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5:00 PM Encore Dramatic Stories
A Clockwork Orange (1971 GB): According to my program guide, this is a widescreen airing of A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess's dystopian novel of the same name. Considering Kubrick shot this (and most of his films) full-frame, I'm not quite sure what Encore Dramatic Stories has up its sleeve this afternoon, but it'll be worth a look to find out. Though not as good as the novel, Kubrick's film remains a powerful punch to the gut thanks to Malcolm McDowell's chilling portrayal of street punk Alex, whose days as a villain come to an end after he's imprisoned for the murder of a woman whose home he has invaded with his gang. Behind bars, Alex is subjected to terrible tortures in the name of rehabilitation, raising disturbing questions about free will, coercion, and the social contract. Pop art trappings aside, A Clockwork Orange remains as relevant today as in 1971—perhaps more so.

Saturday 12/05/09

5:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Street Scene (1931 USA): Director King Vidor previously examined the dehumanizing effects of modern urban life in his magisterial silent drama The Crowd, and he revisited the theme - now with sound - in 1931's Street Scene. Based on a hit play by Elmer Rice, the film takes place in and around a New York tenement, where resident Anna (Estelle Taylor) is engaged in an illicit affair with milkman Steve (Russell Hopton). Husband Frank (David Landau) suspects something's going on, but has no proof - until he returns early from a business trip and discovers the two churning butter together one afternoon. Though the film is resolutely stagy (it was shot on two sets), it displays Vidor's penchant for precise character study, and its pre-Code provenance admits a certain amount of grit that would have been sanded away if the film had been made three years hence. A fine supporting cast, including Beulah Bondi, John Qualen, and a very young Sylvia Sidney, is the icing on the cake.

6:00 PM Showtime
Transsiberian (2008 USA): Woody Harrelson stars in this above average suspenser set aboard the titular choo-choo. Directed by Brad Anderson, whose earlier features Session 9 and The Machinist established him as an intriguing new talent, Transsiberian features everyone's favorite legal pot advocate as Roy, a church volunteer travelling to Moscow with wife Jessie (Emily Mortimer) from a gig feeding starving children in China. The long and winding eight day trip through the vast expanse of Siberia has some surprises in store for them, however, including a randy Spaniard (Eduardo Noriega), a Russkie narco agent (Ben Kingsley), and some missing railroad cars. If you appreciated the tense and spooky atmosphere Anderson conjured up in Session 9, you'll love Transsiberian, which also airs at 9:00 PM and throughout the month.

Sunday 12/06/09

9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Miss Mend (1926 USSR): How quickly things change these days. A month ago I'd never heard of Miss Mend; three weeks ago I learned that Flicker Alley was about to release it on DVD, and now I find out it's making its American television premiere tonight on Silent Sunday Night. And what, you might ask, IS Miss Mend? Well, from what I've read about it in the past few weeks, it's a three-part, silent Soviet serial about the efforts of four loyal comrades working to disrupt a nefarious western plot to overthrow the Revolution. Apparently a huge hit in 1926 Russia, Miss Mend sounds like the perfect blend of American-style cinema hucksterism and Soviet-style agitprop - and sounds irresistible to me.

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