TCM Schedule for Tuesday, January 15th.

[CBHagman]

We see dead people...and Margaret O'Brien, who is very much alive.



Tuesday, January 15th, 2008.

12:00am Martin Scorsese Presents, Val Lewton: The Man In The Shadows (2007)

1:30am Leopard Man, The (1943) When a leopard escapes during a publicity stunt, it triggers a series of murders. Cast: Dennis O'Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. BW-66 mins, TV-PG

2:45am Seventh Victim, The (1943) A girl's search for her missing sister puts her in conflict with a band of satanists. Cast: Kim Hunter, Tom Conway, Jean Brooks. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-71 mins, TV-G

4:00am Curse of the Cat People, The (1944) A lonely child creates an imaginary playmate with surprisingly dangerous results.Cast: Kent Smith, Simone Simon, Julia Dean. Dir: Robert Wise, Gunther von Fritsch. BW-70 mins, TV-PG

5:15am Body Snatcher, The (1945) To continue his medical experiments, a doctor must buy corpses from a grave robber. Cast: Boris Karloff, Henry Daniell, Bela Lugosi. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-78 mins, TV-PG



6:30am Isle Of The Dead (1945) The inhabitants of a Balkans island under quarantine fear that one of their number is a vampire. Cast: Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Helene Thimig. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-72 mins, TV-PG

7:45am Bedlam (1946) When an actress tries to reform an asylum, its corrupt keeper has her committed. Cast: Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-79 mins, TV-PG
9:15am Martin Scorsese Presents, Val Lewton: The Man In The Shadows (2007)

10:45am Youth Runs Wild (1944) During World War II, neglected teens on the home front turn to delinquency. Cast: Bonita Granville, Kent Smith, Jean Brooks. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-67 mins, TV-PG

12:00pm Mademoiselle Fifi (1944) A German officer tries to force a French laundress to become his mistress. Cast: Simone Simon, Kurt Kreuger, John Emery. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-69 mins, TV-G

1:15pm Lost Angel (1943) A girl raised to be a genius gets lost and discovers the simple pleasure of life. Cast: Margaret O'Brien, James Craig, Marsha Hunt. Dir: Roy Rowland. BW-91 mins, TV-G

3:00pm Private Screenings: Child Stars (2006) Robert Osborne sits down with former child stars Margaret O'Brien, Jane Withers, Dickie Moore and Darryl Hickman for an interview on their lives and careers. BW-82 mins, TV-G

4:30pm Three Wise Fools (1946) An orphan girl melts the hearts of three crusty old men.
Cast: Margaret O'Brien, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell. Dir: Edward Buzzell. BW-90 mins, TV-G

6:15pm Unfinished Dance, The (1947) A young dance student accidentally cripples a teacher she doesn't like. Cast: Margaret O'Brien, Cyd Charisse, Danny Thomas. Dir: Henry Koster. BW-101 mins, TV-G

What's On Tonight: TCM PRIME TIME FEATURE: DIRECTOR DEBUTS

8:00pm Landlord, The (1970) A spoiled rich boy buys a Brooklyn tenement and gets mixed up in his tenants' lives. Cast: Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Pearl Bailey. Dir: Hal Ashby. C-110 mins, TV-MA

10:00pm Bad Company (1972) Civil War draft dodgers head West to build new lives as outlaws.
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Barry Brown, Jim Davis. Dir: Robert Benton. C-93 mins, TV-MA

11:45pm Targets (1968) An aging horror star and a psychotic veteran come face to face at the premiere of the star's most recent film. Cast: Tim O'Kelly, Boris Karloff, Peter Bogdanovich. Dir: Peter Bogdanovich. C-90 mins, TV-PG

1:30am What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966) Woody Allen dubbed in comic dialogue for this outrageous spoof of secret-agent thrillers. Cast: Voices of Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, Mickey Rose. Dir: Woody Allen. C-80 mins, TV-PG

3:00am Dick Cavett Show, The: Woody Allen (1971) Woody Allen appears on The Dick Cavett Show in an interview that originally aired October 20, 1971. C-67 mins, TV-PG

4:15am Play it Again, Sam (1972)
A recent divorce gets romantic advice from the ghost of Humphrey Bogart.
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Jerry Lacy. Dir: Herbert Ross. C-86 mins, TV-14

[Matilda]

1. Margaret O'Brien turns 71 on January 15th.

TCM Sydney is also screening lots of Margaret O'Brien films this week.

I know I've said it before - pleasant as she is today, I couldn't stand
her as a child actor, so I'm not watching the films.

[CBHagman]

2. Are we ever on the same page!

As much as I enjoy Meet Me in St. Louis, I always thought Agnes and especially Tootie (Margaret O'Brien) were pretty much demon children and the scariest members of the Smith family. What makes it worse is that Tootie is affectionately treated as the mascot no matter how vicious she becomes. In a way, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes is a more realistic portrayal of the childhood of yesteryear, because O'Brien's on-screen father (Edward G. Robinson, playing against type) spanks her when she does wrong.

But I've seen O'Brien in the interviews on TCM today, and she looks great and is an utter charmer. Never confuse the actor with the role.

[Matilda]

3. She looked quite sweet as a child,

and probably was nice even then, but the problem for me was that she just couldn't act. Every role,
every scene, was played exactly the same way - no range of emotion, no change of pace, no variation
of character. She made me want to shake some life into her!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. Maybe you didn't like the characters she portrayed

That's fine. By today's standards, they weren't very raw or gritty. But I have seen a full range of emotion in her among her many films. I think she was always as close to perfection as possible in her roles. Sometimes the role just doesn't call for every emotion to be displayed in every scene. She never made me think she was a child reading lines. I suspended disbelief in every one of her performances. To me, she disappeared into her role and become one with it as much as a greater actor can do. She moved me, she charmed me, she convinced me.

[Longhorn]

4. Now, now, remember that Tootie's father asks her to remind him to spank her

after she left her skates on the stairs. ;)

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

5. Margaret O'Brien wasn't just a great child actress - she was a GREAT actress

One of my favorites. She was not just a cutie-pie child star. She had enormous talent.

[Matilda]

7. Not for me.

Sorry. Just different tastes.