TCM Schedule for Friday, August 29, 2014 -- Summer Under The Stars - Joseph Cotton

[Staph]

Today's Star is Joseph Cotton, who used to claim he only got parts because he was tall, had curly hair and a good voice -- he was wrong! Before his celebrated appearance as Charles Foster Kane's best friend, Jed Leland, in Citizen Kane (1941), he appears as one of the reporters in the March of Time parody sequence early in the film. He is seated in the back of the projection room, in the last row at the far left, and is only clearly visible in one shot, but his voice along with that of Everett Sloane's (who plays Bernstein) can often be heard in the darkness on the soundtrack. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Lydia (1941)
An unmarried woman stages a reunion with former suitors to recapture the romance of her past.
Dir: Julien Duvivier Cast: Merle Oberon, Edna May Oliver, Alan Marshal
BW-99 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Miklós Rózsa

The poem Lydia and Bob quote at the ball is "The Night has a Thousand Eyes" by Francis William Bourdillon, a late Victorian English poet (1852-1921). The text is
"The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun.
The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one:
Yet the light of a whole life dies.
When love is done."


8:00 AM -- Under Capricorn (1949)
Newly arrived in Australia, a man discovers his childhood love is now an alcoholic.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Michael Wilding
C-117 mins, CC,

In his autobiography "Vanity Will Get You Somewhere", actor Joseph Cotten referred to this film as "Under Corny Crap". Supposedly he had also done so on set, invoking Hitchcock's ire; intentionally or otherwise, the director did not use him again for six years.


10:00 AM -- Walk Softly, Stranger (1950)
A small-time crook on the run is reformed by the love of a crippled woman.
Dir: Robert Stevenson
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Spring Byington
BW-81 mins, CC,

Completed in 1948, copyrighted in 1949, but not released until 1950.


11:30 AM -- The Steel Trap (1952)
When he has second thoughts, an embezzler races the clock to return what he stole.
Dir: Andrew Stone
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Teresa Wright, Jonathan Hale
BW-85 mins, CC,

The Osbornes attempt to board a Chicago and Southern Airlines flight in New Orleans for Brazil. Chicago and Southern Airlines was the name of a real carrier based in Memphis, TN. In 1953, they were integrated into Delta Airlines.


1:00 PM -- The Angel Wore Red (1960)
A priest and a prostitute fall in love during the Spanish Civil War.
Dir: Nunnally Johnson
Cast: Ava Gardner, Dirk Bogarde, Joseph Cotten
BW-99 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Filmed in Rome, Italy; Catania, Sicily; and in Cinecittà Studios in Rome.


3:00 PM -- Gaslight (1944)
A newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten
BW-114 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ingrid Bergman, and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, William Ferrari, Edwin B. Willis and aul Huldschinsky

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Charles Boyer, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Angela Lansbury, Best Writing, Screenplay -- John L. Balderston, Walter Reisch and John Van Druten, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, and Best Picture

New scenes not in the original play (Angel Street by Patrick Hamilton) were added to this version of "Gaslight", and the names of most of the characters were changed. The character that Joseph Cotten plays in this version was changed from a stout, humorously sardonic elderly man to a young, handsome one in order to serve as a potential love interest for Ingrid Bergman in the film, and in order to appeal more to the audience.


5:00 PM -- The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
A possessive son's efforts to keep his mother from remarrying threaten to destroy his family.
Dir: Orson Welles
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter
BW-88 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Agnes Moorehead, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Stanley Cortez, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Albert S. D'Agostino, A. Roland Fields and Darrell Silvera, and Best Picture

Twenty years later, Orson Welles was still planning an epilogue starring the older Joseph Cotten, Anne Baxter, Agnes Moorehead and Tim Holt.


6:45 PM -- Journey Into Fear (1942)
A munitions expert gets mixed up with gunrunners in Turkey.
Dir: Norman Foster
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Del Rio, Ruth Warrick
BW-68 mins, CC,

In late August 1942, RKO decided to delay the release of the movie because critics panned it in press previews. By that time, Orson Welles' contract was terminated by a new studio head. As part of the settlement, Welles agreed to recut the last reel and film additional scenes. He added the voice-over by Joseph Cotten at the beginning and end of the movie, and designed the pre-credit sequence.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: JOSEPH COTTEN



8:00 PM -- Portrait of Jennie (1948)
An artist discovers his gift when he falls for a beautiful ghost.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore
C-86 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Paul Eagler (visual), J. McMillan Johnson (visual), Russell Shearman (visual), Clarence Slifer (visual), Charles L. Freeman (audible) and James G. Stewart (audible)

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph H. August

Producer David O. Selznick initially considered filming this movie over a period of several years, casting a young actress in the role of Jennie and shooting portions of the film over time as the actress actually grew older in real life. (Shirley Temple, then under contract to Selznick, was reportedly intended for the role, had the movie been filmed that way.) In the end, however, Selznick abandoned the idea as too risky and difficult to film properly.


