[A broken heart as a learning opportunity?]

It occurs to me that you can't have your heart broken by someone  you're not close to.  But can anyone name a movie where this is (a) a good thing or ( takes the side of the heartbreakers?  I know that James Cagney is better off not following The Strawberry Blonde.

[A broken heart as a learning opportunity?]

Here's a question.  I'm probably missing lots of obvious choices, not to mention even more not so obvious choices, since it's the kind of genre I don't pay that much attention to.  But can anyone think of a movie where the hero's heart is deliberately broken by the two people closest to him?  And if so, how does he (or conceivably she) get over it.  I suppose the usual solution is to find someone who is clearly an improvement over the heart-breaker.  The special kick I suppose is that arguably the hero deserves to have his (or conceivably her) heart broken, as opposed to it being better in the long run that his/her heart was broken in this particular manner.

[Favorite movie entrances and exits]

Kevin Spacey makes a very special exit in L.A. Confidential, while the exits of both Oleg Yankvovsky and Erland Josephson in Nostalghia are spectacular.

[LEAST & MOST FAVORITE of the week...]

I saw three movies last week.  Margot at the Wedding was another example of Noah Baumbach's dysfunctional family comedies, reveling in its spite and passive aggression.  Meh.  On the Beach is a typical Stanley Kramer film, taking a serious topic, in this case the destruction of humanity and civilization, and turning it into soap opera.  Everyone goes down with a stiff upper lip, without recrimination or anger.  It's a political movie without politics.  I am going to have to see Knight of Cups again.  I've been suffering from insomnia for the last several days and while my first impression of the movie was that it was so stunningly beautiful  I was consistently awestruck, it occurs to me that I must have slept through a key sequence starring Antonio Banderas.

[TCM Programming Challenge #32 "The Sum of Its Parts" - The rules]

Lonesome Polecat, you've got to like a schedule that includes a section on ballooning.

[Your Favourite Performances from 1929 to present are...]

Choices for 1938

 

Actor

 

Jean Gabin, Grand Illusion

Errol Flynn, The Adventures of Robin Hood

James Cagney, Angels with Dirty Faces

Cary Grant, Bringing up Baby

Nikolai Chersakov, Alexander Nevsky

 

Actress

 

Katherine Hepburn, Bringing up Baby

Margaret Sullavan, Three Comrades

Katherine Hepburn, Holiday

Wendy Hiller, Pygmalion

Michele Morgan, Port of Shadows

 

Supporting Actor

 

Marcel Dalio,  Grand Illusion

 

Supporting Actress

 

Olivia De Havailand, The Adventures of Robin Hood

[Your Favourite Performances from 1929 to present are...]

I know I'm late, but here's my choices for 1937:

 

Best Actor Academy:  Spencer Tracy, Captain Courageous

My Choice:  Jean Gabin, Pepe le Moko

Other Nominees:  Cary Grant (The Awful Truth), Victor Moore (Make way for tomorrow), Fred Astaire (Shall We Dance), Sacha Guitry (Pearls of the Crown),

 

Best Actress Academy:  Luise Rainer, The Good Earth

My choice: Zhou Xuan (Street Angel)

Other Nominees:  Marlene Dietrich (Angel), Greta Garbo (Camille), Katherine Hepburn (Stage Door), Beulah Bondi (Make Way for Tomorrow), Ginger Rogers (Stage Door),

 

My choice Best Supporting Actor:  Edward Everett Horton (Angel, Shall we Dance)

 

My Choice Best Supporting Actress:  Gracie Allen (A Damsel in Distress)

[Two by Wim Wenders tonight]

A shame that I had to work today.  I would have liked to see both of them.

[LEAST & MOST FAVORITE of the week...]

