Sunday, December 21, 2008
By HAL BOEDEKER
In Christmas Week, when many channels take it easy, Turner Classic Movies steps up the celebrating. Is it any wonder TCM is one of the best channels around?
Christmas Eve will be especially festive. The greatest present may be “Cluny Brown,” a 1946 comedy showing at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. Here’s how TCM explains the plot: “A servant girl’s passion for plumbing shocks London society.”
The servant girl is Jennifer Jones at her most charming. The director is Ernst Lubitsch in top form. And plumbing never had it so good.
“Remember the Night,” a poignant drama, follows at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday. Barbara Stanwyck is a shoplifter, Fred MacMurray is an assistant district attorney, and romance blooms. They’re a long way from “Double Indemnity.”
TCM will pack Christmas Eve with other goodies: “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” “The Bishop’s Wife” and Stanwyck in “Christmas in Connecticut.” Late night brings two classics: “Meet Me in St. Louis” and “The Shop Around the Corner.”
As in every week, TCM lays out a wide range of fare. Get your fill of Disney movies today. The titles include “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and “Freaky Friday.”
An Andy Hardy festival plays Saturday, along with a Mickey Rooney interview.
A Monday morning salute to director Howard Hawks rolls out three of his classics: “To Have and Have Not,” “Twentieth Century” and “Bringing Up Baby.”
Monday evening gathers memorable Jewish characters: an Israeli activist (Paul Newman) in “Exodus,” a yearning girl (Barbra Streisand) in “Yentl” and a put-upon milkman (Oscar-nominee Topol) in “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Christmas Day honors Jesus with three biblical epics: “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” “King of Kings” and “Ben-Hur.”
Humphrey Bogart, who also was born on Christmas, receives the TCM treatment. Five of his films, starting with “Casablanca,” will be shown.