TCM Schedule for Thursday, October 30, 2014 -- TCM Special Theme - Ghost Stories

[Staph]

During the day, TCM is featuring the work of director Gordon Douglas. He started out as a child actor in the Our Gang comedies, and is the only director to have directed both Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. In prime time it's more Halloween-themed Ghost Stories. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- MGM Parade Show #32 (1955)
Walter Pidgeon introduces clips from "The Swan" and Part One of "The Pirate" featuring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly.
BW-26 mins,


6:30 AM -- Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (1957)
Army veterans are on a mission to find out who sold faulty ammunition to a cavalry troop.
Dir: Richard L. Bare
Cast: Randolph Scott, James Craig, Angie Dickinson
BW-87 mins, CC,

One of James Garner's earliest films.


8:00 AM -- Darby's Rangers (1958)
An Army Major leads his men behind enemy lines during World War II.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: James Garner, Etchika Choureau, Jack Warden
C-121 mins, Letterbox Format

Leading man James Garner was originally only supposed to have a supporting role here with Charlton Heston being top-billed, but when he signed to a new seven-year contract with Warners, the studio dropped Heston and gave Garner his role. Heston filed a damage suit in the Superior Court against the studio as a result of the switch.


10:15 AM -- Fort Dobbs (1958)
A frontierswoman suspects the man who rescued her from the Comanches of killing her husband.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Clint Walker, Virginia Mayo, Brian Keith
BW-90 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In 1958, this film was distributed on a double bill with Escape from San Quentin (1957).


11:51 AM -- Ben-Hur: Behind The Scenes With Glenn H. Randall & Yakima Canutt (1959)
This promotional short offers a behind-the-scenes look of the making of "Ben-Hur" (1959), focusing on how Glen Randall and Yakima Canutt worked together to film the legendary chariot race.
BW-7 mins,


12:00 PM -- The Hanging Tree (1959)
A doctor saves a man from hanging then tries to run his life.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, Karl Malden
C-107 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jerry Livingston (music) and Mack David (lyrics) for the song "The Hanging Tree"

Film debut of George C. Scott.


2:00 PM -- Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
A trapper gets caught between his young assistant and a beautiful Arapaho woman.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Clint Walker, Edward Byrnes, John Russell
C-92 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The horse ridden by Kelly is the same one that Clint Walker rode most of the time in the television series, Cheyenne (1955). The horse, named Brandy, can be identified by the large white blaze and the white spot on its right hip.


3:45 PM -- I Was a Communist For the FBI (1951)
When an FBI agent goes undercover in the Communist Party, his wife and friends question his patriotism.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Frank Lovejoy, Dorothy Hart, Philip Carey
BW-83 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary, Features -- Bryan Foy (Yeah, I don't understand it either. How can a fictional film be nominated for best documentary? Luckily, Kon-Tiki won.)

The Communist Party USA was established in 1919. In 1921 it changed its name to The Workers Party of America. It was banned in 1954 by an act of Congress (the Communist Control Act of 1954). At its peak in 1944 the membership rose to 80,000 members but by mid-1950s it dropped to only 5000 members, including 1500 FBI informants.


5:15 PM -- First Yank Into Tokyo (1945)
An army pilot infiltrates the Japanese during World War II.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Tom Neal, Barbara Hale, Marc Cramer
BW-83 mins, CC,

The war ended before filming was completed. Because of this the producers decided to rewrite the script to include references to the atomic bomb, including a side plot involving a kidnapped American nuclear physicist.


6:45 PM -- A Night of Adventure (1944)
A lawyer tries to clear his wife's lover of murder charges.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Tom Conway, Audrey Long, Edward Brophy
BW-65 mins, CC,

A remake of Hat, Coat, and Glove (1934), starring Ricardo Cortez, Barbara Robbins, and John Beal.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPECIAL THEME: GHOST STORIES



8:00 PM -- House On Haunted Hill (1958)
A millionaire offers total strangers a fortune to spend the night in a haunted house.
Dir: William Castle
Cast: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long
BW-75 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

William Castle had related the story of meeting Vincent Price on a day when Price had learned that he had been passed over for a part. Over coffee, Castle described the premise of this picture. Price liked the idea and it led to a two-picture collaboration, this and The Tingler (1959).


9:19 PM -- Black Cats And Broomsticks (1955)
In this short film, superstitions are examined in the context of mid-20th century America.
Dir: Larry O'Reilly
BW-8 mins,


9:30 PM -- The Legend of Hell House (1973)
Scientists and psychics team to crack the secrets of a murderously haunted house.
Dir: John Hough
Cast: Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill
C-94 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Writer Richard Matheson toned down the graphic violence and more intense sexual scenes of his novel to give the screenplay for the film a more brooding atmosphere.


11:15 PM -- 13 Ghosts (1960)
A family inherits a house haunted by 13 ghosts and a living killer.
Dir: William Castle
Cast: Charles Herbert, Jo Morrow, Martin Milner
BW-82 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

William Castle was able to get popular child actor Charles Herbert to play Buck by offering to give him top billing. Charles Herbert would appear in this and two other features in this year before roles in features completely dried up. He would complete his career in television roles.


12:52 AM -- The Bounty (1962)
This silent promotional short presents footage of the "HMS Bounty" for the remake of "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962).
C-7 mins,


1:00 AM -- The Haunting (1963)
A team of psychic investigators moves into a haunted house that destroys all who live there.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson
BW-112 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Director Robert Wise read a review of Shirley Jackson's novel "The Haunting of Hill House" in Time Magazine and decided to get the rights to the novel. He later met the writer herself to talk about ideas for the film. He asked her if she had thought of other titles for the novel, because the title would not work for the film. She told him that the only other title she had considered was simply "The Haunting", so Wise decided to use it for the film.


3:00 AM -- Burnt Offerings (1976)
A family moves into a haunted house that seems to be stealing their lives.
Dir: Dan Curtis
Cast: Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Burgess Meredith
C-116 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The haunting flashbacks that Ben Rolf has about the creepy chauffeur were based off of an actual childhood experience of Dan Curtis. Curtis recalled as a young child being at his mothers funeral and seeing a chauffeur laughing outside of the funeral parlor which disturbed him deeply. He wrote the memory into the film and the chauffeur became a most eerie character.


5:00 AM -- Hollywood My Hometown (1965)
In this special, Ken Murray hosts his own behind-the-scenes home movies of some of Hollywood's greatest stars.
BW-53 mins, CC,

[longship]

1. The Haunting.

Honors Shirley Jackson's novel quite well. Julie Harris and Claire Bloom stay in character throughout their performances. This is a truly chilling flick. IMHO, the best of the best ghost flicks from a great novel.

Forget the remake. It's horrible. This is the one.