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Mary Boland movies: Scene-stealing actress has her ‘Summer Under the Stars’ day on TCM Turner Classic Movies will dedicate the next 24 hours, Sunday, August 4, 2013, not to Lana Turner, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Esther Williams, or Bette Davis — TCM’s frequent Warner Bros., MGM, and/or Rko stars — but to the marvelous scene-stealer Mary Boland. A stage actress who was featured in a handful of movies in the 1910s, Boland came into her own as a stellar film supporting player in the early ’30s, initially at Paramount and later at most other Hollywood studios. First, the bad news: TCM’s "Summer Under the Stars" Mary Boland Day will feature only two movies from Boland’s Paramount period: the 1935 Best Picture Academy Award nominee Ruggles of Red Gap, which TCM has shown before, and one TCM premiere. So, no rarities like Secrets of a Secretary, Mama Loves Papa, Melody in Spring,...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

African Cats – Samuel L. Jackson (Narration)

Deep Gold – Bebe Pham, Jaymee Ong, Michael Gleissner

Madea’s Big Happy Family – Tyler Perry, Loretta Devine, Bow Wow

Water for Elephants – Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz

Movie of the Week

Water for Elephants

The Stars: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz

The Plot: A veterinary student (Pattinson) abandons his studies after his parents are killed and joins a traveling circus as their vet.

The Buzz: This period piece looks to be a well put together romantic drama. I enjoyed Pattinson’s general vibe in the trailer; thankfully a far cry from his brooding ham-bake of the Twilight films. Witherspoon is winsome, I typically love her in her more dramatic pieces — aside from the laborious Vanity Fair. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of on-screen magic this pair can conjure up. Happy to see Christolph Waltz again,...

A film that has made many a vegetarian, but stands as one of Walt Disney.s masterpieces. It turns out that the villain is us, but I.ve not exactly seen deer, rabbits, and skunks chatting away in the forest either. What is 100% true is that Disney has produced another stunning Blu-ray. The forest is abuzz with excitement as Friend Owl (Will Wright) is awakened from his nap to go and witness the birth of a new fawn. The mother deer (Paula Winslowe) names the newborn Bambi (voiced by Bobby Stewart, Donnie Dunagan, Hardie Albright, and John Sutherland during his lifetime). Bambi quickly befriends the rabbit Thumper (Peter Behn, Tim Davis, Sam Edwards), the skunk Flower (Stan Alexander, Tim...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

The Adjustment Bureau – Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Lisa Thoreson

Beastly – Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens, Mary-Kate Olsen

Rango – (voices of) Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Timothy Olyphant

Take Me Home Tonight – Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Dan Fogler

Movie of the Week

Rango

The Stars: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Timothy Olyphant

The Plot: A chameleon that aspires to be a swashbuckling hero (Depp) finds himself in a Western town plagued by bandits and is forced to literally play the role in order to protect it.

The Buzz: Director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Carribean Trilogy, The Ring) takes a swash at his first animated feature. I thought the trailer for this film was excellent — Rango looks to be visually stunning, narratively engaging, and comically amusing. Verbinski’s adventure-film stripes are well earned — he knows his way around the genre — and this looks to be a strong addition to his filmography.

The Song of Songs (1933) Direction: Rouben Mamoulian Screenplay: Samuel Hoffenstein, Leo Birinsky; from Hermann Sudermann’s novel and Edward Sheldon’s play Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Brian Aherne, Lionel Atwill, Alison Skipworth, Hardie Albright, Helen Freeman In her first American film without the guidance of Joseph von Sternberg, Marlene Dietrich was definitely up to the acting challenge of Rouben Mamoulian‘s The Song of Songs. Not only are there some fine performances in this 1933 Mamoulian effort, but the screenplay by Leo Birinsky and Samuel Hoffenstein, taken from both Hermann Sudermann‘s novel and Edward Sheldon‘s play, is mature and compelling. In The Song of Songs, Dietrich plays Lily Czepanek, a naive country girl who goes to live in Berlin after her father dies. Once there, she works in her Aunt’s book store and discovers the world. The sculptor Waldow (played by Brian Aherne), lives upstairs and notices Lily’s unspoiled beauty.