9:45 PM -- Duel in the Sun (1947)
A fiery half-breed comes between a rancher's good and evil sons.
Dir: King Vidor
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck
C-144 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jennifer Jones, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lillian Gish

David O. Selznick had originally intended this property as his artistic follow-up to Gone with the Wind (1939). He envisioned a lavish production with no expense spared, and ultimately he got his wish. Constant production delays, many caused by Selznick's meddling and the hiring and firing of as many as seven directors (including Selznick himself), as well as an extended editing period to cut the film from its original 26-hour running time, caused the budget to balloon to a then-horrifying sum of $6 million, plus an additional $2 million in marketing costs. Though the film eventually did turn a profit, it effectively marked the end of Selznick's career. However, he went on to produce prestige films such as The Paradine Case (1947), Portrait of Jennie (1948), The Third Man (1949) and A Farewell to Arms (1957).


12:15 AM -- The Third Man (1949)
A man's investigation of a friend's death uncovers corruption in post-World War II Vienna.
Dir: Carol Reed
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles
BW-104 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Krasker

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Carol Reed, and Best Film Editing -- Oswald Hafenrichter

The original script included a return appearance by Charters and Caldicott, the two English cricket enthusiasts who first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938), and later in Carol Reed's Night Train to Munich (1940). However, the two characters were streamlined into the role of Mr. Crabbin, played by Wilfrid Hyde-White.


2:15 AM -- Citizen Kane (1941)
The investigation of a publishing tycoon's dying words reveals conflicting stories about his scandalous life.
Dir: Orson Welles
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead
BW-119 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles (On Friday, July 19th, 2003, Orson Welles' Oscar statuette went on sale at an auction at Christie's, New York, but was voluntarily withdrawn so the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences could buy it back for just 1 dollar. The statuette, included in a large selection of Welles-related material, was going to be sold by Beatrice Welles, the youngest of the filmmaker's three daughters and the sole heir of his estate and was expected to sell at over 300,000 dollars.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Orson Welles, Best Director -- Orson Welles, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Gregg Toland, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Perry Ferguson, Van Nest Polglase, A. Roland Fields and Darrell Silvera, Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio SSD), Best Film Editing -- Robert Wise, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Bernard Herrmann, and Best Picture

One subplot discarded from the final film concerned Susan Alexander Kane having an affair that Kane discovers, said to be based on Marion Davies' rumored affair with Charles Chaplin. There were scenes written and storyboards designed for this sequence, though as rumors of Hearst's ire grew, Orson Welles ordered the sequence deleted from the script. He refused to discuss the real reasons for its removal in any public forum throughout his life, even long after Hearst's death, as he claimed elements of the subplot were so scandalous they could cost him his life. Privately, however, he did discuss the subject with his close friend Peter Bogdanovich. According to Bogdanovich, the danger of the subplot stemmed not from the affair, but of its result: Welles claimed that Davis did in fact have an affair with Chaplin, and Hearst learned of it while on a trip on Hearst's yacht with Davies, Chaplin and a number of other celebrity guests. Welles asserted that Hearst walked into a room and saw Davies and Chaplin having sex. He pulled a gun, and Chaplin ran out of the room onto the deck. Hearst fired at Chapln, but accidentally shot pioneering producer/director Thomas H. Ince, who shortly afterward died from the wound. An elaborate cover-up followed (supposedly, columnist Louella Parsons was on board and witnessed the killing, and Hearst promised her a job with him for life if she kept her mouth shut. She did.).The legend became the basis for Bogdanovich's own film The Cat's Meow (2001).


4:30 AM -- I'll Be Seeing You (1944)
A soldier meets a woman on Christmas furlough from prison and they fall in love.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple
BW-85 mins, CC,

The quote from Lincoln under his photograph in the YMCA room is from his Cooper Union Address: "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it" (February 27, 1860).

[CBHagman]

1. What a great line-up.

There are a few here I haven't seen yet (I'm fairly certain I'll Be Seeing You was one Netflix said would take a long time to get), and of course a couple of the obvious choices. Do not miss The Third Man if you haven't yet seen it.