Turner Classic Movies presents a diverse variety pack of thrillers this week, Mike Gray writes.
This week:
Monday: Edmund Gwenn turns sleuth. Zachary Scott is the definitive sleaze. Anton Walbrook loves Diana Wynyard[‘s money]. And Bette Davis is a pistol-packin’ mama.
Tuesday: Edward G. Robinson never gets to cash in his IRA. Glenda Farrell, Lola Lane, and Jane Wyman all claim they’re Torchy Blane.
Wednesday: Fred MacMurray salivates when Barbara Stanwyck sparkles.
Thursday: James Stewart and Doris Day fire their travel agent.
Friday: Gloria Swanson gets too big. Humphrey Bogart brushes up his Shakespeare. Meanwhile, Jean Simmons misplaces a relative.
Saturday: Lyle Bettger gets greedy. Rock Hudson does not live in a yellow submarine.
Sunday: Fay Wray has plenty to scream about. Lucille Ball has a brush with a corpse. Con artists have a change of heart. And Peter Sellers is, as usual, shooting in the dark.
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Monday—April 13th
6:15 AM—Bewitched (1945)
Cast: Edmund Gwenn, Phyllis Thaxter, Harry H. Daniels, Jr., Addison Richards
Director: Arch Oboler
BW-65 mins, TV-PG
"The scissors. Pick them up. Kill him! Lift your arm. Higher … higher … higher. Now — strike!"
"Psychiatry-themed movies were all the rage in the 1940s, expressing anxieties and fears that reflected the mood of WWII-era America. The easy reassurance provided by many of the psychiatrist characters perhaps also filled a need felt by moviegoers for reassurance themselves. Be that as it may, the subject soon permeated nearly every genre … But in the new trend of psychiatry movies, schizophrenia as a clinical matter was something quite different, and in that sense Bewitched was ahead of its time, anticipating by over a decade the more famous The Three Faces of Eve (1957) and Lizzie (1957)."
(Source: Jeremy Arnold on TCM Movie Database)
7:30 AM—Danger Signal (1945)
Cast: Faye Emerson, Zachary Scott, Dick Erdman, Rosemary DeCamp
Director: Robert Florey
BW-78 mins, TV-PG
"Look up the definition of lounge lizard in the dictionary and you’ll see a picture of Zachary Scott. Okay, maybe not, but he belongs there. The actor made a career out of playing social parasites and sleazy gigolos, the type who preys on vulnerable, love starved women with disposable incomes. Scott’s gallery of scoundrels were tailor-made for the numerous melodramas and film noirs that Warner Bros. churned out in the forties and fifties. In many ways, it was his debut performance as a despicable pimp turned murderer in The Mask of Dimitrios (1944) and his treacherous opportunist in Mildred Pierce (1945) that helped stereotype the actor for the rest of his career. Yet, these were basically supporting roles for Scott, and though they solidified his image as a loathsome character for filmgoers, it was Danger Signal (1945) that gave him his first major role. An ideal showcase for Scott’s unctuous on-screen persona, the movie features the actor in a male version of the femme fatale role so synonymous with film noirs."
(Source: Jeff Stafford on TCM Movie Database)
10:45 AM—Gaslight (1940)
Cast: Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell, Cathleen Cordell
Director: Thorold Dickinson
BW-84 mins, TV-PG
"The British version of Gaslight (1940), also known in England as A Strange Case of Murder, preceded its American remake by four years. The original stars Anton Walbrook as the villainous husband in search of a fortune in rubies and Diana Wynyard as the unfortunate wife who is almost driven insane by his devious ways. When MGM bought the rights to remake this Victorian mystery-thriller with Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman in the leading roles, it ordered all copies of the British film destroyed. Because the original had won high critical praise, the studio hoped in this manner to avoid unfavorable comparisons to the lavishly produced remake. Indeed, many critics still feel that the British version is superior, portraying as it does the casual cruelty of the English class system. Luckily for film fans, the original somehow survived and may be enjoyed today."
