I apologize for being a couple of days late with this – holidays and working on a new format that will hopefully make this post easier in the future ended up slowing me down this time. No worries, there’s still a ton of great programming yet to come this month. Happy New Year!
Spotlight: William Cameron Menzies
Thursdays in January are devoted to William Cameron Menzies, one of the most accomplished and acclaimed art directors in the history of film. Art directors aren’t often household names, but Menzies is in a class by himself – his dominance of his field earned him a newly created title (“production designer”) and the first ever Academy Award for Art Direction, for Gone With the Wind (1939). He started his career with silents, making a big splash with the fantastical and gigantic sets for Douglas Fairbanks‘ The Thief of Bagdad (1924), and becoming so well-regarded by 1939 that he actually directed several segments of Gone with the Wind, including the famous crane shot over the wounded Confederate soldiers.
TCM’s Spotlight series devoted to Menzies will be co-hosted by James Curtis, who published William Cameron Menzies: The Shape of Films to Come in November 2015, the first comprehensive study of Menzies’ career.
Flickchart’s Top Five:
Gone with the Wind (1939; ranked 448 by 29657 users) – This is one of the most-ranked classic films on Flickchart, so you’ve probably seen it – but tune in again and pay special attention to those massive Atlanta scenes that Menzies designed and directed! Playing 1/14 at 8:00pm
Foreign Correspondent (1940; ranked 623 by 691 users) – One of the first films Alfred Hitchcock made after moving to the US, it’s still got a bit of a Continental feel in its spy chase story. It’s something of a lesser-known Hitch, but shouldn’t be. Playing 1/21 at 8:00pm
The Pride of the Yankees (1942; ranked 988 by 695 users) – One of the better biopics to come out of classic Hollywood, with Gary Cooper playing baseball legend Lou Gehrig; his farewell speech when he retires after being diagnosed with what would be nicknamed Lou Gehrig’s Disease is a great moment. Playing 1/21 at 10:15pm
The Thief of Bagdad (1924; ranked 1484 by 287 users) – The one that made Menzies’ career, and also one of Douglas Fairbanks’ crowning achievements. Definitely not to be missed. Playing 1/8 at 12:30am
Around the World in 80 Days (1956; ranked 2866 by 1147 users) – This is often considered one of the worst Best Picture winners, but with a cast of hundreds and a globe-hopping story, it’s at least worth looking at. Playing 1/29 at 1:00am
Wild Card: Things to Come (1936; ranked 3647 by 188 users) – Sci-fi was a pretty uncommon genre in the 1930s, and this is considered one of the first and best, with some fantastic futuristic designs from Menzies. Playing 1/14 at 12:00M
See the full line-up at TCM.com
Star of the Month: Fred MacMurray
Though Fred MacMurray‘s top-ranked films on Flickchart focus on his talent at playing a heel, they’re anomalies in his 4-decade-long career. When he started in Hollywood in the 1930s, he was quickly typed as an easy-going foil for comediennes like Claudette Colbert (with whom he’d make seven films) and Carole Lombard, and by the 1950s, he developed an image as the perfect dad in a series of Disney films, including The Shaggy Dog and The Absent-Minded Professor – not to mention the long-running TV show “My Three Sons.”
It seems MacMurray was content with the more straight-forward roles that were his bread and butter, and in fact, they seem to be the closest to his own character off-screen. He married only twice, his first marriage ending with his wife’s death in 1953, lived quietly and simply despite being the highest paid actor in Hollywood in the 1940s, and eschewed the Hollywood party lifestyle. TCM’s retrospective runs the gamut of his career, and while it’s easy for us to highlight the more complicated roles that he clearly COULD play when he wanted to, let’s not dismiss the crowd-pleasing qualities of his more common persona, which is still quite enjoyable today.
