TCM Schedule for Saturday, April 18, 2015 -- The Essentials: Directed by Robert Rossen

[Staph]

Tonight's Essentials topic features films by director Robert Rossen. In his career he earned five Oscar nominations, for directing, writing and producing, for The Hustler (1961) and All The King's Men (1949). We get to see both of these films tonight, along with The Brave Bulls (1951). Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Stage Fright (1950)
An acting student goes undercover to prove a singing star killed her husband.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding
BW-110 mins, CC,

In "Hollywood Babble On" Marlene Dietrich is quoted as saying, "I did one film for Alfred Hitchcock. Jane Wyman was in it. I heard she'd only wanted to do it if she were billed above me, and she got her wish. Hitchcock didn't think much of her. She looks too much like a victim to play a heroine, and God knows she couldn't play a woman of mystery - that was *my* part. Miss Wyman looks like a mystery nobody has bothered to solve." Slam!


8:00 AM -- And Then There Were None (1945)
Guests at a remote island mansion realize a crazed killer is stalking them.
Dir: René Clair
Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward
BW-97 mins, CC,

This movie, as all existent versions of "Ten Little Indians," is based not on the novel by Agatha Christie but on her very similar play. While the identity of the murderer is the same in both versions, the outcome of who survives the murderer's plot is very different. Remade as Ten Little Indians (1959) (TV Movie), Gumnaam (1965 - India), Agatha Christie's 'Ten Little Indians' (1965), Zehn kleine Negerlein (1969) (TV Movie - West Germany, and yes, negerlein is the German N-word), Ten Little Indians (1974), Ten Little Indians (1987 - Soviet Union), and Ten Little Indians (1989).


9:49 AM -- That's Why I Left You (1943)
In this short film, a husband leaves his wife and then sends her a letter explaining why he left.
Dir: Edward Cahn
Cast: Jacqueline White, James Warren,
BW-9 mins,


10:00 AM -- Batman: The Phoney Doctor (1943)
Batman and Robin try to track down a kidnapped mine owner.
BW-16 mins,


10:30 AM -- Waltz of the Toreadors (1962)
A retired general's marriage is rocked by the return of his mistress.
Dir: John Guillermin
Cast: Peter Sellers, Dany Robin, Margaret Leighton
C-105 mins, Letterbox Format

The original Broadway production of "The Waltz of the Toreadors" by Jean Anouilh opened at the Coronet Theater in New York on January 17, 1957, ran for 132 performances and was nominated for the 1957 Tony Award for the Best Play.


12:15 PM -- Children Of The Damned (1964)
Space invaders impregnate six women with super-powered offspring.
Dir: Anton M. Leader
Cast: Ian Hendry, Alan Badel, Barbara Ferris
BW-90 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham.


2:00 PM -- Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
A space visitor's touch turns an unhappy heiress into a vengeful giant.
Dir: Nathan Hertz
Cast: Allison Hayes, William Hudson, Yvette Vickers
BW-66 mins, CC,

This film was made right after the success of Sputnik. The alien spacecraft is called a "satellite" because the writer thought that meant any spherical shaped spacecraft.


3:15 PM -- Airport (1970)
A mad bomber plots to blow up a jet on a snowy night.
Dir: George Seaton
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg
C-137 mins, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Helen Hayes (Helen Hayes was not present at the awards ceremony. 'Rosalind Russell' accepted the award on her behalf.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Maureen Stapleton, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- George Seaton, Best Cinematography -- Ernest Laszlo, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Alexander Golitzen, E. Preston Ames, Jack D. Moore and Mickey S. Michaels, Best Costume Design -- Edith Head, Best Sound -- Ronald Pierce and David H. Moriarty, Best Film Editing -- Stuart Gilmore, Best Music, Original Score -- Alfred Newman, and Best Picture

In Sept. 1972, Universal was exhibiting this on a double bill with The Andromeda Strain (1971) with the tag line "Together On One Great Family Program". Were they kidding? Airport had a bomb on a plane, two different adulterous affairs, and an abortion discussion a year before Roe v. Wade. And The Andromeda Strain had a town full of dead bodies killed in varying gruesome ways, a horrific plane crash and a near nuclear explosion. Great family fare for the 1970s!