(Source: Roger Fristoe on TCM Movie Database)
8:00 PM—The Letter (1940)
Cast: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Frieda Inescort
Director: William Wyler
BW-95 mins, TV-PG
"The Letter features one of the most talked-about opening shots in movie history. Setting the scene in one breathtaking shot, William Wyler carefully conveys the suspense of a tense tropical night that ends in murder."
(Source: Andrea Passafiume on TCM Movie Database)
Poster art here.
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Tuesday—April 14th
7:30 AM—Little Caesar (1930)
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Glenda Farrell, William Collier, Jr.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
BW-79 mins, TV-PG
"Can you name the notorious mobster that the title character is modeled on in Little Caesar (1930)? If your answer is Al Capone, you are correct. However, there are other real-life counterparts to the fictional characters in this quintessential gangster drama, the first of its kind in the early sound era to explore the lifestyles of underworld characters outside the prison wall. In a performance that became a prototype for all future movie gangster portrayals, Edward G. Robinson captured the essence of a ruthless killer like Capone with his portrayal of Cesare Enrico Bandello."
(Source: Jeff Stafford on TCM Movie Database)
Poster art here.
10:45 AM—Smart Blonde (1936)
Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Winifred Shaw, Addison Richards
Director: Frank McDonald
BW-59 mins, TV-G
(Note: A description of this film is here. Warning: SPOILERS.)
11:45 AM—The Adventurous Blonde (1937)
Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Anne Nagel, Tom Kennedy
Director: Frank McDonald
BW-61 mins, TV-PG
(Note: Read a description here. Beware of SPOILERS.)
1:00 PM—Blondes at Work (1938)
Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy, Rosella Towne
Director: Frank McDonald
BW-64 mins, TV-G
(Note: For a description go here. Watch out for SPOILERS.)
2:15 PM—Torchy Blane in Panama (1938)
Cast: Lola Lane, Paul Kelly, Tom Kennedy, Anthony Averill
Director: William Clemens
BW-59 mins, TV-G
(Note: Read an overvi
ew here. There may be SPOILERS)
3:15 PM—Torchy Gets Her Man (1938)
Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy, Willard Robertson
Director: William Beaudine
BW-63 mins, TV-G
(Note: A description is here. Caution: SPOILERS.)
4:30 PM—Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1938)
Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy, Henry O’Neill
Director: William Beaudine
BW-58 mins, TV-G
"Warner Bros.’ entire Torchy Blane series was ahead of its time in its depiction of a tough female reporter who regularly went nose-to-nose with the men in her life … Torchy Blane was born as Kennedy, a fast-talking male reporter in a series of pulp magazine stories by Frederick Nebel. For the screen, however, Kennedy underwent a name and gender change to become the ultimate in news hens. To raise the stakes as she set out to solve the mysteries the police can’t, the writers made her the fiancee of the police detective usually assigned to the case."
(Source: Frank Miller on TCM Movie Database)
5:30 PM—Torchy Runs for Mayor (1939)
Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy, John Miljan
Director: Ray McCarey
BW-60 mins, TV-G
(Note: An overview, with SPOILERS, is here.)
6:45 PM—Torchy Plays with Dynamite (1939)
Cast: Jane Wyman, Allen Jenkins, Tom Kennedy, Sheila Bromley
Director: Noel Smith
BW-59 mins, TV-G
(Note: A description of this film is here. Watch for SPOILERS.)
