TCM Schedule for Saturday, September 13, 2014 -- The Essentials - Members of the Press

[Staph]

Tonight's Essentials is all about producing the news, with a delightful trio of films, His Girl Friday (1940), Network (1976), and Five Star Final (1931). Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #31 (1956)
Walter Pidgeon discusses Greta Garbo's later career with director George Cukor.
BW-26 mins,


7:00 AM -- The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945)
An angel is sent to destroy the earth with a trumpet blast.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Jack Benny, Alexis Smith, Dolores Moran
BW-78 mins, CC,

For the rest of his career Jack Benny used the failure of this movie as one of his best jokes.


8:30 AM -- George Washington Slept Here (1942)
A pair of New Yorkers face culture shock when they buy a dilapidated country house.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Jack Benny, Ann Sheridan, Charles Coburn
BW-91 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Max Parker, Mark-Lee Kirk, and Casey Roberts

Near the beginning of the movie, while still in his New York apartment, the character played by Jack Benny mentions "Hobby Lobby". This was a radio program that was first broadcast nationally as a summer replacement for "The Jack Benny Show", not the infamous craft store with pseudo-religious owners.


10:03 AM -- West Point On The Hudson (1942)
This short film takes the viewer on a visit to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
Dir: James A. FitzPatrick
C-9 mins,


10:15 AM -- Carson on TCM: Jack Benny (7/20/73) (2013)
TCM presents an interview from The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, with Jack Benny from 7/20/73.
C-10 mins, CC,


10:30 AM -- Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940)
A young doctor uses pioneering methods to treat a mental patient.
Dir: Harold S. Bucquet
Cast: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day
BW-77 mins, CC,

The third of Lew Ayres' eight outings as good Doctor Kildare.


11:48 AM -- Trifles Of Importance (1940)
This short film presents how small, seemingly trivial things such as a number, doodling, or a suit of clothes can tell an interesting story.
Dir: Basil Wrangell
Cast: Erville Alderson, Charles Williams,
BW-11 mins,


12:00 PM -- Blazing Guns (1943)
Ex-cons get together to clean up a lawless town in the old West.
Dir: Robert Tansey
Cast: Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, LeRoy Mason
BW-54 mins, CC,

Based on an original story by the director Robert Tansey.


12:57 PM -- Gun To Gun (1944)
This short western focuses on a ranch owner who must deal with corrupt officials over a cattle transaction.
Dir: D. Ross Lederman
Cast: Robert Shayne, Ralph Bucko, Julian Rivero
BW-18 mins,

Third episode in Warner Bros. Santa Fe Trail 2-reel Western series.


1:15 PM -- The Phenix City Story (1955)
A crusading lawyer takes on the corrupt machine running a Southern town.
Dir: Phil Karlson
Cast: John McIntire, Richard Kiley, Kathryn Grant
BW-100 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In the film, John Patterson (Richard Kiley) is depicted as supportive of African-American Zeke Ward (James Edwards) and his family. In real life, following his term as Alabama attorney general (1954-1958), he ran for governor in 1958, ran an openly racist campaign and won. One of his opponents, George Wallace, had run as a racial moderate and told his friends after the election, "John Patterson out-niggered me, and I'm never gonna be out-niggered again." Four years later, in 1962, Wallace won the governorship of Alabama as an avowed segregationist.


3:15 PM -- Mara Maru (1952)
A salvage diver is accused of murder while hunting a mysterious treasure.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Errol Flynn, Ruth Roman, Raymond Burr
BW-98 mins,

Every day during filming Errol Flynn would drive on the Warner Bros. lot wearing a windbreaker with no shirt, slacks with no underwear and shoes with no socks. The wardrobe people would provide him with a shirt, underwear and socks, and at the end of the day's filming he would wear them home. The next day he would arrive on the lot, again with no shirt, underwear or socks, and again he would be supplied those items by wardrobe. Co-star Paul Picerni noticed it after several days, and asked Flynn what he did with all the shirts, socks and underwear he'd accumulated after several weeks of filming. Flynn replied that he threw them in a closet when he got home. Picerni asked, "But what do you do with them?" Flynn replied, "Nothing. It just gives me pleasure to steal from Jack Warner."


5:02 PM -- Nostradamus And The Queen (1953)
In this short film, an elderly Catherine de Medici reflects back on how the prophecies of Nostradamus accurately predicted her fate.
Cast: Mitchell Lewis, Grandon Rhodes, Forrest Taylor
BW-11 mins,


5:15 PM -- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Classic sci-fi epic about a mysterious monolith that seems to play a key role in human evolution.
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
C-149 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Visual Effects -- Stanley Kubrick (Stanley Kubrick was not present at the awards ceremony. Presenters Diahann Carroll and Burt Lancaster accepted the award on his behalf.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Stanley Kubrick, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Anthony Masters, Harry Lange and Ernest Archer

Incrementing each letter of "HAL" gives you "IBM". Writer Arthur C. Clarke claimed this was unintentional, and if he had noticed ahead of time, he would have changed it. HAL stands for Heuristic Algorithmic Computer. IBM product placements appear in the movie as well, including the computer panels in the spaceplane that docks with the space station, the forearm control panel on Dave's spacesuit, and the portable viewscreens on which Dave and Frank watch "The World Tonight".

