Talk about a solution staring me right in the face. I wanted to take a day off from the Daily to get caught up on things. I decided on Tuesday because it’s a light day for the TV preview. Should I skip or should I skimp? Why not double up Monday instead? So here you go:
Born on this date, June 8: Willis Kent in 1878; Audrey Munson in 1891; Henry Brandon in 1912; Robert Preston in 1918; Monte Hale in 1919; Alexis Smith in 1921; Sheila Ryan in 1921; and Dana Wynter in 1931.
Born on this date, June 9: Louise Carver in 1869; Dudley Digges in 1879; Clarence G. Badger in 1880; Leslie Banks in 1890; Cole Porter in 1891; Lottie Pickford in 1895; Sylvia Breamer in 1897; Marion Gering in 1901; Robert Cummings in 1910; and Mona Freeman in 1926.
All links lead to each actor’s IMDb page, set to open in a new tab. Classic Movie Daily subscribers will find a collection of Lottie Pickford clippings following this post in their email—it’s a long one, so keep on scrolling. Also included is a favorite shot of Alexis Smith. A few more random images are also inside today, plus a “Lightning Review.”
TCM TV Alerts through Wednesday at 7 am:
These titles play on TCM’s US schedule and all quoted times are for my own local Eastern time zone.
Turner Classic Movies celebrates Alexis Smith’s birthday throughout the daytime Monday. Some excellent titles play throughout the day, so I will just copy down the entire schedule for you:
6:00 am – Dive Bomber (1941); 8:15 am – The Smiling Ghost (1941); 9:30 am – Steel Against the Sky (1941); 10:45 am – Gentleman Jim (1942); 12:45 pm – The Constant Nymph (1943); 2:45 pm – Night and Day (1946); 5:00 pm – Conflict (1945); 6:30 pm – The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945).
—Steel Against the Sky isn’t that great, but it’s got a good cast and moves pretty quick. I watched it back when I wrote about Edward Ellis, who plays father of Lloyd Nolan, Craig Stevens, and Edward Brophy, three pretty unlikely looking brothers! Also look for quick bit from baby-faced Jackie Gleason.
—I love The Constant Nymph, this one wins me on the visuals, plus outstanding work by Joan Fontaine.
—Gentleman Jim is one of my favorite sports films, even if it’s more fiction than biography, which is also true of Night and Day. These are movies, not documentaries, but I will admit that if I’m a little too close to a subject an unfaithful biopic can rub me the wrong way. I’m reminded of Donald Pleasence in Terror in the Aisles (1984), just keep saying, “It’s only a movie.”
—I haven’t been able to get into the Jack Benny movie yet. I love Benny and I don’t mind a little schlock, but so far I’m inclined to believe most of his own jokes about The Horn Blows at Midnight.
—8:00 pm – Man Hunt (1941), Walter Pidgeon featured in one the best beginnings of any World War II era film. So good, that it winds up making the rest feel a little underwhelming. Still solid overall, if not great. From director Fritz Lang. Joan Bennett’s accent grows on me. With appropriately nasty performances from John Carradine and George Sanders.
If you’ve never seen Man Hunt you’ll probably want to save this until after you watch, but do give a listen to Kristina of the Speakeasy talking about the film with Todd on the Forgotten Filmcast.
—World War II movies follow throughout Monday night.
—TCM has a Southern flavor throughout the day on Tuesday the 9th, when titles such as Jezebel (1938 – 6:15 am), Baby Doll (1956 – 10:45 am), and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962 – 2:30 pm) all play.
—Tuesday night is all ’70s movies.
—I’ve had an alert request in the past for the documentary playing early Wednesday morning at 6:00 am Eastern: Without Lying Down – Frances Marion and the Powerful Women in Hollywood (2000).
—The documentary is followed by a run of films from the 1930s, beginning with Mae West in I’m No Angel (1933) at 7:00 am … but we’ll leave off there until Wednesday morning’s edition.
Cliff’s Notes
I’m hoping this doesn’t backfire and lead to less output, but I broke off the “lightning reviews” into their own posts beginning with today’s A Lost Lady (1934) post. I don’t think it will make much of a difference as to how it displays to subscribers, but the content feels more valuable to the site as individual pieces of information. You may want to click over to this first one today, just to read the introduction that will appear at the top of each “lightning review” (that intro will appear on the site only, not within Classic Movie Daily emails).
Once again: no issue tomorrow, but I’ll be back Wednesday morning. Talk to you then!
Cliff
Issue count: Since going Daily on April 6, I’ve mailed posts to subscribers 63 out of 64 days.
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