Welcome to another edition of Fedya’s “Movies to Tivo” thread, for the week of December 13-19, 2021. TCM’s Saturday Matinee is going back to the Bowery Boys, but there’s a lot of other interesting stuff on various channels this week. We’ve got more from Star of the Month Ingrid Bergman, a pair of movies from the 1990s, and James Stewart being hilariously miscast in a movie from Hollywood’s annus mirabilis of 1939. As always, all times are in Eastern, unless otherwise mentioned.
Making a movie is like a stagecoach trip in the old west: everyone starts off with high hopes; halfway through, you only hope to make it to the destination alive. François Truffaut said that in Day for Night, but it’s an aphorism that certainly holds true for the 1939 movie Stagecoach, which will be on TCM at 8:00 PM Monday. A bunch of people get on the stagecoach, including alcoholic Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell in an Oscar-winning role); whiskey salesman Peacock (Donald Meek with hair to make Blair Kiel jealous); dance-hall girl trying to escape her reputation Dallas (Claire Trevor); a woman traveling west to meet her cavalry officer husband; and a marshal hoping to apprehend notorious criminal the Ringo Kid (John Wayne). Ringo does show up, but things are more complicated, since the brother of the guy the Ringo kid killed is as their destination waiting to kill Ringo. And, there are Indians in the region waiting to attack stagecoaches. Paradoxically, a good shot like Ringo might be of some use in any of the attacks.
Another of the movies that’s currently back in the FXM rotation is How to Marry a Millionaire (sorry, Ya Tittie). This week, it has an airing at 9:20 AM Monday. Schatze (Lauren Bacall) has had a disastrous marriage and, leaving the marriage, has made her way to New York where she’s subletting a penthouse apartment in the hopes of finding a rich husband. In order to help pay the rent, Schatze has taken in two other women in a similar situation to her: bespectacled Pola (Marilyn Monroe) and somewhat ditzy Loco (Betty Grable). However, their attempts to find love are, unsurprisingly, rather complicated. Loco meets rich businessman Waldo (Fred Clark), but he’s already married. And then on a trip to Maine she meets handsome forest ranger Eben (Rory Calhoun). Schatze winds up with two men in her life as well, not-so well-off Tom (Cameron Mitchell) and older Mr. Hanley (William Powell). And as for Pola, she unknowingly winds up with Freddie (David Wayne), the guy who owns their apartment. Rather undemanding but charming, the movie is known for being Fox’s first movie filmed in Cinemascope (although released after The Robe), which explains the orchestral overture showing off the new wide-screen process.
TCM has been running a spotlight on the films of German-born director Ernst Lubitsch. This Tuesday in prime time, that will continue with a night of Lubitsch’s silent films. That includes The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, at 1:15 AM Wednesday. Ramon Novarro plays the prince, young Karl Heinrich. He’s been raised since birth to be a royal by his father King Karl VII (Gustav von Seyffertitz), having little contact with the outside world beyond his tutor Dr. Jüttner (Jean Hersholt). But when he grows up, it’s time to complete his studies at university, and that means Heidelberg, which at the time was known as a university town. So as not to raise too much attention, Karl Heinrich and Jüttner take rooms at a small rooming house, where young Karl meets the proprietor’s daughter Kathi (Norma Shearer) and falls in love with her. He also falls in love with the collegial atmosphere of Heidelberg. But of course he’s supposed to ascend to the throne one day, and his father has already arranged a political marriage of convenience with a princess in another principality. What’s a young prince to do?
It’s been over a quarter century since the release of Swingers made a star out of people like Vince Vaughn. Swingers will be on this week, at 3:32 AM Wednesday on MoreMax. Jon Favreau plays Mike, a starving artist-type actor who was dumped by his New York girlfriend and then headed west to Los Angeles as a result to try to break into the world of entertainment there. His new friend Rob (Ron Livingston) is in a similar professional situation or not being able to find much success, at which point a third friend, Trent (that’s Vince Vaughn), suggests they go to Las Vegas. It doesn’t work out too well, as they lose a fair amount of money gambling and don’t wind up with any girls. Of course, part of that is because Mike doesn’t seem too willing to move on from his old girlfriend back in New York, and the idea that if only he could be a success, things will be different. Will Mike ever be able to move on?
Last week I mentioned Yves Montand in Let’s Make Love; this week you can see him in Goodbye Again, at 3:00 AM Thursday on TCM. This one is airing as part of Ingrid Bergman’s turn as Star of the Month. She plays Paula Tessier, a fashionable interior designer in Paris who has been in a relationship with importer/exporter Roger Demarest (that’s Montand) for several years now. But he doesn’t seem able to make a commitment, and indeed has a string of flings with younger women. One of Paula’s clients is American Mrs. Van der Besh (Jesse Royce Landis), who has a son Philip (Anthony Perkins) who is training in international law with a big firm that has offices in Paris, London, and New York. Philip immediately falls for Paula and starts taking her places, and paying her more attention than Roger does, which makes her think there’s something there. But Philip is much younger, with the older woman/younger man relationship being much more scandalous in those days, especially combined with Paula’s well-known relationship with Roger.
