TCM Schedule for Monday January 30 - TCM Spotlight: Joan Fontaine

[rdmtimp]

TCM spotlights the great Joan Fontaine (happily still with us at age 94), with an evening of her films, including her Oscar winning performance in "Suspicion" (trivia note: she's the only actor to earn an Oscar for a Hitchcock film).

(all times Eastern)

6:00 AM LAS VEGAS STORY, THE (1952)
When newlyweds visit Las Vegas, the wife's shady past comes to the surface. Dir: Robert Stevenson Cast: Jane Russell , Victor Mature , Vincent Price. BW-88 mins, TV-PG, CC,

7:30 AM TALK ABOUT A STRANGER (1952)
Small-town gossips rage over the arrival of a mysterious stranger. Dir: David Bradley Cast: George Murphy , Nancy Davis , Billy Gray. BW-65 mins, TV-G, CC,

8:45 AM THIS WOMAN IS DANGEROUS (1952)
A female gangster learns she is losing her vision. Dir: Felix Feist Cast: Joan Crawford , Dennis Morgan , David Brian. BW-97 mins, TV-PG,

10:30 AM MY MAN AND I (1952)
A Mexican-American laborer fights for his dignity. Dir: William A. Wellman Cast: Shelley Winters , Ricardo Montalban , Wendell Corey. BW-99 mins, TV-PG, CC,

12:15 PM LIGHT TOUCH, THE (1952)
An art thief tries to double cross his gangster boss. Dir: Richard Brooks Cast: Stewart Granger , Pier Angeli , George Sanders. BW-93 mins, TV-G, CC,

2:00 PM BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, THE (1952)
An unscrupulous movie producer uses everyone around him in his climb to the top. Dir: Vincente Minnelli Cast: Elaine Stewart , Sammy White , Leo G. Carroll. BW-118 mins, TV-PG, CC,

4:00 PM DEVIL MAKES THREE, THE (1952)
A soldier returns to Munich after the war and gets mixed up with the black market. Dir: Andrew Marton Cast: Gene Kelly , Pier Angeli , Richard Rober. BW-90 mins, TV-14,

5:45 PM ABOVE AND BEYOND (1952)
The pilot who helped drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima struggles with the demands of the dangerous mission. Dir: Melvin Frank Cast: Robert Taylor , Eleanor Parker , James Whitmore. BW-122 mins, TV-PG, CC,

8:00 PM JANE EYRE (1944)
A governess at a remote estate falls in love with her brooding employer. Dir: Robert Stevenson Cast: Orson Welles , Joan Fontaine , Margaret O'Brien.
BW-97 mins, TV-PG,

10:00 PM CONSTANT NYMPH, THE (1943)
A composer finds inspiration in his wife's romantic cousin. Dir: Edmund Goulding Cast: Charles Boyer , Joan Fontaine , Alexis Smith. BW-112 mins, TV-PG,

12:00 AM BORN TO BE BAD (1950)
An ambitious girl steals a rich husband but keeps her lover on the side. Dir: Nicholas Ray Cast: Joan Fontaine , Robert Ryan , Zachary Scott. BW-90 mins, TV-PG, CC,

2:00 AM SUSPICION (1941)
A wealthy wallflower suspects her penniless playboy husband of murder. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Cary Grant , Joan Fontaine , Sir Cedric Hardwicke. BW-100 mins, TV-PG, CC,

4:00 AM IVANHOE (1952)
Sir Walter Scott's classic tale of the noble knight torn between his fair lady and a beautiful Jew. Dir: Richard Thorpe Cast: Robert Taylor , Elizabeth Taylor , Joan Fontaine. C-107 mins, TV-G, CC,

[CBHagman]

1. Joan Fontaine

Synchronicity! I was glad to read your mention that Joan Fontaine is still with us, as that very subject had come up the other day. A neighbor and I were talking about classic movies and who from Hollywood's golden age remained. It wasn't a very long list -- Luise Rainer, Lauren Bacall, Dickie Moore, Margaret O'Brien, Deanna Durbin, Mickey Rooney, and of course Olivia de Havilland. Then we both wondered aloud whether Joan Fontaine was still around.



I happen to like this version of Jane Eyre, though there have been multiple good adaptations in recent years.

[Matilda]

2. One thing I'd love to see is the original ending of "Suspicion".

WARNING: Spoilers here if you haven't seen this film.

In that version, Cary Grant was trying to kill his wife (Joan Fontaine). In the ending finally screened, there is a sudden turnaround at the end, and she finds out that her suspicion was quite wrong; he was innocent and simply misunderstood.

I've read two versions of the reason for the change: one, that both were shown to a test audience, and they preferred the second ending; and the second version is that Cary Grant himself didn't like the way it ended, and asked for it to be changed.

Whatever the reason, I always feel slightly cheated - having built up very plausible suspense, with a charming but disturbing leading man, we are let down by a silly scene with a fake near-crash of a car, and a quick denouement in which a sorrowful Cary Grant gently chides his wife for not having faith in him (even though he's proven to be a liar, a swindler, and a golddigger).

I'd love to see the version in which we learn that he has indeed poisoned his poor exploited wife - but did she die, and did he get away with it? Unless somebody finds the edited scenes hidden in a vault somewhere (stranger things have happened), we'll never know. But I'd love to see how the film flowed to its true ending, without the jarring interpolation of a highly implausible ending.

[davidhaslanded]

3. Thanks