What's On TCM June 15-21
15 Friday
5:00 PM It Happened One Night (1934)
A newspaperman tracks a runaway heiress on a madcap cross-country tour. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, Walter Connolly. Dir: Frank Capra. BW-105 mins, TV-PG, CC
Funny, sexy, romantic Capra classic.
8:00 PM Nancy Drew--Detective (1938)
A teen-aged sleuth investigates a wealthy woman's disappearance. Cast: Bonita Granville, John Litel, James Stephenson. Dir: William Clemens. BW-66 mins, TV-G, CC
9:15 PM Nancy Drew--Reporter (1939)
A teen-aged sleuth sets out to prove a young girl innocent of murder charges. Cast: Bonita Granville, John Litel, Frankie Thomas. Dir: William Clemens. BW-68 mins, TV-G
10:30 PM Nancy Drew, Trouble Shooter (1939)
A teen-aged sleuth tries to clear one of her father's friends of a murder charge. Cast: Bonita Granville, John Litel, Frankie Thomas. Dir: William Clemens. BW-68 mins, TV-G
11:45 PM Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase (1939)
A teen-aged sleuth helps two old ladies deal with the "haunting" of their mansion. Cast: Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, John Litel. Dir: William Clemens. BW-60 mins, TV-G, CC
The entire 1930's Nancy Drew series. Only the last one is based on one of the books, if that matters to you. Personally, I find the whole idea of teenaged girls taking the law into their own hands to be amusingly cool.
16 Saturday
2:00 AM Conqueror Worm, The (1968)
A corrupt witch hunter uses bogus accusations to satisfy his greed and lust. Cast: Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Hilary Dwyer. Dir: Michael Reeves. C-86 mins, TV-MA
Price's nastiest film, made in the UK, originally titled Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General. It is, in fact a biopic of an actual historical personage (some liberties were taken.) This is probably the slightly shorter AIP release version (hence the Poe title.)
6:00 PM How To Stuff A Wild Bikini (1965)
When he's stationed in Tahiti, a sailor hires a witch doctor to keep an eye on his girlfriend. Cast: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Brian Donlevy. Dir: William Asher. C-93 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
With Buster Keaton as Bwana the witch doctor, Dwayne "Dobie Gillis" Hickman, Brian "Professor Quatermass" Donlevy, and Irene Tsu as "Native Girl."
8:00 PM Harvey (1950)
A wealthy eccentric prefers the company of an invisible six-foot rabbit to his family. Cast: James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Cecil Kellaway. Dir: Henry Koster. BW-104 mins, TV-G, CC
Best giant invisible rabbit movie ever. Sorry, "Donnie Darko."
12:00 AM I Married A Witch (1942)
A 300-year-old witch wreaks havoc when she falls in love with a young politician. Cast: Fredric March, Veronica Lake, Susan Hayward. Dir: Rene Clair. BW-82 mins, TV-G
Veronica Lake as a sexy witch? Yeah, OK.
17 Sunday
12:00 AM Visages d'enfants (1925)
In this silent film, a young boy resents his widowed father's new wife. Cast: Jean Foret, Victor Vina, Arlette Peyran. Dir: Jacques Feyder. C-0 mins, TV-G
A French silent. I know nothing of this, but will record it anyway.
18 Monday
8:30 AM Tale Of Two Cities, A (1958)
Charles Dickens' classic tale of lookalikes in love with the same woman in the years after the French Revolution. Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, Christopher Lee. Dir: Ralph Thomas. BW-117 mins, TV-PG
12:00 PM Last of the Mohicans, The (1936)
A frontier scout rescues the daughters of a British colonial commander from renegades. Cast: Randolph Scott, Binnie Barnes, Henry Wilcoxin. Dir: George B. Seitz. BW-91 mins, TV-PG
The other, other version. I will be watching this for comparison's sake.
8:00 PM Uninvited, The (1944)
A brother and sister buy a house with a ghostly secret. Cast: Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp. Dir: Lewis Allen. BW-100 mins, TV-PG, CC
Serious horror was rare in the 1940's. This is a pretty good ghost tale.
10:00 PM Picture of Dorian Gray, The (1945)
A man remains young and handsome while his portrait shows the ravages of age and sin. Cast: Hurd Hatfield, Angela Lansbury, Donna Reed. Dir: Albert Lewin. BW-110 mins, TV-G, CC
Nifty film. Young Angela Lansbury was cute, too. I just wish she'd stop singing that song!!! With Geroge "Shere Khan" Sanders
19 Tuesday
12:00 AM Voodoo Island (1957)
A tycoon hires an investigator to prove that voodoo doesn't exist. Cast: Boris Karloff, Beverly Tyler, Elisha Cook, Jr. Dir: Reginald Le Borg. BW-76 mins, TV-PG
Cheesy '50's Karloff. Strange native rituals, carnivorous plants, unlikeable white folk disturbing the natives.
