TCM Schedule for Friday, May 15 -- Star of the Month -- Sean Connery

[Staph]

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of James Mason, and the 104th birthday for Joseph Cotton. And tonight is again all about star of the month, Connery, Sean Connery. Enjoy!


6:00am -- Journey Into Fear (1942)
A munitions expert gets mixed up with gunrunners in Turkey.
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Del Rio, Ruth Warrick, Agnes Moorehead
Dir: Norman Foster
BW-68 mins, TV-PG

In late August 1942, RKO decided to delay the release of the movie because critics panned it in press previews. By that time, Orson Welles' contract was terminated by a new studio head. As part of the settlement, Welles agreed to recut the last reel and film additional scenes. He added the voice-over by Joseph Cotten at the beginning and end of the movie, and designed the pre-credit sequence.


7:15am -- Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
A young girl fears her favorite uncle may be a killer.
Cast: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, MacDonald Carey, Henry Travers
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
BW-108 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Gordon McDonell

Alfred Hitchcock often said that this was his favorite film.


9:15am -- Walk Softly, Stranger (1950)
A small-time crook on the run is reformed by the love of a crippled woman.
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Spring Byington, Paul Stewart
Dir: Robert Stevenson
BW-81 mins, TV-PG

Completed in 1948, copyrighted in 1949, but not released until 1950.


10:45am -- The Third Man (1949)
A man's investigation of a friend's death uncovers corruption in post-World War II Vienna.
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard
Dir: Carol Reed
BW-104 mins, TV-14

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Krasker

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Carol Reed, and Best Film Editing -- Oswald Hafenrichter

Somewhat apocryphal stories are abound about Carol Reed discovering musician Anton Karas while scouring Vienna bars and nightclubs. Reed actually heard Karas playing at a production party and insisted the Austrian zither player come to Reed's hotel room and record songs to use for the contract. Later in production, Reed realized he wanted to use Karas' music for the whole film and flew Karas out to London to record the score. Karas became a top-selling musician thanks to the film and opened a nightclub called "The Third Man" in Vienna, which he ran to the end of his days.


12:30pm -- Thunder Rock (1942)
A disillusioned writer moves into a lighthouse where some ghostly visitors restore his faith.
Cast: Michael Redgrave, Barbara Mullen, James Mason, Lilli Palmer
Dir: Roy Boulting
BW-107 mins, TV-G

Michael Redgrave is, of course, the grandfather of Natasha Richardson, Joely Richardson, and Jemma Redgrave, the father of Lynn Redgrave, Corin Redgrave, & Vanessa Redgrave, and the son of Roy Redgrave, Australian silent movie legend. There's some amazing acting DNA in that family!


2:30pm -- Hotel Reserve (1946)
An Austrian refugee tries to figure out which guest at a French resort is a spy.
Cast: James Mason, Lucie Mannheim, Raymond Lovell, Julien Mitchell
Dir: Lance Comfort
BW-79 mins, TV-G

The camera that Peter Vadassy uses is a Zeiss Ikon Contax.


4:00pm -- The Story Of Three Loves (1953)
Passengers on an ocean liner recall their greatest loves.
Cast: James Mason, Moira Shearer, Agnes Moorehead, Jakob Gimpel
Dir: Gottfried Reinhardt, Vincente Minnelli.
C-122 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, E. Preston Ames, Edward C. Carfagno, Gabriel Scognamillo, Edwin B. Willis, F. Keogh Gleason, Arthur Krams and Jack D. Moore

Three stories: Equilibrium with Pier Angeli, Mademoiselle with Leslie Caron, and The Jealous Lover with Moira Shearer.


6:15pm -- Georgy Girl (1966)
A misfit fights for happiness in the world of swinging London.
Cast: James Mason, Alan Bates, Lynn Redgrave, Charlotte Rampling
Dir: Silvio Narizzano
BW-99 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- James Mason, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Lynn Redgrave, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Kenneth Higgins, and Best Music, Original Song -- Tom Springfield (music) and Jim Dale (lyrics) for the song "Georgy Girl"

The hit theme song "(Hey There) Georgy Girl" was co-written by Jim Dale, who would later gain fame through several "Carry On" films, 1970's Disney Studio comedies, and Tony winning and nominated Broadway roles. He's also noted as the reader of the U.S. versions of the Harry Potter audio books, as well as the narrator of "Pushing Daisies" (2007). I saw him on Broadway starring in Barnum in 1977. This skinny Englishman was awesome as the fat, 19th century American!


