4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, playing on Sundance on Thursday, July 9th, at 8pm

In my haste to get this post ready this week, I nearly skipped checking Sundance’s schedule, since they usually only have a couple I want to highlight anyway. Glad I didn’t, because they’re running some of my favorite foreign films from recent years, including Romania’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, which I’ve been touting everywhere I can since it came out. TCM of course has its usual high quality stuff as well.

Monday, July 6

6:00am – TCM – Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock built the foundation for all future psycho-killer movies with his classic. It’s not as terrifying as it once was, but that doesn’t at all diminish its greatness. Must See

8:00am – TCM – The Manchurian Candidate
The original 1962 version, not the pale comparison of a 2004 remake. Former soldier Frank Sinatra starts having nightmares about his war experience, then finds that he and his unit were part of a brainwashing experiment – the result of which was to turn his colleague Laurence Harvey into a sleeper agent assassin. A classic of the Cold War era, full of well-honed suspense and paranoia.

6:15pm – IFC – Millions
Danny Boyle has a way of making very simple stories into something special, and this is no exception. A young British boy finds a bag with millions of pounds in it; the catch is that Britain is days away from switching to the euro, so the money will soon be worthless. The shifting ethical questions combined with a sometimes almost Pulp Fiction-esque style and a fascinating religious backdrop (I’m still not sure where he was going with that) at the very least means an intriguing couple of hours.
(repeats at 4:00am and 11:30am on the 7th)

8:00pm – TCM – Manhattan
In one of Woody Allen’s best films, he’s a neurotic intellectual New Yorker (surprise!) caught between his ex-wife Meryl Streep, his teenage mistress Mariel Hemingway, and Diane Keaton, who just might be his match. Black and white cinematography, a great script, and a Gershwin soundtrack combine to create near perfection. Must See

2:35am (7th) – Sundance – Volver
Pedro Almodovar deftly straddles the line between drama and comedy in one of his more accessible films. Two sisters return to their home at the death of their aunt, only to find their mother’s ghost – or is it a ghost? And as always in Almodovar’s films, there are related subplots aplenty. Penelope Cruz is incredible as the younger, fierier sister – she’s never been more moving than in her passionate rendition of the title song, nor funnier than when calmly cleaning up a murder scene. Must See
(repeats at 2:15pm on the 7th)

Tuesday, July 7

8:00pm – TCM – Scaramouche
Stewart Granger was sort of a poor man’s Errol Flynn in his 1950s swashbucklers – never quite had Flynn’s panache, but hey, he tried. Scaramouche is one of his better films, and does boast the longest sword fight in cinema history. So there’s that.

12:00M – IFC – The Cooler
In this under-the-radar film, William H. Macy plays a loser whose bad luck gets him a job as a “cooler” at a casino – his luck spreads and cools off any hot winning streaks that might be going on. But when he starts a relationship with Maria Bello, his new-found love and acceptance turns his luck. This film reinforced my knowledge of Bill Macy’s talent, made me take notice of Maria Bello, and gave Alec Baldwin pretty his best role until 30 Rock.
(repeats at 4:00am on the 8th)

Wednesday, July 8

8:00am – TCM – Till the Clouds Roll By
MGM throws its bevy of musical stars at a biopic of Jerome Kern that, like most of MGM’s 1940s biopics, has very little in common with Kern’s actual life. What it does have, is Kern’s great songs performed by some great singers and dancers. The most interesting section looking back on it now is an extended section from Show Boat starring Kathryn Grayson and Lena Horne – Grayson would get the part of Magnolia five years later when MGM produced Show Boat in full, but they were unwilling to actually cast Horne as mulatto Julie, instead giving the role to Ava Gardner.

10:15am – TCM – Ziegfeld Follies
Rather than go the biopic route to exploit Ziegfeld and their cast of thousands (oh, wait, they already did that with The Great Ziegfeld 10 years earlier), MGM instead modeled Ziegfeld Follies after an actual Ziegfeld show – it’s basically just a series of sketches and musical sequences in revue format. Most are decent, a few are duds, and a few are exceptional, as you might expect. But it’s worth it at least for Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly dancing together, Judy Garland imitating Greer Garson, and a rare cinema sighting of Fanny Brice (who was in many of the original Ziegfeld shows on Broadway).

11:30am – Sundance – Paris, je t’aime
I have a huge soft spot for Paris – basically any movie set there I will like to at least some degree. So an anthology film with eighteen internationally-renowned directors giving their take on Paris with eighteen short films all mashed together? Yeah, instant love. Obviously some sections are far stronger than others – the Coens, Gus van Sant, Alexander Payne, Isabel Coixet, Tom Tykwer, and Wes Craven turn in my favorites.

