The American Culture

This week:
* Monday—Valentino feels the heat.
* Tuesday—William Holden goes for a swim.
* Wednesday—Robert Montgomery gets highly subjective.
* Thursday—Lee Marvin is doublecrossed, which means somebody’s gonna die.
* Friday—Nazis and escaped cons—can you tell them apart?
* Saturday—Herbert Lom absolutely, positively loses it.
* Sunday—Charles Bronson plays cowboys and Indians—but which ones can he rely on not to kill him?

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Monday—January 18th

1:30 AM—Stolen Moments (1920)
In this silent film, love turns a young innocent into a blackmail victim and murder suspect.
Cast: Marguerite Namara, Rudolph Valentino, Albert L. Barrett. Dir: James Vincent. BW-35 mins, TV-G

4:00 AM—The Man Between (1953)
An East Berliner helps a British woman trapped behind the Iron Curtain.
Cast: James Mason, Claire Bloom, Hildegard Knef. Dir: Carol Reed. BW-102 mins, TV-G

6:00 AM—Go Down Death! (1942)
Gangsters try to frame a minister out to clean up their Southern town.
Cast: Myra D. Hemmings, Samuel H. James, Eddy L. Houston. Dir: Spencer Williams. BW-54 mins, TV-PG

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Tuesday—January 19th

7:30 AM—The Band Wagon (1953)
A Broadway artiste turns a faded film star’s comeback vehicle into an artsy flop.
Cast: Fred Astaire, Jack Buchanan, Cyd Charisse. Dir: Vincente Minnelli. C-112 mins, TV-G, CC

11:15 PM—Sunset Boulevard (1950)
A failed screenwriter falls into a mercenary romance with a faded silent-film star.
Cast: Gloria Swanson, William Holden, Erich von Stroheim. Dir: Billy Wilder. BW-110 mins, TV-PG, CC

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Wednesday—January 20th

1:15 AM—Hot Millions (1968)
A computer whiz and his pregnant girlfriend set out to rob a massive corporation.
Cast: Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith, Bob Newhart. Dir: Eric Till. C-107 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

4:15 AM—Some Like It Hot (1959)
Two musicians on the run from gangsters masquerade as members of an all-girl band.
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis. Dir: Billy Wilder. BW-121 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

8:00 AM—Lady in the Lake (1947)
Philip Marlowe searches for a missing woman in this mystery shot entirely from the detective’s viewpoint.
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan. Dir: Robert Montgomery. BW-103 mins, TV-PG, CC

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Thursday—January 21st

12:15 AM—The Kremlin Letter (1970)
A team of spies tries to recover a CIA letter that could trigger an international incident.
Cast: Richard Boone, Bibi Andersson, Patrick O’Neal. Dir: John Huston. C-120 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

2:15 AM—Conspirator (1949)
A newlywed suspects her husband of being a Communist spy.
Cast: Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Harold Warrender. Dir: Victor Saville. BW-87 mins, TV-PG

9:00 AM—The Hatchet Man (1932)
When he’s forced to kill his best friend, a Chinese hit man adopts the man’s daughter.
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Dudley Digges. Dir: William A. Wellman. BW-74 mins, TV-14

11:45 AM—Two Seconds (1932)
In the last moments of his life, a criminal reviews the circumstances that led him to death row.
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Preston Foster, Vivienne Osborne. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. BW-67 mins, TV-PG

3:15 PM—Little Big Shot (1935)
Small-time hoods turn nursemaid when a gangster’s daughter is orphaned.
Cast: Sybil Jason, Glenda Farrell, Robert Armstrong. Dir: Michael Curtiz. BW-72 mins, TV-G

4:30 PM—Absolute Quiet (1936)
Murder follows when a plane filled with shady characters is forced to land on a tycoon’s ranch.
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Louis Hayward, Stuart Erwin. Dir: George B. Seitz. BW-70 mins, TV-PG

8:00 PM—Point Blank (1967)
A gangster plots an elaborate revenge on the wife and partner who did him dirty.
Cast: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn. Dir: John Boorman. C-92 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

10:00 PM—Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
A prison lifer attempts to tunnel his way out of the inescapable island fortress.
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom. Dir: Don Siegel. C-112 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

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Friday—January 22nd

12:00 AM—Seven Miles from Alcatraz (1942)
Escaped convicts land at a lighthouse being used by Nazi spies.
Cast: James Craig, Bonita Granville, Frank Jenks. Dir: Edward Dmytryk. BW-62 mins, TV-PG

1:15 AM—Experiment Alcatraz (1951)
A doctor testing drugs on convicts gets mixed up in a murder investigation.
Cast: John Howard, Joan Dixon, Walter Kingsford. Dir: Edward L. Cahn. BW-59 mins, TV-PG, CC

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Saturday—January 23rd

2:15 AM—Superstition (1985)
A witch executed in 1692 returns to the present for revenge.
Cast: James Houghton, Albert Salmi, Lynn Carlin. Dir: James W. Roberson. C-85 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

3:45 AM—The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1970)
When farmers unearth a strange skeleton, their children convert to Satanism.
Cast: Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden, Barry Andrews. Dir: Piers Haggard. BW-96 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

8:00 AM—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, TV-PG, CC

6:00 PM—The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
After driving his boss to insanity, Inspector Clouseau has to stop him from destroying the world.
Cast: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Lesley-Anne Down. Dir: Blake Edwards. C-103 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

10:45 PM—Ice Station Zebra (1968)
A sub commander on a perilous mission must ferret out a Soviet agent on his ship.
Cast: Rock Hudson, Patrick McGoohan, Jim Brown. Dir: John Sturges. C-152 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

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Sunday—January 24th

4:15 AM—Breakheart Pass (1976)
A U.S. marshall tries to bring in a captured outlaw during a treacherous train ride.
Cast: Charles Bronson, Ben Johnson, Richard Crenna. Dir: Tom Gries. C-95 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

6:00 AM—I Love You Again (1940)
A solid married man discovers he’s forgotten a past existence as a con artist.
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Frank McHugh. Dir: W. S. Van Dyke II. BW-99 mins, TV-G, CC

10:30 AM—Animal Crackers (1930)
Three zanies try to recover a stolen painting during a madcap house party.
Cast: The Marx Brothers, Lillian Roth, Margaret Dumont. Dir: Victor Heerman. BW-97 mins, TV-G

—Mike Gray