I saw five movies over the last two weeks.  Crimson Peak serves as a salutary reminder that art direction is not a substitute for great direction, good performances or a plausible script.  It's not as if del Toro doesn't try.  But even the one element that he concentrates on only raises awkward questions.  The early scenes leave one wondering why, if the characters have phonographs and automobiles, everything is gaslit?   Isn't the decor a bit much for turn of the century Buffalo, then as now a rather prosaic city?  And the callbacks to Fanny and Alexander and The Shining only remind one how their very simple presentation of ghosts is so much more effective than del Toro's special effects for the same end.  As for the plot, well it starts with a high ratio to telling and showing.  And if Gone Girl presented a satisfying answer to the question "Can Ben Aflleck really be that stupid?" Crimson Peak's answer to a similiar question about Jessica Chastain is much less effective.

 

Only Yesterday was the best movie of the last two week, an intelligent, thoughtful examination of a young Japanese woman's childhood.  And apparently "The Rose" is a much more moving song, if you don't actually have to hear the lyrics.  The Hateful Eight is perhaps not the best place to end Quintin Tarantino's film career.  It doesn't have the ingenuity of Inglourious Basterds, and is less witty than Django Unchained.  But it's still effective on its own terms.  And like Tarantino's last movie it includes an act of vengeance which however audience pleasing it may be only makes the villains' job easier.  Man of Steel strikes me a quite pointless movie.  Superman II has not, in my view, worn all that well.  But replacing its humor with portentous self-seriousness hardly strikes me as an improvement.  If not brilliant, the art direction in both Krypton and the Fortress of Solitude in the Reeves movies was at least distinctive.  The new version offers nothing new here.  And if your new General Zod doesn't have Terrence Stamp's charisma, or anything else, then why bother?  Hitchcock/Truffaut is a useful, if not brilliant account of the events behind the latter's famous book on and conversations with the former.

[TCM Programming Challenge #32 "The Sum of Its Parts" - The rules]

Programming Notes:  Week of May 28, 2017 to June 3, 2017

SOTM:  Danielle Darrieux
The Essentials:  A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Silent Sunday Nights:  Limite (1931)
TCM Imports:  Mysteries of Lisbon (2010)
Friday Night Spotlight:  Eastern European Cinema Glasnost and After
TCM Undergound:  The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

Premieres

Doomed Love (1978)
Point of Order (1964)
Persepolis (2007)
The Red and the Black (1954)
Fig Leaves (1926)
Alice (1988)
Hotel Terminus (1988)
The Blood of a Poet (1932)
Street Angel (1937)
The Cloud-Capped Star (1960)
Days of Eclipse (1988)
Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968)

Exempt Premieres

Limite (1931) (Silent)
Mysteries of Lisbon (2010) (Foreign)
Hugo (2011) (Effects)
Victoria (2015) (Effects)
The Usual Suspects (1995) (Scripts)
Memento (2000) (Scripts)
Hard to be a God (2013) (Directors)
Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998) (Directors)
Yellow Submarine (1968) (Music)
Magical Mystery Tour (1967) (Music)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) (Underground)

Breakdown:

1900s:    1
1920s:    7
1930s:   19
1940s:   17
1950s:     9
1960s:   13
1970s:     8
1980s:     6
1990s:     3
2000s:     4
2010s:     4

Sundays starts off with a celebration of Lusitania--Portugal and its most famous colony, Brazil, though another colony is the subject of the first movie, Burn!  Trying to find a good day to celebrate was a bit difficult, since none of the leading authors in Portuguese, Saramago, Pessoa, Machado de Assis, or Eca de Queiros have their birthday fall on Sunday this year.  Nor does the Carnation Revolution of 1974 that led to Portuguese democracy.  So ironically the day commemorates the founding of the dictatorship that the revolution would overthrow 46 years later.  So today's movies include a number of Brazilian and Portuguese subjects, along with Hollywood treatments of Brazil.  Brazil is included, although it takes place in an alternate Britain, since it also deals with brutal violence, underdevelopment and romantic escape.  Monday starts off celebrating Wisconsin's entry into the union.  It includes a 1960 documentary on a key Kennedy primary victory.  And while Wisconsin has a surprisingly high number of highly respected senators, such as Robert Lafollette,  William Proxmire, Gaylord Nelson and Russell Feingold, there aren't any movies about them.  There is, however, a documentary about the considerably less admired Joseph McCarthy. 

