Welcome to another edition of Fedya's "Movies to Tivo" thread, for the week of September 30-October 6, 2013. It's the beginning of a new month, so we're going to be getting a new Star of the Month and a new Friday night Spotlight on TCM. Meanwhile, The Story of Film continues on Monday and Tuesday nights. As always, all times are in Eastern, unless otherweise mentioned.
Our first selection this week is one of the more overlooked films of 1939, The Rains Came. George Brent plays Tom Ransome, an American rake now living in the Indian principality of Ranchipur. Into his life walks Lady Edwina (Myrna Loy), the wife of Lord Albert (Nigel Bruce); she had had an affair with Tom in the past, and Lord Albert knows all about her affairs. This time, though, Tom isn't going to continue that affair with her, because he's got the missionary's daughter (Brenda Joyce) trying to run away and live with him. As for Edwina, she meets the Indian officer Rama (Tyrone Power), and the two fall for each other, even though Rama is being groomed for big things by the Maharani (Maria Ousepenskaya!). And then the disasters come. First is an earthquake, followed by a burst dam and all the rains, and then an epidemic of the plague! Boy is it melodramatic. And it's a hoot watching the Hollywood types play the people of India. But the special effects are quite good for 1930s standards, when they didn't have CGI.
Monday night brings Part 5 of Mark Cousins' documentary The Story of Film: An Odyssey, covering how the war years affected cinema. The documentary airs at 10:00 PM Monday with a repeat at 3:15 AM Wednesday. World War II affected Europe more directly than the US, so I'll mention a couple of movies dealing with the war that were made in Europe. First is Rome, Open City, at 4:30 AM Tuesday. The first film in a trilogy by Italian director Roberto Rossellini, this one tells the story of the Italian Underground in the waning years of the Fascist government, specifically focusing on the leader of a ring printing seditious material; his girlfriend; a priest who helps the Underground, and the children who are able to help the Underground but can be a bit too impetuous at times. This is one of the first Italian neo-realist films, made on locatoin in a crumbling Rome not long after the Allied liberation, and is a remarkable movie considering how difficult it must have been to make it.
The other movie is British, and made a bit after the war: A Matter of Life and Death, at 6:30 AM Wednesday. David Niven plays a pilot who's plane is hit while returning from a bombing mission, which is supposed to kill him. However, the when Niven jumps out of the burning plane, his body goes missing in the fog, making St. Peter's emissary unable to find him. So Niven goes to the nearest town, meeting the woman (Kim Hunter) he was talking to on his distress call, and the two fall in love. And then, that emissary (Marius Goring) finds Niven and informa him he's going to have to go to heaven. You can't have a body that's supposed to die go missing, after all. But Hunter, and Niven's good friend (Roger Livesey) want heaven to relent, since it was their fault they lost the body. The result is a trial before a heavenly court. One of the interesting things about the movie is that director Michael Powell filmed half in color and half in black and white, with the black and white being used for Heaven, which is a sort of reversal from something like The Wizard of Oz.
In between those, on Tuesday morning and afternoon, TCM is honoring Laurence Harvey, who was born on October 1, 1928. One of his movies that I don't think I've mentioned before is Walk on the Wild Side, which is airing at 6:00 PM Tuesday. Harvey is badly miscast as a Texas cowboy in the 1930s. He goes to New Orleans looking for old flame Hallie (Capucine, no last name) -- and finds her working in a bordello! Things get better, at least for the viewer. The bordello is run by Jo (Barbara Stanwyck not long before she decamped to The Big Valley), who seems to have a lesbian attraction to Halley! Rounding out the cast are Jane Fonda as Kitty Twist, who accompanies Harvey on his journey from Texas to New Orleans and winds up working for Jo; and Anne Baxter as a diner owner of Mexican descent! Capucine was being heavily promoted by the films producer, so she gets to wear all sorts of Pierre Cardin 60s chic, even though the film is set in the 30s. For those who like camp, this is one to watch.
