Monday, September 8 - Movies

The Age

Thursday September 4, 2008

Scott Murray

Breakfast for Two (1937)

ABC1, 2.15am

Alfred Santell's Breakfast for Two is all but forgotten (Leonard Maltin's guide makes no mention) but it makes for delightful viewing. Barbara Stanwyck (never so beautiful) plays a young woman who sees goodness in a dissolute and near-bankrupt playboy (the great Herbert Marshall). Co-written by Charles Kaufman, this charming comedy is dated but gorgeous, made in an era when male characters happily played second fiddle to female without it looking forced.

Night Passage (1957)

Fox Classics, 8.30pm

The five Westerns James Stewart made with director Anthony Mann stand at the pinnacle of the genre. And there should have been a sixth but Mann didn't like Borden Chase's script for Night Passage, or he didn't want Audie Murphy as the outlaw or he argued with Stewart, depending on whom you believe, and quit the film. James Nielson, a television journeyman, took over. There are wonderful scenes in this story of an accordion-playing loner protecting a new railway (Sergio Leone borrowed a few moments for Once Upon a Time in the West) and the autumnal Colorado backdrop is breathtaking. But this is a good film that could have been great. -- SCOTT MURRAY

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