12:15pm – TCM – Words and Music
Words and Music is another excuse for MGM to bring out their stable of stars to retell of the career of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, and it’s pretty routine. What isn’t routine is Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen’s dazzling rendition of “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” a ten-minute dance number that is 100% worth the price of the film.

12:00M – TCM – I Know Where I’m Going!
This is one of those little films that doesn’t get much press and is very quiet and unassuming, but once you watch it you won’t easily forget it. Wendy Hiller is a confident young woman who knows exactly what she wants and where she’s going – that is, to meet her wealthy fiance and marry him on one of the Scottish Hebrides. But when a storm strands her on the way, she finds herself thrown off-course in more ways than one. There’s nothing wasted here, and I Know Where I’m Going! stands as one of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s crowning achievements, even if it’s not as well-known as Black Narcissus or The Red Shoes.

12:00M – IFC – A Hard Day’s Night
Richard Lester’s 1964 Beatles-starring film straddles several genres – musical, concert film, documentary, comedy. The good news is that it’s an excellent film in any genre. You’ll be hard-pressed to find any film an exuberant as this one, and with the Beatles right on the cusp of becoming the greatest band of all time, it’s a definite Must See

4:30am (9th) – TCM – Lassie Come Home
Family classic that has every kid wanting a collie at some point in their lives. Hint: Get a border collie. Regular collies are quite high-strung.

Thursday, July 9

8:00pm – IFC – The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
This is the one Wes Anderson film I haven’t seen. I need to rectify that, because I LOVE everything else he’s done.
(repeats at 2:00am on the 10th)

8:00pm – Sundance – 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
This unflinching Romanian film remains one of the most powerful things I’ve seen in the last several years. Set in the mid-1980s, it builds a thriller-like story of a woman trying to help her friend obtain a dangerous illegal abortion – yet it’s a thriller so deliberate that its very slowness and lack of movement becomes a major source of tension. When the camera does move, it has an almost physical force. I can hardly describe how blown away I am by this film…tough to watch, but incredibly worth it. Must See

10:00pm – IFC – Chasing Amy
Kevin Smith’s third film, not as low-fi indie as Clerks, as goofy as Mallrats, as irreverently genius as Dogma, as self-referential as Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, or as racy as Zach and Miri Make a Porno, but perhaps sweeter than all of them – Ben Affleck falls for Joey Lauren Adams, with the only slight obstacle being that she’s a lesbian.
(repeats at 4:00am on the 10th)

10:30pm – TCM – Dodge City
Dodge City, not a particularly great movie. It’s a fun entry in the group of Errol Flynn-Olivia de Havilland matchups, as Flynn deals with the outlaw element in the western frontier town of Dodge. The real reason I like it? Fantastic barroom brawl at one point.

12:00M – Sundance – That Obscure Object of Desire
Luis Buñuel, ever one to come up with outlandish conceits, here directs two women playing the same role. The result is trippy and mesmerizing.

12:30am (10th) – TCM – Stagecoach
Major breakthrough for John Wayne, here playing outlaw Cisco Kid – he and the various other people on a stagecoach form a cross-section of old West society that has to learn to get on together to make it to the end of the ride alive. The most memorable, though, is Claire Trevor’s prostitute – a woman who does what she must to survive, and is shunned by everyone except Wayne. Her reaction to him treating her as a lady is perfect. Must See

Friday, July 10

6:00am – IFC – Umberto D
Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist classic about an aging man struggling to live on his meager pension in post-war Rome. Doesn’t sound like a lot, and granted, not a lot happens. But by the end, you’ll have extraordinary sympathy for gentle Umberto and his dog. Oh, and a fantastic performance by non-actress Maria Pia Casillio – she offered to take acting lessons for the part but De Sica forbade her. Good choice.
(repeats at 12:15pm)

7:00am – Sundance – Avenue Montaigne
Sometimes you’re just in the mood for an unassuming, heartwarming little French film. Avenue Montaigne fits the bill well, following a waitress working on the titular Parisian avenue (an arty area with art galleries and a concert hall nearby) and the people she interacts with. There’s not a LOT of substance here, but the French can carry these slight things off with a great deal more panache than we Americans can, and Avenue Montaigne is likely to put a smile on your face.
(repeats 2:35pm)

10:15am – IFC – Miller’s Crossing
The Coen brothers take on 1930s gangland with this film, and do so admirably well. As they do most things. I have to admit I wasn’t quite as enamored of it as I usually am of Coen films, but it definitely has its moments and I think a rewatch would jump it up in my estimation greatly.
(repeats at 3:30pm)

8:00pm – TCM – On the Waterfront
Marlon Brando’s performance as a former boxer pulled into a labor dispute among dock workers goes down as one of the greatest in cinematic history. I’m not even a huge fan of Brando, but this film wins me over. Must See

8:45pm – IFC – Moulin Rouge!
Baz Lurhmann admittedly has a love-it-or-hate-it flamboyantly trippy aesthetic, especially in the informal Red Curtain trilogy which Moulin Rogue! closes. And sure, it’s over the top; sure, the story is fairly routine; sure, the acting is so-so. I love it to pieces anyway.
(repeats at 5:15am on the 11th)

10:00pm – TCM – A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire won Vivien Leigh her second Oscar as fading Southern belle Blanche DuBois, and made a star out of Marlon Brando. It’s also one of the films I’m most embarrassed to say I’ve never seen. I even have it on DVD somewhere! Someday, I will get to it.

