By David in TN
friday, february 17, 2023 at 6:05:00 p.m. est
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is King Vidor, Margaret Echard, and Lenore J. Coffee’sLightning Strikes Twice (1951), starring Richard Todd, with Ruth Roman, Mercedes McCambridge and Zachary Scott.
Film Noir Guide: “Todd, about to be executed for his wife’s murder, gets a break and receives a new trial. Luckily for him, the lone female juror (McCambridge) has been in love with him since childhood and deliberately causes a hung jury, which results in a mistrial and Todd’s eventual release.
“Returning home, he finds that his friends and neighbors still think he’s guilty. He meets a new girl in town (Roman), who believes in his innocence, and eventually they fall in love. Pretty soon, though, even Roman begins to have doubts.
“Scott plays Todd’s best friend, a rich playboy who is spurned by Roman. Irish-born actor Todd is a bit stiff as the ex-con, but Roman and McCambridge are fun to watch.”
This Monday is President's Day. On Monday Night TCM shows four films on American presidents.
ReplyDeleteAt 8 p.n. ET PT-109 (1963) with Cliff Robertson as John F. Kennedy on JFK's WW II exploits. Lewis MIlestone was the original director but was either fired or quit. A TV director, Leslie Martinson, finished the film. PT-109 is pretty accurate, but without any back story of how Jack Kennedy came to be in the Pacific Theater. The best thing about PT-109 is it shows how America felt about itself in 1963.
John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) with Henry Fonda comes next, followed by Sunrise at Campobello (1960), screenplay by Dore Schary with Ralph Bellamy and Greer Garson, and William Dieterle's Tennessee Johnson (1942) with Van Heflin.
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is George Archainbaud's Hunt the Man Down (1950) with Gig Young, Lynne Roberts, James Anderson, Harry Shannon, Gerald, Mohr, Cleo Moore.
ReplyDeleteFilm Noir Guide: "Stock whodunit with Anderson as a con who escaped after being wrongly convicted of a murder twelve years earlier. He's back in jail now because of the publicity he received for stopping a stickup man in the bar where he (Anderson) worked."
"Young, the dedicated public defender convinced of Anderson's innocence, gets on the trail of the real killer. Shannon plays Young's father, a one-armed ex-cop who comes out of retirement to help his son."
"Somebody is out to stop the investigation and doesn't care who gets killed in the process. Well-acted but slow moving, this low budget noir isn't one of Young's best."
David In TN: I haven't seen this one. Eddie Muller has been showing obscure films. TCM's Film Noir of the Week now takes a two month hiatus until May.