The June 2013 TCM Schedule

[knitwit45]

I recorded most of the Eleanor Parker films last night. Looking forward to seeing Between Two Worlds after reading comments here. Good cast, but the plot description just never sounded like something that I would like. Hoping to be proved wrong.

Sandy K

Betcha you will like it!!!!

[moira finnie]

The world belongs to Jean-Paul Belmondo tonight on TCM and we can be admiring bystanders as the network rolls out a triple feature with the French icon of the '60s.

He wasn't as glorious looking as Delon, or as comfy in quite so many genres, but Belmondo has a certain battered charm in evidence in The Essentials' airing of Godard's Breathless (1960) with Jean Seberg & Belmondo as rather stylish but hardly desperate fugitives cutting a swath through Paris. Later in the evening (at 12am EDT) the moving De Sica film about WWII, Two Women (1960), centering on Sophia Loren in remarkable form will also be screened, giving Belmondo an unusual chance to play a contemplative intellectual whose withdrawal from the forces tearing Italy apart withers in the face of Sophia's earthy beauty and character. Best of all, TCM will be broadcasting one of the most enjoyable of Louis Malle's films, the all too rarely seen The Thief of Paris (1967) at 9:45pm EDT. Originally titled Le Voleur, the politically and socially subversive story features beautiful costumes and a recreated world, set during La Belle Époque. It is an enjoyable romp, a love story and a pointed caper film with a sparkling young Genevieve Bujold showing her talent and beauty opposite the well cast Belmondo (the pair can be seen below in costume for this movie). More can be seen about the actor and these films here.

FYI: Catherine Deneuve & Jean-Paul Belmondo's collaboration with Francois Truffaut in Mississippi Mermaid (1969), which is based on the novel by Cornell Woolrich [writing as William Irish] "Waltz into Darkness," is scheduled to be shown on TCM on Friday, July 12th at 12am EDT.

[moira finnie]

If you would like to see Eleanor Parker at the height of her beauty and talent, tonight's lineup for TCM's Star of the Month (the 6-11-13 schedule shown below) is exceptional viewing. How and why she never won an Academy Award is a mystery--except that the actress seemed more interested in her work than her image.

For her power as an actress, nothing touches her work in John Cromwell's Caged (analyzed so well by Alan K. Rode here: http://filmnoirfoundation.com/Caged.pdf). Parker's nuanced, down-to-earth portrayal opposite John Garfield in Delmer Daves' powerful Pride of the Marines is heartbreaking and very moving. Most interestingly, Parker's portrayal of the slatternly Mildred in Edmund Goulding's adaptation of Of Human Bondage seems to me to outdo the much more famed film with Bette Davis going over the top in the lead. With EP in the part, the enthrallment of Paul Henreid's character seems much more psychologically believable.

The glory of Parker's breathtaking loveliness is beautifully showcased in her two appearances opposite Errol Flynn in the spritely comedy about divorce, Never Say Goodbye (1946) and the turn of the century atmosphere and costumes of Escape Me Never (1947) suit Eleanor's insecure, rather shallow character very well. In Never Say Goodbye, the Leah Rhodes costumes, Perc Westmore's costumes and Arthur Edeson's cinematography are exquisitely suited to the regal quality in Eleanor Parker's comportment. (Of course, Ms. Parker had some fierce competition in this movie in the form of Patti Brady as her daughter, whose rapport with Flynn on screen is delightful).

[All Times Shown are EDT]

8:00 PM
CAGED (1950)
A young innocent fights to survive the harsh life in a women's prison.
Dir: John Cromwell Cast: Eleanor Parker , Agnes Moorehead , Ellen Corby .
BW-97 mins, TV-PG, CC,

9:45 PM
CHAIN LIGHTNING (1950)
A reckless jet pilot goes to work for a demanding aviation tycoon.
Dir: Stuart Heisler Cast: Humphrey Bogart , Eleanor Parker , Raymond Massey .
BW-95 mins, TV-PG, CC,

11:30 PM
OF HUMAN BONDAGE (1946)
A medical student risks his future when he falls for a low-class waitress.
Dir: Edmund Goulding Cast: Paul Henreid , Eleanor Parker , Alexis Smith .
BW-106 mins, TV-PG, CC,

1:30 AM
NEVER SAY GOODBYE (1946)
A husband tries to win back his wife before she can divorce him.
Dir: James V. Kern Cast: Errol Flynn , Eleanor Parker , Lucile Watson .
BW-94 mins, TV-PG, CC,

3:15 AM
PRIDE OF THE MARINES (1945)
A blinded Marine tries to adjust to civilian life.
Dir: Delmer Daves Cast: John Garfield , Eleanor Parker , Dane Clark .
BW-120 mins, TV-G, CC,

5:30 AM
ESCAPE ME NEVER (1947)
A composer forsakes his innocent bride to romance his brother's fiancee.
Dir: Peter Godfrey Cast: Errol Flynn , Ida Lupino , Eleanor Parker .
BW-104 mins, TV-G, CC,

