Not as much to recommend as usual, as TCM starts its salute to the Oscars. There are some good things, though they are mainly Oscar nominees (for those few who may not have noticed: the Oscars seldom go to the best films).
Several John Huston films this month. As I have recently written, in my post Jan. 15 on The Man Who Would Be King, Huston's style now seems quite classic and his vision of those who fail -- not always through any fault of their own -- is uniquely personal. The Man Who Would Be King is showing on Feb. 6, The Maltese Falcon on the 19th, The Asphalt Jungle on Feb. 7, Under the Volcano and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean on the 21st, Night of the Iguana on the 25th.
On Feb. 3 is The Third Man, written by Graham Greene and directed by Carol Reed.
On the 4th is Sam Peckinpah's elegant but violent Western The Wild Bunch and Budd Boetticher's classic gangster film The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (which I have written about previously)
Raoul Walsh's White Heat, a corrosive film about violence and mother-love, is on Feb. 5 and his lovely and funny period film, The Strawberry Blonde, is on Feb. 29.
There are three stylish comedies directed by Lubitsch are on Feb.5: Heaven Can Wait, The Love Parade, The Smiling Lieutenant.
On Feb. 6 is Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause, wonderful use of widescreen and color.
Feb. 10 is Jean Renoir's This Land of Mine, 1943, a film about the occupation in France, made by Renoir in Hollywood.
The 14th has Leo McCarey's Love Affair, his comedy of re-marriage The Awful Truth, and George Cukor's Adam's Rib, the best of the Tracy/Hepburn comedies.
The 15 has John Ford's Stagecoach and on the 18th is Vincente Minnelli's melancholic musical, Bandwagon.
On the 19th is Anthony Mann's T-Men, with cinematography by John Alton, a master of light and shadow.
On the 22nd is Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent, with production design by William Cameron Menzies (TCM did a tribute to Menzies in January).
The 26th has Lubitsch's Ninotchka, written by Billy Wilder and containing a favorite joke of mine.
And on the 29th is Howard Hawks's Only Angels Have Wings, 1939, the best civilian airplane film.
As always, please contact me if you want more information about any films that TCM is showing.
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