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3:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Blind Adventure (1933 USA): Here’s a rip-roaring tale of two-fisted adventure from director Ernest B. Schoedsack, whose previous film had been a little thing entitled King Kong (and whose next would be Son of Kong). The film reunites Schoedsack with Kong star Robert Armstrong, here playing Richard, a moneyed Yank in London who becomes involved with mystery and intrigue when he discovers a dead body in an easy chair. When Richard summons the police to show them the evidence, however, the corpse is gone—replaced by alive and kicking Major Thorne (Henry Stephenson), who naturally has no idea what’s going on. An able supporting cast, including John Miljan, Roland Young, and Helen Mack, lends Blind Adventure the air of a comfy old shoe: there’s nothing here you haven’t seen before, but it’s thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. And a mite less smelly than your favorite penny loafers.

5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Wooden Horse (1950 GB): Great escapes are tonight’s theme on TCM, though rather surprisingly 1963’s The Great Escape isn’t amongst the offerings! Things kick off with The Wooden Horse, in which British POWs (including Leo Genn and Anthony Steel) plan to break out of their Stalag with the help of a pommel horse. Believe it or not, it’s a true story! It’s followed at 7:00 PM by The Colditz Story (1955), a similar tale based on the real-life exploits of a group of prisoners plotting their departure from the titular "escape-proof" camp, and at 9:00 PM by the best of the bunch, The One That Got Away (1958), a remarkably even-handed account of a captured Luftwaffe pilot’s (Hardy Kruger) efforts to elude his British captors. All three films are worthwhile, but this one’s the pick of the bunch.

Saturday 04/16/11

3:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
Great Guns (1941 USA): Another late period Laurel and Hardy feature pops up this morning, this time on Fox. In Great Guns — their first feature after leaving Hal Roach — the boys join the Army. (As this was only two years before their 4F rejection in Air Raid Wardens, we can only assume something affected their mental or physical health in the interim.) It’s definitely substandard Stan and Ollie with the laughs coming in fits and starts, but there are a few highlights, including a hilarious jeep ride during war games.

7:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
In the Money (1958 USA): “Those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end, we thought we’d laugh forever and a day.” — Mary Hopkin, whose song Those Were the Days was a nostalgic salute to the onscreen magic woven by Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall

I am sorry to report that we have finally reached the end of the road — or perhaps scraped the bottom of the barrel — with the Bowery Boys franchise. Yes, In the Money is film number 46 of 46, and approximately the 46th film in which the boys have a run in with crooks of some sort. This time, Sach (Hall) is hired by diamond smugglers to escort a gem-encrusted poodle on an ocean voyage. It’s not very good (the film, not the poodle). But happier news! It appears that, as one series sails off into the sunset, another hoves into sight: In the Money is followed at 9:00 AM by Tarzan Escapes (1936), the third of MGM’s Jungle Lord adventures, more of which are scheduled in the weeks ahead. In this outing, Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller, still in pretty good shape though acting no better than usual) is captured by a hunter (John Buckler) who intends to turn him into a circus exhibit. Cheetah ain’t gonna stand for that.

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