Black & White and Chic All Over
A huge thank you to everyone at the TCM Classic Film Fest for another great event. TCM staff outdid themselves in terms of top-notch programming and events, and volunteers went out their way to be pleasant, helpful and polite.
We had a great time binge-watching! One of many highlights was “The French Connection” and Q&A with director William Friedkin and Alec Baldwin at the TCL Chinese Theatre.
I will run a more detailed roundup story at a later date.
The TCM Classic Film Festival is in full swing today and runs through Sunday in Hollywood. “There’s nothing like watching a movie on a screen with a big audience,” said head programmer Charlie Tabesh at yesterday’s press conference. This year’s theme is history and Tabesh added that he is particularly looking forward to the film “1776,” directed by Peter H. Hunt, who will be in attendance along with stars William Daniels and Ken Howard.
Last night, I stopped by the Formosa Café to mingle with fellow scribes. Several people shared my view that it’s tough to decide what to see and to strike a balance between longtime favorites and exciting new discoveries. I know, I know – what a good problem to have!
One thing’s for sure: I will attend the opening party and will see the newly restored film noir “Too Late for Tears” (1949, Byron Haskin), starring Lizabeth Scott, Arthur Kennedy and Dan Duryea.
For now, I will leave you with this shot from one of last year’s poolside screenings at the Hollywood Roosevelt. (Photo courtesy of TCM.) Life is good!
Poolside screenings at the Hollywood Roosevelt are a special treat.
By Film Noir Blonde and Mike Wilmington
Film Noir Blonde
The Film Noir File is FNB’s guide to classic film noir, neo-noir and pre-noir on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). The times are Eastern Standard and (Pacific Standard). All films without a new review have been covered previously in Film Noir Blonde and can be searched in the FNB archives (at right).
Pick of the Week: Joan Crawford Marathon & Laemmle’s NoHo 7 Party, Monday, March 23
Next Monday is Joan Crawford’s birthday; she was born March 23, 1905. And, if you’re an Angeleno, you can celebrate all day – first by catching one or more of the seven Crawford movies, including three noirs, running on Turner Classic Movies on Pacific time from 3:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (And on Eastern time, from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.).
Then, head to Laemmle’s NoHo 7 in North Hollywood (5240 Lankershim Blvd.), and watch two of Crawford’s very best noirs on the big screen starting at 7:30 p.m.: 1947’s too often neglected “Possessed” and 1962’s Robert Aldrich-directed masterpiece, “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” co-starring the one and only Bette Davis and
“He’s just not that into you …” does NOT go over well with Miss Crawford. The very talented Van Heflin plays the heel in “Possessed.”
The event will be co-hosted live (with cake, a trivia contest and prizes) by Film Noir Blonde. Shakar Bakery is providing the cake.
Tickets are $11 for one film or $15 or both. Prizes are courtesy of Warner Archive.
Happy Birthday, Joan!
Film noir titles
8:15 a.m. (5:15 a.m.): “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (Robert Aldrich, 1962)
2 p.m. (11 a.m.): “Flamingo Road” (Michael Curtiz, 1949).
6 p.m. (3 pm.): “Mildred Pierce” (Michael Curtiz, 1945).
Other JC titles: “The Caretakers” (Hall Bartlett, 1963); “Torch Song” (Charles Walters, 1953); “Goodbye, My Fancy” (Vincent Sherman, 1951), “Humoresque” (Jean Negulesco, 1946).
The real-life rivalry of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford infused “Baby Jane” with extra tension.
Saturday, March 21
8:45 a.m. (5:45 a.m.): “White Zombie” (Victor Halperin, 1932).
Sunday, March 22
8 a.m. (5 a.m.): “Gilda” (Charles Vidor, 1946).
2:30 a.m. (11:30 p.m.): “Torment” (Alf Sjoberg, 1944). This psychological thriller about a sadistic teacher (Stig Jarrel) tormenting two young lovers (Mai Zetterling, Alf Kjellin), filmed in pseudo-German expressionist-style, was the first big hit by its young screenwriter: enthusiastic film-noir fan Ingmar Bergman. (In Swedish, with subtitles.)