Monday continues with five movies from birthday boy Josef von Sternberg.  Monday evening is devoted to star of the month Danielle Darrieux who turns 100 May Day 2017.  Tuesday is entirely devoted to birthday boy Howard Hawks.  Wednesday we get movies for birthday honorees Don Ameche, Alida Valli and Clint Eastwood.  Wednesday evening is devoted to the magic of the movies.  We start with a film from the first master of special effects, Georges Melies, then go to the TCM premiere of Martin Scorsese's tribute to him.  As the evening goes on we have two films from Buster Keaton (trick photography and incredible stunts), two unique animated movies by Lotte Reiniger and Jan Svankmajer, as well as Chris Marker's especially striking movie--composed entirely of still photographs.  There is no shortage of movies from the century with bombastic special effects.  Instead I chose last year's Victoria:  a 138 minute long movie consisting of a single take. 

Thursday marks the anniversary of the execution of Adolph Eichmann, so we have two movies about hunting Nazis, a fictional Orson Welles and a very really Klaus Barbie.  Today is also the 160th anniversary of the publication of Charles Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil, one of the most important of 19th century poetry collections.  So we have four films that deal with disturbing surrealist imagery.   Thursday is also the birthday of famed supporting actor Frank Morgan, so we have three movies with him in a drama, a comedy and an obscure, under-appreciated musical.  Finally we have another TCM challenge, in this case five examples of original screenplays (three winners of the Oscars, and two nominees), all united by striking surprises. 

Friday marks the birthday of Thomas Hardy, one of my favorite novelists.  Unfortunately the number of great movies based on Thomas Hardy novels is exactly one, so Tess joins six other movies that should have won the best actress oscar for that year.  Friday night is both the Friday night spotlight, and the director's challenge.  We compare two visually innovative and inventive Russian directors, who both provide a historical and a science fiction film.  On Saturday we celebrate the birthdays of Paulette Goddard and Alain Resnais.  And for the evening, we celebrate the British Invasion with movies by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and David Bowie.

 

[TCM Programming Challenge #32 "The Sum of Its Parts" - The rules]

Week of May 28-June 3, 2017

 

Sunday May 28, 2017

The glories of Lusitania:  Portugal and Brazil on film

06:00 AM Burn!  (1969) United Artists C-112 min Marlon Brando, Evaristo Marquez D:  Gillo Pontecorvo P/S
08:00 AM Flying Down to Rio (1933) RKO BW-89 min Dolores del Rio, Gene Raymond, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire D: Thornton Freeland P/S
09:30 AM The Three Caballeros (1944) RKO/Walt Disney Productions C-72 min Clarence Nash, Jose Oliveira, Joaquin Geray D: Norman Ferguson P/S
10:45 AM Brazil (1985) Universal C-143 min Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Michael Palin D: Terry Gilliam P/S
01:15 PM In Vanda's Room (2000) RTSI/ZDF C-179 min Vanda Duarte D: Pedro Costa P/S
04:15 PM Notorious (1946) RKO BW-102 min Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains D: Alfred Hitchcock P/S
06:00 PM Black Orpheus(1959) Dispat films/GAGA Communications C-107 min Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn D: Marcel Camus P/S
08:00 PM Doomed Love (1978) Centro Portugues de Cinema (CPC)/Cinequipa C-260 min Antonio Sequeira Lopes, Cristina Hauser, Elsa Wallencamp D: Manoel de Oliveira PREMIERE#1
12:30 AM Limite (silent) (1931) Cinedia BW-114 min Iolanda Bernades, Edgar Brasil D: Mario Peixoto (EXEMPT)
02:30 AM Mysteries of Lisbon (foreign) (2010) C-272 min Adriano Luz, Ricardo Pereira D: Raul Ruiz (EXEMPT)

Monday, May 29, 2017

On Wisconsin!

 

07:15 AM Primary (1960) Drew Associates BW-60 min D: Robert Drew P/S
08:15 AM Come and Get it (1935) United Artists BW-99 min Edward Arnold, Joel McCrea, Walter Brennan D: William Wyler/Howard Hughes P/S
10:00 AM Point of Order (1964) Continental Distributing D: Emilio De Antonio PREMIERE #2

Happy Birthday Josef von Sternberg!

