TCM Schedule for Thursday, September 10, 2015 -- Star of the Month - Susan Hayward

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating the 101st birthday of director / producer / editor Robert Wise, born on September 10, 1914, in Winchester, Indiana. He won four Oscars, for directing and producing West Side Story (1961) and The Sound Of Music (1965). In prime time, there is more of Star of the Month Susan Hayward. Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- Mademoiselle Fifi (1944)
A German officer tries to force a French laundress to become his mistress.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Simone Simon, John Emery, Kurt Kreuger
BW-69 mins, CC,

Based on the short stories "Mademoiselle Fifi" and "Boule de Suif" by Guy de Maupassant.


7:30 AM -- Helen of Troy (1956)
A shipwrecked prince's love for a married queen triggers war between Greece and Troy.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Rossana Podestà, Jack Sernas, Sir Cedric Hardwicke
C-121 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Noted British actor Edmund Purdom overdubbed in English the lines of French-Lithuanian actor Jacques Sernas on the soundtrack of this film, due to Sernas not having a firm English-speaking voice. Sernas at that point in his career was learning English but had not yet mastered the language. Purdom was not credited with his voiceover talent for this picture, as the film's producers wanted the public to think Sernas did it all on his own.


9:30 AM -- Tribute to a Bad Man (1956)
A brutal rancher has to soften his ways to win the woman he loves.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: James Cagney, Don Dubbins, Stephen McNally
C-96 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Spencer Tracy was cast as Jeremy Roderick, but was replaced by James Cagney as Mr. Tracy complained and procrastinated about working on that location because of the altitude of working in the Rockies. This essentially resulted in Tracy's being fired from MGM, his home studio since 1935.


11:15 AM -- Until They Sail (1957)
Four sisters in New Zealand fall for Allied sailors en route to World War II.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Jean Simmons, Joan Fontaine, Paul Newman
BW-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Aspen Pictures, owned by Mark Robson and Robert Wise, bought two stories from James A. Michener's anthology "Return to Paradise." After Robson filmed one of the stories as "Return to Paradise" with Gary Cooper, they ran out of funding and had to sell the rights to the other story, "Until They Sail" to Burt Lancaster. Some years later the it ended up with Charles Schnee at MGM. By then Wise was at Metro and requested to film the property.


1:00 PM -- Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
True story of boxer Rocky Graziano's rise from juvenile delinquent to world champ.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Joseph Buloff, Sal Mineo, Everett Sloane
BW-114 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Malcolm Brown, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Albert Akst

James Dean was signed to play 'Rocky Graziano' but the part was given to Paul Newman after Dean was killed in an automobile accident on 30 September 1955. There had been some opposition to the casting of Newman, since at 31 he was already six years older than James Dean would have been, and his first movie The Silver Chalice (1954) had been a critical and commercial disaster.


3:00 PM -- Executive Suite (1954)
When a business magnate dies, his board of directors fights over who should run the company.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck
BW-105 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Nina Foch, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- George J. Folsey, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Edward C. Carfagno, Edwin B. Willis and Emile Kuri, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

The entire story takes place during the 24 hour period from Friday afternoon, June 19 1953 to Saturday afternoon, June 20 1953.


4:45 PM -- The Sand Pebbles (1966)
A naval engineer stationed in 1926 China defies local authorities to rescue a group of missionaries.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna
C-179 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Steve McQueen, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Mako, Best Cinematography, Color -- Joseph MacDonald, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Boris Leven, Walter M. Scott, John Sturtevant and William Kiernan, Best Sound -- James Corcoran (20th Century-Fox SSD), Best Film Editing -- William Reynolds, Best Music, Original Music Score -- Jerry Goldsmith, and Best Picture

Director Robert Wise was so proud of this film that he held yearly parties with surviving cast members to celebrate it.


7:46 PM -- The Sun... The Sand... The Hill. (1965)
This promotional short presents a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "The Hill" (1965).
Dir: Roland Saland
BW-7 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: SUSAN HAYWARD



8:00 PM -- I Can Get It For You Wholesale (1951)
An ambitious designer has to choose between her career and love.
Dir: Michael Gordon
Cast: Susan Hayward, Dan Dailey, George Sanders
BW-90 mins, CC,

Lux Radio Theater broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on Monday, March 31st, 1952 with Susan Hayward and Dan Dailey reprising their film roles.


9:45 PM -- David and Bathsheba (1951)
King David's lust for a married woman has disastrous consequences for Israel.
Dir: Henry King
Cast: Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Raymond Massey
C-116 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Philip Dunne, Best Cinematography, Color -- Leon Shamroy, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Lyle R. Wheeler, George W. Davis, Thomas Little and Paul S. Fox, Best Costume Design, Color -- Charles Le Maire and Edward Stevenson, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Alfred Newman

The infamous "Daisy" campaign ad aired for the first and only time during the September 7, 1964 telecast of this film on NBC. From the Wikipedia entry entitled "Daisy (advertisement):

'The advertisement begins with a little girl (two-year-old Monique M. Corzilius) standing in a meadow with chirping birds, picking the petals of a daisy flower while counting each petal slowly.[3][4] Because little Monique does not know her numbers perfectly, she repeats some and says others in the wrong order, all of which adds to her childlike appeal.[3] When she reaches "nine", an ominous-sounding male voice is then heard counting down a missile launch, and as the girl's eyes turn toward something she sees in the sky, the camera zooms in until her pupil fills the screen, blacking it out. When the countdown reaches zero, the blackness is instantly replaced by both a simultaneous bright flash and thunderous sound, the film continues to roll and footage of a nuclear explosion, an explosion similar in appearance to the near surface burst Trinity test of 1945 is displayed, followed by another cut to footage of a billowing mushroom cloud.

'As the fireball ascends, the final cut is made, this time a cut to a close-up section of incandescence in the mushroom cloud, over which a voiceover from Johnson is played, which states emphatically, "These are the stakes. To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die." Another voiceover (sportscaster Chris Schenkel) then says, "Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home."'


12:00 AM -- The President's Lady (1953)
Future president Andrew Jackson defies scandal to marry a divorced woman.
Dir: Henry Levin
Cast: Susan Hayward, Charlton Heston, John McIntire
C-98 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Lyle R. Wheeler, Leland Fuller and Paul S. Fox, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Charles Le Maire and Renié

Charlton Heston played Andrew Jackson a second time in The Buccaneer (1958).


1:45 AM -- With a Song in My Heart (1952)
This film focuses on the rise of an aspiring songstress, Jane Froman.
Dir: Walter Lang
Cast: Susan Hayward, Rory Calhoun, David Wayne
C-117 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Alfred Newman

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Susan Hayward, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Thelma Ritter, Best Costume Design, Color -- Charles Le Maire, and Best Sound, Recording -- Thomas T. Moulton (20th Century-Fox Sound Department)

Susan Hayward's singing was dubbed by Jane Froman.


4:00 AM -- The Lusty Men (1952)
A faded rodeo star mentors a younger rider but falls for his wife.
Dir: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Susan Hayward, Robert Mitchum, Arthur Kennedy
BW-113 mins, CC,

Robert Parrish directed for several days when Nicholas Ray fell ill.