TCM Schedule for Friday, January 29, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: Perspectives on Vietnam

[Staph]

During the daylight hours, TCM is showing a selection of films starring Jean Muir, a tall blonde with a decent career in Hollywood beginning in the 1930s, a career that was destroyed in 1950 when she was accused of being a Communist. She made a few television appearances after that, but made her living as a university drama teacher. And in prime time, it's a difficult subject. I'm not sure that I can watch an evening rehashing the war in Vietnam. I know that films like The Deer Hunter are excellent, but I lived through those days, and I don't really want to do it again. Enjoy, if you can.


7:30 AM -- The North Star (1943)
Ukrainian villagers unite to fight off invading Nazis.
Dir: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews, Walter Brennan
BW-106 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Lillian Hellman, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- James Wong Howe, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Perry Ferguson and Howard Bristol, Best Sound, Recording -- Thomas T. Moulton (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), Best Effects, Special Effects -- Clarence Slifer (photographic), Ray Binger (photographic) and Thomas T. Moulton (sound), and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Aaron Copland

This is one of the films deemed "subversive" by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) in October 1947, at the height of the "Red Scare" era typified by the tactics of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. The committee decided that, even though Russia was our ally against Nazi Germany in World War II--when this film was made--the movie's sympathetic portrayal of Russian peasants and guerrillas who were fighting off Nazi forces was an "endorsement" of Communism.


9:30 AM -- As the Earth Turns (1934)
A young couple face the hardships of farm life in Maine.
Dir: Alfred Green
Cast: Jean Muir, Donald Woods, Russell Hardie
BW-73 mins,

Based on a story by Gladys Hasty Carroll.


10:45 AM -- Bedside (1934)
A fake doctor sets up a lucrative high-society practice.
Dir: Robert Florey
Cast: Warren William, Jean Muir, Allen Jenkins
BW-66 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Manuel Seff and Harvey Thew.


12:00 PM -- Desirable (1934)
An aging actress tries to keep her teen-aged daughter out of the public eye.
Dir: Archie L. Mayo
Cast: Jean Muir, George Brent, Verree Teasdale
BW-68 mins,

Verree Teasdale, who played the mother of Jean Muir's character, was only eight years older than Jean.


1:15 PM -- Doctor Monica (1934)
A female doctor learns that her husband loves another woman.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Kay Francis, Warren William, Jean Muir
BW-53 mins, CC,

The Production Code Administration (PCA) requested that this film be pulled from theaters because of references to adultery and pregnancy.


2:15 PM -- Gentlemen Are Born (1934)
Recent college graduates face the realities of the Great Depression.
Dir: Alfred E. Green
Cast: Franchot Tone, Jean Muir, Margaret Lindsay
BW-74 mins,

Based on a story by Robert Lee Johnson.


3:30 PM -- A Modern Hero (1934)
A circus rider makes a hit in the automotive industry but can't find happiness.
Dir: G. W. Pabst
Cast: Richard Barthelmess, Jean Muir, Marjorie Rambeau
BW-71 mins,

Based on a novel by Louis Bromfield, who was a member of New York's so-called 'cafe society' in the 1930's. A notorious snob, Bromfield's circle of friends included flamboyant Herald-Times columnist Lucius Beebe (who regularly tattled on their comings and goings), Tallulah Bankhead, Clifton Webb and scandalized Broadway star Libby Holman.


4:45 PM -- Stars Over Broadway (1935)
An aggressive agent turns a hotel porter into an overnight sensation.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Jane Froman, James Melton
BW-89 mins,

Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote two songs that were not used in the final print: "Stars Over Broadway" and "The Song of the Gigolo".


6:30 PM -- The White Cockatoo (1935)
Crooks and killers try to stop a young woman from proving her claim to an inheritance.
Dir: Alan Crosland
Cast: Jean Muir, Ricardo Cortez, Ruth Donnelly
BW-73 mins, CC,

Around 1935, WB started releasing a series of tie-in films with Black Mask Magazine (run by editor Joseph Shaw) called the "Clue Club"-- mystery films released under the First National banner that youngsters could join a card club and win prizes by going to see the pictures. The White Cockatoo was Clue Club #1.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PERSPECTIVES ON VIETNAM



8:00 PM -- The Quiet American (1958)
An American economist gets caught between Communists and colonialists in Indochina.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Audie Murphy, Michael Redgrave, Claude Dauphin
C-122 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In Europe, director-writer Joseph L. Mankiewicz was savagely attacked for his film's infidelity to the source novel by Graham Greene, not least by Greene himself. The screenplay essentially turns the novel inside-out, so that the blundering "quiet American", whose extreme naiveté causes tragedy and his own death despite his having only the best of intentions, is transformed into a shrewd and heroic figure, far wiser and more honorable than his British rival. Mankiewicz later referred to the film as "very bad" (although he also liked to point out that Jean-Luc Godard had called it the best film of its year) and claimed that he had not been able to concentrate on the film because of the mental collapse of his wife, Rose Stradner, who committed suicide soon after he had finished it.


10:15 PM -- Hearts and Minds (1975)
Filmmakers capture conflicting attitudes toward the Vietnam War.
Dir: Peter Davis
Cast: Daniel Ellsberg, J W Fulbright, General William Westmoreland
C-112 mins, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Documentary, Features -- Peter Davis and Bert Schneider

During his Oscar acceptance speech producer Bert Schneider read a letter from the head of the Viet Cong lauding his film. Bob Hope prompted Oscar host Frank Sinatra to disclaim any political statements that had been made during the show.


12:15 AM -- The Green Berets (1968)
After vigorous training, two Army detachments see service in Vietnam.
Dir: John Wayne
Cast: John Wayne, David Janssen, Jim Hutton
C-142 mins, CC,

In 1967 John Wayne wrote to Democratic President Lyndon Johnson requesting military assistance for his pro-war film about Vietnam. The Defense Department had previously helped other war films like Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and The Longest Day (1962). Jack Valenti told the President, "Wayne's politics are wrong, but insofar as Vietnam is concerned, his views are right. If he made the picture he would be saying the things we want said." Wayne got enough help from the Defense Department to make this film, which became one of the most controversial movies of all time.


2:45 AM -- The Deer Hunter (1978)
Three young men fight to survive the Vietnam War and its aftermath.
Dir: Michael Cimino
Cast: Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken
C-184 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Christopher Walken, Best Director -- Michael Cimino, Best Sound -- Richard Portman, William L. McCaughey, Aaron Rochin and C. Darin Knight, Best Film Editing -- Peter Zinner, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Robert De Niro, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Meryl Streep, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Michael Cimino (story), Deric Washburn (screenplay/story), Louis Garfinkle (story) and Quinn K. Redeker (story), and Best Cinematography -- Vilmos Zsigmond

Jan Scruggs, a Vietnam veteran who became a counselor with the U.S. Department of Labor, thought of the idea of building a National Memorial for Vietnam Veterans after seeing a screening of the film in spring 1979, and he established and operated the memorial fund which paid for it.