TCM Schedule for Thursday, March 31, 2015 -- TCM Spotlight: Condemned

[Staph]

In the morning hours, TCM is showing films starring Donald Woods, leading man of the 1930s turned character actor through the 1970s. In the afternoon, we get a quartet of films with art direction by Cedric Gibbons. It isn't a birthday for either, but just a chance to celebrate the talented but somewhat lesser known folk who spent their working lives in Hollywood. In prime time, TCM is finishing up this month's theme of films that were in some way condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- MGM Parade Show #19 (1955)
Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly perform in a clip from "Ziegfeld Follies"; George Murphy introduces a clip from "Ransom." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-25 mins,


6:30 AM -- Fog Over Frisco (1934)
A San Francisco heiress discovers her sister is hanging out with gangsters.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Bette Davis, Donald Woods, Margaret Lindsay
BW-68 mins, CC,

Bette Davis remarked that she looked back at this film with fondness, making it one of the few from the early part of her career that she would look at that way.


7:45 AM -- Isle Of Fury (1936)
A man on the run in the South Seas gets caught up in a romantic triangle.
Dir: Frank McDonald
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Woods
BW-60 mins,

Remake of The Narrow Corner (1933)


9:00 AM -- Road Gang (1936)
A reporter exposes corruption on a southern chain gang.
Dir: Louis King
Cast: Donald Woods, Kay Linaker, Carlyle Moore Jr.
BW-61 mins,

The character played by Joe King is shown in the opening credits as Moett. On the TCM print every time this character is mentioned it's clear the actors are saying Metcalf even though the sound drops out as if being censored.


10:15 AM -- Talent Scout (1937)
A Hollywood heartthrob helps a small-town girl achieve stardom.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: Donald Woods, Jeanne Madden, Fred Lawrence
BW-62 mins,

Craig Reynolds, who appears briefly from archive footage in the movie, was originally cast as the star of this movie, but caught the flu and was replaced by Donald Woods.


11:30 AM -- Song Of Russia (1943)
An American symphonic conductor trapped in Russia during World War II helps with the resistance.
Dir: Gregory Ratoff
Cast: Robert Taylor, Susan Peters, John Hodiak
BW-107 mins, CC,

This film was the subject of inquiry by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in October 1947. Testimony as to the distortions of Soviet life presented in the film was provided by Ayn Rand, screenwriter and author of "The Fountainhead" and 'Atlas Shrugged". Rand was born in Russia, but left in 1926. Rand derided the depictions of Russian peasants who owned radios and had access to long distance telephones as well as showing a "traditional Russian wedding dance' with peasant women doing the Charleston with spiked heels in church.


1:30 PM -- No Leave, No Love (1946)
During a whirlwind two-day pass in New York, a sailor falls in love with an Englishwoman.
Dir: Charles Martin
Cast: Van Johnson, Keenan Wynn, Pat Kirkwood
C-119 mins, CC,

A record album of songs from the film was released on the Cosmo Records label in July 1946. Pat Kirkwood was backed by the George Stoll Orchestra on "All The Time," "Isn't Love Wonderful," "Listen To Me" and "Love On A Greyhound Bus" on the 78 rpm album (DMR-102).


3:29 PM -- I Love My Wife But! (1946)
A short film about the various types of wives that one can have and how to deal with them.
Dir: David Barclay
Cast: Anne O'Neal, Dave O'Brien, Marie Windsor
BW-9 mins,


3:45 PM -- Athena (1954)
A society lawyer falls in love with the daughter of a family of fitness fanatics.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Virginia Gibson
C-96 mins, CC,

Even as late as 1954, Hollywood actors - in their shirtless scenes - generally wore their pants or bathing suits or loincloths high enough to cover their navels. In the Mr. Universe contest toward the end of this movie, the contestants wear snug-fitting, low-rising bathing suits which reveal several inches of skin below the navel. At the time, this must have been considered something of a "breakthrough."


5:30 PM -- Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
True story of torch singer Ruth Etting's struggle to escape the gangster who made her a star.
Dir: Charles Vidor
Cast: Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell
C-122 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Daniel Fuchs

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Cagney, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart, Best Sound, Recording -- Wesley C. Miller (M-G-M), Best Music, Original Song -- Nicholas Brodszky (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "I'll Never Stop Loving You", and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Percy Faith and George Stoll

This was the only time, after becoming a star in the 1930s, that James Cagney ever accepted second billing for a major role. He thought that Doris Day's character was more central to the film's plot, and so ceded top billing to her.


