Here we go again with another monthly list of excellent films on cable that have been passed over for stateside ancillary distribution. The best that can be said about this December’s cable schedules is that, despite every Christmas movie and special imaginable, none of the networks appear to be showing Albert Zugsmith’s yuletide-themed schlockfest Dondi or the Star Wars Holiday Special. The stations are, however, programming some equally obscure finds that actually deserve attention, such as a long-forgotten Hollywood effort by the legendary Jacques Demy, a critically-praised Jennifer Jones comedy by Ernst Lubitsch, and other treasures - the finest of which I’ve included in this list. So keep your remotes and DVRs handy and get ready for some channel surfing.

1) The Model Shop (1969) – Nathan’s #1 Pick of the Month. After completing The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), Jacques Demy traveled to Hollywood, partnered up with scenarist Carole Eastman (Five Easy Pieces), and turned out this interesting semi-sequel to his 1961 romantic drama Lola. Like its predecessor, this one stars Anouk Aimee as Lola; she’s now a middle-aged woman who has ended up stranded in the City of Angels and employed by a studio that takes nude photographs of female models. (Consider that premise, and try to figure out how in the hell this movie got a PG rating!) Gary Lockwood plays George Matthews, a disillusioned and none-too-satisfied young architect who loses his job, then catches a glimpse of Lola, falls into instant infatuation, and follows the woman to a posh home in the Hollywood hills and the studio where she works. The two begin an affair, and George finds, in Lola, the resolve to commit to life, but Lola already has the responsibility of a child and isn’t sure she can commit to a new relationship. Meanwhile, the possibility of George falling prey to the Vietnam-era draft lingers in the background. This joins Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point as one in a series of intriguing dramas by European directors that glimpsed American culture and society during one of its most unusual and tumultuous periods. It was cited by one prominent critic, in a 2007 Sight and Sound article, as his #1 choice for a great forgotten film. It would make a marvelous double bill with Mike Sarne’s Joanna. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Thurs 12/18 at 11:45pm.

2) Cluny Brown (1946) – Nathan’s #2 Pick of the Month. The inimitable Ernst Lubitsch (To Be or Not to Be) borrowed Jennifer Jones from David O. Selznick and made this deft and droll post-war satire on British propriety, adapted from Margery Sharp’s fine novel. Jones plays the title character, a Cockney female plumber who has the unfortunate habit of upsetting the staid and stuffy Brits via behavior that they consider disgraceful. Her path criss-crosses with that of European dandy Charles Boyer, who encourages her to thumb her nose at every social convention imaginable – allowing Lubitsch to skewer the British class system. The supporting cast packs in a myriad of gifted English character actors, including Sara Allgood, Florence Bates, Reginald Gardiner and many, many others, all used to maximum effect. Lubitsch died a year after this film’s release, making this his pentultimate effort; though commercially available in Britain, it has been all but forgotten in the United States. All told, it feels masterful on every level. Airs on The Fox Movie Channel, Wed. 12/24 at 9:30pm.

3) The Iron Sheriff (1957) One of Hollywood’s greatest, Sterling Hayden, stars in this fine but little-known western that emerged three years after Nick Ray’s Johnny Guitar. He plays Galt, a sheriff whose courtroom testimony regarding his accused son inadvertently leads to the boy’s murder, despite Galt’s certainty that the boy is unjustly accused. He then embarks upon an obsessive quest to disprove the deathbed confession that put his son’s life on the line, and to bring the real culprit to swift justice. As one critic later noted, Hayden projects such fury that the audience is never quite certain whether Galt intends to kill the man himself or haul him into court for a redress. Ah, so like Hayden! Airs on Encore Westerns, Fri. 12/19 at 11am.

4) The Limbo Room (2006) – An actress-turned-director best known for her starring role opposite William H. Macy in the 1994 feature version of David Mamet’s sexual harassment thriller Oleanna, Debra Eisenstadt takes the reins for this similarly-themed psychodrama. Andrea Powell stars as Ann, a would-be Broadway actress who, as fate would have it, has spent over two decades “waiting in the wings.” Frustrated to the point of a breakdown and thus suffering from extreme fragility, she now serves as an understudy to star actress K.C. (Melissa Leo), but events take a rather dark and nasty turn when K.C. must perform a rape scene with a last-minute replacement actor, Russell (Zack Griffiths) and simultaneously grows convinced that she’s falling in love with him and that he’s actually sexually abusing her during the scene. This, in turn, nudges K.C. out of the production, pushes Ann center stage, and makes her private relationship with Russell the focus of everyone’s attention. Eisenstadt reportedly culled inspiration for the original script from the experience of shooting Oleanna. Airs on Sundance, Wed. 12/10 at 10pm, Tues. 12/16 at 2:35am.