11:45 AM The Last Command (1928) Paramount BW-85 min Emil Jannings, William Powell, Evelyn Brent D: Josef von Sternberg P/S
01:15 PM Dishonored (1931) Paramount BW-91 min Marlene Dietrich, Victor McLaglen D:  Josef von Sternberg P/S
03:00 PM The Devil is a Woman (1935) Paramount BW-76 min Marlene Dietrich, Lionel Atwill D: Josef von Sternberg P/S
04:30 PM Crime and Punishment (1935) Columbia BW-88 min Peter Lorre, Edward Arnold, Marion Marsh D: Josef von Sternberg P/S
06:00 PM The Scarlet Empress (1934) Paramount BW-110 min Marlene Dietrich, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe D: Josef von Sternberg P/S

Star of the Month Danielle Darrieux

08:00 PM The Earrings of Madame de... (1953) Gaumont BW-105 min Danielle Darrieux, Charles Boyer, Vittorio De Sica D: Max Ophuls P/S
10:00 PM The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) Madeleine Films C-120 min Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve, Francois Dorleac, Gene Kelly D: Jacques Demy P/S
12:15 AM Persepolis (2007) Sony Picture Classics BW-95 min Danielle Darrieux, Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve D: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Parronaud PREMIERE#3
02:00 AM The Red and the Black (1954) Distributors Corporation of America C-137 min Danielle Darrieux, Gerard Philipe  D: Claude-Autant Lara PREMIERE#4
04:30 AM Une Chambre en Ville (1982) TFI/Union Generale Cinematographique C-90 min Danielle Darrieux, Domique Sandra, Michel Piccoli D: Jacques Demy P/S

Tuesday May 30, 2017

Happy Birthday Howard Hawks

06:00 AM Fig Leaves (1926) Fox BW-71 min Olive Borden, George O'Brien D: Howard Hawks  PREMIERE#5
07:15 AM The Criminal Code (1931) BW-97 min Walter Huston, Boris Karloff, Phillips Holmes D: Howard Hawks P/s
09:00 AM Scarface (1932) United Artists BW-93 min Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, George Raft, Boris Karloff D: Howard Hawks P/S
10:45 AM Twentieth Century (1934) Columbia BW-91 min John Barrymore, Carol Lombard D: Howard Hawks P/S
12:30 AM Bringing up Baby (1938) RKO BW-102 min Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn D: Howard Hawks P/S
02:15 PM His Girl Friday (1940) Columbia BW-92 min Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy D: Howard Hawks P/S
04:00 PM To Have and Have Not (1944) Warner Bros BW-100 min Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan D: Howard Hawks P/S
05:45 PM Red River (1948) United Artists BW-127 min John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan D:  Howard Hawks P/S
08:00 PM The Big Sleep (1946) Warner Bros BW-114 min Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall D: Howard Hawks P/S
10:00 PM The Thing from Another World (1951) RKO BW-87 min  Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, James Arness D: Christian Nyby, Howard Hawks P/S

11:30 PM Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) 20th Century Fox C-91 min Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell D: Howard Hawks P/S
01:15 AM The Land of the Pharoahs (1955) Warners Bros C-106 min Jack Hawkins, Joan Collins, James Robertson D: Howard Hawks P/S
03:15 AM Hatari! (1962) Paramount C-157 min  John Wayne, Elsa Martinelli, Red Buttons D: Howard Hawks P/S

Wednesday May 31, 2017: 

Happy Birthday Don Ameche!

06:00 AM Midnight (1939) Paramount BW-94 min Don Ameche, Claudette Colbert, John Barrymore D: Mitchell Leisen P/S
07:45 AM Heaven Can Wait (1943) 20th Century Fox C-112 min Don Ameche, Gene Tierney, Charles Coburn D: Ernst Lubitsch P/S

Happy Birthday Alida Valli!

