The emphasis is largely on the folks over at Turner Classic Movies this month as we return to the hidden pleasures of great movies that have fallen through the cracks and evaded video release – with a top-ten list that includes several four-star features on TCM. (Though it’s difficult, we’ll have to do our best to forgive that network for devoting a slew of nights to Bill Maher’s favorite films). This month also marks the appearance of several wonderful documentaries, one about Eric Clapton and another about Aardman Animation. And that’s only the beginning! So, as always: keep your universal remote handy and fire up that glitter box – we’re going channel surfing.

1. The L-Shaped Room (1962) – Nathan’s #1 Pick of the Month. Bryan Forbes directed the glorious Leslie Caron in this proto-feminist adaptation of Lynn Reid Banks’s fine novel, and Caron turns in a performance that’s right up there with her film-stealing work in Louis Malle’s Damage (1992) and Truffaut’s unsung piece-de-resistance The Man Who Loved Women (1977). She stars as Jane Fosset, a young, single mother-to-be who crosses the English Channel and moves into a crumbling and dilapidated London boarding house – where she meets a colorful and endearing series of eccentric residents who provide humor and pathos and make the film vastly entertaining. Meanwhile, she also falls deeply in love with writer Toby (Tom Bell) – dreading that day when she must inform him of the pregnancy. The picture goes slightly awry in the tone of its final act, but luckily, this doesn’t detract from the masterful work of all concerned. Don’t miss this one! Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Sat. 6/7 at 12:30am.

2. Our Man in Havana (1960) – Nathan’s #2 Pick of the Month. Despite an overseas DVD release, this Graham Greene-scripted, Carol Reed-directed Cold War-era shaggy dog farce has never received adequate attention in the States. A masterful comedy, it tells of a Havana-based vacuum cleaner salesman (Alec Guinness) on the eve of the Cuban Revolution, who gets mistaken for a super-spy – and promptly decides to take full advantage of the situation. Ernie Kovacs and Burl Ives round out a top-notch cast, and Reed and Greene are at the top of their game. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Fri. 6/6 at 10pm.

3. Darling Lili (1970) – Letterboxed, Director’s Cut. Time has been kind to Blake Edwards’s hugely ambitious WWI-era musical comedy; derided as a turkey back in 1970 and condemned for sheer excess and an elephantine budget, it received a wealth of renewed critical attention and respect in the early 1990s when Edwards made a new cut of the film, drastically different in tone and mood. The theatrical version also drew second glances, and film historians began to assert that Hollywood had unjustly neglected the original, a quarter-century prior. Julie Andrews stars as a striptease artist-cum-German spy who attempts to woo American pilot Rock Hudson, with the goal of wheedling information out of him – little realizing that she’s about to fall hard. The original, letterboxed theatrical cut (which runs 143 minutes) has never been released on video, but screens on Turner Classic Movies Sat. 6/7 at 4:30pm.

4. Joanna (1968) – Yet another seriously flawed film that seemed absolutely necessary for inclusion on this list by virtue of its importance to some cineastes. It has attained near-legendary status among fans of late ’60s cinema (I actually made up an outrageous excuse and paid an exorbitant amount to retrieve a timecoded rental from the 20th Century Fox backlot, almost a decade ago), and now claims a substantial cult following. This outing is onanistic to a ridiculous degree (apparently no self-indulgences were off-limits to director Michael Sarne, and the movie has some of the most god-awful dialogue outside of John Byrum’s Inserts), but it carries an inexplicable level of charm and appeal that exists in complete defiance of its absurdities. It tells of a naïve, impressionable, feather-brained art student (Genevieve Waite) who flees from her dysfunctional family in Frome to a carefree life in swinging London. The movie’s charm lies in one of the most irresistible central characters in memory (yes, she’s terribly funny, sexy and endearing despite – or maybe because of – her childlike approach to the world), a glowing supporting performance by Donald Sutherland as a dying aristocrat, and a lyricism capped off by a wondrous musical ending. Those willing to forgive the film its flaws will find much to like here. Airs on The Fox Movie Channel, Sun. 6/15 at 3am.