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Wednesday—April 15th
8:00 PM—Double Indemnity (1944)
Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall
Director: Billy Wilder
BW-108 mins, TV-PG
"Edward G. Robinson, best known as the megalomaniac gangster in Little Caesar (1930), was no stranger to playing characters on the wrong side of the law, but in Double Indemnity he plays the lethal lovers’ nemesis, Barton Keyes, a shrewd investigator who can smell a phony insurance claim a mile away. The film places the three leads in an unconventional love triangle – Neff lights Keyes’ smokes more often and more affectionately than he does Phyllis’ cigarettes, and he tells the other man ‘I love you’ at least as much. At the end, it’s Keyes who kneels by the fallen Neff, in what Bernard F. Dick, in his book Billy Wilder (Twayne, 1980), calls ‘one of the most powerful images of male love ever portrayed on the screen: a pieta in the form of a surrogate father’s lighting the cigarette of his dying son.’ It’s the most tender moment in an otherwise hard-as-steel story."
(Source: Rob Nixon on TCM Movie Database)
Poster art here.
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Thursday—April 16th
10:00 PM—The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Cast: James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
C-120 mins, TV-PG
"James Stewart was connected to the project from the beginning and, for the wife, Hitchcock wanted Doris Day as an important part of the plot involved the mother being a singer. Without giving away too much, a section of the story is based on an old legend concerning Richard The Lionheart. Captured on his return from the Crusades, Richard was discovered when his troubadour went outside the castles where Richard might be held and sang the first verse of Richard’s favorite song. When Richard joined in with the second verse, the troubadour knew he had found his king."
(Source: Brian Cady on TCM Movie Database)
Poster art here.
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Friday—April 17th
8:00 AM—Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson
Director: Billy Wilder
BW-110 mins, TV-PG
"Everyone remembers Sunset Blvd for its performances and its endlessly quotable dialogue (‘I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.’), but the film is best appreciated as a work of cinema in which all the elements are meticulously coordinated. Billy Wilder may not have the flamboyant visual style of, say, Alfred Hitchcock, but his direction is fluid and expressive, moving from shockingly direct imagery such as an underwater view of a corpse floating in a pool to more subtle effects such as using camera placement to draw the viewer’s attention to a pair of doors from which the locks have been removed after we learn of Norma Desmond’s history of suicide attempts."
(Source: Frank Miller & James Steffen on TCM Movie Database)
Poster art here.
8:00 PM—The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre
Director: John Huston
BW-101 mins, TV-PG
"Today, many film scholars refer to The Maltese Falcon as the first official film noir. To Huston’s credit, he did not change one line of dialogue, and he only dropped one short scene when he realized he could substitute a phone call instead. Bogart’s role in this film elevated him to cult status, and Ingrid Bergman studied him as Sam Spade to judge how to interact with him in Casablanca one year later."
(Source: Scott McGee & Sarah Heiman on TCM Movie Database)
10:00 PM—So Long at the Fair (1950)
Cast: Honor Blackman, Dirk Bogarde, Jean Simmons, Felix Aylmer
Director: Antony Darnborough
BW-86 mins
"Vicky Barton (Jean Simmons) and her brother Johnny (David Tomlinson) arrive in Paris to attend the Great Exhibition of 1889 and enjoy a night on the town before returning to separate rooms at their hotel. The following morning Vicky discovers her brother is missing. Not only is there no record of his registration at the front desk but his room doesn’t exist either. No one on the hotel staff recalls ever seeing him and in desperation Vicky goes to both the British consul and the local police chief but neither one believes her story. Determined to unravel the mystery of her brother’s disappearance, Vicky enlists the help of a sympathetic stranger, British artist George Hathaway (Dirk Bogarde), and their sleuthing efforts uncover the truth."
(Source: Jeff Stafford on TCM Movie Database)
Poster art here.
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Saturday—April 18th
10:30 AM—Union Station (1950)
Cast: William Holden, Nancy Olson, Barry Fitzgerald, Lyle Bettger
Director: Rudolph Mate
BW-81 mins, TV-PG
"[Director Rudolph] Mate gives Union Station a sense of propulsive movement in every scene that counts, keeping the action quickly paced and coherent – no small feat in a movie with so many momentary subplots and minor characters that it’s been likened to multiple-storyline dramas of the Grand Hotel (1932) variety. Its ancestry has also been traced to Jules Dassin’s classic The Naked City (1948), released two years earlier; its most famous descendant may be The French Connection of 1971 … Set in Chicago and shot in Los Angeles except for a few long-distance shots of a New York elevated railway, Union Station is based on Thomas Walsh’s novel Nightmare in Manhattan, which first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post under the title Manhattan Madness and went on to win the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best first mystery, bestowed by the Mystery Writers of America in 1950."
