TCM Schedule for Saturday, January 16, 2016 -- The Essentials - Sea Captains

[Staph]

Ahoy, matie! Tonight's Essentials features a trio of films about those who go down to the sea in ships. Enjoy!



6:45 AM -- Scared to Death (1947)
A beautiful murder victim recalls how she met her untimely end.
Dir: Christy Cabanne
Cast: Bela Lugosi, George Zucco, Nat Pendleton
C-68 mins,

The only color film to star Bela Lugosi (he appeared in a 1930 Technicolor film, Viennese Nights (1930), but did not star in it). The only other color footage of the actor is in a wartime short in which he can be seen giving blood for the war effort.


8:00 AM -- Snowfire (1958)
A young girl on an isolated ranch forges a close bond with a wild stallion.
Dir: Dorrell McGowan
Cast: Molly McGowan, Don Megowan, Michael Vallon
C-73 mins, CC,

Filmed at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.


9:15 AM -- The Son of Rusty (1947)
When they are separated boy and his dog fight to find each other.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: Ted Donaldson, Stephen Dunne, Tom Powers
BW-69 mins,

The fourth film in Columbia's "Rusty" series.


10:30 AM -- Jinx Money (1948)
The Bowery Boys find a dead gangster's loot-and the mob out to get it back.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell
BW-68 mins, CC,

The tenth of 48 Bowery Boys movies.


11:52 AM -- The "She" Story (1965)
This short documentary provides a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the epic "She" (1965).
BW-7 mins,


12:00 PM -- She (1965)
Explorers uncover a lost kingdom ruled by an immortal queen.
Dir: Robert Day
Cast: Ursula Andress, John Richardson, Peter Cushing
C-106 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Peter Cushing and Bernard Cribbins spent a day at Chessington Zoo learning to ride camels. They bonded over this and a mutual love of birdwatching.


2:00 PM -- From The Earth To The Moon (1958)
Lifelong rivals collaborate on a 19th-century moon rocket.
Dir: Byron Haskin
Cast: Joseph Cotten, George Sanders, Debra Paget
C-100 mins, CC,

This went into production as RKO was preparing to shut down. It was believed to have had a much larger budget which was later cut. This greatly affected the quality of the special effects. Among the last minute cost-cutting measures inflicted upon this film was the elimination of all scenes taking place on the moon.


4:00 PM -- Sleeper (1973)
After awaking from cryogenic suspension '70s man gets mixed up with a future revolution.
Dir: Woody Allen
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck
C-87 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Woody Allen confirmed the scientific feasibility of his screenplay ideas in a single lunchtime meeting with Isaac Asimov. Allen also consulted with leading science fiction writer Ben Bova to make sure that some of his futuristic predictions were feasible.


5:45 PM -- Knights of the Round Table (1953)
Queen Guinevere is torn between love for her husband and Sir Lancelot.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer
C-116 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Alfred Junge, Hans Peters and John Jarvis, and Best Sound, Recording -- A.W. Watkins (M-G-M Sound Department)

Stanley Baker was cast at very short notice after the actor first cast, George Sanders, had to be replaced due to illness. Baker was cast as Mordred due to his acclaimed portrayal of a villainous Royal Navy officer in The Cruel Sea (1953).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: SEA CAPTAINS



8:00 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

The word "muir" means "the sea" in Gaelic. Many times sailors are said to have been "married" to the sea, or that the only woman they ever loved was the sea.


10:00 PM -- Billy Budd (1962)
Adaptation of Herman Melville's classic tale of a ship's captain caught between an innocent young sailor and an evil officer.
Dir: Peter Ustinov
Cast: Terence Stamp, Peter Ustinov, Robert Ryan
BW-123 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Terence Stamp

Herman Melville had been writing poetry for 30 years when he returned to fiction with "Billy Budd" in late 1888. Still unfinished when he died in 1891, it was forgotten. Melville's biographer accidentally stumbled upon it when going through a trunk of the writer's papers in his granddaughter's New Jersey home in 1919. Melville's widow worked to help complete it, and it was finally published in 1924. Over the years other unsatisfactory versions were published, but it wasn't until Melville's original notes were found that the definitive version was ultimately published in 1962. Ironically Peter Ustinov's film version was released the same year.


12:15 AM -- The World Was His Jury (1958)
An ambitious defense attorney fights to clear a sea captain whose negligence caused a deadly wreck.
Dir: Fred F. Sears
Cast: Edmund O'Brien, Mona Freeman, Karin Booth
BW-82 mins,

Though the plot of this film may seem far fetched it is based, fairly closely, on the real life ship fire disaster of the Morro Castle, a ship of the Ward Line that caught fire and killed 137 passengers enroute from Havana to New York in September 1934.


1:50 AM -- Pasternak (1965)
A short biography of Boris Pasternak, Nobel prize winner and author of "Dr. Zhivago," the inspiration and basis of the 1965 movie.
C-9 mins,


2:00 AM -- Alice, Sweet Alice (1977)
When people in an Italian-American neighborhood are murdered, suspicion falls on a lonely 12-year-old.
Dir: Alfred Sole
Cast: Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Paula Sheppard
C-105 mins, CC,

Brooke Shields's first movie.


3:45 AM -- A Day in the Death of Donny B. (1969)
A heroin addict desperately tries to raise the money for a fix in this short film.
Dir: Carl Fick
BW-14 mins,


3:45 AM -- The Terrible Truth (1951)
A juvenile court judge investigates the tragedy of marijuana addiction in this short film.
C-10 mins,


4:15 AM -- I Confess (1953)
A priest suspected of murder can only clear himself by violating the sanctity of the confessional.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden
BW-95 mins, CC,

In his interview with François Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock said he was so impressed with the performance of Anita Björk in Miss Julie (1951) that he hired her for this movie. However, when she arrived in Hollywood, Bjork brought her lover, writer Stig Dagerman, and their baby daughter. Since they were not married, Warner Bros. insisted that Hitchcock find another actress for the role of Ruth Grandfort, in this case Anne Baxter.