CATCH A CLASSIC
Opening Title Sequences — Part 2 TCM, Beginning at 7 p.m.
Turner Classic Movies’ second of two nights featuring films with memorable and often innovative title sequences features eight more movies: 1958’s Touch of Evil (pictured), Orson Welles’ film noir that opens with an amazing, three-minute-plus crane/ tracking shot; The Player (1992), Robert Altman’s Hollywood satire/dark comedy that features a nearly eight-minute-long, single-shot opening scene; Pillow Talk
(1959), the Doris Day/Rock Hudson-led rom-com whose title sequence, designed by Wayne Fitzgerald, exemplifies the fun ahead in the movie with its playful split-screen action between the co-stars, accompanied by Day’s performance of the title tune;
Who’s That Girl? (1987), the Madonna-led screwball comedy that opens with an animated version of the backstory for the star’s character, set to Madonna’s performance of “Causing a Commotion”; the 1962 romantic comedy Boys’ Night Out, with an animated title sequence accompanied by co-star Patti Page’s performance of the title song; The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), the French romantic musical/drama that fittingly and beautifully runs its title credits over overhead shots of umbrella-carrying people walking along a brick road in the rain; A Hard Day’s Night (1964), the Beatles’ first film, whose title sequence sets up the manic tone of the film as we watch the Fab Four trying to evade crazed fans in London as their title tune plays; and Beauty
and the Beast (1946), another French classic, which has most of its title credits seen being written out on a chalkboard, after which director Jean Cocteau briefly steps in to break the fourth wall and address the audience. — Jeff Pfeiffer