TCM is undergoing quite the change. I’m still getting used to it. I’m open for refreshes as long as TCM doesn’t betray their mission.
STAR OF THE MONTH: PAUL ROBESON (SUNDAYS)
September 2021 marks the first time Paul Robeson has been named TCM’s Star of the Month. Robeson had so many talents-he played football at Rutgers, he could sing with a baritone/bass voice, he was a civil rights activist, he had successful careers in acting and music. Need I say more?
TCM celebrates the pioneer with the majority of his films starting with his film debut (playing twins, no less!) in Oscar Micheaux’s Body and Soul (September 5 @ 8PM/7PM) followed by the Oscar-winning documentary short, Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist (September 5 @ 9:45PM/8:45PM) and ending with perhaps his best known film,The Emperor Jones (September 5 @ 10:30PM/9:30PM). Night two begins with Paul memorably singing ‘Ol Man River in the 1936 adaptation of Jerome Kern’s Show Boat (September 12 @ 8PM/7PM) then Robeson is a Nigerian chieftan in Sanders of the River (September 12 @10:15PM/9:15PM) and a dockworker who befriends a runaway in the TCM premiere of Big Fella (September 12 @ 11:45PM/10:45PM). Night three starts with Song of Freedom (September 19 @ 8PM/7PM) where Robeson demanded and got final cut approval, followed by 1937’s King Solomon’ Mines (September 19 @ 9:30PM/8:30PM) and Jericho (September 19 @ 11PM/10PM) where an AWOL Paul joins a nomadic tribe to escape punishment. Finally, on night four, Robeson is dockworker in The Proud Valley (September 26 @ 8PM/7PM) and another documentary, The Tallest Tree in Our Forest (September 26 @ 9:30PM/8:30PM), a TCM premiere.
NOIR ALLEY
Hey noiristas! Here’s September’s lineup.
- Cloudburst (September 4 & 5)-a Hammer-produced film where Robert Preston tries to find his pregnant wife’s killers.
- Drive a Crooked Road (September 11 & 12)-auto mechanic Mickey Rooney falls head over heels in love with gangster’s gal Dianne Foster and is forced to participate in a bank heist.
- Human Desire (September 18 & 19)-in this remake of Jean Renoir’s Le Bete Humaine, train boss Broderick Crawford’s wife Gloria Grahame tries to get engineer Glenn Ford to kill her husband.
- Hell Bound (September 25 & 26)-TCM premiere. According to Wikipedia, the movie is about a criminal gang plots the robbery of a ship containing $2 million worth of surplus narcotics left over from WWII. Not surprisingly, the plan goes awry.
MITZI GAYNOR’S 90TH BIRTHDAY (SEPTEMBER 4)
One of the last living stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age celebrates her 90th birthday on September 4. TCM presents a double feature of Gaynor’s films, both released in 1957. First is Les Girls (8PM/7PM), Gaynor is one of the members of a dance troupe called “Barry Nichols and Les Girls” and one of the ladies (not Mitzi) has written a tell-all book and is being sued for libel. The second film is the drama The Joker is Wild (10:15PM/9:15PM) where Gaynor plays real-life actress Martha Stewart (no, not THAT Martha Stewart) who was briefly married to film subject Joe E. Lewis who is played by Frank Sinatra.
MUSIC BY ENNIO MORRICONE (SEPTEMBER 6)
Italian composed Ennio Morricone created over 400 musical scores in film and television. TCM airs just a sample on September 6. First is Cinema Paradiso (8PM/7PM), the story of a boy who develops a love affair with the movies. Next is The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (10:15PM/9:15PM), the Sergio Leone spaghetti western. I had no idea Morricone composed that score! The other two films on the docket are The Battle of Algiers (1:30AM/12:30AM) and Bugsy (3:45AM/2:45AM).
DIRECTED BY MIKE NICHOLS (SEPTEMBER 8)
TCM celebrates the directing career of one of the greats, Mike Nichols. The night starts with Nichols second film, The Graduate (8PM/7PM) followed by the TCM premiere of his PBS American Masters documentary, American Masters: Mike Nichols (10PM/9PM), then to his directorial debut Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (11PM/10PM) and finally the live concert Gilda Live (1:30AM/12:30AM) starring comedienne Gilda Radner.