Saturday, July 11

4:00pm – TCM – The Magnificent Seven
Homage comes full circle as American John Sturges remakes Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai as a western – Kurosawa’s film itself was a western transposed into a Japanese setting. Sturges ain’t no Kurosawa, but the story of a group of outcast cowboys banding together to protect an oppressed village is still a good one, plus there’s a young Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson in the cast.

Sunday, July 12

7:30am – TCM – Baby Face
If you want a good dose of Pre-Code film style, look no further than 1933′s Baby Face, starring Barbara Stanwyck as a girl quite willing to sleep her way to the top of a downtown firm – literally moving up floor by floor as she moves from conquest to conquest. Look quickly to see a young John Wayne, in a suit, no less!

4:00pm – TCM – High Society
This is not one of the best music-centric films ever made, but it is the musical version of The Philadelphia Story, with both Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra crooning it up with songs by Cole Porter. Oh, and one of Grace Kelly’s last roles before she retired to become a princess and stuff. Still, you wish with that pedigree that it were better than it is. Ah, well.

7:15pm – IFC – Garden State
Somehow it has apparently become fashionable to hate on Garden State, but I refuse. I love it, and I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon.
(repeats at 5:00am on the 13th)

8:00pm – TCM – The African Queen
One of several films John Huston and Humphrey Bogart did together pits Bogart against the Amazon river – and straight-laced missionary Katharine Hepburn, who is forced to travel with him to escape Germany enemies. Well, boats are small, and one things leads to another, you know.

9:00pm – IFC – A Fish Called Wanda
John Cleese and Michael Palin bring their patented Monty Python-esque slapstick humor to this comedy of a jewel-heist gone terribly wrong. Also along for the farcical ride are Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline (who won an Oscar for his role).
(repeats at 3:00am on the 13th)

10:00pm – TCM – Night of the Hunter
If there’s ever a film that defined “Southern gothic,” it’s this one. Underhanded “preacher” Robert Mitchum weasels his way into a young widowed family to try to gain the money the late father hid before he died. But what starts off as a well-done but fairly standard crime thriller turns into a surreal fable somewhere in the middle, and at that moment, jumps from “good film” to “film you will be able to get out of your head NEVER.” In a good way. Must See

Blowup, playing on TCM at 4:00am on May 2nd

Tuesday, April 28th

7:00am – IFC – Umberto D
Neo-realist masterpiece from Vittorio DeSica. I think I’ve talked about the main character and his dog before – have I mentioned the young girl who works in Umberto’s apartment building? Stunning natural performance from a non-actress that DeSica cast from an open audition. She wanted to get acting lessons, but he forbade her. Good move, because she’s great – formal training would’ve ruined her.
(repeats at 12:15pm)

10:15am – TCM – You Can’t Take It With You
Interestingly, this film rather than Mr. Deeds or Mr. Smith or It’s a Wonderful Life got Frank Capra a Best Picture Oscar. I think it’s a bit lesser than any of those, but it’s still quite good.

6:00pm – IFC – Miller’s Crossing
The Coen Brothers do 1930s gangsterland as only they can do it. And by that, I mean AWESOMELY.
(repeats at 4:00am on the 29th)

Wednesday, April 29th

6:00am – TCM – Father of the Bride (1950)
Spencer Tracy is the father, Elizabeth Taylor the bride in the original classic.

9:30am – TCM – The Bad and the Beautiful
Vincente Minnelli directs Kirk Douglas, Lana Turner, Dick Powell, Gloria Grahame, and others in one of the best dark-side-of-Hollywood noirish films this side of Sunset Boulevard.

1:30pm – TCM – Anatomy of a Murder
One of the best courtroom dramas ever made – James Stewart vs. George C. Scott as lawyers on a murder/rape trial that may not be quite what it seems. And that’s aside from the top-notch jazz score by Duke Ellington, which is in itself reason enough to see the film. Must See

4:35pm – Sundance – The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Luis Bunuel takes aim at his favorite target once again, eviscerating the bourgeoisie through absurdity and surrealism.