Flickchart Top Five:
The Apartment (1960; ranked 32 by 5584 users) – MacMurray has stated that the only two roles that required him to really act were his two for Billy Wilder; this was the second of those, with MacMurray as the two-timing executive who gets exclusive rights to use Jack Lemmon‘s apartment for his trysts. He’s a despicable character, and MacMurray really turns on the sleaze when he needs to. Playing 1/20 at 10:15pm
Double Indemnity (1944; ranked 33 by 5987 users) – It took a lot of convincing for Wilder to interest MacMurray in abandoning his wholesome persona to play the conniving Walter Neff, but I think we can all agree it was a good thing he did. We fundamentally understand Neff, even as he goes down the rabbit hole, which is in large part to MacMurray’s winning persona. Playing 1/13 at 8:00pm
The Caine Mutiny (1954; ranked 1148 by 453 users) – In The Caine Mutiny, MacMurray first incites a mutiny against potentially mentally-ill Humphrey Bogart and then denies any part of it. It’s a complicated role in a complicated movie, and one of his finest. Playing 1/20 at 8:00pm
The Absent-Minded Professor (1961; ranked 4995 by 525 users) – You may or may not know this story better as Flubber, with Robin Williams playing the flubber-inventing professor, but MacMurray originated it, and it is his top-ranked family-type movie on Flickchart. Playing 1/27 at 8:00pm
Alice Adams (1935; ranked 5108 by 96 users) – One of MacMurray’s earliest roles has him as the small-town society leader who turns Katharine Hepburn‘s head; it’s also a pretty early role for her, though she did already have an Oscar in her possession. Playing 1/7 at 1:00am
Wild Card: Remember the Night (1940; ranked 5504 by 56 users) – If you’ve only seen MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck playing murderers in Double Indemnity, give this earlier film a look; Stanwyck is arrested for shoplifting and MacMurray prosecutes her, but invites her home for Christmas. It’s a lovely unsung holiday film that really deserves more play. Playing 1/13 at 11:45pm
See the full lineup on TCM.com
Tributes and Themed Marathons
Hollywood Foreign Press Restorations – January 5
I’m all about restoring films, and so is TCM, especially tonight, when they feature a program of films restored thanks to funding from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. This is a better use of their resources than the Golden Globes, I’m just saying.
Flickchart’s Top Pick: King Kong (1933; ranked 574 by 11907 users) – I saw the 4K restoration of King Kong at TCM Fest a few years back, and it is spectacular. Worth seeing or seeing again for sure. Playing 1/5 at 8:00pm
Wild Card: The Bigamist (1953; ranked 12339 by 28 users) – Ida Lupino was one of studio era Hollywood’s very few female directors, and this is supposed to be one of her very best films; unfortunately I keep missing my opportunities to see it, but don’t follow my example! Playing 1/5 at 12:00M
See the full lineup
Elvis Presley – January 8
Elvis fans (you know who you are) can catch a tribute to The King with movies both well-known and obscure, as well as a couple of concert docs thrown in.
Flickchart’s Top Pick: Jailhouse Rock (1957; ranked 3208 by 513 users) – Elvis made a ton of very forgettable flicks, but this is one of his best and most well-known, more of a juvenile delinquent drama than a musical. Playing 1/8 at 1:00pm
Wild Card: Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970; ranked 16322 by 15 users) – Viva Las Vegas is playing during the marathon as well, but if you’re looking for something a bit more off the beaten path, why not this concert doc of his famed 1970 Las Vegas concert? Playing 1/8 at 4:15pm
See the full schedule
Claire Trevor – January 15
A reliable and underappreciated classic star, Claire Trevor brightened many films with her presence, largely westerns and film noir – she even won an Oscar for one (Key Largo, which isn’t playing, but is certainly worth seeking out). TCM has a good intro to her work here.
Flickchart’s Top Pick: Stagecoach (1939; ranked 243 by 1718 users) – John Ford‘s Stagecoach is Trevor’s most signature role, as a prostitute run out of town and shunned by everyone on the stagecoach except John Wayne‘s Cisco Kid, the only person who treats her like a human being. Playing 1/15 at 8:00pm
Wild Card: Raw Deal (1948; ranked 5281 by 65 users) – A vastly underseen film noir directed by Anthony Mann before he turned to westerns; Trevor gets an unusual female voiceover, giving this one an interesting twist on noir gender politics. Playing 1/15 at 12:00M
See the full schedule
Myrna Loy – January 20
From the exotic to the comedienne to the perfect mother, Myrna Loy has been many things in many movies, but one thing remains constant: she’s usually the best thing in any movie.
