Films on TV - June 6 to 12

WAR, Kermit and Brando's debut in the movie guide that thinks ALL films are underrated (except Body Double).

Hi, and welcome to Films on TV, which appears to be getting shorter. Sorry about that, it's because there are so few films on this week. Still, we've managed to pull together around 20 to tell you about, including a little-seen WWII classic, the best British film of the past 20 years and Marlon Brando's screen debut.

If you watch all of them you win a prize, namely the satisfaction of having seen 20 movies in a single week. I haven't done that since I was at university (hard to believe they let me in, I know). Also in this week's column are our DVDs of the Week, featuring a pair of Universal horrors starring two familiar faces.

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I'd been hoping to write something about the peerless Lee Tracy, the razor-sharp, motormouth '30s screen star whose career nose-dived after he – allegedly – drunkenly urinated on the Mexican army... but Imogen Sara Smith has got there first. Even more annoyingly, she's done it better than I ever could. This is a great introduction to the man, but even ardent fans will find it an insightful read.

Should you want to investigate further, I'm sorry to say that Tracy's films are REALLY difficult to get hold of, though well worth the effort, of course. Dinner at Eight, in which he has a key supporting role, is on Region 1 (American) DVD and The Pay Off has had a release over here, but the rest are either only on NTSC (American) VHS or entirely out of reach. And they never crop up on UK telly. Pah. My favourites are Turn Back the Clock, The Nuisance and Blessed Event - which for me is the greatest comedy ever made.

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A film guide? A poke in the eye with a sharp stick? Take your pick.

SATURDAY, JUNE 6

First up is family comedy, in the shape of Twins (1988, ITV1, 3.35pm). If you like your laughs with side helpings of both mawkish sentimentality and bone-crunching violence, you're in luck. Danny De Vito and Arnold Schwarzenegger are the mismatched twins taking on dodgy doctors and, err, crooked crooks as they search for their long lost ma. It's a bit of a mess, but good fun. (3/5)

Blue Velvet (1986, ITV1, 11.15pm), in which it turns out there's a severed ear lying in the grass behind the white picket fence, is another of David Lynch's odes to weirdness, with wet-behind-the-ears Kyle MacLachlan stumbling into a vortex of sexual and moral corruption. Isabella Rossellini is fine as a nightclub singer, matched by Dennis Hopper (playing perhaps his finest psycho) and one of my favourites – former '40s child star Dean Stockwell – as a lip-synching drug dealer. This is dizzying, confrontational and frequently knocks on the door marked 'Sublimity - enter here', though every so often it lapses into self-conscious pecularity. It's also really horrible, but the bold-hearted should take a look. The use of music is superb. (4/5)

FILM OF THE WEEK – 1

Overlord (1975, BBC2, 0.15am SUN) – To make this D-Day film (shown to mark today's 65th anniversary), director Stuart Cooper went back to the original footage, screening 20,000 hours of newsreel and War Office material at the Imperial War Museum. Constructing his narrative around the most potent passages, he crafted a WWII movie that's at once realistic and dreamlike, the energy, immediacy and simplicity of the genuine wartime film mixed with starkly shot, almost hallucinatory sequences dealing with one young (fictional) recruit's experience. At first the effect is slightly jarring, but ultimately it works. Many images live long in the mind – recruits burning their effects before going into battle, the protagonist's first kiss outside a makeshift dancehall, and the laying of tracks in the sea via The Great Panjandrum, a flame-powered spinning wheel. Overlord isn't perfect (I'm still not quite sure why Cooper chose to end the film as he did), but it's unique, and a must-see for history buffs and war film fans who think they've seen everything. Kubrick loved it. (5/5)

