February begins TCM’s Oscar tribute, running all month and three days of March. This doesn’t tend to be my favorite month since the schedule usually sticks to more well-known fare but the programmers do seem conscious of this enough to also include things like Moonrise this week. I haven’t decided whether to post every week while the Oscar movies are running because finding the things I like to highlight can be more difficult when the scheduled is crowded with awards favorites. If not, I’ll pick back up in March. As always, all times are EST and program days begin at 6:00 AM.

Sunday January 31

12:00 AM Torrent (Bell, 1926) - BW-88 mins. - This was Greta Garbo’s first American film. The Swedish icon played a Spanish girl who moves to Paris to be an opera singer. Co-star Ricardo Cortez (whose real name was actually Jacob Krantz) may have approached Garbo coolly since this was her first picture at MGM and she replaced his wife, the actress Alma Rubens, who became ill. Garbo too must have been uncomfortable both as a newcomer to the country and the language and because Mauritz Stiller, the director who’d groomed her in Sweden and came with her to Hollywood, didn’t end up helming Torrent. At the very least, the film is a major curiosity piece and one rarely seen since there isn’t a DVD available. (Warner Bros. has otherwise been relegating some of the Garbo silents as Warner Archive titles.)

Monday February 1

6:00 AM Only When I Laugh (Jordan, 1981) - C-120 mins. - What I tend to find most interesting about TCM’s annual 31 Days of Oscar promotion, kicking off today, is the inclusion of a film like this. Three Academy Award nominations, all for acting (Marsha Mason, Joan Hackett, James Coco), but no DVD and little reputation today. It’s a movie I’d heard of almost solely due to coming across it every time I look at past Oscar nominations. Neil Simon adapted his play for the screen. The story has Mason playing an alcoholic Broadway actress trying to raise her daughter (Kristy McNichol) after a stint in rehab. Columbia did the picture, leaving it in Sony’s hands now.

10:30 AM 55 Days at Peking (Ray, 1963) - C-162 mins. - It’s really nice to see TCM showing this since it’s not on DVD in the U.S. and I’ve never tried to watch it. The film was basically Nicholas Ray’s last feature, not counting We Can’t Go Home Again, though Ray suffered a heart attack after removing himself from the picture and replacement directors were brought in. This isn’t my kind of movie, and I find it a little weird to think of Ray directing epics like this and King of Kings after that famously disparaging line spoken by the character Mildred Atkinson in In a Lonely Place. Having Ray direct Charlton Heston, who stars here alongside Ava Gardner and David Niven, also seems out of whack. Since the Weinstein Company released the Samuel Bronston productions El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire, I believe this is also part of that same deal except 55 Days at Peking’s potentially lavish DVD release was probably a victim of unmet sales expectations on the other two.

Tuesday February 2

1:30 PM Test Pilot (Fleming, 1938) - BW-119 mins. - Film Forum in Manhattan is having a Victor Fleming retrospective in March that includes this film and A Guy Named Joe in a double bill. I mention that because I’d considered going but those two pictures are somewhat lengthy for back to back watchings. Now with TCM showing Test Pilot, starring Clark Gable as the title aviator and with Spencer Tracy and Myrna Loy as, respectively, his best friend and wife, I’m leaning in the direction of just seeing the film on television. TCM does air it from time to time, and I’ve mentioned the fact that it was a Best Picture nominee in another post. The studio was MGM, leaving Warner Bros. with the rights but no DVD.

6:45 PM One Way Passage (Garnett, 1932) - BW-68 mins. - William Powell stars with Kay Francis in this romantic drama about an unlikely (and ill-fated) love affair aboard an ocean liner. She’s terminally ill while he’s a criminal condemned to death, though neither knows each other’s secret. The story won an Oscar and the film’s IMDb rating is a robust 8.3. This is also with Warner Bros. and not available on DVD.

Wednesday February 3

10:00 PM Moonrise (Borzage, 1948) - BW-90 mins. - Here’s this week’s winner on the schedule as far as I’m concerned. After being mostly unacquainted with the films of Frank Borzage for too long, I’ve immersed myself in his work this year in preparation for reviewing the BFI’s two semi-recent releases. (My Volume One review is up while Volume Two is on the way soon.) Moonrise is widely considered Borzage’s final great picture and it’s not on DVD (in R1 definitely and, I think, anywhere). The plot, leading to the picture often being qualified as a noir, involves the son (Dane Clark) of a man on death row who’s consumed by guilt. The film came out in theaters via Republic and that company also did the VHS. The Republic library has largely been in the hands of Lionsgate the last few years but I believe Paramount actually owns it. If Lionsgate’s license expires then a company like Criterion could possibly find a way to release Moonrise (and Johnny Guitar while they’re at it).

Thursday February 4

5:45 PM Flight Command (Borzage, 1940) - BW-116 mins. - Since we’re on the topic of Frank Borzage, why not also mention TCM’s showing of this Robert Taylor picture. The actor here plays a young Navy recruit trying to hang with an elite squad of fliers. Ruth Hussey, Walter Pidgeon, Paul Kelly, and, uh, Red Skelton fill out the cast. MGM was the distributor and Warner Bros. hasn’t touched the movie for a DVD release. Judging by the massive unloading of Robert Taylor movies into the Warner Archive, there’s no way this film will conceivably ever find a wide release on any format in the future. I think that realization may be passing some by with the Warner Archive, that most of the films going that route or likely to go that route will simply never be released regardless of the format. You can take that with a smile knowing that at least questionably reliable DVD-R copies are being made way above the going rate people are accustomed to or you can be a bit depressed about the whole thing due to how big of a step down it is from what we had going on across the last decade.

8:00 PM The Uninvited (Allen, 1944) - BW-99 mins. - Fairly popular, fairly enduring even, horror film starring Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey about a haunted house. The two leads are a brother and sister who try to make an abandoned English home their own but soon realize something’s already there. Martin Scorsese recently put the film on a list of the scariest movies of all time and I’ve frequently read people wondering why in the world Universal hasn’t released a DVD yet. I know there was a VHS release because I watched it years ago. At some point, I’d think a DVD will happen but who knows when.

10:00 PM Kitty (Leisen, 1946) - BW-103 mins. - Ray Milland again, this time as a financially strapped British lord who mistakenly thinks Paulette Goddard is something other than a street urchin and then gets the bright idea to pass her off to a rich husband in the hope of pocketing some money of his own. Director Mitchell Leisen is someone whose filmmaking skills are beloved by a vocal few but garner little respect from me. Still, he often had great material at Paramount and that studio’s movies of the forties sometimes have a pleasing sparkle about them that I can’t resist at least watching, if not wholly enjoying. Universal could throw a curveball and release this on DVD at some point but it’s not currently available on DVD.

