CATCH A CLASSIC
Star of the Month: Dana Andrews: ‘1950s and 1960s’
TCM, Beginning at 7 p.m.
Tonight (and running into tomorrow afternoon), Turner Classic Movies’ celebration of actor Dana Andrews continues with 11 films representing the tail end of his heyday as a leading man in major Hollywood productions and the beginning of his work starring in productions that, even while falling into the “B-movie” category on occasion, still feature Andrews giving compelling performances. First up is Where the Sidewalk Ends (pictured) (1950), a classic film noir
that re-teamed the actor with co-star Gene Tierney and director Otto Preminger, who had all collaborated earlier on another classic noir, Laura. Next, Andrews and Rhonda Fleming lead another terrific noir, While the City Sleeps (1956), one of legendary director Fritz Lang’s last films. Then, Andrews leads director Jacques Tourneur’s atmospheric horror film Curse of the Demon (1957), in which he plays an American psychologist targeted by a curse after running afoul of a satanic cult leader (Niall MacGinnis) in England. Following that are Zero Hour! (1957), the airplane-in-distress melodrama that would go on to inspire the 1980 comedy Airplane!; Three Hours to Kill (1954), a Western co-starring Donna Reed; another Western, 1955’s Strange Lady in Town, also featuring Greer Garson; Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956), another notable late-era noir from director
Lang, co-starring Joan Fontaine; the 1958 adventure film Enchanted Island; the 1956 Western Comanche; Spring Reunion, a 1956 drama co-starring Betty Hutton in her screen comeback after a five-year absence; and The Fearmakers (1958), a film noir that once again paired Andrews with director Tourneur.