This Week on TCM spotlights a highly subjective selection of the week’s essential or undiscovered films on the Turner Classic Movies channel to help plan viewing or DVR scheduling. All times are EST.
Monday, November 14
6:30 a.m. Pandora’s Box
To quote the Criterion Collection: “One of the masters of early German cinema, G. W. Pabst had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo). And perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst’s lurid, controversial melodrama Pandora’s Box. Sensationally modern, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora’s Box is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks and a testament to Brooks’s dazzling individuality.”
1:15 p.m. You Can’t Run Away From It
A remake of It Happened One Night starring Jack Lemmon and June Allyson.
3:00 p.m. The Glass Key
Film noir with Alan Ladd as a gangster who falls for the head honcho’s girl (Veronica Lake).
8:00 p.m. The Blue Angel (1930)
***TCM PARTY***
A singer (Marlene Dietrich) enchants a professor (Emil Jannings) and heartbreak ensues. This film is representative of both Weimar Germany and the productive partnership between director Josef von Sternberg and his muse/star Dietrich. Watch and tweet along with #TCMParty.
Tuesday, November 15
10:00 a.m. The Story of Mankind
Humanity hangs in the balance as Satan takes on mankind’s soul. With Ronald Colman, Vincent Price, Groucho Marx, and #TCMParty fave Franklin Pangborn; directed by Irwin Allen (The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno).
8:00 p.m. AFI’s Master Class: The Art of Collaboration
Tonight’s episode of this new TCM original features inside info from director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams, who’ve been working together for almost 40 years, from Jaws (1974) to Munich (2005).
Wednesday, November 16
8:00 p.m. Nothing Sacred
***TCM PARTY***
In this classic screwball comedy, a journalist (Frederic March) convinces a small-town gal (Carole Lombard) to pretend that she is dying of a deadly disorder…how long can they keep up the act? Lombard wasn’t known as Queen of the Screwball Comedy for nothing. Watch and tweet along with #TCMParty.
12:45 a.m. (Tues.) I’m No Angel
There’s never been a more appropriate title for a movie. Mae West attempts to crash polite society and runs into Cary Grant (in his second picture with West).
Thursday, November 17
1:45 p.m. Rich and Strange (1932)
This was the great director’s third sound film and it is apparently a satire/rom-com.
1:15 a.m. (Fri.) Ship of Fools (1965)
In the early 1930s, a ship’s various passengers (Vivien Leigh, Simone Signoret, Jose Ferrer, Lee Marvin) cope with each other and the rise of Nazism.
Friday, November 18
8:00 p.m. Chase a Crooked Shadow
Today’s featured actor Richard Todd deceives an heiress (Anne Baxter) into thinking her dead brother is still alive.
2:00 a.m. (Sat.) Equinox (1970)
3:30 a.m. Curse of the Demon (1958)
Two demon-themed pictures. I’m not sure about Equinox but Curse of the Demon is a really interesting movie about a skeptical professor (Dana Andrews) investigating an avowed Satanist (Niall McGinnis). Directed by Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past, Cat People) and scripted by Charles Bennett (The 39 Steps, Foreign Correspondent).
Saturday, November 19
TCM is celebrating a bunch of 50th anniversaries tonight, beginning with Splendor in the Grass ***TCM PARTY*** at 8:00 p.m. and continuing with The Children’s Hour (10:15 p.m.); One, Two, Three (12:15 a.m. Sunday); The Misfits (2:15 a.m.); and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (4:30 a.m.).
Sunday, November 20
7:30 a.m. Fire Over England
I probably recommend this every time it’s on the schedule, but the acting of Lawrence Olivier, Vivien Leigh and Flora Robson, and the soapy reality-challenged plot never disappoint.
2:15 a.m. (Mon.) Stolen Kisses
I’ve never seen François Truffaut’s Oscar-nominated film about a struggling guy (the director’s frequent alter ego Jean-Pierre Léaud) who gets out of the army and can’t find a job. But Truffaut did direct The 400 Blows and The Last Metro, so I figure it’s worth setting the DVR for.
So TCM fans…did I miss any of your picks? What will you be watching this week?
Paula's Cinema Club 