Friday February 5

6:15 AM Address Unknown (Menzies, 1944) - BW-72 mins. - This sounds interesting. A German art dealer (Paul Lukas) based in America visits his native country and finds himself sympathetic to Nazi propaganda. William Cameron Menzies directed. It’s always fascinating to watch anti-Nazi films that were done during the war. Columbia put this out. It’s not on DVD.

Some of most everything this week. Edward G. Robinson as a Chinese hitman. Van Johnson as a vengeful police detective. Walter Huston as a U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union who finds the virtues of the country. And plenty more of interesting films and characters. Also worth noting, on Fox Movie Channel this Monday the 18th at 6:00 AM, is Raoul Walsh’s 1932 comedy Me and My Gal starring Spencer Tracy and the lovely Joan Bennett. As always all times are EST and program days begin at 6:00 AM.

Saturday January 16

2:00 AM Scene of the Crime (Rowland, 1949) - BW-94 mins. - If you can handle Van Johnson as a tough cop, here’s a noirish tale about a homicide detective trying to solve the murder of a colleague. Arlene Dahl plays Johnson’s wife and Gloria DeHaven is the less virtuous female. Leon Ames and John McIntire are among the supporting cast. Scene of the Crime was done for MGM and should be with Warner Bros. now. It’s not on DVD.

Sunday January 17

12:00 PM God’s Little Acre (Mann, 1958) - BW-118 mins. - This doesn’t seem like typical Anthony Mann material and the film has probably maintained a certain level of popularity through the years that has nothing to do with its director. Robert Ryan stars as a Georgia widower who believes there’s buried treasure on his land and won’t give up looking until he’s found it. The cast full of recognizable faces and names includes Aldo Ray, Buddy Hackett, Tina Louise, Jack Lord, Vic Morrow, and Michael Landon. Elmer Bernstein did the music and Ernest Haller the cinematography. Multiple R1 DVD editions of the movie have been released but it looks like none are currently in print. The rights seem to be in the public domain. United Artists was the original distributor.

12:00 AM The Conquering Power (Ingram, 1921) - BW-89 mins. - Silent Sunday this week brings us a Rudolph Valentino drama directed by Rex Ingram. Valentino is, get this, a playboy. His father loses the family fortune so Valentino gets sent to live with the dastardly uncle, whose stepdaughter (Alice Terry) catches Valentino’s eye. The uncle disapproves. The film isn’t on DVD, in R1 at least, and it also looks like a public domain title. A much shorter Valentino effort, Stolen Moments, follows at 1:30 AM.

Monday January 18

10:30 AM Bright Road (Mayer, 1953) - BW-68 mins. - TCM celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as it usually does, with a few rarely shown films starring black actors. Today’s lineup includes the 1942 movie Go Down, Death, directed by Spencer Williams, who also co-stars. There’s also Bright Road, which stars Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte (in his film debut) and was directed by Louis B. Mayer’s nephew. The plot has Dandridge as a school teacher with a problem student she nonetheless believes in and wants to help. Belafonte plays the school principal. Dandridge would make Carmen Jones the following year. MGM released this. It’s likely to be with Warner Bros., though a DVD hasn’t emerged.

8:00 PM A Hatful of Rain (Zinnemann, 1957) - BW-108 mins. - This film has shown up often on the Fox Movie Channel but rarely if ever on TCM. Anthony Franciosa earned an Oscar nomination for his role as the brother of a Korean War veteran  addicted to morphine, played by Don Murray. Eva Marie Saint is Murray’s wife and Lloyd Nolan plays the brothers’ father.  The source play and screenplay were written by Michael V. Gazzo, who got an acting nod a few years later for The Godfather Part II. A Hatful of Rain is a Fox title and considering the rate that studio has been releasing its classics on DVD over the last year I don’t see a DVD in R1 happening.

4:15 AM The Goddess (Cromwell, 1958) - BW-105 mins. - Here’s one I wasn’t familiar with that really caught my eye. Kim Stanley made her film debut as a character apparently (and loosely) based on Marilyn Monroe, who had played the role in Bus Stop which Stanley earlier performed to great acclaim on Broadway. The lead character here is first played by Patty Duke before Stanley takes over. Lloyd Bridges is the boxer who becomes her second marriage. The film was written by Paddy Chayefsky. I wonder if he considered what Monroe, a fragile soul by all accounts and even portrayed that way it seems in this film, thought about having an unauthorized version of her life played out for everyone to see. Columbia did the picture. It’s not on DVD.

Tuesday January 19

9:30 AM Jeanne Eagels (Sidney, 1957) - BW-109 mins. - Speaking of the tragic lives of actresses, the silent star Jeanne Eagels was played by Kim Novak in this biopic also starring Jeff Chandler and Agnes Moorehead. Eagels’ best known film is probably The Letter (later remade with Bette Davis in the lead). Before that movie could open she descended into a pit of drugs and alcohol. Her untimely death in 1929 is referenced in Sam Fuller’s autobiography when he talks about getting a tip during his newspaper days of a young woman being brought into an exclusive Manhattan funeral home. Fuller described her as the most beautiful corpse he’d ever seen, recognizing the actress right away. Nearly thirty years later someone at Columbia had the great idea of doing a film about her. Hollywood cannibalizes itself without shame. It’s not on DVD.

Wednesday January 20

10:00 PM Mission to Moscow (Curtiz, 1943) - BW-123 mins. - The Russian focus continues on TCM. This Michael Curtiz picture is available in the burn-on-demand Warner Archive service but I don’t quite consider that to be an actual DVD release so it’s no impediment to a mention here. The story the film is based on is fascinating, especially in the context of the Cold War that followed. Walter Huston plays a real-life U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, whose book this film is based on. He discovers that Russia really is a great land after all, fit to be an ally to the U.S. in WWII. Roosevelt was instrumental in getting the picture made as a way to drum up American support for the Russians during the war. Heavy propaganda for sure but, as I said, fascinating.

12:15 AM The Kremlin Letter (Huston, 1970) - C-120 mins. - I’m almost sure that Fox announced this for a DVD release a few years ago but it never happened for some reason. Even though the film doesn’t have the best of reputations, fans of Bibi Andersson will surely be interested in seeing her second English language role (after Duel at Diablo). The rest of the cast is filled with noteworthy actors like Richard Boone, Dean Jagger, Lila Kedrova, Orson Welles, George Sanders and even Max von Sydow. The plot involves the letter of the title, which CIA agents fear will fall into the wrong hands and cause major trouble for international relations. Anything with John Huston’s name on it generally gets my attention.

Thursday January 21

9:00 AM The Hatchet Man (Wellman, 1932) - BW-74 mins. - Edward G. Robinson plays a San Francisco-based Chinese hitman who takes care of the daughter of his best friend after he’s killed him. Loretta Young, also supposedly Chinese, is the daughter. Insane, right? You expect to see J. Carrol Naish (who’s also in the cast!) playing characters of every ethnicity but having Robinson and, especially, Young as Chinese people blows the mind. Warner Bros. controls the film now and hasn’t yet put it in the Archive, which realistically is where it’ll probably end up.