09:45 AM Senso (1954) Lux C-117 min Alida Valli, Farley Granger D; Luchino Visconti P/S
11:45 AM The Third Man (1949) London Films BW-108 min Alida Valli, Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles D: Carol Reed P/S
01:45 PM  The Paradine Case (1947) Selznick Releasing Organization BW-114 min Alida Valli, Gregory Peck, Ann Todd, Charles Laughton D: Alfred Hitchcock P/S

Happy Birthday Clint Eastwood!

 

03:45 PM For a Few Dollars More (1965) Constantin Film/United Artists C-132 min Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonte D: Sergio Leone P/S
06:00 PM White Hunter Black heart (1990) Warner Bros C-110 min Clint Eastwood, Jeff Fahey D: Clint Eastwood P/S

The Magic of the Movies:  Programming Challenge #1

08:00 PM A Trip to the Moon (1902) Star Film Company BW-14 min Georges Melies, Bluette Bernon D: Georges Melies P/S
08:30 PM Hugo (2011) Paramount C-126 min Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Chloe Grace Moretz D: Martin Scorsese Effects-EXEMPT
10:45 PM The Playhouse (1921) First National Pictures BW-22 min Buster Keaton, Virginia Fox D: Buster Keaton, Edward F. Cline
11:15 PM The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) UFA BW-67 min Animated Silent Film D; Lotte Reiniger P/S
12:30 AM La Jetee (1962) gos BW-28 min Davos Hanich, Helene Chastelain D: Chris Marker P/S
01:15 AM Victoria (2015) Senator Film C-138 min Laia Costa, Frederick Lau, Franz Rogowski D: Sebastian Schipper Effects-EXEMPT
03:45 AM Alice (1988) Condor Films C-86 min Kristyna Kohoutova D: Jan Svankmajer Premiere#6
05:15 AM Sherlock Jr., (1924) Metro Pictures BW-45 min  Buster Keaton, Ward Crane D: Buster Keaton P/S

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Hunting Nazis

 

06:00 AM The Stranger (1946) RKO BW-96 min Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young D: Orson Welles P/S
07:45 AM Hotel Terminus:  the Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (1988) The Samuel Goldwyn Company C-267 minD: Marcel Ophuls Premiere#7

Happy Birthday Les Fleurs de Mal

12:15 PM The Grandmother (1970) American Film Institute BW/C-33 min Richard White, Dorothy McGinnis D: David Lynch P/S
01:00 PM Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) Mystic Fire Video BW-15 min Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid D: Maya Deren P/S
01:15 PM Un Chien Andalou (1929) Les Grand Film Classiques BW-21 min Pierre Batcheff, Simone Mareuil D: Luis Bunuel P/S
01:45 PM The Blood of a Poet (1932) Vicomte de Noailles BW-55 min Lee Miller, Pauline Carton D: Jean Cocteau Premiere#8

Happy Birthday Frank Morgan!

02:45 PM The Mortal Storm (1940) MGM BW-100 min Frank Morgan, James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan D: Frank Borzage P/S
04:30 PM Bombshell (1933) MGM BW-96 min Frank Morgan, Lee Tracy, Jean Harlow, D: Victor Fleming P/S
06:15 PM The Wizard of Oz (1939) MGM C-101 min Frank Morgan, Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Margaret Hamilton D: Victor Fleming P/S

The Glories of Screenwriting:  Programming Challenge #2  (Surprise!)

08:00 PM Chinatown (1974) Paramount C-131 min Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston D: Roman Polanski P/S
10:15 PM The Usual Suspects (1995) Polygram C-106 min Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Kevin Pollak D: Bryan Singer Script-EXEMPT
12:15 AM Memento (2000) Newmarket C-113 min Guy Pearce, Joe Pantoliano, Carrie-Anne Moss D: Christopher Nolan Script-EXEMPT
02:15 AM The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) Dean Film C-100 min Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Paul Frankeur D: Luis Bunuel P/S
04:00 AM Citizen Kane (1941) RKO BW-119 min Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore D: Orson Welles P/S