Office Space (1999, Film4, 0.25am SUN) is consistently hilarious up until the final 20, when writer-director Mike Judge (the man behind Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill) runs out of things to say and manufactures a contrived, slightly stupid Hollywood ending. Ron Livingston plays an office nobody who undergoes an epiphany during a hypnotherapy session and decides to stop going to work. "So you're gonna quit?" girlfriend Jennifer Aniston asks. "Nuh-uh. Not really. Uh... I'm just gonna stop going." "What about bills," she asks. "You know, I've never really liked paying bills. I don't think I'm gonna do that, either." There's brilliant support from Gary Cole as the last word in slimy bosses, and a barrage of jokes that range from the observational to the satirical and the surreal. It's just a shame about the wrap-up. (4/5)

SUNDAY, JUNE 7

The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984, Film4, 11am) is among the best of the Muppets' movies, as the gang attempt to conquer Broadway. The scenes with Kermit as an advertising executive are a treat. Elsewhere, the usual jumble of good jokes, bad jokes and colourful characters keep things lively. (3/5)

Also on this afternoon is Disney's saccharine retread of The Parent Trap (Film4, 6.35pm), starring a young Lindsay Lohan, alongside Dennis Quaid and the late Natasha Richardson. It's sentimental, calculating and really rather bewitching. (4/5)

Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988, ITV1, 4.50pm) has been unjustly maligned as the worst film ever made. It's probably about fifth. (1/5)

And in the evening, The Machinist (2004, Film4, 11.25pm), featured on the newly resurgent Manic Street Preachers' latest record, appears worth a look. No review, as I haven't seen it. An emaciated, confuddled Christian Bale stars.

MONDAY, JUNE 8

Millions Like Us (1943, C4, 1.30pm) may be my favourite of all the Home Front dramas made during the Second World War (I'm not sure A Canterbury Tale counts, since it defies easy categorisation). Neither as frightening nor as transcendent as Went the Day Well? (which provides the most heightened evocation of what it means to be British), Millions Like Us has a stoicism, a restraint and a sense of humour that's pretty well unique - though as has been observed elsewhere, its gentle lyricism makes it something of a piece with the spellbinding wartime documentaries of the great Humphrey Jennings. Patricia Roc is a young woman who works in a munitions factory. She bonds with her colleagues - from all strata of society - whilst falling in love with pilot Gordon Jackson. A touching subplot deals with Eric Portman's tentative romance with spoiled Anne Crawford, while there's stirling support from the writers' recurring national treasures (Charters and Caldicott, played by Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne). Moore Marriot's evaluation of a prospective son-in-law who's just joined the service is particularly moving. Don't miss this one. (5/5)

I caught the first 10 minutes of Because of Winn Dixie (2005, Film4, 4.40pm) a while back and have been waiting for it to come on again ever since. It looks like familiar, but superior indie fare.

Boogie Nights (1997, TCM, 9pm) was the second film from Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood), and it's arguably his best. Mark Wahlberg plays Dirk Diggler, who becomes a major porn star after being taken under the wing of producer Burt Reynolds. His rapid rise and pitiful, prolonged fall are traced in impressive detail, complete with Scorsese-inspired "film within a film" sequences, faux-documentary inserts and a set of superbly-etched supporting characters, like William H. Macy's seething wronged husband and – the best of the lot – Philip Seymour Hoffman's lovelorn cameraman. Pure class from start to finish, though it rather spoiled Ricky Springfield's 'Jesse's Girl' for me. I can't hear the song now without thinking of a stoner in skimpy pants dancing around a penthouse. (5/5)

For TUE to FRI picks, click on the link below right.TUESDAY, JUNE 9

Jurassic Park (1993, ITV2, 9pm) is either something you'll buy into completely, or merely a decent suspense film. Certainly its heightened, exciting set-pieces are by far the best thing on show – with everything that bit sharper, slicker and more inventive. (In that way it's reminiscent of a Val Lewton film, though he was a little more reticent about showing the monster) Indeed, while there are lapses of logic, cardboard characters and some terrible accents on show, the kid in me still finds the dino sequences bloody terrifying. I'm still not quite sure that's enough. (3/5)

