TCM Schedule for Saturday, February 12, 2022 -- What's On Tonight: Seeing Red

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in primetime, TCM is Seeing Red, with a pair of films featuring famous red-heads - Red-Headed Woman (1932), with Jean Harlow in a red wig (in a black-and-white film!), and The Strawberry Blonde (1941), with Rita Hayworth. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Night Song (1947)
1h 42m | Drama | TV-G
A socialite pretends to be blind to win the love of a blind concert pianist.
Director: John Cromwell
Cast: Dana Andrews, Merle Oberon, Ethel Barrymore

Dana Andrews wore opaque contact lenses throughout filming to give him a realistic sensation of blindness.


8:00 AM -- The Shooting of Dan McGoo (1944)
7m | Animation | TV-G
A re-telling of the famous Frank Service poem, The Shooting of Dan McGrew.
Director: Tex Avery
Cast: Frank Graham, William H. Thompson (Bill), Bea Benaderet


8:09 AM -- Goofy Movies Number Six (1934)
8m | Short | TV-G
In this short film, Pete Smith provides comedic narration over silent film footage.
Cast: Pete Smith


8:18 AM -- Rural Sweden (1938)
7m | Short | TV-G
This short film takes the viewer to several towns and historical sights of rural Sweden.
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick


8:27 AM -- Pistol Harvest (1952)
1h | Western | TV-G
A shipping magnate uses murder to escape an old debt.
Director: Lesley Selander
Cast: Tim Holt, Joan Dixon, Robert Clarke


9:30 AM -- Buck Rogers: Tragedy on Saturn (1939)
21m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-G
In Chapter Two of Buck Rogers, the space hero and his crew are put on trial.
Director: Ford Beebe, Saul Goodkind
Cast: Buster Crabbe, Constance Moore, Jackie Moran

Forty years later, Buster Crabbe made a cameo appearance as Brigadier Gordon in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Planet of the Slave Girls (1979). As they fly into battle, Gordon tells Buck (Gil Gerard), "I've been doing this since before you were born." When Buck, at 533-years-old, asks "You think so?", Gordon's answer is a confident "Young man, I know so." The name Brigadier Gordon is a reference to Crabbe's most famous role as Flash Gordon in Flash Gordon (1936), Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938) and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940).


10:00 AM -- Jitterbug Jive (1950)
6m | Animation | TV-PG
Popeye and Bluto are invited by Olive Oyl to a party at her house and compete for her affection.
Director: Bill Tytla
Cast: Jack Mercer, Jackson Beck, Mae Questel

The plot was reused in the 1960 cartoon, Coffee House, with beatniks and poems instead of zoot suits and jiving.


10:08 AM -- Ghost Chasers (1951)
1h 9m | Comedy | TV-G
The Bowery Boys take on a fake medium.
Director: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Lloyd Corrigan

Early in the film, Lloyd Corrigan makes a comment that Sach's nose reminds him of Cyrano. Corrigan played the title character's best friend in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) the previous year.


11:30 AM -- Salt Water Daffy (1933)
21m | Short | TV-PG
Two men join the Navy and make life miserable for their supervisor.
Director: Ray McCarey
Cast: Charles Judels, Shemp Howard, Jack Haley

This is one of director Ray McCarey's earlier efforts. He had previously directed primarily documentaries, although he had directed both Our Gang and Laurel and Hardy by this time.


12:00 PM -- Treasure Island (1934)
1h 42m | Adventure | TV-G
Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of a young boy out to foil pirates and find a buried treasure.
Director: Victor Fleming
Cast: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Lionel Barrymore

Jackie Cooper did not like his performance, writing in his autobiography that he felt an older English boy should have played Jim Hawkins.


2:00 PM -- The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
2h 41m | Epic | TV-PG
The Japanese Army forces World War II POWs to build a strategic bridge in Burma.
Director: David Lean
Cast: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Alec Guinness (Alec Guinness was not present at the awards ceremony. Jean Simmons accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Director -- David Lean, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Pierre Boulle, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson (Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson were blacklisted at the time and received no screen credit. They were posthumously awarded Oscars in 1984. Pierre Boulle was not present at the awards ceremony. Kim Novak accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Cinematography -- Jack Hildyard, Best Film Editing -- Peter Taylor (Peter Taylor was not present at the awards ceremony. William A. Lyon accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Music, Scoring -- Malcolm Arnold (Malcolm Arnold was not present at the ceremony. Morris Stoloff accepted the award on his behalf.), and Best Picture

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sessue Hayakawa

While the bridge in the movie was constructed by prisoners in two months, the actual one built in Ceylon by a British company for the filming (four hundred twenty-five feet long and fifty feet above the water) took eight months, with the use of five hundred workers and thirty-five elephants. It was demolished in a matter of a few seconds, and the total cost was £85,000 (equivalent to about £1.2 million in 2002).


5:00 PM -- The Great Escape (1963)
2h 48m | War | TV-PG
Drama based on Paul Brickhill's factual account of the efforts of Allied prisoners to break out of their POW camp.
Director: John Sturges
Cast: Robert Graf, Nigel Stock, Angus Lennie

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Ferris Webster

During the climactic motorcycle chase, director John Sturges allowed Steve McQueen to ride (in disguise) as one of the pursuing German soldiers, so that in the final sequence, through the magic of editing, he's actually chasing himself. McQueen played the German motorcyclist who hits the wire.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- SEEING RED



8:00 PM -- Red-Headed Woman (1932)
1h 14m | Romance | TV-PG
An ambitious secretary tries to sleep her way into high society.
Director: Jack Conway
Cast: Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, Lewis Stone

Joan Crawford and Clara Bow were the most prominent actresses considered for the title role before the younger, less experienced Harlow was cast. There had, in fact, been so many candidates for the role that MGM's Marie Dressler donned a red wig and posed for some gag publicity stills.


9:30 PM -- The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
1h 37m | Comedy | TV-G
A man's infatuation with a gold-digging beauty continues after his marriage.
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Olivia De Havilland, Rita Hayworth

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Heinz Roemheld

Even though it is for only a few seconds, we hear Rita Hayworth sing with her own voice. This is believed to be the only time in a film when this happens.


12:00 AM -- Side Street (1950)
1h 23m | Crime | TV-PG
A New York City mailman is chased by both cops and crooks when he steals a shipment of dirty money.
Director: Anthony Mann
Cast: Farley Granger, Cathy O'Donnell, James Craig

About 44 minutes into the movie, the hero enters a bar under the Third Avenue El. The building number is 915, and you can barely make out the writing on the front window: Clarke's Cafe. That's none other than P.J. Clarke's at 915 Third Ave., still there and barely changed.


2:00 AM -- The Player (1992)
2h 3m | Comedy | TV-MA
A rising producer tries to cover up the accidental killing of a screenwriter who was stalking him.
Director: Robert Altman
Cast: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Robert Altman, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published -- Michael Tolkin, and Best Film Editing -- Geraldine Peroni

The roughly eight-minute opening uncut tracking shot was planned with models before production began. The area of the studio lot used was repaved so the camera dolly would move smoothly. Director Altman rehearsed the scene with the cast and crew the day before shooting began. Fifteen takes of the scene were done and the tenth take was used in the film.


4:15 AM -- The Gazebo (1960)
1h 40m | Comedy | TV-G
A suburban couple tries to cope with a murder victim whose body refuses to stay put.
Director: George Marshall
Cast: Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Carl Reiner

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

This is the last black-and-white feature appearance by Debbie Reynolds, performing her final monochrome song and dance - "Something Called Love" (music by Walter Kent, lyrics by Walton Farrar).