Only four days of this week are mentioned, but really it’s Monday and Tuesday with most of the treats. Add in some noir on Wednesday and I can’t complain a bit. Monday is centered around the Telluride Film Festival while Tuesday has Joan Blondell and Bernard Herrmann. Lots to watch. As always, all times are EDT and program days begin at 6:00 AM.

Sunday September 6

10:00 PM Nickelodeon (Bogdanovich, 1976) - C-122 mins. - If you look back at the films Peter Bogdanovich made in the 1970s, and not all can be easily seen right now, they typically either take place decades earlier or act as a somewhat modern homage to a time from the past. The inspiration then often comes from Hollywood’s golden age. Nickelodeon, which finally hit R1 DVD earlier this year in both its original color version and a newly created black and white director’s cut, stars Ryan O’Neal as a lawyer who becomes a screenwriter and then a director during the movies’ silent era. The cast also includes Burt Reynolds, Tatum O’Neal, Brian Keith, and Stella Stevens. If you notice a voice that sounds like the cartoon cat Garfield, that would be Lorenzo Music. That DVD release is from Sony and also includes The Last Picture Show.

Monday September 7

6:00 AM The Godless Girl (De Mille, 1929) - BW-119 mins. - A silent from Cecil B. De Mille wherein atheism ruins lives. Lina Basquette (a Warner widow already at just 20 years old) is “The Girl” and ill-fated Marie Prevost is “The Other Girl” while Tom Keene (aka George Duryea) is “The Boy.” When Christianity gets left behind for secret meetings bubbling with godlessness, disaster strikes in the form of a school stairwell and a reformatory fire (with sets designed by Mitchell Leisen). When the film was finally released in 1929 audiences were anxious for talking pictures, and this ended up being De Mille’s final silent. If you miss this showing or just enjoyed it so much you have to own a copy, there is a release in R1 but it’s not a standalone. The Godless Girl is part of the Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film 1900-1934 set, which isn’t cheap but does include lots of other fascinating things from that era.

11:00 AM Uncle Silas (Frank, 1947) - BW-103 mins. - If director Charles Frank’s name doesn’t immediately make any sort of impression, don’t worry, as he only made three features and one of those was in his native Belgium. That leaves the little-seen Intimate Relations (adapted from a Jean Cocteau play) and this film, also known as The Inheritance and starring Jean Simmons and Katina Paxinou. The plot has Simmons’ father dying and her going to live with the title character (Derrick De Marney), who plots with Paxinou’s governess to kill the young woman for her inheritance. Because this was a British film not distributed by a major studio in the U.S., I’m not sure at all as to where the R1 rights would be. It’s not on DVD here or in the UK. There is a Greek R2 import edition that seems to exist. Anthony Mann’s searing French Revolution noir The Black Book follows at 1:00 PM. The eclectic set of films TCM is showing today form a nice tribute to the Telluride Film Festival.

3:45 PM Park Row (Fuller, 1952) - BW-83 mins. - Not the first time TCM has shown Sam Fuller’s self-financed tribute to early newspaper men, but it is the only airing since John Sayles served as guest programmer way back in January 2008. Still no DVD either. I think MGM controls the rights to the film. After Fuller had worked for producer Robert Lippert’s independent production company on his first three films, each doing modestly well, and moved up to Fox for the also successful Fixed Bayonets!, he thought it would be a good time to pour himself into a real passion project about the men, like the lead character played by Gene Evans, who were leading the charge of the press in late 19th century New York City. He couldn’t find any backers so Fuller did the whole thing with his own money, which he failed to make back after the movie underperformed at the box office. He got his picture though, and you can see the drive Fuller had in every frame.

Tuesday September 8

7:15 AM Three Girls About Town (Jason, 1941) - BW-73 mins. - Joan Blondell fans take note: TCM has five of her films airing this morning and none seem to be on DVD. Airing just before this one is Off the Record, a drama also with Pat O’Brien, and three comedies she did with Melvyn Douglas and director Alexander Hall follow. That leaves Joan with Binnie Barnes as sisters working at a hotel who must find a good hiding spot for a dead body in between conventions. Robert Benchley co-stars as the hotel manager. Director Leigh Jason had some experience with kooky dead body films having made The Mad Miss Manton a few years earlier. A Columbia picture, Three Girls About Town has been hidden quite well by the folks at Sony.

