Here are my top five picks out of the movies playing this week on cable. All these happen to be on TCM, which isn’t too surprising – click over to Row Three to see the full post, which also includes some really nice choices from IFC and Sundance. Lots of good stuff on this week, and a lot of stuff that hasn’t appeared in the column before, too.

The Searchers

Tuesday at 8:00pm on TCM
Deservedly considered one of the greatest westerns ever made, a high point in the careers of both John Wayne and John Ford. Wayne is the almost anti-heroic main character Ethan Edwards, driven by anger and revenge to find the group of Indians who killed his nearly estranged family and kidnapped his young niece. Along with the contemporary films of Anthony Mann, The Searchers marks a point in the Western genre where we can no longer necessarily accept the motives of the good guys to be pure, and in fact, are forced to question if the good guys are actually good – perhaps the beginning of the revisionist western. Ford’s command of cinematic space and the language of the frame here is unparalleled, and the performances and everything else in the film match it.
1956 USA. Director: John Ford. Starring: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Natalie Wood.
Must See

Eyes Without a Face

Tuesday at 10:15pm on TCM
This French horror film relies on atmosphere rather than actual scares, with a doctor single-mindedly pursuing a skin graft treatment that would restore his daughter’s scarred face, resorting to grave-robbing and worse to get experimental tissue. The dreamy and detached feel of the film sets it apart from most horror films, in a way that makes it sneak under your skin (heh), becoming more disturbing as you think back on it even than it was while viewing.
1960 France. Director: Georges Franju. Starring: Pierre Brassuer, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel, Edith Scob.

Lawrence of Arabia

Wednesday/early Thursday at 12:30am on TCM
Most epics are over-determined and so focused on spectacle that they end up being superficial – all big sets and sweeping music with no depth. The brilliance of Lawrence of Arabia is that it looks like an epic with all the big sets and sweeping music and widescreen vistas, but at its center is an enigmatic character study of a man who lives bigger-than-life, but is as personally conflicted as any intimate drama has ever portrayed.
1962 UK. Director: David Lean. Starring: Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Jose Ferrer.
Must See

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

Saturday at 9:15am on TCM
One of the most genius comedy-horror mashups ever made, with the duo playing bumbling freight handlers responsible for shipping the remains of Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster – until Dracula escapes, taking the monster with him. Some genuine scares and many, many earned laughs ensue, with The Wolf Man also making an appearance, trying to stop Dracula. Most of Abbott & Costello’s movies are throw-away fun, but this one is top-notch on any scale of quality, thanks in no small part to having many of the original actors playing the monsters.
1948 USA. Director: Charles Barton. Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., Glenn Strange, Lenore Aubert.
Must See

Written on the Wind

Sunday at 4:00pm on TCM
Whenever I’m tempted to use the term “melodrama” in a derogatory sense, I stop and remind myself of Douglas Sirk, and especially of this film. Taking lush domestic struggles with soap opera potential and making them into stunning films was Sirk’s specialty, and this is one of his best, chock full of alcoholic husbands, love triangles, nymphomaniacs, and class prejudice, but with a heart and sense of tragedy that turns “melodrama” into a compliment. Add in Sirk’s exquisite eye for composition and a deservedly Oscar-winning supporting turn from Dorothy Malone, and this one isn’t to be missed.
1956 USA. Director: Douglas Sirk. Starring: Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Robert Keith.
Must See