TCM Schedule for Saturday, September 16, 2017 -- The Essentials - Backstage Stories

[Staph]

Tonight's Essentials feature a trio of films that take place backstage. This should be an interesting comparison, of the point of view of the 1930s (Dancing Lady), the 1950s (The Band Wagon) and the 1970s (The Boyfriend). Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- THE DESERT SONG (1953)
A French professor secretly leads a band of desert freedom fighters.
Dir: Bruce Humberstone
Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Gordon MacRae, Steve Cochran
C-111 mins, CC,

The Desert Song and the Cold War: The original refrain for The Riff Song includes the lines:

"Ho! That's the sound that comes to warn you
So! In the night or early morn, you know
If you're The Red Shadow's foe
The Riffs will strike with a blow
That brings you woe!"

In this remake, filmed in the early Fifties at the height of the Cold War and McCarthyism, the "Red Shadow" sounded uncomfortably like the Soviet and Chinese communists, so the lyrics were changed to "If you're El Khobar's foe". When Gordon MacRae re-recorded the songs for the record album featuring Dorothy Kirsten as Margot, the original lyrics were restored.


8:00 AM -- YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE (1964)
A novelist exercises a powerful spell over every woman he meets.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: James Franciscus, Suzanne Pleshette, Geneviève Page
BW-137 mins, CC,

Geneviève Page had requested an English diction coach for her role because her accent was so thick and she feared that she would be hard to interpret. For some unexplained reason she was never given one and her character thus has a French accent. To cover up this discrepancy, there is one instance where her character speaks French to someone on the phone, making it clear that the character is a native French-speaker.


10:30 AM -- TRAPPED BY BOSTON BLACKIE (1948)
When the pearl necklace he's been hired to guard goes missing, a reformed thief is the prime suspect.
Dir: Seymour Friedman
Cast: Chester Morris, June Vincent, Richard Lane
BW-67 mins, CC,

The thirteenth of the fifteen Boston Blackie films starring Chester Morris.


12:00 PM -- THE NAKED HILLS (1956)
An Indiana farmer heads to California in search of gold.
Dir: Josef Shaftel
Cast: David Wayne, Keenan Wynn, James Barton
C-73 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Helen S. Bilkie.


1:15 PM -- SHANE (1953)
A mysterious drifter helps farmers fight off a vicious gunman.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin
C-118 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Loyal Griggs

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Brandon De Wilde, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Palance, Best Director -- George Stevens, Best Writing, Screenplay -- A.B. Guthrie Jr., and Best Picture

Jean Arthur, then aged 50, came out of semi-retirement to play Marian Starrett, largely as a favor to her friend, director George Stevens. She would retire completely from the film business after this picture.


3:30 PM -- 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. Director Delmer Daves' granddaughter, Michele Daves, made her only film appearance to date in this movie, appearing as the youngest Spencer child, baby Donnie.


5:45 PM -- COOL HAND LUKE (1967)
A free-spirited convict refuses to conform to chain-gang life.
Dir: Stuart Rosenberg
Cast: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J. D. Cannon
C-127 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George Kennedy

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Newman, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson, and Best Music, Original Music Score -- Lalo Schifrin

In the "road-tarring" sequence, the actors actually blacktopped a mile-long stretch of highway for the county.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: BACKSTAGE STORIES



8:00 PM -- THE BAND WAGON (1953)
A Broadway artiste turns a faded film star's comeback vehicle into an artsy flop.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant
C-112 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Best Costume Design, Color -- Mary Ann Nyberg, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Adolph Deutsch

The movie reflects two real-life situations. In the movie Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire) is washed up. In real life Astaire's career was at a standstill. In the movie much is made of whether Cyd Charisse's character is too tall for Fred's character. This was also true in real life. Whenever Cyd and Fred are together she is in shoes with low heels. The sole exception is in "The Girl Hunt Ballet". Here she is wearing medium height heels. Fred is wearing a hat which offsets and hides the height difference.


10:15 PM -- THE BOY FRIEND (1971)
The understudy goes on for the star and finds love.
Dir: Ken Russell
Cast: Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Max Adrian
C-136 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score -- Peter Maxwell Davies and Peter Greenwell

The cameo role of Rita Monroe played by Glenda Jackson was originally offered to Julie Andrews, who had debuted in the original West End and Broadway productions of "The Boy Friend" in 1954.


12:45 AM -- DANCING LADY (1933)
A musical star is torn between a millionaire playboy and her stage manager.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone
BW-92 mins, CC,

Film debut of Fred Astaire. NOTE: (1) Though he was reported to have appeared years earlier in the silent film Fanchon, the Cricket (1915), he and his sister Adele Astaire only visited the set; they did not appear on camera. (2) This was the first time Fred Astaire wore his signature top hat and tails.


2:30 AM -- THE AWAKENING (1980)
An archeologist discovers his daughter is possessed by the spirit of an Egyptian queen.
Dir: Mike Newell
Cast: Charlton Heston, Susannah York, Stephanie Zimbalist
C-101 mins, CC,

Charlton Heston said of this film in a 1979 interview: "I've read biographies of prominent Egyptologists such as Howard Carter and Brested. The film is based on a book by Bram Stoker who wrote it long before any Egyptian mummies were ever found. In fact, the discovery of an intact Royal tomb has only occurred once in history; Carter's discovery of Tutankamun, and everything in this film is keyed to that because it's the only material available".


4:30 AM -- BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1971)
An evil Egyptian princess' sprit possesses an Egyptologist's daughter.
Dir: Seth Holt
Cast: Andrew Keir, Valerie Leon, James Villiers
C-93 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Based on Bram Stoker's novel "The Jewel of Seven Stars" (as is the previous film The Awakening), you can see the seven stars (the Big Dipper) in many scenes throughout the production, either in crystal balls or ruby rings.

[pressbox69]

1. Spencer's Mountain

from a story by Earl Hamner Jr would become the basis of the TV series The Waltons.