TCM for Monday 2/7/05

The theme moves on to adapted screenplay and, after a weekend in which I found little compelling to watch, things look up again.

Recommended:
Quite a few to recommend for the day.
The Jazz Singer (1927) - Beyond the fact that it is the "first talkie," it is also great melodrama.
Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1932) - I prefer the 1920 silent version with Barrymore, but the story itself is good.
The Thin Man (1934) - superb. Both Powell and Loy are marvelous and Asta is terribly cute.
Lolita (1962) - Overall the film has, for me, slow parts, but Sellers and Mason make up for that throughout. The opening is still one of my favorites.
Peyton Place (1957) - Great campy melodrama.
Little Caesar (1930) - Along with the original Scarface, perhaps the best of the early gangster films.

Highly Recommended:
This was a hard one for me. Ten years ago, Lolita would have won hands down. Things have changed and now it is not so clear. As indicated, Lolita is now, for me, a bit of a flawed film and my love of 30s films has taken over. But how does one choose between The Thin Man and Little Caesar? They are both excellent but very different kinds of films. I guess it comes down to something simple: over the past year, when I came across one or the other film playing on TCM, which did I sit and watch more often? The winner; Little Caesar.

Haven't Seen, but want to:
12 Angry Men (1957) - this was a bit of a weak choice, none of the remaining films were any that I have been longing to see as I had seen most of them. This one out as I am intrigued to see more of Fonda's films.

Really Not Interested:
Captain Newman, M.D. (1964) - this is another film that I have seen previews for on TCM recently and it does not at all look like anything that I would want to watch.

The Rest:
Baby Doll (1956) - Haven't seen it and do not really want to, though I could more that the one above.
Stand by Me (1986) - Saw it when it came out, who didn't, but do not have any really fond memories. In fact, the only memories were of being sick of the title song while in high school.
JFK (1991) - Have only seen parts of this, it has never really been able to keep my interest.