4:15 a.m. (1:15 a.m.): “Miss Julie” (Alf Sjoberg, 1951). The famous prize-winning film version of playwright August Strindberg’s dark, terror-filled theatrical classic about a sadomasochistic romance between a susceptible aristocrat (Anita Bork) and a brutal groom (Ulf Palme). (In Swedish, with subtitles.)
Tuesday, March 24
2:15 a.m. (11:15 p.m.): “Wait Until Dark” (Terence Young, 1967).
Wednesday, March 25
10 p.m. (7 p.m.): “The Blue Gardenia” (Fritz Lang, 1953).
Over the next several weeks, there will be lots to see on the big screen in Los Angeles.
First, the TCM Classic Film Festival runs March 26-29 in Hollywood. This year’s theme is history as portrayed by Hollywood. Noir treats include: “Too Late for Tears,” “Nightmare Alley” and “Psycho.” More info is here.
The festival takes place at various venues in Hollywood.
Tickets are now on sale for Noir City Hollywood. The 17th annual edition of the fest runs April 3-19 at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre. There’s so much noir goodness – oops, I mean badness – to choose from. I am particularly looking forward to the Humphrey Bogart programming as well as the Dorothy B. Hughes double feature: “Ride the Pink Horse” and “The Fallen Sparrow.” Criterion just released “Ride the Pink Horse” on Blu-ray and DVD, which is great, but I can’t wait to see this at the Egyptian.
The Egyptian Theater is at 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028.
Mais oui! The always-outstanding City of Angels City of Lights (COLCOA) festival runs April 20-28. “The Soft Skin” restored? I’m in! Check the web site for more info starting March 31. This is a first-rate festival and should not be missed!
The COLCOA festival is held at the Directors Guild of America, 7920 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90046.
By Film Noir Blonde and Mike Wilmington
The Film Noir File is FNB’s guide to classic film noir, neo-noir and pre-noir on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). The times are Eastern Standard and (Pacific Standard). All films without a new review have been covered previously and can be searched in the FNB archives (at right).
Pick of the Week
“Odd Man Out” (U.K.; 1947, Carol Reed). Tuesday, March 17, 8 p.m. (5 p.m.).
Carol Reed’s 1947 British thriller “Odd Man Out” is one of the great suspense dramas and one of the great film noirs. It’s an Irish odyssey that wrings every drop of tension from its subject. It’s also a story of love and death that plunges you into deepest night, and cracks your heart as you watch it.
James Mason always considered Johnny his best performance.
The film revolves around Irish revolutionary Johnny McQueen, played by James Mason in a near-perfect performance.
As the film follows its dying protagonist – shot during an I. R. A. bank robbery and desperately trying to make his way to safety while being hunted by both the police and his friends – it creates an indelible portrait of a city at night, populated by a gallery of unforgettable characters.
That city is Belfast, though it’s never named as such. It’s a metropolis torn into bloody fragments, yet also seething with humanity, humor, embattled faith, bloody conflict and mad poetry. The city is stunningly photographed in rich blacks and ivory whites by cinematographer Robert Krasker in nearly the same palette he and Reed later used for 1949’s “The Third Man.”
Mason’s Johnny is not a naturally violent outlaw, but an idealist who is simply trying to hold onto life. The wounded IRA man runs a gauntlet of terror, escaping from the bank where he was shot, wandering from place to place, from homes to bars to city scrapheaps, constantly a fugitive, sometimes helped, often recognized, safe only for fleeting moments.
Kathleen Ryan plays Johnny’s love interest.
Johnny’s main contacts are his lover Kathleen (Kathleen Ryan), also loved by the stern police inspector (Denis O’Dea) on Johnny’s trail; the elderly, frail, art fancier Father Tom (W. G. Fay); and an opportunistic little man named Shell (F. J. McCormick), who lives in an attic with two fellow eccentrics – Robert Newton as the alcoholic painter Lukey, and Elwyn Brooke-Jones as the failed medical student Tober.
Johnny’s suffering keeps bringing out the best and the worst in the people he encounters. The first act of “Odd Man Out” is a near-Hitchcockian masterpiece of suspense. The final act hits a mixture of irony, poignancy and terror that few films reach.