6:00pm – TCM – Roman Holiday
Audrey Hepburn. ‘Nuff said.

10:45pm – TCM – The Birds
Psycho notwithstanding, this is Hitchcock’s most intense film, for me anyway. Must see

Thursday, April 30th

8:00am – IFC – Millions
Simple story of two brothers who find a whole lot of British pounds (on the fanciful eve of Britain’s switch the Euro) and have to decide what to do with it – but in Danny Boyle’s hands, it becomes much more interesting and unique than any synopsis could convey.
(repeats at 2:30pm and 5:15am on the 1st)

12:30pm – TCM – Mildred Pierce
Exhibit A of what the Hollywood studio system was capable of on a good day. Also Exhibit A of what melodrama can be. Joan Crawford’s best role. Must See

8:00pm – TCM – Glory
Matthew Broderick commands an all-black unit of the Union army during the American Civil War. Director Edward Zwick has made movie after movie that seem to be blatant Oscar-bait, but he’s never bettered this one.

9:45pm – IFC – Fargo
Coen Brothers. ‘Nuff said.
(repeats at 3:30am on the 1st)

10:00pm – Sundance – 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
Oh, just click the tag at the bottom to see how many times I’ve said “Watch this!” Must See

10:15pm – TCM – Philadelphia
Tom Hanks sues his former company for firing him because he has AIDS. Powerful.

11:30pm – IFC – Blue Velvet
David Lynch’s best-known movie, probably, though one I have never been able to get into as much as many of his others. I need to give it another chance. I love the beginning, but then it devolves into pointlessness. Still, it’s Lynch. And thus ought to be seen. :)

Friday, May 1st

8:00pm – TCM – Dr. No
We’re up to, what, twenty-two Bond movies now? Here’s the first, back with the REAL Bond, Sean Connery. (Just kidding, I love Daniel Craig too, actually.) But really, Dr. No still stands as one of the best Bond films.
(repeats at 2pm on the 2nd)

10:00pm – TCM – From Russia With Love
And this second Bond film is also one of the best.
(repeats at 4pm on the 2nd)

4:00am (2nd) – TCM – Blowup
In Michelangelo Antonioni’s first (only?) English-language film, a photographer captures an image in the background of a shot that may or may not be a murder. Sounds like a detective film, but it’s far more abstract and distancing than detective stories can usually afford to be. Full of sixties-ness. Must See

Saturday, May 2nd

6:00pm – TCM – A Shot in the Dark
The second and arguably best of the Pink Panther movies. The original ones. The new ones don’t count.

8:00pm – TCM – I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
Paul Muni as a man falsely accused of a crime and sentenced to a chain gang. One of Warner Bros’ best “ripped from the headlines” socially conscious films – they did a lot of them in the 1930s.

Sunday, May 3rd

12:00N – TCM – Kiss Me Kate
Shakespeare (“Taming of the Shrew”). With Cole Porter music. ‘Nuff said? ‘Nuff said.

1:50pm – IFC – The Cat’s Meow
Slight but enjoyably nostalgic Peter Bogdanovich film about the events surrounding silent film producer Thomas Ince’s death – which occurred during a party on the Hearst yacht. Film buffs will definitely get a kick out of it.

9:15pm – IFC – The Cooler
This under-the-radar film is probably not so much under-the-radar anymore for my readers, since I recommend it every time it’s on. But it’s that good, really. A small, quiet gem.
(repeats 4:15am on the 4th)

Stage Door, playing at 1:45am on April 22 (TCM)

Monday, April 20th

11:00pm – TCM – Top Hat
Must See

12:45am (21st) – TCM – A Night at the Opera
The title of “Best Marx Brothers Film Ever” is pretty much a dead heat between this film and Duck Soup. I throw my vote to A Night at the Opera, though. Must See

2:30am (21st) – TCM – Dinner at Eight
MGM could put together a killer ensemble cast when they wanted to, and Dinner at Eight is one of the best early 1930s examples – John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Billie Burke, Marie Dressler, and others – plus it’s seriously funny.

Tuesday, April 21st

8:00pm – TCM – The Women
Talk about your ensemble casts: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, Mary Boland, Virginia Weidler, Hedda Hopper, Marjorie Main, and not a man in sight. Add in one of the best (and most bitingly catty) scripts ever written, and you’ve got a film that always draws a huge audience when it’s revived. Not so much when it’s remade, though.

12:00M – TCM – Topper
Socialite couple Cary Grant and Constance Bennett take one inebriated drive too many and end up as ghosts. The fun starts when they decide to help Grant’s staid boss Cosmo Topper (Roland Young) learn to live a little. Screwball comedy meets the supernatural, and it’s a winner.

