After taking a month off from this regular list, I’m pleased to return to the annals of outstanding, overlooked cable programming that has evaded ancillary release. As usual, this month includes a trove of exciting finds, and one could lose oneself in observing the trends now overtaking these channels. With its after-dark programming, Turner Classic Movies seems to be resurrecting the treasures of old night owl finds from late-night TV thirty and forty years ago, while Ovation continues to list incredible arts programming that seemingly can’t be found anywhere else. (I hope that this list encourages viewers/readers to sample the programming on that wonderful network!) In any case, I’ve tried to showcase the best of these two trends in my list. So happy viewing as we head into March 2009!

1. The Girl From Jones Beach (Peter Godfrey, USA, 1949) It eventually got obscured by the shadow of a better known Ronald Reagan vehicle – the unfairly maligned farce Bedtime for Bonzo (1951) – but this gentle, whimsical romantic comedy has a special sort of charm. Reagan stars as Bob Randolph, a magazine editor who creates the perfect, idealized woman on paper – as the composite of several models – and then meets a woman at a local beachfront (the radiant Virginia Mayo) who is the living incarnation of his fantasy. Is his primary interest a personal one? Not exactly –he wants to take advantage of her beauty by commissioning her to pose for a series of cheesecake photographs. The film is also noteworthy for a hilarious sequence in which Reagan impersonates a Czech immigrant. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Thursday 3/19 at 12:15am.

2. Paper Lion (Alex March, USA, 1968) – Nathan’s #1 Pick of the Month. Okay, technically speaking, I’m cheating: this fine comedy has been released on VHS, once, about 25 years ago. And copies are going on Amazon for several hundred dollars. So (apologies to all purists), the broadcast appearance of Lion strikes me as both rare and special and justifies a mention on my list. A pre-M*A*S*H Alan Alda stars as the real life George Plimpton, experiential writer turned temporary (honorary) football player for the Detroit Lions – and Lauren Hutton has the female lead. Funny and charming, this may be one of the most sheerly enjoyable G-rated movies ever made, beautifully sending up the most extreme forms of 1960s New Journalism. In supporting roles, look for a young Alex Karras and Roy Scheider. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Tuesday 3/17, at 3:45am.

3. Mickey One (Arthur Penn, USA, 1965) – Nathan’s #2 Pick of the Month. Several years before the blockbuster Bonnie and Clyde, director Penn collaborated with Warren Beatty on this odd yet truly fascinating psychodrama/chase movie. Shot by Ghislain Cloquet in a style that recalls his outstanding work on Louis Malle’s Le Feu Follet, the film represents an attempt to work New Wave visual tropes into a Hollywood context. Beatty stars as the title character, a mediocre stand-up comedian marked for death by mobsters in the Windy City. Don’t expect a completely coherent narrative or a satisfying wrap-up; just bask in the visual pyrotechnics so audacious that they would never be seen in today’s climate, an atmosphere of surrealistic paranoia, and solid work by Beatty. French Canadian model turned actress Alexandra Stewart is absolutely dynamite as Mickey’s love interest. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Tuesday 3/31 at 4:30am.

4. Spectacle: James Taylor (David Russell, USA, 2008). With its series Spectacle, The Sundance Channel finally seemed to capitalize on the promising idea that belied the Bravo series Musicians, all but ruined by the obnoxious host David Wild back in the summer of 2001. Here, in lieu of Wild, we have that most genial and pleasant of performers, Elvis Costello, moderating candid and often revelatory discussions with a who’s-who of top recording artists. The results are spectacular. This particular episode finds Sweet Baby James discussing the trajectory of his career and his philosophies about music, and delving into impromptu performances that are just splendid. Don’t miss this one! Airs on Sundance, Wednesday 3/25 at 9pm, Friday 3/27 at 12am, and Sunday 3/29 at 12pm.

5. Who Was That Lady? (George Sidney, USA, 1960). Then marrieds Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh once starred in this lightweight but enjoyable farce opposite the venerable Dean Martin. Curtis stars as David Wilson, a teacher caught kissing one of his students by his enraged wife (Leigh). With his marriage on the rocks, he and buddy Dean devise a wild and clever scam to fool Ann – one that involves posing as spies. And when words gets out, this, in turn, leads to non-stop international intrigue! As one might assume, the tone and presentation of this are totally ’60s. As such, it’s a lot of fun. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Sunday 3/15 at 12pm.

6. The Angelmakers (Astrid Bussink, Netherlands/Hungary/UK, 2005). This documentary program plunges into the annals of weird history, with a fascinating chronicle of a Hungarian village, Nagyrev, that experienced a bizarre mass slaying in 1929. At least 140 women banded together to poison their husbands with arsenic that year, and an aura of mistrust still hangs like a dark shroud over the village. Airs on Sundance, Tuesday 3/10 at 8:50am and 1:05pm, Wednesday 3/11 at 5:15am, Monday 3/16 at 7:05am, Friday 3/20 at 4:15pm, Wednesday 3/25 at 5:15am, and Sunday 3/20 at 11:20pm.

7. Eve and Marilyn – (Rosemary Bowen-Jones, UK, 1987) The relationship between the photographer and the model serves as the point-of-fascination for this unusual, interview-based documentary. The “Eve” in question is celebrity photographer Eve Arnold, the “Marilyn” Marilyn Monroe, whom Arnold reportedly photographed more than any other visual artist during Monroe’s brief lifetime – giving them a highly unique and unusual dynamic. Here, Arnold turns up for protracted reflections on the Monroe sessions. Airs on Ovation: Tuesday 3/24 at 10:30pm; Wednesday 3/25 at 1:30am, 4:30pm and 7:30pm; Saturday 3/28 at 7:30pm, and Monday 3/30 at 3:30am.

8. Three Cheers for the Irish (Lloyd Bacon, USA, 1940). Thomas Mitchell (It’s A Wonderful Life) took center stage for this entertaining seriocomedy about a brogue-voiced, tough as nails Irish beat cop who raises hellfire (shades of Beyond the Law!) when his daughter attempts to wed a Scotsman (Dennis Morgan). Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Wednesday 3/18 at 4am.

9. The Late George Apley (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, USA, 1947) – A great old film, adapted from John P. Marquand’s bestselling, Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, this one is a smooth and gentle comedy of manners about Nineteenth Century Boston bluebloods. Ronald Colman plays George Apley, the patriarch of a wealthy Beantown clan with some very strict and unshakable ideas about who his children should and shouldn’t marry (read: Bostonians only!). Imagine his horror, then, when his son decides to wed a Worcester girl and his daughter becomes engaged to a Yale graduate. There goes the neighborhood! Airs on Turrner Classic Movies, Thursday 3/26 at 6pm.

10. The Pleasure Seekers (Jean Negulesco, USA, 1964) A piece of fluffy, shameful fun, this actually embodies a remake of the same director’s earlier musical Three Coins in the Fountain. It stars Ann-Margret, Carol Lynley, and Pamela Tiffin as three young women cavorting through Europe, seeking romance and adventure. Airs on The Fox Movie Channel, Friday 3/20 at 12:30pm.