Thursdays in July, Ronald Colman is TCM’s Star of the Month. He’s a star that may need rediscovery, as some of his most commonly known contributions to popular culture, at this point, are one step removed. He’s the actor, for example, whose voice was channeled by Don Adams when coming up with the clipped confident sound of secret agent Maxwell Smart on Get Smart. And one of Colman’s most famous early characters, a dogged detective featured in a series of movies, was name-

2017

Jul

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS By David Bianculli

A decade ago, Vanity Fair wrote, “In many film circles, Sweet Smell’s devastating portrait of Walter Winchell is considered just as devastating as Orson Welles’ take-down of William Randolph Hearst in Citizen Kane.” In this 1957 classic, Burt Lancaster plays one of his very best roles as ruthless gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker, the cinematic approximation of Winchell who lords over friends and foes alike – and especially over obsequious press agent Sidney Falco, pl

2017

Jul

BULLDOG DRUMMOND By David Bianculli

This first Bulldog Drummond movie, starring Ronald Coleman as the intrepid detective (think Nick Danger, played straight), was released in 1929 – and came so early after the sound era of movies was launched with 1927’s The Jazz Singer that one of its writers, Sidney Howard, has a special screenplay credit for “adapted for the talking screen by.”

2017

Jul

‘SNOWFALL’ BRINGS THE UGLY BIRTH OF THE CRACK COCAINE EPIDEMIC TO FX By David Hinckley

The opening episode of FX’s summer drama Snowfall ends with a dream-like rendition of the song “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” which includes the line, “I’m just a soul whose intentions are good.”...

2017

Jul

‘SNOWFALL’ IS A TOUGH SELL, EVEN IF ITS CRACK COCAINE IS NOT By Ed Bark

Using “How Crack Began” as the principal promotional tease is really pushing it. Might too many viewers be very much inclined to just say no?...

2017

Jul

WITH ‘SONGS OF SUMMER,’ PBS OFFERS A DELIGHTFUL MIX OF MUSIC – ONLINE ONLY By David Hinckley

PBS’s Songs of the Summer is a weirdly fascinating trip that you might call musical alt-history...

2017

Jul

50 YEARS OF HITCHCOCK By David Bianculli

My advice: Dig out your old copy of Hitchcock/Truffaut (or go buy a new copy, fast, because Francois Truffaut’s film-by-film analysis of the movies of Alfred Hitchcock is a mandatory part of any solid cinephile’s library), and stay tuned. This month, TCM is celebrating the master of suspense by presenting 50 Years of Hitchcock, and presenting not only the acknowledged classics from later in his career, but also representatives of his earliest work, even the silents. So tune in tonigh

2017

Jul

THE GREAT YELLOWSTONE THAW By David Bianculli

The conclusion of this three-part documentary looks at summer in Yellowstone – and explains how the soaring temperatures of spring and summer, and the dry conditions, have led not only to the cyclical and valuable wildfires, but to giant raging fires threatening much more of the environment’s fragile ecosystem. And all those decades ago, it turns out Smokey the Bear was right: Only we can prevent forest fires. Check local listings.

2017

Jul

THE CARMICHAEL SHOW By David Bianculli

The fact that original episodes of this NBC sitcom are being spooled out during the summer is one indication of how little regard NBC has for the social comedy Jerrod Carmichael is providing here. But here’s another, even sadder indication: NBC just canceled the show, so the episodes shown this summer will be the series’ last. The Carmichael Show deserved better – and almost everything on NBC’s schedule for fall, at this point, is worse.

2017

Jul

BROADCHURCH By David Bianculli

This new season of Broadchurch has a case centered around a victim who, for the first time on this show, has survived the ordeal. But Trish’s rapist is as yet unidentified, and tonight’s episode parades several possible, and equally reprehensible, suspects.

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