TCM Schedule for Thursday, March 14, 2013 -- What's On Tonight -- Double Agents

[Staph]

What an unusual theme TCM is sporting today -- movies with the word "west" in the title. It's a real grab bag of films, with a Harold Lloyd silent film, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Mickey Rooney as Andy Hardy, the Falcon (star of one of the early detective film series), and a couple of serious westerns with Victor Mature, and with Richard Widmark and Kirk Douglas. In prime time, there's a quintet of films about double (and triple!) agents. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- An Eastern Westerner (1920)
In this silent film, a pampered East Coast lad is sent west to be toughened up.
Dir: Hal Roach
Cast: Harold Lloyd,
BW-24 mins, TV-G,

Shortly before this film was made, Harold Lloyd was involved in an accident where a "prop" bomb exploded as he held it in his hand. Lloyd lost his thumb and index finger on his right hand in the explosion. The Goldwyn family had a flesh-colored prosthetic glove made for him so that he could continue his movie work. In many scenes in this movie, you will note that Lloyd's right hand is deliberately not being used. Furthermore, with some of the stunts Lloyd performs, it's difficult to tell that he is handicapped at all!


6:30 AM -- The Dude Goes West (1948)
A tenderfoot tries to help a miner's daughter protect her claim.
Dir: Kurt Neumann
Cast: Eddie Albert, Gale Storm, James Gleason
BW-87 mins, TV-PG, CC,

The screenwriters had fun naming these characters -- Daniel Bone, Liza Crockett, and the Pecos Kid!


8:00 AM -- Go West, Young Lady (1941)
A sheriff's girlfriend tries to unearth the identity of a masked bandit chief.
Dir: Frank R. Strayer
Cast: Penny Singleton, Glenn Ford, Ann Miller
BW-70 mins, TV-G,

Story by Karen DeWolf, who is best remembered for writing many of the Blondie and Dagwood movies, starring Penny Singleton as Blondie.


9:15 AM -- The Falcon Out West (1944)
A society sleuth turns cowboy to investigate a Texas murder.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: Tom Conway, Carole Gallagher, Barbara Hale
BW-64 mins, TV-G,

The eighth of sixteen movies for the suave detective nicknamed "The Falcon" starring Tom Conway.


10:30 AM -- Mexican Spitfire Out West (1940)
To punish her inattentive husband, a Latin bombshell pretends to want a divorce
Dir: Leslie Goodwins
Cast: Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, Donald Woods
BW-76 mins, TV-G,

The third of the eight Mexican Spitfire films, starring Lupe Velez.


12:00 PM -- Out West With The Hardys (1938)
A small-town judge takes his family on a western vacation so he can help a friend negotiate water rights.
Dir: George B. Seitz
Cast: Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Fay Holden
BW-84 mins, TV-G, CC,

Film debut of Tom Neal.


1:30 PM -- Go West (1940)
Three zanies tackle outlaws and Indians when they head westward.
Dir: Edward Buzzell
Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx
BW-80 mins, TV-PG, CC,

The name of Groucho Marx's character, "S. Quentin Quayle", caused a stir when the film was first released due to the subtle but clear joke: the use of the term "San Quentin quail", which means "jail bait".


3:00 PM -- Way Out West (1937)
A pair of tenderfeet try to get the deed to a gold mine to its rightful owner.
Dir: James W. Horne
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Sharon Lynne
BW-64 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Score -- Marvin Hatley (head of the Roach Studio Music Department)

In an interview on Turner Classic Movies, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening said that Homer's famous "Doh!" came about because Dan Castellaneta knew that James Finlayson sometimes said that in his movies, including this one. One example: when Finlayson's character, Mickey Finn, accidentally fires his rifle in bed.


4:15 PM -- Escort West (1959)
A Confederate veteran helps the survivors of a Union wagon train.
Dir: Francis D. Lyon
Cast: Victor Mature, Elaine Stewart, Faith Domergue
BW-76 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

One of the very few films produced by Batjac Productions that did not star Batjac founder John Wayne.