5) The Killer is Loose (1956) - Budd Boetticher built his reputation on the basis of westerns starring Randolph Scott, but jumped the rails and switched genres at least once in his career; this unusual outing represents one such example. A film noir, it stars Wendell Corey (The Search) as Leon “Foggy” Poole, a bank robber given his nickname for his thick, fogged-up glasses. Tragedy strikes when his wife is accidentally killed during an arrest; he blames the arresting officer, Sam Wagner (Joseph Cotten) and openly vows to murder the man’s wife, following his release from prison. On the surface, incarceration appears to reform him, but in truth, it merely turns him into a hardened psychopath, hell-bent on revenge – setting the stage for tragedy in Sam’s life when Poole is released. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Wed. 12/17 at 3:30am.

6) Folies Bergère (1935) – Roy del Ruth directed and Busby Berkeley choreographed this fine, enjoyable musical at 20th Century Fox. It stars Maurice Chevalier in a dual role, as ladykiller Baron Cassini and Eugene Charlier, a Folies Bergere comedian known for his uncanny impersonations of the Baron. The predictable yet droll shaggy dog plot finds the Baron asking Eugene to take his place; lo and behold, Eugene consents and ends up in the baroness’s (Merle Oberon) boudoir – leading to a never-ending series of complications. Though it marks an early code film, the picture exudes a flair for suggestive and ribald comedy, much as William Keighley’s Torrid Zone would five years later. Songs include “Rhythm of the Rain,” “I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You,” “You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart,” and many more. Airs on the Fox Movie Channel, Friday 12/5 at 6am.

7) The Waiting Room (2007) – Tyro Roger Goldby helmed this light but thoroughly enjoyable, ensemble-driven romantic comedy, but inexplicably failed to snag theatrical distribution for it in the U.S. It stars a full house of British pros, including Rupert Graves, Zoe Telford, Ralf Little and Anne-Marie Duff, and concerns the loves and losses of a myriad of Britons whose lives continually intersect in surprising ways. Airs on Sundance, Tues. 12/30 at 1am.

8) Phaedra (1962) - Many cable networks are taking time out this month to pay homage to the legendary American export director Jules Dassin (Rififi), who died in May. Phaedra marks one of Dassin’s failures, but (don’t let that stop you) a fascinating failure nonetheless. A not-quite-successful attempt to update the seminal Greek tragdy to a contemporary context, it stars the director’s wife, Melina Mercouri, as the title character, a society woman married to a shipping tycoon named Thanos (and played with devastating allure by Raf Vallone). He makes the mistake of shuttling her back to London to convince his son, Alexis (Anthony Perkins) to join them during the upcoming summer holiday in Greece, where senior plans to teach junior the ins and outs of the shipping business. But events take a seamy, illicit and ultimately tragic turn when Phaedra and Alexis, finding themselves attracted to one another, lapse into a torrid affair – and the two return to Greece sans Thanos’s knowledge of what has just transpired. Pauline Kael enjoyed one of her finest moments when she attributed the film’s failure to the enlistment of Perkins as Alexis – a move she called “a lunatic piece of miscasting.” Airs on Sundance, Thursday 12/18 at 12pm.

9) All Night Long (1961) – Not to be confused with the Barbara Streisand-Gene Hackman comedy from 1981, this unusual but intriguing drama updates Shakespeare’s Othello to a post-war contemporary context – that of the urban jazz scene. It stars Paul Harris as a black bandleader married to the gorgeous Delia Lane (Marti Stevens); the couple falls prey to the machinations of an evil, conniving bandleader (called Johnny Cousin – a great name for a character) played with devilish glee by a pre-Prisoner Patrick McGoohan! As an added bonus – and what a bonus it is – an all-star cast of jazz giants including Dave Brubeck and Charlie Mingus turn up for killer musical performances, making the narrative almost a secondary consideration. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Sat. 12/6 at 2am.

10) French Beauty (2005) – What is it about Gallic actresses – a certain mystique, an intangible allure – that pushes them to the forefront of cinephiles’ minds? That’s the question posed by this lovely documentary from Pascale Lamche, who draws from numerous examples in French cinema and newly shot interviews with actresses including Audrey Tautou, Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche, in an attempt to solve this decades-old riddle. Airs on Sundance – Thurs. 12/4 at 10am, Monday 12/15 at 6pm, and Wed. 12/24 at 10am.