New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Saturday 09/05/09

6:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Dick Tracy, Chapters 1 and 2 (1937 USA): TCM used to regularly air serials (or, if you prefer, chapter-plays) on Saturday mornings, but it's been a few years since they last did so. I'm not sure if the opening episodes of 1937's Dick Tracy signal a return to those golden days of yesteryear, but here's hoping. Ralph Byrd plays superdick Tracy, here embarking on a 15-chapter struggle with criminal mastermind The Lame One, which, I have to profess, is perhaps not the best of names for a criminal mastermind. If you're at all familiar with serials, you will find very few surprises here, as the events unfold in typical fashion: chapter-ending cliff-hangers are resolved by miraculous cheats in the following episode, and chapters are padded out with duplicative footage intended to bring latecomers up to speed on the story so far. All that aside, this is far from the worst of serials, and I actually prefer it to those crummy mid-'40s Tracy features from RKO.

Sunday 09/06/09

7:00 AM IFC
Welcome (2007 IND): A super cast headlined by the charming Akshay Kumar and Anil Kapoor can't quite compensate for the shortcomings of this week's IFC Bollywood feature. I'll keep it brief: Kumar plays a guy who falls for a girl, girl's family has a criminal background, guy finds his life endangered by the mob, everyone sings and dances their way to a happy resolution, The End. This is the least interesting feature to air in IFC's series so far, and unless you're a big fan of the leads (or heroine Katrina Kaif), you can probably give it a miss.

9:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Ace of Hearts (1921 USA): One of Lon Chaney's more obscure efforts, Ace of Hearts features The Man of a Thousand Faces as Farallone, a member of an anarchist secret society plotting the assassination of a robber baron. Forrest (John Bowers), one of the cabal's other members, draws the short straw for the suicide mission - but his love for fellow anarchist Lilith (Leatrice Joy) gives Farallone pause, leading to a tragic if predictable finale. One of the darkest films of Chaney's career - and that's saying quite a bit - Ace of Hearts survives in pretty shoddy condition, but let's be grateful it exists at all.

11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
La Ronde (1950 FRA): Max Ophuls: the name itself almost screams "high falutin". Ophuls had spent time in Hollywood directing quality pictures such as The Reckless Moment, but returned to his native Gaul for this much admired film about sex and love amongst the moneyed classes of fin de siècle Vienna. I've never seen it, and "high society" pictures generally don't appeal to me, but it's mighty hard to argue with the cast Ophuls assembled: there's Anton Walbrook as the nameless main character and narrator, Simone Simon as an ethereal beauty, Serge Regiani as a randy soldier, Simone Signoret as a lady of the evening, and Jean-Louis Barrault as a dissipated poet. That's thespian firepower enough to more than compensate for whatever shortcomings you or I could ever imagine regarding La Ronde.

Continued:       1       2       3       4