Though the June schedule hasn’t yet been posted at the TCM site, a little birdie told me to look forward to Natalie Wood as the Star of the Month. Excited for that. Is it really April already? Seems so, and we get Robert Taylor films all month long. Even if I’m not over the moon about Barbara Stanwyck’s one-time husband, it’ll give me a chance to mention several things either not on DVD or sent out to the Warner Archive pasture, where Taylor seems to be reigning as far as I can tell. As always, all times are EDT and program days begin at 6:00 AM.

Saturday March 27

2:00 PM Monte Walsh (Fraker, 1970) - C-99 mins. - Nice little seventies western starring Lee Marvin as the title character, Jack Palance as his buddy and Jeanne Moreau as the woman he sometimes pays a visit to. It’s low-key and I think that’s probably why my opinion of the film has risen since first seeing it almost three years ago as part of a Marvin retrospective. There was later a remake for television starring Tom Selleck. It’s that version that’s on DVD while this one hasn’t made it yet. I think Warner Bros. might be the studio with R1 rights, though Fox released it on VHS here.

10:15 PM Letter from an Unknown Woman (Ophuls, 1948) - BW-87 mins. - Easily among the best films not on R1 DVD, this stars Joan Fontaine as the mysterious letter writer and Louis Jourdan as the rather arrogant recipient, a Viennese pianist. I don’t really want to relate any more of the plot but I’ll happily recommend a viewing. Second Sight in the UK has a DVD out, but you just know that the Criterion Collection, with 4 Max Ophuls titles already under its belt, would love to release this. The film is in the Republic library.

12:00 AM Julie (Stone, 1956) - BW-98 mins. - I’m not familiar with this film, even if it did get a Best Original Screenplay nod, but it sounds intriguing enough to mention. Doris Day gets a dramatic role as the title character, a stewardess in San Francisco stalked by her psychotic spouse. (sssss!) Louis Jourdan is here too, joined by Barry Sullivan and Frank Lovejoy. Andrew L. Stone wrote the screenplay and directed. It was released by MGM so Warner Bros. should have the rights and apparently Doris Day is a big DVD seller (according to George Feltenstein) so Julie probably has a better shot of seeing a pressed disc than most of the studio’s catalog. Later in the week, on Wednesday, Stone’s 1965 film The Secret of My Success airs at 6:15 PM.

Sunday March 28

6:00 AM Cottage to Let (Asquith, 1941) - BW-90 mins. - Even though this was also directed by Anthony Asquith and has the word “Cottage” in the title, it apparently is unrelated to the 1929 feature A Cottage on Dartmoor. Leslie Banks plays an inventor working for the military at a Scottish manor. The Nazis covet one of his ideas and houseguests including Alastair Sim and John Mills push the intrigue even further. I see a cheap R2 DVD from the UK label Network available, but the film doesn’t seem to be available in R1. A little later, at 10:30 AM, the Frank Capra-Barbara Stanwyck picture The Bitter Tea of General Yen airs.

Monday March 29

7:30 AM Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (Dieterle, 1940) - BW-103 mins. - If you’d rather not pony up for a burned DVD-R from the Warner Archive, here’s a chance to see Edward G. Robinson in the dramatic role of the doctor who spent his career finding a cure for syphilis. Robinson was very proud of the performance and film, though the never-nominated actor was again ignored by the Academy Awards. Behind-the-scenes talent abounds, with William Dieterle directing, James Wong Howe doing the cinematography, and Max Steiner scoring.

Tuesday March 30

8:00 PM Dersu Uzala (Kurosawa, 1975) - C-141 mins. - Kurosawa’s Russian film, about an army explorer in Siberia rescued by an Asiatic hunter. This sparks a friendship between the two men that is rekindled a few years later during another expedition. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, though the victor was technically the Soviet Union since countries rather than people are the official winners of those awards. I know that Kino has a DVD available in R1 and that Film Forum in New York will be running Dersu Uzala for nine days in April. I do wonder if TCM’s print will match the Kino transfer or improve on it.

Wednesday March 31

1:30 AM Primrose Path (La Cava, 1940) - BW-93 mins. -  Ginger Rogers won the Academy Award for 1940’s Kitty Foyle but you could probably argue that her performance here was an important factor in that victory. Having two dramatic roles in the same year which were both generally well-regarded couldn’t have hurt. She plays a woman trying to overcome her family’s dim past and falling for Joel McCrea in the process. Marjorie Rambeau was Oscar-nominated for playing Rogers’ mother. The film was done at RKO so it should be with Warner Bros. now in R1. A French DVD from Editions Montparnasse can be had in R2.

Thursday April 1

11:00 AM The First Traveling Saleslady (Lubin, 1956) - C-92 mins. - The Ginger Rogers Star of the Month celebration is winding down but a few of her later movies show up on the schedule today. This sounds like a potential turkey but I can’t resist pointing out a western where Ginger is the star and she’s joined by Carol Channing, James Arness and Clint Eastwood. I just couldn’t forgive myself for ignoring it. The plot is something about Rogers and Channing going from show business to corsets to selling barbed wire in the West. This was the last picture Ginger or anyone else did for RKO and a note of trivia at IMDb states that the New York Times didn’t even bother reviewing it. Not on DVD. Tight Spot officially closes out the Ginger Rogers films at 2:30 PM.

6:00 PM I Thank a Fool (Stevens, 1962) - C-100 mins. - Susan Hayward was always getting into the absolute worst situations in her movies. Here she’s a physician sent to prison on charges of euthanasia who, upon release, ends up caring for the wife of her prosecutor (played by Peter Finch). Peter Sallis, the voice of plasticine cheese lover Wallace, has a small role listed at IMDb as “Sleazy Doctor.” Also, a user review at that site mentions that the movie was filmed in a small fishing village in West Cork, Ireland, a fact that caught my eye. I don’t know of a DVD release. MGM released theatrically so Warner Bros. is the likely rights holder.

Friday April 2

7:45 AM Born to Dance (Del Ruth, 1936) - BW-106 mins. - Here we have Jimmy Stewart as a sailor who helps dancer Eleanor Powell find success on Broadway. Sid Silvers both co-wrote the screenplay and plays Stewart’s pal Gunny. Other cast members include Virginia Bruce, Una Merkel, and Buddy Ebsen, who would have been 102 years old today and has several pictures on today’s schedule. Born to Dance was an MGM feature that hasn’t been released on DVD. Warner Bros. should have the rights. Broadway Melody of 1936, an Oscar nominee for Best Picture that isn’t on DVD, precedes this showing, at 6:00 AM.