Actually a stronger than usual week I think. The January schedule is especially good for some diversity from what’s been shown over the last couple of years on the channel. The two Jerzy Skolimowski films that air as part of TCM Underground on Friday might not appeal to everyone but I couldn’t be more anxious to see them. As always, all times are EST and program days begin at 6:00 AM.

Saturday January 9

8:00 AM Brighton Rock (Boulting, 1947) - BW-92 mins. - Richard Attenborough does psychotic well as the young gangster Pinkie Brown in this adaptation of a Graham Greene book. It’s still nowhere to be found on R1 DVD, though I saw Rialto’s print and wrote about the film last year. A remake is forthcoming with Sam Riley (Control) and Carey Mulligan (An Education). Maybe the R1 DVD will be released as a tie-in to that. Optimum already has a disc available in the UK.

Sunday January 10

8:30 AM It’s a Wonderful World (Van Dyke, 1939) - BW-86 mins. - Similar in name to a much better known James Stewart film, this earlier picture is otherwise unrelated to the Capra classic. Think screwball comedy, with Stewart as a private detective on the run because of a murder his client is accused of committing and Claudette Colbert trying to help him out of the jam. She’s a poetess, which doesn’t even seem like it should be a word much less a profession. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke and made for MGM, the film isn’t on DVD. TCM has not shown it for a very long time but the channel also has the picture scheduled for April 9th.

2:15 AM Boudu Saved from Drowning (Renoir, 1932) - BW-85 mins. - I very rarely discuss Jean Renoir, and there are several of his films I still need to see, but he’s nonetheless one of my favorite filmmakers and this comedy is probably the least recognized of his masterpiece-level pictures (despite having an excellent R1 DVD from the Criterion Collection). Michel Simon plays a homeless man who’s more than a little rough around the edges socially. He jumps into the Seine in Paris but is rescued by a well-to-do bookseller (Charles Grandval). The bookseller then takes Boudu in like he’s a helpless dog and, basically, Boudu acts in kind.

Tuesday January 12

6:00 AM Party Girl (Ray, 1958) - C-99 mins. - A very convincing love story, involving adults who’ve been around the block once or twice already, grounds this strange yet exhilarating gangster musical mutt of a film. It is, more than anything else, a Nicholas Ray picture. Robert Taylor plays the crippled mob lawyer for Lee J. Cobb and his band of cronies while Cyd Charisse is the dancer with whom he finds love. Of all of Ray’s films, this is the closest relative to In a Lonely Place, though it’s neither as focused nor as emotionally resonant. Still a pretty great one. There’s a French R2 release of Party Girl and Warner Bros. idiotically reduced it to burn-on-demand DVD-R status in the U.S. You can find my review of the film and that disc here.

12:30 AM Big City (Borzage, 1937) - BW-80 mins. - Today is Luise Rainer’s 100th birthday. The back-to-back Oscar winner is still around, though I’m not sure how her health is these days. Back in 1998 she was on stage at the Academy Awards as part of a tribute to past winners and I was amazed then to see her when it had already been 60 years since The Great Ziegfeld and The Good Earth. To honor the actress, I can’t think of anything more fitting than TCM airing a night of her films, including the latter as well as The Emperor’s Candlesticks (2:00 AM) and The Toy Wife (3:45 AM). She didn’t have a very long career but it certainly was notable. Big City was directed by Frank Borzage and co-stars Spencer Tracy. I mentioned it last year on this same day when TCM showed the film. Tracy plays a cab driver struggling to support himself and wife Rainer amid a taxi strike. Trouble follows when she’s accused of bombing a garage. It’s still not on DVD, having been made for MGM and likely controlled now by Warner Bros.

Wednesday January 13

3:30 AM The Strawberry Statement (Hagmann, 1970) - C-106 mins. - So TCM has this “Shadows of Russia” theme going on throughout January. Last week The Scarlet Empress (using a better print than Criterion was sidled with on its DVD release) was shown. This evening Comrade X and Ninotchka are included in the prime time schedule. Spring Madness, with Maureen O’Sullivan and Lew Ayres, comes on at 2:15 AM. This picture, which I’m not familiar with, follows. It stars Bruce Davison as a college student who initially isn’t concerned with the political demonstrations going on at his San Francisco school. But after meeting a girl (Kim Darby) who’s involved he too expresses interest as a means of making (female) friends and soon he’s a dedicated revolutionary. Bud Cort is also in the cast. MGM released and Warner Bros. likely controls but no DVD. You can also watch it on demand at Amazon for a fee.

Thursday January 14

2:00 PM Cast a Dark Shadow (Gilbert, 1955) - BW-83 mins. - Watch out for Dirk Bogarde. Here he plays a bluebeard with a thing for older women. He marries them with the intention of accelerating their death so he can then reap an inheritance. The intended victims include Mona Washbourne, Margaret Lockwood and Kay Walsh. Lockwood was BAFTA-nominated for her role. I couldn’t find a DVD release in either the states or the UK for this film. I’m also not sure where the rights would be here.

Friday January 15

9:30 PM Race Street (Marin, 1948) - BW-79 mins. - TCM has a stool pigeon theme tonight. The Big House, a quite good early talkie starring Wallace Beery, Robert Montgomery and Chester Morris airs at 8:00 PM, and this George Raft picture follows. Raft plays an accountant turned night club owner whose best friend (Harry Morgan) is taken out by the mob. Cop William Bendix warns Raft to stay cool but he goes after the gangsters anyway. RKO released this one, likely giving Warner Bros. the rights in R1 but no DVD. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (read more here if you don’t know the film) follows later at 12:45 AM.

2:30 AM Deep End (Skolimowski, 1970) - C-91 mins. - When I looked at the January schedule back a couple of months ago, this was probably the film I was most excited to see on it. I didn’t make time for Deep End when it screend for a week at the Anthology Film Archives over two years ago and I’ve been mentally kicking myself ever since. I don’t know if I’ll even like the film but it certainly sounds interesting. The plot involves a 15-year-old who becomes obsessed with a woman at his swimming pool job. Things turn dark from there. The Criterion Collection might release it on DVD but who knows. I read there could be complications. The sure thing seems to be that Paramount, which controls the picture, won’t do anything other than maybe license the rights to a third party like Criterion. It’s bothersome that TCM’s site doesn’t currently indicate a letterboxed showing. Maybe it will be.

4:00 AM The Shout (Skolimowski, 1979) - C-86 mins. - A later film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski which is on DVD in the UK but not here, The Shout stars Alan Bates as a mysterious man who comes upon married couple Susannah York and John Hurt. Skolimowski isn’t terribly well known as a director (he acted in Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises a couple of years ago) but every film of his I’ve read about has sounded absolutely fascinating. He was also one of the writers of Roman Polanski’s debut Knife in the Water. I believe that the Second Run label in the UK has a couple of his films planned for release at some point also. I’m not sure where the R1 rights to The Shout would be.

