TCM Schedule for Friday, December 13 -- Friday Night Spotlight: The Hollywood Costume

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating the birth of Van Heflin, born Emmett Evan Heflin Jr. on December 13, 1910, in Walters, Oklahoma. Then in prime time, TCM continues this month's Friday Night Spotlight, the Hollywood Costume. Beautiful work! Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: John Leguizamo (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-28 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format


6:30 AM -- Annapolis Salute (1937)
A naval cadet clashes with his father and his best friend over his love of the commander's daughter.
Dir: Christy Cabanne
Cast: James Ellison, Marsha Hunt, Harry Carey
BW-65 mins, TV-PG,

Based on a story by Christy Cabanne, who graduated from the Naval Academy.


7:45 AM -- Saturday's Heroes (1937)
A college football star rebels against the exploitation of the game and its players.
Dir: Edward Killy
Cast: Van Heflin, Marian Marsh, Richard Lane
BW-60 mins, TV-G,

Based on a story by George Templeton, who was later nominated for two Oscars for Best Short Subject, for The Little Witch (1945) and for College Queen (1946).


8:49 AM -- Spade Cooley King Of Western Swing (1945)
This musical short film chronicles the rise in popularity of Spade Cooley and his unique blend of country and swing music.
Dir: Jack Scholl
Cast: Tex Cooper,
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


9:00 AM -- Santa Fe Trail (1940)
Romantic rivals get caught in the battle to stop abolitionist John Brown.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey
BW-110 mins, TV-PG, CC,

The song, "Benny Havens, Oh!" (sung by the soldiers at the farewell party at Fort Leavenworth) is a song from West Point. Benny Havens ran a public house near by West Point Military Academy. The writing of the song in his establishment by a Lieutenant O'Brien is commemorated in a mural in the Benny Havens Room of the West Point Army Mess.


11:00 AM -- Grand Central Murder (1942)
A detective investigates an actress's murder in a train car.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon
Cast: Van Heflin, Patricia Dane, Cecilia Parker
BW-74 mins, TV-G, CC,

Based on the novel by Sue MacVeigh.


12:30 PM -- Tennessee Johnson (1942)
Biography of Andrew Johnson, who followed Abraham Lincoln into office and became the first U.S. president ever to be impeached.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Van Heflin, Lionel Barrymore, Ruth Hussey
BW-103 mins, TV-G, CC,

There was a protest from some sectors that the film distorted the life of Thaddeus Stevens (who initiated the impeachment proceedings against President Andrew Johnson). Additional filming occurred in October 1942, but it is not known if it was because of these protests. One line in the script (Stevens referring to Lincoln as "the old ape&quot was eliminated. Still, the film treats Johnson much more favorably than it does Stevens.


2:14 PM -- America, Preferred (1941)
This promotional short asks citizens to purchase U.S. Defense Bonds and Stamps in order to build up the nation's military and infrastructure.
BW-8 mins,


2:30 PM -- Presenting Lily Mars (1943)
A small-town girl fights for her big chance on Broadway.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Judy Garland, Van Heflin, Fay Bainter
BW-104 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Both "Presenting Lily Mars" and "The Harvey Girls" were purchased by Metro as Lana Turner vehicles, but both roles were ultimately played by Judy Garland.


4:30 PM -- Possessed (1947)
A married woman's passion for a former love drives her mad.
Dir: Curtis Bernhardt
Cast: Joan Crawford, Van Heflin, Raymond Massey
BW-108 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Joan Crawford

Crawford spent time in actual psychiatric wards, observing mental patients as research for this role. She was subsequently named in a small lawsuit when a female patient sued her for observing her without her written permission. The suit was later dropped.


6:30 PM -- The Golden Mask (1954)
An archaeologist and a reporter fight crooks to find a lost tomb containing a legendary treasure.
Dir: Jack Lee
Cast: Wanda Hendrix, Van Heflin, Eric Portman
C-90 mins, TV-PG,

Originally titled South of Algiers.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: THE HOLLYWOOD COSTUME



8:00 PM -- Funny Girl (1968)
Comedienne Fanny Brice fights to prove that she can be the greatest star and find romance even though she isn't pretty.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford
C-157 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Barbra Streisand (Tied with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter (1968).)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Kay Medford, Best Cinematography -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Sound, Best Film Editing -- Robert Swink, Maury Winetrobe and William Sands, Best Music, Original Song -- Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics) for the song "Funny Girl", Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation) -- Walter Scharf, and Best Picture

Producer Ray Stark was Fanny Brice's son-in-law and the baby that Fanny (Barbra Streisand) gave birth to in reality grew up to become Stark's wife.


10:45 PM -- Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
An academic couple reveal their deepest secret to a pair of newcomers during an all-night booze fest.
Dir: Mike Nichols
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal
BW-131 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Elizabeth Taylor (Elizabeth Taylor was not present at the awards ceremony. Anne Bancroft accepted the award on her behalf.), Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Sandy Dennis (Sandy Dennis was unable to attend the Academy Awards presentations, because she was working on a new film, Sweet November (1968), being shot in New York. Mike Nichols accepted the award on her behalf.), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Haskell Wexler, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Richard Sylbert and George James Hopkins, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Irene Sharaff

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Richard Burton, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George Segal, Best Director -- Mike Nichols, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Ernest Lehman, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Film Editing -- Sam O'Steen, Best Music, Original Music Score -- Alex North, and Best Picture

According a 2005 interview with Edward Albee, the original writer of the play which the film is based, producer Ernest Lehman hired himself to write the screenplay for $250,000. Also, Albee says that when director Mike Nichols and stars Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor read the script, they hated it so much that, unknown to Lehman, they changed all of the dialog back to Albee's play save two lines: "Hey, let's go to the roadhouse!" and "Hey, let's come back from the roadhouse!" Albee said, "Two lines for $250,000, $125,000 a piece. That's pretty good."


1:00 AM -- Chinatown (1974)
A Los Angeles private eye unwittingly sets up an innocent man for murder, then joins his seductive widow to unearth the corruption behind the crime.
Dir: Roman Polanski
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, Perry Lopez
C-130 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Robert Towne

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Jack Nicholson, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Faye Dunaway. Best Director -- Roman Polanski, Best Cinematography -- John A. Alonzo, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Richard Sylbert, W. Stewart Campbell and Ruby R. Levitt, Best Costume Design -- Anthea Sylbert, Best Sound -- Charles Grenzbach and Larry Jost, Best Film Editing -- Sam O'Steen, Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Jerry Goldsmith, and Best Picture

The Van der Lip Dam disaster is a reference to the collapse of the St Francis Dam in 1928, 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, which had been designed by self-educated engineer William Mulholland. The consequent flooding killed at least 450 people, a loss of life that remains second only to that from the San Francisco earthquake and fire in California's history.


3:15 AM -- Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Onetime college friends cope with the sexual revolution of the '60s.
Dir: Mike Nichols
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, Arthur Garfunkel
C-98 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ann-Margret

The scene in which Sandy (Art Garfunkel) takes out a condom while in bed with Susan (Candice Bergen) is the first time a condom was ever shown onscreen.


5:00 AM -- Adam's Rib (1949)
Husband-and-wife lawyers argue opposite sides in a sensational women's rights case.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday
BW-101 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin

Inspired by the real-life story of husband-and-wife lawyers William Dwight Whitney and Dorothy Whitney, who represented Raymond Massey and his ex-wife Adrienne Allen in their divorce. After the Massey divorce was over, the Whitneys divorced each other and married the respective Masseys.