1:15 PM The Clay Pigeon (Fleischer, 1949) - BW-63 mins. - How exciting of a day for the Blondell mini-marathon to be followed by this rarely shown Richard Fleischer film noir. A man (played by Bill Williams) awakens from a coma to learn he’s been court-martialed for treason after being in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. Barbara Hale (the future Della Street on Perry Mason) co-stars as a helpful military widow. I’m anxious to finally get to watch this film after seeing it mentioned often over the years. RKO originally released, likely giving Warner Bros. the rights. It’s not on DVD.

8:00 PM Five Fingers (Mankiewicz, 1952) - BW-108 mins. - Or, if you prefer, 5 Fingers. Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz was Oscar-nominated for his work here, as was screenwriter Michael Wilson. The espionage-laden plot sounds rather complicated, and my memory of seeing the film is fuzzy, but TCM’s description mentions that a British valet (James Mason) in Turkey during WWII sells secrets to the Germans. Ophuls’ Madame de… Danielle Darrieux is the female lead. For some reason, the film rarely shows up or gets mentioned. This is Mankiewicz’s centenary year and while a few tributes have popped up, no momentum has crept into the DVD world so far. Fox has the rights here in R1 but hasn’t released the film. In terms of studios failing to realize the potential of catalog DVD releases, Fox has become the new Sony. Even when Fox was very active in that market, the choices were often baffling, and not finding a place for this film or Wild River or Bigger Than Life, just to name a few, makes no sense to me. Optimum has had a more than affordable edition out in the UK for over five years now.

2:00 AM The Naked and the Dead (Walsh, 1958) - C-131 mins. - Raoul Walsh directed the screen version of Norman Mailer’s novel about an Army platoon in the Philippines during World War II. Cliff Robertson is the main character, a lieutenant who serves as an aide to the general played by Raymond Massey. Aldo Ray is the combative sergeant. Had The Night of the Hunter not tanked at the box office, this film might very well have starred Robert Mitchum and been directed by Charles Laughton. Like Five Fingers, it continues the monthlong celebration of composer Bernard Herrmann by TCM. RKO was the intended releasing studio, but Warner Bros. actually distributed the film. The same production company that made The Night of the Hunter was also behind The Naked and the Dead so I’m not certain whether Warner Bros. would have any control in R1 or if, like the Laughton picture, MGM might currently have the rights (though United Artists did distribute Hunter originally). Probably Warner Bros. Either way, it’s unreleased on DVD.

Wednesday September 9

11:15 AM Dial 1119 (Mayer, 1950) - BW-75 mins. - Film noir in the daylight on TCM this Wednesday. Four of the pictures are on DVD in Warner Bros. much-missed noir sets plus there’s Loretta Young in Cause for Alarm which is available from Alpha Video. Dial 1119 is one of a quartet of unreleased-in-R1 movies. It’s a hostage drama, where an ex-mental patient murders a bus driver and then holds the patrons of a bar against their will. Marshall Thompson is the madman, but the cast also includes Andrea King, Sam Levene and William Conrad. Director Gerald Mayer was mostly a television guy. It was made for MGM, meaning Warner Bros. should now have the rights.

4:45 PM While the City Sleeps (Lang, 1956) - BW-100 mins. - It was just a few days ago that TCM showed this newspaper drama directed by Frtiz Lang, but I only mentioned it in passing then as part of Ida Lupino’s day. Dana Andrews is the star, as he was on Lang’s other 1956 film Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, but this is altogether different. While the City Sleeps is a looser, almost sprawling look at the inner workings of a newspaper in turmoil after the publisher dies and his son (Vincent Price) pits three men (James Craig, George Sanders, and Thomas Mitchell) against each other and the clock, with the first to get the scoop on an uncaught serial killer receiving a promotion to run the paper. It’s really an excellent, layered film and not on DVD thanks to, I believe, Warner Bros. A British noir with Maggie Smith, Nowhere to Go, follows at 6:30 PM.