Briefs for October 21-23, 2022

I probably should have mentioned some of the obituaries earlier in the week. The one fams of English-language movies would most recognize is Robbie Coltrane. If you watched the Harry Potter movies (I didn't), I assume you'll known him as Hagrid. He was also in a couple of the more recent James Bond films, but I'll think of him for his part in Nuns on the Run. Coltrane was 72.

For the fans of foreign films, you might recall Josef Somr from the movie Closely Watched Trains, playing the station agent who uses the rubber stamp on one of the women's butts, which brings the authorities down on everybody. I have to admit that Closely Watched Trains isn't my favorite Czech film -- I much prefer Loves of a Blonde and The Firemen's Ball from that era -- but a lot of people like Closely Watched Trains. Somr was 88.

A couple of movies that I didn't mention in my post at the end of Septeber on the change to the FXM rotation showed up today, and they'll be on again in the not-too-distant future. First up is Destination Gobi, which I blogged about almost 11 years ago. That one gets its next showing on Sunday (October 23) at 8:55 AM. There was also the heist film Seven Thieves, a better Edward G. Robinson heist film than The Biggest Bundle of them All, which I mentioned back in September. Seven Thieves doesn't show up again until late next week, at 1:15 PM Thursday.

Back on TCM, I haven't been paying attention to how long the Tarzan serial in the 9:30 AM slot has been running, or how many chapters are left. In the slot after the Popeye cartoon, so just after 10:00 AM, there's not a Bowery Boys movie, but instead a movie I haven't heard of called Private Buckaroo with a young Donald O'Connor among others, according to the brief synopsis. But it's the movie that follows the matinee block that I wanted to mention, Stranger on the Third Floor, at noon. This disturbing proto-noir is absolutely worth a watch if you haven't seen it before.

Finally, at the TCM website it was announced that they're going to be closing down their message boards. It's a shame, and it's unfortunately a sign of the times that that sort of message board seems to be a lot less popular in favor of social media sites that make finding information and interesting conversation a lot more difficult.