STARRING GEORGE C. SCOTT (SEPTEMBER 21)
TCM airs a night of films starring one of the most intense actors ever, George C. Scott. The night starts with Scott’s Oscar-winning role as General George S. Patton in Patton (8PM/7PM). The actor famously refused his Oscar stating he did not want any part of awards campaign. Next is The Hospital (11PM/10PM) where George runs a hospital. The other two films airing are 1972’s Rage (1AM/midnight) and The Last Run (3AM/2AM).
THE START OF AUTUMN (SEPTEMBER 22)
I can’t believe Fall is almost here. I’m still wearing shorts! TCM celebrates the day with a twist-all of the films airing this evening have “Autumn” as past of its title. So, without further ado…
- Autumn Leaves (8PM/7PM)-middle-aged Joan Crawford starts a romance with the younger Cliff Robertson.
- Cheyenne Autumn (10PM/9PM)-John Ford’s atonement to his portrayal of Native Americans.
- Autumn Sonata (12:45AM/11:45PM)-concert pianist Ingrid Bergman visits estranged daughter Liv Ullmann
- An Autumn Afternoon (2:30AM/1:30AM)-the final film of director Yasujiro Ozu.
- The Winds of Autumn (4:30AM/3:30AM)-TCM premiere. A boy travels across the Montana wilderness after the murder of his parents.
TCM REMEMBERS NED BEATTY (SEPTEMBER 28)
If Ned Beatty will be remembered for anything, okay, it’s the “squeal like a pig!” scene in Deliverance. However, the second thing will be this 5-minute monologue in 1976’s Network (8PM/7PM) where he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. TCM remembers the character actor with 5 films, three are TCM premieres. Beatty plays the father of a young cancer patient in Promises in the Dark (10:15PM/9:15PM), an Irish opera star in 1991’s Hear My Song (12:30AM/11:30PM), an undercover agent in Silver Streak (2:30AM/1:30AM) which is also the first teaming of Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder and a doctor in Chattahoochee (4:30AM/3:30AM).
NATIONAL SILENT MOVIE DAY (SEPTEMBER 29)
There’s so many “days” celebrating pirates, hot dogs, chocolate chip cookies, etc.; why not have a day celebrating, preserving, and creating access to silent films? So TCM has programmed a 24-hour lineup of some of silent cinema’s greatest films plus three documentaries about film pioneers. Here’s the movies airing on National Silent Film Day:
- Flesh and the Devil (6:15AM/5:15AM)-watch Greta Garbo and John Gilbert steam up the screen.
- The Wind (8:15AM/7:15AM)-new bride Lillian Gish goes mad in her new isolated desert home.
- The Battleship Potemkin (9:45AM/8:45AM)-you’ll only remember the much-copied massacre on the Odessa stairs.
- City Lights (11AM/10AM)-Charlie Chaplin raises money for a blind florist to restore her eyesight.
- Within Our Gates (12:30PM/11:30AM)-a black schoolteacher fights against racism.
- The Passion of Joan of Arc (2PM/1PM)-Carl Theodore Dryer’s account of the trial and execution of the future saint.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (4PM/3PM)-Rudolph Valentino does the tango and America, especially women, notice.
- The Freshman (6:30PM/5:30PM)-college boy Harold Lloyd joins the football team.
- The Melies Mystery (8PM/7PM)-a 2021 documentary about restoring 270 of 520(!) Georges Melies films.
- A Trip to the Moon (9:15PM/8:15PM)-a group of scientists take a trip to the moon. Made in 1902!
- Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache (9:30PM/8:30PM)-the story of the pioneering filmmaker and the search for her descendants.
- The Great Buster: A Celebration (11:15PM/10:15PM)-Peter Bogdonavich tells the story of the iconic and fearless comedian.
- Sherlock, Jr. (1AM/midnight)-wannabe detective Buster Keaton steps into a movie and becomes the real thing.
- Sparrows (2AM/1AM)-Mary Pickford, the first movie star, plays an orphan who protects the younger orphans.
- Picadilly (4AM/3AM)-Dancer Anna May Wong is caught up in jealousy and murder in 1920s London.
DEBORAH KERR’S 100TH BIRTHDAY (SEPTEMBER 30)
The English Rose-funny since she was Scottish-would be 100 years young on September 30. TCM is airing a 24-hour tribute with eleven films starting with her American film debut The Hucksters (6AM/5AM), then travels back to England in I See a Dark Stranger (8AM/7AM) and features some of her greatest roles including in Kerr’s favorite role in The Innocents (1:45PM/12:45PM), flirting with Cary Grant in An Affair to Remember (8PM/7PM) and rolling around in the sand with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity (12:15AM/11:15PM).
Mariah's Musings 