5. The Chimp (1932) – One of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy’s funniest shorts, this one finds the boys getting laid off from a circus and moving into a scuzzball hotel, with an orangutan and a flea circus in tow – possessions that inevitably cause all sorts of bizarre complications, particularly given the fact that the orangutan has the same name as the landlord’s wife! Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Wed. 6/4 at 11:35am.

6. Wallace & Gromit Go Hollywood: The Story of Aardman Animation (2005) – This marvelous documentary traces the meteoric rise of one of the most eminent animation houses in Great Britain, from its early days in a crude potting shed up through the production of the DreamWorks blockbuster Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005). Airs on Ovation, Mon. 6/16 at 10pm, Tue. 6/17 at 1am, Sat. 6/21 at 2pm.

7. Kidnapped (1938) – This is the second and arguably the best adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s seminal 1886 adventure novel. Shot in glorious black and white by director Alfred L. Werker and cinematographers Gregg Toland (The Best Years of Our Lives) and Bert Glennon, it actually anticipates David Lean’s production of Oliver Twist by around a decade or so. The film, like the book, weaves the tale of young David Balfour (Freddie Bartholomew), heir to an exorbitant Scottish estate, whose conniving uncle has him conveniently abducted and whisked off to sea. He winds up in the company of Scotch revolutionary Alan Breck (Warner Baxter), who leads him on a mission back to “the old country” as they fight off British troops and vie for David’s right to reclaim the throne. Gripping and engaging, it airs on The Fox Movie Channel, Fri. 6/13 at 6am.

8. Emir Kusturica: A Tender Barbarian (2004) – Though he’s certainly a genius, Sarajevo-born writer-director Kusturica qualifies as one of the most unusual and individualistic filmmakers still active; he divides his time between directing offbeat feature outings such as Underground (for which he pulled in a Golden Palm) and When Father Was Away on Business, and playing in his Gypsy rock band, No Smoking. Film historians may also recognize Kusturica as one of the mainstays of the all-too-brief Puttnam-era at Columbia Pictures during the late 80s. This film provides a biographical portrait of Kusturica and an inside view of the production of the director’s 2004 Life is a Miracle. Airs on The Sundance Channel, Fri. 6/6 at 12:30pm.

9. Blind Flight (2003) – This fact-based feature drew high praise in Great Britain (and a video release, to boot) but hasn’t been widely heralded on the other side of the Atlantic and now awaits discovery by American viewers. Linus Roache (Priest) and Ian Hart (B. Monkey) star, respectively, as a soft-spoken English foreign correspondent and a sharp-tongued blue-collar schoolteacher taken as hostages in Beirut. Amid almost complete isolation from the surrounding world, the men begin to forge the bonds of a deep and meaningful friendship, with strengths that will carry them through four long and beleaguered years. John Furse directs, consciously avoiding sentimentality and drawing out levels of rich truth and insight about the day-to-day experiences of two men held captive by jihadists. Airs on the Sundance Channel , Wed. 6/4 at 3:15pm, Mon. 6/16 at 6am, and Thu. 6/19 at 5pm.

10. Eric Clapton: Standing at the Crossroads (2004). Though it may or may not represent the definitive film portrait of master blues-rock guitarist and songwriter Clapton, this 2004 Australian documentary packs one magnificent punch. Reverential in tone, it takes the rocker’s life story straight from the horse’s mouth, vicissitudes and fallouts intact, meanwhile cutting in electric performances of Tears in Heaven, Change the World, and other hits. Several of Clapton’s contemporaries (or is it protégés?) also turn up to offer perspective and wisdom on the great man, including Sting and Mark Knopfler. The film also documents Clapton’s journey from troubled addict to drug treatment center founder. Airs on Ovation, Sat. 6/28 at 7pm and 10pm, Sun. 6/29 at 1am, and Mon. 6/30 at 12pm and 3pm.

Plus – Selected Films Held Over From Prior Months

The File On Thelma Jordon – TCM 6/16 at 7am
Dragonwyck – FMC 6/6 8am, 6/27 at 10:30am
Kid Blue – FMC 6/6 at 4pm, 6/22 at 11:30am
Down to the Sea in Ships – FMC 6/22 6am.