It’s a full and exciting month as we return to the realm of outstanding television finds that have evaded home video issue. This month witnesses the return of a largely unknown Sean Connery psychothriller, a Kaneto Shindo horror outing never issued in stateside ancillary, and a Howard Keel cult favorite, among others. So sit back and keep your remotes handy, and enjoy the ride as we go channel surfing once again.

1. Woman of Straw (Basil Dearden, UK, 1965) – Nathan’s #1 Pick of the Month. An extraordinary ensemble cast, including Sean Connery, Gina Lollobrigida and Ralph Richardson, headlines this offbeat mystery thriller by the late Dearden that begins with a worn-thin noir premise and reinvents it in startling ways. Connery plays Anthony Richmond, whose grizzled millionaire uncle, Charles (Richardson), is so thoroughly vile and nasty that even his dogs can’t resist biting the hands that feed them. After the genial Anthony discovers that Charles isn’t planning to include him in his will, he discreetly approaches the new nurse aide, Maria (Lollobrigida) and suggests that the two of them modify the will and divide the spoils when the codger dies. Naturally, unforeseen complications arise. The last 5-10 minutes don’t really work, but other than that, the picture is first rate – much underrated and unfairly ignored. This is exactly the sort of suspenser that used to turn up 35 and 40 years ago on the late morning movie – giving it a satisfyingly nostalgic feel, with its widescreen Technicolor format and hand-drawn credit illustrations. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Friday 5/8 at 12:15am.

2. One Sunday Afternoon (Stephen R. Roberts, USA, 1935) – Gary Cooper and Fay Wray highlight this straightforward but beautifully acted melodrama, adapted by Grover Jones and William Slavens McNutt from the play by James Hagan. Cooper stars as Dr. Bitt Grimes (a great name for a character), a small-town dentist who believes he married the wrong woman, Amy (Frances Fuller). His old pal Hugo (Neil Hamilton) stole and married the great love of Bitt’s life, Virginia (Wray), leaving him with years of resentment and hostility. When Hugo turns up again for a visit, with Virginia in tow, Bitt begins to plot a satisfying revenge – little anticipating the complexity of his feelings when Virginia comes into view and he gets a firsthand glimpse of her marriage to Hugo. Leonard Maltin termed this picture a “touching and lovingly made piece of Americana, exuding period charm and atmosphere.” Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Thursday 5/7 at 1:15pm.

3. Miranda (Ken Annakin, UK, 1948) – The recent death of Annakin made headlines in the trades; those familiar with his duds from the 80s (a little Pirate Movie, anyone?) might not have realized that in his heyday, Annakin carried a substantial amount of weight in British filmdom and even received an Oscar nod for the 1965 Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. The romantic comedy Miranda wasn’t Annakin’s greatest, but it remains a very pleasant and satisfactory, light entertainment. This early precursor to Splash stars the beautiful, husky-voiced Glynis Johns as the title character, a mermaid who kidnaps a human (Griffith Jones) and forces him to take her to dry land. In London, she causes a wealth of problems when every man who spots her falls deeply in love with her. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Monday 5/11 at 6:15am.

4. Callaway Went Thataway (Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, USA, 1951) Howard Keel headlines this goofy, satirical send up of America’s celebrity obsession, made at the peak of the Hopalong Cassidy craze. Fred MacMurray and Dorothy McGuire play Mike Frye and Deborah Patterson, advertising copywriters who purchase the “Smokey Callaway” western serials for television. Problems arise when the sponsor demands to actually meet Callway and sign him to a contract; Callaway himself has regressed into a pitiful, booze-soaked skirt-chaser, so Frye and Patterson pull out an imposter, Stretch Barnes (also Keel) and convince him to pose as the cowhand. Then the real Callaway turns up, demanding his share of the spoils. The film gained recognition for a cleverly shot and edited sequence in which Callaway and Barnes fight one another, making it look as though Keel is punching himself out. Look quickly for Stan “When Radio Was” Freberg and Hugh “Ward Cleaver” Beaumont in supporting roles, as well as cameos by Clark Gable and Dick Powell. Airs Monday, 5/11 at 10:15pm.

