This marks the January edition of my monthly list of outstanding cable programming that hasn’t been issued on home video in North America. Unsurprisingly, the possibilities for this list continue to slim down, given such events as Sony’s DVD debut of Michael Powell’s Age of Consent (1969) this month. Nevertheless I continue to come across wonderful titles, right and left, that have fallen through the cracks. On another note: this month’s post will be a mini-list – half as long as usual – because I was absent from the office the last week of December, and we’re already well into January. My plan is to return to a full Top Ten with the February ‘09 list. As always, keep your remotes handy, and get ready to channel surf. And just remember: for those of us in the northern climes, these films provide yet another great excuse to stay inside where it’s warm – as long as the cable hasn’t gone out from those blizzards.

1. Brighton Rock (John Boulting, UK, 1947). Like Outcast of the Islands, Brighton Rock marks one of those wonderful yet unknown cinematizations of Graham Greene that Pauline Kael championed. Whereas Sir Carol Reed would take the reins on Outcast, John Boulting – later known as the executive producer of Twisted Nerve and the brother-in-law of Hayley Mills – helmed here. This super-gritty crime drama stars a young Richard Attenborough as Pinkie Brown, the pockmark-covered, sociopathic leader of a brutally violent teenage gang, who inadvertently kills a fellow during a racetrack robbery, then cons a pretty young waitress (Carol Marsh) into providing him with an alibi in exchange for marriage. Thus begins the young man’s deliberate and calculated attempt to drive the young woman to suicide. The emotional subtext of this one makes it not for the faint of heart – Kael observed, ” the suspense is indistinguishable from dread—everything is tinged with evil.” Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Tue. Jan. 6th at 8pm.

2. Night People (Nunnally Johnson, USA, 1954). A piece of anti-Communist hysteria taken to its extreme, this one will invariably anger some leftists with its propagandistic political leanings (the Soviets are referred to as “a bunch of lice” and “head-hunting cannibals”), but can be taken, more pointedly, as a reflection on the hysteria of the McCarthy era. Above and beyond that, it continues to function as a satisfactory thriller, 55 years later. Here’s the setup: Gregory Peck stars as Colonel Van Dyke, a U.S. intelligence officer who learns that a United States military man has been kidnapped by the Soviets and dragged into the Russian zone. Further complicating matters is Broderick Crawford, the father of the abductee (loudmouthed and demonstrative as ever, and still seemingly channeling Harry Brock) who turns up and arrogantly demands that the army retrieve his son. Van Dyke then makes a daring series of attempts to rescue the victim, with the Russians requesting the return of two Germans in exchange for the boy. Airs on Fox Movie Channel, Mon. Jan 12th at 12pm.

3. My Sister Eileen (Alexander Hall, USA, 1942). This light and very whimsical comedy constitutes an adaptation of Ruth McKinney’s short stories (most published in the New Yorker), which had been previously adapted as a hit Broadway play. Thematically, it anticipates Lewis Allen’s Our Hearts Were Young and Gay by a couple of years, with its “female buddy” theme. Rosalind Russell (The Women) and Janet Blair (Three Girls About Town) star respectively as Ruth and Eileen Sherwood, Ohioan sisters who make the pilgrimage to Manhattan and wind up in Greenwich, surrounded by flakes – including a dense football star (Gordon Jones), a soused fortune teller (June Havoc), and – eventually – a group of conga-addicted Portuguese sailors. Meanwhile, Ruth tries to establish herself as a serious, successful writer, but the threat of a forced move back to the Midwest lingers. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Thu. Jan 8th at 12am.

4. Riff-Raff (Ted Tetzlaff, USA, 1947). Not to be confused with the 1935 picture of the same title by J. Walter Ruben, this adventure drama stars Pat O’Brien as Dan Hammer, a private eye whose name speaks for itself. He’s hot on the trail of a map to some oil concessions in Panama, but also after the take is thug Eric Molinar (Walter Slezak) and his cadre of villains. The premise is light as a feather, but Tetzlaff – a former protégé of Alfred Hitchcock, here striking out on his own for the first time – jazzes up the material with a wealth of unusual camera angles and a steady-handed instinct for onscreen atmosphere. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Fri. Jan 23rd at 9am.

5. The Legacy (Géla and Temur Babluani, Georgia/France, 2005). Yet another example of top-flight Gruzian cinema, this eccentric and offbeat drama stars Olga Legrand as Celine, a woman who receives a castle near Tblisi, Georgia as part of a familial inheritance. Deeply intrigued, she sets off for the old country with two friends in tow (played by Sylvie Testud and Stanislas Merhar), but they must make their way by bus. The three inadvertently wind up caught in the middle of a long-reigning feud between two Georgian clans, to be settled by the suicide of an elderly patriarch. Testud once again demonstrates why she’s one of the finest and most intriguing actresses in contemporary Europe with her supporting contribution here. Airs on Sundance, Sat. Jan 10th at 12pm, Fri. Jan 16th at 5:15pm, Wed. Jan 21st at 9am and 7:30pm, and Sun. Jan 25th at 10:45am.

Selected Films Held Over:

Blind Alley (Charles Vidor, USA, 1939) – Airs on TCM, Wed. Jan 7th at 5pm.
W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (John Avildsen, USA, 1975) – Airs on Fox Movies, Thu. Jan 8th at 2am and Wed. Jan 14th at 2:30am.
John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (J. Lee Thompson, USA, 1964) – Airs on Fox Movies, Thu. Jan 8th at 10am.