TCM Schedule for Saturday, May 12, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: Insurance Scams

[Staph]

There's another daylight schedule looking like an old-time movie house's Saturday matinee. Then in prime time, TCM discloses insurance scams in a pair of films -- one comedy and one drama. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- THE SON OF MONTE CRISTO (1941)
A freedom fighter leads a double life in his battle against a ruthless dictator.
Dir: Rowland V. Lee
Cast: Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, George Sanders
BW-102 mins,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- John DuCasse Schulze and Edward G. Boyle

Thirteen years after making this film, in which he played the villainous ruler of a fictitious country called "Lichtenburg" (an obvious combination of the real-life small countries Lichtenstein and Luxemburg), George Sanders played a sympathetic role in the musical "Call Me Madam," also set in "Lichtenburg."


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: ONE MOTHER'S FAMILY (1939)
A mother hen takes her chicks for an exciting walk.
Dir: Rudolph Ising
BW-9 mins, CC,


8:00 AM -- LAND BEYOND THE LAW (1937)
An innocent rancher gets mixed up with rustlers.
Dir: B. Reeves Eason
Cast: Dick Foran, Linda Perry, Wayne Morris
BW-54 mins, CC,

Based on the story The Last Badman by Marion Jackson.


8:00 AM -- THAT MOTHERS MIGHT LIVE (1938)
This short film focuses on the story of Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, a physician that realized the death of new mothers could be reduced through the washing of hands.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Shepperd Strudwick, Edward Van Sloan, Leonard Penn
BW-10 mins,


8:00 AM -- I LOVE MY MOTHER-IN-LAW BUT... (1948)
Every husband loves their mother-in-law, but when they are like the ones portrayed in this short film it can be difficult!
Dir: David Barclay
Cast: Dave O'Brien, Dorothy Short, Anne O'Neal
BW-8 mins,


9:30 AM -- THE RED BARRY: FALSE TRAIL (1938)
The tenth chapter in the Red Barry serial. An undercover detective must uncover the truth and figure out who stole two million dollars in bonds.
BW-21 mins,


10:00 AM -- TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN (1946)
Tarzan fights to keep a killer cult from attacking traders.
Dir: Kurt Neumann
Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, Johnny Sheffield
BW-72 mins, CC,

As usual, the African elephants are portrayed by Indian elephants.


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: CAN YOU TAKE IT (1934)
Popeye wants to join a club but must last through their tough and grueling initiation.
BW-6 mins,


11:30 AM -- TEDDY THE ROUGH RIDER (1940)
This short film follows the political career of president Theodore Roosevelt. Vitaphone Release 9666-9667.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Arthur Loft, Robert Warwick, Theodore Von Eltz
C-19 mins,


12:00 PM -- THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (1961)
A team of Allied saboteurs fight their way behind enemy lines to destroy a pair of Nazi guns.
Dir: J. Lee Thompson
Cast: Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn
C-157 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Bill Warrington (visual) and Chris Greenham (audible)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- J. Lee Thompson, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Carl Foreman, Best Sound -- John Cox (Shepperton SSD), Best Film Editing -- Alan Osbiston, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Dimitri Tiomkin, and Best Picture

There was some surprise that Stanley Baker, who along with Dirk Bogarde in 1960 was considered the most popular British movie star, accepted the relatively small supporting role of Private "Butcher" Brown. Baker revealed that he wanted to be in the movie because he was impressed at how anti-war the screenplay by the blacklisted writer Carl Foreman was.


2:45 PM -- THE F.B.I. STORY (1959)
A dedicated FBI agent thinks back on the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: James Stewart, Vera Miles, Murray Hamilton
C-149 mins, CC,

J. Edgar Hoover personally chose James Stewart for the role of Chip Hardesty because he felt that Stewart conveyed a positive image. Two FBI agents were on set at all times.


