Sunrise, playing on Monday on TCM

This week’s installment of TCM’s Moguls and Movie Stars film history series takes on the golden age of silent cinema, with some great films to go along with it, including Sunrise, early John Ford western The Iron Horse, and films starring Garbo and Valentino on Monday, then silent comedy – Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd – on Wednesday. Get your stop-motion fix with Harryhausen’s Jason and the Argonauts, then check out the convoluted but visually stunning Night Watch, both on Tuesday. And TCM has a trio of Peter Weir films on Friday, just in time for our discussion on his career as director. And there are a few other newly featured ones scattered throughout our mainstays of repeats.

Monday, November 15

7:45am – IFC – Mr. Hulot’s Holiday
French writer/actor/director Jacques Tati specialized in nearly-silent physical comedy that reminds one at times of Chaplin or Keaton, but with a slightly more ironic French flair about it. In Mr. Hulotís Holiday, a trip to the seashore turns out to be anything but relaxing.
1953 France. Director: Jacques Tati. Starring: Jacques Tati, Nathalie Pascaud, Micheline Rolla.
(repeats at 1:15pm)

11:00am – TCM – Summertime
I havenít seen this David Lean travelogue drama, but Kurt and rot were talking about it in some comments recently, and made me more interested in it than I ever have been before. So maybe Iíll check it out.
1955 USA/UK. Director: David Lean. Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Rosanno Brazzi.

3:45pm – TCM – The Big Heat
Director Fritz Lang came out of the German Expressionist movement of the 1920s, so itís not surprising that he ended up making some of the better noir films, given film noirís borrowing of Expressionist style. Glenn Ford is a cop working against his corrupt department, but the parts youíll remember from the film all belong to Gloria Grahame in a supporting role as a beaten-up gangsterís moll. Her performance and Langís attention to detail raise the otherwise average story to a new level.
1953 USA. Director: Fritz Lang. Starring: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame.
Must See

5:30pm – TCM – The Lady fom Shanghai
Most of Wellesí films, no matter the genre, feel a little noirish in mood, but The Lady from Shanghai is the real thing, complete with fatalistic hero who gets dragged into a murder plot by a femme fatale (Rita Hayworth). And noir set-pieces don’t get much better than the chase sequence set in a bewildering hall of mirrors.
1948 USA. Director: Orson Welles. Starring: Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth.

8:00pm – TCM – Moguls & Movie Stars: The Dream Merchants
TCM moves into the golden age of the silent era, showcasing the height of cinematic artistry before sound came in and forced everyone to relearn how to make films.

9:00pm – TCM – Sunrise
One of the finest artistic achievements in cinema history – the story might be a little flimsy/far-fetched these days, of a man tempted away from his wife by a loose woman but later reconciled – but the use of cinematography and expressionist art direction to create a mesmerizing mood has rarely been matched since. A breathtaking experience still.
1937 USA. Director: F.W. Murnau. Starring: George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston.
Must See
Newly Featured!

12:00M – TCM – The Iron Horse
One of director John Ford’s earliest films, in the genre where he would stake his most enduring claims to cinematic greatness. I’m really looking forward to seeing this for the first time.
1924 USA. Director: John Ford. Starring: George O’Brien, Madge Bellamy, Charles Edward Bull.
Newly Featured!

12:15am (16th) – IFC – The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Any half-decent film about three drag queens driving a bus through the Australian outback in outlandish costumes (and sometimes lipsynching to opera while sitting in an enormous shoe strapped on top of the bus) pretty much has to be fabulous, and this one is. Hugo Weaving is the one with the secret former marriage and son, Terence Stamp the aging one who tends to be somewhat bitter but can also be the consummate lady, and Guy Pearce is the flamboyant youth. As they move through the Outback toward their next proposed gig as lipsynching dancers, they run into mechanical difficulties, bigotry, and interpersonal conflicts that get into more thoughtful territory than you might expect.
1994 Australia. Director: Stephan Elliott. Starring: Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, Terence Stamp, Rebel Penfold-Russell.

