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Desert Bloom (HBO Sunday at 11 a.m.):...

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<i> Noteworthy films, with mini-reviews by Times critics</i>

Desert Bloom (HBO Sunday at 11 a.m.): In his overlooked 1986 film, writer-director Eugene Corr does what you never thought possible: He makes you feel nostalgic about being 13 in the 1950s. Corr deftly parallels a coming-of-age story with the dawning of the nuclear era. The setting is Las Vegas, the heroine is lovely Annabeth Gish and the cast includes Jon Voight, Ellen Barkin, JoBeth Williams and Allen Garfield (as the one man in the story who views the first above-ground A-bomb test with appropriate alarm).

The Women (TNT Saturday at 11:30 p.m.): This 1939 classic, directed by George Cukor and based on Clare Booth Luce’s play, stars Norma Shearer as the perfect suburban wife whose husband has nevertheless been snared by a hard-as-nails Joan Crawford. There’s not a man in sight in this delightful comedy, but its array of stars includes Paulette Goddard and Rosalind Russell.

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