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5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Sound Barrier (1952 GB): Released in the US with the cumbersome (if easier to market) title Breaking the Sound Barrier, The Sound Barrier is David Lean’s salute to the test pilots who push their planes to the limit—and beyond. Ralph Richardson stars as Sir John Ridgefield, owner of an aircraft manufacturing firm determined to set new speed records. His pilot of choice is son-in-law Tony Garthwaite (Nigel Patrick), an RAF hero now making the transition to jet-propelled planes. Tony is eager to play his part, but wife Susan (Ann Todd) strongly objects, fearing her husband will be lost in what she considers to be a crude scientific experiment. It’s not Lean’s best effort, but Richardson is very good, and the film’s sound effects earned an Academy Award in 1953.

Saturday 5/08/10

12:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
Tentacles (1977 ITA-USA): Or, Eight Arms to Hold You! This completely ridiculous blend of giant monster and disaster movie memes features a cast full of Hollywood regulars who really should have known better, but apparently couldn’t resist the implorings of director Ovidios Assonites. Perhaps he offered them a lifetime supply of calamari. Amongst the victims are John Huston as a scientist who suspects overdevelopment has contributed to the growth of a monster cephalopod, Shelley Winters as his wife, Henry Fonda as the evil developer who started the whole problem, and Bo Hopkins as a marine biologist. Even the special effects aren’t up to snuff in Tentacles, which makes its widescreen television debut this morning. Can an airing of Rollercoaster be far behind?

3:10 AM HBO 2
The Jazz Baroness (2009 GB): This BBC documentary examines the life of Baroness Panonnica Rothschild de Koenigswarter, who left behind her comfortable life as one of the landed gentry and moved to New York in 1951 in search of the lost jazz chord, as personified by Thelonius Monk. Amazing archival footage is fleshed out by terrific interviews with Chico Hamilton, Quincy Jones, and Sonny Rollins, as well as sundry members of the Rothschild family, casting remarkable light on Monk's troubles with drugs and mental problems and the highly privileged yet stifling lives of the British aristocracy. It's absolutely fascinating stuff, even if you're not particularly interested in jazz music (as I am not).

7:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Jinx Money (1948 USA): I am SO sorry. In my haste to complete last week’s column, I neglected to mention Angel’s Alley, the Ninth Chapter in the Bowery Boys Saga, which aired in the usual Saturday morning time slot. It won’t happen again! Here, by way of compensation, is Chapter the Tenth, sadly a rather mediocre entry in the series in which Sach and Slip stumble across some gambling money. Naturally, the bookies want their money back, and Sheldon Leonard (really the film’s sole saving grace) is available to find it for them.

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