Friday, June 2, 2017

Performances that SHOULD have won Best Actress

06:00 AM Pandora's Box (1929) Sud-Film BW-133 min Louise Brooks, Francis Lederer D: G.W. Pabst P/S
08:15 AM My Man Godfrey (1936) Universal BW-84 min Carole Lombard, William Powell, Alice Brady D: Gregory Le Cava P/S
10:00 AM Street Angel (1937) Mingxing Film Company BW-87 min Zhou Xuan, Zhao Huishen, Zhao Dan D: Yuan Muzhi Premiere #9
11:30 AM Black Narcissus (1947) The Archers C-99 min Deborah Kerr, Sabu, Jean Simmons, D: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger P/S
01:15 PM L'Amore (1948) Finecine BW-70 min Anna Magnani, Federico Fellini D: Roberto Rossellini P/S
02:30 PM The Cloud-Capped Star (1960) Chitrakalpa BW-134 min Supriya Choudhury, Anil Chatterjee, Niranjan Ray D: Ritwik Ghatak Premiere#10
04:45 PM Tess (1979) Columbia C-186 min Natassja Kinski, Peter Firth D: Roman Polanski P/S

Friday Night Spotlight:  Eastern European Cinema Glasnost and After
Tonight:  Comparing Alexander Sokurov and Aleksei German:  Programming Challenge #3

 

08:00 PM Russian Ark (2002) The Hermitage Bridge Studio C-96 min Sergei Dontsov D: Alexander Sokurov P/S
09:45 PM Hard to be a God (2013) Lenfilm Studio BW-177 min Leonid Yarmolnik, Aleksandr Chutko D: Aleksei German Director-EXEMPT
01:00 AM Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998) Lenfilm Studio BW-150 min Yuriy Tsurilo, Nin Ruslanova D: Aleksei Geman Director-EXEMPT
03:45 AM Days of Eclipse (1988) Lenfilm Studio BW/C-133 min Aleksei Anainishnov, Eskender Umarov D: Alexander Sokurov Premiere#11

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Happy Birthday Paulette Goddard!

06:00 AM The Cat and the Canary (1939) Paramount BW-72 min Paulette Goddard, Bob Hope, Gale Sondergaard D: Elliott Nugent P/S
07:15 AM Diary of  a Chambermaid (1946) United Artists BW-86 min Paulette Goddard, Burgess Meredith D: Jean Renoir P/S
08:45 AM The Ghost Breakers (1940) Paramount BW-83 min Paulette Goddard, Bob Hope, Paul Lukas D: George Marshall P/S
10:15 AM Modern Times (1936) United Artists BW-87 min Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard D: Charles Chaplin P/S

Happy Birthday Alain Resnais!

11:45 AM Night and Fog (1955) Argos Films BW/C-32 min D: Alain Resnais P/S
12:30 PM Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) Pathe Films BW-91 min Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada D: Alain Resnais P/S
02:15 PM Last Year in Marienbad (1961) Cocinor BW-94 min Delphin Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoeff D: Alain Resnais P/S
04:00 PM Je t'aime, Je t'aime (1968) Europa Fox C-91 min  Claude Rich, Olga Georges-Picot, Anouk Ferjac D: Alain Resnais Premiere#12
05:45 PM Mon Oncle D'Amerique (1980) Gaumont C-126 min Gerard Depardieu, Nicole Garcia, Roger Pierre D: Alain Resnais P/S

The British Invasion:  Special Music Programming Challenge #4

08:00 PM (Essentials) A Hard Day's Night (1964) United Artists BW-87 min John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Wilfrid Brambell D: Richard Lester P/S
09:45 PM  Yellow Submarine (1968) United Artists C-85 min The Beatles D: George Dunning Music-EXEMPT
11:15 PM Magical Mystery Tour (1967) BBC Films/New Line Cinema C-52 min The Beatles, Jessie Rubens, Victor Spinetti D: The Beatles Music-EXEMPT
12:15 AM Gimme Shelter (1970) 20th Century Fox C-91 min The Rolling Stones D: Albert and David Maysles P/S
02:00 AM Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1973) 20th Century Fox C-90 min David Bowie, Mark Ronson D: D.A. Pennebaker P/S
03:30 AM (Underground) The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) C-138 min David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark D: Nicolas Roeg EXEMPT

[IF YOU WERE A TCM "GUEST PROGRAMMER"-("GP") WOULD 4 MOVIES WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO AIR???]

