TCM Schedule for Saturday, March 31 -- The Essentials: The Lady Is A Vamp

[Bolo Boffin]

6:00 AM
RIO RITA (1942)

There's a gorgeous sight gag in this clip of the movie. After the movie on TCM, there's a short of Rio Rita and her orchestra.

A pair of nitwits try to stop Nazis from infiltrating a Western ranch.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Kathryn Grayson.
BW-91 mins, TV-G


7:45 AM
ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (1958)

A space visitor's touch turns an unhappy heiress into a vengeful giant.
Dir: Nathan Hertz Cast: Allison Hayes, William Hudson, Yvette Vickers.
BW-66 mins, TV-PG, CC


9:00 AM
THE OUTLAWS IS COMING (1965)

The clip is a promo of the movie when it was called The Three Stooges Meet The Gunslingers.

Three bumblers travel West to save the buffalo and end up fighting to save themselves.
Dir: Norman Maurer Cast: Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Joe De Rita.
BW-88 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format


10:30 AM
ALIAS BOSTON BLACKIE (1942)

A reformed thief tracks down an escaped convict so he can prove the man is innocent.
Dir: Lew Landers Cast: Chester Morris, Adele Mara, Richard Lane.
BW-67 mins, TV-PG,

12:00 PM
TARZAN THE FEARLESS (1933)

Who is this Bomba wanna-be? Accept no substitutes!

The jungle king helps a young woman rescue her father from the high priest of a lost city.
Dir: Robert F. Hill Cast: Buster Crabbe, Jacqueline Wells, Eddie Woods.
BW-86 mins, TV-PG, CC


1:30 PM
STAGECOACH (1939)

Don't be fooled by the aircraft at the beginning of this. It really is the original trailer for Stagecoach. If you like John Wayne when he actually acted instead of playing John Wayne, here's the one that started it all. And it's really hard to go wrong with John Ford.

A group of disparate passengers battle personal demons and each other while racing through Indian country.
Dir: John Ford Cast: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine.
BW-96 mins, TV-G, CC


Short: THE IMMORTAL BLACKSMITH (1944)
11 minutes


3:30 PM
SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (1977)

Another TCM-approved theatrical trailer. Harryhausen fans, get out the popcorn and the goofy smiles!

When a witch turns a young prince into a baboon, Sinbad fights to save him.
Dir: Sam Wanamaker Cast: Patrick Wayne, Taryn Power, Jane Seymour.
C-113 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format


5:30 PM
THE NATURAL (1984)

By the numbers? Sure it is. This is one of those movies that shows why people swear by the numbers. You needed a goosebump fix this afternoon, didn't you? And the iconic soundtrack is just the icing on the cake.

An overaged baseball player comes out of nowhere to save his team.
Dir: Barry Levinson Cast: Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger.
C-138 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format


The Essentials: The Lady Is A Vamp
8:00 PM
SUNRISE (1927)

Say what you want about Drew Barrymore as a cohost for The Essentials, this is a great choice. If you can't check in, put this Murnau masterpiece on your DVR. He'd done Nosterafu five years before, but this celebration of the visual range of film should be more famous than his classic horror rip of Dracula. Anne Rice even gave the movie a nod in her Vampire Chronicles: it's the first time Lestat saw a sunrise since being changed. A stunning triumph of film art.

In this silent film, a farmer's affair with a city woman almost destroys his life.
Dir: F. W. Murnau Cast: George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston.
BW-94 mins, TV-PG


10:00 PM
HALLELUJAH (1929)

Movies like this can make you hurt to see how talented people got stuffed into stereotypes and wasted. But Nina Mae McKinney really is on fire in this 1929 talkie.

A black laborer turns preacher after accidentally killing a man.
Dir: King Vidor Cast: Daniel L. Haynes, Nina Mae McKinney, William E. Fountaine.
BW-100 mins, TV-G


12:00 AM
BORN TO KILL (1947)

A murderer marries a young innocent then goes after her more experienced sister.
Dir: Robert Wise Cast: Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Walter Slezak.
BW-92 mins, TV-PG, CC


1:45 AM
HUMAN DESIRE (1954)

An unhappy wife seduces a veteran into helping her get rid of her husband.
Dir: Fritz Lang Cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford.
BW-91 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format


3:30 AM
AH, WILDERNESS! (1935)

In his only comedy, Eugene O'Neill captures the trials of growing up in small-town America.
Dir: Clarence Brown Cast: Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Aline MacMahon.
BW-98 mins, TV-G, CC


5:15 AM
MGM PARADE SHOW #2 (1955)

Judy Garland and Bert Lahr perform in a clip from "The Wizard of Oz"; Gene Kelly introduces a clip from "It's Always Fair Weather." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-25 mins, TV-G