Welcome to another edition of Fedya's “Movies to Tivo” Thread, for the week of August 10-16. We're just about at that point in the summer when everybody suddenly starts noticing that the daylight is getting shorter. With more darkness, why not spend some of that time watching some good movies. There are seven more stars in TCM's Summer Under the Stars, including John Barrymore on Thursday, as well as some interesting stuff on other channels, including a movie that's only 25 years old – don't think I only recommend old movies. As always, all times are in Eastern, unless otherwise mentioned.
Monday's star in TCM's Summer Under the Stars is Norma Shearer, who was the queen of the MGM lot in the early 1930s. She won an Oscar for The Divorcee (on at 11:45 AM), and helped Lionel Barrymore win his for A Free Soul, which precedes it at 10:00 AM. Shearer plays Jean Ashe, daughter of wealthy but alcoholic lawyer Stephen (Barrymore). She's engaged to effete polo player Dwight (Leslie Howard). But when Dad takes on the defense of a noted gangster and gambler, Ace Wilfong (Clark Gable in his breakout role), Jean finds herself falling in love with him, and he with her, because it's just so exciting. Dad disapproves, and when Jean tries to break off the relationship with Ace, she understands why Dad didn't want her to starts it in the first place. Dwight decides to grow a pair and get Jean out of the relationship – by force, if necessary. Of course, that's necessary, and lands Dwight on trial for murder, defended by… you guessed it, Jean's father. Apparently there's no conflict of interest here.
A movie that's been in the FXM rotation for a little while now is Blood and Sand. It's going to be on again this week, at 6:00 AM Tuesday. Tyrone Power plays Juan Gallardo, the son of a tragically killed bullfighter who wants to follow in his father's footsteps, despite the fact that Mom (Alla Nazimova) is terrified at the prospect. Eventually, adolescent Juan runs off to Madrid with his friends Manolo (grownup version played by Anthony Quinn), Garabato (J. Carrol Naish), and Nacional (John Carradine), where he at least starts working as the leader of a bullfighting team despite the famed critic Curro (Laird Cregar) savaging him. He returns home to marry his old flame Carmen (Linda Darnell) and becomes a successful matador. It's at one of the bullfights that he sees Doña Sol (Rita Hayworth). She's pretty, and when Juan sees her, he falls in love with her despite the fact that he's already married. Fame goes to Juan's head, and you can probably guess where all of this is going to lead. Formulaic, but it's got nice Technicolor photography.
Back on TCM, there are 24 hours of movies featuring Sammy Davis, Jr. Not that he made a lot of movies, although Ocean's 11 at 5:45 PM is certainly worth mentioning. But instead, I'll mention a short he made at the beginning of his career, when he was a child dancer: Rufus Jones for President, at 11:00 AM Tuesday. Davis plays Rufus Jones, son of Ethel Waters. When he starts getting yelled at by his neighbor, Mom tells him that being in America, he could even grow up to be President. (This was 1933, so a rather audacious suggestion at the time.) In fact, in a dream sequence, little Rufus does get elected President. But the reason to watch this one is for little Sammy's dancing, as well as the songs sung by Waters (not so much the songs sung by Davis). Also, this being 1933, there are a lot of the stereotypes about black people you'd expect in a film made by whites trying to look broadminded and tolerant, so it's a really odd little view of a time long past.
Those of you who like more recent movies get one this week that's only 25 years old: Congo, at 8:00 AM Wednesday on MovieMax. Joe Don Baker plays R.B. Travis, head of the TraviCom corporation, who has sent his son and some other employees on an expedition to Africa to find diamonds to make blue lasers for communications. Back in America, Dr. Ross (Laura Linney) is watching the expedition on a satellite hook-up when something goes badly wrong, with the camp seemingly destroyed by some sort of super-giant ape. Ross and others, including Dr. Elliot (Dylan Walsh) and adventurer Herkimer Homolka (Tim Curry) are going to have to go over to Zaire (as it was known at the time) to find out exactly what went wrong. However, it's not going to be that simple, as Homolka would really rather search for the mythical Lost City of Zinj, while Ross gets the distinct impression that her boss is up to something more sinister than just using the lasers for communications purposes. It gets much, much more ridiculous than this.
Congo was released a few weeks before the death of Wednesday's star in TCM's Summer Under the Stars, Lana Turner. Among her movies, I'll make a recommendation of The Postman Always Rings Twice, which airs at 1:00 AM Thursday. John Garfield stars as Frank Chambers, a drifter who winds up at a roadside gas station/café owned by Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway), who has a trophy wife in Cora (Lana Turner). Frank is obviously taken with Cora's beauty, so he figures out a way to get a job there in order to be nearer to Cora. Cora, for her part, isn't exactly satisfied with what life with Nick has turned into. So she comes up with a plan to get Frank to help her kill Nick and make it look like an accident. Frank actually takes part in the plan, which you'd think there's no way of pulling off. Sure enough, the case goes to trial, and Cora's creepy lawyer (Hume Cronyn) may know more than he's letting on. Turner and Garfield are quite good, even if you think there are some odd plot twists in this one.