On Wednesday night, TCM is highlighting the lovely actress Samantha Eggar, whom you'll probably best remember from the movie Walk, Don't Run, which is airing at 10:45 PM. This week, though, I'd like to mention a different movie, Dr. Crippen, which is on at 3:00 AM Thursday. Donald Pleasance plays the title role, a real-life quack doctor in Edwardian England (ie. the early 1900s), widowed and unhappily married to Cora (Coral Browne). She was unable to have children and reacted to this by basically being a nympho. The doctor, for his part, met burlesque dancer Ethel (Samantha Eggar) and fell in love with her. It all resulted in Cora dying of poisoning, with her head not being found; Dr. Crippen was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to hang in controversial circumstances.
Having entered a new month, we get a new Star of the Month on TCM. And who would be a more appropriate Star of the Month for October than Vincent Price? Price's movies will be airing every Thursday in October on TCM. Price, however, made a lot of non-horror films, such as While the City Sleeps, at 6:00 PM Thursday. Price is in the supporting role as Kyne Jr., the son of the owner of the Kyne News Service. All of Kyne's news divisions are investigating a serial killer, but things change suddenly when the elder Kyne dies. The younger Kyne has a different policy, and wants to promote whoever gets the real scoop on the murderer, which leads to the heads of the various divisions (George Sanders, Thomas Mitchell, and James Craig) and their underlings (Dana Andrews and Ida Lupino among others) to engage in devious back-stabbing measures to catch the killer. Meanwhile, the younger Kyne's wife (Rhonda Fleming) is in love with the James Craig character, further complicating things.
Although there are going to be Vincent Price horror films later in the month, you can get horror movies every Friday night as part of the Friday night spotlight. This first Friday in October sees an eclectic range of horror movies, from the German Testament of Dr. Mabuse (11:15 PM) to classic Hollywood studio fare like 1935's Bride of Frankenstein (1:30 AM Saturday) to decided B-fare like The Wasp Woman (4:45 AM Saturday). In between is British studio Hammer Films' Frankenstein Created Woman, at 3:00 AM Saturday. Veteran Hammer films star Peter Cushing once again plays Baron Frankenstein, this time dealing with human souls. Specifically, the soul of his assistant Hans (Robert Morris), who was wrongly accused of murder and executed for it. Frankenstein saves the brain which has the soul, and transfers that brain into the body of Hans' girlfriend Cristina (Susan Denberg) who reacted to Hans' execution by drowning herself. The newly reanimated Cristina, with Hans' soul, decides to go find the people who really committed the murder for which Hans was executed -- the murder victim also happens to be Cristina's father.
If you want still more horror, TCM Underground has it this week, starting at 2:00 AM with Billy the Kid vs. Dracula. As you can guess from the title, this one has Dracula (played by John Carradine) out in the old west, where he learns of a ranch owned by a beautiful young woman; the woman's mother and uncle are on their way to meet her. So Dracula has everybody else in the stagecoach killed, takes over the uncle's identity, and goes to the ranch intent on making the young woman his vampire bride. Ah, but she's engaged to William Bonney, who as you know was Billy the Kid, now trying to live a life fully within the law. Eventually Billy has to save his beautiful fiancÉe from Dracula. Or something nonsensical like that. This one was originally released on a double bill with Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter, which will be airing at 3:15 AM Sunday on TCM.
Over on Cinemax, you'll have a chance to watch Superman, at 8:30 AM Saturday. This is the 1978 version, starring Christopher Reeve as Kal-El, who's sent from his dying planet by his father (Marlon Brando). Of course he winds up on Earth, where he's found by the Kents (Glenn Ford and Phyllis Thaxter), is christened Clark, and goes on to become a reporter for the Dailiy Planet by day, with lady reporter Lois Lane (Margo Kidder) falling for him. Of course, Kent's alter ego is going to have to fight the evil Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), who has a plan to wipe out California with nuclear missiles. There's actually quite the cast here. Jackie Cooper plays Perry White, the editor for the Daily Planet; Terence Stamp, whose movies range from Billy Budd to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and beyond, plays General Zod; and Susannah York and Max Schell's sister Maria show up in small roles as well. Cinemax is showing Superman in a double feature with Superman II, which comes on at 10:55 AM Saturday..
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