The October Schedule for TCM

[ChiO]

I've only had a chance to go through the first half of the month, but a few of note:

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 4:15pm (EST): PROCES DE JEANNE D'ARC (Robert Bresson 1962) - Stunned that this isn't being shown in the wee hours of the morning. Arguably the finest example of Bresson's use of "models" rather than actors. Inevitably compared to Dreyer's THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, both are based on the trial transcript, but the emotions elicited by Joan differ in the two versions (Bresson was critical of Dreyer's direction of Falconetti -- too poignant and melodramatic in his view). Well-worth the 65 minutes it takes to watch. I believe that it is still unavailable on Region 1 DVD.

The trailer:
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Thursday, Oct. 11: Nobody will ever accuse Lew Landers of being a Robert Bresson imitator (or precursor). With over 170 movie and TV credits, stretching from 1934 to 1963, TCM is showing 11 of his movies from the '30s in the morning and afternoon. This is a slice of his RKO programmers from the start of his career before he went to Columbia, Republic, Monogram and PRC (you get the drift).

Thursday, Oct. 11: And the hits keep on a'comin' on Thursday. A evening with Robert Aldrich. Three from the '60s -- THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, THE LEGEND OF LYLAH CLARE -- and the movie that has replaced GUN CRAZY as my favorite film noir, KISS ME DEADLY. His films can be volatile, complex, audacious and maddening...but always interesting.

[JackFavell]

Great picks guys!

I was really curious about the Bresson Joan. Thanks for swaying me toward watching it. I've never known anything about Lew Landers.

[moira finnie]

I can't miss the Bresson. Thanks for the heads up, ChiO.



Wen, one of the Lew Landers movies that is being shown on Oct. 11th at 4:30pm is an uncut gem from Richard Dix's career--Blind Alibi (1937). Mr. D. shuffles in his bear-like way through the movie playing a man who pretends to be blind to unmask thieves. If memory serves, Dix has several monologues with his guide dog, Ace, The Wonder Dog (his co-star, who actually has more expression than Whitney Bourne, R.D.'s two-legged co-star). Eduardo Ciannelli is wasted but stylish as ever in his role as a nefarious sort. I think Landers must have been honing his skills working with Ace in preparation for his future films as the guiding hand of the Rusty the Dog movies in the late forties.

I am curious about Flight From Glory (1937), showing at 10:15am. This movie features Chester Morris and Van Heflin as pilots flying over the Andes and laughing in the face of death. And this was two years before Chet's better remembered turn as another pilot with problems in Five Came Back and Howard Hawks' classic Only Angels Have Wings. Something tells me that this movie's budget probably was a wee bit smaller than those later films. Oh, and Whitney Bourne, the actress-socialite, is back again in this RKO movie, poor lass.

[JackFavell]

I was about to ask if Whitney Bourne was the socialite who became an actress - I've only seen her in two movies, the Rafter Romance remake with James Dunn which isn't bad at all, and I think she makes an appearance in The Mad Miss Manton, but is indistinguishable from the other socialites in that film, lol. I thought she had potential, but not much spark.

[ChiO]

JF --

I'll be interested in your thoughts on Bresson's version of St. Joan. I had a mild obsession with her story on film a few years ago and, unfortunately, I haven't revisited this movie since then.

As for Landers, I haven't seen any of the movies that TCM is showing, but NIGHT WAITRESS, FLIGHT FROM GLORY (with Chester Morris & Van Heflin), THE MAN WHO FOUND HIMSELF (with Joan Fontaine), BLIND ALIBI (like Moira said) and CONSPIRACY (B-movie by one of the B-giants with that title & about Fascism...gotta see it) pique my interest.

[JackFavell]

I'll definitely give the Bresson a look see, ChiO. I always wanted to play the role, though I was particularly unsuited for it. I haven't gotten into the films as much as I might have, probably because I felt competitive about it. It's easy to find fault when you covet another actress' part.