Okay, first entry of the new year. It’s a bit late, of course, but so be it. Both my index of the TCM Ten and the dedicated page and subpages are now up to date so that you can see every movie I’ve ever picked and when it was aired on the channel. This week we have several rarely shown and hard to find titles on the schedule. It’s a good set of days certainly. TCM’s night of films honoring Jennifer Jones airs on Thursday the 7th, though it’s a bit skimpy at just four films and one of those (Indiscretion of an American Wife) repeating from another airing just a few hours before. It was probably difficult to air any of her movies made at Fox. As always, all times are EST and program days begin at 6:00 AM.

Saturday January 2

10:45 PM Husbands (Cassavetes, 1970) - C-138 mins. - Sony finally released this on DVD in R1 a few months ago, but I was so surprised to see TCM showing it that I couldn’t resist a mention. Not the usual TCM fare, Husbands remains my favorite of John Cassavetes’ films. It stars Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara and Cassavetes as three friends approaching middle age who, following the funeral of a fourth friend, try to cling to any sense of youth and irresponsibility they have left, including a trip to London on the spur of the moment. I wrote more on the film a couple of years ago here.

Sunday January 3

8:00 AM Footsteps in the Dark (Bacon, 1941) - BW-96 mins. - Errol Flynn plays an upper crust type who secretly has a thing for writing mystery stories. Things get a little too real once he falls into an actual murder case. Brenda Marshall is the female lead. Ralph Bellamy, Alan Hale and Lee Patrick are among the supporting cast. It’s all told with a healthy dash of light comedy. Warner Bros. did the film and it still hasn’t been released on DVD.

10:30 PM If I Had a Million (Various, 1932) - BW-84 mins. - I’ve wanted to see this for literally years and years. Many different directors, including Ernst Lubitsch, worked on segments of the film. The plot involves an elderly man who’s very wealthy but reluctant to give his fortune to leeching heirs. His solution is to randomly pick people and give them one million dollars each. The cast is mighty impressive, including Gary Cooper, W.C. Fields, Charles Laughton, George Raft, and Jack Oakie. I believe the star of the Lubitsch segment is Laughton. Paramount was the studio behind the picture. It’s now airing on TCM probably as one of the fruits of a recent deal the channel made with Universal (which now controls) that I’ve been hearing about for several months. It will be great to finally see a lot of these Paramount films from the ’30s and ’40s that Universal hasn’t bothered to release on DVD in R1. (A Fields set in the UK does include If I Had a Million.)

2:45 AM Le Schpountz (Pagnol, 1938) - BW-130 mins. - Tonight’s TCM Import selection was written and directed by Marcel Pagnol, probably most famous to movie fans for his Fanny trilogy. The film being shown here is about a man frequently made fun of who believes he’s signing a contract to be a movie star (his dream) but soon discovers he’s been had. I’m a little concerned with the running times because IMDb lists a version at 160 minutes and another at just 90 minutes but TCM has 130 minutes slotted. Pagnol’s film isn’t available in R1 but I did run across a disc that is or was available in France. I’m not sure where the rights sit, though Kino released a set with the Fanny films. If you’re interested, probably best to just watch or record TCM’s showing.

Monday January 4

11:00 AM Honeymoon for Three (Bacon, 1941) - BW-75 mins. - Ann Sheridan is the secretary and clandestine girlfriend to novelist George Brent. When a flame from his past (Osa Massen) visits Brent, her husband (Charlie Ruggles) gets so bent out of shape that he threatens to divorce her. Or something like that. I haven’t seen this one and plot descriptions vary a little so I’m unsure as to the main focus. There’s a reason no one talks about George Brent much. Sheridan’s likely to be the main draw. Warner Bros., of course. It’s not available on DVD.

1:15 AM Five Graves to Cairo (Wilder, 1943) - BW-96 mins. - This is one of just two of Billy Wilder’s Paramount films to not have a DVD release in R1. It is available in an edition from Australia which is more than acceptable. Erich von Stroheim plays Erwin Rommel. Franchot Tone and Anne Baxter star, with Akim Tamiroff along as well. I’ve been meaning to review the R4 disc here but, like so much else, haven’t had time to do it. Somehow, inadvertently, I didn’t watch a Wilder-directed film during the entirety of 2009. It wasn’t for a lack of interest either. Things just constantly got pushed ahead and so on.

Wednesday January 6

8:00 AM Play Girl (Enright, 1932) - BW-60 mins. - Seemingly provocative title for this pre-Code romance. Loretta Young, whose films fill today’s schedule, stars as a “young innocent” who falls for a “compulsive gambler” played by Norman Foster. When this film was made, Foster was in the middle of a seven-year marriage to Claudette Colbert. Following that divorce he soon married Sally Blane, who happened to be Loretta Young’s sister. Foster and Blane would remain married until his death over forty years later. He transitioned into directing films like Woman on the Run and television programs, including Zorro which I’ve been trying to review for weeks now. Play Girl is Warner Bros. but not on DVD.

12:00 PM She Had to Say Yes (Berkeley, 1933) - BW-66 mins. - Here’s another early ’30s Loretta Young picture, this time a comedy and one at least partially directed by Busby Berkeley (his first). The plot sounds very pre-Code in that Young is a secretary who helps the company by “going out” with clients. And judging by the title she had no choice in the matter! Lyle Talbot, Regis Toomey and Hugh Herbert add support. The film was released by First National, which was under the Warner Bros. umbrella. It’s absent from DVD.

Thursday January 7

6:00 AM Finishing School (Tuchock, 1934) - BW-73 mins. - A girls school drama starring Frances Dee and Billie Burke but also with Ginger Rogers, this one swooped in just prior to the Production Code being enforced. Something that got my attention was that the listed co-director is Wanda Tuchock. It’s unusual to see a film from this time that credited a woman as director. Tuchock, a screenwriter on films like King Vidor’s Hallelujah and Show People, doesn’t have any other feature directing credits. Finishing School was made for RKO. Warner Bros. should have R1 rights but it’s not yet on DVD.

5:00 PM The Unholy Wife (Farrow, 1957) - C-94 mins. - British bombshell Diana Dors marries vintner Rod Steiger but soon enough finds herself looking in the direction of Tom Tryon. Dors didn’t seem to quite cross over into Hollywood but I watched her in the true life crime story Yield to the Night a few months ago and was impressed enough by her acting ability. Fans of Dmytryk’s The Sniper might be interested in seeing lead Arthur Franz play, apparently, a priest. One of his victims in that film, Marie Windsor, is in The Unholy Wife too. Director John Farrow’s own production company did this picture. IMDb lists Universal as U.S. distributor, but I think VCI released it on VHS. Either way, it’s not on DVD to my knowledge.

