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Staph

(6,245 posts)
Thu Sep 21, 2017, 10:08 PM Sep 2017

TCM Schedule for Friday, September 22, 2017 -- What's On Tonight: BBC's 100 Greatest Comedies

During the daylight hours, TCM is featuring angels and other supernatural beings. And in prime time, there is a lovely selection of the BBC's choices for the 100 greatest comedies, announced on August 22, 2017. We get to see #1 - Some Like it Hot (1959), #39 - A Night at the Opera (1935), #9 - This is Spinal Tap (1984), #12 Modern Times (1936), and #13 - To Be or Not To Be (1942). Enjoy!


7:30 AM -- ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER (1946)
The Devil sends a murdered gangster to Earth as a respected judge.
Dir: Archie Mayo
Cast: Paul Muni, Anne Baxter, Claude Rains
BW-101 mins, CC,

After his definitive performance in Scarface (1932), Paul Muni vowed never to play a gangster again. This tactic worked well for a couple of years, with an Academy Award for The Life of Emile Zola (1937) and an Oscar nomination for The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), but eventually the good parts started to dwindle. By 1946, Muni was keen to play a major role again, so took the part of a gangster in this film.


9:19 AM -- CAPE BRETON ISLAND (1948)
This short film focuses on the history, land, and people of Cape Breton island.
C-9 mins,


9:30 AM -- ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD (1951)
The short-tempered manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates mends his ways in return for a little divine assistance.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Paul Douglas, Janet Leigh, Keenan Wynn
BW-99 mins, CC,

Bing Crosby appeared in the film because at the time, he was a partial owner (approximately 15%) of the Pittsburgh Pirates.


11:19 AM -- LAND OF THE ZUIDER ZEE (1951)
This short film takes the viewer to popular sites around Holland.
Dir: Ralph F. Donaldson
C-9 mins,


11:30 AM -- THE HEAVENLY BODY (1943)
An astronomer's neglected wife takes up astrology and a handsome astrologer.
Dir: Alexander Hall
Cast: William Powell, Hedy Lamarr, James Craig
BW-95 mins, CC,

Joan Crawford was offered the lead role but turned it down saying, "It was about a girl who stands around and does nothing. I told the studio to give the part to Hedy Lamarr."


1:15 PM -- BLITHE SPIRIT (1945)
A man and his second wife are haunted by the ghost of his first wife.
Dir: David Lean
Cast: Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings, Kay Hammond
C-96 mins,

Won an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Tom Howard (visual)

As with most of Noël Coward's work, the film is renowned for its dialogue. During an argument with Ruth, Charles declares, "If you're trying to compile an inventory of my sex life, I feel it only fair to warn you that you've omitted several episodes. I shall consult my diary and give you a complete list after lunch." The line, considered extremely risqué by censors, was deleted from the US release.



3:00 PM -- TOPPER (1937)
A fun-loving couple returns from the dead to help a henpecked husband.
Dir: Norman Z. McLeod
Cast: Constance Bennett, Cary Grant, Roland Young
BW-98 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Roland Young, and Best Sound, Recording -- Elmer Raguse (Hal Roach SSD)

The easiest part of the shoot for Cary Grant and Constance Bennett was the many special effects scenes, which only required them to record their lines while special effects artists made the various items they moved, from fountain pens to a pair of frilly lace panties, appear to move on their own.



4:45 PM -- TOPPER RETURNS (1941)
A beautiful ghost enlists a henpecked husband to track down her killer.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Joan Blondell, Roland Young, Carole Landis
BW-88 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Elmer Raguse (Hal Roach SSD), and Best Effects, Special Effects -- Roy Seawright (photographic) and Elmer Raguse (sound)

In the film, Eddie (played by Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson) says that he's going back to "Mr. Benny", an in-joke reference to the fact that Anderson played Rochester, the valet, on Jack Benny's radio program and later TV show.



6:30 PM -- I MARRIED A WITCH (1942)
A 300-year-old witch wreaks havoc when she falls in love with a young politician.
Dir: René Clair
Cast: Fredric March, Veronica Lake, Robert Benchley
BW-77 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Roy Webb

Veronica Lake and Fredric March did not like one another, due in part to some disparaging remarks March made about her. During filming, Lake delighted in playing pranks on March. In one scene in which the two were photographed only from the waist up, Lake stuck her foot in March's groin. In another incident, Lake hid a 40-pound weight under her costume when March had to carry her in his arms. After that incident, March nicknamed the film "I Married a Bitch."




TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: BBC'S 100 GREATEST COMEDIES



8:00 PM -- SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
Two musicians on the run from gangsters masquerade as members of an all-girl band.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon
BW-122 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Orry-Kelly

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Jack Lemmon, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Charles Lang, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Ted Haworth and Edward G. Boyle

Jack Lemmon wrote that the first sneak preview had a bad reaction with many audience walkouts. Many studio personnel and agents offered advice to Billy Wilder on what scenes to reshoot, add and cut. Lemmon asked Wilder what he was going to do. Wilder responded: "Why, nothing. This is a very funny movie and I believe in it just as it is. Maybe this is the wrong neighborhood in which to have shown it. At any rate, I don't panic over one preview. It's a hell of a movie." Wilder held the next preview in the Westwood section of Los Angeles, and the audience stood up and cheered.



10:15 PM -- A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935)
Three zanies turn an operatic performance into chaos in their efforts to promote their protege's romance with the leading lady.
Dir: Sam Wood
Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx
BW-91 mins, CC,

Producer Irving Thalberg would often call people in for meetings, and then keep them waiting in his office for hours while he attended other meetings on the MGM lot. One day, during pre-production for this picture, Thalberg kept The Marx Brothers waiting for several hours in his secretary's office while he was in his own office making phone calls. When Thalberg's secretary went home for the day, the brothers decided they'd had enough. They pushed the office file cabinets against Thalberg's door, trapping the producer in his office. Afterwards, Thalberg kept his appointments with the Marx Brothers, but would often interrupt his meetings with them and step out to attend other meetings--again keeping the brothers waiting for hours. One day Thalberg came back from another meeting to find Groucho Marx, Chico Marx and Harpo Marx sitting in his office completely naked, and roasting potatoes on sticks in his office fireplace. Thalberg sat down with them, had a potato and never missed or interrupted another meeting with the Marx Brothers.


12:00 AM -- THIS IS SPINAL TAP (1984)
A filmmaker documents the history of Spinal Tap, the world's loudest rock band.
Dir: Rob Reiner
Cast: Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean
C-83 mins, CC,

Several rock stars have commented on what an uncannily accurate spoof of the rock and heavy metal world this film was. Ozzy Osbourne said that when he first watched the film, he was the only person who wasn't laughing; he thought it was a real documentary. U2 guitarist The Edge said about this film: "I didn't laugh, I wept. It was so close to the truth." Marillion had five drummers in the space of a year between their first and second albums, which guitarist Steve Rothery later admitted was "like Spinal Tap".


1:31 AM -- FACING YOUR DANGER (1946)
Conquering the Colorado River is no easy task but the men in this exciting short film make it look so easy! Vitaphone Release 1472A.
Dir: Edwin E. Olsen
C-10 mins,


1:45 AM -- MODERN TIMES (1936)
The Tramp struggles to live in a modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
Dir: Charlie Chaplin
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman
BW-87 mins, CC,

At around 1h 20 minutes, Charles Chaplin allows the Tramp to speak on camera for the first time during the restaurant scene, but insisted that what the Tramp says be universal. Therefore, the song the Tramp sings is in gibberish, but it is possible to follow the story he tells by watching his hand gestures.


3:30 AM -- TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1942)
A troupe of squabbling actors joins the Polish underground to dupe the Nazis.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack
BW-99 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Werner R. Heymann

The biggest problem early in the shoot was Jack Benny's insecurity about acting the central role in such an important production by a major filmmaker. He seemed dumbfounded that Ernst Lubitsch had not only cast him but was building the film around him. Finally Lubitsch set him straight: "You think you are a comedian. You are not even a clown. You are fooling the public for 30 years. You are fooling even yourself. A clown - he is a performer what is doing funny things. A comedian - he is a performer what is saying funny things. But you, Jack, you are an actor, you are an actor playing the part of a comedian and this you are doing very well. But do not worry, I keep your secret to myself."



5:15 AM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #1 (1955)
Judy Garland sings "You Made Me Love You" in a clip from "Broadway Melody of 1938"; Cyd Charisse introduces a clip from "It's Always Fair Weather." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-26 mins,


5:48 AM -- CALLING ON MICHIGAN (1949)
This travel short focuses on the history, culture, and people of Michigan.
C-10 mins,


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TCM Schedule for Friday, September 22, 2017 -- What's On Tonight: BBC's 100 Greatest Comedies (Original Post) Staph Sep 2017 OP
I am still so mad that TCM discontinued their monthly magazine. kimbutgar Sep 2017 #1
A Night at the Opera!!! longship Sep 2017 #2

longship

(40,416 posts)
2. A Night at the Opera!!!
Fri Sep 22, 2017, 05:52 AM
Sep 2017

Kitty Carlisle plays the female lead. Later notable on the TV quiz show To Tell the Truth, this was her big film. Her singing is quite good in it.

This is amongst the best by the Marx Bros. There are so many classic bits in it, one can hardly count them. Certainly one has to cite the ocean liner stateroom scene.



Then there's the hotel room scene:


The best, of course, is the utter mayhem at the opera house. No spoilers here for that. But Harpo's physical humor was never better.
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