Mason always considered Johnny his best performance, and it may well be – though other Mason performances are in the same class: Humbert Humbert in “Lolita,” Norman Maine in “A Star is Born,” Ed Avery in “Bigger Than Life,” Trigorin in “The Sea Gull” and Sir Randolph in “The Shooting Party.” McCormick’s Shell is a magnificent portrayal as well – beautifully restrained and sly, full of fallibility, weakness and a near-demonic will. You’ll never forget Shell even if you didn’t know or won’t remember this superb actor’s name.
The script, a gem, was adapted from his bestselling novel by F. L. Green, who was born in England and died (in 1949) in Belfast, and playwright R. C. Sherriff (“Journey’s End”). It was produced and directed by Reed, then at the peak of his powers as a filmmaker.
If you’ve never seen “Odd Man Out,” try to catch it this time: a great Irish drama and film noir, a great Carol Reed film and James Mason performance, and a great story of suffering and redemption, while running and hiding in Belfast, city of night.
Saturday, March 14
7 a.m. (4 a.m.): “Killer’s Kiss” (Stanley Kubrick, 1955).
8:15 a.m. (5:15 a.m.): “The Big Clock” (John Farrow, 1948).
12 a.m. (9 p.m.): “Dead End” (William Wyler, 1937).
2 a.m. (11 p.m.). “The Town that Dreaded Sundown” (Charles B. Pierce, 1976). Based on fact, this indie low-budget movie about a Texas serial killer influenced a host of less factual slasher movies later on. With Ben Johnson and Dawn Wells.
3:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m.): “In Cold Blood” (Richard Brooks, 1967).
Monday, March 16
10 a.m. (7 a.m.): “Fury” (Fritz Lang, 1936).
11:45 a.m. (8:45 a.m.): “Saboteur” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1942).
1:45 p.m. (10:45 a.m.) “The Wages of Fear” (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953). One of the greatest of all suspense films, this legendary French shocker is Clouzot’s nerve-rending account of four expatriate drivers trying to escape a horrible little South American backwater by driving two truckloads of nitroglycerin to a burning oil field over dangerous mountain roads.
A masterpiece of dark cynicism and blazing suspense, it’s even tenser and scarier than Clouzot’s more famous thriller “Diabolique.” The film boasts an incredible script (by Clouzot and Jerome Geronimi, from Georges Arnaud’s novel), amazing camerawork and razor-sharp editing. There’s also a fantastic cast: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter Van Eyck, Folco Lulli, Daniel Gelin and the director’s long-suffering wife, Vera Clouzot.
“You sit there, waiting for the theater to explode!” claimed the 1954 American theater ads, and they weren’t far wrong. William Friedkin’s 1977 remake “Sorcerer,” with Roy Scheider, though a fine, underrated film, pales by comparison. (French, with subtitles.)
Also available from Criterion in DVD and Blu-ray with a documentary as well as interviews with Montand and others.
By Film Noir Blonde and Mike Wilmington
The Film Noir File is FNB’s guide to classic film noir, neo-noir and pre-noir on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). The times are Eastern Standard and (Pacific Standard). All films without a new review have been covered previously in Film Noir Blonde and can be searched in the FNB archives (at right).
Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh star in “Psycho.”
Pick of the Week
“Psycho”(1960, Alfred Hitchcock). Saturday, March 7, 4:15 p.m. (1:15 p.m.)
Saturday, March 7
2 p.m. (11 a.m.): “A Face in the Crowd” (1957, Elia Kazan).
6:15 p.m. (3:15 p.m.): “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” (1964, Stanley Kubrick).
Sunday, March 8
8:30 a.m. (5:30 a.m.). “Gun Crazy” (1950, Joseph H. Lewis).
4:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m.): “The Defiant Ones” (1958, Stanley Kramer).
Tuesday, March 10
8 p.m. (5 p.m.): “A Place in the Sun” (1951, George Stevens).
Wednesday, March 11
6 a.m. (3 a.m.): “Stage Fright” (1950, Alfred Hitchcock).
8 a.m. (5 a.m.): “Ministry of Fear” (1944, Fritz Lang).
9:45 a.m. (6:45 a.m.): “Lured” (1947, Douglas Sirk).
