TCM Schedule for Saturday, May 14, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: Marital Misunderstandings

[Staph]

It appears that the Essentials with Robert Osborne and co-host Sally Field is still being delayed. In the meantime, Ben Mankiewicz will be stepping in with tonight's Essentials, featuring a trio of films and a silent short about the comic problems in a marriage. Enjoy!



7:15 AM -- Spencer's Mountain (1963)
A Wyoming farmer fights to build a better life for his oldest son.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara, James MacArthur
C-118 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Maureen O'Hara's real-life daughter, Bronwyn FitzSimons, plays the part of the college dean's secretary.


9:15 AM -- The Lone Wolf in London (1947)
A reformed thief gets mixed up in blackmail and the theft of diamonds held at Scotland Yard.
Dir: Leslie Goodwins
Cast: Gerald Mohr, Nancy Saunders, Eric Blore
BW-68 mins, CC,

After nine films with Warren Williams starring as Michael Lanyard, the Lone Wolf, Gerald Mohr takes over the role.


10:30 AM -- Ghost Chasers (1951)
The Bowery Boys take on a fake medium.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Lloyd Corrigan
BW-69 mins, CC,

Shot in six days, this was the 22nd of 48 Bowery Boys movies.


11:49 AM -- The Camera Caught It (1954)
This short film looks at various images that cameras managed to film, none of which was staged.
BW-9 mins,


12:00 PM -- Ring Of Fire (1961)
A group of delinquents hold a sheriff hostage in the middle of a forest fire.
Dir: Andrew L. Stone
Cast: David Janssen, Joyce Taylor, Frank Gorshin
C-91 mins, CC,

The wreckage from the train crashing into the river is still there today, decades later! The wreckage is located at N 47°19.785 W 123° 38.595, along the Wynoochee River, near the Olympic National Forest in Washington State.


1:50 PM -- Seeing Ceylon (1953)
This short film explores the culture, customs and natural beauty of the British colony of Ceylon, today known as Sri Lanka.
C-8 mins,


2:00 PM -- Scaramouche (1952)
In 18th-century France young man masquerades as an actor to avenge his friend's murder.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Stewart Granger, Eleanor Parker, Janet Leigh
C-115 mins, CC,

This movie contains what is reported to be the longest fencing duel ever caught on film, the climactic fight that ranges throughout the theater, from the balcony boxes, to the lobby, through the main seats, backstage and finally on the stage itself.


4:00 PM -- Born Free (1965)
A game warden and his wife face a wrenching decision when the lion cub they've raised becomes too big to keep.
Dir: James Hill
Cast: Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Geoffrey Keen
C-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- John Barry (music) and Don Black (lyrics) for the song "Born Free" (John Barry was not present at the awards ceremony.), and Best Music, Original Music Score -- John Barry (Paul B. Radin accepted the award.)

Kora Reserve in Kenya Is the Lion Reserve George Adamson started after the filming of Born Free to help rehabilitate the lions used in the film. The Lions Are Free (1967) is the true story of what happened to the lions Boy, Girl, Ugas, Mara, Henrietta, and Little Elsa, and other lions which starred in the popular film classic Born Free. George Adamson rehabilitated many of these lions after Born Free was completed. It is a documentary-style film about George Adamson and his lions.


5:50 PM -- Operation Dirty Dozen (1967)
This promotional short film provides a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "The Dirty Dozen" (1987).
C-9 mins,


6:00 PM -- The Three Musketeers (1973)
A country boy joins the famed musketeers and fights to protect the queen's name.
Dir: Richard Lester
Cast: Michael York, Richard Chamberlain, Oliver Reed
C-107 mins, CC,

As a result of the producers splitting the film into two parts, Screen Actors' Guild contracts now often feature what is called a "Salkind Clause," which requires producers to state up front how many films are being shot, and that the actors involved must be paid for each. The latter clause applies even, or even especially, when producers make that decision during or after production.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: MARITAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS



8:00 PM -- The Awful Truth (1937)
A divorced couple keeps getting mixed up in each other's love lives.
Dir: Leo McCarey
Cast: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy
BW-91 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Director -- Leo McCarey

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Irene Dunne, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Ralph Bellamy, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Viña Delmar, Best Film Editing -- Al Clark, and Best Picture

Ralph Bellamy got a good taste of Leo McCarey's working style shortly after being informed he was to show up on the set the following Monday for filming. Bellamy had no script, no dialogue, or even a hint about his upcoming scene so he went to see the director, but received no help at all from the perpetually upbeat McCarey. "He just joshed and said not to worry, we'd have lots of fun but there wasn't any script," Bellamy wrote years later. The actor showed up on set for the first day of production to find Irene Dunne at a piano. (McCarey almost always kept a piano on his sets, and he would often sit playing while he thought up a new scene or piece of business he wanted his actors to try.) Dunne was pecking away at the melody to "Home on the Range," and McCarey asked Bellamy if he could sing. "Can't get from one note to the other," the actor replied. "Great!" McCarey said and ordered the cameras to roll while Dunne played and Bellamy sang for all he was worth. When they finished the song, they heard no "Cut." Looking over, they found McCarey by the camera, doubled over with laughter. Finally he said, "Print it!" The scene ended up in the finished picture. That was the way McCarey worked, and Bellamy had to get used to it quickly.


9:45 PM -- Love Crazy (1941)
A businessman concocts a series of harebrained schemes to keep his wife from divorcing him.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Gail Patrick
BW-99 mins, CC,

William Powell had a mustache for the entire length of his career, but shaved it off when dressed as a woman.


11:30 PM -- The Marrying Kind (1952)
A judge forces a divorcing couple to think back on the problems that drove them apart.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Judy Holliday, Aldo Ray, Madge Kennedy
BW-92 mins, CC,

George Cukor recommended that star Aldo Ray go to ballet school because he walked too much like a football player.


1:15 AM -- Fatty's Tintype Tangle (1915)
In this silent short henpecked husband is mistaken for a beautiful woman's jealous husband.
Dir: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Cast: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Edgar Kennedy, Louise Fazenda
BW-28 mins,

This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1995.


1:45 AM -- Death Force (1978)
A Vietnam vet uses samurai training to fight the mob.
Dir: Cirio H. Santiago
Cast: James Monroe Iglehart, Carmen Argenziano, Leon Isaac
C-111 mins, Letterbox Format

Based on a story by Cirio H.Santiagoand Robert Waters.


3:45 AM -- Clay Pigeon (1971)
An ex-soldier is recruited by the FBI to go undercover in L.A. and find other ex-soldiers who are part of a drug-dealing gang.
Dir: Tom Stern
Cast: Telly Savalas, Robert Vaughn, John Marley
C-93 mins, CC,

The film's premiere in Boston benefited Project Turnabout, a drug rehab program in Hull, Mass.


5:30 AM -- The House in the Middle (1954)
Military tests demonstrate the dangers of poor home maintenance in the event of a nuclear attack in this short film.
C-12 mins,


5:30 AM -- Match Your Mood (1968)
Westinghouse shows women how to improve their lives by decorating their refrigerators in this short film.
C-6 mins,


5:30 AM -- R.F.D. Greenwich Village (1969)
A couple tours around New York in this promotional short for corduroy clothing.
C-11 mins,