Flickchart’s Top Pick: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946; ranked 203 by 1688 users) – The quintessential Loy wifely/motherly role, as the wife patiently awaiting Fredric March‘s return from WWII. She doesn’t get as much screen time as some of the other subplots, but the scene with her welcoming him home can’t be beat. Playing 1/20 at 1:15pm
Wild Card: The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947; ranked 3284 by 200 users) – Loy plays older sister to a teenage Shirley Temple here rather than a mother, the better to eventually win bachelor Cary Grant once Temple’s infatuation with him wears off. This is a fun little diversion, with an immensely quotable version of the “power of voodoo” tongue-twisting exchange. Playing 1/20 at 4:15pm
See the full schedule
Emma Thompson – January 22
If you want to accuse TCM of featuring non-classic film, this tribute is your biggest argument this month. On the other hand, Emma Thompson is awesome, and so are all these movies, so…
Flickchart’s Top Pick: The Remains of the Day (1993; ranked 1097 by 2116 users) – Anthony Hopkins and Thompson are both at the top of their game in this film about the end of an era – the British class system is breaking down, and butler Hopkins doesn’t know how to handle it. His quiet romance with Thompson is wonderful. Playing 1/23 at 2:30am
Wild Card: Much Ado About Nothing (1993; ranked 1705 by 3899 users) – Okay, this is hardly a wildcard, but it is my favorite of the ones playing in the marathon, and quite possibly my favorite Shakespeare adaptation ever. Excluding West Side Story, of course. Playing 1/22 at 8:00pm
See the full schedule
Tod Browning – January 25
One of classic Hollywood’s greatest horror directors, Tod Browning gets a nice long marathon covering both his silent and sound era films. I’ve seen a pitiful number of these, but all of them are going on my list.
Flickchart’s Top Pick: Freaks (1932; ranked 323 by 2211 users) – A scandalous film for a lot of reasons, Freaks has real circus sideshow performers play largely themselves in this circus feature that focuses on the sordid and the freakish. Exploitative? Maybe. Riveting? Most certainly. Playing 1/25 at 2:45pm
Wild Card: Mark of the Vampire (1935; ranked 7049 by 127 users) – This is among the ones I haven’t seen, but it sounds pretty cool – the Maltin mini-review even mentions its amazing ending, and horror films from this time period are not necessarily known for having great endings. Intrigued! Playing 1/25 at 5:15pm
See the full schedule
Elizabeth Taylor – January 27
This marathon focuses on Elizabeth Taylor‘s 1960s films, from her Oscar-winning turn in Butterfield 8 through several of her films with then-husband Richard Burton.
Flickchart’s Top Pick: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966; ranked 244 by 1493 users) – Featuring one of the most combative marriages in all of cinema, this film is often hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, and almost always difficult to watch, but it will certainly stick with you. Playing 1/27 at 12:15pm
Wild Card: Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967; ranked 5980 by 116 users) – I haven’t seen too many of these, to be honest, but I’m most intrigued by Taylor playing against Marlon Brando. If you’d prefer to stick with Taylor-Burton, check the schedule for other options. Playing 1/27 at 2:45pm
See the full schedule
Ernst Lubitsch – January 28
Ernst Lubitsch is possibly the greatest director that no one outside of classic film aficionados have heard of – Billy Wilder is said to have had a sign in his office reading “What would Lubitsch do?” and indeed, his films often reach for the kind of sophisticated wit that came easily to Lubitsch.
Flickchart’s Top Pick: Ninotchka (1939; ranked 444 by 786 users) – This is the one film of Lubitsch’s that I think is really well-known, and indeed, it wins the top sop on Flickchart pretty easily; not that it doesn’t deserve it. Greta Garbo‘s transformation from humorless, straight-laced Soviet to laughing free spirit is perfect and wonderful. Playing 1/28 at 11:00am
Wild Card: The Smiling Lieutenant (1931; ranked 4580 by 90 users) – Lubitsch was an early experimenter in musical form, with a series of sophisticated, Continental musicals starring Maurice Chevalier in the early 1930s. This one doesn’t have the best songs, but does have a delightfully Pre-Code plot putting Chevalier in a love triangle with Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins. Playing 1/28 at 6:30pm
See the full schedule
If You Like Silents…
Sunday nights are always silent on TCM, but they’ve got a number of other things playing as well. I haven’t bothered to list them ALL out, since most of them are either on Silent Sunday Nights, or during the Menzies or Browning programming linked above, but here are a Top Five and Wild Card to get you started.
