TCM Schedule for Wednesday, August 3rd: Summer Under the Stars: Bette Davis

[CBHagman]

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

12:30 AM
comedy Ideal Husband, An (1947) C-93 min
TV-G comedy Ideal Husband, An (1947) An upstanding politician is haunted by his past when a blackmailer threatens to reveal a youthful indiscretion.
Dir: Alexander Korda Cast: Paulette Goddard, Hugh Williams, Michael Wilding. C-93 min, TV-G , CC CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: Alexander Korda. Paulette Goddard, Michael Wilding, Diana Wynyard, C. Aubrey Smith, Glynis Johns, Michael Medwin. Oscar Wilde's drawing room comedy receives classy presentation but is slow moving. Remade in 1999.

2:15 AM
comedy Women, The (1939) 133 min
TV-PG comedy Women, The (1939) A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.
Dir: George Cukor Cast: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell. 133 min, TV-PG , CC CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: George Cukor. Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland, Joan Fontaine, Paulette Goddard, Lucile Watson, Marjorie Main, Virginia Weidler, Phyllis Povah, Ruth Hussey, Mary Beth Hughes, Virginia Grey, Hedda Hopper, Butterfly McQueen. All-star (and all-female) cast shines in this hilarious adaptation of Clare Boothe play about divorce, cattiness, and competition in circle of "friends.'' Crawford has one of her best roles as bitchy homewrecker. Fashion show sequence is in color; script by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin. Remade as THE OPPOSITE SEX.



4:30 AM
comedy Pot O' Gold (1941) 86 min
TV-G comedy Pot O' Gold (1941) A young man is caught between his music-hating uncle and a pretty girl from a family of musicians.
Dir: George Marshall Cast: James Stewart, Paulette Goddard, Horace Heidt. 86 min, TV-G CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: George Marshall. James Stewart, Paulette Goddard, Horace Heidt, Charles Winninger, Mary Gordon, Jed Prouty. Very minor item about harmonica-playing, music-mad Stewart, and his experiences with a band of struggling musicians. Stewart called this his worst movie! Look briefly for Art Carney as a radio announcer.


6:00 AM
comedy Working Man, The (1933) 78 min
TV-G comedy Working Man, The (1933) A wealthy manufacturer takes a vacation incognito and ends up working for his chief rival.
Dir: John G. Adolfi Cast: George Arliss, Bette Davis, Theodore Newton. 78 min, TV-G CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: John G. Adolfi. George Arliss, Bette Davis, Hardie Albright, Theodore Newton, Gordon Westcott, J. Farrell MacDonald. Charming comedy about a businessman who chances to meet the children of his late arch-rival--and determines to change their wastrel ways, even if it means competing with his own company. A much-improved remake of Arliss' silent film $20 A WEEK (1924); remade with Irvin S. Cobb as EVERYBODY'S OLD MAN (1936).


7:30 AM
documentary Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2005) C-88 min
TV-14 documentary Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2005) TCM original documentary that explores the life and career of legendary actress Bette Davis.
C-88 min, TV-14 , CC CLOSE close captioned


9:00 AM
romance Now, Voyager (1942) 118 min
TV-G romance Now, Voyager (1942) A repressed spinster is transformed by psychiatry and her love for a married man.
Dir: Irving Rapper Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains. 118 min, TV-G , CC CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: Irving Rapper. Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper, Bonita Granville, John Loder, Ilka Chase, Lee Patrick, Mary Wickes, Janis Wilson. Vintage, first-class soaper with Bette as sheltered spinster brought out of her shell by psychiatrist Rains, falling in love with suave Henreid, helping shy girl Wilson. All this set to beautiful, Oscar-winning Max Steiner music makes for top entertainment of this kind. Olive Higgins Prouty's bestseller was adapted by Casey Robinson.



11:00 AM
drama Bordertown (1935) 91 min
TV-PG drama Bordertown (1935) An ambitious Mexican-American gets mixed up with his boss's neurotic wife.
Dir: Archie Mayo Cast: Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Margaret Lindsay. 91 min, TV-PG , CC CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: Archie Mayo. Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Eugene Pallette, Margaret Lindsay. Fine drama of unusual triangle in bordertown cafe, with Davis as flirtatious wife of Pallette with designs on lawyer Muni; her overwrought scene on the witness stand is not easily forgotten. Used as basis for later THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (1940), but more serious in tone. Also shown in computer-colored version.


12:45 PM
crime 20,000 Years In Sing Sing (1932) 78 min
TV-PG crime 20,000 Years In Sing Sing (1932) When his girl commits murder, a hardened criminal takes the rap to protect her honor.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Arthur Byron. 78 min, TV-PG , CC CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: Michael Curtiz. Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Arthur Byron, Lyle Talbot, Warren Hymer, Louis Calhern, Grant Mitchell, Sheila Terry. Still-powerful prison drama has only teaming of Tracy and Davis. He's a hardened criminal, she's his girl. Based on Warden Lewis E. Lawes' book. Remade as CASTLE ON THE HUDSON.

