MEL BROOKS TRIBUTE
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
We adore Mel Brooks here at TVWW, and it’s good to know TCM feels likewise. Tonight, that network turns its lineup over to Brooks, by showcasing him in four of his films and an interview, as well as showing the original version of a movie he remade. Starting things off at 8 p.m. ET is 1970’s The Twelve Chairs, one of the rarest Brooks films to find on TV, and one he adapted from a period Russian novel. Next up: 1976’s Silent Movie (9:45 p.m. ET), his homage to the pre-sound era of cinema, and 1977’s High Anxiety, his Alfred Hitchcock homage that had creative input from the Master of Suspense himself. An interview conducted by Dick Cavett is shown at 1:15 a.m. ET, followed an hour later by 1983’s To Be or Not to Be, Brooks’ charming version of the 1942 Jack Benny wartime comedy movie. Brooks’ version co-stars his late wife, Anne Bancroft, who’s as hilarious as she is beautiful – and Ernst Lubitsch’s original version co-starring Benny and Carole Lombard, ends the evening at 4:15 a.m. ET. Watch them all! Trade with friends!