Next up is The Flintstones, which will be on a couple of times this week, including 9:50 AM Thursday on Showtime Showcase. Based on the popular animated TV show, this live-action movie stars John Goodman as Fred Flintstone, married to Wilma (Elizabeth Perkins) and neighbors to best friends Barney and Betty Rubble (Rick Moranis and Rosie O’Donnell respectively). Much of the movie deals with the sight gags and puns based on the conceit of being a “modern Stone Age family” in the town of Bedrock, but the movie does also have a plot behind it. Barney helps Fred ace an aptitude test to become a vice-president at Mr. Slate’s quarry where they both work. However, becoming a VP makes Fred a snob and drives a wedge between him and Barney. It’s also part of an elaborate scheme cooked up by another VP, Cliff Vandercave (Kyle MacLachlan). He’s been embezzling money from the company, and is planning to run off with his secretary/mistress Sharon Stone (Halle Berry). However, he needs a fall guy, which is why he came up with the idea to pick a VP from the ranks of the blue-collar workers.
Immediately after The Flintstones, switch over to TCM and watch The Ice Follies of 1939, at 11:15 AM Thursday. Larry (James Stewart) and Mary (Joan Crawford) are a romantically-involved couple who are performers in the Ice Follies. They get married, and thanks to a fortuitous meeting with Hollywood producer Tolliver (Lewis Stone), Mary gets invited out to Hollywood to become the next big thing, something that kind of bothers Larry since he has traditional notions about wanting to support his wife and not be dependent on her. So he goes back with his old friend and fellow Ice Follies player Eddie (Lew Ayres) and decides he’s going to create his own Ice Follies troupe and make his fortune that way to win Mary back! There are lots of romantic complications along the way before we get to the happy ending and the big Technicolor ice skating number that doesn’t involve any of the main stars since they couldn’t actually ice skate well. Louis B. Mayer obviously must have seen Sonja Henie over at Fox and wanted something similar at MGM.
An actor you wouldn’t think of as starring in a western is Jack Lemmon. And yet he made the movie Cowboy, which shows up this week on StarzEncore Westerns at 3:35 AM Saturday. To be fair, Lemmon isn’t the cowboy, but plays Frank Harris, an assistant hotel manager in Chicago who has fallen in love with a guest, a young lady who’s the daughter of a wealthy Mexican man. Her dad would never let her marry Frank because of the social and class differences. Meanwhile, coming to the hotel is cowboy Tom Reese (Glenn Ford). He’s driven cattle north and winds up in Chicago with a bunch of money after selling the cattle, to spend a few weeks’ vacation before going on another cattle drive. However, he loses most of his money gambling and needs financial assistance to get more cattle. Thankfully, Frank has some money saved up, and decides that if he can go south with Frank, he’ll meet that nice Mexican girl again and show her and her Dad that he’s a success now. Of course, there’s a slight catch in that Frank isn’t a cowboy at all.
It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned On Borrowed Time. It has another showing this week, at 6:00 AM Sunday on TCM. Death, in the form of a man named Mr. Brink (Cedric Hardwicke), visits a young widower who then dies, leaving behind an orphaned son. So the son, Pud (Bobs Watson), is placed in the care of his grandparents the Northrups (Lionel Barrymore and Beulah Bondi). Not too long after, Death comes for Grandpa, but Grandpa is no dummy and is able to trick Death into climbing Grandpa’s favorite apple tree, from which Death is not able to get back down. This causes a problem because people aren’t dying elsewhere the way they should be. In addition, only Grandpa and Pud are able to see Death, so people around Grandpa who would like to get control of the property see Grandpa talking to what, to them, appears to be just a tree. They start suggesting that Grandpa has what we’d call dementia today, and try to get him out of the house that way. The story is resolved thanks to a rather different plot twist.
A few years back TCM got the rights to show The Holly and the Ivy, a Christmas movie that’s been a regular part of their Christmas lineup ever since. This year, its airing is at 10:15 PM Sunday. Ralph Richardson plays Rev. Martin Gregory, a widowed vicar who is being looked after by his adult daughter Jenny (Celia Johnson), who is a bit unhappy with her lot in life because she drew the short straw of having to look after Mom in her declining years. She’s got a boyfriend in David (John Gregson) who would like to marry her, but he’s also got a job offer that would take him to South America which would mean taking Jenny away from Dad. Jenny has a couple of siblings, however: brother Michael (Denholm Elliott) is in the Army, but feels like he’s not really cut out for it or for living up his father’s expectations. Meanwhile, sister Margaret (Margaret Leighton), a fashion reporter in London, has a dark secret that caused her to start drinking heavily, and there’s some question of whether she’ll even show up for Christmas. It’s certainly not your feel-good Hallmark Christmas movie, but it’s an extremely well-acted movie that’s worth a watch.