I'd probably show the four favorite movies that TCM has yet to show, which as of today are Yellow Submarine, Help!, Shoah  and the Ian Mackellan version of Richard III.

[TCM VOTES FOR "THE TOP 15 MOST INFLUENTIAL MOVIES OF ALL-TIME"-(2009(]

 

 

In 2009, the network made public a list of what they rated as "The (15) Most Influential Movies of All-Time" (in chronilogical order):

 

 "Birth of a Nation" (l9l5), "Potemkin" (l925-Russian), "Metropolis" (l927German), "42nd Street" (l933-Warner Bros.), *"It Happened 0ne Night" (l934) (Columbia), "Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs" (l938-Disney/RKO), "Stagecoach" (l939-UA),

*"GWTW" (l939) (M-G-M/Selznick), "The Bicycle Thief" (l949-Italy),  "Citizen Kane" (l94l-RKO Radio), "Rashomon" (l953-Japanese), "The Searchers" (l956-WB), "Breathless" (l960-France), "Psycho" (l960-Paramount)  & "Star Wwars" (l977)

 

SINS OF OMISSION: "The Jazz Singer" (l927), "A Streetcar Named Desire" (l95l-WB's), "Jaws" (l975)

& "200l: A Space 0ddysey" (l968-British)

 

Well, here they are & please give your thoughts

 

& I THANK YOU!

 

I don't agree that listing The Jazz Singer was an omission, since sound movies would have been inevitable after 1927 anyways.  Nor is A streetcar Named Desire that different from a dozen other intense dramas from around the same period.  Of the 15 mentioned I would remove Metropolis (too lumpy to serve as a narrative influence, and often incomplete) as well as The Searchers (by the time its revisionist approach was clear, the western was dying out as a genre.)  I would suggest Children of Paradise and The Godfather as replacements.

[Death in Venice]

Finally TCM has shown this!  Now all they to do for Dirk Bogarde fans is show Providence.

 

As for adapting other Mann novels, that would be a bit tricky.  Actually The Confessions of Felix Krull is the one that seems remotely adaptable.

["ITHAKA" IS COMING, A REMAKE OF 1943's "HUMAN COMEDY"]

I didn't actually like the original The Human Comedy, so while the only Hanks/Ryan film I've seen was Joe vs. the Volcano (mildly amusing, but nothing special), and the one Ryan film I actually like is Inner Space, this seems  more promising than the takeoffs on An Affair to Remember or The Shop Around the Corner.  I'm not the biggest Mickey Rooney fan, but even if I were. there's no way he could beat Humphrey Bogart for best actor in 1943.

[THE TOP (5) OR SO "MOVIE ORIENTED WEBSITE'S'!!!]

theyshootpictures.com is a site I've recommended several times, and contains both the top 1000 movies of all time, as well as the top 1000 movies of this century, plus a greatest directors, greatest (or luckiest) actors and a whole film noir section.

[TCM Programming Challenge #32 "The Sum of Its Parts" - The rules]

Doesn't The Fisher King end at 6:02 AM?

 

Also Clue is a great choice.  I was thinking of using it for my screenplay challenge and now have to think of something else.

[TCM Programming Challenge #32 "The Sum of Its Parts" - The rules]

I was thinking of passing this schedule.  But with four possible evenings filled, a fifth for the star of the month, a directorial tribute and a special nationality schedule, it actually seems easy to fill.  I've already got Sunday done.

[LEAST & MOST FAVORITE of the week...]