12:00M – IFC – Amores Perros

1:45am (22nd) – TCM – Stage Door
I cannot describe to you how much I love this film. I’m not sure it’s wholly rational. Katharine Hepburn plays an heiress who wants to make it on her own as an actress, so she moves (incognito) into a New York boarding house for aspiring actresses. Her roommate ends up being Ginger Rogers (who’s never been better or more acerbic), and the boarding house is rounded out with a young Lucille Ball, a young Eve Arden, a very young Ann Miller, and various others. The dialogue is crisp and everyone’s delivery matter-of-fact and perfectly timed, and the way the girls use humor to mask desperation makes most every moment simultaneously funny and tragic – so that when it does turn tragic, it doesn’t feel like a shift in mood, but a culmination of the inevitable. Dang, now I want to watch it RIGHT NOW. Must See

Wednesday, April 22nd

8:00am – IFC – Millions

1:15pm – TCM – Kiss Me Kate

11:00pm – TCM – The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
Preston Sturges zaniest and most irreverent comedy gives Betty Hutton her best role as Trudy Kockenlocker, who goes out for a night on the town with a group of soldiers about to ship out. A few months later, she finds out she’s pregnant and can only vaguely remember an impromptu wedding ceremony with a soldier who may or may not be named Ratskiwatski. I’m always impressed that Sturges got away with as much as he did in this film in 1944.

Thursday, April 23rd

9:15am – IFC – Jules et Jim
(repeats at 2:35pm)

9:30am – TCM – The Adventures of Robin Hood
This is one of the first movies I can remember seeing. And all these years later, it remains one of the greatest adventure movies ever made. Errol Flynn was born to play Robin Hood, and Olivia de Havilland is a luminous Maid Marion. Also one of the first Technicolor films. Must See

11:30pm – IFC – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(repeats at 5:30am on the 24th)

3:45am (24th) – TCM – On the Town
Sailors on leave Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin hit New York City, spending the day sightseeing and searching for Kelly’s dream girl Vera-Ellen, meanwhile picking up Betty Garrett and Ann Miller for the other boys. Not much plot here, but enough to precipitate some of the best song and dance numbers on film. Also one of the first musicals shot on location. Must See

Friday, April 24th

4:15pm – TCM – The Trouble With Harry
Hitchcock’s films usually have some degree of macabre humor in them, but The Trouble With Harry is probably the funniest. Harry is dead. And everyone else in the film (including a young Shirley MacLaine) is trying to somehow hide his body, mostly unsuccessfully and with hilarious results.

Saturday, April 25th

8:00am – TCM – Yojimbo
Yojimbo gets talked about probably more than any of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai movies other than The Seven Samurai. Maybe Rashomon, if you count that as a samurai movie. But I haven’t seen it. Maybe this will be the time? We’ll see. :)

10:00am – TCM – The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

5:00pm – TCM – I Married a Monster from Outer Space
Okay, I have never heard of this movie, and I have NO IDEA what it is. But it is called I Married a Monster from Outer Space. How can it not be awesomely bad, and thus imminently worth watching?

10:45pm – TCM – The Lion in Winter
Kate Hepburn won an Oscar for her portrayal of Elinor of Aquitaine (wife of England’s Henry II and mother to Richard the Lionhearted and John I). Peter O’Toole handles Henry II with equal aplomb, and the two competitive brothers are Timothy Dalton and Anthony Hopkins in early roles. It’s a fascinating time in history to me, as well, and this is one of the better films that depicts it.

1:15am – TCM – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
Fredric March does right by the famous doctor and his alter-ego, though he did have a lot of help from makeup. ;)

3:00am – TCM – The Champ (1931)
Just saw this Wallace Beery pic a couple of months ago, and thought it was mighty solid. It’s much less of a boxing picture than I originally thought – much more about washed-up boxer Beery’s relationship with his tough-talking son Jackie Coogan, who’s fantastic in his part. It’s simple, but effective in its early 1930s Warner Bros. way.

Sunday, April 26th

8:00am – TCM – Dark Victory

12:00N – TCM – The Band Wagon
There are many reasons to consider The Band Wagon among the best movie musicals ever made. The satirical plot involving a Shakespearean director who tries to turn a lighthearted musical into a doom-and-gloom version of Faust, the bright yet sardonic script and score by Betty Comden and Adolph Green (who basically appear in the film as the characters played by Nanette Fabrey and Oscar Levant), the last really great role for Fred Astaire (maybe Funny Face is a contender, but barely), and of course, the never-surpassed beauty of dance numbers like “Dancing in the Dark” with Fred and Cyd Charisse. But even if it didn’t have all that, I’d still rank it among my favorites for the epic “Girl Hunt Ballet” number spoofing hard-boiled detective fiction. Must See

6:00pm – TCM – The Night of the Hunter
If there’s ever a film that defined “Southern gothic,” it’s this one. Underhanded “preacher” Robert Mitchum weasels his way into a young widowed family to try to gain the money the late father hid before he died. But what starts off as a well-done but fairly standard crime thriller turns into a surreal fable somewhere in the middle, and at that moment, jumps from “good film” to “film you will be able to get out of your NEVER.” In a good way. Must See

Well, I had a bit of an internet outage this week, preventing me from posting the Film on TV post. I would’ve just skipped it, but Saturday has a HUGE AMOUNT of fantastic movies playing. So a late and truncated post will have to do. Please direct any complaints to Time Warner Cable of Los Angeles. They should be used to it by now.