By Film Noir Blonde and Mike Wilmington
The Film Noir File is FNB’s guide to classic film noir, neo-noir and pre-noir on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). The times are Eastern Standard and (Pacific Standard). All films without a new review have been covered previously in Film Noir Blonde and can be searched in the FNB archives (at right).
Pick of the Week
”No Country for Old Men” (2007, Joel and Ethan Coen). Tuesday, March 3, 12:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m.)
The Coen Brothers’ most praised and prized movie, and one of their most memorable, is the grim, mesmerizing crime-drama/chase-thriller “No Country for Old Men.” The multiple-Oscar winning film is adapted, very faithfully, from one of Cormac McCarthy‘s darkest and most violent novels.
Set in 1980s Texas, in an anti-John Ford Western land of harsh plains and searing deserts, barren cities and the hot, speedy roads that connect all of them, the movie is about a huge cache of illegal drug money that falls into the hands of a local cowboy-hatted small-towner named Moss (Josh Brolin) after a massacre wipes out most of the criminals and smugglers handling the transfer.
Unfortunately, there’s one deadly efficient collector still around: the incredible Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh a.k.a. Sugar, a terrifying psychopathic killer with a seemingly permanent dour deadpan stare, a laughably lousy haircut and a relentless talent for finding the right people in all the wrong places – and sending them to the hell that surely must have spawned him.
There are other terrific actors (playing terrific roles) in “No Country,” namely Tommy Lee Jones as Ed Tom Bell, a melancholy old sheriff watching his world disintegrate, Bell’s lonely old friend (Barry Corbin), Moss’s steadfast but unlucky wife (Kelly MacDonald) and a lippy, freelance loot-scavenger (Woody Harrelson).
Texas. Tough guys. Epic bad hairstyling. Enjoy your visit to this ‘Country.’ Or else.
Saturday, Feb. 28. Thriller Day
6 a.m. (3 a.m.): “The Window” (1949, Ted Tetzlaff).
7:15 a.m. (4:15 a.m.): “Night Must Fall” (1937, Richard Thorpe).
9:15 a.m. (6:15 a.m.): “Kind Lady” (1951, John Sturges).
10:45 a.m. (7:45 a.m.): “Wait Until Dark” (1967, Terence Young).
12:45 p.m. (9:45 a.m.): “The Narrow Margin” (1952, Richard Fleischer).
2 p.m. (11 a.m.): “Strangers on a Train” (1951, Alfred Hitchcock).
3:45 p.m. (12:45 p.m.): “Shadow of a Doubt“ (1943, Alfred Hitchcock).
Sunday, March 1
10:15 p.m. (7:15 p.m.): “Chicago” (2002, Rob Marshall). This strange, Oscar-winning hybrid is, of all things, a neo-noir crime courtroom musical. It’s based on the jazzy, snazzy Broadway show by songsmiths Kander and Ebb (of “New York, New York”) and director Bob Fosse, which in turn was based on the classic 1942 film noir “Roxie Hart” by writer-producer Nunnally Johnson and director William Wellman.
The story is as cynical as, well, a ’20s Chicago newspaper guy on deadline. Wannabe star showgirl Roxie (Renee Zellweger in the old Ginger Rogers role) schemes to become famous by committing a near-murder and generating a sensational trial. John C. Reilly is her hapless hubby, Richard Gere is her flashy lawyer, and Catherine Zeta-Jones (an Oscar winner here) steals the whole damned show as another would-be murderess and Roxie’s inspiration. This is a good, splashy, nasty neo-noir, but you can’t help wondering about the movie the late Bob Fosse might have made out of it.
Wednesday, March 4
12 p.m. (9 a.m.): “Dementia 13” (1963, Francis Ford Coppola).
By Film Noir Blonde and Mike Wilmington
The Film Noir File is FNB’s guide to classic film noir, neo-noir and pre-noir on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). The times are Eastern Standard and (Pacific Standard). All films without a new review have been covered previously in Film Noir Blonde and can be searched in the FNB archives (at right).
Jane Fonda won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in “Klute.”
Saturday, Feb. 21
11 p.m. (8 p.m.): “Deliverance” (1972, John Boorman).