2:15 PM
epic Juarez (1939) 121 min
TV-G epic Juarez (1939) True story of Mexico's Abraham Lincoln and his fight against Napoleon's empire.
Dir: William Dieterle Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Muni, Brian Aherne. 121 min, TV-G , CC CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: William Dieterle. Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Brian Aherne, Claude Rains, John Garfield, Gale Sondergaard, Donald Crisp, Gilbert Roland, Louis Calhern, Grant Mitchell. Interesting biography of Mexican leader (Muni), with unforgettable performance by Rains as Napoleon III; also notable is Garfield's offbeat casting as Mexican General Diaz. Elaborately done, but never as inspiring as it's intended to be.

4:30 PM 1312403400
drama Letter, The (1940) 95 min
TV-PG drama Letter, The (1940) A woman claims to have killed in self-defense, until a blackmailer turns up with incriminating evidence.
Dir: William Wyler Cast: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson. 95 min, TV-PG , CC CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: William Wyler. Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Frieda Inescort, Gale Sondergaard. Lushly photographed Somerset Maugham drama set in Malaya, tells of murderess (Davis) who tries to cover up her deed by pleading self-defense. Davis quite appealing in her unsympathetic role. Previously filmed in 1929 (also with Herbert Marshall in cast); remade as THE UNFAITHFUL, then again for TV in 1982 with Lee Remick.



6:30 PM
drama Petrified Forest, The (1936) 82 min
TV-G drama Petrified Forest, The (1936) An escaped convict holds the customers at a remote desert cantina hostage.
Dir: Archie L. Mayo Cast: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin. 82 min, TV-G , CC CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: Archie Mayo. Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Dick Foran, Humphrey Bogart, Genevieve Tobin, Charley Grapewin, Porter Hall. Solid adaptation of Robert Sherwood play, focusing on ironic survival of the physically fit in civilized world. Bogart is Duke Mantee, escaped gangster, who holds writer Howard, dreamer Davis, and others hostage at roadside restaurant in Arizona. Stagy, but extremely well acted and surprisingly fresh. Howard and Bogart recreate their Broadway roles. Scripted by Charles Kenyon and Delmer Daves. Remade as ESCAPE IN THE DESERT.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: BETTE DAVIS

8:00 PM
drama Old Maid, The (1939) 95 min
TV-PG drama Old Maid, The (1939) An unmarried mother gives her illegitimate child to her cousin.
Dir: Edmund Goulding Cast: Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, George Brent. 95 min, TV-PG , CC CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: Edmund Goulding. Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, George Brent, Jane Bryan, Donald Crisp, Louise Fazenda, Jerome Cowan, James Stephenson. Soap opera par excellence based on Zoe Akins play and Edith Wharton novel about the rivalry, romantic and otherwise, between cousins Davis and Hopkins. The two female stars create fireworks as they enact this chronicle of love and hate in the 1860s-80s.

10:00 PM
drama Jezebel (1938) 104 min
TV-PG drama Jezebel (1938) A tempestuous Southern belle's willfulness threatens to destroy all who care for her.
Dir: William Wyler Cast: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent. 104 min, TV-PG , CC CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: William Wyler. Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Crisp, Fay Bainter, Spring Byington, Richard Cromwell, Henry O'Neill. Davis won her second Oscar as tempestuous Southern belle who goes too far to make fiance Fonda jealous; Bainter also received Oscar as Davis' sympathetic aunt. Fine production, entire cast excellent. John Huston was one of the writers. Also shown in computer-colored version.



12:00 AM
drama Corn Is Green, The (1945) 114 min
TV-G drama Corn Is Green, The (1945) A dedicated teacher sacrifices everything to send a young miner to Oxford.
Dir: Irving Rapper Cast: Bette Davis, Nigel Bruce, Rhys Williams. 114 min, TV-G , CC CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: Irving Rapper. Bette Davis, Nigel Bruce, John Dall, Joan Lorring, Rhys Williams, Rosalind Ivan, Mildred Dunnock. Thoughtful acting in this story of devoted middle- aged teacher Davis in Welsh mining town coming to terms with her prize pupil. Emlyn Williams' play was adapted by Casey Robinson and Frank Cavett. Remade, beautifully, for TV with Katharine Hepburn in 1979.


2:00 AM
drama Catered Affair, The (1956) 94 min
TV-G drama Catered Affair, The (1956) A working-class mother fights to give her daughter a big wedding whether the girl wants it or not.
Dir: Richard Brooks Cast: Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds. 94 min, TV-G , CC CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: Richard Brooks. Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds, Barry Fitzgerald, Rod Taylor. Davis sheds all glamour as Bronx taxi driver's wife wanting to give daughter ritzy wedding. Gore Vidal's script based on Paddy Chayefsky TV play. Also shown in computer-colored version.



3:45 AM
adventure John Paul Jones (1959) C-126 min
TV-G adventure John Paul Jones (1959) The hero of the Revolutionary War clashes with Congress.
Dir: John Farrow Cast: Robert Stack, Marisa Pavan, Charles Coburn. C-126 min, TV-G CLOSE LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW: D: John Farrow. Robert Stack, Marisa Pavan, Charles Coburn, Erin O'Brien, Macdonald Carey, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Peter Cushing, Bruce Cabot, Bette Davis. Empty spectacle of 18th-century American naval hero, with cameo by Davis as Russian empress, Catherine the Great. Look for Mia Farrow (daughter of film's director and Maureen O'Sullivan) in film debut.