Saturday, April 11

6:00am – IFC – A Hard Day’s Night
(repeats at 12:35pm)

6:00am – TCM – The Kennel Murder Case
Before taking on the role of detective Nick Charles in the Thin Man movies, William Powell did a couple of films as Philo Vance, another witty private eye. Here he’s joined by Mary Astor, who nearly matches Myrna Loy as his counterpart.

7:30am – TCM – The 39 Steps
My vote for Hitchcock’s finest British-era film follows Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll though a twisty and witty tale of spies and mistaken identities.

8:00am – IFC – Throne of Blood
Shakespeare often seems to work better, or at least take on new vitality, when transposed into different times and places – here his Macbeth moves into medieval Japan in the capable hands of Akira Kurosawa.

9:50am – IFC – American Splendor
Harvey Pekar is one of the more idiosyncratic graphic novelists there is (“comic book” doesn’t quite cover his very adult, neurotic art), and Paul Giamatti brings him to life perfectly.
(repeats at 3:30pm)

12:00N – TCM – They Were Expendable

5:00pm – TCM – The Bridge on the River Kwai

8:00pm – TCM – Saboteur
Not a particularly memorable Hitchcock film, but it does have a great sequence with the hero and villain chasing each other and hanging off the Statue of Liberty.

10:00pm – TCM – Shadow of a Doubt
And this is a somewhat lesser-known Hitchcock film that ought to be top-tier. Small-town girl Teresa Wright idolizes her uncle Charlie, but we know that he’s an infamous murderer on the run. Hitchcock once made a distinction between mystery and suspense: mystery is when there’s tension because the audience doesn’t know whodunit, suspense is when there’s tension because the audience does. This film is a perfect example of suspense, and Hitchcock’s preference for telling the audience whodunit very early in the film and letting them squirm.

12:00M – TCM – Foreign Correspondent
Another lesser-known Hitchcock film that’s nonetheless well worth watching.

2:15am (12th) – TCM – Rebecca
Hitchcock’s first American film isn’t one of my favorites, but a lot of people like it quite a lot. For me it’s more that the ending cops out from the book, and I know that’s the studio’s influence, not Hitchcock’s. And that bugs me.

Sunday, April 12

4:30am – TCM – Spellbound
Hitchcock + Ingrid Bergman + Gregory Peck + Freudianism + Salvador Dali dream sequences. There was something else you wanted? I didn’t think so.

8:00am – IFC – Au revoir, les enfants

12:30pm – TCM – Ben-Hur (1959)

1:05pm – IFC – Millions

7:00pm – TCM – Easter Parade
One of the better examples of MGM’s opulent musical style – having Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, and Ann Miller on board doesn’t hurt.

10:15pm – IFC – Amores Perros

Monday, January 26

9:45am – TCM – The Petrified Forest
Bette Davis and Leslie Howard are top billed in this 1936 crime drama, but the thing you’ll remember is Humphrey Bogart in his breakout role as criminal-on-the-run Duke Mantee. They’re all holed up in a remote gas station while Mantee figures out his scheme to escape the manhunt for him. He fairly sizzles on screen.

2:00am (27th) – TCM – From Here to Eternity
There’s the famous part, yes, where Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr make love on the beach among the crashing waves. But there’s also a solid ensemble war tale, involving young officer Montgomery Clift and his naive wife Donna Reed, and embittered soldiers Frank Sinatra and Lee J. Cobb.

Tuesday, January 27

9:00am – IFC – Millions (repeats 2:30pm)
A young British boy finds millions of pounds a few days before the UK is set to switch to the Euro. A deceptively simple story because something more, in both style and substance, as director Danny Boyle brings his trademark visual panache and throws in an intriguing series of ethical dilemmas.

Wednesday, January 28

10:15am – TCM – Words and Music
MGM liked to do largely fictionalized composer biopics in the 1940s and ’50s, mostly because it gave them an opportunity to show off their stable of singing and dancing stars. Words and Music is their retelling of the career of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, and it’s pretty routine. What isn’t routine is Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen’s dazzling rendition of “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” a ten-minute dance number that is 100% worth the price of the film.

