Classic Films

Staph

(6,251 posts) Wed May 29, 2013, 09:31 PM May 2013

TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 30, 2013 -- What's On Tonight -- Clint Eastwood as Director

In the daylight hours, TCM is showing pairs of films, one a remake of the other. And in prime time, there's a documentary and two films directed by Clint Eastwood. Enjoy!

6:00 AM -- James Cagney: Top of the World (1992)
Michael J. Fox hosts this documentary featuring film clips and rare behind-the-scenes footage that traces superstar James Cagney's rise to the top.
Dir: Carl H. Lindahl
Cast: Michael J. Fox, Mae Clarke, Julius Epstein
C-47 mins, TV-G, CC,

Features clips from Sinners' Holiday (1930), The Public Enemy (1931), Taxi! (1932), Winner Take All (1932), Footlight Parade (1933), Lady Killer (1933), Here Comes the Navy (1934), 'G' Men (1935), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), Something to Sing About (1937), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), The Oklahoma Kid (1939), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), The Time of Your Life (1948), White Heat (1949), The Seven Little Foys (1955), Mister Roberts (1955), and One, Two, Three (1961).

6:48 AM -- James Cagney Biography (1962)
BW-4 mins,

Originally a very left-wing Democrat activist during the 1930s, Cagney later switched his viewpoint and became progressively more conservative with age. He supported his friend Ronald Reagan's campaigns for the Governorship of California in 1966 and 1970, as well as his Presidential campaigns in 1980 and 1984. President Reagan delivered the eulogy at Cagney's funeral in 1986.

7:00 AM -- The Mayor Of Hell (1933)
A racketeer goes straight to run a reform school.
Dir: Archie Mayo
Cast: James Cagney, Madge Evans, Arthur Byron
BW-90 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Remade as Crime School (1938).

8:32 AM -- You, John Jones! (1943)
John Jones (James Cagney) is on duty as air raid warden when he realizes how fortunate he is to live safely with his family while others around the world suffer from the war.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: James Cagney, Margaret O'Brien, Ann Sothern
BW-10 mins,

Included in Warner Home Video's 2-disc DVD release of Yankee Doodle Dandy.

8:45 AM -- Crime School (1938)
A crusading warden sets out to improve conditions at a reform school.
Dir: Lewis Seiler
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Billy Halop
BW-85 mins, TV-G, CC,

The second of seven movies featuring The Dead End Kids.

10:15 AM -- Two Against the World (1932)
A debutante takes the rap for her sibling's mistakes.
Dir: Archie Mayo
Cast: Constance Bennett, Neil Hamilton, Helen Vinson
BW-70 mins, TV-PG, CC,

There are conflicting writing sources for this movie: The Motion Picture Guide lists the source as the play, "A Dangerous Set", while the AFI Catalogue lists only a story, "The Higher-Ups", by the same authors. The onscreen credit says it was a play, but no title is specified, and no information about the play has been found.

11:30 AM -- One Fatal Hour (1936)
A radio-station manager tries to keep tabloid journalists from reviving a 20-year-old murder case.
BW-57 mins, TV-G,

The play, "Five Star Final," opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 30 December 1930 and closed in June 1931 after 175 performances. The opening night cast included Arthur Byron, Berton Churchill and Allen Jenkins.

12:30 PM -- Libeled Lady (1936)
When an heiress sues a newspaper, the editor hires a reporter to compromise her.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy
BW-98 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

Jean Harlow and William Powell were a couple at the time the film was made. She desperately wanted the part of Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy's role) so that she and Powell's character would end up together. The director and MGM execs would not heed her demand, however. They always intended on the film being another Powell/Loy vehicle and knew that audiences wanted Powell and Loy to end up together in their films. Harlow was very disappointed but had already signed on to the film and had no choice but to play the role of Gladys Benton. In the end, she liked the film and agreed that she was more suited to the role of Gladys.

2:10 PM -- Broadway Ballyhoo (1936)
Dir: Roy Mack
Cast: Owen Hunt & Parco, Herman Hyde, Sally Burrill
BW-21 mins,

The stars are contemporary New York nightclub performers. For most of them, this was their only film.

2:30 PM -- Easy To Wed (1946)
In this remake of Libeled Lady, a tough newspaper editor hires a gigolo to compromise a woman suing his paper for libel.
Dir: Edward Buzzell
Cast: Van Johnson, Esther Williams, Lucille Ball
C-110 mins, TV-G, CC,

Early in this film, on the lower Left of the screen, Fidel Castro, without beard, is seen as a poolside spectator with a drink in front of him. Young Fidel did "extra" work for MGM, while a student at UCLA, before becoming fully active in politics.

