|
|
Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 8, No. 44 |
|
TCM'S MARVELOUS MONTH OF MYSTERY
|
Numerous mystery series
being shown consecutively
|
Please check your local cable guide for specific times and dates for your area. |
By RON MILLER
of TheColumnists.com
With little fanfare, cable's Turner Classic Movies (TCM), by far the best old movie treasure chest on all of television, is running some of the best "B" movie mystery movies of the 1930s and 1940s all through the month of November.
The event really began Sunday with the cablecast of "The Mask of Dimitrios" (1944), based on Eric Ambler's classic espionage novel "A Coffin for Dimitrios," with Zachary Scott making his film debut in the title role.
But today (Monday, Nov. 5) the event has one of its most exciting lineups, showing six of the eight films based on the old radio series "The Whistler," starting at 3 a.m. (Pacific Daylight time). Scheduled in this order, the films are: "The Whistler" (1944); "Power of The Whistler" (1945); "Voice of The Whistler" (1945); "Mysterious Intruder" (1946); "Secret of The Whistler" (1946) and "Return of The Whistler" (1948). Missing are: "Mark of The Whistler" (1944) and "The 13th Hour" (1947).
For those not old enough to remember "The Whistler," it was an often chilling radio suspense series narrated by a mysterious, unseen character known only as The Whistler, who tells uswho he is in the famous opening, adding, "I know many things for I walk by night..."
The eight films made by Columbia Pictures between 1944-48 are highly regarded among mystery buffs because they retained the radio intro and were tightly written in the tradition of the radio series, some of them drawn from stories by Cornell Woolrich, the American father of serie noir, the literary genre the French hailed in the 1950s as the inspiration for the films noir cinema genre. William Castle, who later would become the producer of gimmickk-heavy horror films like "House on Haunted Hill" and "The Tingler," directed several of the "Whistler" films with considerable style. All but the last film in the series starred leading man Richard Dix, the star of the 1931 Best Picture Oscar winner "Cimarron," as the leading character, usually a man caught up in some bizarre events.
On Wednesday, TCM has scheduled 7 of the 10 "Crime Doctor" films made between 1943-49, also by Columbia--and also based on a popular radio mystery series. All the films star Oscar-winner Warner Baxter ("In Old Arizona," 1928) as Dr. Ordway, a former criminal who lost his memory in an accident and rebuilds his life in a new career as a psychiatrist specializing in problems involving criminal minds.
Starting at 4:15 a.m. (Pacific Daylight time), the films are "The Crime Doctor" (1943); "Crime Doctor's Strangest Case" (1943); "Crime Doctor's Courage" (1945); "Crime Doctor's Warning" (1945); "Crime Doctor's Man Hunt" (1946); "Just Before Dawn" (1946) and "The Millerson Case" (1947). Missing are: "Shadows in the Night" (1944), "Crime Doctor's Gamble" (1947) and "Crime Doctor's Diary" (1949).
The "Crime Doctor" films are definitely "B" movie mysteries with "puzzle-style" plots and nothing estraordinary, although Baxter's assured presence is always entertaining.
Following the "Crime Doctor" marathon, later Wednesday, TCM then presents the three films in the "I Love A Mystery" series, again made by Columbia and based on a popular radio series, starting at 1:15 p.m. (Pacific Daylight time) with "I Love A Mystery" (1945), followed by "The Devil's Mask" (1946) and "The Unknown" (1946).
In the three films, San Francisco-based adventurers Jack Packard (Jim Bannon) and "Doc" Young (Barton Yarborough) get involved in some really spooky mysteries. "Reggie," a third adventurer from the radio series, isn't involved. They're deftly-made, low budget thrillers that hold up well, if you're nostalgic enough.
On Thursday, Nov. 8, TCM offers six films featuring S.S. Van Dine's popular American sleuth Philo Vance, some of them rare treasures from the Warner Bros. and MGM film libraries. Vance is widely recognized as a British-style, upper-crusty "consulting" detective with the sophisticated, gentlemanly style of Lord Peter Wimsey, but perhaps with his feet anchored just a bit more securely on dry ground.
