Anthony Bourdain, April 2012 Guest Programmer

I don't watch any of those cooking shows on the Food Channel or other similar channels, but at least I'd already heard of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. He sat down with Robert Osborne to talk about four of his favorite movies, and TCM is showing those movies tonight.

The night starts at 8:00 PM with John Ford directing John Wayne in The Searchers. This isn't one of my favorites: it's not a bad movie, but I can't help but think that a large part of its now towering relation comes from people projecting their own political views back onto the film. It's amazing to read all the glowing reviews invariably making comment of Ford's making a statement against racism.

Following at 10:15 PM is Eyes Without a Face which I recommended back in December 2008. It's a wonderfully creepy horror movie which for the most part doesn't have any of the blood or gore of today's films, despite the subject matter.

The third selection is the British gangster film Get Carter, which airs at midnight. I don't think I've seen either this one, or the final selection, which is another British movie, Withnail and I.

One other interesting thing airing this night, which I don't think Bourdain had any part in selecting, is the 1928 short The Five Locust Sisters, at about 5:50 AM tomorrow. It's from the very earliest days of MGM's talking-picture output, and features nothing more than a group singing two songs, including "Get Out and Get Under the Moon". It's an interesting historical document of the sort of songs people were singing at that time, this time the sort of song that isn't so well-remembered today. Would I want to watch a feature-length musical starring the Locust Sisters? God no, but a one-reeler makes it a fun enough curiosity.