Turner Classic Movies August 2015

I will miss the "summer of darkness,"  the many films noirs that TCM showed in June and July; I also took the excellent course they offered, free, through Ball State University and the Canvas Network, taught by Richard Edwards.  There are, however, many good films on TCM in August.  As usual, I recommend any films by Chaplin, Hawks, Lubitsch and Ford.  The best Chaplin in August is A Woman of Paris (1923), August 3,an elegant melodrama that was a major influence on Lubitsch and others.  The best Lubitsch film of August is Ninotchka (1939), Aug 26,with Garbo at her best in one of the few films she made with a director who understood her. The best Ford and Hawks films star John Wayne:  Ford's The Searchers (1956) and Hawks's Rio Bravo (1959), each something of a farewell to the classical Western.  The best post-classical Westerns are by Sam Peckinpah:  Ride the High Country (1962) and The Wild Bunch (1969), both on Aug. 24.  Other movies I like and recommend include:
Aug. 1  Otto Preminger's Advise and Consent (1962).  One of the loveliest films made in widescreen black-and-white and one of the few intelligent films about American politics.

Aug. 2  James Whale's The Great Garrick (1937).  A vivid film about the great 18th C. actor and the times in which he lived, by the stylish director who did not make just horror films.

Aug. 3  The Tall Target (1951).  Terrific B film by Anthony Mann, about the attempted assassination of Lincoln.

Aug. 5  Films starring Fred Astaire, one of Balanchine's favorite dancers.  My favorites include the elegant Shall We Dance (1937,with music by the Gershwins) and Minnelli's melancholic The Band Wagon (1953).

Aug. 6  Joseph Losey's The Romantic Englishwoman (1973), with an intriguing screenplay by Tom Stoppard

Aug. 7  Howard Hawks's Bringing Up Baby (1938), one of the best of that generally overrated genre "the screwball comedy."

Aug. 8  Raoul Walsh's Desperate Journey (1942), one of Walsh's felicitous collaborations with Errol Flynn.

Aug.12 Nicholas Ray's The Lusty Men(1952) and Minnelli's Home From the Hill (1960), two of the best films starring Robert Mitchum

Aug. 15 Max Ophuls's The Exile (1947).  Stylish film, with beautiful tracking shots, made by someone who was himself an exile.

Aug. 16 Michael Curtiz's The Breaking Point (1950).  A powerful and moving version of Hemingway's To Have and Have Not, considerably more downbeat than Hawks's version.

Aug. 24  Budd Boetticher's The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960), one of the last classical gangster films.

Aug 27  Frank Borzage's Three Comrades (1938),  A film somewhat ahead of its time in its depiction of Nazi Germany, made by one of the most romantic of directors.

Aug. 28  Rossellini's Viaggio in Italia (1955).  A masterpiece of post-neorealism.

Aug 29  Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder (1959).  A best-seller turned into an exploration of objectivity and ambiguity.

Aug. 30  Billy Wilder's Love in the Afternoon (1957).  With a gracefully aging Gary Cooper in love with Audrey Hepburn.