(Source: David Sterritt on TCM Movie Database)
Poster art here.
1:30 PM—Ice Station Zebra (1968)
Cast: Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan, Jim Brown
Director: John Sturges
C-152 mins, TV-PG
"The film kicks off with a special mission for a submarine captained by Rock Hudson. He’s sent to a British weather station at the North Pole in response to garbled and faint distress calls but Hudson barely suspects the real reason: A Soviet satellite with photos of numerous missile sites crashed to Earth somewhere in the station’s vicinity. Until the sub’s arrival, Hudson has his hands full with the bickering suspicions of a Soviet defector (Ernest Borgnine from The Wild Bunch, 1969), a U.S. officer (Jim Brown, former Cleveland Browns fullback) and a British intelligence agent (Patrick McGoohan of the cult classic The Prisoner). Their suspicions turn out to be accurate when somebody sabotages the submarine but even more surprises await them at the weather station."
(Source: Lang Thompson on TCM Movie Database)
Poster art here.
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Sunday—April 19th
4:45 AM—The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
Cast: Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Leslie Banks
Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack
BW-63 mins, TV-PG
"After one has stalked and hunted lions, tigers and bears, what can top that for danger and excitement? The answer lies in Richard Connell’s tale, ‘The Hounds of Zaroff.’ Written in 1924, it is one of the most famous American short stories of all time and has been the inspiration for numerous films and movie remakes. The best known version, however, is the first, released in 1932 under the story’s alternate title, The Most Dangerous Game. Produced by Merian C. Cooper and co-directed by his business partner Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel, it was made at RKO simultaneously alongside Cooper’s dream project, King Kong (1933), utilizing many of the same cast and crew and even some of the same sets."
(Source: Jeff Stafford on TCM Movie Database)
Poster art here.
6:00 AM—The Fuller Brush Girl (1950)
Cast: Lucille Ball, Eddie Albert, Carl Benton Reid, Gale Robbins
Director: Lloyd Bacon
BW-84 mins, TV-G
"Lucille Ball followed in the footsteps of frequent film and TV co-star Red Skelton when she starred as a daffy cosmetics saleswoman who stumbles on a murder in this follow-up to his 1948 hit The Fuller Brush Man."
(Source: Frank Miller on TCM Movie Database)
7:30 AM—The Young in Heart (1938)
Cast: Minnie Dupree, Paulette Goddard, Richard Carlson, Henry Stephenson
Director: Richard Wallace
BW-91 mins, TV-G
"In The Young in Heart, [Janet] Gaynor plays the daughter in a family of con artists, the Carletons, who meet a sweet old lady, Miss Ellen Fortune (Minnie Dupree), on a train. At loose ends after being driven out of Monte Carlo, the family learns that Miss Fortune is rich, and sets out to bilk her, moving into her London home. To allay her lawyer’s suspicion about their motives, the Carleton men go to work. The father (Roland Young) becomes a salesman for the ‘Flying Wombat,’ a futuristic car, and son Richard (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) gets a job as a mail clerk. But soon Miss Fortune’s goodness and generosity make them re-think their scheme."
(Source: Margarita Landazuri on TCM Movie Database)
8:00 PM—A Shot in the Dark (1964)
Cast: Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, George Sanders, Herbert Lom
Director: Blake Edwards
C-102 mins, TV-PG
"Facts, Hercule, facts! Nothing matters but the facts. Without them the science of criminal investigation is nothing more than a guessing game."
(Note: An overview, with SPOILERS, is here.)
Poster art here.
–Mike Gray