Born on this date: Enid Stamp-Taylor in 1904; Nina Mae McKinney in 1912; Russell Hayden in 1912; William Lundigan in 1914; Priscilla Lane in 1915; and Vic Damone in 1928.
All links lead to each actor's IMDb page, set to open in a new tab. Classic Movie Daily subscribers can look for images of William Lundigan and Priscilla Lane inside today's issue.
TCM TV Alerts through tomorrow at 7 am:
These titles play on TCM's US schedule and all quoted times are for my own local Eastern time zone.
The Summer of Darkness run of film noir titles continues all day on TCM Friday. We left off yesterday with the opening movie, The Glass Key (1942), at 6:00 am. Other recommended titles:
—7:30 am - Laura (1944), you'll always want to catch these Fox titles while TCM has rights to air them.
—1:45 pm - Detour (1945), dark, almost sleazy, Poverty Row noir from Edgar G. Ulmer for PRC absolutely lives up to its cult status. Ann Savage, fantastic!
—3:00 pm - Mildred Pierce (1945), simply because it's Mildred Pierce, and I suspect some of you will appreciate the alert. While we're on the subject, I'm currently reading an advance copy of Jacqueline T. Lynch's new biography, Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.
—6:30 pm - Johnny Angel (1945), George Raft and Claire Trevor.
—9:45 pm - Gun Crazy (1950), after you watch this one revisit my review of the similar and earlier Persons in Hiding (1939). Too bad TCM couldn't have made this a double-feature.
—1:15 am - Nightmare Alley (1947), another Fox title you'll want to catch while you can. If you've never seen it, it's Tyrone Power like you've never seen him before. And if you've never seen it, you'll want to correct that. Here's my piece about Joan Blondell that was originally published in The Dark Pages Nightmare Alley 2012 Special Issue.
—Saturday morning begins with some Errol Flynn swashbuckling in The Sea Hawk (1940) at 6:00 am. I always feel like this one gets the short shrift because it's Brenda Marshall and not Olivia de Havilland with Flynn, but it's another great action movie at sea.
For those looking to switch the channel:
GetTV Preview
From their press release:
Spend the evening with Loretta Young on June 12, as the Oscar® winner delivers a powerhouse performance as a distraught woman caring for the orphaned child she injured in a hit-and-run in the 1952 drama PAULA, followed by the romantic comedy BEDTIME STORY, with Fredric March, at 8:50 p.m. ET. And getTV pays tribute to Oscar®-winning starlet Susan Hayward on June 19, with a pair of dramas, as the elegant actress stars as a conniving woman bent on taking over the Stoddard Family Estate in ADAM HAD FOUR SONS, with Ingrid Bergman and Warner Baxter, and shines as a troubled teen on trial for murdering her mother’s latest lover in WHERE LOVE HAS GONE, with Bette Davis, at 8:50 p.m. ET.
You'll find my review of Adam Had Four Sons (1941) HERE.
This Week in WAC
I'll skip the RKO Noir's, TCM is giving you plenty of that, but Warner Archive just released four Bette Davis titles this week and an Eddie Cantor collection!
The Eddie Cantor Goldwyn Collection includes the following four movies: Palmy Days (1931), The Kid from Spain (1932), Roman Scandals (1933) and Strike Me Pink (1936).
The four with Bette Davis are all separate DVDs: The Dark Horse (1932) with Warren William; Special Agent (1935) with George Brent and Ricardo Cortez; Satan Met a Lady (1936), again with Warren William; and June Bride (1948) with Robert Montgomery.
(Note: The above links are my Warner Archive affiliate links, which simply means that they'll pay me a small percentage for leading you over to their site to buy. Thanks for buying through them!)
As (almost) always, the Warner Archive releases are manufactured-on-demand DVD-Rs.
I just emailed my request for review copies of the Cantor set and two of the Bette Davis movies. Reviews will follow at some point in the future.
I'm pretty random with my Warner Archive reviews, but their DVDs were subject of my last two: The Wedding Night (1935), which I polished off within a week or two of receiving my copy, and Ace of Aces (1933), which sat for several months. They all eventually get posted though.
Cliff's Notes
Eating my words for underestimating The Arizonian (1936), one of the Richard Dix Westerns that played Thursday night. I typically don't watch TCM live, but Lebron was being blown out and it was a light baseball schedule, so I turned this one on at 11:45 pm. I was doing some other things at first, so I was too distracted even for even a decent "Flash Review," but within 15-20 minutes I was hooked.
Dix brought his quiet dignity, and a bit of a quiet menace, to his part, and Preston Foster was a kick as his Doc Holliday-like sidekick. Very solid Western, I enjoyed it much more than The Kansan.
Yesterday I was worried about the reception Richard Dix would get on social media, but it turned out to be an altogether different reaction than I had anticipated: indifference. Even the #TCMParty hashtag came up pretty empty.
Many TCM viewers spent the evening recalling Christopher Lee, who died Sunday at age 93. Most of Lee's best output skews a little late for this site, but since I did have several scans on hand—and I am a fan myself—I included a couple of Lee images in today's Classic Movie Daily email. TCM will be honoring Lee with an 8-movie daytime marathon on Monday, June 22, so I'll probably include a few more images that day as well. For a great retrospective of Lee's career do check out Terence Towles Canote's obituary at A Shroud of Thoughts.
Collector's Note: On eBay I've applied my sharpest discount yet to the fan photos and R95 linen portraits that I've recently relisted: 20% off each. Additionally, orders over $25 shipping to US addresses will ship free. The sale runs through next Wednesday night. Click HERE to view all of my items currently marked down on eBay.
Have a great Friday! Talk to you tomorrow—
Cliff
Issue count: Since going Daily on April 6, I've mailed posts to subscribers 65 out of 67 days.
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