Flickchart Top Five
The Kid (1921; ranked 180 by 1199 users) – Charlie Chaplin‘s first real feature codifies that combination of humor and pathos for which he’s so well-known, giving the Tramp an adorable little boy to care for and, you know, bring up to be a tiny con artist. The scenes where authorities threaten to separate the Tramp from the Kid still pack quite a wallop. Playing 1/25 at 1:30am
The Thief of Bagdad (1924; ranked 1484 by 287 users) – Discussed above in the Menzies section. Playing 1/8 at 12:30am
A Story of Floating Weeds (1934; ranked 4195 by 81 users) – Japanese filmmakers didn’t make the switch to sound until the mid-1930s, so this early Yasujiro Ozu film is silent despite the 1934 date. He would remake it with sound and color as Floating Weeds in 1959, which is bound to make for a fascinating comparison. Playing 1/10 at 12:00M
The Unholy Three (1925; ranked 5057 by 59 users) – Part of the Tod Browning marathon, The Unholy Three is more crime than horror (though it does star Lon Chaney), about a trio of circus performers who band together and carry out a series of robberies. Playing 1/4 at 12:15am and 1/25 at 6:15am
The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927; ranked 6304 by 50 users) – This is part of the Lubitsch marathon, a silent about a prince who falls in love with a barmaid and has to make a tough decision when he’s called back to the palace to attend his dying father. It’s lesser-known but very charming. Playing 1/28 at 6:45am
Wild Card: Two Arabian Knights (1927; ranked 10265 by 39 users) – This is in the Menzies marathon, and I know little about it, but it’s interesting for being the only Oscar winner for Best Director of a Comedy (the Directing award was only split between comedy and drama in the inaugural year of the Oscars). Playing 1/8 at 4:45am
See Silent Sunday Nights in January (note there are many silents playing this month as part of the Menzies Spotlight series and the Tod Browning marathon that are not part of Silent Sunday Nights, so check out those schedule links as well)
If You Like Foreign Films…
TCM focuses largely on Hollywood films from the studio era, but other countries have their classics too, and TCM gets a few in every month in their Sunday overnight TCM Imports programming. I wish they’d do more, but hey. It’s something.
Flickchart’s Top Pick: Diabolique (1955; ranked 182 by 921 users) – We recently featured Diabolique in our Top Ten of 1955 post, as it is the second highest ranked 1955 film. It’s a French thriller that combines the best of Hitchcock and noir. Playing 2/1 at 4:00am
Wild Card: Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970; ranked 3932 by 112 users) – I push this film on everyone I meet, just because it’s so bizarre and strangely affecting that I have to find out what they’ll think of it. So if you do watch this Czech New Wave coming-of-age vampire story, please let me know! Playing 1/18 at 2:00am
See TCM Imports for January (note that for some reason the lineup on this page only mentions one film per night, but they are all double features, so check the Sunday night schedules as well)
If You Have Kids…
Most classic film fans I know hope to guide their kids along the classic film path as well, and here’s where TCM is helping you out with that this month. I’ve pulled these myself out of the month’s programming, so it’s probably not exhaustive, and of course, use your judgement with your own kids as far as what they’re ready to watch.