2:30am (16th) – TCM – Flesh and the Devil
Not my favorite Garbo film, but it is a good example of her silent melodramas, and it is opposite her most common leading man, John Gilbert. So it’s a good one to check out if you’re interested in seeing one of the most popular screen couples of the era.
1926 USA. Director: Clarence Brown. Starring: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert.

4:30am (16th) – TCM – Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
I haven’t seen this Rudolph Valentino film yet, but any excuse to see a film from one of the first great screen heartthrobs is worth a look.
1921 USA. Directors: Rex Ingram. Starring: Rudolph Valentino, Alice Terry, Pomeroy Cannon.
Newly Featured!

Tuesday, November 16

6:20am – Sundance – The Darjeeling Limited
Not perhaps my favorite Wes Anderson film, but that’s not really that much of a negative statement for one of my favorite directors. Certainly the central image of the train is a fitting one for his flat, widescreen visual style, and the Indian setting allows for great use of color, so if nothing else, it looks freaking gorgeous.
2007 USA. Director: Wes Anderson. Starring: Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Angelica Huston.
(repeats at 12:05pm on the 16th, 10:00pm on the 21st, and 2:15am on the 22nd)

9:00am – TCM – The Red Shoes
Almost all of the films Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger made together are incredibly good, but The Red Shoes might just be the best. In the film, a mix of the tale of Svengali and of Hans Christian Anderson’s story about a ballerina who couldn’t remove the red shoes and was doomed to dance to her death, actual ballerina Moira Shearer is the dancer made successful by a jealous ballet impresario, though she loves a poor composer. The centerpiece of the film is a Technicolor extravaganza performance of the titular ballet, still one of the greatest ballet sequences on film.
1948 UK. Directors: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger. Starring: Moira Shearer, Marius Goring, Anton Walbrook.
Must See

2:30pm – TCM – Sleeper
One of Woody Allen’s early films, and a rare attempt at science fiction on his part, has meek Miles Monroe cryogenically frozen only to wake in a totalitarian future as part of a radical movement to overthrow the government. A rather different film for Woody, but still with his signature anxious wit and awkwardness.
1973 USA. Director: Woody Allen. Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory.

4:00pm – TCM – Jason and the Argonauts
This mythological adventure is fairly on the campy side, but any chance to see Harryhausen stop motion effects is pretty much worth it, if you ask me.
1963 USA. Director: Don Chaffey. Starring: Todd Armstrong, Nancy Kovack, Gary Raymond.
Newly Featured!

8:30pm – Sundance – Hannah Takes the Stairs
Following a largely improvised script, Hannah is a twenty-something struggling through a failing relationship with her boyfriend and the possibility of relationships with two of her coworkers. There isnít much more plot to mention, and the lack of development and uncertainty of its heroine can be a little frustrating. On the other hand, thereís a rawness here that feels more real than most films and a lack of polish that can be quite refreshing.
2007 USA. Director: Joe Swanberg. Starring: Greta Gerwig, Andrew Bujalski, Kent Osborne.
(repeats at 1:30am on the 17th, 8:35pm on the 21st, and 12:45am on the 22nd)

4:00am (17th) – IFC – Night Watch
Wildly inventive sci-fi vision from Russian director Timur Bekmambetov – a little too ambitious for its own good, perhaps, and not as coherent as it could be, but the ideas and mythology behind it are too good to pass up.
2004 Russia. Director: Timur Bekmambetov. Starring: Konstantin Khabenskiy, Vladimir Menshov, Mariya Poroshina.
Newly Featured!

Wednesday, November 17

4:00pm – TCM – My Darling Clementine
John Fordís version of the famous confrontation at the OK Corral actually focuses more on Wyatt Earpís fictional romance with the fictional Clementine than on the real-life Earp/Clanton feud, but history aside, this is one of the greatest and most poetic westerns on film, proving yet again Fordís mastery of the genre and of cinema.
1946 USA. Director: John Ford. Starring: Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Linda Darnell, Cathy Downs, Walter Brennan, Tim Holt.
Must See

8:00pm – TCM – The Kid
One of the earliest Chaplin films that’s long enough to be considered a feature, and one of his most memorable. His signature combination of slapstick physical comedy and pathos come to a perfect union here, as the Little Tramp takes responsibility for a young boy (the adorable Jackie Coogan).
1921 USA. Director: Charles Chaplin. Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance.
Must See
Newly Featured!

