Saturday, December 29, 2007

Tune in to TCM: That Dirty Rat

Classic tough guy James Cagney is the Star of the Month on Turner Classic Movies for January, with 37 films airing each Wednesday. In addition to such classic crime dramas as The Public Enemy (with Jean Harlow), White Heat (both on the 2nd) and Angels With Dirty Faces (9), the salute will also include his forays into musicals (Footlight Parade, Yankee Doodle Dandy; 16) and comedies (One, Two, Three; A Midsummer Night's Dream; 30), plus his first color picture (Captains of the Clouds; 23) and the film wherein he came closest to uttering his famous catchphrase "You dirty rat" (he actually says "Come out and take it, you dirty yellow-bellied rat" in Taxi!; 16).

In addition to James Cagney: Top of the World (2), several other movie-themed documentaries will air next month, including Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies (3), Henri Langlois: The Phantom of the Cinémathèque (6), Impressions of Garland (29) and the premiere of Martin Scorsese Presents: Val Lewton - The Man in the Shadows, which heads off a fright-filled night of his films on the 14th in preparation for the January 29 DVD release of The Val Lewton Horror Collection (click hereto pre-order from Amazon.com).

The channel will celebrate Martin Luther King Day (21) with a marathon of films by such renowned African-American filmmakers as Sidney Poitier and legendary director Charles Burnett, including the TCM premieres of his classic Killer of Sheep and four others of his works. And on the 26th, Michael Redgrave will be spotlighted with five films, including the TCM premieres of Thunder Rock and The Way of the Stars.

And finally, for fans of obscure cult fare, TCM Underground will present Skidoo on the 4th. This is the infamous Otto Preminger oddity featuring Jackie Gleason tripping out on acid (seriously, check it out) and Carol Channing (!) seducing Frankie Avalon (!!!). Never released on home video or DVD, the comedy also stars Groucho Marx, Mickey Rooney, John Phillip Law, Peter Lawford, Burgess Meredith, George Raft, Slim Pickens, Richard "Jaws" Kiel and two Bat-villains, Cesar Romero and Frank Gorshin. For more notable films not yet on DVD on TCM in January, see the comments section below.

Numbers in parenthesis are the airdates; for more information and showtimes in your area, see TCM's online schedule.

Links via TCM.com and YouTube.com.

1 comment:

Kirby Holt said...

Notalbe movies not yet on DVD that will be airing on TCM in January:

"All This, and Heaven Too" (Bette Davis, Charles Boyer) - 1/7, 1/24

"Anthony Adverse" (Fredric March, Olivia de Havilland)- 1/7

"Because You're Mine" (Mario Lanza) - 1/31

"The Big House" (Wallace Beery, Robert Montgomery) - 1/23

"Blonde Crazy" (James Cagney, Joan Bondell) - 1/9

"Blossoms in the Dust" Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon) - 1/19

"The Catered Affair" (Bette Davis, Debbie Reynolds) - 1/24

"The Citadel" (Robert Donat, Rosalind Russell) - 1/16

"Four Daughters" (Claude Raines, John Garfield) - 1/27

"Johnny Eager" (Robert Taylor, Lana Turner) - 1/18

"The Landlord" (Beau Bridges, Lee Grant) - 1/15

"Love With the Proper Stranger" (Natalie Wood, Steve McQueen) - 1/20

"Never a Dull Moment" (Irene Dunne, Fred MacMurray) - 1/9

"Our Vines Have Tender Grapes" (Edward G. Robinson, Margaret O'Brien) - 1/15

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" (Angela Lansbury, Donna Reed) - 1/2

"Samson and Delilah" (Victor Mature, Hedy LLamarr) - 1/25

"The Secret Life of Walter Mittey" (Danny Kaye, Fay Bainter) - 1/18

"Special Agent" (Bette Davis, George Brent) - 1/14

"The Sterile Cuckoo" (Liza Minnelli) - 1/27

"The Strawberry Blonde" (James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland)- 1/30

"Summer and Smoke" (Geraldine Page, Laurence Harvey) - 1/13

"Sunday in New York" (Cliff Robertson, Rod Taylor) - 1/13

"The Tender Trap" (Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds) - 1/13

"That Hamilton Woman" (Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier) - 1/28

"Topaze" (John Barrymore, Myrna Loy) - 1/29

"The Valley of Decision" (Greer Garson, Gregory Peck) - 1/19

"What's Up, Tiger Lilly?" (Woody Allen, Louise Lasser) - 1/15

"The Woman in White" (Gig Young, Sydney Greenstreet) - 1/2