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5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Broken Lullaby (1932 USA): Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, this little seen Paramount anti-war drama begins on Armistice Day 1919. Set in Paris, the film features Phillips Holmes as Paul Renaud, a veteran who cannot recover from, or forgive himself for, the crime he has commited: the killing of a man in the heat of battle. Unable to find solace in the church, Paul decides he must track down the family of his victim and beg their forgiveness — but finds father Holderlin (Lionel Barrymore) unwilling to give him his blessing. Filled with tortured silences and agonized looks, this atypical Lubitsch feature is downbeat from start to finish, and all the better for it. It's followed at 6:30 PM by the very rare 1933 James Whale meller Kiss Before the Mirror, in which the apparantly immortal Gloria Stuart puts in a spicy semi-nude appearance.

9:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Phantom Carriage (1921 SWE): An astonishing piece of gothic cinema directed by Victor Sjostrom (He Who Gets Slapped, The Wind), Phantom Carriage has been granted a DVD release in the UK but has never had any exposure — home video or otherwise — in the United States. That changes tonight as it makes its American television premiere. Taking place on New Year's Eve, the film relates the tragic tale of down and outer David Holm (Sjostrom himself), who regales his fellow drinking buddies with the story of the Phantom Carriage, a ghostly conveyance that he plans to take charge of at the chime of midnight. Filled with beautiful imagery, double exposures, tinted frames, and a moving message of man's inhumanity to man, this is one of the best silent films you haven't seen, and probably haven't heard of, either.

Monday 04/27/09

3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Captain Applejack (1931 USA): John Halliday portrays bored British nobleman Ambrose Applejohn in this Warners programmer. Applejohn is hoping to sell the old family mansion for enough money to take him on a trip around the world, but when a mysterious Russian woman (Kay Strozzi) and a pair of stranded motorists (Otto Hoffman and Julia Swayne Gordon) show up on his doorstep one dark and stormy night, his plans quickly change. If you like old dark house mysteries, hidden passageways, and long lost pirate booty, you'll definitely enjoy Captain Applejack. It's followed at 4:15 AM by Captain Thunder, a shaggy dog story from 1930 starring Fay Wray as the beloved of the titular Mexican bandito (Victor Varconi).

5:00 PM IFC
Renaissance (2006 FRA-GB): Daniel Craig, Romola Garai, and Ian Holm are amongst those lending their voices to this gorgeous piece of "adult" animation. Though the motion capture animation itself is quite remarkable, the story — of a starkly regimented future Paris that looks more like a noir City of Light circa 1950 — is pretty hackneyed stuff. It's still worth a look, especially as IFC will be airing it in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

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