Coming Up on TCM

[JackFavell]

I love Pandora and the Flying Dutchman. I can watch it over and over. Not only does Ava look supernaturally beautiful in it, but it has one of the two songs written by Dorothy Parker featured in it.

[CineMaven]

When that man tosses his car over the cliff in "PANDORA...", WHEW! This is the devastation the want of a beautiful woman can cause. What destructive power. I envy that, I'm ashamed to say.

Alright...not so ashamed.

[JackFavell]

Personally, I don't care so much about inspiring a man through my beauty, but I do wish I could just not care - like Ava at the beginning of the film. I'd like to be the type of woman who does what she wants without a thought about what other people think of me.

[CineMaven]

Oh yeah. Me too. Didn't I say that?

Uhhmm...nah, I didn't. Color me, well...how do you say "Shallow" in Boyerspeak?

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I consider myself very lucky to have seen that wonderful Jack Cardiff photography in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
at the first TCM Film Festival in 2010. Angela Allen, script girl on the set, discussed the shoot, and a little about how Cardiff worked, how lively the film set and location was ( a little fishing village on the coast of Tossa del Mar in Spain)
and how she was Ava's stand-in for the swim to the boat where James Mason awaited her.

Kingrat and I got to watch it together! It was a strikingly spellbinding vision on the big screen. I felt so tickled at having been able to see it in proper ratio and also hear Ms. Allen wax nostalgic.

Ava never looked lovelier.

[JackFavell]

You were lucky. and color me Jack Cardiff bright green envious.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

But I was such a naughty party-girl, I couldn't keep my eyes open for the last 30 minutes, and it was one of the late evening offerings! I had been running 90-to-nothing that day!

[JackFavell]

D'oh! That's what happens to Broadway.....no wait, make that.... Hollywood jazz babies who stay out too late!

[Mr. Arkadin]

A killer Sunday in more ways than one:

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)

A mad doctor tries to mix human and gorilla blood with deadly results.
Dir: Robert Florey Cast: Sidney Fox , Bela Lugosi , Leon Waycoff .

The Black Cat (1934)

A Satanist faces off with the vengeful man whose wife and daughter he has stolen.
Dir: Edgar G. Ulmer Cast: Karloff , Bela Lugosi , David Manners .

Island of Lost Souls (1933)

On a remote island, a mad scientist turns wild animals into human monsters.
Dir: Erle C. Kenton Cast: Charles Laughton , Richard Arlen , Leila Hyams

Haxan (1922)

Scenes trace the history of witchcraft from the middle ages to the early 20th century.
Dir: Benjamin Christensen Cast: Benjamin Christensen


And if you need some light at the end of that dark tunnel:

Nights of Cabiria (1957)

A streetwalker dreams of a better life.

[JackFavell]

A fantastic lineup, Arkadin! Thanks for reminding me, I sometimes don't check the schedule on weekends.

[Mr. Arkadin]

This will be the first time TCM has shown Island of Souls and it has only recently been released to DVD. One of the best Precodes you will ever see with interesting moral and social aspects.

[JackFavell]

I remember the movie clearly from watching when I was a kid, which tells you it must be pretty memorable. There's no other movie like it.

[moira finnie]

I've never seen Island of Lost Souls in its entirety, so I'll be recording that one, thanks to your heads up, Ark. If Charles Laughton were changed from an animal to a man, what could he have been before? A large tabby cat? A ravening boar? Or a sweet-faced bull dog? In any case, thanks again.

Fasten your seat belts and get ready for a highly mobile camera examining the feelings beneath the shimmering surfaces of life in tonight's schedule. There's a heckuva Max Ophuls lineup on TCM Monday night (Jan. 23rd) starting at 8pm ET. I can't wait to see The Exile with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. reportedly playing a very dashing Charles II holed up in The Netherlands after Cromwell and his Roundheads came to power. Appealing to Fairbanks as what he believed was his best chance to make a kind of last homage to his father (the son used the sword his father had parried with in The Iron Mask), he and Ophuls were immediately sympathetic allies--though reportedly the drop in film attendance that occurred while the movie was still in production made things tougher. For me, it will just be a chance to see a reputedly good movie, (and it will be interesting to see someone make Charles II an appealing figure).

For Charles Boyer fans, The Earrings of Madame De... allows us to see how good an actor he was in his native tongue--even making an unsympathetic character intriguingly obtuse yet vulnerable, even though he seemed to hold all the cards in this tale of love as a catalyst toward self-destruction. Boyer's husband, while himself a bit of a hypocrite, becomes more worried about the fragility of his marriage and social position than he can entirely admit to himself or his wife. Excellent work from Danielle Darrieux and particularly Vittorio De Sica too.

8:00 PM
Reckless Moment, The (1949)
A mother attempts to protect her murderous daughter.
Dir: Max Opuls Cast: James Mason , Joan Bennett , Geraldine Brooks .
BW-82 mins, TV-PG,

9:30 PM
Caught (1949)
A woman's dream marriage to a multi-millionaire turns into a nightmare when she discovers he's insane.
Dir: Max Opuls Cast: James Mason , Barbara Bel Geddes , Robert Ryan .
BW-88 mins, TV-14,

11:15 PM
Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948)
A woman's lifelong love for a callous concert pianist leads to tragedy.
Dir: Max Opuls Cast: Joan Fontaine , Louis Jourdan , Mady Christians .
BW-87 mins, TV-14, CC,

1:00 AM
Exile, The (1947)
A deposed king fights for his life while hiding out at a farm.
Dir: Max Opuls Cast: Maria Montez , Paule Croset , Henry Daniell .
BW-95 mins, TV-PG,

2:45 AM
La ronde (1950)
A series of inter-related affairs link lovers from all levels of society.
Dir: Max Ophuls Cast: Danielle Darrieux , Simone Signoret , Fernand Gravey .
BW-93 mins, TV-14,

4:30 AM
Earrings of Madame De..., The (1954)
When a woman sells her earrings to pay a gambling debt, it leads to a string of betrayals.
Dir: Max Ophuls Cast: Charles Boyer , Danielle Darrieux , Vittorio De Sica .
BW-100 mins, TV-PG,

[charliechaplinfan]

That's a wonderful line up, the only film I didn't fully appreciate was The Exile, maybe I need to see it again, that's not saying it wasn't good but all the others are superb.