Most of these are either directed by Frank Capra or starring Humphrey Bogart, but that’s what TCM has given us this holiday season. I’m assuming everyone already knows the pleasures of The Shop Around the Corner and Remember the Night, both of which show up in the next few days on the channel. All readers and passersby have a safe and merry Christmas. This edition of the TCM Ten covers two weeks so I’ll be back just after the first of the year. As always, all times are EST and program days begin at 6:00 AM.

Wednesday December 23

1:00 PM Conflict (Bernhardt, 1945) - BW-86 mins. - Rarely shown Humphrey Bogart thriller where he plays a husband anxious to get rid of his wife. The question as to whether she’s dead or not soon haunts Bogart’s character. Sydney Greenstreet co-stars. Warner Bros. made the picture and it’s not yet on DVD.

4:15 PM The Two Mrs. Carrolls (Godfrey, 1947) - BW-94 mins. - Bogie teams with Barbara Stanwyck in another hard to find noirish film. Again with Bogart and the bad husband, multiple lady friends type of deal. This is Warner Bros. too, and also not available on DVD.

Thursday December 24

10:00 PM Chicken Every Day (Seaton, 1948) - BW-94 mins. - Financially irresponsible Dan Dailey is married to the long-suffering Celeste Holm in the early 1900s in this warm comedy. Look also for Alan Young of TV’s Mister Ed, William Frawley and a young Natalie Wood. A rare Fox film popping up on TCM. Doesn’t seem to be on DVD.

Sunday December 27

8:00 PM Bedtime Story (Hall, 1942) - BW-85 mins. - Two by director Alexander Hall dot the schedule tonight, with probably his most famous picture, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, following. This is a screwy comedy set in the world of the theatre. Fredric March stars as a playwright whose wife Loretta Young is his frequent lead actress. When she wants to retire, it leads to a divorce but one that turns out to be invalid. Robert Benchley and Eve Arden are among the strong supporting cast. It was made for Columbia, leaving Sony with the rights but apparently not the desire to release a DVD.

Monday December 28

8:00 PM Broadway Bill (Capra, 1934) - BW-102 mins. - An heiress and her brother-in-law go off to harvest his dream of taking care of a racehorse. Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy star. The story is by Mark Hellinger. Paramount’s R1 DVD is out of print for some reason. No idea why. It’s getting up there in price on the secondary market.

10:00 PM Riding High (Capra, 1950) - BW-112 mins. - This too has gone out of print in R1 courtesy of Paramount. It’s a remake of Broadway Bill, but now with Bing Crosby and Coleen Gray. A couple of actors (Raymond Walburn and Clarence Muse) reprise their roles from the earlier picture. Most accounts place this as the inferior version, but watching both might make for an interesting contrast.

Tuesday December 29

8:30 AM Manhatta (1921) - BW-12 mins. - Well-regarded short featuring images of Manhattan against the poems of Walt Whitman. I’ve heard a good deal of praise but not yet acquainted myself with this. Plan to do so this time around, especially given the short length. You’d think a DVD including this short would exist somewhere but I don’t know if that’s the case.

Wednesday December 30

8:00 PM Deadline U.S.A. (Brooks, 1952) - BW-87 mins. - The last night of the Bogart tribute reminds us that there are still several of his films not on DVD even beyond the early crime ones. This was written and directed by Richard Brooks, who doesn’t really get his due nowadays. It centers around Bogart as the editor of a newspaper that’s about to be sold to a competitor with less journalistic integrity. He has just a few days to nail down a story involving a local gangster (Martin Gabel). Meanwhile, Bogart is also dealing with his ex-wife (Kim Hunter) remarrying and hasn’t lost hope at getting the paper’s owner (Ethel Barrymore) to change her mind. Battle Circus, a Brooks-Bogart pairing from 1953, airs earlier in the day at 12:45 PM. There’s also the documentary Bacall on Bogart, done in 1988, that sounds interesting and is scheduled for 6:30 PM. Fox did Deadline U.S.A. but it’s not on DVD. Fox has totally lost interest with releasing classic titles in R1.

9:45 AM The Left Hand of God (Dmytryk, 1955) - C-87 mins. - Bogart is joined by Gene Tierney in this unusual outing.  He plays a Catholic priest (sort of) who comes to a mission in China. Tierney is the war widow nurse he takes up with and Lee J. Cobb is in support as bad guy “Mieh Yang,” a ludicrous piece of casting. This is Fox too. It’s great to see these on the schedule since they rarely show up even on the Fox Movie Channel. Not on DVD. A proper Jennifer Jones tribute is scheduled for January 7th, but you can also see her with Bogie at 11:30 PM in Beat the Devil.

4:00 AM Two Guys from Milwaukee (Butler, 1946) - BW-90 mins. - I saw The Hard Way, with Ida Lupino, Joan Leslie and co-starring Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson, the other night. This sounds like a much different teaming of Morgan and Carson, with Leslie along here also. Morgan plays a prince who runs off to America in the hopes of seeing Lauren Bacall (like Borat crossed with Coming to America). He meets cabbie Carson in the quest. The tipping point is that I.A.L. Diamond, Billy Wilder’s future collaborator, co-wrote the script. The film was done for Warner Bros. It’s not on DVD.

I have a Noir of the Week entry to share. It’s an appreciation for Robert Montgomery’s Lady in the Lake that I wrote and it went up today. A few weeks ago when I agreed to do the piece December seemed like it would have more time for writing than it’s actually proven to. As the target date rolled closer, I started to look less forward to watching the film again. My first viewing had been before it was on DVD, during a late night TCM showing that was part of a Montgomery Star of the Month tribute from a few years back. When the Film Noir Classic Collection Vol 3. came out I watched the picture again. My reaction both times was very positive, more so than the established consensus probably. I wondered if I’d really find a lot to love the third time around, but I’ve now become steadfast in thinking the soft reputation it has is undeserved. Even though the film may not be one of the greats, it’s extremely entertaining (or watchable, if you want to use fainter praise). Montgomery’s use of the subjective camera keeps things so strange and off-kilter, which might be part of what drives some away, that I can’t imagine not enjoying seeing this thing every few years. Ideally around Christmas.

Less than two weeks until Christmas now and plenty of those movies popping up on the TCM schedule. I really like that the channel tries to go a bit beyond the usual things. Also lots of Frank Capra and Humphrey Bogart choices this week and throughout the month. I saw the March schedule a couple of days ago and was excited at the idea that a Jules Dassin picture starring Marcello Mastroianni which is very tough to find is planned. Also, Akira Kurosawa gets a night each week and all day on the anniversary of his birth to celebrate his centennial. As always, all times are EST and program days begin at 6:00 AM.

