Welcome to another edition of Fedya's "Movies to Tivo" thread, for the week of November 5-11, 2018. I'm sure you're all sick of the election ads, and while there are thankfully only a few more days of those, no matter who wins we're going to get a terrible post mortem from the enraged losers. So why not give the politicians the finger by ignoring them and watching some good movies instead? Once again, I've used my good taste to select a bunch of movies I know you'll all like, from foreign films to Elvis and beyond. As always, all times are in Eastern, unless otherwise mentioned.
This week's TCM Import is Alexander Nevsky, which will be on at 2:00 AM Monday. Nevsky was a prince in the Russian town of Novgorod in the 13th century, a time of turmoil for Russia. The Mongol Golden Horde was invading from the east, and from the west were the Teutonic Knights, Germanic warriors who sacked and pillaged the Russian town of Pskov. The people need a savior, and so they call on Nevsky (Nikoli Cherkasov) to raise an army to fight. Nevsky declines a fight against the Mongols since he feels at this time the Germans are the bigger enemy, and eventually defeats the Teutons in the dramatic Battle of the Ice on a frozen lake. Set against this is a romantic subplot of two of Nevsky's warriors who are in love with the same woman and compete to be more brave to win her heart, although it winds up well for both of them. This was released in 1938, a year before the Molotov-von Ribbentrop Pact, so it's clearly an allegory against the threat of Nazi Germany, with Nevsky standing in for Stalin. Propaganda aside, the movie's visuals stand on their own right.
Now that we're in the first full week of a new month, it's time for a new Star of the Month on TCM. This month it's one of my favorite actress of the 1930s, Glenda Farrell. Her films will be on Mondays in prime time, although there are a few films before prime time; for example a much older Farrell plays Elvis Presley's mother in Kissin' Cousins, at 12:45 PM Monday. Farrell got the chance to be the lead in all those Torchy Blane movies, playing the wise-cracking lady reporter who had more cojones than all the men and always cracked the case before her policeman boyfriend. Those movies are airing next Monday; this Mondy night brings supporting roles, as to Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar (8:00 PM Monday), or the woman who sends Paul Muni down the river in I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (9:45 PM).
A movie that's going to be back on FXM Retro is Follow the Sun, which will be on at 11:45 AM Tuesday and 6:00 AM Wednesday. Glenn Ford plays Ben Hogan, the famous golfer. The real-life Hogan was born into poverty especially after his father committed suicide; Hogan worked his way up as a caddie before turning pro and marrying Valerie (Anne Baxter), serving in World War II and becoming a successful post-war golfer – until a serious car accident nearly killed him. Doctors thought he'd never walk again, but Hogan not only walked, he played world-class golf. (The movie was released two years before Hogan won three majors in one year.) Much of the movie focuses on the car accident and the return to tour, because that's the sort of thing that makes for a better Hollywood movie. Some of the famous pros of the day, including Sam Snead and Cary Middlecoff, as well as sportswriter Grantland Rice, have cameos. But there's a fictional plot about a fellow golf pro (Dennis O'Keefe) trying to make it on tour whom Hogan has to beat, because, again, that's what provides the drama.
TCM is running a bunch of Joel McCrea movies on Tuesday morning and afternoon. One that doesn't get shown too often is Espionage Agent, which will be on at 4:45 PM. McCrea plays Barry, a man working for the US diplomatic corps who has had the misfortune to marry Brenda (Brenda Marshall). Brenda was caught in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and got a false passport in order to get out of the country and married Barry to get into the US. All of that might be enough to cost Barry his job with the State Department. Worse is the fact that the Germans wanted Brenda to work for them in the States in exchange for that false passport, and doubly so if she's going to marry an American diplomat. Think of the intelligence value. So Barry decides he's going to quit his job and go undercover to break the sabotage ring that's trying to recruit his wife. One of the interesting things about this movie is that not only was the US neutral at the time the movie was made; it was made before the start of World War II but only released a few weeks after Germany attacked Poland.
TCM's lineup on Wednesday night is a bunch of movies set in the 16th century, starting at 8:00 PM with The Agony and the Ecstasy. Rex Harrison plays Pope Julius II, who wants to leave a suitable monument to his tenure. He does this by hiring Michelangelo (Charlton Heston), one of the greatest painters of the day, to paint the ceiling of the chapel Julius' predecessor Sixtus had constructed. Michelangelo isn't so certain, and at the same time he feels he can only paint on such a tableau when he gets the proper religious inspiration. This is a constant irritation to Julius. Meanwhile, Julius is also having to deal with political interference, as the papal holdings in Italy were one of the biggest parts of what is today's Italy, but had to deal with interference from other parts of the Church, particularly in France and Spain, but also the Borgias in Italy. To that extent, he's actually leading military campaigns. But he and the equally stubborn Michelangelo are always butting heads. Dianne Cilento plays the Countess de Medici, who also serves as a would-be romantic interest for Michelangelo.