Lots of people made a western or more back in the 1950s, even if we don't think of them for westerns. Among them is Robert Stack, who is the star of War Paint, which will be on StarzEncore Westerns at 5:00 AM Thursday. Stack plays Lt. Billings, a cavalry officer who has been given orders to deliver a treaty to an Indian Affairs man, who in turn is going to give it to the Apaches for signing. However, when Billings gets to the fort where he's supposed to meet the government agent, he finds the man is not there. So, he's going to have to take the men under his command and deliver the treaty to the chief himself. That's dangerous, of course, so Billings is guided by the chief's son Taslik (Keith Larson). They have to get there quickly because the treaty is time-sensitive, but things keep happening that lead Billings to believe that perhaps Taslik doesn't want that treaty to reach his father. Taslik's sister Wanima (Joan Taylor) also has strong feelings against the treaty and is taking rather more direct action.
On Friday, it's Steve McQueen's turn to get 24 hours of his movies on TCM. One of his films which still has relevance today is An Enemy of the People, at 9:00 AM Friday. McQueen plays Dr. Stockmann, who lives with his wife Catherine (Bibi Andersson) and their kids in a small Norwegian tourist town in the late 1800s. The doctor works at the local spa resort, which is what brings in all the tourists as they come in for the cures from the healthful waters. Except that the good doctor has been doing some research, and he finds that the water is in fact getting poisoned thanks in part to a tannery's waste being leached into the spring. Dr. Stockmann wants to warn the people about the dangers, but they don't want to listen, because they see a loss of revenue which is going to impoverish their town. Even Stockmann's own brother Peter (Charles Durning), the town's mayor, stands against him. And when the doctor won't shut up, the people have no qualms about getting violent. Look at the treatment of people suggesting keeping the coronavirus lockdowns going has more drawbacks than benefits, and you'll see how this movie is still relevant.
Not every person who gets a day in TCM's Summer Under the Stars was a big star. An example of this is Saturday's honoree, Nina Foch. She got a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for Executive Suite (6:00 PM), but not so many leading roles. One of those leading roles in in the minor noir Escape in the Fog, which will be on at 7:15 AM Saturday. Foch plays Eileen Carr, an army nurse who in the movies opening scene is walking across a bridge in the fog when she sees a car stop, and a couple of men get out, them trying to murder another of their party! Thankfully, Eileen wakes up as this is just as a nightmare. She's at an inn where she's recovering from having had a nervous breakdown, and one of the men coming to her aid when she wakes up screaming is Barry (William Wright), who just happens to look amazingly like the guy in her dream who was destined to be killed! Barry happens to be a US spy, which gets Eileen involved in espionage – and as the case goes on, her nightmare about the guy who got thrown off the bridge might just come true!
Up against Escape in the Fog is Boiling Point, which starts at 4:50 AM Saturday on StarzEncore Classics (although you can also catch it at 8:59 AM Tuesday on StarzEncore Black). Ronnnie (Viggo Mortensen) is a criminal who got sprung out of jail by Red (Dennis Hopper) for a counterfeiting job. Ronnie kills a Secret Service agent (remember, before 9/11 they were part of the Treasury tasked with investigating counterfeiting). That agent's partner is Jimmy Mercer (Wesley Snipes), and Jimmy vows revenge, being the sort of stereotypical movie law enforcer who isn't exactly going to do things by the book but who somehow gets his man in the end. One thing that both Red and Jimmy have in common is the hooker Vicki (Lolita Davidovich), whom they've both been seeing, despite each of them having other relationship problems horning in on the operation. Crazy Red, for example, has an old girlfriend in Mona (Valerie Perrine) whom he's ostensibly trying to patch things up with, but he's probably got ulterior motives.
Finally, on Sunday, we get a day of the films of Cary Grant on TCM. This gives us another chance to catch up with an entertaining movie like To Catch a Thief, which runs at 8:00 PM Sunday. Grant plays John Robie, an American expat on the French Riviera who committed a bunch of cat burglaries and, having served his time, surprisingly didn't get deported as he's still living there, which probably has to do with his activities for the Resistance during World War II. Anyhow, there's recently been a new string of burglaries, and the authorities unsurprisingly suspect Robie. New on the scene is American Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis), together with her daughter Frances (Grace Kelly). They're a natural target for the thief, especially when Robie starts wooing Frances. But the police, along with an insurance agent Hughson (John Williams the actor, not the composer), decide to let Robie work with them to try to prove his innocence. One ironic scene has Grace Kelly driving like a madman along the winding mountain roads over the coast; obviously nobody then knew she was going to die there decades later.