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Staph

(6,245 posts)
Tue Feb 7, 2012, 07:19 PM Feb 2012

TCM Schedule for Thursday, February 9 -- 31 Days of Oscar -- Texas

In the daylight hours, there is a continuation of yesterday's Midwest theme, with films based in Illinois, Indiana, Chicago, Kansas City, and St. Louis. In primetime, we're going to Texas, with films about cattle and oil and football. Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
An exploration into the domestic and political life of this past president.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon
110 min, TV-G, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Raymond Massey, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- James Wong Howe

After his success playing Lincoln in the film and on Broadway, Raymond Massey began to assume the character in real life. He often appeared at social gatherings dressed in Lincoln-esque attire, assuming a Lincoln-like manner and speech. His friend, the playwright George S. Kaufman, observed, "Massey won't be satisfied until someone assassinates him."



8:15 AM -- Friendly Persuasion (1956)
A peaceful Quaker family's sanctity is tested during the Civil War.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Marjorie Main
138 min, TV-G, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Anthony Perkins, Best Director -- William Wyler, Best Music, Original Song -- Dimitri Tiomkin (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) for the song "Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)", Best Sound, Recording -- Gordon R. Glennan (Westrex Sound Services) and Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- Michael Wilson (Due to being blacklisted Michael Wilson did not receive a screen credit, which under special Academy by-law made him ineligible personally although the writing achievement itself could be eligible. In early 1957 AMPAS instructed Price Waterhouse & Co. not to list any nomination declared ineligible under the by-law and thus this nomination was not included on the final voting ballot. The by-law was laster declared unworkable in January 1959. In December 2002 the Academy reinstated Mr. Wilson's nomination.), and Best Picture

The official name of the Quaker religion is Society of Friends. Members of the faith are called Friends and nicknamed Quakers. The book is called "The Friendly Persuasion", meaning the faith. The film is simply called "Friendly Persuasion," which more specifically refers to the Quakers' way of communicating.



10:45 AM -- The Public Enemy (1931)
An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods
84 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- John Bright and Kubec Glasmon

Several versions exist of the origin of the notorious grapefruit scene, but the most plausible is the one on which James Cagney and Mae Clarke agree: The scene, they explained, was actually staged as a practical joke at the expense of the film crew, just to see their stunned reactions. There was never any intention of ever using the shot in the completed film. Director Wellman, however, eventually decided to keep the shot, and use it in the film's final release print.



12:15 PM -- Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
The jazz band's leader gets mixed up with gangster in '20s Kansas City.
Dir: Jack Webb
Cast: Jack Webb, Janet Leigh, Edmond O'Brien
C- 95 min, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Peggy Lee

Jack Webb actually knew how to play the cornet. He loved jazz music and, as a boy, was given a cornet by a musician who lived near his home. While he never truly mastered the instrument he knew it well enough that his handling and fingering of the cornet in this movie is accurate.



2:00 PM -- Some Came Running (1958)
A veteran returns home to deal with family secrets and small-town scandals.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine
C- 136 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Arthur Kennedy, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Shirley MacLaine, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Martha Hyer, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White or Color -- Walter Plunkett, and Best Music, Original Song -- Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "To Love and Be Loved"

"Some Came Running" is taken from the Gospel of St. Mark (Chapter 10:17), which author James Jones used as an epigraph before the beginning of the novel. It reads: "And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" Jones also used the image of running to begin the novel's prologue, as Dave Hirsh remembers German soldiers attacking during the Battle of the Bulge; "They came running through the fog across the snow, lumbering, the long rifles held up awkwardly high..."



4:20 PM -- One Reel Wonder: Water Trix (1948)
A Pete Smith Specialty short about Charles Trego, a water photographer filming from a helicopter.
Dir: Charles T. Trego
9 min,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel -- Pete Smith

Water skiing champion Preston Petersen and two unnamed female skiers perform various tricks and feats of skill in their sport.



4:30 PM -- Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)
Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor
C- 113 min, TV-G, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- George J. Folsey, Best Music, Original Song -- Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin for the song "The Trolley Song", Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- George Stoll, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe

Director Vincente Minnelli worked hard to make the movie as accurate to the times as possible. Not only did its novelist, Sally Benson, give explicit directions as to the decor of her home down to the last detail, but the movie's costume designer took inspiration for many of the movies costumes right out of the Sears & Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, and Marshall Fields catalogs from the time period.



6:30 PM -- Second Fiddle (1939)
A Hollywood PR man tries to turn a Minnesota teacher into a star.
Dir: Sidney Lanfield
Cast: Sonja Henie, Tyrone Power, Rudy Vallee
87 min, TV-G, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Irving Berlin for the song "I Poured My Heart Into a Song"

Sonja Henie won three Olympic gold medals between 1928 and 1936, along with ten Women's Figure Skating World Championships. She was the first skater to parlay her athletic success into a lucrative career.




TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: TEXAS



8:00 PM -- Red River (1948)
A young cowhand rebels against his rancher stepfather during a perilous cattle drive.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru
133 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Film Editing -- Christian Nyby, and Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Borden Chase

Writer Borden Chase readily admitted that the storyline was Mutiny on the Bounty with saddles and stirrups.



10:19 PM -- One Reel Wonder: The Strauss Fantasy (1954)
Johnny Green leads the MGM Symphony Orchestra in a medley of waltzes and other familiar pieces by three members of the Strauss family.
C- 10 min,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel -- Johnny Green

The soundtrack includes "On the Beautiful Blue Danube,""Pizzicato Polka," "Tales from the Vienna Woods," "Vienna Life," "The High Spirits Polka," "The Emperor Waltz," "Radetzky Waltz," and "Overture to the Bat."



10:30 PM -- Written On The Wind (1956)
A young woman marries into a corrupt oil family then falls for her husband's best friend.
Dir: Douglas Sirk
Cast: Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack
C- 99 min, TV-PG, CC

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Dorothy Malone

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Robert Stack, Best Music, Original Song -- Victor Young (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "Written on the Wind" (Victor Young's nomination was posthumous.)

The movie was rumored to be based on the death of tobacco heir Zachary "Smith" Reynolds. The youngest son of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds, the 20-year-old playboy had a complete disinterest in the family business, an inexhaustible allowance and a volatile temper. Smith owned a plane and literally stalked Broadway musical comedy star Libby Holman until the 27-year-old singer married him in 1931. Their marriage was a clash of wills and, during an alcohol-fueled July 4th holiday party in 1932 at the family's estate, Libby announced she was pregnant. Stories differ, but there was reportedly a tense confrontation, a gunshot and the young Smith was dead. Libby and Ab Walker, a close friend of Smith's who was whispered to be her lover, were indicted for murder. Fearing scandal over their son's activities, the intensely secretive Reynolds family "persuaqded" authorities to drop the charges. The death was officially ruled a suicide.



12:16 AM -- One Reel Wonder: Annie Was A Wonder (1948)
In this entry in the Passing Parade series, narrator John Nesbitt tells the story of Annie Swenson, who worked as a cook/housekeeper in the Nesbitt home when she was growing up.
Dir: Edward L. Cahn
Cast: Kathleen Freeman, Howard Negley, Ruth Lee
11 min,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel -- Herbert Moulton

One of the last of more than 60 Passing Parade short films.



12:30 AM -- Pigskin Parade (1936)
College football scouts recruit a country bumpkin with a killer kick.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Stuart Erwin, Patsy Kelly, Jack Haley
93 min, TV-G, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Stuart Erwin

Fourteen-year-old Judy Garland made her feature-film debut as the young hillbilly Sairy Dodd. This Twentieth Century-Fox picture was Judy's one loan-out during her 15 years with MGM (1935-1950).



2:08 AM -- One Reel Wonder: La Cucaracha (1934)
A theater owner, visits a local café in Mexico to audition the famous dancer who performs there.
Dir: Lloyd Corrigan
Cast: Steffi Duna, Don Alvarado, Paul Porcasi
C- 20 min,

Won an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Comedy -- Kenneth Macgowan

Singer Carly Simon received her unique first name to honor her parents' close friend Carolin "Carly" Wharton, who co-wrote the story on which this short film is based.



2:30 AM -- San Antonio (1945)
A reformed rustler tracks down a band of cattle thieves and tries to reform a crooked dance-hall girl.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall
C- 109 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Ted Smith and Jack McConaghy, and Best Music, Original Song -- Ray Heindorf (music), M.K. Jerome (music) and Ted Koehler (lyrics) for the song "Some Sunday Morning"

Bozic (S. Z. Sakall) in the film twice refers to riderless horses as 'empty horses'. This is likely to be a reference to director, Michael Curtiz, with whom Errol Flynn had worked on The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936). When wanting to see stray horses wandering through the battle, Curtiz directed the wranglers to "Bring on the empty horses." When David Niven and Flynn cracked up laughing, he responded with: 'You people, you think I know f*ck nothing; I tell you: I know f*ck all". Niven later made this "curtizism" immortal by titling a volume of his autobiography:"Bring on the empty horses."



4:30 AM -- Boom Town (1940)
Friends become rivals when they strike-it-rich in oil.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert
119 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harold Rosson, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound)

This was the last of three films (after San Francisco and Test Pilot) that Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy did together. After this film, Tracy insisted on a clause in his MGM contract that he would receive equal billing with Gable in all future films. While the two remained lifelong friends, they were never again paired together in a movie because MGM wasn't sure how to handle the equal billing.



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