Thursday, January 29

4:15pm – TCM – Father of the Bride
Long before Steve Martin kicked of his now-twenty-year run of remaking classic comedies with his version of this film, Spencer Tracy was the Father of the Bride, dealing with the difficulty of letting his only daughter, Elizabeth Taylor, go to some other man. I don’t hate the Martin version, but this one is better. The family’s son is played by a young Russ Tamblyn (of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and West Side Story).

8:00pm – TCM – Annie Hall
I recommend this film every time. Just ’cause. Although the fact that TCM has played Annie Hall five or six times since I started writing these, and have only played Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters maybe once each? Bothering me a little. Balance, TCM, balance. Must See

11:45pm – TCM – The Apartment
I also recommend this one every time. Because it’s awesome. Must See

4:00am (30th) – TCM – The Clock
In 1945, Judy Garland took a break from doing all those wonderful musicals to do a purely dramatic film (in the capable directorial hands of her then-husband Vincente Minnelli). It worked out quite well, giving us this solid wartime romance between a soldier about to shove off and the girl he meets with only one day to spare.

Friday, January 30

12:45am (31st) – TCM – The Night of the Hunter
Actor Charles Laughton only directed one film in his career, this strange yet mesmerizing Southern gothic thriller. In one way, it’s easy to see why he never got another directing gig – the film is quite weird, and doesn’t fit easily into any genre that studios at the time knew how to produce. In another way, it’s a great pity we never got to see what else he could come up with, because Night of the Hunter is one of the most original and poetic films ever made. It starts off as a relatively straight suspenser, with conman-posing-as-a-preacher Robert Mitchum insinuating himself into a young family whose father died burying a heap load of stolen money (which Mitchum would like to have). Soon, however, it turns into a fantastic fable, rife with symbolism and images that will stay seared into your brain for ever. Must See

Saturday, January 31

1:30pm – TCM – Rear Window
Hitchcock, Stewart, and Kelly mix equal parts suspense thriller, murder mystery, romance, voyeristic expose, ethical drama, caustic comedy and cinematographic experiment to create my favorite film of all time. Must See

6:00pm – TCM – The Pink Panther
Many other film buffs would join me in citing Pink Panther sequel A Shot in the Dark as the best of the series, but the first entry is still well worth watching. Peter Sellers is perfect as bumbling detective Jacques Clouseau, trying to recover a stolen diamond for David Niven.

Sunday, February 1

12:15am – TCM – Network
Peter Finch is as mad as hell, and he’s not going to take it anymore. And when he eschews his news script to say so live on national TV, he starts a phenomenon that his network initially fears but soon embraces when they realize that they stand to get more viewers for a deranged newscaster than for the actual news. Finch won the first posthumous acting Oscar for his role – in fact, the only one until Heath Ledger likely wins one this year.

You know, there’s no excuse for this lateness. I just need to write these earlier. It’s not like the networks don’t have their schedules up weeks in advance. Again, though, there was nothing on Monday worth noting anyway.

Tuesday, 6 January

9:45pm / 8:45pm – TCM – The Fallen Idol
A murder mystery unusually told through the eyes of a child. The “idol” of the title is a butler, highly regarded by his employer’s lonely young son. When the butler’s wife (generally a shrewish woman that neither the butler nor the son particularly like) meets an untimely end, the boy is certain she was murdered – but how badly may he have misconstrued what he’s seen? It’s a simple plot, but the point of view and how it changes the way we react to the events in question is astoundingly well done. Written by Graham Greene.

3:45am / 2:45am (7th) – TCM – The Third Man
Also written by Graham Greene, and much better known – in fact, most film buffs will place The Third Man among the best films ever made.

Wednesday, 7 January

9:45pm / 8:45pm – TCM – Mister Roberts
A comic sea drama, with a great cast including Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, and Jack Lemmon, in the first film that got him noticed (his character Ensign Pulver even got an eponymous sequel).

9:45pm / 8:45pm – IFC – Miller’s Crossing
The Coen Brothers take on the gangster film, and do so very adeptly. As they do nearly everything adeptly. Not that I’m complaining.
(repeats 4:15am EST on the 8th)

Thursday, 8 January

7:50am / 6:50am – IFC – The Importance of Being Earnest
Whatever you may think of Oscar Wilde’s personal life, the man wrote some of the most hilarious and trenchant plays ever, and this 2002 version of his most famous is a worthy adaptation. Rupert Everett plays Algy with dripping sarcasm, while Colin Firth’s Jack is, well, earnest.
(repeats 2:45pm EST, and 5:05am EST on the 9th)

8:00pm / 7:00pm – TCM – On the Town
Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin are sailors on leave in New York City; once they meet up with Vera-Ellen, Betty Garrett, and Ann Miller, they’re in for one of the greatest movie musicals ever made. It’s also the first major musical shot on location, so there’s that for your historical tidbit archive.