9:00pm – TCM – The Pilgrim
On a variation of the Little Tramp persona, Chaplin here is an escaped convict who grabs the first clothes he can find to change into, which happen to be those of a preacher, for whom he is mistaken in the nearby small town. Mistaken identity is always good for a laugh, especially with Chaplin at the wheel.
1923 USA. Director: Charles Chaplin. Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Syd Chaplin.
Newly Featured!

11:15pm – TCM – One Week
Buster and Sybil embark on their life together as newlyweds, planning to build a prefabricated house themselves. Everything goes wrong. Everything. One of the most sustained gag films Keaton ever made.
1920 USA. Director: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton. Starring: Buster Keaton, Sybil Seely, Joe Roberts.
Newly Featured!

11:45pm – TCM – Steamboat Bill Jr.
One of Buster Keaton’s best-loved films; Keaton is a city boy from Boston who goes to visit his estranged father, a steamboat captain who tries to train Keaton in the ways of the river while holding off a competing shipowner (Keaton doesn’t help matters by wanting to date the rival’s daughter). Everything comes to a head in an amazing extended set-piece with Keaton attempting to rescue his father from being arrested – during a hurricane.
1928 USA. Director: Charles Reisner. Starring: Buster Keaton, Ernest Torrence, Tom McGuire, Marion Byron.

1:00am (18th) – TCM – Safety Last!
Finishing off the trifecta of great silent comedians is Harold Lloyd, and this is his most famous film. He’s a mousy department store clerk, trying to earn enough money to bring his girlfriend from the country to join him in the city. It culminates in the famous building-climbing setpiece, which is incredible even before you remember that he did the stunts himself and there’s no CGI involved.
1923 USA. Director: Fred C. Newymeyer, Sam Taylor. Starring: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother.
Must See

2:30am (18th) – TCM – It
Clara Bow was the 1920s original It Girl (from Elinor Glyn’s famous description of sex appeal as an undefinable “it”), and it’s fitting that she starred in the film adaptation of Glyn’s novel. It’s a pretty flimsy story, but worth seeing just to see Bow in her element.
1927 USA. Director: Clarence G. Badger. Starring: Clara Bow, Antonio Moreno, William Austin.
Newly Featured!

4:00am (18th) – TCM – Show People
A pretty well-regarded silent film, with Marion Davies in one of her best roles as a Hollywood starlet.
1928 USA. Director: King Vidor. Starring: Marion Davies, William Haines, Dell Henderson.

Thursday, November 18

9:30am – IFC – Strictly Ballroom
The first of Baz Lurhmannís ìRed Curtainî trilogy, about a Latin ballroom dancer who shakes up the Australian ballroom competition circuit with his unorthodox choreography. Among other things. A little shrill at times, but mostly funny and endearing, and less borderline schizophrenic than the rest of the trilogy (which I love, don’t get me wrong).
1992 Australia. Director: Baz Luhrmann. Starring: Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice, Bill Hunter, Pat Thomson, Gia Carides.
(repeats at 2:35pm)

10:00pm – TCM – On the Beach
After nuclear war, most of humanity is destroyed; a small outpost in Australia survives, but not for long. See David’s longer take here;.
1959 USA. Director: Stanley Kramer. Starring: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire.

Friday, November 19

8:00pm – TCM – The Last Wave
Well, well, well, we were just talking about Peter Weir films in a recent post, and now TCM’s got a triple feature of them. I haven’t seen this one, but the IMDb description sounds pretty interesting: “A Sydney lawyer defends five Aborigines in a ritualized taboo murder and in the process learns disturbing things about himself.”
1977 Australia. Director: Peter Weir. Starring: Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett, David Gulpilil.
Newly Featured!

10:00pm – TCM – Gallipoli
A thoughtful war film about Australians fighting in Turkey during WWI, with an early role for Mel Gibson.
1981 Australia. Director: Peter Weir. Starring: Mel Gibson, Mark Lee, Bill Kerr.
Newly Featured!

