TCM Schedule for Friday, January 17, 2014 -- Friday Night Spotlight: Science in the Movies

[Staph]

Today is a continuation of Star of the Month Joan Crawford, followed by the Friday Night Spotlight -- Science in the Movies. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- The Shining Hour (1938)
A nightclub dancer marries into society and has to contend with her jealous sister-in-law.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Joan Crawford, Margaret Sullavan, Melvyn Douglas
BW-77 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Joan Crawford specifically asked for Margaret Sullavan to play the role of Judy, despite Louis B. Mayer's warning that the accomplished stage actress could steal the picture from her. Joan replied "I'd rather be a supporting player in a good picture than the star of a bad one."


7:30 AM -- The Ice Follies Of 1939 (1939)
An ice-skating team breaks up when both partners fall for the same girl.
Dir: Reinhold Schunzel
Cast: Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Lew Ayres
BW-82 mins, TV-G, CC,

None of the three main stars could skate; the screenplay was written with this in mind.


8:55 AM -- Radio Hams (1939)
This short film takes a look at amateur radio operators.
Dir: Felix E. Feist
Cast: Barbara Bedford, Jason Robards (Sr.), Dorothy Vaughan
BW-10 mins,


9:15 AM -- Strange Cargo (1940)
A prostitute and some prisoners attempt to escape from a penal colony in French Guiana.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Ian Hunter
BW-113 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Director Frank Borzage said Joan Crawford was a trouper but did not mention a particular day in the jungle when Crawford, preceded by Clark Gable passed under a tree with an eight-foot python coiled on a branch overhead. "That son-of-a-b-h is alive!" screamed Crawford, looking upward. "Yes, but its jaws are shut tight with a rubber band," Borzage explained. "What happens if the f-king rubber band snaps?" Crawford asked, and refused to repeat the scene.


11:15 AM -- Susan And God (1940)
A flighty socialite neglects her family to promote a new religious group.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Joan Crawford, Fredric March, Ruth Hussey
BW-117 mins, TV-PG, CC,

The play was originally bought for Norma Shearer. She balked at playing the mother of a 14-year old, so Joan Crawford got the role. Shearer was four years older than Crawford!


1:18 PM -- Willie And The Mouse (1941)
This short film examines how the behavior of mice can be studied in relation to the behavior of school children.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Mary MacLaren, Hillary Brooke, Robert J. Anderson
BW-11 mins,


1:30 PM -- Reunion in France (1942)
A Frenchwoman tries to help a downed U.S. flyer escape the Nazis.
Dir: Jules Dassin
Cast: Joan Crawford, John Wayne, Philip Dorn
BW-104 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Originally scheduled as a February 1943 release under the name "Reunion", the movie was moved up to a Christmas 1942 release with the final title because of the increased interest in the war in France. Most trade papers reviewed the film with the title "Reunion" due to early press previews, and the copyright registry bears that title also.


3:18 PM -- The United States Service Bands (1943)
A WWII patriotic wartime short showcasing the service bands of the U.S. Army, Army Air Force, Marines, and Navy.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
BW-10 mins,


3:30 PM -- Above Suspicion (1943)
A honeymooning couple are asked to spy on the Nazis in pre-war Europe.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt
BW-91 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Crawford always said she wished Hitchcock had directed this film. And indeed, the film contains many "Hitchcockian" touches (mistaken identity, music as a plot cue, innocents recruited to do dangerous tasks, etc.)


5:15 PM -- Hollywood Canteen (1944)
A serviceman and a starlet find love at the star-staffed serviceman's center.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Andrews Sisters, Jack Benny, Joe E. Brown
BW-124 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Music, Original Song -- M.K. Jerome (music) and Ted Koehler (lyrics) for the song "Sweet Dreams Sweetheart", and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Ray Heindorf

Joan Crawford, so the myth goes, found out that Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck were slated to be in the film as well; she reportedly asked about the billing. After being told it was alphabetical, she realized that "C" came before "D" or "S", and agreed to do the film.


7:30 PM -- Jimmy Fund - At Home With Joan Crawford (1953)
Joan Crawford urging the audience to donate to the Jimmy Fund to end childhood cancer.
BW-4 mins, TV-G,


7:35 PM -- Let's Ask Nostradamus (Prophecies Of Nostradamus #2) (1953)
In this short film, the prophecies of Nostradamus are compared to events of the French Revolution.
Dir: Peter Ballbusch
Cast: John Burton,
BW-11 mins,


7:51 PM -- Ski-Flying (1956)
This short film focuses on the rules and safety measures for the sport of ski flying.
Dir: Heinz Scheiderbauer
BW-8 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: SCIENCE IN THE MOVIES



8:00 PM -- The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
Charles Lindbergh risks his life to complete his historic flight from New York to Paris.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: James Stewart, Murray Hamilton, Patricia Smith
C-135 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Louis Lichtenfield

James Stewart, who was portraying Charles Lindbergh at the age of 25, was 47 when the film was made.


10:30 PM -- Gallant Journey (1946)
An aviation pioneer fights his family's objections to invent a flying machine.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: Glenn Ford, Janet Blair, Charlie Ruggles
BW-86 mins, TV-PG, CC,

As part of the advance publicity, Columbia Pictures sponsored a cross-country Boston to Los Angles tour featuring a 1911 Locomobile car.


12:00 AM -- Silkwood (1983)
A laborer at a nuclear power plant risks her life to report unsafe practices.
Dir: Mike Nichols
Cast: Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, Cher
C-131 mins, TV-MA, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Meryl Streep, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Cher, Best Director -- Mike Nichols, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen, and Best Film Editing -- Sam O'Steen

In an interview with "American Film", Meryl Streep said of Karen Silkwood, "she wasn't Joan of Arc at all. She was unsavory in some ways and yet she did some very good things...[director] Mike [Nichols] spoke of the film as being about people being asleep in their lives and waking up: 'How did I get here?' And that's exactly how I felt...I think the movie is about human nature more than about any issue...I get very creepy feelings if I think about it [whether Streep's characterization let her get to know Karen Silkwood]. My heart breaks for her. She was only twenty-eight or twenty-nine when she died, and it was a real waste. I'm really glad I got the chance to try to step into her shoes for a while".


2:15 AM -- The Beginning Or The End (1947)
True story of the Manhattan Project and the race to build the atomic bomb.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Brian Donlevy, Robert Walker, Tom Drake
BW-112 mins, TV-PG, CC,

The idea for the film came from atomic scientists and the first scripts raised questions about the use of the new weapon against Japan and all uses of nuclear energy in the future. By the time the Pentagon and the White House got through with it, the movie took a 180-degree turn. President Truman even got the actor playing him in the movie fired, according to Greg Mitchell, author of 'Atomic Cover-Up: Two U.S. Soldiers, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, and the Greatest Movie Never Made'.


4:15 AM -- These Are the Damned (1962)
Children bred to survive a nuclear holocaust escape from a top-secret military facility.
Dir: Joseph Losey
Cast: MacDonald Carey, Shirley Field, Viveca Lindfors
BW-95 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

The film was delayed for two years and was not shown in Britain until the Spring of 1963, when it was released as the lower half of a Hammer Films double-bill with "Maniac". It had been cut by Hammer (against Joseph Losey's wishes) from 96 minutes to 87 minutes, and it was cut by ten minutes more again when it was finally shown in America in 1965. However, the missing footage has been restored to the film for its DVD version and for 21st-century television showings.