television

THURSDAY: Marlowe. 1970. One of a legion of films made from Raymond Chandler's private-eye novels, this one falls flat in the fast company. James Garner is just not a very credible Marlowe for those who have seen Bogart in "The Big Sleep." For good Marlowe, see Elliott Gould in "The Long Goodbye" at the Harvard Square this week. CH.7. 11:30 p.m. Color. 2 hrs.

SATURDAY: Arsenic and Old Lace. 1944. Cary Grant, Raymond Massey, and Peter Lorre head a very apt cast in Frank Capra's screwball film of Joseph Kesselring's very funny play. CH.56. 9 p.m. B-W. 2 hrs. 30 min.

The Blob. 1958. Steve McQueen. A jellyfish. Quintessential. CH.5. 11:30 p.m. Color. 90 min.

Confidential Agent. 1945. Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall in a Graham Greene tale of the Spanish Civil War. CH.56. 1:30 p.m. B-W 2 hrs.

SUNDAY: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. 1966. Not the story of America's last three presidential administrations. Clint Eastwood stars in the third of Italian director Sergio Leone's spaghetti Western series. Scenic and bloody, this film tops the previous two for extravagance, including an entire Civil War battle as a backdrop. CH.5. 7:30 p.m. Color, 3 hrs.

MONDAY: The Great Escape. 1963. Not the sequel to part three of the Leone flick. Steve McQueen and James Garner, unencumbered by jellyfish or ice-pick murderers, plot an escape from a Nazi POW camp. Flashy, but no "Grand Illusion." CH.4. 9 p.m. Color. 2 hrs. Part II Wed. same time.

WEDNESDAY: Theater in America. A repeat of Genevieve Bujold and Stacy Keach's performances in Jean Anouilh's "Antigone." CH.2. 8:30 p.m. Color. 90 min. Ciao.