7:44 PM -- Golden Glamour (1955)
This short film takes a look at the history and uses of gold.
Dir: Lawrence E. Williams
BW-15 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: CONDEMNED



8:00 PM -- The Moon Is Blue (1953)
Two womanizers fall for a woman determined to keep her virginity.
Dir: Otto Preminger
Cast: William Holden, David Niven, Maggie McNamara
BW-99 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Maggie McNamara, Best Film Editing -- Otto Ludwig, and Best Music, Original Song -- Herschel Burke Gilbert (music) and Sylvia Fine (lyrics) for the song "The Moon Is Blue"

This movie was used as a part of a plot line in the "The Moon is Not Blue" episode of "M*A*S*H." The plot line focuses on Hawkeye Pierce and B.J. Hunnicutt trying to obtain a copy of the movie for the 4077th after hearing it has been banned in Boston. They think it must be a dirty movie, but are disappointed when they finally get to see it. (Hawkeye: "I'm outraged! I've never seen a cleaner movie!" Father Mulcahy: "Well, one of the characters *did* say the word, 'virgin.'" Hawkeye: "That's because everyone *was*!&quot


10:00 PM -- Baby Doll (1956)
A child bride holds her husband at bay while flirting with a sexy Italian farmer.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Karl Malden, Carroll Baker, Eli Wallach
BW-115 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Carroll Baker, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Mildred Dunnock, Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- Tennessee Williams, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Boris Kaufman

When the film was released in 1956, it was enormously controversial for its extremely risqué subject matter. The Legion of Decency condemned the film for its "carnal suggestiveness". Francis Cardinal Spellman condemned the film in a stunning attack from the pulpit of St. Patrick's Cathedral two days before the film opened, saying that the film had been "responsibly judged to be evil in concept" and was certain that it would "exert an immoral and corrupting influence on those who see it", and exhorted all Catholics to refrain from patronizing the film "under pain of sin". Cardinal Spellman's condemnation of the film led to the Legion of Decency's first-ever nationwide boycott of an American-made film produced by a major studio. All over the country, almost 20 million Catholics protested the film and picketed theaters that showed it. The Catholic boycott nearly killed the film; it was cancelled by 77% of theaters scheduled to show it, and it only made a meager $600,000 at the box office. The film was also condemned by Time Magazine, which called it the dirtiest American-made motion picture that had ever been legally exhibited. Surprisingly, despite the film's sordid elements, the Production Code Administration gave it a seal of approval, but only after nearly a year of arguments. This was one of many examples of how the lax attitude of new Code official Geoffrey Shurlock, the successor at the PCA to the strict Catholic militant Joseph Breen, would lead to a schism with the Legon of Decency and the PCA's own downfall over the next few years. After this film, the PCA drifted farther and farther away from its traditional guidelines until it was replaced by the MPAA ratings system in 1968.


12:15 AM -- L'amore (1948)
Anthology film centered on two separate women, both played by Anna Magnani.
Dir: Roberto Rossellini
Cast: Anna Magnani
BW-79 mins,

When, in 1952, the "Il Miracolo" segment of the film was released in the United States as "The Miracle", it was the subject of a legal battle in which the Supreme Court ruled for the first time that motion pictures, like books and newspapers, were protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution.


1:45 AM -- Strange Cargo (1940)
A prostitute and some prisoners attempt to escape from a penal colony in French Guiana.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Ian Hunter
BW-113 mins, CC,

Received a condemned rating from the Legion of Decency for "irreverent use of Scripture" and "lustful complications." Even after the studio made the changes demanded, distribution was sharply cut by cities refusing to book it.


3:45 AM -- Rififi (1954)
Four friends plot an intricate jewelry heist, planning for everything except human frailty.
Dir: Jules Dassin
Cast: Jean Servais, Carl Mohner, Robert Manuel
BW-118 mins,

The much imitated heist sequence is over 32 minutes long and contains not a single line of dialogue or music. The production crew and composer Georges Auric thought it would be a disaster to have such a long sequence sans dialogue. Auric insisted that he allow him to write a grand piece of music for the scene and he eventually did on his own. Later Dassin played the part for Auric twice, once with the score, once without. Auric turned to him and admitted, "Without the music".


5:45 AM -- Love in the Afternoon (1957)
An aging American tycoon overcomes his inhibitions to court a young Parisian.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier
BW-130 mins, CC,

The movie was a critical and commercial disaster on release. Many critics felt that the 55-year-old Gary Cooper, whose health was rapidly failing, should have realized that he was far too old for the part and turned it down, as Cary Grant did. Nevertheless, 6 years later Grant and Hepburn played love interests in "Charade" (1963). That film worked because Hepburn was chasing Grant, not the older man after the younger woman (as in Love in the Afternoon).