1:30 AM Haunting, The (1963)
A team of psychic investigators moves into a haunted house that destroys all who live there. Cast: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Russ Tamblyn. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-112 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
Another serious (and effective) ghost film. Subtle, character driven horror.
3:30 AM Seventh Victim, The (1943)
A girl's search for her missing sister puts her in conflict with a band of satanists. Cast: Kim Hunter, Tom Conway, Jean Brooks. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-71 mins, TV-G
One of producer Val "Cat People" Lewton's horror-noirs. This is much more on the noir side.
4:45 AM Leopard Man, The (1943)
When a leopard escapes during a publicity stunt, it triggers a series of murders. Cast: Dennis O'Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. BW-66 mins, TV-PG, CC
Another Lewton, this time by the director of Cat People. More of a gimmicky murder mystery.
9:30 PM While The City Sleeps (1956)
Reporters compete to catch a serial killer. Cast: Dana Andrews, Ida Lupino, Vincent Price. Dir: Fritz Lang. BW-100 mins, TV-PG, CC
The great Fritz Lang directs Vincent Price in a noir mystery? Sure, OK, I'll take one.
20 Wednesday
7:15 AM Don't Bet On Blondes (1935)
An actress's manager tries to keep her from leaving the stage for marriage. Cast: Warren William, Claire Dodd, Errol Flynn. Dir: Robert Florey. BW-59 mins, TV-G
8:15 AM Case of the Curious Bride, The (1935)
Perry Mason helps a young woman whose supposedly dead husband suddenly returns to life. Cast: Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Errol Flynn. Dir: Michael Curtiz. BW-80 mins, TV-G, CC
9:45 AM Another Dawn (1937)
An officer's wife at a British outpost in Africa falls for another man. Cast: Errol Flynn, Kay Francis, Ian Hunter. Dir: William Dieterle. BW-73 mins, TV-G, CC
11:00 AM Dive Bomber (1941)
A crusading scientist fights to prevent bomber pilots from blacking out. Cast: Errol Flynn, Fred MacMurray, Alexis Smith. Dir: Michael Curtiz. C-132 mins, TV-G, CC
1:15 PM Northern Pursuit (1943)
A Mountie tracks a downed Nazi flyer through the Canadian wilderness. Cast: Errol Flynn, Helmut Dantine, Julie Bishop. Dir: Raoul Walsh. BW-94 mins, TV-PG, CC
An Errol Flynn kinda day. The first two are strictly bit parts (I think he plays the murder victim in the Perry Mason flick. That's the first Perry Mason movie, btw, good fun tho not exactly faithful.) Re:Norther Pursuit... you don't see many Canadian Mountie movies these days, but it used to be it's own little genre.
21 Thursday
6:15 AM Fuzzy Pink Nightgown, The (1957)
A kidnapped movie star falls for one of her captors. Cast: Jane Russell, Ralph Meeker, Keenan Wynn. Dir: Norman Taurog. BW-87 mins, TV-PG
7:45 AM His Kind Of Woman (1951)
A deported gangster causes problems for guests at a Mexican resort. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent Price. Dir: John Farrow. BW-120 mins, TV-PG, CC
10:00 AM Outlaw, The (1943)
Billy the Kid and Doc Holliday fight over possession of a stallion and a sultry Mexican girl. Cast: Jack Beutel, Jane Russell, Walter Huston. Dir: Howard Hughes. BW-116 mins, TV-PG, CC
A Jane Russel kinda day. Jane Russel in The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown? Sounds like something to see. His Kind of Woman is a fun pseudo-noir (not nearly enough doom to be an actual noir) with a wonderful and hilarious Vincent Price performance. The Outlaw is out-and-out cheese, further evidence of the decline of Howard Hughes, but in a fun way.
10:00 PM My Favorite Wife (1940)
A shipwrecked woman is rescued just in time for her husband's re-marriage. Cast: Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott. Dir: Garson Kanin. BW-88 mins, TV-G, CC
This is the sort of crap they had to pull because the Production Code wouldn't let them do movies about divorce. Though, on reflection, this sounds a lot more fun than Kramer Vs Kramer.