Flickchart Top Three
The Time Machine (1960; ranked 1280 by 1091 users) – The classic take on H.G. Wells’ sci-fi novella, with some great steampunk production design and some Morlocks that may be too scary for younger kids and too silly for older ones, so make sure you get them at the right age! Playing 1/11 at 6:00am
The Thief of Bagdad (1940; ranked 1468 by 372 users) – The silent version that’s playing in the Menzies Spotlight would also be good for kids who are ready for silent film, but if not, this sound version should fit the kiddie action bill nicely. Playing 1/22 at 7:00am
Yours, Mine and Ours (1968; ranked 4512 by 338 users) – A family comedy that’s as if the Brady Bunch were led by Lucille Ball; bringing two families full of kids together is never easy, but at least it can be hilarious. Playing 1/10 at 6:00pm
The Rest
The Absent-Minded Professor (1961; ranked 4995 by 525 users) – Playing 1/27 at 8:00pm
The Shaggy Dog (1959; ranked 5249 by 847 users) – Playing 1/27 at 10:00pm
The Yearling (1946; ranked 5558 by 134 users) – Playing 1/4 at 3:45pm
The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963; ranked 11052 by 45 users) – Playing 1/22 at 4:00pm
If You Like Pre-Code Hollywood…
And who doesn’t like Pre-Code Hollywood, that’s what I’d like to know! Probably, only people who have never seen any, that’s who. TCM has a lot of them this month – here’re a few top-ranked ones to get you started, then a plain listing of all the rest playing throughout the month.
Flickchart Top Five
Freaks (1932; ranked 323 by 2211 users) – Discussed above in the Browning section. Playing 1/25 at 2:45pm
King Kong (1933; ranked 574 by 11907 users) – Discussed above in the Hollywood Foreign Press Restoration section. Playing 1/5 at 8:00pm
Design for Living (1933; ranked 2473 by 124 users) – One of those sophisticated Lubitsch comedies, this one has a Bohemian love triangle with Miriam Hopkins, Fredric March, and Gary Cooper – and it’s Pre-Code, so they don’t really even have to choose! Playing 1/17 at 8:00pm
Alice in Wonderland (1933; ranked 5197 by 542 users) – Literally the only thing I know about this (because that it’s based on Alice in Wonderland) is that Cary Grant plays the Mock Turtle in one of his earliest roles, and I guess that Menzies did the art direction, but those two things alone are enough to be intriguing. Playing 1/7 at 11:00pm
Abraham Lincoln (1930; ranked 8421 by 73 users) – One of the final films for groundbreaking director D.W. Griffith, I’m sure this Lincoln biopic doesn’t actually have much Pre-Code type content in it, but I’d be happy for someone who’s seen it to prove me wrong. Playing 1/15 at 6:30am
Wild Card: Don’t Bet on Women (1931; ranked 15647 by 2 users) – AKA All Women are Bad, this comedy toes the line between misogyny and feminism in a pretty astounding way, but the cast is really winning and the dialogue really witty, and Una Merkel in particular is a scream as a man-hungry Southern belle named Tallulah. Playing 1/12 at 11:00pm
The Rest
Jewel Robbery (1932; ranked 8609 by 28 users) – Playing 1/13 at 8:30am
After Tonight (1933; ranked 12041 by 13 users) – Playing 1/14 at 4:45pm
Chandu the Magician (1932; ranked 12245 by 13 users) – Playing 1/7 at 9:45pm
Night Flight (1933; ranked 12918 by 9 users) – Playing 1/12 at 6:00am
One Romantic Night (1930; ranked 12928 by 12 users) – Playing 1/15 at 8:15am
Rasputin and the Empress (1932; ranked 13138 by 14 users) – Playing 1/24 at 6:00am
Hell Harbor (1930; ranked 13234 by 14 users) – Playing 1/19 at 6:00am
Skippy (1931; ranked 15113 by 24 users) – Playing 1/23 at 7:45am
Guilty Hands (1931; ranked 15118 by 8 users) – Playing 1/13 at 7:15am
Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933; ranked 15130 by 6 users) – Playing 1/13 at 9:45am
Fast Workers (1933; ranked 15920 by 5 users) – Playing 1/25 at 4:00pm
The Conquerors (1932; ranked 16139 by 6 users) – Playing 1/7 at 9:15am
The Pay-Off (1930; ranked 16612 by 11 users) – Playing 1/14 at 12:30pm
Too Many Cooks (1931; ranked 17393 by 1 user) – Playing 1/14 at 1:45pm
Prosperity (1932; unranked by 0 users) – Playing 1/7 at 11:00am
A Notorious Affair (1930; unranked by 0 users) – Playing 1/13 at 6:00am
I Loved a Woman (1933; unranked by 0 users) – Playing 1/13 at 11:00am
Way Back Home (1931; unranked by 0 users) – Playing 1/14 at 3:15pm
Crooner (1932; unranked by 0 users) – Playing 1/21 at 11:15am
The Famous Ferguson Case (1932; unranked by 0 users) – Playing 1/21 at 12:30pm
If You Like Noir…
And who doesn’t like noir? But yeah, I choose to pull out Pre-Codes and noir because I personally love them, but I’m hardly alone in that.