4:30 PM -- Five Came Back (1939)
Survivors of a jungle plane crash realize that their repaired airplane can only carry five passengers.
Dir: John Farrow
Cast: Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Wendy Barrie
BW-75 mins, TV-PG, CC,

According to Turner Classic Movies, there were real trees on the set for the jungle scenes. In one scene, Lucille Ball was leaning against one of the prop trees and spiders crawled out of it and into her hair, sending her and the rest of the cast screaming & running. And remade as Back From Eternity (1956).

5:46 PM -- On The Air (1939)
The setting is a radio broadcast with the bands of Leith Stevens and Bobby Hackett, the vocals by Nan Wynn and a speciality bit by Leslie Lieber playing a toy whistle.
Dir: Lloyd French
Cast: Leith Stevens, Mel Allen, Nan Wynn
BW-10 mins,

Future-and-long-time-voice of the New York Yankees baseball team, Mel Allen (as Melvin Allen), served as the announcer.

6:00 PM -- Back From Eternity (1956)
When an airliner crashes in the jungle, the repaired plane can only hold five of the survivors.
Dir: John Farrow
Cast: Robert Ryan, Anita Ekberg, Rod Steiger
BW-97 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Barbara Eden's movie debut.

7:38 PM -- Tell-Tale Heart (1941)
In this short film, a man commits a murder and is tormented by the victim's beating heart.
Dir: Jules Dassin
Cast: Joseph Schildkraut, Roman Bohnen, Oscar O'Shea
BW-20 mins, TV-PG,

Based on the story by Edgar Allen Poe.

TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: CLINT EASTWOOD AS DIRECTOR

8:00 PM -- Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story (2013)
This documentary highlights the more the 40 movies that Clint Eastwood has made
Dir: Richard Schickel
Cast: Kevin Bacon, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman
BW-62 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Eastwood has managed to keep his scandalous personal life private and has rarely been featured in the tabloid press. He had a fourteen-year relationship with Sondra Locke and has eight children by six other women, only two of whom he married. Eastwood lives in Carmel with his wife Dina and their daughter Morgan.

9:15 PM -- White Hunter, Black Heart (1990)
A thinly fictionalized account of legendary movie director, John Huston, whose desire to hunt down an animal turns into a grim situation with his movie crew in Africa.
Dir: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Jeff Fahey, Charlotte Cornwell
C-112 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

The main character, John Wilson, portrayed by Clint Eastwood, is based on legendary director John Huston; Jeff Fahey's Pete Verrill writer character is based on novelist Peter Viertel; George Dzundza's Paul Landers producer character is based on producer Sam Spiegel; Marisa Berenson's Kay Gibson character is based on Katharine Hepburn whilst Richard Vanstone's Phil Duncan character is based on Humphrey Bogart.

11:15 PM -- Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story (2013)
This documentary highlights the more the 40 movies that Clint Eastwood has made
Dir: Richard Schickel
Cast: Kevin Bacon, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman
BW-62 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Known on-set as a director for filming very few takes and having an easy shooting schedule. Tim Robbins once said that when working on Mystic River, Eastwood would usually ask for only one take, or two "if you were lucky", and that a day of filming would consist of starting "no earlier than 9 a.m. and you leave, usually, after lunch."

12:30 AM -- Bird (1988)
Saxophone great Charlie Parker builds a career in jazz while fighting drug addiction.
Dir: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora, Michael Zelniker
C-161 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Sound -- Les Fresholtz, Rick Alexander (as Dick Alexander), Vern Poore and Willie D. Burton

Clint Eastwood approached Chan Richardson, Charlie Parker's common-law wife on whose memoirs the script was based, for input. She gave Eastwood a collection of lost recordings unlocked from a bank vault.

3:18 AM -- Moments In Music (1949)
This short shows that no matter what type of music a person likes, he will find it at the movies.
Dir: Carey Wilson
Cast: Bing Crosby, Xavier Cugat, Nelson Eddy
BW-10 mins,

Features clips from New Moon (1940), Ziegfeld Girl (1941 - clip of Judy Garland singing "You Never Looked So Beautiful Before&quot , Up in Arms (1944 - clip of Danny Kaye singing "Tchkawvsky&quot , Two Girls and a Sailor (1944), The Stork Club (1945), Holiday in Mexico (1946), Carnegie Hall (1947 - clip of Lily Pons singing), Road to Rio (1947 - clip of Bing Crosby crooning to Dorothy Lamour), and Neptune's Daughter (1949).

3:30 AM -- Young Man With a Horn (1950)
A young trumpet player is torn between an honest singer and a manipulative heiress.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day
BW-112 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Doris Day wrote that she was unhappy making this film, which brought back stressful memories of her early career as a band singer, and also because Kirk Douglas and Lauren Bacall (having dated at one time in real life) seemed to intentionally shut her out, making her feel unwelcome.

5:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #19 (1955)
Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly perform in a clip from "Ziegfeld Follies"; George Murphy introduces a clip from "Ransom." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-25 mins, TV-G,