TCM Schedule for Thursday, April 16, 2015 -- What's On Tonight - Millionaires' Daughters

[Staph]

In daylight, we're going to the beach, in a series of films that take place at or near the shore. And in prime time, TCM is featuring films about heiresses, featuring Katharine Hepburn, Josephine Hutchinson, Bette Davis, Olivia de Haviland, and Barbara Stanwyck as the rich women. Enjoy!


6:30 AM -- Bullets For O'Hara (1941)
A gangster's wife helps the FBI nail her husband.
Dir: William K. Howard
Cast: Joan Perry, Roger Pryor, Anthony Quinn
BW-50 mins, CC,

From a story by P.J. Wolfson.


7:30 AM -- Coney Island (1917)
In this silent short, a vacationing man tries to evade his wife until another man goes after her.
Dir: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Cast: Buster Keaton,
BW-26 mins,

Notable as the only film where Buster Keaton is seen laughing.


8:00 AM -- Number, Please? (1920)
In this silent short, a young man chases his girlfriend's dog around a seaside resort.
Dir: Fred Newmeyer
Cast: Harold Lloyd,
BW-25 mins,

Filmed on location at the amusement park in Venice Beach, California.


8:30 AM -- I Vitelloni (1953)
Five friends struggle to escape the boredom of their provincial hometown in Italy.
Dir: Federico Fellini
Cast: Alberto Sordi, Franco Interlenghi, Franco Fabrizi
BW-108 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Federico Fellini (screenplay/story), Ennio Flaiano (screenplay/story) and Tullio Pinelli (story)

At the end of the film, when Moraldo is saying good-bye to the young boy from the train, his "Good-by, Guido" is actually the dubbed voice of director, Fredrico Fellini. It is believed that Fellini did this to emphasize the fact that the film was autobiographical.


10:30 AM -- The System (1964)
In a seaside village, a group of local young men mingle among the seasonal tourists in search of sexual conquests.
Dir: Michael Winner
Cast: Oliver Reed, Jane Merrow, Barbara Ferris
BW-90 mins,

Julia Foster replaced Julie Christie, who was unavailable.


12:00 PM -- Night Tide (1963)
A sailor falls for a young girl who believes she's a mermaid.
Dir: Curtis Harrington
Cast: Dennis Hopper, Linda Lawson, Gavin Muir
BW-86 mins, Letterbox Format

Dennis Hopper's sailor suit was slightly darkened so it would read as white on film. During production, Hopper was spotted by military police who threatened to arrest him for wearing a dirty uniform.


1:30 PM -- Moonfleet (1955)
A British buccaneer is torn between three seductive women.
Dir: Fritz Lang
Cast: Stewart Granger, George Sanders, Joan Greenwood
C-87 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Filmed entirely on the MGM backlot, apart from some scenes of the Californian coast.


3:00 PM -- Miranda (1948)
A doctor on fishing holiday catches a mermaid by mistake.
Dir: Ken Annakin
Cast: Glynis Johns, Googie Withers, Griffith Jones
BW-77 mins, CC,

Glynis Johns and David Tomlinson would later pair together as the parents in Mary Poppins.


4:30 PM -- The Woman On The Beach (1947)
A coast guardsman begins to think his mistress's blind husband can really see.
Dir: Jean Renoir
Cast: Joan Bennett, Robert Ryan, Charles Bickford
BW-71 mins, CC,

Based on the novel None So Blind by Mitchell Wilson.


5:42 PM -- The Beach Of Nazaré (1957)
This short film focuses on the dress and customs of Nazaré, a fishing village on Portugal's Atlantic coast.
Dir: Van Campen Heilner
BW-8 mins,


6:00 PM -- The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
A spirited widow rents a haunted cottage and builds an emotional bond with the resident ghost.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders
BW-104 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Charles Lang

Gene Tierney's first approach to the character of Lucy Muir was playful, almost screwball. After a conference between Darryl F. Zanuck and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the first two days shooting were redone so that Tierney could give the character more depth. The change resulted in huge critical acclaim for the actress.


7:50 PM -- Practical Jokers (1938)
In this comedic short, a practical joker gets his comeuppance from his friends.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Grace Bohanon, George McFarland (Spanky), Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer
BW-9 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: MILLIONAIRES' DAUGHTERS



8:00 PM -- Holiday (1938)
An unhappy heiress falls in love with her stodgy sister's freethinking fiance.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Doris Nolan
BW-96 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction -- Stephen Goosson and Lionel Banks

Eighteen months before Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind (1939), Katharine Hepburn says "damned" in a Production Code-approved Hollywood movie. The occurrence isn't gratuitous: She's recounting her experience in amateur theatrics and, in camp style, performs a fragment of Lady MacBeth's "Out damned spot" sleepwalking line from William Shakespeare.


9:45 PM -- Happiness Ahead (1934)
An heiress falls for a singing window washer.
Dir: Mervyn Le Roy
Cast: Dick Powell, Josephine Hutchinson, John Halliday
BW-86 mins, CC,

Remade as Here Comes Happiness (1941, with Mildred Coles as the heiress), and Love and Learn (1947, starring Martha Vickers).


11:20 PM -- Glen Gray And The Casa Loma Orchestra (1941)
In this musical short film, Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra play such popular tunes as "Purple Moonlight" and "Broom Street." Vitaphone Release 479A.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
BW-9 mins,

The orchestra performs Hep and Happy, Purple Moonlight, Broom Street, and The Darktown Strutters' Ball.


11:30 PM -- The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)
A pilot and a temperamental heiress are stranded in the desert together.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: James Cagney, Bette Davis, Stuart Erwin
BW-92 mins, CC,

Ann Sheridan was originally scheduled to play the Bette Davis role but was on suspension by Warners.


1:15 AM -- Hard to Get (1938)
An unemployed architect falls in love with an heiress.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Dick Powell, Olivia de Havilland, Charles Winninger
BW-82 mins, CC,

Suggested by a story by Stephen Morehouse Avery.


2:45 AM -- Breakfast for Two (1937)
A Texas heiress competes with a gold digger for the love of a playboy.
Dir: Alfred Santell
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Herbert Marshall, Glenda Farrell
BW-68 mins,

The opening credits are shown on a China serving platter, to go along with the movie's title, Breakfast for Two.


4:11 AM -- San Pietro (1944)
This documentary short is about the battle of San Pietro, a small village in Italy where 1,100 US soldiers were killed.
Dir: John Huston
BW-32 mins,

One of the 50 films in the four-disc boxed DVD set called "Treasures from American Film Archives (2000)", compiled by the National Film Preservation Foundation from 18 American film archives. This film was preserved by The National Archives and Records Administration. The movie was shot by six Signal Corps cameramen under Maj. John Huston's direction, but his five-reel version was considered too anti-war and it was cut to the 32 minute-version eventually released.


4:45 AM -- B.F.'s Daughter (1948)
A professor doesn't know his wife is an heiress.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Charles Coburn
BW-108 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Irene

In the scene where Barbara Stanwyck, playing the new bride, was supposed to be carried across the threshold by her husband, she and director Robert Z. Leonard cooked up a practical joke and draped her body with heavy chains under the mink coat she wore, making it impossible for Van Heflin to pick her up.

[Auggie]

1. I'll be thinking of "It Happened One Night."