Flickchart’s Top Pick: Murder, My Sweet (1944; ranked 1123 by 341 users) – The top pick is actually Double Indemnity (playing 1/13 at 8pm), but that’s been discussed in the MacMurray section above, and I didn’t want to let this one go by without comment. Murder My Sweet is a really great noir, from Raymond Chandler’s book – Dick Powell‘s Philip Marlowe might not quite on par with Humphrey Bogart‘s Marlowe, but he’s pretty danged close, and putting Claire Trevor in the mix is a great bonus. Playing 1/15 at 10:00pm
Wild Card: No Way Out (1950; ranked 5302 by 87 users) – A very early role for Sidney Poitier anchors this noir that tackles not just crime but racism in some interesting and unusual ways for the time period. Playing 1/24 at 10:00pm
The Rest
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952; ranked 1293 by 412 users) – Playing 1/12 at 12:30am
Kiss of Death (1947; ranked 2931 by 180 users) – Playing 1/8 at 10:00pm
Raw Deal (1948; ranked 5281 by 65 users) – Playing 1/15 at 12:00M
The Phenix City Story (1955; ranked 8000 by 46 users) – Playing 1/9 at 6:15pm
The Bigamist (1953; ranked 12339 by 28 users) – Playing 1/5 at 12:00M
Movies to See Before You Die
Here at the Flickchart blog, we have a series called Movies to See Before You Die, and it’s all about films that are in the Flickchart Global Top 1000. These films all fit that description, so I’m just listing them here for any completionists out there looking for an easy way to knock some titles off their Flickchart List of Shame.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975; ranked 16 by 48744 users) – Playing 1/30 at 10:45pm
The Apartment (1960; ranked 32 by 5584 users) – Playing 1/20 at 10:15pm
Double Indemnity (1944; ranked 33 by 5987 users) – Playing 1/13 at 8:00pm
His Girl Friday (1940; ranked 102 by 2448 users) – Playing 1/3 at 8:00pm and 1/24 at 4:30pm
For a Few Dollars More (1965; ranked 135 by 7888 users) – Playing 1/30 at 12:00N
The Great Escape (1963; ranked 137 by 16261 users) – Playing 1/30 at 5:00pm
Sullivan’s Travels (1941; ranked 174 by 1096 users) – Playing 1/12 at 2:45am (followed by The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947; ranked 17777 by 21 users) – Playing 1/12 at 4:30am)
The Kid (1921; ranked 180 by 1199 users) – Playing 1/25 at 1:30am
Diabolique (1955; ranked 182 by 921 users) – Playing 2/1 at 4:00am
The Deer Hunter (1978; ranked 193 by 22351 users) – Playing 1/30 at 2:45am
Bonnie & Clyde (1967; ranked 195 by 9021 users) – Playing 1/9 at 4:15pm and 1/11 at 10:30pm
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946; ranked 203 by 1688 users) – Playing 1/20 at 1:15pm
Stagecoach (1939; ranked 243 by 1718 users) – Playing 1/15 at 8:00pm
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966; ranked 244 by 1493 users) – Playing 1/27 at 12:15pm
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938; ranked 278 by 3359 users) – Playing 1/13 at 12:30am
Freaks (1932; ranked 323 by 2211 users) – Playing 1/25 at 2:45pm
The Shop Around the Corner (1940; ranked 324 by 892 users) – Playing 1/15 at 9:30am
Jules and Jim (1962; ranked 331 by 1029 users) – Playing 1/17 at 9:45pm
The Lost Weekend (1945; ranked 375 by 1252 users) – Playing 1/31 at 10:00pm
Red River (1948; ranked 392 by 941 users) – Playing 1/30 at 2:30pm
Ninotchka (1939; ranked 444 by 786 users) – Playing 1/28 at 11:00am
Gone with the Wind (1939; ranked 448 by 29657 users) – Playing 1/14 at 8:00pm