5:30 PM -- THE LION IN WINTER (1968)
England's Henry II and his estranged queen battle over the choice of an heir.
Dir: Anthony Harvey
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Jane Merrow
C-134 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn (Tied with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl (1968). Hepburn became the third performer to win consecutive awards, and the first to win three awards for lead roles. Anthony Harvey, the film's director, accepted the award on her behalf.), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- James Goldman, and Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- John Barry

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter O'Toole (O'Toole became the second actor (after Bing Crosby) to be twice nominated for an Oscar for portraying the same character; he had previously portrayed King Henry II in Becket (1964).), Best Director -- Anthony Harvey, Best Costume Design -- Margaret Furse, and Best Picture

Katharine Hepburn bested Peter O'Toole as the top dog on the set. Known to be something of a tyrant on most of his shoots, O'Toole meekly obliged, when she told him, "Peter, stop towering over me. Come and sit down and try to look respectable." O'Toole readily admitted in her presence that she reduced him "to a shadow of my former gay-dog self." "She is terrifying. It is sheer masochism working with her. She has been sent by some dark fate to nag and torment me." Her reply: "Don't be so silly. We are going to get on very well. You are Irish, and you make me laugh. In any case, I am on to you, and you to me."



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: INSURANCE SCAMS



8:00 PM -- THE FORTUNE COOKIE (1966)
A crooked lawyer trumps up an insurance case for a cameraman injured at a pro football game.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ron Rich
BW-126 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Walter Matthau

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph LaShelle, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Robert Luthardt and Edward G. Boyle

Production was halted for weeks after Walter Matthau had a heart attack. He had slimmed from 190 to 160 pounds by the time filming was completed, and had to wear a heavy black coat to conceal the weight loss.


10:15 PM -- THE RUNNING MAN (1963)
A man fakes his death to get back at the insurance company that denied an earlier claim.
Dir: Carol Reed
Cast: Laurence Harvey, Lee Remick, Alan Bates
C-104 mins, Letterbox Format

During his getaway towards the end of the film, the rear view mirror of Laurence Harvey's Lincoln Continental appears and disappears between long shots and close ups.


12:00 AM -- CAGED (1950)
A young innocent fights to survive the harsh life in a women's prison.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby
BW-97 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Eleanor Parker, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Hope Emerson, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Virginia Kellogg and Bernard C. Schoenfeld

In order to do research for her book, former L.A. Times reporter and screenwriter (under contract at Warner's) Virginia Kellogg pulled some strings to incarcerate herself in a woman's prison. She then wrote a book about it, "Women without Men," which was a kind of almanac of everything she witnessed while in prison. Warner Bros. then had her write the screenplay, which was nominated for an Oscar.


2:00 AM -- BREWSTER MCCLOUD (1970)
A mysterious boy living in the Houston Astrodome dreams of building himself a pair of wings.
Dir: Robert Altman
Cast: Bud Cort, Sally Kellerman, Michael Murphy
C-105 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Robert Altman hated the script so much, he tossed it out and actors were coached on lines as they shot scenes.


3:48 AM -- EVERY GIRL'S DREAM (1966)
Nancy Bernard, the 1966 Maid of Cotton, is given a studio tour for MGM in this short film.
C-9 mins,


4:00 AM -- GREY GARDENS (1976)
Documentary of a reclusive mother and her daughter who created their on own world in their mansion known as "Grey Gardens."
Dir: Ellen Hovde
Cast: Brooks Hyers, Jerry Torre, Lois Wright
C-95 mins, CC,

The film was something of an accident, in the sense that Albert Maysles and David Maysles came across Edith Bouvier Beale and Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale when involved in another project--a movie about (Jacqueline Kennedy's sister) Lee Radziwill's childhood. As part of research, the Maysles brothers were introduced to the Beales, and were captivated by their world. Deciding not to make the Radzwill film, they turned instead to the Beales, and a year after first meeting the two women, began filming.


5:40 AM -- GYPSY SWEETHEART (1934)
In this short film, a group of gypsies show up at a garden party and are accused of stealing the guests' possessions. Vitaphone Release 1708-1709.
Dir: Ralph Staub
Cast: Eddie Shubert, Phillip Reed, Paul Panzer
C-18 mins,

[JDC]

1. Seems as if Double Indemnity would have made the cut with that theme

The Fortune Cookie has been one of my favorite movies going back to when I was a kid.

Thank you very much for the listings/post



*typo