TCM Schedule for Saturday, December 5, 2015 -- The Essentials - Screenwriter Stories

[Staph]

Tonight's Essentials are films by screenwriters, about screenwriters. Enjoy!



6:45 AM -- A Family Affair (1936)
In the first Hardy Family film small-town judge fights for re-election while dealing with family problems.
Dir: George B. Seitz
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Cecilia Parker, Eric Linden
BW-69 mins, CC,

The very first of the Andy Hardy series. Lionel Barrymore and Spring Byington, as Andy's parents, were replaced by Lewis Stone and Fay Holden in the rest of the films.


8:00 AM -- A Dog of Flanders (1935)
A Belgian boy nurses a stray dog back to health.
Dir: Edward Sloman
Cast: Frankie Thomas, O. P. Heggie, Helen Parrish
BW-72 mins, CC,

Based on the novel by Ouida (Maria Louise Ramé (or de la Ramée)). This was also filmed in 1914, 1924 (as A Boy of Flanders), 1959, 1975 as a television series, 1997 and 1999.


9:15 AM -- Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball (1946)
A police detective uses his girlfriend to track down a homicidal maniac.
Dir: Gordon M. Douglas
Cast: Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Lyle Latell
BW-62 mins,

Ian Keith as "Vitamin Flintheart" is doing a wicked but devastatingly accurate impersonation of John Barrymore.


10:30 AM -- Mr. Hex (1946)
A hypnotist turns one of the Bowery Boys into a championship boxer.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan
BW-63 mins, CC,

The fifth of 48 Bowery Boys movies. I suspect that we'll be seeing Bowery Boys films on Saturday mornings for a very long time.


12:00 PM -- That's Entertainment! (1974)
An all-star cast, including Fred Astaire and Frank Sinatra, introduces clips from MGM's greatest musicals.
Dir: Jack Haley Jr.
C-135 mins, CC,

This was among the last MGM films shot on the studio's renowned back lot, of which there were actually six distinct satellite parcels of land west and south of the main lot, or Lot 1. Lot 2, the last of them to serve as a working back lot, was in use until late 1978. Development for residential housing on Lots 3-6 began the year "That's Entertainment!" filmed its new material with the studio's stars strolling the various standing sets, which had been allowed to deteriorate for well over a decade before their demolition. This is particularly noticeable in the train station set where Fred Astaire gives his introduction, and Bing Crosby refers to the English Lake area as looking rather "scruffy". On the other hand, the entire purpose of the film is nostalgia, and the use of the 'scruffy' facade, clearly aged and unused, helps to set the tone as one of a brief return to the glamor of the past, even though it was all make-believe.


2:30 PM -- Jack And The Beanstalk (1952)
A baby-sitter dreams himself and his best friend into the famous fairy tale.
Dir: Jean Yarbrough
Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Buddy Baer
C-78 mins, CC,

Early in the movie, when Jack (Lou Costello) first meets the employment agency's receptionist (Dorothy Ford), he tells her: "I like girls like you, eyes of blue and five feet two". This is a reference to the refrain of the 1920's popular song, "Has Anybody Seen My Gal?" It's only after she rises from her chair that he realizes his misconception; he is dwarfed by Dorothy Ford's 6' 2'' full height.


4:00 PM -- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
The bandit king of Sherwood Forest leads his Merry Men in a battle against the corrupt Prince John.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Basil Rathbone
C-102 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Carl Jules Weyl, Best Film Editing -- Ralph Dawson, and Best Music, Original Score -- Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

Erich Wolfgang Korngold was invited by Warner Brothers to come from his native Austria to Hollywood to see the film with a view to scoring it. He initially turned down the chance, as he felt that his musical style was ill-suited for adventure spectaculars. However, while in Hollywood he learned that the Nazis were about to invade Austria and, feeling he had to secure a source of revenue in the United States and also get his family out of Austria before the invasion, he accepted the assignment. He would go on to win the Oscar. For the rest of his life, Korngold, grateful that this successful assignment allowed him to stay in America and be safe from the Nazis' murderous persecution, would playfully quip, "Robin Hood saved my life."


6:00 PM -- Courage Of Lassie (1946)
A young girl tries to rehabilitate the famous collie after his return from combat service in World War II.
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Morgan, Tom Drake
C-93 mins, CC,

Although the title of the film suggests it, there is no mention of the character Lassie anywhere in the movie. This film's dog is named Bill.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: SCREENWRITER STORIES



8:00 PM -- Sunset Boulevard (1950)
A failed screenwriter falls into a mercenary romance with a faded silent-film star.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim
BW-110 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman Jr., Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Hans Dreier, John Meehan, Sam Comer and Ray Moyer, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Franz Waxman

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Holden, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Gloria Swanson, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Erich von Stroheim, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Nancy Olson, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- John F. Seitz, Best Film Editing -- Arthur P. Schmidt and Doane Harrison, and Best Picture

Upon seeing the film at a star-studded preview screening at Paramount, MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer screamed at director Billy Wilder that he should be tarred, feathered and horse-whipped for bringing his profession into such disrepute. Wilder's response was a terse, "Fuck you."


10:00 PM -- Susan Slept Here (1954)
A Hollywood screenwriter takes in a runaway girl who's more woman than he can handle.
Dir: Frank Tashlin
Cast: Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis
C-98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio), and Best Music, Original Song -- Jack Lawrence and Richard Myers for the song "Hold My Hand"

Susan Slept Here (1954) was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, primarily for its suggestive title. In a male-dominated society George Washington Slept Here (1942) sounded no similar moral alarms. The ban hurt the movie's receipts but did greater harm to the Legion who were taken less seriously after The Moon Is Blue (1953) ban a year earlier in shocked response to the word 'virgin' used outside the church.


12:00 AM -- In a Lonely Place (1950)
An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
Dir: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy
BW-93 mins, CC,

Gloria Grahame and husband/director Nicholas Ray quietly separated during filming, keeping it a secret for fear that one of them would be replaced. Ray slept on the studio set, saying that he needed to work late on preparation for the remainder of the film. It worked and nobody suspected that their marriage was on the rocks.


2:00 AM -- Shock (1977)
A woman believes her late abusive husband has possessed their son.
Dir: Mario Bava
Cast: Daria Nicolodi, John Steiner, David Colin
C-92 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The film was released in the USA as "Beyond the Door II", although it has no connection with "Beyond the Door" (1974).


3:45 AM -- Haxan (1922)
Scenes trace the history of witchcraft from the middle ages to the early 20th century.
Dir: Benjamin Christensen
Cast: Benjamin Christensen, Maren Pedersen, Clara Pontoppidan
BW-107 mins,

Due to the type of emulsion of the film stock used, the blue in many of the actors' blue eyes did not register, giving their eyes a glazed, unnatural appearance.


5:45 AM -- The Terrible Truth (1951)
A juvenile court judge investigates the tragedy of marijuana addiction in this short film.
C-10 mins,