Four movies this week:  The Korda/Sabu The Jungle Book was actually fairly impressive, especially with the cinematography.  I'm not a Coen brothers fan, and Hail Caesar! didn't change my opinion of them.  It's a movie overly impressed with its own cleverness.  The "homage" to Esther Williams and Gene Kelly are less impressive if you've actually seen the two actors recently.  You'd think someone who attends confession as often as the protagonist does would have a better grasp of basic Catholic doctrine on the Incarnation.  Considering that homosexual blackmail is a running plot point, you might wonder why the On the Town parody is so flagrantly homoerotic.  And the director of the parody isn't gay at all (he has both a wife and an actress mistress he's recently impregnated.)  I know classic Hollywood occasionally flagrantly miscast people.  But you still have to wonder why the studio would insist that a George Cukor character making a combination of Holiday and Dinner at Eight would replace with his Cary Grant character with Gene Autry.  I suspect it's part of the Coen brothers' sense of superiority that everyone else has to appear to be idiots.   My Little Loves is clearly the best movie of the week, and indeed so far this year.  Very different from the director's The Mother and the ****, this is an intelligent, sensitive, and subtly erotic portrait of the teenage version of Jean Eustache's coming of age, beautifully shot by Nestor Almendros.  Finally there's Artists and Models:  I can sort of understand the point of Jerry Lewis, since comic personae are often exaggerated and there's at least one sequence, where Lewis' character run up and down several flights of stairs to relay a conversation to his roommate Dean Martin because their apartment doesn't have a telephone itself, which works.  But generally I find Lewis insufferable and think little of Tashlin's cartoon aesthetic.

[12 ANGRY MEN? Movies/Performances That Are So Compelling You Become Angry Too]

Robert DeNiro's anger in Taxi Driver is very seductive.

[Statistical look at 24 Frank Capra & 52 Claude Rains Movies]

So Mr. Smith goes to Washington beats Lawrence of Arabia and Notorious in the Claude Rains rankings.  Odd choice.

[Films of 2016]

If you don't like superhero movies, you will still probably dislike this. And if you're easily offended by raunchy language or sexual banter, this isn't for you. But I loved it, and I think a few of you may too, with the right (wrong?) sensibilities. I mean, what other superhero wears a Bea Arthur T-shirt and listens to Wham!?

 

If I made superhero movies, they would involve an Amerindian bisexual who won battles with the power of forgiveness, but who took no ***** from fascists.

 

I'm planning to see Hail Caesar! tonight, largely because it's free for me to do so.  I'm much more thrilled to see Knight of Cups.

[LEAST & MOST FAVORITE of the week...]

I saw three movies last week.  The John Huston Moulin Rouge has some interesting aspects.  Jose Ferrer's performance has a certain dignity, even if it was walking on his knees that got him the oscar nomination.  I admit I know only the basic of Toulouse-Latrec's life, and don't know how accurate the movie is.  I suspect my view is also coloured by an old SCTV parody of it, called "Lust for Paint."  The remake of M could have been much worse, and there are scenes which show Losey's talent that would be better seen in other movies.  But the climax can't hold a candle to Peter Lorre's performance and Losey's idea of trying to give some dignity to the alcoholic mob lawyer isn't sufficient.  Chi-Raq is certainly more inventive and imaginative than most movies.  Given that it's a restaging of Lysistrata in contemporary Chicago, one can't call it gratuitously obscene.  And there is an effort to show some genuine dialectic.  Not everything works (would the head of the Chicago section of the National Guard be a fan of the Confederacy), And it's worth noting that some intelligent Chicago critics were clearly unimpressed.

[Sir George Martin (1926-2016)]

Has anyone mentioned Martin's role in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band --the movie.  The few songs I've heard from it amply vindicate the view that it's utterly horrible.  (Seriously 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' is either a song about psychedelic drugs or a song for children--it's not a Las Vegas lounge act.)  And can you imagine a major critic for a respected national publication who thinks this is a better movie than Days of Heaven?  Well, the critic for Macleans, Canada's equivalent of Time, thought so. 

[Open-Ended, well, Endings]

I suppose people might find the endings of Last Year in Marienbad and The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie open ended because it's not entirely clear what has been going on in the previous movie.  Celine and Julie Go Boating is pretty open-ended.  In Manhattan does Mariel Hemmingway's character ultimately come back to Woody Allen (no, in my view).