12:00M – TCM – Picnic at Hanging Rock
I have a love-hate relationship with Aussie director Peter Weir. His films are almost always slow and methodical, which works for me sometimes and not others. It works in Picnic at Hanging Rock, one of his earlier films, in which a group of schoolgirls goes into the wilderness for a picnic and mysteriously disappear.
1975 Australia. Director: Peter Weir. Starring: Anne-Louise Lambert, Rachel Roberts, Vivean Gray, Tony Llewellyn-Jones, Karen Robson.

12:00M – IFC – Carrie
There aren’t that many movies that you can say are equally loved by horror fans and feminist academics, but Carrie is one of them – Carrie’s physical coming-of-age sparks telekinetic abilities, allowing her to take bloody revenge on the schoolkids who mistreated her. And who can’t relate to that, really?
1976 USA. Director: Brian DePalma. Starring: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving.

Saturday, November 20

6:00am – IFC – Love’s Labour’s Lost
Kenneth Branagh has taken on a lot of Shakespeare plays and usually does them with incredible fidelity (like his uncut, four-plus hour-long Hamlet). This time around, he takes a lesser-known comedy and adds music by Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern to turn it into a 1930s style musical. It doesnít work all the time, but for fans of Shakespeare and old musicals (like me), itís still a fun watch.
2000 USA. Director: Kenneth Branagh. Starring: Alessandro Nivolo, Alicia Silverstone, Natascha McElhone, Kenneth Branagh, Matthew Lillard.

12:35pm – Sundance – No One Knows About Persian Cats
A pair of Iranian rock musicians, unable to perform their music publicly because the government won’t give them a permit, try to put together a final underground gig to raise money to escape the country – it’s based on the actual story of the two people playing the musicians, so there’s an intriguing intersection of reality and fiction. Plus I’m always fascinated by underground Iranian film, and I’m glad to see Sundance playing this one.
2009 Iran. Director: Bahman Ghobadi. Starring: Negar Shaghaghi, Ashkan Koshanejad, Hamed Behdad.

Sunday, November 21

4:15pm – TCM – Suspicion
Alfred Hitchcock’s second American film, and he reuses Joan Fontaine in the lead, giving her yet another somewhat mousy wife who may have reason to be suspicious of her husband Cary Grant, who may or may not be trying to slowly poison her. Not top tier Hitchcock, but definitely has its moments.
1941 USA. Director: Alfred Hitchcock. Starring: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Cedric Hardwicke.
Newly Featured!

5:00pm – Sundance – Nights of Cabiria
Nights of Cabiria, one of the films Federico Fellini made during his sorta-neo-realist phase, casts Masina as a woman of the night, following her around almost non-committally, yet with a lot of care and heart. And Masina is simply amazing in everything she does – not classically beautiful, but somehow incredibly engaging for every second sheís onscreen.
1957 Italy. Director: Federico Fellini. Starring: Giulietta Masina, François Périer, Franca Marzi.
Must See

6:00pm – TCM – High Society
This is not one of the best music-centric films ever made, but it is the musical version of The Philadelphia Story, with both Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra crooning it up with songs by Cole Porter. Oh, and one of Grace Kellyís last roles before she retired to become a princess and stuff. Still, you wish with that pedigree that it were better than it is. Ah, well.
1956 USA. Director: Charles Walters. Starring: Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Celeste Holm, Louis Calhern.

3:15am (22nd) – IFC – The Piano
I often find Jane Campion films overly pretentious, but this one strikes the right chord, with Holly Hunter as a mute woman in an arranged marriage who finds love with one of her husbands’ hired hands – but stealing the show is her young daughter, an Oscar-winning performance by Anna Paquin.
1993 New Zealand. Director: Jane Campion. Starring: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Anna Paquin.
Newly Featured!

4:00am (22nd) – TCM – Seconds
Rock Hudson decides he wants a new life and lucky for him, his wealth can buy it for him – a new face, a new identity, a new life, via a surgical procedure and the convenient death of the person whose identity he now has. I didn’t think too much of this film when I first saw it years ago, but enough people I respect think it’s fantastic that it’s probably time to check it out again.
1966 USA. Director: John Frankenheimer. Starring: Rock Hudson, Salome Jens, John Randolph.
Newly Featured!