5:45 PM -- The Way West (1967)
A senator hires a veteran scout to accompany a wagon train from Missouri to Oregon.
Dir: Andrew V. McLaglen
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark
BW-122 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Lola Albright nearly drowned during the river crossing scene. The wagon she was in tipped over and she was trapped underwater when the contents of the wagon fell on her and pinned her down. When they finally got her out she was semi-conscious and spent the night in hospital. A day later she returned to the set, but they used a stunt woman to re-film the river scene. In interviews she has said she was deeply traumatized by this near-death experience.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: DOUBLE AGENTS



8:00 PM -- 13 Rue Madeleine (1946)
Tragedy occurs when a spy chief finds out one of his agents-in-training is actually a Nazi double agent.
Dir: Henry Hathaway
Cast: James Cagney, Annabella, Richard Conte
BW-95 mins, TV-PG,

Story is based on Peter Ortiz who was an OSS agent in world war two in France.


9:45 PM -- The House on 92nd Street (1945)
An FBI agent infiltrates a Nazi spy ring.
Dir: Henry Hathaway
Cast: William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Signe Hasso
BW-88 mins, TV-14, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Charles G. Booth

The movie deals with the theft by German spies of the fictional "Process 97," a secret formula which, the narrator tells us, "was crucial to the development of the atomic bomb." The movie was released on September 10, 1945, only a month after the atomic bombs had been dropped on Japan, and barely a week after Japan's formal surrender. While making the film, the actors and director Henry Hathaway did not know that the atomic bomb existed, or that it would be incorporated as a story element in the movie. (None of the actors in the film mentions the atomic bomb.) However, co-director/producer Louis De Rochemont (who produced the "March of Time" newsreel films) and narrator Reed Hadley were both involved in producing government films on the development of the atomic bomb. (Hadley was present at the final test of the bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico, in July, 1945.) After the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Hadley and screenwriter John Monks Jr. hastily wrote some additional voice-over narration linking "Process 97" to the atomic bomb, and Rochemont inserted it into the picture in time for the film's quick release.


11:30 PM -- Ice Station Zebra (1968)
A sub commander on a perilous mission must ferret out a Soviet agent on his ship.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan
C-152 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Daniel L. Fapp, and Best Effects, Special Visual Effects -- Hal Millar and J. McMillan Johnson

Patrick McGoohan was filming his famous TV series The Prisoner at the time he appeared in this movie. In order to allow him to take time off from his TV series, the episode "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling" was written in which McGoohan's character, Number Six, has his mind transferred into the body of another man. "The Girl Who Was Death" was also altered so that No 6 wore a Sherlock Holmes disguise, so that his double Frank Maher could film a lot of the scenes.


2:15 AM -- Triple Cross (1967)
A safecracker turns double agent during WWII.
Dir: Terence Young
Cast: Christopher Plummer, Romy Schneider, Trevor Howard
C-126 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

While the movie ending implies that Baron Von Grunen (Yul Brynner) dies after being shot in the back (or allows the viewer to infer such), actually Chapman and Von Grunen remained friends after the war. Von Grunen even attended the wedding of Chapman's daughter.


4:30 AM -- Dark Journey (1937)
Rival spies fall in love during World War I.
Dir: Victor Saville
Cast: Conrad Veidt, Vivien Leigh, Joan Gardner
BW-79 mins, TV-G,

The story takes place in 1918, but all of Vivien Leigh's fashions and hairstyles, as well as those of the other women in the cast, are strictly up-to-the minute 1937 modes.

[CBHagman]

1. Harold Lloyd trivia.

I'd heard multiple stories about how he lost his thumb, including one claim that it had been during the famous clock scene in Safety Last. I didn't realize he'd lost two fingers and still went on doing stunts.