The TV Zone

We don’t get to see foreign films much anymore since the demise of the old Bravo -- the old, OLD Bravo -- which back in its 1980s-90s glory days actually used to run commercial-free Kurasawa films and other gems from global masters. (Yearning sigh here. “Project Runway” will never equal “The Seven Samurai.”)

Now this week, Turner Classic Movies takes a stab at the art-film market with two nights of Louis Malle titles this Tuesday-Wednesday (Oct. 23-24), in honor of what would have been the French director’s 75th birthday. While Malle did make films in the United States (where he lived after marrying Candice Bergen in 1980, until his death in 1995), including “Pretty Baby” and “Atlantic City,” his international reputation rests on the great French-language features TCM now celebrates.

Tuesday lineup:
8 p.m. - Elevator to the Gallows (1957), Malle’s first non-documentary film, with Jeanne Moreau.
9:45 p.m. - Zazie Dans Le Metro (1960), with Philippe Noiret.
11:30 p.m. - The Fire Within (1963)
1:30 a.m. - Murmur of the Heart (1971)
3:30 a.m. - Black Moon (1975), with Joe Dallesandro.

Wednesday lineup:
8:00 p.m. - Au Revoir, Les Enfants (1987)
10:00 p.m. - Lacombe, Lucien (1974)
12:30 a.m. - Calcutta (1969), a documentary Malle also narrates.
2:30 a.m. - Place de la Republique (1974), a Paris slice-of-life.
4:15 a.m. - God's Country (1985), a Malle-narrated look at small-town Minnesota farm life and politics.

The films are further explored at TCM’s website.