Week-in-Review and November Film Recommendations

This week on The Past on a Plate:


November 2011 Film Recommendations:

Joan Bennett seduces Edward G. Robinson in Scarlet Street

• Scarlet Street (Tu 11/1 1:15 p.m.) bad girl Joan Bennett lures meek Edward G. Robinson (definitely playing against type); directed by Fritz Lang
• From Here to Eternity (W 11/2 9:00 a.m.) You know you need to watch it for the Burt Lancaster/ Deborah Kerr beach make-out scene
• The Killers (W 11/2 12:45 p.m.) an insurance investigator tries to piece together the puzzling murder of a former boxer
• Niagara (W 11/2 7:00 p.m.) Marilyn Monroe wiggles around the resort town driving Joseph Cotten out of his mind; it's so much better than I thought it would be
• Some Like It Hot (W 11/2 8:45 p.m. and Su 11/27 11:15 a.m.) I could watch this one over and over and over--and I have!
• Alias Jesse James (F 11/4 3:00 p.m.) Silly Bob Hope vehicle where he's mistaken for Jesse James; the shoot-out scene at the end is worth the wait
• Gold Diggers of 1935 (F 11/4 8:30 p.m. and Tu 11/29 8:00 a.m.) The whole franchise went rather downhill after 1933, but this is still worth it for the production numbers
• Roberta (Sa 11/5 5:00 a.m.) Irene Dunne has top billing, but Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire steal the show; the costumes are marvelous, too
• A Letter to Three Wives (Su 11/6 1:00 p.m.) the town slut has run off with the husband of one of the three wives in the title, but which one?
• The Postman Always Rings Twice (Su 11/6 10:15 p.m. and W 11/16 7:00 a.m.) fairly faithful adaptation of novel; Lana Turner smolders
• McLintock! (Tu 11/8 9:00 p.m.) this John Wayne/Maureen O'Hara comedy is great fun
• Dinner at Eight (W 11/9 5:00 p.m.) Great ensemble cast including Lionel and John Barrymore; bickering couple Wallace Beery and Jean Harlow are a treat
• Born Yesterday (W 11/9 7:00 p.m.) William Holden is a newspaperman hired to tutor Judy Holliday, who turns out to be not a stupid as everyone thinks!
• Bombshell (W 11/9 11:00 p.m.) Jean Harlow plays a poor-little-Hollywood-star who has to deal with a grasping family, an aggravating agent and a media circus
• Platinum Blonde (Th 11/10 12:45 p.m.) Society dame Jean Harlow steals a reporter from nice working girl Loretta Young
• The Girl from Missouri (Th 11/10 3:30 a.m.) Jean Harlow plays a likable gold-digging chorus girl who sets her sights on Lionel Barrymore; too bad his son (Franchot Tone) finds her more interesting!
• Now, Voyager (Th 11/10 9:45 p.m.) ugly duckling Bette Davis gets a makeover and falls in love with yummy Paul Henreid
• Dodsworth (F 11/11 2:00 a.m. and Sa 11/26 7:00 p.m.) automobile company president Walter Huston's marriage is tested when he decides to retire--wife Ruth Chatterton isn't ready to give up her youth; very well done
• The Americanization of Emily (F 11/11 9:00 p.m.) Julie Andrews and James Garner eighteen years before Victor/Victoria; also stars James Coburn and Melvyn Douglas
• Trouble in Paradise (Sa 11/12 8:30 p.m. Sa 11/19 8:00 a.m.)
• The Producers (Sa 11/12 10:00 p.m.) You've probably seen it, but if you haven't, you're in for a hilarious treat.
• Woman of the Year (Su 11/13 8:00 a.m.) first Hepburn/Tracy picture; both are reporters at the same paper who fall in love, but have a hard time adjusting to married life
• My Fair Lady (Su 11/13 2:00 p.m.) Did you ever notice that Jeremy Brett is in this movie?
• Shanghai Express (M 11/14 9:00 p.m.) Marlene Dietrich is terribly well-dressed in this pre-code train film set in the midst of the civil war in China



Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle


• The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (Tu 11/15 3:00 p.m.) It's Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers! As Vernon and Irene Castle! What more do you need to know?
• A Slight Case of Murder (W 11/16 10:45 a.m.) Edward G. Robinson plays a bootlegger confronted with the end of prohibition in this--wait for it--hilarious comedy. Definitely a must-see.
• Nothing Sacred (W 11/16 7:00 p.m.) reporter Fredric March makes "dying" Carole Lombard famous
• To Be or Not to Be (W 11/16 8:30 p.m.) Jack Benny and Carole Lombard star in this Ernst Lubitsch comedy about Polish actors who get caught up in the resistance
• She Done Him Wrong (W 11/16 10:30 p.m.) Mae West plays saloon gal Diamond Lil, Cary Grant plays a Salvation Army captain
• I'm No Angel (W 11/16 11:45 p.m.) Mae West plays a circus performer in this pre-code gem; also stars Cary Grant
• Gunga Din (Tu 11/22 11:15 p.m.) Cary Grant and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. defeat a crazy thuggee cult leader in this action-comedy buddy movie based on the Rudyard Kipling poem
• Treasure Island (W 11/23 5:00 a.m.) adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel with Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (W 11/23 9:00 a.m.)
• Mogambo (W 11/23 5:00 p.m.) Paul and I spent a lazy, rainy Sunday morning watching this remake of Red Dust; great on-location filming
• Down Argentine Way (W 11/23 8:30 p.m.) one of the better Betty Grable vehicles, probably because it also stars Don Ameche and Carmen Miranda
• My Favorite Wife (Th 11/24 2:00 a.m.) Cary Grant has missing-at-sea wife Irene Dunne declared legally dead so he can remarry; only problem is that she's still alive
• The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (Th 11/24 3:30 a.m.) cute romantic comedy with Myrna Loy, Cary Grant, Shirley Temple and Rudy Vallee
• The Lady Eve (Th 11/24 9:00 p.m.) con artist Barbara Stanwyck sets her sights on beer heir Henry Fonda in this Preston Sturges classic
• Shall We Dance (F 11/25 2:00 a.m.) the film that got me hooked on classic film and Astaire and Rogers
• Ivanhoe (F 11/25 7:00 p.m.) This movie is pretty much terrible, but it has George Sanders in it. You might want to read the hokey book instead.
• The Maltese Falcon (Su 11/27 5:00 p.m.) Humphrey Bogart helms this Dashiell Hammett adaptation
• Doctor Zhivago (M 11/28 7:00 p.m.) Be prepared for "Somewhere My Love" to be stuck in your head for days; it really is a good movie, though
• Dames (Tu 11/29 6:15 a.m.) Busby Berkley musical; Joan Blondell and ZaSu Pitts are great fun
• Captain Blood (W 11/30 1:00 a.m.) the first pairing of Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland; swashbuckling at its best
• To Catch a Thief (W 11/30 7:00 p.m.) Cary Grant and Grace Kelly look very stylish while tracking down a cat burglar on the French Riviera
• Dial M for Murder (W 11/30 9:00 p.m.) Ray Milland thinks he has the perfect plan to murder Grace Kelly

All times are CST, all films air on TCM