Classic Films

Staph

(6,253 posts) Thu May 19, 2022, 04:51 PM May 2022

TCM Schedule for Friday, May 20, 2022 -- What's On Tonight: Primetime Theme: Skydiving

In the daylight hours, TCM is having the rest of us committed, with a daytime theme of Welcome to the Asylum. Then in prime time, we're going Skydiving! Enjoy!

6:00 AM -- Dark Delusion (1947)
1h 30m | Drama | TV-PG
A young doctor tries to keep a neurotic beauty from being committed.
Director: Willis Goldbeck
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, James Craig, Lucille Bremer

Final film of George Reed. Reed, who appeared in 136 films, was a veteran African-American character actor born to former slaves just three years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

7:30 AM -- Once You Kiss a Stranger (1969)
1h 46m | Adaptation | TV-14
A mentally unstable woman seduces a golfer. Together, they plot a murder scheme to kill the golfer's rival, the woman's psychiatrist.
Director: Robert Sparr
Cast: Paul Burke, Carol Lynley, Martha Hyer

A loose remake of Strangers on a Train (1951).

9:30 AM -- Fingers at the Window (1942)
1h 20m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A magician uses hypnosis to create an army of murderers.
Director: Charles Lederer
Cast: Lew Ayres, Laraine Day, Basil Rathbone

Lew Ayres changed his military status from "conscientious-objector" to "non-combatant" in April 1942 causing great consternation at M-G-M, which already re-shot the "Dr Kildare" film he had just completed, removing him from the cast completely. By the time this film was released, the furor had died down and it opened without incident. In fact, one reviewer noted the business was brisk, possibly because of Ayres' honesty and courage in jeopardizing his movie career for the sake of his principles.

11:00 AM -- The Cobweb (1955)
2h 4m | Drama | TV-PG
Inmates and staff at a posh asylum clash over love and lunacy.
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Charles Boyer

In this film Charles Boyer portrays an esteemed French psychiatrist who had come to the States to head an exclusive mental hospital in the country some twenty years earlier, but is losing his grip. Exactly two decades earlier he had played superficially very similar role in Private Worlds (1935). There he portrays an esteemed French psychiatrist who comes to the States to head an exclusive mental hospital in the country.

1:15 PM -- High Wall (1947)
1h 39m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
Psychiatry provides the key to proving a veteran flyer innocent of his wife's murder.
Director: Curtis Bernhardt
Cast: Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, Herbert Marshall

Both Audrey Totter and Robert Taylor relished making this film - Totter, because she got to play a professional woman as she did in Lady in the Lake (1946), and Taylor, because he got to act and not just be a "pretty boy".

3:00 PM -- Bedlam (1946)
1h 19m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
When an actress tries to reform an asylum, its corrupt keeper has her committed.
Director: Mark Robson
Cast: Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House

The dress Anna Lee is wearing as she mounts her horse is the one Vivien Leigh made from the curtains in Gone with the Wind (1939).

4:30 PM -- Witness to Murder (1954)
1h 23m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A woman fights to convince the police that she witnessed a murder.
Director: Roy Rowland
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders, Gary Merrill

Released only a few months before Rear Window (1954), to which the film bears plot similarities.

6:00 PM -- King of Hearts (1966)
1h 50m | Comedy | TV-14
During World War I, a Scottish soldier finds an abandoned town ruled by whimsical lunatics.
Director: Philippe De Broca
Cast: Alan Bates, Pierre Brasseur, Jean-Claude Brialy

This ran for years in Boston repertory film houses circa 73-76. Midnight showings around the country made it an early cult film, re: Rocky Horror, Eraserhead, El Topo, Beyond The Valley, etc.

WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- SKYDIVING

8:00 PM -- Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
1h 38m | Musical | TV-G
The surfing gang rescues a beautiful singer from evil bikers.
Director: William Asher
Cast: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Deborah Walley

When Don Rickles is doing his comedy routine, everyone in the club is laughing, except Buster Keaton (who can be seen in the background) indicating that he didn't think Rickles was particularly funny (and didn't realize he was in view of the camera). May be a directorial choice but is interesting to observe due to Keaton being such a comedy icon.

10:00 PM -- Don't Make Waves (1967)
1h 37m | Comedy | TV-PG
A swimming pool salesman gets mixed up with beauty queens and bodybuilders when he falls in love.
Director: Alexander MacKendrick
Cast: Tony Curtis, Claudia Cardinale, Sharon Tate

Stuntman Bob Buquor accidentally drowned off of the Malibu coast during filming for the skydiving scenes.

12:00 AM -- The Gypsy Moths (1969)
1h 50m | Drama | TV-MA
A trio of barnstorming skydivers finds love and heartache at one small-town stop.
Director: John Frankenheimer
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Gene Hackman

Experienced, but amateur skydivers, most with several thousand jumps to their credit, were brought in from California to double for the actors. During one take, an unexpected gust of wind pulled the chute and caused one of the skydivers to be slammed into the ground, breaking his collarbone and dislocating his shoulder. Even though in great pain, he stayed in character and managed to get up and finish the scene. He was retained by Director John Frankenheimer as a consultant.

2:00 AM -- She Freak (1967)
1h 23m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
A diner waitress joins a traveling circus.
Director: Byron Mabe
Cast: Claire Brennen, Lee Raymond, Lynn Courtney

Sign behind the counter reads: "Y C H J C Y A 1/4 F T J B" - which stands for "Your Curiosity Has Just Cost You a Quarter For The Juke Box."

3:30 AM -- The Mutation (1974)
1h 31m | Horror | TV-MA
A mad scientist crosses plants with people, and the results wind up in a sideshow.
Director: Jack Cardiff
Cast: Donald Pleasence, Tom Baker, Brad Harris

According to Tom Baker, while filming he and Willie Ingram, who went by the stage name "Popeye" for his strange ability to make his eyes pop far out of their sockets, used to frequent a bar across the street between shooting scenes. During one such outing a waitress made it clear through her attitude that she didn't approve of Baker, who is white, being friends with Ingram who is black. So to get back at her Ingram would make his eyes pop out when she would pass the table causing her to completely freak out, and then go back to normal while he and Baker would pretend nothing happened as she tried to point it out to other waitresses and patrons.

5:15 AM -- Shake Hands With Danger (1970)
23m | Short | TV-PG
Safety film about the dangers associated with earthmoving equipment operations, showing simulated accidents on construction sites.
Director: Herk Harvey
Cast: Charles Oldfather, Cliff Bemis

5:45 AM -- More Dangerous Than Dynamite (1941)
9m | Short | TV-G
This short safety film looks at carelessness in the home that can lead to fires.