The Cinema Cafe

Serving Screen Stories Sweet and Savoury

Dish of the Day (A Lost Weekend Edition)

Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:

Friday, November 14, 2025

This weekend on TCM:

There have been quite a few movies centred around boxing over the years from 1937’s Kid Galahad to 2018’s Creed II with plenty of standouts in-between such as 1947’s Body and Soul, 1956’s Somebody Up There Likes Me, 1962’s Requiem for a Heavyweight, 1972’s Fat City and 1980’s Raging Bull. None of these, however, get as straight to the punchline as 1949’s knockout noir The Set-Up, previously reviewed here. It’s happening Saturday, November 15 at 12:30 pm PST.


My next TCM recommendation for the month is, for many experts, the final film noir released during the classification's classic time period (1940 - 1959), Orson Welles' stylistically assertive Touch of Evil (1958).  

(From left) Orson Welles, Charlton Heston

I have previously written about how there came to be several different versions of this noir extravaganza especially as it concerns the ingenious opening sequence in Main Title Inspirations No. 2 Touch of Evil. Viewers can compare the introduction's bold visual display to the equally superlative use of sound at this film's conclusion when Touch of Evil airs Saturday, November 15 at 2 pm PST.  

A true romance film and of the highest artistic calibre has been reviewed in Opening Up a Treasure: Brief Encounter released in 1945. Director David Lean's stirring "encounter" will begin on Sunday, November 16 at 9:45 am PST.

TCM's current schedule can be seen by clicking on any of the above images. To confirm the correct Pacific Standard (West Coast) showtime information, subtract 3 hours from the Eastern Standard (East Coast) showtime listed on TCM’s schedule.


All responses are not only welcomed but encouraged in the comments section below.

Hope to see you Monday, November 17th.

A.G.