WEDNESDAY
JUNE 18
2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

ESPN, 12:00 p.m. ET

Today’s live telecasts feature all four teams in Group B undergoing their second games in this year’s World Cup, along with the remaining two teams in Brazil’s Group A. All games are shown on ESPN, with setup features presented 30 minutes earlier. First up, at noon ET, is Australia vs. the Netherlands. The Netherlands stunned the much-favored defending world champion Spain in the first round by drubbing them 5-1, while Australia fell to Chile, 3-1. Next at 3:00 p.m. from Group B is Spain vs. Chile. Spain was so embarrassed in its loss to the Netherlands, it’ll be desperate for a win against Chile – so, another tough game. And finally, at 6 p.m. from Group A, it’s Cameroon vs. Croatia. Both teams lost their opening matches, so will be equally keen on securing a win, rather than a draw or loss, today. In other words, all three games today should be played at a fast pace, and with extreme emotion.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Tonight, TCM salutes French filmmaking pioneer René Clair, so Bianculli’s Best Bets will do the same thing – especially since this is the first time I can remember Clair’s films being presented, as a mini-marathon, on prime-time TV on any channel whatsoever. Clair made the transition from silent to sound, with strange little comic films that were brazen and brave in both technique and concept. The evening begins on TCM with this 1930, film, which translates as Under the Roofs of Paris. It’s a tale of a romantic triangle, told mostly in song and without dialogue. Albert Préjean, Pola Illéry and Gaston Modot star.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 9:45 p.m. ET

This 1931 comedy about mechanization predates Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times by five years, yet anticipates its humorous approach to the dehumanization of man via the assembly line. This time it’s a phonograph factory, which allows director René Clair to have a great deal of fun with pre-recorded music. Which he does. And which, if you tune in, so will you, as this is regarded as one of Clair’s classic achievements in film. Raymond Cordy stars.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 11:15 p.m. ET

The 1931 René Clair French film Le Million translates, roughly, as The Million. (Always here to help.) It’s about a poor artist who wins a lottery for a million (Dutch florins, not dollars, but still…), and spends the rest of the movie trying to locate and retrieve the winning lottery ticket. What makes this movie such a landmark, cinematically, isn’t its plot, but Clair’s use of music and sound, at a time when The Jazz Singer broke the movie sound barrier only a few years before. René Lefèvre and Annabella co-star.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 12:45 a.m. ET

This 1955 film is from much later in the career of director René Clair, and shows his eventual reliance upon, and comfort with, dialogue-heavy comedy. It’s about an officer who bets that he can seduce a young beauty in the local village before he’s sent away to training camp just before what would eventually become to be known as World War I. Gérard Philipe stars as the officer, and Michèle Morgan as the object of his wager – but look for another beauty, in a supporting role. She’s played by Brigitte Bardot, the year before she exploded as the star of ...And God Created Woman.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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David Bianculli

Founder / Editor

David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and is an occasional substitute host for that show. He's also an author and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His 2009 Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour', has been purchased for film rights. His latest, The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to the Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific, is an effusive guidebook that plots the path from the 1950s’ Golden Age to today’s era of quality TV.