9:45pm / 8:45pm – TCM – Anchors Aweigh
Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra made good sailors, apparently; before On the Town they weighed anchor in Anchors Aweigh. (*groan* I apologize for that.) It’s not quite the quality of the later film, but it’s fairly solid as MGM musicals go. Plus, Gene dances with Jerry the Mouse in an early live-action-animation combination.

Friday, 9 January

10:00am / 9:00am – Fox Movie Channel – My Darling Clementine
One of the best cinematic depictions of the Wyatt Earp-Doc Holliday saga that led to the OK Corral shootout (though Tombstone holds its own); it actually focuses more, as the title indicates, on Earp’s romantic relationships. In the hands of John Ford, however, this is better than it sounds. In fact, it’s pretty darn good.

4:00pm / 3:00pm – TCM – The Caine Mutiny
Humphrey Bogart’s Captain Queeg is a piece of work, and by that I mean some of the best work Bogart has on film. He’s neurotic, paranoid, and generally mentally unstable. Or is he? That’s the question after first officer Van Johnson relieves him of duty as being unfit to serve and faces charges of mutiny.

6:15pm / 5:15pm – TCM – Key Largo
It’s bad enough to be stuck in the Florida Keys with a hurricane coming on, as Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Lionel Barrymore are in this film. But being threatened by gangster Edward G. Robinson at the same time? That’s just too much. Or, from the audience’s perspective, just the right amount.

Saturday, 10 January

7:30am / 6:30am – TCM – Little Caesar
Warner Bros. invented the gangster film in the early 1930s with a set of gritty, “torn from the headlines” films that usually ended with the gangster getting their comeuppance, but yet retaining the audience’s sympathy. Little Caesar established Edward G. Robinson as one of the major gangster actors; the other was James Cagney (see The Public Enemy below).

10:00am / 9:00am – IFC – Millions
Danny Boyle has a way of making very simple stories into something special, and this is no exception. A young British boy finds a bag with millions of pounds in it; the catch is that Britain is days away from switching to the euro, so the money will soon be worthless. The shifting ethical questions combined with a sometimes almost Pulp Fiction-esque style and a fascinating religious backdrop (I’m still not sure where he was going with that) at the very least means an intriguing couple of hours.
(repeats 3:00pm EST)

12:00pm / 11:00am – TCM – Dodge City
Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland made eight films together between 1935 and 1942. This is nowhere near the best. However. It has one of the best barroom brawl scenes in any film ever, and is a decent western outside of that scene. But I love me some barroom brawl scenes, so there you go.

8:00pm / 7:00pm – TCM – Dinner at Eight
The best example of a 1930s MGM ensemble drama is Grand Hotel. Dinner at Eight is the best example of a 1930s MGM ensemble comedy, and it’s held up far better than its overwrought cousin over the years. You got two Barrymores (Lionel and John), Jean Harlow (one of her top couple of roles), Wallace Beery (fresh off an Oscar win), Marie Dressler (forgotten now, but also just a recent Oscar winner at the time), and others converging for a dinner party. Sparkling dialogue is the real star here.

3:00am / 2:00am (11th) – TCM – The Public Enemy
Famous for the scene where James Cagney smashes a grapefruit into Mae Marsh’s face, it’s one of the gold standards of early gangster films, along with Little Caesar and Howard Hawks’s Scarface.

Sunday, 11 January

9:35am / 8:35am – IFC – Umberto D
Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist classic about an aging man struggling to live on his meager pension in post-war Rome. Doesn’t sound like a lot, and granted, not a lot happens. But by the end, you’ll have extraordinary sympathy for gentle Umberto and his dog. Oh, and a fantastic performance by non-actress Maria Pia Casillio – she offered to take acting lessons for the part but De Sica forbade her. Good choice.

10:00pm / 9:00pm – IFC – Amores Perros
I was really disappointed in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s latest film, Babel, and Amores Perros is a large part of the reason why. Because, see, Amores Perros is a perfect example of the multiple interlocking stories/themes filmmaking conceit. The stories are loosely tied together by the various protagonists’ relationships with dogs (the title roughly translates to “Love’s a Bitch”), and by a car crash. But the themes are handled subtly and have to be teased out, not like the anvil-thwaking that Inarritu reduced himself to in Babel. See this one instead, folks.

I’m a month behind again! Hey, I’ve been putting more effort into watching and reading than writing. (No, really. I’ve been busting through my goals pretty well this year. I’m practicing for grad school, when I hear I’ll have half as much time to do twice as much work. We’ll see.)

Also, some day I’m going to write about something other than movies and books. Really. I promise.

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