Sunday December 13

6:00 PM Travels with My Aunt (Cukor, 1972) - C-109 mins. - Maggie Smith was Oscar-nominated for her role as the eccentric aunt to a young man (Alec McCowen) whose mother has just died. The two hit it off and take trips across Europe. Louis Gossett, Jr. is among the supporting cast. The film is an adaptation of a Graham Greene book. Since MGM released the film theatrically, Warner Bros. should now control the rights. There isn’t a DVD release so far.

4:45 AM Private Potter (Wrede, 1962) - BW-89 mins. - TCM has the silent Ben-Hur at midnight, followed by Dreyer’s Ordet at 2:30 AM and this little seen, little known Tom Courtenay picture. If you’re familiar with what the first two share then you might be able to guess some of the subject matter of Private Potter. It turns out to involve, yes, God in that Courtenay’s character stops fighting a military mission in Cyprus because he claims divine intervention. This was Courtenay’s film debut and he also made The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner the same year. Knowing that, I’m in for a watch. Another person of note involved was screenwriter Ronald Harwood. It was his first movie too. With MGM and now probably Warner Bros., the film doesn’t seem to have been put on DVD.

Monday December 14

8:00 PM The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Capra, 1932) - BW-87 mins. - On the strength of It’s a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, there was a time when Frank Capra was probably my favorite director. I’ve, for better or worse, grown up since then and despite still loving both of those films as well as a few others Capra made I can see why his status critically isn’t on par with Ford and Hitchcock and their ilk. That said, the great, rarely discussed section of Capra’s work might be his Columbia films with Barbara Stanwyck in the early ’30s. TCM is showing an avalanche of Capra this month (though, due to rights reasons, not It’s a Wonderful Life) and I believe all are on the schedule. The two best are The Miracle Woman, which airs next week, and this one, with Stanwyck as an American who travels to China and slowly forms a bond with the man of the title (played by Nils Asther, a native Scandinavian who I incidentally just watched in the absolutely charming James Whale picture By Candlelight). Both Capra movies are on DVD in the UK in a Stanwyck set but still waiting to be released here in R1. I’ve read rumblings that Sony has something in the works, maybe for 2010.

3:45 AM The Younger Generation (Capra, 1929) - BW-84 mins. - Early, partial talkie from Capra here, which follows Dirigible (1931) and Flight (1929). It sounds pretty interesting. Ricardo Cortez is a Jewish businessman (last name: Goldfish) whose methods and ambitions contrast with those of his more traditional parents, played by Jean Hersholt and Lina Basquette. Apparently there are both silent and talking sequences. It was done for Columbia and isn’t on DVD.

Wednesday December 16

11:15 AM It All Came True (Seiler, 1940) - BW-97 mins. - With so many Humphrey Bogart pictures being shown on TCM this month, finding a couple each week not on DVD that sound worthwhile isn’t too tough. Most are crime movies and this is no exception. Bogie plays a nervous gangster who transforms a boarding house into a criminal enterprise. Add Ann Sheridan and that’s a recommendation in itself. Mark Hellinger was a producer, which usually promises a slightly more polished film. Warner Bros. for this one.

1:00 PM The Wagons Roll at Night (Enright, 1941) - BW-84 mins. - In the Bogart timeline, 1936’s The Petrified Forest is what really lead to all of those gangster pictures where he was usually playing the same tough character who’d often find his death before the film was over. That went on for about five years, until High Sierra came along in 1941 and The Maltese Falcon followed later in the same year. Between those two, this quite different film opened. I don’t know if it made much of an impact on making Bogart a star, but the subject matter was certainly a departure. Here he’s a carnival manager with an escaped lion. The lion is found by Eddie Albert, who somehow transitions into being lion tamer for the show. Things are fine until Albert gets eyes for Bogie’s younger sister played by Joan Leslie. This same basic story was done just a few years earlier as Kid Galahad (and years later too, with Elvis Presley) but without the circus hook. Bogart had been in that picture too. Here he’s also reunited with Dead End co-star Sylvia Sidney. Warner Bros. was the studio and it’s not available on DVD.

Thursday December 17

6:30 AM Have a Heart (Butler, 1934) - BW-80 mins. - Even with its significant flaws, IMDb tends to be the best place to figure out what’s worth mentioning on the TCM schedule from week to week and finding information about the things I do pick. I try to place as little worth in the User Comments as possible but they are always there on the screen, lurking and waiting to be read. In a pinch, they sometimes can’t be avoided. So what we end up with is finding a film like Have a Heart, directed by David Butler (who has several movies on today’s schedule), and starring James Dunn and Jean Parker as, respectively, the scrappy Irish guy and a dancer who can no longer use one of her legs after a fall. Going by these User Comments, I learned that the picture could be a nice little rainy weekend watch, that it gives Una Merkel a scene-stealing turn in support, that it’s dated, will break your heart, and, in a one-star review, that it’s a “strange little movie.” I don’t yet know whether I’ll enjoy Have a Heart, but I do know that I tend to like strange little movies. So there. The wasteland successfully navigated once again. MGM produced and Warner Bros. should now control. No DVD.

11:30 PM Never Say Goodbye (Kern, 1946) - BW-94 mins. - Errol Flynn gets a rare romantic comedy opportunity in this Warner Bros. film with a Christmas touch. He’s a magazine editor whose marriage to Eleanor Parker (an excellent and quite nice-looking actress I tend to mention frequently) has taken a rough turn. Their young daughter plots to reunite the couple. Of interest particularly in this Bogart-centric month is an impression Flynn does of the actor which Bogart himself apparently voiced. Promises to be fun. IMDb User Comment calls it a “predictable puffball.” Maybe I like predict- Oh nevermind. The picture is absent from DVD.

Friday December 18

6:00 AM Bachelor Bait (Stevens, 1934) - BW-75 mins. - Several 1930s George Stevens pictures are being shown today. This, the Fred Astaire starrer A Damsel in Distress and the excellent Vivacious Lady are all in need of R1 DVD releases (particularly the latter which I fear will be Warner Archive-d any week now). Bachelor Bait is about a marriage agency for lonely bachelors to find wives. Stuart Erwin and Rochelle Hudson headline. Skeets Gallagher is also in the cast. I’ve seen probably half a dozen thirties pictures with Gallagher and he seems to always play the same guy - a leaching drunk - but I enjoy it every time for some reason. This one was done for RKO, meaning Warner Bros. probably has R1 rights. It’s not on DVD to my knowledge.