5. The Inspector/Lisa (Philip Dunne, UK, 1962) Dunne directed and Nelson Gidding penned this deeply satisfying, swiftly-paced adaptation of Jan de Hartog’s period thriller. Dolores Hart stars as Lisa Held, a Dutch Jewish woman who survived the horrors of Auschwitz and now, in post-WWII Europe, longs to relocate to Palestine. She runs into the creepy Thorens (Marius Goring of Stairway to Heaven), who offers to help her. But in truth, he’s a vile slave trader whose Nazi friends have set up a market in South America, and he plans to kidnap Lisa and smuggle her in. Meanwhile, a kindly police inspector, Peter Jongman (Stephen Boyd) is hot on Thorens’s trail – but will he reach poor Lisa in time? Airs on the Fox Movie Channel, Wednesday 5/13 at 6am.

6. One Bad Cat: The Reverend Albert Wagner Story (Thomas G. Miller, USA, 2008). Delroy Lindo (Malcolm X) narrates this unusual, intimate documentary about Albert Wagner. Born into the direst poverty, Wagner’s marriage fell apart thanks to his infidelities. But that only marked the beginning of his descent: he was soon hit by harsh, scathing allegations of child molestation that wrought a lengthy prison sentence. Wagner ultimately found personal redemption, both via Christianity (with full ordainment as a minister) and a career in the arts; he began to produce haunting paintings that chronicled his unending quest for salvation – and drew both critical praise and controversy for their content. Wagner resisted interviews for years but made a rare exception for the sake of Miller’s project; the results are undeniably illuminating and multifaceted. Airs on Ovation TV, Sunday 5/17 at 5pm.

7. Knowledge is the Beginning (Paul Smaczny, Germany, 2005) A favorite on the festival circuit, Smaczny’s documentary sheds an unusual and hopeful light on the Israel-Palestine conflict. It tells of the relationship between the Jewish conductor-pianist Daniel Barenboim, and the Palestinian professor Edward Said, instructor of English and literature at Columbia in New York City. Despite the history of enmity between their cultures and the degree to which each man associated himself with his patrilineage (indeed, Said was one of the most outspoken of all Palestinian activists), the men found themselves inexorably drawn together into a unique friendship, and bound by a shared desire to forge peace between Jewish and Arabic peoples. They achieved this via a series of joint musical projects that were groundbreaking at the time, and shocking in the very best ways – including Barenboim’s decision to conduct symphonies in the West Bank, and the creation of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a symphony comprised of equal numbers of Israeli and Palestinian musicians. Airs on Ovation TV, Thursday 5/14 at 8am and 11pm.

8. Tex Avery: King of Cartoons (John Needham, USA, 1988) Born Frederick Bean Avery, genius illustrator “Tex” Avery (1908-80) created some of the most memorable animations in the history of American filmdom, with a barrage of nonstop sight gags, surrealistic character effects and overall wackiness; without his influence, Looney Tunes and other series never would have been the same. This documentary provides a rare overview of Avery’s life and decades-long career. Airs on Ovation TV, Thursday 5/28 at 10pm and Friday 5/29 at 1am.

9. We Married Margo (J.D. Shapiro, USA, 2000) Earning critical comparisons to Woody Allen, writer-director-star Shapiro and co-writer-star William Dozier turned out this way-offbeat, laudable mélange of buddy farce, situational comedy and improvised documentary. Shapiro stars as Jake, a hyper-neurotic, intellectual Manhattanite with an Allen-like tendency to kvetch constantly; Dozier plays Rock, a sloppy-as-hell surfer type with the emotional maturity of a pre-teenager. These two opposites have something unusual in common: both were married to the mercurially-tempered Margo (Kylie Bax) at different points. When Margo dumps Jake, the men move in together, become friends, and decide to make a movie about their lives; meanwhile, they discover just how many people have been damaged or destroyed by Margo. Airs on the Independent Film Channel, Wednesday 5/6 at 9:15am.

10. The Black Cat/Kuroneko (Kaneto Shindo, Japan, 1968) – Onibaba director Shindo returned to the horror genre with this arresting and violent period tale that begins with the brutal murder of a young woman by a pack of samurai. After the guilty parties are slain, the film moves into a battle of spirits between the shape-shifting ghost of the victim and the ghost of the woman’s former husband, who seeks to avenge the spirit of the deceased warrior. Airs on the Independent Film Channel, Sunday 5/10 at 10am.