This week:
* Monday—Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell bump into each other, with seismic results.
* Tuesday—Billy Wilder shows ’em how.
* Wednesday—Sinophilia.
* Thursday and Friday—TCM “remembers” the Korean War.
* Saturday—Goin’ crazy!
* Sunday—Getting the finger, five thousand of them.
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Monday—June 21st
6:00 AM—Double Dynamite (1951)
A bank teller reaps the rewards of saving a gangster’s life, but can’t reveal where he got the money.
7:30 AM—His Kind of Woman (1951)
A deported gangster causes problems for guests at a Mexican resort.
9:45 AM—The Las Vegas Story (1952)
When newlyweds visit Las Vegas, the wife’s shady past comes to the surface.
12:45 PM—Macao (1952)
A man on the run in the Far East is mistaken for an undercover cop.
2:30 PM—Adam’s Rib (1949)
Husband-and-wife lawyers argue opposite sides in a sensational women’s rights case.
———-
Tuesday—June 22nd
7:00 AM—Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
A British corporal goes undercover to infiltrate Field Marshall Rommel’s command.
8:45 AM—Stalag 17 (1953)
A cynical serviceman in a World War II POW camp has to prove he’s not an informer.
11:00 AM—Some Like It Hot (1959)
“Well, nobody’s perfect!”
3:15 PM—The Fortune Cookie (1966)
A crooked lawyer trumps up an insurance case for a cameraman injured at a pro football game.
10:15 PM—Buck Privates (1941)
Two small-time con artists enlist in the Army to avoid the police.
———-
Wednesday—June 23rd
Hollywood’s version of China in seven films from dawn to dusk.
———-
Thursday—June 24th
2:30 AM—The Bat Whispers (1930)
A masked criminal terrorizes the residents at a deserted country house.
8:00 PM—Men in War (1957)
Two enemies join forces to save their men during a retreat from the North Koreans.
10:00 PM—This Is Korea (1951)
Archival footage documents the North Korean aggression that started the Korean War. John Ireland narrates. Director: John Ford.
11:00 PM—The Steel Helmet (1951)
Americans trapped behind enemy lines fight off Communists during the Korean War.
———-
Friday—June 25th
12:30 AM—Men of the Fighting Lady (1954)
MGM’s version of The Bridges at Toko-Ri.
3:45 AM—Battle Circus (1953)
A doctor fights for his life during the Korean War.
5:15 AM—Tank Battalion (1958)
Four soldiers pilot their tank behind enemy lines during the Korean War.
6:45 AM—Mission Over Korea (1953)
A rookie pilot in the Korean War wants to avenge his brother’s death.
8:15 AM—Battle Taxi (1955)
A hotshot jet pilot joins a helicopter rescue team during the Korean War.
2:30 PM—Time Limit (1957)
An officer is court-martialed under suspicion of collaborating with the North Koreans.
4:30 PM—The Rack (1956)
A Korean War veteran is accused of cracking under enemy torture.
6:30 PM—Hell in Korea (1956)
A small platoon fights to keep control of a small hill during the Korean War.
11:45 PM—The Deep (1977)
A vacationing couple runs afoul of modern pirates.
———-
Saturday—June 26th
2:00 AM—Deep End (1971)
A 15-year-old’s obsession with a co-worker leads to a deadly string of crimes.
8:30 AM—The Third Man (1949)
Harry Lime is a slime.
10:30 AM—Master Minds (1949)
The Bowery Boys takes on a mad scientist when one of them develops the ability to predict the future
4:15 PM—The Desert Fox (1951)
Following his work with the Afrika Korps, Field Marshall Rommell joins in a plot to assassinate Hitler.
8:00 PM—The Snake Pit (1948)
A young woman tries to recover her sanity in a corrupt mental institution.
10:00 PM—Shock Corridor (1963)
A reporter fakes insanity to crack a murder committed in an asylum.
———-
Sunday—June 27th
4:30 AM—Bedlam (1946)
When an actress tries to reform an asylum, its corrupt keeper has her committed.
8:00 AM—Bringing Up Baby (1938)
“Now it isn’t that I don’t like you, Susan, because, after all, in moments of quiet, I’m strangely drawn toward you, but, well, there haven’t been any quiet moments.”
“Well, you look perfectly idiotic in those clothes.”
“These aren’t my clothes!”
“Well, where are your clothes?”
“I’ve lost my clothes!”
“But why are you wearing these clothes?”
“Because I just went gay all of a sudden!”
10:00 AM—Son of Flubber (1963)
An absent-minded professor gets into legal trouble because of his experiments with a gravity defying substance.
8:00 PM—The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
A young boy dreams that his piano teacher is a super-villain out to rule the world.
9:45 PM—The Monster That Challenged the World (1957)
An earthquake unleashes a horde of giant prehistoric monsters.
—Mike Gray
Billy Wilder day is a must for those unfamiliar with his work, or those who have seen his films and want to enjoy them again.
The Bat Whispers is a fun film, well worth watching. One can see, both in the film and the Mary Roberts Rinehart book on which it’s based, some of the foundations of the Batman comic books–in particular the most appealing qualities of the character and settings, without the arty-smarty gloom-and-doom ambitions of most of the various Batman manifestations of the past couple of decades.