Starting at 3 a.m. (Pacific Daylight time), the series starts with MGM's "The Bishop Murder Case" (1930) with Basil Rathbone, who hadn't yet begun his long run as the screen's most beloved Sherlock Holmes, as Philo Vance. Following is "The Kennel Murder Case" (1933) with William Powell as Vance. This is considered the best of the Vance films, a clever thriller directed by Michael Curtiz, who later would direct "Casablanca." The film also boasts a definitive performance by the debonair Powell, setting the tone for his first work as Dashiell Hammett's Nick Charles in "The Thin Man" the following year.
Next up is "The Dragon Murder Case" (1934) with Warren William as Vance, followed by MGM's "The Casino Murder Case" (1935) with Paul Lukas, future Best Actor Oscar winner for "Watch on the Rhine" (1943), as Vance; MGM's "The Garden Murder Case" (1936) with Edmund Lowe as Vance. The TCM marathon ends with "Calling Philo Vance" (1940) with James Stephenson as Vance in Warners' remake of "The Kennel Murder Case."
On Monday, Nov. 12, TCM shows all four RKO films featuring Chester Gould's comic strip detective Dick Tracy, starting at 3 a.m. with "Dick Tracy" (1945), starring Morgan Conway as Tracy. Following are: "Dick Tracy vs. Cueball" (1946) with Conway reprising the role; "Dick Tracy's Dilemma" (1947), a real thriller with Ralph Byrd taking over the Dick Tracy role battling an evildoer known as The Claw; then "Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome" (1947) in which Byrd's Tracy faces Boris Karloff, a mad scientist who can freeze people where they stand with gas bombs.
Later that day, TCM lines up Leslie Charteris' famous "outside the law" sleuth, Simon Templar aka "The Saint," for another marathon. The TCM series contains seven of the nine films featuring The Saint between 1938-54. (Let's not count the TV versions nor the dreadful 1997 update with an insufferable Val Kilmer as The Saint.)
In order, starting at 8 a.m. (Pacific Daylight time) they're showing "The Saint in New York" with Louis Hayward as The Saint; "The Saint Strikes Back" (1939) with George Sanders as The Saint in the first of six RKO mysteries; "The Saint in London" (1939) with Sanders; "The Saint's Double Trouble" (1940) with Bela Lugosi in a supporting role; "The Saint Takes Over" (1940) with Sanders; "The Saint in Palm Springs" (1941) with Sanders, and ending with "The Saint Meets the Tiger" (1943), based on "Meet the Tiger," Charteris first story about the character, with Hugh Sinclair as The Saiut.
Missing from the lineup: "The Saint's Vacation" (1941), in which Sinclair took over the role, and "The Saint's Girl Friday" (1954), in which the movies' first "Saint," Louis Hayward, returned to the role.
On Tuesday, Nov. 13, TCM teams two MGM films from the 1930s that feature Arsene Lupin, a reformed thief/sleuth character created by Maurice LeBlanc. Starting at 1:30 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time), TCM first shows "Arsene Lupin" (1932), the first film to co-star brothers John and Lionel Barrymore. John is Arsene Lupin and Lionel the Parisian detective trying to track him down. That's followed by "Arsene Lupin Returns" (1938), in which Melvyn Douglas takes over the Lupin role. Douglas was then an MGM leading man, but years later would win two Oscars for supporting roles in two films--"Hud" (1963) and "Being There" (1979).
On Wed., Nov. 14, TCM rolls out seven films
featuring another thief/sleuth, Louis Joseph Vance's Michael
Lanyard, also known as The Lone Wolf. TCM has been showing double
bills of "Lone Wolf" films during its regular Saturday
morning mystery slot for the past month, so some of these films
are repeats from that schedule.
Here are the films in order of cablecast, starting at 3 a.m.
