SATURDAY
After the Thin Man (1936)
TVO, 12:10 a.m. With Dashiell Hammett at the typewriter, and Myrna Loy, William Powell and Asta the dog in front of the camera, there's little not to recommend in this second in the comedy-mystery flicks of the Thin Man series. Here, Nick and Nora Charles, their first case solved, hop a train back to San Francisco, where they're thrown into the throes of another whodunit, this one involving the disappearance of a friend's better half. Best of all, everything is nice and easy to follow, with alibis and motives spelled out for all the suspects. And should you miss a crucial scene while retrieving popcorn from the microwave, you can always just sit back and enjoy the fondly barbed banter of our heroes, the vintage shots of Frisco, and the charm-filled acting of James Stewart, in one of his earliest roles.
SUNDAY
Forever Young (1992)
Space, 9 p.m. "You could do intellectual stuff, but what's the fun in that?" So proffered Mel Gibson in a recent TV interview, referring to a film career that's included two Mad Maxes, four Lethal Weapons and a voice over in Chicken Run. Forever Young sits well within that tradition, a film bursting with illogical subplots and tearjerking turns of events, all adding up to a movie that's fun to watch and a little bit sentimental. Gibson plays a heartbroken man who has himself cryogenically frozen in order to forget his pain (that'll do it). Fifty years later, two young boys, including Elijah (Frodo Baggins) Wood, discover him and take him home to mom (Jamie Lee Curtis). Bonding of various sorts follows in short order, with Mel's imitable charm managing to hold together the various improbable subplots.
MONDAY
My Father is Coming (1991)
Showcase, 11 p.m. Hodgepodge would be the official term, and like any hodgepodge, this Monika Treut film jumbles elements worth savouring and those best forgotten soon after viewing. Treut directs Sandra Shamas look-alike Shelley Kästner as Vicky, a German who's transplanted herself to Manhattan where she slaves away at a crummy diner and hopes for life as a starlet. When her father arrives for a visit, she's got to work fast to convince him she is the married, successful actress she's claimed in her letters. That deception in turn leads to scenes of her queeny gay best friend playing husband; of Annie Sprinkle leading erotic-performance seminars; and of Vicky losing a coveted commercial to her dad.
TUESDAY
Twelve to the Moon (1960)
Space, midnight What is it with things that come in twelves? Doughnuts, juries, international space crews in old sci-fi movies. In this Cold War yarn, a mixed bag of astronauts heads to the moon, braving meteor showers and their own earthly tensions, including cross-country romance and simmering Jewish-Nazi resentments. There is something admirably progressive in the makeup of the gang, which includes a black man and a Japanese woman (who in one hilarious scene is asked to translate a Chinese message sent to the spaceship). The moon itself is a place of quicksand ("such a tragic death for a man so dedicated"), luminous rocks and a race of beings who may be hostile, or may just need to learn a lesson in earthly love.
WEDNESDAY
Scream (1996)
Showcase, 10 p.m. Sometimes Hollywood cooks up what looks at first glance to be a great idea, a clever script, a fun cast and then manages to squander it all. How many trailers look 20 times better than the final product? Scream is an exception. On the terms on which it offers itself - a parody of slasher flicks that aims to be both suspenseful and ironic - it hits the mark dead on. Neve Campbell plays the chief screamer, a woman named Sidney who, in the grand tradition of Friday the 13th, has a family secret coming to haunt her. Luckily, because she's seen so many horror films, she knows this may be a problem - and along with her dropping-like-flies friends, has at least a few clues about how to outwit the guy with the long knife. Expect to laugh, expect to scream, expect the expected served up with a wink, a flinch and a nod.
THURSDAY
Harper (1966)
TVO, 12:30 a.m. "Keep the change," says Harper. "There is no change," answers the bartender. "Keep it anyway." He was Lew Archer in the Ross Macdonald novels. Now he's Lew Harper, with Paul Newman playing the jaded detective whose life is unravelling every which way he turns. As Hollywood's version of ol' blue eyes, Newman shows why the likes of Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks - whatever their respective strengths may be - just don't stand up by comparison. Lauren Bacall steams as a woman whose husband - or is it, in fact, her husband? -
is missing. In the SoCal stew of characters that surround Newman's search for clues to the mystery, look as well for
Julie Harris, Janet Leigh, Shelley Winters (true to form as an aging actress) and Robert Wagner.
FRIDAY
Paths of Glory (1957)
Bravo!, 9 p.m. A few weeks back, The Longest Day showed the power that a film can have in its depiction of military valour. Paths of Glory testifies to the equal force that Hollywood can deliver when it takes an antiwar stance and won't let go. Directed by Stanley Kubrick - three years before he would again team up with Kirk Douglas in Spartacus, and three decades before he delivered the antiwar Full Metal Jacket - this film looks at a botched French mission during the First World War, a mission ordered by a craven general, overseen by a bitter colonel (Douglas), and whose failure is blamed on three subsequently executed soldiers. Banned in France for many years, it's a powerful story and plain old sad.