3:45 a.m. (12:45 p.m.): “Klute” (1971, Alan Pakula).
Sunday, Feb. 22
1 a.m. (10 p.m.): “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975, Sidney Lumet).
3:15 a.m. (12:15 a.m.): “Network” (1976, Sidney Lumet).
Monday, Feb. 23
12 a.m. (9 p.m.): “All the President’s Men” (1976, Alan Pakula). Burglary and other high crimes and misdemeanors in a soon-to-be-legendary Washington D. C. hotel called The Watergate turn out to be instruments of re-election for the Nixon White House in their no-holds-barred 1972 presidential campaign — as uncovered by two dogged, relentless Washington Post investigative reporters named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman).
One of the best true crime movies ever: directed with neo-noir flair by Pakula, knowingly scripted by Oscar winner William Goldman (based on the Woodward-Bernstein book), with a first rate cast that includes Oscar winner Jason Robards (as crusty mandarin editor Ben Bradlee), Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook, Ned Beatty, Jane Alexander and F. Murray Abraham. Maybe the best and most accurate of all “inside” dramas on American journalism and politics.
By Film Noir Blonde and Mike Wilmington
The Film Noir File is FNB’s guide to classic film noir, neo-noir and pre-noir on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). The times are Eastern Standard and (Pacific Standard). Films listed without a review can be searched in the FNB archive on the right side of the page.
Pick of the Week
“A Place in the Sun” (1951, George Stevens). Friday, Feb. 13, 2:15 a.m. (11:15 p.m.).
Elizabeth Taylor as Angela and Montgomery Clift as George are one of the most ravishing star couples of the American cinema.
George Stevens’ adaptation of Theodore Dreiser’s classic crime novel “An American Tragedy.” It’s a melancholy look at a rising young working-class guy named George Eastman, who seems on the path to riches and romance, but whose dark impulses bend him toward destruction.
A great critical favorite in its time and still highly influential, “Place in the Sun” is a moody masterpiece about the wayward side of the American dream. Stevens’ movie also showcases one of the most ravishing (and ultimately sad) star couples of the American cinema: Montgomery Clift as George and Elizabeth Taylor as his dream, Angela. Also in the cast: film noir mainstays Shelley Winters and Raymond Burr.
Taylor and Clift were close friends off the screen as well.
Among the picture’s six Academy Awards were Oscars for Stevens’ direction and to screenwriters Michael Wilson and Harry Brown.
Thursday, Feb. 12
9:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m.) “The Third Man” (1949, Carol Reed).
5:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m.): “The Lavender Hill Mob” (1951, Charles Crichton).
Friday, Feb. 13
9 a.m. (6 a.m.): “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1945. Albert Lewin).
11 a.m. (8 a.m.): “The Bad Seed” (1956, Mervyn LeRoy).
1:15 p.m. (10:15 a.m.): “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1962, Robert Aldrich).
3:45 p.m. (12:45 p.m.): “The Birds” (1963, Alfred Hitchcock).
Saturday, Feb. 14
8:45 p.m. (5:45 p.m.): “The Harder They Fall” (1956, Mark Robson).
2:45 a.m. (11:45 p.m.): “The Blackboard Jungle” (1955, Richard Brooks).
4:45 a.m. (1:45 a.m.): “The Man with the Golden Arm” (1955, Otto Preminger).
Sunday, Feb. 15 (Film Noir Day)
7 a.m. (4 a.m.): “Johnny Eager” (1941, Mervyn LeRoy).
9 a.m. (6 a.m.): “T-Men” (1948, Anthony Mann).
10:45 a.m. (7:45 a.m.): “The Naked City” (1948, Jules Dassin).
12:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m.): “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950, John Huston).
2:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m.): “The Blue Dahlia” (1946, George Marshall).
4:15 p.m. (1:15 p.m.): “The Maltese Falcon” (1941, John Huston).
6 p.m. (3 p.m.): “Key Largo” (1948, John Huston).
11 p.m. (8 p.m.): “The Defiant Ones” (1958, Stanley Kramer).
Susan Hayward with her Oscar.