The Men (1950, Film4, 2.45pm) saw Marlon Brando explode onto cinema screens. He plays a paraplegic war vet who's drowning in self-pity, despite the best efforts of girlfriend Teresa Wright. Then hard-but-fair doc Everett Sloane steps in… I think this might just be the best performance Brando ever turned in, with a vulnerability that's like an open wound, despite all the hollering and glass-breaking. Wright's great too – she was an underrated performer who peddled her distinct brand of delicate, ethereal Americana in films as wonderful and varied as The Best Years of Our Lives and Pursued. Highly recommended. (5/5)

There's Something About Mary (1997, Film4, 9pm) is tasteless, trashy and frequently downright offensive. It's usually customary to add "it's also absolutely hilarious", and stick it to those PC spoilsports who don't find physical disability funny. Well, I'm not going to. But I've included this largely sorry gross-out comedy in the round-up so as to say that it's not a complete loss. There are 10 glorious minutes at around the halfway point, in which Ben Stiller picks up a hitchhiker carrying a mysterious package and is subsequently arrested for murder. I laughed until I thought I might pass out. Then it goes back to being rubbish. (2/5)

FILM OF THE WEEK - 2

Up fourth today is Terence Davies' autobiographical masterwork, The Long Day Closes (1992, Film4, 1.30am WED). The film chronicles the end of the period in Davies' life, aged seven to 11, when he was "just ecstatically happy". That blissful parade of family get-togethers, daydreams and trips to the pictures in '50s Liverpool was punctured by the intrusion of adulthood and shame at his sexual awakening. The film has the structure of memory, its vivid vignettes flowing one into the next, linked by theme, not time, and scored by films and songs from the '40s and '50s. Its meshing of escapist fantasy and cruel reality, infused with a reverence for old Hollywood, typifies Davies' work. When it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, this unique, remarkable film received a ten-minute standing ovation. (5/5)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10

The publicity campaign for Insomnia (2002, BBC1, 10.45pm) seemed to consist largely of pointing out that while Robin Williams is usually a comedian, here – incredibly – he plays a dramatic role. Well, he doesn't play it very well. Williams is a killer who blackmails the cop on his tail (Al Pacino), after he sees him gun down his partner in the fog. Battling insomnia and guilt in snow-capped Alaska, Pacino remains committed to getting his man. Pacino's in good form – and it isn't often we get to say that anymore – topped by Hilary Swank as the local cop on the case. If there's a complaint, it's that there are a few subplots not given enough time to get going, but this is a fine, well-photographed crime film anyway. Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Dark Knight) directs. (4/5)

Highly Dangerous (1950, Film4, 11am) has English rose Margaret Lockwood (sporting unfamiliar-looking cropped hair) teaming with smart-mouthed American reporter Dane Clark (star of the superlative noir, Moonrise) to thwart a germ warfare plot in the Balkans. It's a bit threadbare, with a gimmicky script and the cheap look of so many British films of the period, but harmless entertainment, with a couple of tense bits. (3/5)

THURSDAY, JUNE 11

Waterloo Road (1944, BBC1, 12.50pm) is a simply lovely Home Front drama, with Johnny Mills as a soldier who goes AWOL to protect his wife from a seedy draft dodger, the wonderfully-named Ted Purvis (played with hulking zeal by Stewart Granger). This is fast-moving, funny and - in its own way - extremely moving, with a delightful framing device featuring Alastair Sim as a family doctor. And as a portrait of wartime London it's pretty much unmatched. (5/5)

The Grifters (1990, Sky Drama, 10pm) is an unsettling, pitch-black drama about small-time con artist John Cusack and the two women who rule his life – saucy girlfriend Annette Bening and overbearing mother Anjelica Huston, neither of whom are averse to using sex to win an argument. As has been said (sorry to not attribute, I can't find the review that stuck in my head), this is a film where people get hit in the stomach and struggle to get up again. It's really unusual, with compulsive, unhappy characters circling one another to some unhappy end. It's also a movie where you never know what's coming, which is always a joy. (Except in Oldboy, which was just horrible.) (4/5)

