Sunday July 19

2:00 PM Not with My Wife, You Don’t! (Panama, 1966) - C-119 mins. - Nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Musical or Comedy category, this promises to be a somewhat interesting entry of the latter variety. Tony Curtis teams with George C. Scott to play a couple of military pilots during the Korean War who both pine after the beautiful Virna Lisi. Some of the behind the scenes credits stand out, like Larry Gelbart as one of the writers and Saul Bass as a consultant on the visual effects. John Williams did the score. Looks like Warner Bros. put the film in theaters, but I don’t think a DVD exists anywhere as of now.

12:15 AM Broken Blossoms (Griffith, 1919) - BW-89 mins. - If you haven’t seen this film or are unsure about where to begin with the work of D.W. Griffith, this might be a good opportunity to familiarize yourself with one of the more famous American silent dramas. Richard Barthelmess plays a Chinese immigrant in London who meets and subsequently falls in love with Lillian Gish’s character, a girl beaten by her father (Donald Crisp). There are multiple DVD versions out there, including one from Kino in R1. The prints TCM screens of silent films are usually of at least adequate quality so watching it here should be an acceptable compromise if you don’t want to go the DVD route.

Monday July 20

8:00 PM A Trip to the Moon (Méliès, 1902) - BW-14 mins. - It seems that a few guys took a walk on the moon 40 years ago this day. TCM is honoring that achievement with a day full of appropriately themed content, including this well known French short, which is a real landmark of early cinema and a familiar influence on the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight” music video. Very cool to see this airing and I had to mention it.

8:15 PM For All Mankind (Reinert, 1989) - C-80 mins. - More closely related to the actual moon landing is Al Reinert’s documentary on the Apollo missions. It’s just been released on Blu-ray and reissued on DVD by the Criterion Collection in R1 and a UK version is forthcoming on both formats from the Masters of Cinema label. If you’re going to see this movie, tonight seems like an apt occasion. I just picked up the Blu-ray at Barnes & Noble’s 50% off Criterion sale, but someone (or some thing) was so concerned with preventing theft that they (or it) put the security tag on the underside of the actual disc! (picture)

Tuesday July 21

8:00 PM Footsteps in the Fog (Lubin, 1955) - C-90 mins. - As mentioned in my post on the upcoming “Brit Noir” retrospective, this picture is headed to New York City’s Film Forum as part of a twin bill with Blanche Fury on August 11. It airs here because of lead Stewart Granger being TCM’s Star of the Month. He plays a widower who is blackmailed by housemaid Jean Simmons when she learns he actually murdered his wife. Arthur Lubin, director of several in the Francis the Talking Mule series, was joined behind the camera by ace cinematographer Christopher Challis. Definitely one to look out for either here or in the double feature if you’re near Manhattan that day, as it’s not available on R1 DVD. Amazon does have it where you can pay to watch on demand.

11:30 PM The Light Touch (Brooks, 1952) - BW-93 mins. - After another crime drama starring Granger, The Secret Partner, this film, co-written and directed by Richard Brooks, follows. In it, Granger is an art thief who lies to George Sanders about a painting he stole, hoping to profit twice from selling the original and the forgery done by artist Pier Angeli. MGM released, likely giving Warner Bros. the rights now. I don’t believe it’s been given a DVD. More Granger goodness afterward, teaming him with Donna Reed in The Whole Truth at 1:15 AM.

4:30 AM Roadblock (Daniels, 1951) - BW-73 mins. - You might be glad to find out Stewart Granger plays no role in this taut little noir. Yes folks, this is what film noir is, not the crime drama or procedural or docudrama that simply involves a murder or an investigation. Roadblock is a true film noir as I like to put it. Usual tough guy Charles McGraw plays a straitlaced insurance investigator who, by chance, meets the high maintenance Joan Dixon and soon finds himself doing anything he can to meet her increasingly expensive needs. Like a lot of the really good noirs, RKO was behind this production. Warner Bros. should have R1 rights and really needs to put the film in a noir set assuming we get another one of those (which has been promised). If there’s a DVD available somewhere, I’m not aware of it.