12:00 AM Amazing Grace and Chuck (Newell, 1987) - C-115 mins. - Not one of TCM’s more inspired programming decisions, and it deviates heavily from what’s listed in my Now Playing guide, tonight’s line-up is dedicated to films directed by Mike Newell. Three of them actually, starting with Enchanted April and Four Weddings and a Funeral - not the usual TCM fare and for good reason. Some people might be interested in the chance to see this drama concerning nuclear proliferation. The plot is about a promising little league baseball player who vows to stop playing until nuclear weapons are disarmed. His idea catches on, first with a Boston Celtics player (played by real life NBA star Alex English, who never did play for the Celtics) and later with other athletes. The cast is certainly varied, with Jamie Lee Curtis, Red Auerbach as himself, William L. Petersen and even the great Gregory Peck as the President. I’m not overly familiar with this film so I don’t know what the hold-up regarding a DVD release is. You would think it would be available but it’s never been released here in R1. IMDb lists TriStar as theatrical distributor and Warner Bros. as the studio behind the VHS. HBO, now part of the same umbrella as WB, actually put the VHS out, which seems weird since TriStar is connected to Columbia/Sony.

After a much longer than expected absence, I’m cranking up the TCM Ten again this week. The Mickey Mouse Mafia will be knocking down my door any day now if I don’t get a few things reviewed very soon, but December is such an exciting month on Turner Classic Movies, with hours upon hours being devoted to Humphrey Bogart, that I have to get things going here. As always, all times listed are EST and program days begin at 6:00 AM.

Saturday December 5

8:30 AM Street Scene (Vidor, 1931) - BW-79 mins. - Producer Samuel Goldwyn paid big money for the rights to this popular play, set entirely in a New York tenement location, and handed it off to director King Vidor. The early sound picture has an ensemble cast including a young Sylvia Sidney, Beulah Bondi, and Walter Miller. A murder takes place, but little otherwise occurs plotwise. Anything Vidor directed around this time is worth a watch. Hard to believe, but the out of print R1 DVD from Image will now cost you at least $300 through Amazon’s third party sellers.

12:00 PM Fitzwilly (Mann, 1967) - C-102 mins. - That would be Delbert Mann of the (unrelated) filmmaking Manns behind the camera for this one. Dick Van Dyke stars as a loyal butler to an old lady (Dame Edith Evans) whose fortune has run out. Not wanting to let their boss down, Van Dyke and other staff members conceive ways of redistributing the wealth via criminal enterprise. Barbara Feldon (yes, Agent 99) plays a new secretary and love interest to Van Dyke’s character. The Christmas Eve department store raid explains the film’s two appearances on the schedule this month, with another showing set for December 10th at 10:00 PM. Walter Mirisch produced and United Artists originally released the movie. It’s not on DVD and should be controlled by MGM (though who will control MGM is of course another matter).

Sunday December 6

12:00 AM Miss Mend (Otsep, 1926) - BW-250 mins. - TCM kills two birds with a single Soviet serial tonight as both the silent and import quotas are met by this airing. I can’t claim much familiarity with this four-plus hour serial but the plot seems to involve three reporters who must stave off western capitalists’ plans to spread germ warfare in the USSR. It sounds fascinating and fun. If you miss the TCM showing or just want it for your library, Flicker Alley will be releasing a two-disc set with bonus features on December 15.

Tuesday December 8

3:30 PM The Prize (Robson, 1963) - C-135 mins. - Most of Monday’s schedule is devoted to Frank Capra, and it’s interesting to see the WWII documentaries airing during the day. All, or almost all, are on DVD. Completely unrelated to that, The Prize is a Paul Newman movie about Nobel Prize winners embroiled in intrigue while in Stockholm. Edward G. Robinson and Elke Sommer co-star. People seem to really go for this film, often making comparisons to Hitchcock, but Warner Bros. opted not to release it on DVD either with the Newman box a few years ago or in the more recent wave of single titles. Who knows if it’ll see the light of day now.

Wednesday December 9

11:30 AM Racket Busters (Bacon, 1938) - BW-71 mins. - Bogart Bonanza continues with several of his pre-stardom crime and adventure pictures that haven’t made it to DVD yet. Men Are Such Fools, directed by Busby Berkeley, immediately precedes this one, at 10:15 AM. The Manhattan produce racket is the subject of Lloyd Bacon’s Racket Busters and Bogie plays the leader. George Brent is the good guy truck driver while Walter Abel gets to be the buster of the title, reportedly based on Thomas E. Dewey. What drew me to the film was Robert Rossen being credited for the story and screenplay. He’d later direct The Hustler and All the King’s Men, but his writing credits (films like Blues in the Night and The Roaring Twenties) were typically strong as well. Warner Bros. is the studio and no DVD of the film yet. Barring another Gangsters Collection or Bogart box, I’ll expect the Warner Archive treatment at some point.

5:45 AM King of the Underworld (Seiler, 1939) - BW-67 mins. - W.R. Burnett wrote the story for the earlier Paul Muni film Dr. Socrates and this picture is a remake with a gender twist where Kay Francis plays the Muni role of a doctor forced into providing medical services for gangsters. Humphrey Bogart ended up with top billing as the main tough guy/arm twister. This too is not on DVD and a Warner Bros. property. The Oklahoma Kid, a Cagney and Bogart western that I like a whole lot, airs in prime time at 8:00 PM.

Thursday December 10

12:00 PM Lonelyhearts (Donehue, 1958) - BW-103 mins. - A Nathanael West novella formed the basis for this film starring Montgomery Clift as a young advice columnist who gets too emotionally involved in the plights of his readers. A lot of sadness runs through the story, with Robert Ryan as a newspaper editor who berates his alcoholic wife (an against type Myrna Loy) and Oscar-nominated Maureen Stapleton making her film debut as one of the paper’s correspondents. John Alton was the cinematographer. I’m not sure why now but I watched this a long while ago and didn’t get much out of it. I probably owe it another shot. United Artists released and there’s no DVD available to my knowledge. MGM should control the rights.

2:00 AM Susan Slept Here (Tashlin, 1954) - C-98 mins. - Dick Powell is a Hollywood screenwriter and Debbie Reynolds plays the juvenile delinquent runaway who combine to form an unlikely romance. Not your typical holiday fare. This was one of director Frank Tashlin’s earlier features and he’d further his “live-action cartoon” style with movies starring Jerry Lewis and the best two appearances of Jayne Mansfield’s career. The film was made for RKO and hasn’t been brought to DVD yet. It’s with Warner Bros. here. If you can’t catch this showing, TCM also has Susan Slept Here lined up for the 13th at 2:00 PM and again on Christmas Day.

Friday December 11

10:15 AM This Land Is Mine (Renoir, 1943) - BW-103 mins. - It looks like a Spanish R2 DVD exists for this Jean Renoir picture, but nothing yet here. Charles Laughton is a school teacher in Nazi-occupied France who’s reluctant to choose sides at first but ultimately finds himself drawn to the resistance. I really have to see this, and it seems amazing to consider a film with this sort of plot would have been made when it was. Maureen O’Hara and George Sanders are among the supporting cast. Released by RKO, Warner Bros. likely controls in R1.