(Pacific Daylight time) with "The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt"
(1939), first of nine films starring Warren William as The Lone
Wolf; "The Lone Wolf Keeps A Date" (1941); "The
Lone Wolf Meets A Lady" (1940); "The Lone Wolf Strikes"
(1940); "The Lone Wolf Takes A Chance" (1941); "The
Lone Wolf in London" (1947) with Gerald Mohr taking over
the leading role and "The Lone Wolf and His Lady" (1949)
with Ron Randell stepping into the role.
On Thursday, Nov. 19, TCM screens the first 11 films in RKO's popular series about still another "outside the law" sleuth based on Michael Arlen's literary character known as The Falcon. The series is unique because George Sanders, debonair Oscar winning actor of "All About Eve," played the character in the first three films, then decided to leave the series. He was replaced by his real-life brother, Tom Conway, in a movie called "The Falcon's Brother," in which the Conway character agrees to become The Falcon. The series is being shown slightly out of order of the release dates of the films.
Here's the lineup, starting at 3 a.m. (Pacific Daylight time) with the first film in the series, "The Gay Falcon" (1941). Next come "A Date with The Falcon" (1941) and Sanders' final film as The Falcon, "The Falcon Takes Over" (1942). This film also has it's place in Hollywood history because the storyline was that of Raymond Chandler's famous Philip Marlowe mystery "Farewell, My Lovely." The writers simply replaced hard-boiled dick Marlowe with the smooth, English-accented Falcon.
Following that are "The Falcon's Brother" (1942); "The Falcon Strikes Back" (1943); "The Falcon in Danger" (1943); "The Falcon and the Co-Eds" (1943); "The Falcon Out West" (1944); "The Falcon in Mexico" (1944); "The Falcon in Hollywood" (1944) and "The Falcon in San Francisco" (1945), all with Tom Conway as The Falcon. Conway made two more not scheduled: "The Falcon's Alibi" (1946) and "The Falcon's Adventure" (1946). Three low-budget Falcon films starring John Calvert also were made: "The Devil's Cargo" (1948), "Appointment with Murder" (1948) and "Search for Danger" (1949).
The Falcon movies are "B" mysteries, but generally very good quality with nice performances by Sanders and Conway in the leading role.
Finally, on Tuesday, Nov. 27, TCM has scheduled all six of the Perry Mason movies made by Warner Bros. in the 1930s, long before Raymond Burr had set the idea of what Erle Stanley Gardner's famous criminal attorney looks like in everybody's mind. The Mason you'll meet in these movies is NOTHING LIKE the Perry Mason we all remember from Burr's TV series and later movies-for-television.
They start showing at 8:45 a.m. (Pacific Daylight time) with "The Case of the Howling Dog" (1934) with Warren William as Mason; "The Case of the Curious Bride" (1935) with Warren William as Mason and Errol Flynn as the murder victim; "The Case of the Lucky Legs" (1935) with William's Mason trying to sober up through most of the movie; "The Case of the Velvet Claws" (1936), based on the first Perry Mason novel, finds Perry marrying his secretary Della Street (never happened!) This was William's final appearance in the role; "The Case of the Black Cat" (1936) with Latin-lover type Ricardo Cortez taking over the Mason role for one time only; "The Case of the Stuttering Bishop" (1937) with Donald Woods as Mason. (This final film in the series features Craig Stevens in a supporting role. Some 20 years later, Stevens would be TV's detective sensation "Peter Gunn."
TCM also is showing one "stand alone"
mystery classic well worth your attention.
On Sunday, Nov. 25, at 5 p.m. (Pacific Daylight time), they're
showing the taut British mystery "Green For Danger"
(1946) with a Scotland Yard Inspector (Alistair Sim) investigating
a death in a hospital operating room circa World War II.
When Turner Classic Movies opens its unrivalled library of classic mystery films, this humongous month of movie delights is what happens. All at attention now: Turn on your VCR's and DVD recorders!
©2007 by Ron Miller. The illustrations are courtesy of Columbia Pictures and Turner Classic Movies. This column first posted Nov. 5, 2007.
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He currently
writes about television mysteries for MYSTERY SCENE magazine.
You can comment on this column online. Please address your message to either "The Editors" or . To send an email, click here and don't forget to mention name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
|
|
|
Archives |
|
|