Sophia Loren on Turner Classic Movies
Wednesday, June 4, highlights on Turner Classic Movies:
There’s quite a bit to recommend:
The thriller Targets was one of Peter Bogdanovich’s first and one of Boris Karloff’s last movies; The Won’t Forget deals with bigotry in the American south after Lana Turner gets bumped off, purportedly at the hands of a Jewish businessman; and Mary Stevens, M.D. is a pre-Coder starring the stunning-looking Kay Francis.
Sabotage / A Woman Alone is a British-made Alfred Hitchcock curiosity involving terrorism and spies; the film noir In a Lonely Place gave Gloria Grahame (top photo, with Humphrey Bogart) one of her first (and few) leads; and George Stevens‘ The Talk of the Town is one of the cleverest comedies of the 1940s, providing Ronald Colman and Jean Arthur with some of the best comedic opportunities of their careers.
The Sophia Loren films are a mixed bag, but the light comedy Too Bad She’s Bad is worth watching if only to see Loren, playing a shameless thief, before she became an international star. The Italian title, Peccato che sia una canaglia, literally translates as "What a Sin That She’s a Crook."
Schedule (Pacific Time) and synopses from the TCM website:
1:45am [Drama] 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. Letterbox.
3:30am [Documentary] MGM Parade Show #7 (1955)
Ray Bolger performs in a clip from "The Great Ziegfeld"; Debbie Reynolds introduces a clip from "The Tender Trap." Hosted by George Murphy. BW-26 mins.
4:00am [Drama] They Won’t Forget (1937)
Bigotry flares when a Jewish businessman is accused of killing a small-town girl in the South.
Cast: Claude Rains, Gloria Dickson, Allyn Joslyn. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. BW-95 mins.
5:45am [Drama] Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933)
A woman doctor decides to have a baby without benefit of marriage.
Cast: Kay Francis, Lyle Talbot, Glenda Farrell. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. BW-72 mins.
7:00am [Drama] In a Lonely Place (1950)
An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy. Dir: Nicholas Ray. BW-93 mins.
8:35am [Short Film] Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Chimp, The (1932)
A jealous husband thinks two tenants sneaking a pet chimp into their apartment are carrying on with his wife.
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Billy Gilbert. Dir: James Parrott. BW-25 mins
9:00am [Suspense/Mystery] Sabotage (1936)
An unhappily married woman discovers her husband is an enemy agent.
Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Oscar Homolka, John Loder. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. BW-77 mins.
10:23am [Short Film] Short Film: From The Vaults: Action On The Beach (1964)
BW-6 mins
10:30am [Musical] Muscle Beach Party (1964)
The beach gang goes head-to-head with the bodybuilders of a new gym that’s interfering with their strip on the sand.
Cast: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Luciana Paluzzi. Dir: William Asher. C-95 mins. Letterbox.
12:11pm [Short Film] Short Film: From The Vaults: Sky Divers, The (1969)
C-15 mins
12:30pm [Comedy] Producers, The (1968)
A Broadway producer decides to get rich by creating the biggest flop of his career.
Cast: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Kenneth Mars. Dir: Mel Brooks. C-90 mins. Letterbox.
2:00pm [Documentary] Role Model: Gene Wilder (2008)
Gene Wilder sits down with Alec Baldwin for an intimate conversation about Wilder’s extensive career.
BW-59 mins. Letterbox.
3:00pm [Comedy] Talk Of The Town, The (1942)
An escaped political prisoner and a stuffy law professor vie for the hand of a spirited schoolteacher.
Cast: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman. Dir: George Stevens. BW-117 mins.
5:00pm [Comedy] Too Bad She’s Bad (1954)
A taxi driver falls in love with the young thief who helped steal his cab.
Cast: Vittorio De Sica, Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni. Dir: Alessandro Blasetti. BW-95 mins. Letterbox.
6:45pm [Romance] Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (above, 1963)
Three tales of very different women using their sexuality as a means to getting what they want.
Cast: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Aldo Giuffre. Dir: Vittorio De Sica. C-114 mins. Letterbox.
9:00pm [Comedy] Millionairess, The (1961)
When the world’s richest woman falls for an ascetic Indian doctor, they plan a test to decide whose dreams will come true.
Cast: Sophia Loren, Peter Sellers, Alastair Sim. Dir: Anthony Asquith. C-86 mins. Letterbox.
10:37pm [Short Film] Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Visiting Italy (1951)
A moving postcard of Italy showing Rome, Assisi, Florence, plus many other stunning sights.
C-7 mins
10:45pm [Comedy] It Started In Naples (1960)
An American lawyer trying to settle his brother’s affairs in Italy falls for one of the man’s in-laws.
Cast: Clark Gable, Sophia Loren, Vittorio de Sica. Dir: Melville Shavelson. C-100 mins. Letterbox.
12:30am [Comedy] Lady L (1965)
A beautiful laundress rises through European society.
Cast: Sophia Loren, Paul Newman, David Niven. Dir: Peter Ustinov. C-109 mins.
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Third tale of ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’(1963): Rusconi is a guy who howls in front of Mara engaged with her strip-tease. Before he howls, his businessman dad has already howled to him on the phone to corrupt a politician. Two men very busy enjoying strip-teases.