So my copy of Warner Bros.’ Wagon Master release just arrived and it’s immediately obvious that the case is very light. I open it up and there are large holes in the plastic - eco-friendly packaging. Saving the environment is great, but I don’t think this is the way to do it. Another check mark against the WB in what has been a truly disappointing year. On the plus side, I like that the spine on Wagon Master incorporates the colors from the cover art instead of being a solid color (often black) like the studio has done the last couple of years. Great artwork on the front too. I’m also pleased with TCM’s schedule this week, with several lesser known movies slipping in. As always, all times are EDT and program days begin at 6:00 AM.

Saturday September 26

12:00 AM Genghis Khan (Levin, 1965) - C-126 mins. - If you’ve already watched the nearly four hours of Ben-Hur which precede this showing, here’s a chance to see star of the night Stephen Boyd in yet another historical epic. Omar Sharif is the man who would be Khan while his noticeably light-skinned co-stars include James Mason, Eli Wallach and Telly Savalas. The woman at the center of things was played by Françoise Dorléac, who would be seen the following year in Polanski’s Cul-de-sac. The Yugoslavian-shot Genghis Khan was distributed by Columbia. Sony presumably has the rights now, though it’s not available on DVD in R1. I see an edition can be had from Spain.

Monday September 28

11:45 PM See No Evil (Fleischer, 1971) - C-89 mins. - Listed at IMDb as Blind Terror (the UK title and a better one, in my opinion), this Richard Fleischer-directed thriller stars Mia Farrow as a blind woman who returns to her country home not realizing that there’s a house full of corpses. Elmer Bernstein did the score. Anything halfway curious-sounding from Fleischer I tend to mention (and usually watch) so this has my attention. It’s Columbia and was on DVD in R1, but is now out of print and fetching high prices through third party sellers at Amazon. There’s also an R2 disc in the UK.

1:30 AM A Dandy in Aspic (Mann, Harvey, 1968) - C-107 mins. - Unfortunately, it’s morbid curiosity that’s responsible for most of the interest in this film. Director Anthony Mann died of a heart attack during production and had to be replaced by a largely in over his head Laurence Harvey, also the star of the picture. I haven’t seen it but most of the reaction I’ve read hasn’t been very positive. The plot sounds promising, with Harvey as a British spy assigned to kill a Russian agent despite Harvey’s character being the only one who realizes the two men are one and the same. One of my favorites, Tom Courtenay, is second-billed while Mia Farrow, Harry Andrews and Peter Cook help round out the cast. The score was done by Quincy Jones. This too was made for Columbia Pictures and hasn’t been released on DVD in R1. Sony did put it out in the UK.

Tuesday September 29

6:00 AM Blossoms in the Dust (LeRoy, 1941) - C-100 mins. - This was released on DVD by Warner Bros. last year in the Classic Holiday Collection Vol. 2 set, but I don’t have that nor do I really want it. For some reason, Netflix doesn’t seem to carry Blossoms in the Dust so I’ve been waiting for TCM to show the film again (it was an Oscar nominee for Best Picture) and I’m glad the channel is obliging. Greer Garson, who also received Academy recognition for her performance and who’s in all of the films airing during the day, stars as a real-life champion of orphans’ rights in Texas. Walter Pidgeon plays her husband.

10:00 PM The Road Builder (Reid, 1971) - C-96 mins. - Adapted for the screen by Roald Dahl, this one has his wife Patricia Neal as the lead in a story about a drifter who becomes a handyman for a spinster, leaving the film room for the exploration of various sexual and psychological undercurrents. It’s also known, perhaps more popularly, as The Night Digger. The picture is airing on TCM as the final night of a monthlong tribue to composer Bernard Herrmann and I’m anxious to catch it. Looks like MGM released originally, probably giving Warner Bros. the rights, though there isn’t a DVD out in R1. Weird how the rating listed at IMDb is “X” in the UK and “R” in the U.S. but only “TV-PG” now. Progress, I suppose.

12:00 AM Obsession (De Palma, 1976) - C-98 mins. - Another Bernard Herrmann score follows, in Brian De Palma’s Hitchcock-inspired (Vertigo, to be specific) tale of a man (Cliff Robertson) taken with the woman who looks like just like his murdered wife (Genevieve Bujold). De Palma’s films have never done anything for me but I can’t remember ever watching this one and the R1 DVD from Sony is - surprise - out of print and now very expensive to obtain. Paul Schrader’s presence as screenwriter on Obsession also perks me up. His most famous piece of writing, Taxi Driver (also with Hermann’s last score), follows at 2:00 AM.

Wednesday September 30

8:30 AM The Green Years (Saville, 1946) - BW-125 mins. - I’ve grown fond of Charles Coburn after seeing a couple of his comedic performances so here’s a presuambly good example of the actor’s more serious side. He was Oscar-nominated for playing a Scottish grandfather who raises an orphaned Irish boy. Dean Stockwell plays the boy as a youth. It’s easy to forget how great and long-lasting a career Stockwell has had. He doesn’t get enough attention. The cast also includes the real-life married couple Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, with the latter actually in the role of the former’s daughter! The Green Years hasn’t made it to DVD yet. Having been done for MGM, it should now be a Warner Bros. property.

10:00 PM Twilight of Honor (Sagal, 1963) - BW-104 mins. - The, er, reign of Claude Rains as Star of the Month comes to a close tonight. Some nice and noirish films are on tap, including They Won’t Forget, the Warner Archive-d The Unsuspected, and the solid Where Danger Lives where Rains has just one scene but still makes a strong impact. There’s also this legal drama starring a Kildare-era Richard Chamberlain as a lawyer who must defend client Nick Adams, in an Oscar-nominated turn. (It was Rains’ next-to-last film to be released, coming two years before The Greatest Story Ever Told.) It was an MGM production, now probably controlled by Warner Bros. and not on DVD.

Thursday October 1

8:00 AM Nora Prentiss (Sherman, 1947) - BW-112 mins. - Melodrama noir starring Ann Sheridan and recently relegated to the Warner Archive treatment by the magnificent WB. Sheridan is a night club singer mildly injured and treated by married doctor Kent Smith. The doc falls head over heels and wants to be with Sheridan by any means necessary, causing super problems for both. Robert Alda and Bruce Bennett head the supporting cast. Behind the scenes, Franz Waxman composed and the incomparable James Wong Howe was cinematographer. It’s a full Warner Bros. picture and it should be, in a just world, available widely on a real, pressed disc.

Friday October 2

3:30 AM The Wild Party (Horner, 1956) - BW-82 mins. - TCM’s regular dose of sleaze and cheese on the Friday night Underground continues with this Anthony Quinn starrer about an ex-football player who becomes part of a “wild party” and gets involved in kidnapping and extortion. Kathryn Grant (future wife of Bing Crosby) plays the teenager Honey. This was the last feature directed by Horner, whose other pictures haven’t impressed me but who had a better career as a production designer on films like The Hustler and Walter Hill’s The Driver. United Artists released The Wild Party in cinemas and it’s not on DVD in R1. The rights are likely to be with MGM.