7:30 AM
ONE FOR THE BOOK (1948)
A lovelorn actress shares her apartment with a lonely soldier.
Dir: Irving Rapper Cast: Ronald Reagan , Eleanor Parker , Eve Arden .
BW-103 mins, TV-G, CC,

9:30 AM
WOMAN IN WHITE, THE (1948)
Classic mystery about the adventures of a young tutor sent to a ghostly country estate.
Dir: Peter Godfrey Cast: Alexis Smith , Eleanor Parker , Sydney Greenstreet .
BW-109 mins, TV-G, CC,

[CineMaven]

Eleanor Parker played the hell out of the role of Mildred in 0f Human Bondage." I could not believe what a venous witch she was in this. She sunk her teeth into it and fearlessly and totally immersed herself in the greed and muck and mire and hateful self-hatred in every word and deed.

WoW!

[JackFavell]

Once again, I missed her Mildred, dang it! But I did really enjoy Escape Me Never. Flynn was the surprise for me here. I also re-watched The Woman in White and although it is just a bit long, I enjoyed every minute of it. Eleanor Parker and Alexis Smith are just great in it, with Eleanor especially good taking on two roles. IS this the only film where Alexis Smith gets to actually act? Sydney Greenstreet is as vile here as I've ever seen him, he's scary! Aggie is twisted and fascinating as the long suffering mother and wife, who by turns is crazy and warmhearted. John Abbott deserves a mention too, he's oddly flamboyant as the weak willed scion of the family but it works wonderfully. Good acting all around.

kingrat, I totally agree with you about Outward Bound and Between Two Worlds. I still like the earlier film, but the second one is one of my favorites.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I so enjoy seeing all of these Eleanor Parker films and hope that after this Star of the Month stint that her films continue to bring more acceptance of her varied talents. I especially enjoyed Caged as I had not seen it before.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Christy,

Well now that you've seen an example of 'the new look' as exhibited & paraded by Hope Emerson in "Caged", you have an idea of next years TCM Film Festival 'haute couture' that can be worn by the ladies!!!!! Ha, ha, ha....

I'm BAD!!! Well, naughty aren't I?

Larry

[JackFavell]

Ha! Larry you are too much!

Any thoughts on Caged, Christy?

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Oh, Larry! How can we not love a rascal like you!

Jacks, I do have some thoughts on Caged: First of all, I had never been so delighted by Ellen Corby on screen before except as her role in It's A Wonderful Life as the gal who asks only for $17.50, and cheers George Bailey to no end after the mob scene at the Bailey Building and Loan. She was so interesting to watch in Caged as Miss Barber, and I couldn't keep my eyes off her and her offbeat performance. I loved when they showed the contents of her purse which is always such a telling moment in the life of any female. It kind of reminded me of a story I read the other day on the internet about a British journalist who is chronicling the possessions of patients committed to an insane asylum from the 1900s-1920s. It reminded me that she is the sum of her purse's possessions, and that those contents are the only documentation of what kind of life she had before she arrived at the prison.

Hope Emerson was so devilish as the prison matron taunting all the gals before she drifted off to her date in town. Shame on her. Larry, is this the height of "haute couture" we wish to emulate for the TCMFF 2014? I'll look just like my grandmother because that's how she "turned out" when she would go "strolloping," her word for walking around like a trollop.

And I saw on the IMDB, the preferred database of SSO fanatics, that Sheila MacRae was also in this, but I must have missed her.

Agnes Moorehead also was compassionate and pragmatic as a woman trying to spread a tablespoon of peanut butter on a whole loaf of French bread. Did they ever clean that nasty clinic up?

The performance that knocked me out, though, was Eleanor Parker's. I just felt everything she felt, and the fear of having a baby in a place like a prison is immense, so I was completely swept away by her nuanced and poignant performance here.

My biggest problem with this film? After waiting years to finally see it, I fell asleep the last 20 minutes as I had to get up early for work the next day. Can I ask for the last 20 minute spoilers? Anyone?

[JackFavell]

Sue Sue, What was the last part you remember seeing?

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Eleanor Parker, as Marie Allen, was standing in front of a brick wall and she had just grown a backbone, and it was after the baby was born, and her mother came to visit and she couldn't bring the baby to show her mother.

[JackFavell]

Gosh, so much happened after that! I almost hate to tell you! I'll PM the rest so as not to spoil it for anyone else. It's such a shocker.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Christy,

Sheila MacRae was Agnes Moorehead's secretary or assistant... She has a line at the end (I won't spoil it for you) but only really walks in & out looking efficient in the rest of the picture.

MacRae and Moorehead remained good friends after this film; and Agnes often had them (Gordon) as guests at her home over the years. Sheila was a very beautiful woman with porcelain skin and lovely hands. Gordon wasn't bad either!!

Actually, Hope Emerson was a lovely person also - a great big beautiful doll... I've told on here about attending the "Copper Canyon" premier and she & I going to the back row and holding hands and eating our Smarties together.

Larry