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tv films^ 12-18 Aug 2017^ guide^46

of old Hollywood style.

Katharine Hepburn is

idle-rich Tracy Lord who

sees sense on the eve

of her second wedding.

After getting drunk with

James Stewart’s red

top-style hack she goes

back to fi rst husband,

wry Dexter (Cary Grant).

Eff ortless wit.

Buried

(Rodrigo Cortés, 2010)

12midnight, BBC1

Set inside a coffi n, this

unusual and ingenious

thriller pretty much

corners the market

in claustrophobia.

Ryan Reynolds is an

American contractor in

Iraq who awakes buried

alive with only a mobile,

a lighter and a light-stick

for company. Inevitably,

time hangs heavy

Hitchcock/Truff aut

(Kent Jones, 2015)

1.55am, Film4

Take a fascinating look

back at the 1962 audio

interviews (later a book)

given by the great British

director to the great

French director. These

cemented Hitchcock’s

auteur status, but

also provided a nuts-

and-bolts insight into

his working methods

across a wide body

of work. Notable

talking heads such as

fi lm-makers Martin

Scorsese, David Fincher

and Wes Anderson put

the encounter in its

infl uential context.

Monday 14 August

All Is Lost

(JC Chandor, 2013)

9pm, Film4

Or what could be the

Old Man and the Sea:

Chandor’s relentlessly

taut and gripping drama

stars Robert Redford

as a veteran, unnamed

sailor, alone on a sinking

boat on the ocean. It’s

as minimalist as can

be – we don’t know why

he’s there – and Redford

is superb, though near-

silent, as the embattled

wanderer who struggles

to overcome storm and

setbacks, one damn thing

after another, that bring

him ever closer to the

end. Utterly riveting.

Thelma & Louise

(Ridley Scott, 1991)

9pm, Sony Movie Channel

The road movie that

found a new gear,

putting two devil-may-

care women in the

driving seat. Waitress

Saturday 12 August

Little Women

(Mervyn LeRoy, 1949)

8am, BBC2

The middle of three

big-screen versions

of Louisa May Alcott’s

classic novel. The MGM

production values are

impeccable, it’s shot in

handsome Technicolor

and the cast includes June

Allyson, Margaret O’Brien,

Elizabeth Taylor and Janet

Leigh – but still it seems

lacklustre compared to

George Cukor’s 1933

scintillating original

and Gillian Armstrong’s

spirited 1994 account.

The Philadelphia Story

(George Cukor, 1940)

2.20pm, BBC2

This coruscating romantic

comedy is the epitome

here and there, but

Rodrigo Cortés is highly

inventive in teasing out

the sweaty terror.

Sunday 13 August

Harry Potter and the

Deathly Hallows: Part 1

(David Yates, 2010)

7.30pm, ITV

So, the beginning

of the end. There’s

a sense of hiatus as

we await the fi nal

confl ict but it exerts a

despondent grip. Cast

out of Hogwarts, Harry,

Hermione and Ron are

surviving in dark woods

and rocky landscapes, on

a mission to destroy the

horcruxes that embody

Voldemort’s power,

but are beset by his

vile creatures.

(Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Sunday, 11.20pm, Film4

Endlessly discussed and utterly gripping, this classic Hitchcock thriller

has James Stewart’s acrophobic ex-cop racked by guilt over the death

of an old friend’s wife (Kim Novak) he’s been shadowing. Later, he

remodels his new love (Novak again) in her image, which leads to

further sweaty-palmed suspense high up in a church tower. In its

depiction of a man recreating the glacial blonde of his fantasies, it’s

seen as the voyeuristic Hitchcock’s most intensely personal fi lm.

tv films

Pick of the week Vertigo

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