2:00 PM The Bribe (Leonard, 1949) - BW-98 mins. - More Laughton, after Jules Dassin’s enjoyable The Canterville Ghost at 12:15 PM. I’m mentioning The Bribe because, for one thing, it’s an excellent little noir starring Robert Taylor as a federal agent tempted by Ava Gardner. John Hodiak plays Gardner’s husband and Vincent Price rounds out the sleaze. What bothers me is that Warner Bros. threw this very deserving film into the Archive trash compactor so there’s virtually no hope in getting a proper DVD release of it. It’s the sort of picture I like well enough to own on DVD but not really so essential that I have to have an overpriced DVD-R of it right now.

Samuel Fuller says in Pierrot le fou that “film is like a battleground. Love. Hate. Action. Violence. Death. In one word, emotion.” Fuller wrote in his autobiography that he didn’t know what director Jean-Luc Godard expected from him on the set, that there hadn’t been any rehearsal, and the scene was done in a single take. It’s a nonetheless immortal moment, revealing so much of Fuller’s filmmaking philosophy. Sony recently released a Samuel Fuller Film Collection which I’ve just reviewed for DVD Times, and you can see traces of what he was saying in the five films included which used Fuller’s ideas but weren’t directed by him. The two pictures found in the set which he did make liberally apply the Fuller cinema theory to an exhilarating extent. The Crimson Kimono and Underworld U.S.A. are reason enough to want the collection, though the other films are never less than entertaining.

It’s been tough trying to more or less will Fuller’s films onto DVD. With these two now out, the focus hopefully will be on making Park Row available (perhaps via Criterion if it can be done) and finding Verboten! a disc in R1. I’d love to see China Gate and Run of the Arrow too.

(I think I wrote this more for myself than all of you wonderful readers, but I don’t mind sharing.)

It’s possible my level of compassion is below normal, but usually when I hear of someone’s pet dying, particularly after a long life, it doesn’t really yield the same reaction as when a human family member dies. I’d imagine most of us are this way, that we value human life significantly above that of an animal. (Unless we’re watching a movie.) In some way, if it’s not your pet, a creature with four legs seems comparatively disposable. And yet, we often spend more time with our ever reliable pets than with human loved ones. They are there at home when no one else is, never judging and always a source of warm companionship. When we have to say goodbye, as I had to this morning, they are the strong ones while we often weep like young children.

Johnnie came into my life over seven years ago. He was part of the package of domesticity provided by my better half, who had literally dreamed of a little orange and white ball of fur nine years earlier and found him the following day sitting inside a shelter cage just as he’d been in her dream. That was the cat for her and, eventually, Johnnie was the cat for me too. I missed his younger years but she had plenty of stories to tell me. There was the one of a too curious Johnnie getting pecked on the nose to the point of bloodshed by her pet bird (and never bothering the latter again apparently). I’ve seen pictures of him wearing this hideously funny children’s shirt that had pictures of baby chickens all over it. He didn’t seem as thrilled by that as everyone else. Johnnie also used to burrow himself under the bed covers for maximum comfort. All pet owners have memories like these, and they always seem more entertaining the closer you are to the animal.

By the time I did finally meet Johnnie he was as sweet and mischievous as ever, but he’d recently been diagnosed with feline diabetes. This would require the poke of a syringe into his little cat body every twelve hours for the rest of his life. Johnnie hardly minded. The somewhat frequent visits to the veterinarian bothered him much more, and it wasn’t uncommon for the brave but nervous fella to soil himself on the way. He never liked to leave the comfort zone of our apartment. Johnnie had such a good temperament but even the mildest threat of a doctor visit (real or imagined by him) could trigger the quick, almost involuntary creation of puddles or piles of waste on the floor. Baths weren’t his thing either.

His diabetes was kept under control by almost constant care and, I like to think, a good amount of love. But as Johnnie got older things didn’t seem to work as well as they once did, particularly his digestive system. That required another daily medicine, a liquid that must have tasted horrible since he clearly did not like having the substance more or less shot down his throat every night. I was worried as to why he couldn’t properly digest the special diabetes management dry food he’d been taking for years without incident, but the medicine was mostly effective. More bothersome was the loss of muscle mass Johnnie had experienced slowly but surely. He had been a big, robust cat at one point. I’ve seen him almost flaunt his girth by laying on his back with a furry white belly proudly facing upward. Even at the end he still liked to eat. I’d introduced him to cold cuts and he never looked back. In my mind he’s now in some kitty afterlife enjoying a deli tray of thinly sliced meat while sharpening his front claws (one of his favorite habits). Dinner plates seemed to require an investigation from our Johnnie cat in later years.

His increasingly bony frame did concern me. At this point he was already fifteen or so years old and we’d decided that putting him through any sort of treatment for cancer or the like was out of the question. His quality of life was always the main priority. Physically, Johnnie would sometimes limp after hopping out of the litter box and his attempts to jump on the bed were occasionally unsuccessful. (Not deterred, he’d usually try again right away and have better luck.) The signs of his deterioration were starting to be more obvious, but the spark in this cat’s eye was blindingly bright. His actions always indicated he was happy and full of life. Over the course of my time with Johnnie he’d provided the loyal devotion I normally associate with a dog rather than the enigmatic, often selfish nature typical of a cat. Nothing had changed in that regard nor would it.

His most recent trip to the vet also yielded positive signs, indicating that his diabetes, in the seven years since he’d been known to have it, had never been under control any better. In some irrational part of my mind I started to wonder just how long Johnnie could go. Another year? Two? Would he make it to twenty? I must’ve fooled myself into thinking he was in great shape. Then came this past Saturday night. I was home alone and heard something in the other room. Now I figure he must have tried to jump on the bed but not made it. When I got in there I saw Johnnie wobbling off balance but trying to fight it. After what couldn’t have been more than a minute or two he seemed to collapse, awake but with the side of his face and body against the floor. His mouth was open and he was struggling to breathe. I was scared. My initial fear was that he was dying in front of my eyes. I then watched him gradually regain his breath but remain on the floor hardly moving beyond the very labored breathing. About fifty minutes later, he got up, seemingly fine. Nothing the rest of the night indicated anything had been wrong.

Of course, we knew this had been a serious attack of some kind. Maybe we didn’t want to believe just how serious the problem was, but taking him to the doctor on a Sunday wasn’t really an option. An almost identical episode followed the next night and it was clear he needed immediate medical attention. Johnnie was less active than usual the rest of the night and eventually made his way over to the floor on her side of the bed when it was time to go to sleep. I probably should’ve better prepared myself for the idea that when we took Johnnie to the doctor’s office this morning he might not be coming home again but maybe it was for the best. Fluid surrounded his lungs. There was nothing anyone could have done Saturday night, Sunday night or today. I know we did the best thing for everyone but I still miss my cat. I miss my friend.