[moira finnie]

A late notice but perhaps others will see this about a movie on TCM at 4:45 AM (ET). One of character actor Otto Kruger's early movies, when he was making a stab at being a leading man, The Women in His Life (1933), was directed by George Seitz and written by H. Hugh Herbert (NOT the comic actor, but a good screenwriter) This film preceded Kruger's descent into villainy on screen, though his character here is challenging. Attorney Kent Barringer is a man too busy to brood, giving his clients the best defense he can muster (commenting to a client, "In a case like yours, an ounce of showmanship is worth a ton of evidence"). He is one of a crowd of attorneys from early '30s movies (all owing some debt to Elmer Rice's Counsellor-At-Law). Kruger pulled out all the stops playing this cold and apparently self-satisfied, very confident mouthpiece who almost never loses. His veneer of soulless professionalism begins to disintegrate once he takes--against his better judgment--the pro bono case of a man accused of murder. Kruger displays a broad range, from slick "master of the universe" type to a haunted drunk disturbed by a nearly forgotten interval in his past.

The movie is a bit melodramatic and rushed in the last portion, but the first two-thirds of this movie changed my opinion of Kruger. Una Merkel, Isabel Jewell, and Irene Hervey are some of the women in the cast, which also includes the welcome presence of Roscoe Karns.

[JackFavell]

I got it recorded, having seen it on the sched last night, Moira... These are the kind of movies I love to see on TCM, obscure films with people who later did other types of roles. And you know I love Roscoe!

I ADORE your new avatar Moira! He's SO cute there!

[MissGoddess]

Kruger made an unusual leading man in Beauty for Sale, which stars a thirties actress I like, Madge Evans. This was atime when Lewis Stone seemed to hold the mortgage on older romantic leads, at least at MGM. Then along came Gable, thank heavens.

[moira finnie]

I have to watch The Women in HIs Life again too, Wendy. It's been quite some time since I saw it and the details are rather hazy now. I know what you mean about obscure stuff. One of the many things that I enjoy about TCM are the little-known (to me at least) B movies or forgotten gems that feature actors who often are overlooked and sometimes show the quality and vitality of story-telling in the studio era.

Miss G.--Alix from TCM City has told me in the past that Kruger is delightful in Beauty for Sale too. I would like to see it too.

After I saw Lynn's post about the LA tribute to Brod in the People of Film section of the board, I couldn't resist using the big lug for an avatar. Hmmm, first Aldo Ray, now Crawford. I must be going through a sub-conscious hunky phase. What would Stuart Little Leslie Howard say?!

[JackFavell]

Hahahaha! Poor Leslie, he'd look as Little as Stuart next to those big hunks of beefcake.

Who's next, Paul Douglas?

I really wish I had payed attention to the schedule more - The Four Skulls of Johnathan Drake was on today, and it has one of your other effete favorites, Henry Daniell, in a really juicy part, which he could have only taken for the money, but gosh, he was still wonderful. He's the only thing that makes this movie at all creepy. Here it is, if you can get it to play right, I had some trouble with it.

[moira finnie]

As much as I like Henry Daniell, I get creeped out every time I try to watch The Four Skulls of Johnathan Drake. Think of me as a cross between a slightly taller Donald Meek and quieter Una O'Connor. I may seem tough, but I tried to watch it today--esp. when I saw that another of my oddball, not-so-secret loves, Eduard Franz, was part of the cast. But no...no can do

Gimme Henry as a murderer, a crazy Scottish doc trying to teach anatomy, or a blackmailer prompting Gladys George to go off the deep end. Civilized vileness with a touch of the poet is fine. Unimaginative, overly ghoulish stuff, not so much.

[MissGoddess]

I really wish I had payed attention to the schedule more - The Four Skulls of Johnathan Drake was on today, and it has one of your other effete favorites, Henry Daniell, in a really juicy part, which he could have only taken for the money, but gosh, he was still wonderful. He's the only thing that makes this movie at all creepy. Here it is, if you can get it to play right, I had some trouble with it.

i've never seen this, either. i'll have to give it a whirl. i don't think i've seen Daniell in anything from this late period.

[JackFavell]

It's just as Moira said, unimaginitive, yes, but for me, Henry Daniell totally redeemed it. I get a lot of glee out of his performances, even if the movie is trashy stuff.