I know you all like the old westerns, so this week I'll mention False Colors, which is on StarzEncore Westerns at 6:18 AM Thursday. Hopalong Cassidy stars as the owner of a ranch who suffers the loss of one of his ranch hands to murder. It turns out that the man, Bud Lawton (Tom Seidel) had left his parents' rather chance many years earlier to try to make his own way, but recently his father died and he was set to inherit the majority of the ranch. Obviously somebody wanted that ranch for their own reasons, and Cassidy sets out to learn why so he can get justice for his employee's murder. He's sister Faith (Claudia Drake) is now the sole heir of the ranch, but when Hopalong gets there he finds that Kit, a man who looks surprisingly like Bud, is claiming to be the long-lost son wanting his inheritance. There's a conspiracy going on, and it should be fairly obvious who's behind it. Hopalong is bright enough to solve the case, too.
We get a second and final week of pioneering women directors this week on TCM, in two parts. On Wednesday morning and afternoon, there are some later directors, which means more Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino movies that I've recommended before but are worth a watch, such as Lupino's Outrage at 2:45 PM, a movie discussing the very touchy subject of rape which was a taboo during the era of the Production Code. On Thursday night, it's another night of silent movies most of which were directed by women.
I didn't mention too many of the movies TCM ran during the salute to funny ladies last month. One that ran is going to be on again this week: Theodora Goes Wild, at 8:00 PM Friday on TCM. Irene Dunne plays Theodora Lynn, of Lynnfield CT. She's a descendant of the town fathers and living with her two aunts (Elizabeth Risdon and Margaret McWade) who are the conservative leaders of the town's social circle. They're horrified that the editor of the town paper is serializing a racy romance novel by Catherine Adams. What they don't know is that Adams is the nom de plume of... Theodora Lynn! She goes to New York to see her publisher, and runs into her illustrator, Michael (Melvyn Douglas), although they don't know each other thanks to the pseudonym. Michael falls for Adams, and when he learns her true identity and home town, he decides to come calling on her in Lynnfield. All hell breaks loose since nobody in Lynnfield knows about prim Theodora's other life.
For those who insist on more recent movies, here's one that's only 30 years old: La Bamba, airing at 1:00 AM and 5:21 PM Saturday on StarzEncore Classics. Lou Diamond Phillips plays Richie Valens, real name Richard Valenzuela. Richie was a normal Mexican-American high school kid in 1950s San Diego, except that he had a talent for music. He recorded a couple of songs that were successful enough to get him recorded nationally. But that turned out to be his downfall. He was on tour with Buddy Holly (Marshall Crenshaw, a moderately successful 1980s musician) and the Big Bopper (Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats) and in February 1959, their plane took off from Mason City, IA, only to crash with the deaths of all on board, snuffing out a promising musical career at 17. The movie tells about the mother (Rosana De Soto) who loved Richie; the difficult relationship Richie had with his older half-brother Bob (Esai Morales), and the girlfriend Donna for whom Valens wrote one of his hit songs.
Sunday is Veterans' Day, so TCM is running a bunch of war movies over the weekend. One of them is The Battle of the Bulge, at 8:00 AM Saturday. I'm sure most of you already know that the real Battle of the Bulge occurred at the end of 1944 when, as the Allies were trying to push eastward into Germany after the successful D-Day invasion, the Nazis tried a daring counter-attack with the objective of splitting the Allies in two. This involved breaking through in Belgium's Ardennes, hoping to get all the way to Antwerp. The various pockets of Allied troops had to fight desperately against the Nazis, while being under siege in places like Bastogne as you may recall from the movie Battleground (not airing this week), a scene repeated in this movie. But this one is more of a pastiche of what happened in the battle, using composite characters instead of the real names of those involved, with an all-star cast including Henry Fonda as the main American and Robert Shaw as the main German, with supporting roles from Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews, and on and on.
This week's Noir Alley selection is The Threat, which as usual will be on at 10:00 AM Sunday. Charles McGraw is the threat here, as Arnold Kluger, nicknamed "Red". Red is one mean SOB in prison up in Folsom, which suits the folks who put him behind bars, such as police detective Ray Williams (Michael O'Shea), whose wife is about to give birth. But wouldn't you know it, Red escapes, and the search is on to find and re-apprehend him. Except that Red finds Ray first and takes him hostage, along with the DA MacDonald (Frank Conroy) who prosecuted the case, and Red's old girlfriend Carol (Virginia Grey) who Red thinks ratted on him, along with an innocent bystander. He takes his hostages to a cabin out in the middle of nowhere, while he's waiting for an airplane that's supposed to pick him up for his ultimate escape. But that plane may not be on time, and there's another police detective (Robert Shayne) trying to find Red who may not know who's among the hostages. Yet another effective little B noir.