TCM Schedule for Thursday, June 2, 2016 -- What's On Tonight - TCM Spotlight: Stage to Screen

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is showing a selection of the films of Patrick McGoohan. Interestingly, he was actually born in the United States, (Astoria, Queens), and moved to Ireland as a small child. And in prime time on Wednesdays and Thursdays this month, TCM is showing films that began on the stage. Tonight's selection includes a lovely selection of musicals from the 1930s and 1940s. Enjoy!



7:45 AM -- The Lower Depths (1957)
An elderly pilgrim tries to help the inhabitants of a Japanese flop house.
Dir: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Ganjiro Nakamura
BW-125 mins,

The entire set was built at a 75 degree angle, making the housing structure look dilapidated and in disrepair.


10:04 AM -- Sportsmen At Work (1957)
This short film focuses on how conservationists attempt to protect wildlife.
Dir: Larry O'Reilly
BW-8 mins,


10:15 AM -- High Tide at Noon (1957)
A fisherman and his boss's daughter face marital problems because of class differences.
Dir: Philip Leacock
Cast: Betta St. John, William Sylvester, Anthony Bate
BW-100 mins,

Dirk Bogarde was asked to play Nils, the role eventually played by Michael Craig.


12:00 PM -- Hell Drivers (1958)
A trucker tangles with a corrupt boss and his thugs.
Dir: Cy Endfield
Cast: Stanley Baker, Sean Connery, Herbert Lom
BW-103 mins, Letterbox Format

Patrick McGoohan (C. "Red" Redman) and Stanley Baker (Tom Yately) were both considered for the role of James Bond in Dr. No (1962) before Sean Connery (Johnny Kates) was cast.


1:45 PM -- Brass Target (1978)
Gold thieves plot to assassinate General Patton in the days following World War II.
Dir: John Hough
Cast: Sophia Loren, John Cassavetes, George Kennedy
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Many of the extras are actually U.S. Army personnel who were serving in Munich at the time of the filming. Most of the soldiers on the train at the beginning are active duty MP's who took leave to go on location in the Black Forest to make money as extras.


3:45 PM -- The Quare Fellow (1962)
A prison warden finds his belief in capital punishment tested.
Dir: Arthur Dreifuss
Cast: Patrick McGoohan, Sylvia Syms, Walter Macken
BW-90 mins,

The interior prison scenes were filmed in Dublin's Kilmainham Gaol (jail), which is no longer in operation, and is open for tours by the public.


5:15 PM -- Ice Station Zebra (1968)
A sub commander on a perilous mission must ferret out a Soviet agent on his ship.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan
C-152 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Daniel L. Fapp, and Best Effects, Special Visual Effects -- Hal Millar and J. McMillan Johnson

Patrick McGoohan was filming his famous TV series The Prisoner (1967) at the time he appeared in this movie. In order to allow him to take time off from his TV series, the episode "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling" was written in which McGoohan's character, Number Six, has his mind transferred into the body of another man. "The Girl Who Was Death" was also altered so that No 6 wore a Sherlock Holmes disguise, so that his double Frank Maher could film a lot of the scenes.


TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: STAGE TO SCREEN



8:00 PM -- Show Boat (1936)
Riverboat entertainers find love, laughs and hardships as they sail along "Old Man River."
Dir: James Whale
Cast: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger
BW-114 mins, CC,

The design of the show boat is true to what a real show boat of that era might have looked like. This is partly because Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II wished it that way in their original stage instructions for the play, partly because of Edna Ferber's concern for historical accuracy, and partly because of director James Whale's sense of period design.


10:00 PM -- Rose Marie (1936)
An opera singer goes undercover in the Canadian wilderness to hunt for her criminal brother.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke
Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Reginald Owen
BW-111 mins, CC,

Adapted from a Broadway play that opened on September 2, 1924, at the Imperial Theatre in New York and ran for 557 performances.

MGM's original intention was to film in Technicolor and to star Grace Moore. If these plans had gone through, this would have been MGM's first feature-length Technicolor film. However, Moore decided to pass on the film, Jeanette MacDonald was cast, photography switched to black-and-white, and this film became one of the biggest musical successes in MGM's history.


12:00 AM -- Good News (1947)
A football hero falls in love with his French tutor.
Dir: Charles Walters
Cast: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Patricia Marshall
C-93 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane and Roger Edens for the song "Pass That Peace Pipe"

The original Broadway musical on which the screenplay and score were based was "Good News" that opened at Chanin's 46th Street Theatre on September 6, 1927 and ran for 557 performances.

Since Peter Lawford spoke French fluently and June Allyson did not, Lawford had to teach Allyson how to teach him to speak French in the French Lesson scene.


1:45 AM -- Irene (1940)
An Irish shop girl falls in love with a high-society boy.
Dir: Herbert Wilcox
Cast: Anna Neagle, Ray Milland, Roland Young
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Score -- Anthony Collins

This was adapted from a popular Broadway musical that originally opened at the Vanderbilt Theater on Nov. 18, 1919 and ran for 675 performances. Irene Dunne and Jeanette MacDonald were replacement cast members during its long run. The musical was later revived with Debbie Reynolds in the lead. This version opened at the Minskoff Theater in New York on March 13, 1973 and ran for 594 performances.


3:35 AM -- Studio Visit (1946)
This comedic short film offers a behind-the-scenes look at studio lots.
Cast: William Norton Bailey ,
BW-10 mins,


3:45 AM -- Cabin in the Sky (1943)
God and Satan battle for the soul of a wounded gambler.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Ethel Waters, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Lena Horne
BW-99 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Harold Arlen (music) and E.Y. Harburg (lyrics) for the song "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe"

Cabin In The Sky opened at the Martin Beck Theater on October 25, 1940 and ran for 156 performances.

During filming, the movie's black stars were told by the studio manager that they were not allowed to eat at the MGM commissary. When the studio head, Louis B Mayer, heard about this slight, he invited the black performers to join him instead in his private dining room. All the performers were allowed to eat in the commissary the following day.


5:30 AM -- Little Nellie Kelly (1940)
The daughter of Irish immigrants patches up differences between her father and grandfather and rises to the top on Broadway.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Judy Garland, George Murphy, Charles Winninger
BW-99 mins, CC,

Adapted from a musical play by George M. Cohan. The original stage production opened at the Liberty Theatre in New York on November 13, 1922 and ran for 248 performances. Most of the story was rewritten for the film, and only two of the songs from the play were used, "Nellie is a Darling" and "Nellie Kelly I Love You".