What's On Tonight: STAR OF THE MONTH: SEAN CONNERY


8:00pm -- You Only Live Twice (1967)
James Bond investigates a series attacks in space that could lead to nuclear war.
Cast: Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi, Tetsuro Tamba, Mie Hama
Dir: Lewis Gilbert
C-117 mins, TV-PG

Of all the many actors who have played Ernst Stavro Blofeld, it is the interpretation by Donald Pleasence in this film which is the source for the Mike Myers parody of the character as Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movie spoofs.


10:00pm -- Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
James Bond fights diamond smugglers and blackmailers in Las Vegas.
Cast: Sean Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray, Lana Wood
Dir: Guy Hamilton
C-120 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound -- Gordon K. McCallum, John W. Mitchell and Al Overton

During the filming of the scene where Plenty O'Toole is shown drowned in the pool, Lana Wood actually had her feet tied (albeit loosely) to a cement block on the bottom. Film crew members held a rope across the pool for her, with which she could lift her face out of the water to breathe between takes. Unfortunately, like most pools, this one had a sloping bottom, and the block was slipping into deeper water with each take. Eventually it reached a depth from which she could no longer get her face out of the water. Alert film crew members noticed this, and quickly jumped into the water to untie her feet, thus saving her from drowning for real. Wood, being a certified diver, remained calm during the ordeal, although she later admitted to a few "very uncomfortable moments" while she was unable to breathe.


12:15am -- The Anderson Tapes (1971)
After ten years in prison, a thief tries to adjust to improved surveillance methods.
Cast: Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, Ralph Meeker
Dir: Sidney Lumet
C-99 mins, TV-14

Final feature film of Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West.


2:00am -- Blood Freak (1971)
Drugs turn a biker into a murderous beast.
Cast: Steve Hawkes
Dir: Brad F. Grinter
C-80 mins, TV-MA

The victim that gets his leg cut off by a table saw was an actual amputee.


3:30am -- Reefer Madness (1936)
Drug dealers lure a pair of young innocents into marijuana addiction.
Cast: Dorothy Short, Kenneth Craig, Lillian Miles, Dave O'Brian
Dir: Louis Gasnier
BW-65 mins, TV-14

If you still frame the newspaper which flashes on screen just before the verdict is announced at the end of the film, underneath the headline is another front-page news story which bears the smaller headline: DICK TRACY, G-MEN LEAD SUCCESSFUL RAID.


4:30am -- Short Film: The Terrible Truth (1951)
A juvenile court judge investigates the tragedy of marijuana addiction.
Cast: Judge William B. McKesson.
C-10 mins, TV-14

The judge comes to the "logical" conclusion that the drug problem in the U.S. was introduced by the godless Soviet Communists in an effort to "undermine morale" and that the way to stop the drug epidemic was to "use common sense" (an earlier version, apparently, of the Reagan-era "Just Say No!" campaign, and which had pretty much the same effect--i.e., none).


4:45am -- Short Film: Narcotics (1951)
A round-up of drug addicts reveals the perils of experimenting with marijuana.
Cast: Richard Elliot, Wes Robinson, John Young.
Dir: Dennis Sanders.
C-21 mins, TV-14

This film, which was actually made for narcotics officers and was not meant to be seen by the general public, shows the destructive effects of marijuana, which produces "unpredictable emotional results", and shows a (phony) round-up of drug addicts in downtown L.A.--the implication being, of course, that they all started out using marijuana.


5:15am -- Ask Me, Don't Tell Me (1961)
San Francisco gang members turn their lives around working in community service projects.
Cast: William Winters narrates, Stanley Mosk.
Dir: David Myers.
BW-22 mins, TV-14

Stanley Mosk was Attorney General of California during the filming of this short, and went on to become the longest serving justice on the California Supreme Court, for 37 years.


5:45am -- Short Film: The House in the Middle (1954)
Military tests demonstrate the dangers of poor home maintenance in the event of a nuclear attack.
C-12 mins, TV-PG

Selected for the 2002 National Film Registry of "artistically, culturally, and socially significant" films.

[Staph]

1. The Story of Three Loves

Omnibus films, made up of several unrelated stories tangentially linked by a common element, are a good excuse for an all-star cast. In American films, they come along about once a decade. And in the early 1950s, MGM, inspired by the success of several European omnibus films, tackled a couple of its own: an elegant drama, The Story of Three Loves (1953), and the flag-waving It's a Big County (1951).