5:45 PM -- The Great Train Robbery (1979)
Three crooks plot to steal a fortune in gold from a moving train.
Dir: Michael Crichton
Cast: Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland, Lesley-Anne Down
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Sean Connery spent several days running on top of a moving train. The train was supposed to be traveling at 35mph; Connery argued it was going faster. The train driver was counting telegraph poles to measure the speed. A helicopter pilot confirmed Connery's suspicion - the train was traveling at over 55mph.


7:48 PM -- The Comedians In Africa (1967)
A behind the scenes short film detailing the making of "The Comedians" (1967).
Dir: Peter Glenville
C-11 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: DIRECTED BY ROBERT ROSSEN



8:00 PM -- The Hustler (1961)
A pool shark falls into the clutches of a crooked gambler.
Dir: Robert Rossen
Cast: Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie
BW-135 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Eugen Schüfftan, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Harry Horner and Gene Callahan

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Newman, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Piper Laurie, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jackie Gleason, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George C. Scott (Refused even to be nominated.), Best Director -- Robert Rossen, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Sidney Carroll and Robert Rossen, and Best Picture

All the pool shots in the movie are performed by the actors themselves (Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason) except one: the massé shot (cue ball sends two object balls into the same pocket), performed by Willie Mosconi.


10:30 PM -- The Brave Bulls (1951)
A matador must recover his courage after being gored in the ring.
Dir: Robert Rossen
Cast: Mel Ferrer, Miroslava, Anthony Quinn
BW-107 mins, CC,

Filmed in the spring of 1950, but not released until the following year because producer-director Robert Rossen was under investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee.


12:30 AM -- All the King's Men (1949)
A backwoods politician rises to the top only to become corrupted.
Dir: Robert Rossen
Cast: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru
BW-110 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Broderick Crawford, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Mercedes McCambridge, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Ireland, Best Director -- Robert Rossen, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Robert Rossen, and Best Film Editing -- Robert Parrish and Al Clark

Producer-director Robert Rossen offered the role of Willie Stark to John Wayne. Rossen sent a copy of the script to Wayne's agent, Charles K. Feldman, who forwarded it to Wayne. After reading the script, Wayne sent it back with an angry letter attached. In it, he told Feldman that before he sent the script to any of his other clients, he should ask them if they wanted to star in a film that "smears the machinery of government for no purpose of humor or enlightenment," that "degrades all relationships," and that is populated by "drunken mothers; conniving fathers; double-crossing sweethearts; bad, bad, rich people; and bad, bad poor people if they want to get ahead." He accused Rossen of wanting to make a movie that threw acid on "the American way of life." If Feldman had such clients, Wayne wrote that the agent should "rush this script... to them." Wayne, however, said to the agent that "You can take this script and shove it up Robert Rossen's derrière . . . " Wayne later remarked that "To make Huey Long a wonderful, rough pirate was great . . . but, according to this picture, everybody was shit--except for this weakling intern doctor who was trying to find a place in the world." Broderick Crawford, who had played a supporting role in Wayne's Seven Sinners (1940), eventually received the part of Stark. In a bit of irony, Crawford was Oscar-nominated for the part of Stark and found himself competing against Wayne, who was nominated the same year for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). Crawford won the Best Actor Oscar, giving Rossen the last laugh.


2:30 AM -- Cat O' Nine Tails (1971)
A blind man and a reporter investigate a break-in at a center for genetic research.
Dir: Dario Argento
Cast: Karl Malden, James Franciscus, Catherine Spaak
C-112 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Although it's one of his most successful films, this is the least favorite of Dario Argento among his pictures.


4:30 AM -- The Strangler (1964)
A lab technician with low self esteem, brought on by his dominant mother, becomes a serial killer of female nurses.
Dir: Burt Topper
Cast: Victor Buono, David McLean, Diane Sayer
BW-89 mins, CC,

According to director Burt Topper, Victor Buono puffed smoke into his eyes to create tears for a particular scene.