One of your readers complains that good shows are aired on TVB Pearl late at night (South China Morning Post, September 4). I couldn't agree more. And this is also true of films.
In the last two months, at least three good films were shown at ungodly hours. It was unforgivable to air Stanley Kubrick's black comedy, Dr Strangelove, at 1.45am in mid-August. The China Syndrome was shown at 1.50am in July while at the end of June, Gigi, the musical that won nine Oscars in 1958, was aired at 4am.
Other worthwhile films were banished to the 'vast wasteland' of Saturday and Sunday afternoons. These included the July screening of Humphrey Bogart's The Maltese Falcon and Fred Zinnemann's A Man For All Seasons. Elia Kazan's On The Waterfront was aired at 2pm on Sunday, June 29.
I must, however, take my hat off to Pearl for showing another Kubrick masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Glengarry Glen Ross, at the 9.30pm slot in July. Let us hope that Pearl will do this more often and spare us reruns of Lethal Weapon, Back To The Future and Robocop.
K. Y. TSUI Kowloon
