Oscar nominations.
Friday November 25 – What the Dickens
12:30 PM How the West Was Won (1962)
6:15 PM Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971) – a pretty funny film in its own right with James Garner conning a whole town into believing bug-eyed Jack Elam is a notorious gunslinger for his own purposes. Suzanne Pleshette Harry Morgan Joan Blondell John Dehner Grady Sutton and Chuck Connors (uncredited as the actual gunslinger) among others also appear.
8:00 PM A Christmas Carol (1938) – a short and sweet telling of Charles Dickens’ classic tale. This one features Reginald Owen as Scrooge and Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit. Also appearing are Kathleen Lockhart Leo G. Carroll Ann Rutherford and June Lockhart makes her screen debut.
9:30 PM Oliver Twist (1948) – a TCM premiere! An outstanding British adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel by director David Lean who also co-wrote the screenplay. Alec Guinness stars as Fagin Robert Newton as Bill Sykes Kay Walsh as Nancy and John Howard Davies as the title character. Also Francis Sullivan plays Mr. Bumble the tyrannical orphanage employee who terrorizes the young lad; Henry Stephenson the wealthy Mr. Brownlow who rescues him. Anthony Newley plays the Artful Dodger.
11:30 PM David Copperfield (1935)
2:00 AM Yojimbo (1961) – director Akira Kurosawa’s classic received an Oscar nomination for B&W Costume Design. Starring Toshirô Mifune the story is about a samurai who wanders into a town where there’s a feud going on between two families. He becomes involved in the conflict in much the same way that Clint Eastwood’s character does in director Sergio Leone’s remake titled A Fistful of Dollars (1964).
4:00 AM Captain Blood (1935)
Saturday November 26 – Blackmail
6:00 AM It’s Love I’m After (1937)
8:00 AM Clash By Night (1952)
10:00 AM The Spiral Staircase (1945)
4:00 PM Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) – awful; an all new capsule review!
6:00 PM Cape Fear (1962) – I haven’t seen the updated version of this one yet but I did really enjoy this version which stars Gregory Peck & Robert Mitchum (though it is hard to watch at times). Also with Polly Bergen Martin Balsam even Telly Savalas. #61 on AFI’s 100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies list. Mitchum’s Max Cady was voted #28 villain by AFI.
8:00 PM The Big Sleep (1946) – this week’s TCM Essential
10:00 PM The Secret Partner (1961) – an all new full review!
12:00 AM Ride The Pink Horse (1947)
2:00 AM The Letter (1940)
Sunday November 27 – Starring Ginger Rogers
6:00 AM Captains Courageous (1937)
8:00 AM Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)
12:00 PM Sounder (1972)
2:00 PM Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
4:00 PM Key Largo (1948)
6:00 PM The Big Sleep (1946) – TCM Essential repeat
10:00 PM The Major and the Minor (1942)
12:00 AM La Boheme (1926) – an acclaimed silent I’ve not seen!
2:00 AM A Bridge Too Far (1977) – Directed by Richard Attenborough (Gandhi (1982)) this LONG World War II movie written by two time Oscar winning screenplay writer William Goldman tells the story of a massive Allied airdrop behind enemy lines and features an all star cast including: Dirk Bogarde James Caan Michael Caine Sean Connery Edward Fox Elliot Gould Gene Hackman Anthony Hopkins Ryan O’Neal Laurence Olivier Robert Redford Maximilian Schell even John Ratzenberger among others.
Monday November 28 – Joan Fontaine TCM’s Star of the Month
10:00 AM Night Must Fall (1937)
1:30 PM They Were Expendable (1945) – a terrific film about the surprising successes of the PT boats during World War II initially thought unworthy of any role in the conflict. Directed by John Ford and starring Robert Montgomery John Wayne Donna Reed Ward Bond Leon Ames and more; it was nominated for two Oscars Special Effects & Sound.
6:00 PM Ride The Pink Horse (1947)
8:00 PM Gunga Din (1939)
10:00 PM Ivanhoe (1952) – an all new capsule review!
12:00 AM Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) – terrible; an all new capsule review!
Tuesday November 29 – Robert Osborne’s Picks
6:00 AM 42nd Street (1933)
1:00 PM That’s Entertainment! (1974) – an outstanding review of MGM’s best Musicals featuring many of its stars as narrators for the countless clips shown; followed by two sequels.
3:30 PM That’s Entertainment! II (1976)
5:45 PM That’s Entertainment! III (1994)
8:00 PM Min And Bill (1930) – an all new full review!
11:30 PM Hollywood Canteen (1944) – an all new full review!
4:00 AM They Won’t Forget (1937)
Wednesday November 30 – Making Faces (Horror)
6:00 AM The Petrified Forest (1936)
9:30 AM To Have And Have Not (1944)
11:30 AM Casablanca (1942)
6:00 PM White Heat (1949)
8:00 PM Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
9:30 PM The Phantom of the Opera (1925) – this classic silent film with Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin has been remade retold and adapted "six ways from Sunday". Don’t miss the original! Added to the National Film Registry in 1998.
11:15 PM Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1932) – probably worth seeing for Fredric March’s Oscar winning Best Actor performance of Robert Louis Stevenson’s titled character if not Miriam Hopkins sexy pre-code performance as the object of his obsession. Rose Hobart plays March’s fiancee.
2:30 AM Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1941) – though nominated for 3 Oscars (B&W Cinematography Editing and Score) most agree that this was one of Spencer Tracy’s lesser films – a waste of a good cast which included Ingrid Bergman as the street woman the Hyde character menaces Lana Turner as Dr. Jekyll’s comely fiancée Donald Crisp as Turner’s disapproving father Ian Hunter as Jekyll’s closest friend Barton MacLane and C. Aubrey Smith among others.