What To Catch on TCM This Week - May 6 - May 12, 2018

This week is an interesting week on TCM. There's a little bit of everything this week, from Sci-Fi to Marlene Dietrich, TCM's Star of the Month, if you can't find something to enjoy on TCM it might be your fault.

First up is Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot on Sunday night, May 6th at 6:00 P.M. MST. Written and directed by Billy Wilder this romantic comedy is an American classic. Jack Lemmon as Jerry/Daphne is comedy genius. To me Lemmon is the reason that I watch this film, sure Monroe is magnificent in this film also, but Lemmon just shines. The way that his character embraces his role of being a woman, made me realize that being myself is so worth it, not being myself cheapens me.

Vacation From Marriage starring Deborah Kerr, is a romance about a couple that are bored with each other until WWII starts and they decide to join in the fight, her a Wren, him the Royal Navy. They both become more independent and what they were missing in the other person in their marriage. It's corky and cute and on May 8th at 3:15 A.M. MST.

Tarzan The Ape Man Series starts off on Tuesday (May 8th) at 6 P.M. MST Everything from the Pre-Code Ape Man to Tarzan and the Lost Safari will be on for 24 hrs. I know that they aren't the greatest films, but they're fun and my dad used to love them.

Marlene Dietrich takes to the screen on May 10th at 6 P.M. MST in  The Blue Angel as Lola Lola , the star of the local cabaret. Simultaneously shot in German and English this film about how love can drive a person insane is also the film that shot Dietrich to world stardom.

Up next is Dietrich in Shanghai Express at 10 P.M. where she plays a "Coaster," or a woman who lives by her wits up and down the China coast. I love the long shots through the train and the beautiful close ups of Dietrich, it has been hailed as one of the most beautifully shot black and white movies ever, for that alone you should check it out.

Blonde Venus is my favorite Marlene Dietrich film. Dietrich plays a wife who goes back to working in the theater to try to save her husband's life when he becomes poisoned by radium. Unfortunately for her husband, she falls in love with a wealthy playboy (played by Cary Grant) who pays for all of her husband's treatment. Dietrich is a flame in this movie. The costumes, makeup and her musical numbers show case all of her talents very well. May 11th at 1:30 A.M.

Freaks is a pre-code horror film about a young trapeze artist who schemes a dwarf into marrying her to get his money. She rejects him and his fellow Freaks at their wedding reception and then he turns on her and his fellow Freaks turn her into the most hideous of beings.  May 11th at 11:30 A.M. MST.

Master thief and playboy Edward Pierce plans to steal a monthly shipment of gold from the London Folkstone train. He gathers a pickpocket, his mistress, chauffeur and a train guard to help him and they attempt The Great Train Robbery. This film is Sean Connery at his finest. May 11th at 6 P.M. MST.

Katherine Hepburn stars as Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine allowed out of prison for the holidays to try to get her husband King Henry II to allow their oldest son, the future King Richard the Lionhearted to ascend to the throne. It is a beautifully shot movie, with an excellent cast. The Lion in Winter is on May 12th at 3:30 P.M. 

Another Lemmon favorite is The Fortune Cookie. It's one of Lemmon's first pairings with Walter Matthau and it's hilarious. Lemmon plays a cameraman that gets hurt by a football player and Matthau plays his underhanded brother and lawyer "Whiplash Willie." Thinking that he has come across the case of all cases that will set him up for life, unfortunately his client isn't as injured as he hopes he his. Matthau is great at his scamming role, which he partially uses when he plays Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple. This entertaining and fun film is on Saturday May 12th at 6 P.M. MST.