1 a.m. (10 p.m.): “I Want to Live!” (1958, Robert Wise). Susan Hayward won her Oscar for playing Barbara Graham, a real-life hard-nosed San Francisco prostitute. Graham was convicted of murder and facing the gas chamber.
But, according to Frisco crime reporter Ed Montgomery (played in this movie by “Psycho’s” psychiatrist Simon Oakland), she was innocent, the framed victim of a faulty justice system.
This riveting chronicle proves that Wise, a great favorite of French noir expert and Hollywood film aficionado Jean-Pierre Melville, was an absolute master of crime movies. The images are searing black and white. The acting is tough, smart, pungent. The jaunty modern jazz score is by Johnny Mandel, with the formidable Gerry Mulligan on baritone sax.
The ending is wrenching, unforgettable. So is Hayward.
Monday, Feb. 16
8 p.m. (5 p.m.): “Anatomy of a Murder” (1959, Otto Preminger).
Tuesday, Feb 17 (Crime Day)
7:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m.): “Fury” (1936, Fritz Lang).
9:15 a.m. (6:15 a.m.): “Monsieur Verdoux” (1947, Charles Chaplin & Robert Florey).
11:30 a.m. (8:30 a.m.): “Big Deal on Madonna Street” (1958, Mario Monicelli).
1:45 p.m. (10:45 a.m.) “In Cold Blood” (1967, Richard Brooks).
4:15 p.m. (1:15 p.m.): “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1968, Norman Jewison).
6 p.m. (3 p.m.): “Bullitt” (1968, Peter Yates).
12 a.m. (9 p.m.): “Psycho” (1960, Alfred Hitchcock).
Wednesday, Feb. 18
8 p.m. (5 p.m.): “The Apartment” (1960, Billy Wilder).
12:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m.): “The Hustler” (1961, Robert Rossen).
5:15 a.m. (2:15 a.m.): “Lolita” (1962, Stanley Kubrick).
By Film Noir Blonde and Mike Wilmington
The Film Noir File is FNB’s guide to classic film noir, neo-noir and pre-noir on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). All movies below are from the schedule of TCM, which broadcasts them uncut and uninterrupted. The times are Eastern Standard and (Pacific Standard).
Pick of the Week
Burt Lancaster instantly falls for Ava Gardner in “The Killers.”
“The Killers” (1946, Robert Siodmak). Tuesday, Feb. 10, 10:15 p.m. (7:15 p.m.). Of all film noir’s femmes fatales, Ava Gardner as Kitty Collins in “The Killers” ranks as the most devastatingly efficient. She doesn’t waste time chit-chatting or getting to know a guy. Just a glance gets them hooked and firmly planted in the palm of her hand. “Swede” Andreson (Burt Lancaster) takes all of 10 seconds to fall for her and then get lured into “a double-cross to end all double-crosses.” Read the full review here.
Saturday, Feb. 7
11:45 p.m. (8:45 p.m.): “Citizen Kane” (1941, Orson Welles). A dark look at the sensational, profligate life of one of the world’s most powerful and egotistical newspaper magnates, the late Charles Foster Kane (modeled on William Randolph Hearst and acted by George Orson Welles). Still the greatest movie of all time, it’s also a virtual lexicon of film-noir visual and dramatic style, as seminal in its way as “The Maltese Falcon” or “M.” Scripted by Welles and one-time Hearst crony Herman Mankiewicz, photographed by Gregg Toland, with music by Bernard Herrmann and ensemble acting by the Mercury Players: Welles, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead, George Coulouris, Ruth Warrick, Paul Stewart, et al.
Sunday, Feb. 8
Bogart and Bergman play Rick and Ilsa, who are perhaps Hollywood’s most famous on-screen lovers.
10 p.m. (7 p.m.): “Casablanca” (1942, Michael Curtiz).
12 a.m. (9 p.m.): “Gaslight” (1944, George Cukor). Set in foggy Victorian gas-lit London, this is the best of all the melodramas and noirs where a bad husband tries to drive his wife insane (or vice versa). Here, Charles Boyer gives the treatment to Oscar-winner Ingrid Bergman. Joseph Cotten, Dame May Whitty and teenage Angela Lansbury are among the bystanders. Based on the Patrick Hamilton stage play (and film) “Angel Street.”
