On TCM: Great Directors

Turner Classic Movies embraces the auteur theory in a big way this month, establishing the primacy of the director every day in June. Whether or not you agree that the director is the true author of a film, there's no arguing that this doesn't give TCM a chance to showcase some great movies this month--and some that I've always wanted to see, some of which are I think new to the lineup. These include Tony Richardson's take on Hamlet (1969), with Nicol Williamson as the great Dane and Marianne Faithfull as Ophelia, on June 17; Jules Dassin's Phaedra, with Melina Mercouri and Anthony Perkins, on June 18, and Blake Edwards' The Carey Treatment (1972), with James Coburn, on June 19. And a whole day of Jacques Tourneur pictures, from various genres, on June 12. I hope it rains.