Cape Fear (1962; ranked 503 by 1090 users) – Playing 1/8 at 8:00pm
From Here to Eternity (1953; ranked 459 by 1686 users) – Playing 1/31 at 5:45pm
A Woman Under the Influence (1974; ranked 517 by 498 users) – Playing 1/26 at 10:15pm
Hiroshima, Mon Amour (1959; ranked 530 by 498 users) – Playing 1/4 at 2:00am
A Face in the Crowd (1957; ranked 561 by 339 users) – Playing 1/6 at 3:30am
King Kong (1933; ranked 574 by 11907 users) – Playing 1/5 at 8:00pm
Sleeper (1973; ranked 599 by 2594 users) – Playing 1/16 at 4:00pm
Foreign Correspondent (1940; ranked 623 by 691 users) – Playing 1/21 at 8:00pm
Kelly’s Heroes (1970; ranked 667 by 1419 users) – Playing 1/23 at 5:30pm
Broadcast News (1987; ranked 679 by 1953 users) – Playing 1/3 at 9:45pm
Night and Fog (1955; ranked 696 by 407 users) – Playing 1/4 at 3:30am
The Odd Couple (1968; ranked 728 by 1516 users) – Playing 1/17 at 4:15pm
Captain Blood (1935; ranked 786 by 530 users) – Playing 1/19 at 2:00pm
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953; ranked 940 by 916 users) – Playing 1/24 at 12:15am
The Pride of the Yankees (1942; ranked 988 by 695 users) – Playing 1/21 at 10:15pm
Jandy’s Hidden Gems
And finally, my last bit of self-indulgence. These are films that didn’t end up featured in any of the sections above, either as highly-ranked films on Flickchart, or as my Wild Card choices, but that I couldn’t bear not to highlight in some way.
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952; ranked 1293 by 412 users) – In one of the best Hollywood-on-Hollywood films not named Sunset Boulevard, Kirk Douglas is a producer who’s none too loved by anyone who works with him; as he tries to get a star (Lana Turner), director (Barry Sullivan), and screenwriter (Dick Powell) for a new project, flashbacks show each of their former dealings with him. Vicious and heartily enjoyable, with great direction from Vincente Minnelli. Playing 1/12 at 12:30am
Bulldog Drummond (1929; ranked 9335 by 36 users) – An early talkie that’s far more entertaining than most, with Ronald Colman as detective Bulldog Drummond. This is the first in a long series of Bulldog Drummond pictures, but the only one I’ve personally seen and can recommend. Playing 1/7 at 8:00pm
The Major and the Minor (1942; ranked 2792 by 148 users) – In Billy Wilder‘s directorial debut, Ginger Rogers can’t afford a train ticket home so she poses as a 12-year-old to get a child’s ticket price. Things get hilarious when an Army Major takes her under his wing, not realizing the truth. Especially worth it for an unexpectedly wise performance by actual teenager Diana Lynn. Playing 1/31 at 8:00pm
Stage Fright (1950; ranked 2747 by 332 users) – Made the same year as Rashomon, Stage Fright plays with some similar concepts of unreliability, though it doesn’t commit to them quite as much. Lesser Hitchcock is still pretty great, and this is no exception, with Marlene Dietrich stealing the show from mousier Jane Wyman. Playing 1/4 at 1:45pm
The More the Merrier (1943; ranked 5037 by 62 users) – WWII housing shortages become fodder for comedy and romantic tension as Jean Arthur sublets her apartment to grandfatherly Monty Woolley, who turns around and sublets to decidedly un-grandfatherly Joel McCrea. Things have to remain fairly chaste in 1943, making this a charming and very romantic dramedy rather than the sex comedy it likely would be today. Playing 1/23 at 8:00pm