Monday, Feb. 9
1 a.m. (10 p.m.): “Laura” (1944, Otto Preminger).
3 a.m. (12 a.m.): “Mildred Pierce” (1945, Michael Curtiz).
Tuesday, Feb. 10
7 a.m. (4 a.m.): “Julie” (1956, Andrew L. Stone). The same year she sang “Que Sera, Sera” for Hitchcock as the menaced mom in Hitch’s remake of “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” Doris Day played a comely stewardess stalked by her psycho ex-husband, Louis Jourdan, in this lady-in-distress thriller from the poor man’s Hitchcock, Andrew Stone.
9 a.m. (6 a.m.): “Crossfire” (1947, Edward Dmytryk).
10:30 a.m. (7:30 a.m.): “Suspicion” (1941, Alfred Hitchcock).
12:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m.): “Mystery Street” (1950, John Sturges). A good, smart police procedural, set partly at Harvard University, with a homicide cop and forensic scientist (Ricardo Montalban and Bruce Bennett), trying to crack a murder with sexual overtones.
Cary Grant was Hitch’s favorite actor.
2:15 p.m. (11:15 a.m.): “The Fallen Idol” (1948, Carol Reed). In 1948, a year before they made the nonpareil thriller “The Third Man,” director Carol Reed and screenwriter Graham Greene collaborated on another tilted-camera film-noir classic: this mesmerizing story of a French diplomat’s son(Bobby Henrey) , who hero-worships the embassy butler (Ralph Richardson). The boy mistakenly comes to believe his idol has murdered his wife and keeps unintentionally incriminating him. With Michele Morgan, Jack Hawkins and Bernard Lee. Stunning cinematography by Georges Perinal.
4 p.m. (1 p.m.): “After The Thin Man” (1936, W. S. Van Dyke). The first of many sequels to the smash hit 1934 movie of Hammett’s last novel “The Thin Man,” with William Powell and Myrna Loy as the peerlessly witty and stylishly sloshed Nick and Nora Charles. Here, they visit Nora’s San Francisco cousin and investigate a string of murders among her rich elite family. With Jimmy Stewart in one of his most atypical roles.
6 p.m. (3 p.m.): “Charade” (1963, Stanley Donen). Director Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone’s lush, polished and witty Hitchcock imitation stars Hitch’s favorite actor Cary Grant in perhaps his most Cary Grantian performance. Here, he’s a romantic detective/spy (or is he?) in an ultra-posh comedy thriller co-starring Audrey Hepburn, at her most winsomely, delicately beautiful. The movie, probably Donen’s best-loved after his great musicals “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Funny Face,” seems to be composed of equal parts of “North by Northwest,” “Notorious,” “To Catch a Thief” and Donen’s own Cary Grant movies (like “Indiscreet” and “The Grass is Greener”), with a dash of ’60s New Wave sauce and sass.
Cary Grant (shown with Audrey Hepburn) is one of FNB’s favorite actors.
The movie couldn’t exist without Grant, who, mostly in a very Hollywoodish Paris, woos lady-in-distress Audrey (or does she woo him?). Both of them are threatened by a stellar band of villains and nemeses that includes Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy and Ned Glass. The moody title song (Henry Mancini /Andy Williams) earned an Oscar nom. No Oscars went to Grant, of course. The next year, while picking up his Academy Award for writing the Grant comedy vehicle “Father Goose,” Stone said, “Cary just keeps winning these things for other people.”
Wednesday, Feb. 11
8 p.m. (5 p.m.): “All the King’s Men” (1949, Robert Rossen).
2 a.m. (11 p.m.): “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948, John Huston). “Treasure” is perhaps the finest work by writer-director (and here, for the first time, actor), John Huston. It’s a supreme western noir and one of the great Humphrey Bogart pictures.
Bogart is Fred C. Dobbs, a down and out American in 1925 in Tampico, Mexico, who hooks up with two other Yanks: tough but decent Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) and fast-talking, grizzled, expert prospector Howard (John’s father Walter Huston; he won the Oscar). The three treasure hunters strike gold in the Sierra Madre mountains, but they also hit a vein of darkness: the discord and violence that sudden riches can bring.
From FNB readers