TCM Schedule for Thursday, January 26 -- TCM Spotlight -- Jack Cardiff

[Staph]

Hooray -- today we're celebrating Paul Leonard Newman, born on January 26, 1925 in Shaker Heights, Ohio. beginning with his very first theatrical film, The Silver Chalice (1954). And tonight is the last of cinematographer Jack Cardiff, with five films that he directed. Enjoy!



7:15 AM -- The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
All-star epic retelling of Christ's life.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Max von Sydow, Dorothy McGuire, Robert Loggia
C- 199 min, TV-G , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Richard Day, William J. Creber, David S. Hall, Ray Moyer, Fred M. MacLean and Norman Rockett, Best Cinematography, Color -- William C. Mellor and Loyal Griggs, Best Costume Design, Color -- Vittorio Nino Novarese and Marjorie Best, Best Effects, Special Visual Effects -- J. McMillan Johnson, and Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Alfred Newman

Telly Savalas shaved his head bald for his role as Pontius Pilate. He kept his head shaved for the rest of his life.


10:37 AM -- One Reel Wonder: The Shoes Of The Fisherman (1968)
A promotional short for the political drama "The Shoes of the Fisherman."
Cast: Michael Anderson, Vittorio De Sica, George Englund
C- 9 min,

Reference is made to Kiril being the first non-Italian pope to be elected since Adrian VI 400 years earlier. In real life, this happened 10 years after this film was released with the election of Pope John Paul II.


10:53 AM -- One Reel Wonder: Milton Fox, Esq. (1964)
This promotional film for the feature Quick Before It Melts focuses on its smallest performer, the penguin.
Cast: Anjanette Comer, Yvonne Craig, Janine Gray
5 min,

Quick Before It Melts was the first in-flight film shown on a United Airlines flight.


11:00 AM -- The MGM Story (1950)
A collection of MGM previews with an introduction by Lionel Barrymore.
C- 57 min, TV-G


12:00 PM -- The Skipper Surprised His Wife (1950)
A captain tries to keep home as tight as his ship.
Dir: Elliott Nugent
Cast: Robert Walker, Joan Leslie, Edward Arnold
85 min, TV-G

Based on a magazine article by William J. Lederer.


1:30 PM -- The Silver Chalice (1954)
A silversmith is charged with engraving the Holy Grail.
Dir: Victor Saville
Cast: Virginia Mayo, Pier Angeli, Jack Palance
C- 135 min, TV-G , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- William V. Skall, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Franz Waxman

Paul Newman took out ads in the Hollywood trade papers apologizing for his performance in this film.


4:00 PM -- The Outrage (1964)
A Mexican bandit's crimes receive wildly different interpretations from four witnesses.
Dir: Martin Ritt
Cast: Paul Newman, Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom
96 min, TV-PG , CC

A remake of Akira Kurosawa's Rashômon.


5:45 PM -- Harper (1966)
A broken-down private eye sets out to find a rich woman's missing husband.
Dir: Jack Smight
Cast: Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris
C- 121 min, TV-14 , CC

The character Lew Harper is based on novelist Ross Macdonald's character Lew Archer. The name was changed for the film supposedly because Paul Newman had recently enjoyed success with Hud (one of his many successful films beginning with H) and the producers wanted the movie's title to begin with "H". Also, the Macdonald estate did not want the name "Archer" used in the movie. There may have been fear of legal complications because Macdonald got the name "Archer" in the first place from Miles Archer, Sam Spade's partner who is killed early on in Dashiell Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon."


7:47 PM -- One Reel Wonder: Operation Dirty Dozen (1967)
A short film looking behind the scenes at the making of The Dirty Dozen.
Dir: Ronald Saland
Cast: Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, Jim Brown
C- 9 min,

Included in the MGM/UA DVD release of The Dirty Dozen (1998).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: JACK CARDIFF



8:00 PM -- Intent to Kill (1958)
An unhappily married doctor operates on a South American dictator.
Dir: Jack Cardiff
Cast: Richard Todd, Betsy Drake, Herbert Lom
89 min, TV-PG , CC

"Most directors who have been around for a while, acquire a gaunt, soul-scarred look associated with fighter pilots who have survived a war." -- Jack Cardiff


9:45 PM -- The Lion (1962)
A man visits his daughter on an African wildlife reserve to make sure she's not growing up too wild.
Dir: Jack Cardiff
Cast: William Holden, Trevor Howard, Capucine
C- 92 min, TV-PG , CC

According to the novel, the girl's name is Patricia; her mother's name is Sybil; John Bullit is the girl's real father, not stepfather; the narrator (whose name is never revealed) has no family relation with the girl and her mother, and never saw them before he came to Kenya. In the end, the girl leaves with him without her mother.


11:30 PM -- Young Cassidy (1965)
True story of playwright Sean O'Casey's involvement with the Irish rebellion of 1910.
Dir: Jack Cardiff
Cast: Rod Taylor, Flora Robson, Jack MacGowran
C- 110 min, TV-14 , CC

Director John Ford fell ill during production and was replaced by Jack Cardiff. In an interview Jack Cardiff said that only four minutes and five seconds of the footage shot by John Ford ended up in the finished film. The riot scene was cited by critics as the obvious work of Ford, yet it was completely done by Cardiff who admitted that he found inspiration from Battleship Potemkin


1:30 AM -- The Liquidator (1966)
A killer-for-hire gets mixed up with a plot to assassinate England's Prince Phillip.
Dir: Jack Cardiff
Cast: Rod Taylor, Trevor Howard, Jill St. John
C- 104 min, TV-14 , CC

Based on the first of the 'Boysie Oakes' novels by John Gardner, published in 1964. There were seven more: Understrike (1965), Amber Nine (1966), Madrigal (1968) Founder Member (1969), The Airline Pirates (1970), Traitor's Exit (1970) and Killer for a Song (1975). After that Gardner took over writing the James Bond series from the late Ian Fleming.


3:30 AM -- Dark Of The Sun (1968)
A mercenary band fights to get refugees and a fortune in diamonds out of the Congo.
Dir: Jack Cardiff
Cast: Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Peter Carsten
C- 101 min, TV-14

In the scene leading up to the fight between Curry (Taylor) and Henlein (Carsten) alongside the train, the German is dubbed by Paul Frees.


5:14 AM -- One Reel Wonder: King Of The Duplicators (1968)
This short shows how William Tuttle, chief of MGM's makeup department for over 30 years, makes life masks of performers.
Cast: William Tuttle, Wayne Thomas, Charles H. Schram
C- 12 min,

Photographs of Barry Atwater as Abraham Lincoln, Natalie Wood as Penelope, and Tony Randall in 7 Faces of Dr. Lao are shown as examples of Tuttle's expertise.


5:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #8 (1955)
Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant perform in a clip from "The Philadelphia Story"; George Murphy introduces a clip from "The Tender Trap." Hosted by George Murphy.
26 min, TV-G

[Bolo Boffin]

1. MGM Parade Show #8 includes Ziegfeld Follies skit that's the basis for a line in North by Northwest.

A drunk man fighting with his lawyer to help him avoid a small penalty, but the lawyer is a lot more interesting in bilking him for everything he can bill him. The drunk man keeps repeating one line:

"Please! Pay them the two dollars!"