The Story of Three Loves aspired to the European model, with its international casts, art-film pretensions, and the most sumptuous London, Rome, and Paris that could be created on the MGM back lot. That it manages to be so entertaining in spite of itself is due in large part to the charm and talent in front of and behind the camera.

The connection among the three stories is that characters from each of them are aboard a ship bound for the United States, looking back on what brought them there. In the first story, "The Jealous Lover," James Mason plays a choreographer who meets a talented dancer, played by Moira Shearer, and creates a ballet with her, unaware that she is forbidden to dance because of a heart condition. Shearer, a Scottish-born ballerina, had created a worldwide sensation with her first film, The Red Shoes (1948). Most critics felt that "The Jealous Lover" was a not-very-good rehash of The Red Shoes, with Mason as the demanding taskmaster. But they also were enchanted by Shearer's dancing, choreographed by the illustrious British choreographer Frederick Ashton, to Rachmaninoff's haunting "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini." This would be Shearer's only American film. Gottfried Reinhardt, who had worked primarily as a producer, directed this episode, as well as the third one, "Equilibrium."

Leslie Caron, who had made a spectacular film debut in Vincente Minnelli's An American in Paris (1951), is the eponymous "Mademoiselle" of the second story, directed by Minnelli. A governess for an American family in Rome, in charge of an 11-year old boy (played by Ricky Nelson) Mademoiselle is a yearning romantic, trying in vain to interest her irrepressible ward in poetry. The boy has an encounter with a whimsical fairy godmother, with surprising consequences for both him and his governess.

1953 was an important year for Caron. She had followed An American in Paris with a couple of lackluster films that did little to showcase her gamine appeal. In 1953, she had two films in release at the same time that showcased her very well - The Story of Three Loves, and Lili, which won her an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress, and is one of her most memorable performances.

Nelson, the younger son of TV's Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, was a charmer, who had emerged as the star of his family's television program. His scenes in The Story of Three Loves with the equally charming Ethel Barrymore as the elderly sorceress are a delight. Director Vincente Minnelli recalled in his memoirs that "working with Miss Barrymore was the joy I expected it to be. She had a personal charm which was complemented by her extreme professionalism....She knew the comparatively short part cold, and it took only a couple of days to put her performance on film. It took no great effort to show her the enormous respect to which she was entitled." This was Barrymore's final appearance in an MGM film.

The third episode, "Equilibrium," starred Kirk Douglas as a guilt-ridden trapeze artist whose partner has been killed, and Pier Angeli as a suicidal war widow who becomes his new partner. Most critics thought this was the best of the three episodes, because of the emotional complexity of the story, the exciting acrobatics, and excellent performances by the stars. Ricardo Montalban had been set to play the trapeze artist, but MGM replaced him with Douglas, who actually learned routines on the trapeze and did some of his own stunts. Douglas was intrigued by the fearlessness of Pier Angeli, who also learned some routines, and before long, he had fallen in love with her. "Our romance started thirty feet above the earth," he recalled in his memoirs. They became engaged, but were often separated by their careers and by Angeli's domineering mother, and the romance ended.

In spite of its all-star gloss, The Story of Three Loves may have been too arty for the general public, and it was not a success at the box office. But it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Color Art Direction. And it provides a fascinating look at a transitional period, during the last gasp of the old studio system, and the increasing influence of international filmmaking.

Director: Gottfried Reinhardt, Vincente Minnelli
Producer: Sidney Franklin
Screenplay: John Collier, Jan Lustig, George Froeschel, based on stories by Arnold Phillips, Ladislas Vajda, Jacques Maret
Cinematography: Charles Rosher, Harold Rosson
Editor: Ralph E. Winters
Costume Design: Helen Rose
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Preston Ames, Edward Carfagno, Gabriel Scognamillo
Music: Miklos Rozsa
Principal Cast: Moira Shearer (Paula Woodward), James Mason (Charles Coudray), Agnes Moorehead (Aunt Lydia), Leslie Caron (Mademoiselle), Ethel Barrymore (Mrs. Pennicott), Farley Granger (Thomas Campbell), Ricky Nelson (Tommy), Zsa Zsa Gabor (Flirt at Bar), Kirk Douglas (Pierre Narval), Pier Angeli (Nina), Richard Anderson (Marcel), Steven Geray (Legay).
C-122m. Closed captioning.

by Margarita Landazuri