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Thursday 7/29/10

5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Rock, Rock, Rock! (1956 USA): One of the best early rock ‘n’ roll movies returns to the small screen this afternoon after a very, very lengthy absence indeed - I think the last time it aired was on the USA network back in the ‘90s. Produced and released independently, Rock, Rock, Rock!’s story is the usual nonsense about getting someone decent to perform at the prom, but the stars were perfectly aligned for producers Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky (yes, the Amicus moneymen): they acquired the services of The Johnny Burnette Trio, Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, The Flamingos, The Moonglows, LaVern Baker, and, erm, Cirino and the Bowties. Every rock and roll movie had a crummy white harmony group, it seems, but the damage done by Cirino and chums is minimal and more than made up for by the otherwise impressive starpower. Worthy of all three rocks as well as its exclamation mark, Rock, Rock, Rock! also marked the film debut of 13-year-old Tuesday Weld.

5:15 PM Showtime 3
The Art of the Steal (2009 USA): The ‘theft’ of a major art collection is the subject of this fascinating documentary. Albert Barnes was a Philadephia doctor who developed a treatment for VD, then plowed his earnings into establishing the Barnes Foundation in suburban Merion, PA. It’s a major collection (including Van Goghs, Renoirs, and Picassos) valued at up to $25 billion (no, not million, BILLION) dollars - and after Barnes death in 1951, he left specific instructions that it was not to leave Merion. The film examines how his wishes have since been subverted, and how the collection will be pried away from its intended resting place at historically-African American Lincoln University by the Philadelphia Museum of Art - an institution Barnes loathed. It’s a sad but familiar tale of how one man’s legacy was subverted by big money and the ‘establishment’.

Friday 7/30/10

10:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Strange Bargain (1949 USA): Either this is just a strange coincidence, or TCM has a very strange film festival underway. Strange Bargain is a decent, if somewhat ordinary, mystery directed by a gentleman named Will Price. Mr. Price directed a grand total of three feature films in his career. One of the other three was (perhaps you’ve already guessed) Rock, Rock, Rock!, but the third was 1950’s imperialist fantasy Tripoli - which appears nowhere on the TCM schedule, so I guess we’re back to the coincidence theory. Regardless, Strange Bargain features Jeffrey Lynn as Sam Wilson, an employee dealing with an awkward request by boss Sydney Jarvis (Raymond Roe): make his death by suicide appear to be murder so that the Jarvis family can claim the insurance money. Harry ‘Colonel Potter’ Morgan co-stars as the policeman assigned to the case, and look for future Adventures of Superman regular John Hamilton as one of Sam’s fellow employees.

9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Let’s Spend the Night Together (1982 USA): When it comes to Beatles vs. Stones, I’m a loyal Liverpudlian. Doesn’t mean I hate the Stones, mind, but they’re a distinct second behind the moptops, and fall behind further if you factor in other Britpop groups like The Zombies, The Hollies, and The Animals. They’re better than Freddie and the Dreamers, though. Damning with faint praise duly attended to, Stones fans and neophytes alike will want to tune in to this concert film, which features the band at the point when they were past their peak but not yet an international embarrassment. Get yer ya-yas out - or some popcorn - and watch Mick and Keef gurn at each other for 90 minutes.

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