I met Clarke at a book signing for 2010 in the early 1980s. I asked him about the IBM/HAL connection (I worked for IBM at the time), and he reiterated that there was no connection.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: MEMBERS OF THE PRESS



8:00 PM -- His Girl Friday (1940)
An unscrupulous editor plots to keep his star reporter-and ex-wife-from re-marrying.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
BW-92 mins, CC,

There are at least two stories that relate how the gender swap of Hildy Johnson happened -- in the original play and in previous film versions, Hildy Johnson is a man.

Theory one: During the 1930s, Howard Hawks was hosting a dinner party when the topic of dialogue was brought up. He pulled out a copy of "The Front Page" to demonstrate the snappy exchanges between characters, taking the role of Burns. A female guest took the role of Hildy. While reading, Hawks realized the dialogue sounded much better with a female reading, and quickly secured the rights for the film from Howard Hughes. Ben Hecht (the author of "The Front Page&quot approved the gender change and the screenplay was put into production.

Theory two: When director Howard Hawks was planning to make the film, he was going to cast a man. While auditioning actors, a secretary would read the lines belonging to Hildy. Hawks loved the words coming from a woman so much, they decided to rewrite the part for a woman.


9:45 PM -- Network (1976)
Television programmers turn a deranged news anchor into 'the mad prophet of the airwaves.'
Dir: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch
BW-121 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter Finch (Nomination and award were posthumous. Finch became the first posthumous winner in an acting category. His widow Eletha Finch and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Faye Dunaway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Beatrice Straight, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Paddy Chayefsky

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Holden, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Ned Beatty, Best Director -- Sidney Lumet, Best Cinematography -- Owen Roizman, Best Film Editing -- Alan Heim, and Best Picture (Network becomes the second film to win three awards for acting, following A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).)

Director Sidney Lumet said that he shot the film using a specific lighting scheme. He said in the film's opening scenes, he shot with as little light as possible, shooting the film almost like a documentary. As the film progressed, he added more light and more camera moves and by the end of the film, it was as brightly lit and "slick" as he could make it.


12:00 AM -- Five Star Final (1931)
An unscrupulous newspaper editor searches for headlines at any cost.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Marian Marsh, H. B. Warner
BW-89 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

The Evening Gazette is based on the real-life New York Evening Graphic, the most sensational of all the Front Page-era tabloid papers. (Critics called it the Porno-Graphic.) The paper, owned by Bernarr Macfadden, published from 1924 to 1932. At the time this film was made, the Graphic had been losing circulation, because its new editor had been trying to make it a more respectable paper, just like in the film. The paper was best known for its "composographs," composite photographs used to create an otherwise unobtainable illustration. Louis Weitzenkorn, who wrote the original play, had been a reporter and editor on the Evening Graphic.


1:33 AM -- What A Bozo! (1931)
Charley Chase tries unsuccessfully to impress a high-society girl in this comedic short film.
Dir: James Parrott
Cast: Charley Chase, Gay Seabrook, Harry Bowen
BW-21 mins,


2:00 AM -- Multiple SIDosis (1970)
A short film utilizing quick cuts and multiple angles of a one-man-band musical performance.
Dir: Sid Laverents
C-10 mins,

This film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2000.


2:10 AM -- The Sid Saga Part 3 (1989)
A filmmaker chronicles his 100 year odyssey in a variety of different professions.
Dir: Sid Laverents
Cast: Adelaide Laverents, Sid Laverents
C-31 mins,

Sid Laverents was an amateur film-maker who has produced a large number of short experimental films, often starring himself, and using hand-made camera equipment.


2:10 AM -- The Sid Saga Part 2 (1987)
A filmmaker chronicles his 100 year odyssey in a variety of different professions.
Dir: Sid Laverents
Cast: Joan Guthrie, Sid Laverents
C-31 mins,


2:10 AM -- The Sid Saga Part 1 (1985)
A filmmaker chronicles his 100 year odyssey in a variety of different professions.
Dir: Sid Laverents
Cast: Sid Laverents, Bob Sandstrom, Karlene Sandstrom
C-27 mins,


3:45 AM -- A Well Spent Life (1971)
A deeply moving tribute to the Texas songster, Mance Lipscomb, considered by many to be the greatest guitarist of all time.
Dir: Les Blank
Cast: Mance Lipscomb, Alfred Franklin, Hattie Franklin, Elnora Lipscomb
C-44 mins,

Filmed on location in Navasota, Texas, Lipscomb's home town.


4:30 AM -- Hot Pepper (1973)
A documentary about the self-crowned "King" of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier.
Dir: Les Blank
Cast: Clifton Chenier,
C-54 mins,

Clifton Chenier (June 25, 1925 – December 12, 1987), a Creole French-speaking native of Opelousas, Louisiana, was an eminent performer and recording artist of Zydeco, which arose from Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences.


5:30 AM -- Distant Drummer: The Flowers of Darkness (1972)
Filmmakers trace the history of opium and its role in today's drug trade in this short film.
Dir: William Templeton
Cast: Paul Newman, Vernon Hann, Jack Hurst
C-22 mins,