FRIDAY, JUNE 12

Moulin Rouge (1952, Film4. 11am) is the film in which Toulouse Lautrec is played by a man kneeling on his shoes. That man is Jose Ferrer. The film starts off really well, with a great evocation of the eponymous haunt, but gets bogged down in charmless biography, as Lautrec and his lovers bicker in artificial-looking Paris dives. It's OK, then, but nothing special - and no relation to the 2001 film, other than being somewhat underwhelming. (2/5)

Lone Star (1996, TCM, 9pm) is one of John Sayles' labyrinthine, multi-threaded race relations masterpieces. There's nothing worthy or preachy about this one, just a series of interlocking, wonderfully-realised storylines that begin with the belated discovery of a hated Sheriff's body and stretch back some 20 years. Chris Cooper is a Texas lawman, living in the shadow of his father, legendary former Sheriff (Matthew MacConaughey). Also looming large is the spectre of his father's predecessor - bigoted, corrupt, egomaniacal Kris Kristofferson - who held the town in a vice-like grip. This one mixes murder-mystery and character drama to unforgettable effect, as apparently disparate stories dovetail towards a knock-out ending. Sayles' usual lyrical dialogue and a gallery of superb characterisations make this a must see (if you have Sky - or the 7 and multi-region player needed to catch it on DVD). It's just so good. (5/5)

Please click on the link below right to see our DVDs of the week.DVDs of the Week

#3 - The Black Cat (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1934)

#4 - The Raven (Lew Landers, 1935)

A double-bill this week, looking at the first two films pairing classic horror's greatest stars - Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. (I can't see them together without recalling the bit in Ed Wood when Lugosi (Martin Landau) explodes with rage at the suggestion he was Karloff's sidekick.)

After Universal's box-offices smashes with Dracula and Frankenstein (both 1931), the studio brought the leads together for these Edgar Allan Poe-inspired works.

The Black Cat is pure gothic weirdness, directed by Edgar G. Ulmer (who went on to make THE no-budget noir, Detour). Taking place for the most part in an elaborate Art Deco mansion/Satanic chapeel built on a mass war grave, it tells the story of Dr Vitus Werdegast (Lugosi, in a rare heroic role), who returns after 15 years in a PoW camp to wreak revenge on the comrade in arms who sold him out - Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff).

An uninvolving romantic subplot aside - two pale newlyweds emoting woodenly - this smash hit (Universal's top moneymaker of 1934) is a minor classic. Thoroughly gripping, it's bracingly original and teeming with a sense of revulsion at humankind's worst excesses.

Lugosi is compelling as the noble doctor, with Karloff utterly chilling as the superbly-coiffured murderer/war criminal/devil-worshipper. And from start to finish, Ulmer piles on the atmosphere, obscuring a few shortcomings in the script with a mass of mist, shadow and sheer, throbbing terror.

The Raven is less unusual and outlandish, but equally interesting. This time Lugosi is the bad(der) guy - a surgeon thwarted in love who disfigures and dismembers convicts and judges (that sounds like a mid-'60s Bob Dylan lyric) as he plots vengeance on those who've wronged him.

Though there's some lousy, unnecessary comic relief, and the plot lurches around a bit, there's ample compensation via some magnificent set-pieces: escaped con Karloff shooting at his reflection after a facelift from the doc; Lugosi meeting his long-dead wife; and the crazed doctor torturing Samuel S. Hinds using Poe's "pit and the pendulum".

Both films come in crisp black-and-white prints from Second Sight, and have the best sleeve designs I've seen in a long time. Take a look here and here.

On a barely-related note, those looking for more Poe goodness beside his books might want to seek out Antony and the Johnsons' musical rendering of his great poem, 'The Lake'.

The Black Cat and The Raven are available on Second Sight for about 6 each.

DVD of the Week archive

#1 - Let's Get Lost (Bruce Weber, 1988)

#2 - Charley Varrick (Don Siegel, 1973)

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