turner classic movies. february. 2011.

It's February and Turner Classic Movies has given itself over to Oscar Fever, with the next 31 days devoted to 344 titles, all with a connection to the Oscar (no matter how tenuous). As usual, I'll highlight those films that jump out at me, with preferential treatment going to those difficult-to-see titles.

Frank Perry's seminal "Last Summer" (1969) is certainly one of those films, a disturbing tale of bullying that was more than 40 years ahead of its time. This example of late-'60s alt cinema airs at 2:45 a.m. (est) on 2 February and will be followed by other titles from the same period - Bob Rafelson's "Five Easy Pieces" (1970), 8 p.m., 2 February; Dennis Hopper's "Easy Rider" (1969). 12:30 a.m., 3 February, and Hal Ashby's "The Last Detail" (1973), 2:15 a.m., 3 February.

Also, Shirley Knight has her greatest role as a jittery runaway housewife in Francis Ford Coppola's (also) ahead-of-its-time "The Rain People" (1969), 12 a.m. 1 February. James Caan and Robert Duvall co-star.

Two "lonely" films get showcased on 2 February - Robert Ellis Miller's adaptation of Carson McCullers' "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" at 2:15 p.m., and Vincent J. Donehue's film of the Howard Teichmann play, "Miss Lonelyhearts" (shortened to "Lonelyhearts" for the screen) at 4:30 p.m.

Donehue, a talented stage and TV director, made only one other film - "Sunrise at Campobello" (1960), which he also directed for the stage and which airs on Turner at 3 p.m. on 27 February. Donehue, incidentally, directed the original (and superior) stage production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music."
The exquisite Deborah Kerr is given a double-bill on 4 February, with Delbert Mann's "Separate Tables" and Fred Zinnemann's "The Sundowners" airing back-to-back starting at 7 a.m. The same day, you can go from the sumblime to the ridiculous if you want to wade through William Wyler's truly awful "Funny Girl," a stiff, lumbering adaptation of Jule Styne's overrated stage musical. It airs at 5:15 p.m.

A keeper - meaning that it's worth recording - is Delmer Dave's melancholic modern Western, "The Hanging Tree" (1959), starring good, gray Gary Cooper, the singular Maria Schell and the great Karl Malden. Watch it at 1:30 p.m. on 8 February. Krzysztof Kielowski's "Red" (1994) - actually titled "Trois couleurs: Rouge" - is a tangy French film which examins the chilled, unexpected romanticism of a relationship between a young woman (Irène Jacob) and an older man (Jean-Louis Trintignant). It airs early on 9 February and, while 4:30 a.m. may be a strange time to sip red wine while watching it, it is definitely encouraged.

Shirley Booth, a brilliant character actress now forgotten, brought depth and nuance to what some would call frumpy roles, something which she handily demonstrates at 8 p.m. on 9 February in Daniel Mann's film of William Inge's "Come Back, Little Sheba" (1952). Burt Lancaster co-stars.

Late on 9 February - or early on 10 February - you can relish two hugely watchable films, starting at midnight. They would be Robert Aldrich's "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962) and Vincente Minnelli's "Some Came Running" (1958).

Funny, I like Robert Wise's body of work, even though I can barely tolerate his two biggest hits - "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music." Much better than either of those two titles and, of course, criminally underrated is his "Star!" from 1968, a gutsy, full-bodied bio-pic with Julie Andrews as Gertrude Lawrence. It got a raw deal from the critics (and its studio) in '68 and deserves to be reconsidered in '11. Daniel Massey excels as Noel Coward, a role that was supposed to make him a, well, star (!), but that never happened. He died in 1998.

Josh Logan's first-class screen treatment of the Lerner and Loewe musical, "Camelot" (1967) screens at 10:30 a.m. on 13 February. Watch as Logan encourages Richard H. Kline's camera to make love to a breathtaking Vanessa Redgrave. This film has some of the best close-ups ever. And stay tuned afterwards for Jean Negulesco's "Daddy Long Legs" (1955), with Fred Astaire in the title role. And, oh, what he does with those legs. Same day, at 8 p.m.: George Seaton's "The Miracle on 34th Stree" (1947) in its original black-and-white version.

Paul Newman made a credible directorial debut with "Rachel, Rachel" (1968), starring the wondrous Joanne Woodward, It airs at 8 p.m. on 14 February. Now, when will Turner unearth the even greater Newman-Woodward collaboration, "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds," adapted from Paul Zindel's play by Alvin Sargent?

A trio of French films kicks off at 4:45 a.m. on 15 February, with Jean-Charles Tacchella's "Cousin, Cousine" (1975), Louis Malle's "Au Revoir, Les Enfants" (1987) and Francois Truffaut's "Le Dernie Metro" (1980). Later: LaCava. Lombard. Powell. "My Man Godfrey." at 8 p.m.

Peter O'Toole is celebrated with five of his best films, starting at 8 p.m. on 16 February - Richard Benjamin's "My Favorite Year" (1982), David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), Richard Rush's "The Stuntman" (1980), Peter Medak's "The Ruling Class" (1972) and Herbert Ross' exquisite musical version of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1972).

Kim Stanley, who worked way too infrequently on screen, has aruguably her best movie role in John Cromwell's 1958 "The Goddess" (an unofficial dissection of Marilyn Monroe's troubled stardom), showing at 2:15 a.m. on 19 February.

Enjoy a night out at the theatah - well, sort of - if you watch the double-bill of George Cukor's "My Fair Lady" (1964) and Morton Da Costa's "Auntie Mame" (1958), airing at 10 p.m. on 20 February.
Speaking of the theater, you can catch Paul Newman and Geraldine Page in their original stage roles in Richard Brooks' film of Tennessee Williams' best play, "Sweet Bird of Youth" (1962), before James Franco and Nicole Kidman try their hands at the part in the upcoming revival.

See it at 9:30 p.m. on 21 February.

William Powell is "The Great Ziegfeld" in Robert Z. Leonard's 1936 biopic extravaganza and it's worth watching just to witness Virginia Bruce and Dennis Morgan in the big, delirious "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" production number which goes on and on - seemingly in one take.

Terence Stamp stalks, kidnaps and then (spoiler alert) inadvertently kills Samantha Eggar in William Wyler's "The Collector" (1965), a sick but artful film based on the John Fowles literary masterpiece. (Some things are more palatable on the written page.) Still, I like it, particuarly Maurice Jarre's harpsichord-dominated score, and plan to watch it again at 4:30 a.m. on 25 February. Ditto for Joshua Logan's film of another William Inge play (by way of George Axelrod), 1956's "Bus Stop," on at 6 p.m. the same day.

Killer performances by Jessica Lange and Meryl Streep drive two riveting biopics, Graeme Clifford's "Frances" (1982) and Mike Nichols' "Silkwood" (1983), respectively, starting at 2:45 p.m., 27 February.

And the Oscar went to... Neither of them.