THE APU TRILOGY
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Satyahit Ray’s The Apu Trilogy – consisting of three movies from the 1950s, widely acclaimed as masterpieces of world cinema – is presented tonight on TCM, in an extremely rare showcase. Two of the three movies have never been shown on TCM before, and all three are being televised in new, pristinely restored Criterion versions. Ray, who co-wrote, produced and directed the films, which are adapted from the novels of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. Note that Ravi Shankar, years before he crossed the path of The Beatles, provided the film score. The Apu Trilogy tells of a young Bengali boy named Apu, growing up at the turn of the 20th century. The first film in the series, 1956’s Pather Panchali, stars 8-year-old Subir Banerjee (pictured) as Apu, and is shown at 8 p.m. ET. Next up, at 10:15 p.m. ET, is 1957’s Aparajito, about a slightly older Apu. And the trilogy concludes at 12:30 a.m. ET with 1959’s Apur Sansar. Different actors played Apu in all three films, but the trilogy story is a complete one. And if you still want more after that’s over, there’s a documentary on Satyahit Ray shown by TCM at 2:30 a.m. ET.