5pm PST – Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A (1945) – A girl in the slums tries to find her way with the help of her devoted mother and alcoholic father. Cast: Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, James Dunn, Lloyd Nolan Dir: Elia Kazan BW-129 mins, TV-G
Watch in awe as you realize this lyrical, timeless family drama was Elia Kazan’s feature film directorial debut. There was nothing this extraordinary explorer of the human condition couldn’t do and his work will survive as long as there’s a civilization, and much longer than anything made by those who refused to stand when the 89 year-old was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1999. Of course, that’s me being generous and assuming we haven’t already forgotten the classic canon of Nick Nolte and Amy Madigan.
A perfect triple feature would be today’s pick, “Life With Father” and “I Remember Mama.” Nothing old-fashioned about any of these. Each is a complicated, thematically driven human drama that manages to tell many truths about life without resorting to cynicism or any of the other crutches used so often today. The bitter and the sweet as opposed to the ironic and the pointless.
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