TCM Schedule for Saturday, December 17, 2016 -- What's On Tonight - Religious Favorites

[Staph]

Tonight's not-really-the-Essentials films are a trio of films with religious themes - two Catholic films and one Methodist. I'm not sure I've ever seen a film with a Methodist theme! Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- HOLLYWOOD PARTY (1937)
In this short film, Elissa Landi and Charley Chase host an East Asian themed garden tea party in Hollywood.
Dir: Roy Rowland
Cast: Leon Errol,
C-21 mins,


6:45 AM -- LOVE LETTERS (1945)
A soldier falls for the woman who may have killed his best friend.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ann Richards
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jennifer Jones, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Hans Dreier, Roland Anderson, Sam Comer and Ray Moyer, Best Music, Original Song -- Victor Young (music) and Edward Heyman (lyrics) for the song "Love Letters", and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Victor Young

The role of Singleton was initially planned for Ann Richards, but when Jennifer became available, Richards ended up playing Dilly, Singleton's friend.


8:30 AM -- JANE EYRE (1944)
A governess at a remote estate falls in love with her brooding employer.
Dir: Robert Stevenson
Cast: Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine, Margaret O'Brien
BW-96 mins, CC,

Orson Welles did enough work behind the scenes that the production company offered him a producer credit, which he turned down. Welles' official reason for this is a belief that a person who is not directing the film shouldn't be "just" a producer.


10:21 AM -- HOLLAND SAILING (1956)
This short film focuses on sailboat races in Holland.
BW-8 mins,


10:30 AM -- FIGHTING TROUBLE (1956)
The Bowery Boys try to make their name as crime photographers.
Dir: George Blair
Cast: Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements, Adele Jergens
BW-61 mins, CC,

Leo Gorcey was fired from the last film, crashing Las Vegas for being intoxicated. The boys contract had seven more films to make. Hall assumed that the series would end, but the basic idea was reworked. Louie (Leo's Dad) had passed away. Leo walked out on negotiations with the studio. The usual faces are gone. Stanley Clements replaced Leo in the sense that he was teamed with Hall and the films were under the banner of the Bowery Boys, but that's where it ends. Clements played a suited adult and Hall was now a man. These last seven films were like detective films or who done its. This film marks the first Bowery Boys film without Leo Gorcey, and the first with the new format. Fans regard these last seven films as not being true Bowery Boys movies.


11:49 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,


12:00 PM -- A BIG HAND FOR THE LITTLE LADY (1966)
A pioneer woman replaces her ailing husband in a poker game after he loses most of their money.
Dir: Fielder Cook
Cast: Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards Jr.
C-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Final film of Charles Bickford, and the final screen appearance of comedian Chester Conklin, who had appeared in about 300 movies from 1913.


1:39 PM -- A VISIT TO SANTA (1963)
Two children dreaming of Christmas visit Santa at the North Pole in this short film.
C-12 mins,


2:00 PM -- MONKEY BUSINESS (1952)
A scientist's search for the fountain of youth makes him and his wife regress to childhood.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Charles Coburn
BW-97 mins, CC,

The address that Edwina gives when she calls the police was Ginger Rogers' real-life address: 1605 Gilcrest.


4:00 PM -- BORN YESTERDAY (1950)
A newspaper reporter takes on the task of educating a crooked businessman's girlfriend.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford, William Holden
BW-102 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Judy Holliday (Judy Holliday was not present at the awards ceremony. Ethel Barrymore accepted on her behalf.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- George Cukor, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Albert Mannheimer, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Jean Louis, and Best Picture

Garson Kanin claimed that he modeled the part of the obnoxious junk dealer Harry Brock after Harry Cohn, but that the studio chief never realized it.


6:00 PM -- SEND ME NO FLOWERS (1964)
When he mistakenly thinks he's dying, a hypochondriac tries to choose his wife's next husband.
Dir: Norman Jewison
Cast: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall
C-100 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Although many people think Doris Day and Rock Hudson co-starred as often as Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, this was only their third - and final - appearance as a screen team. Tony Randall also appeared with them in all three films: Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961) and this.


7:45 PM -- MIRACLE AT LOURDES (1939)
In this short film, a doctor suffers a crisis of faith when his wife is struck down with a crippling disease.
Dir: Henry K Dunn
Cast: William Tannen, Barbara Bedford, David Snell
BW-11 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: RELIGIOUS FAVORITES



8:00 PM -- THE SONG OF BERNADETTE (1943)
A French peasant girl's visions of the Virgin Mary create controversy as pilgrims flock to her small town for healing.
Dir: Henry King
Cast: William Eythe, Charles Bickford, Vincent Price
BW-156 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jennifer Jones, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Arthur C. Miller, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- James Basevi, William S. Darling and Thomas Little, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Alfred Newman

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Charles Bickford, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gladys Cooper, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Anne Revere, Best Director -- Henry King, Best Writing, Screenplay -- George Seaton, Best Sound, Recording -- Edmund H. Hansen (20th Century-Fox SSD), Best Film Editing -- Barbara McLean, and Best Picture

Using an actress to play "the lady" was controversial enough, and further controversy fulminated when Loretta Young was passed over in favour of sultry Linda Darnell. At that time, Darnell had an almost pornographic reputation. Franz Werfel, the author of the book on which the film was based, threatened to remove his name from the project. To make matters worse, Darnell was pregnant. Nothing would change Darryl F. Zanuck's mind, and Werfel was told that an unknown actress was chosen. Wearing a little more drapery than the simple dress and veil described by the historical Bernadette, Darnell played the role in bright light.


10:45 PM -- GOING MY WAY (1944)
A young priest revitalizes a failing parish and brings new life to the elder priest.
Dir: Leo McCarey
Cast: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Frank McHugh
BW-127 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Bing Crosby, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Barry Fitzgerald, Best Director -- Leo McCarey, Best Writing, Original Story -- Leo McCarey, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Frank Butler and Frank Cavett, Best Music, Original Song -- Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Johnny Burke (lyrics) for the song "Swinging on a Star", and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Barry Fitzgerald (Fitzgerald is the only actor to have received Leading and Supporting Actor nominations for the same performance. Voting rules were altered shortly after this occurred to prevent future such instances.), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Lionel Lindon, and Best Film Editing -- LeRoy Stone

Although Barry Fitzgerald played a Catholic priest in this film--and several others--he was in real life not a Catholic but a Protestant. Several times during this film when he is "crossing" himself he does it wrong, going from right to left instead of from left to right.


1:00 AM -- I'D CLIMB THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN (1951)
A Methodist minister and his wife are called to a small mountain community to help its residents.
Dir: Henry King
Cast: Susan Hayward, William Lundigan, Rory Calhoun
C-88 mins, CC,

When the producers needed a vintage automobile for the film, they scouted in the shooting area and found Otis Mason in Westminster, South Carolina, who had restored a 1912 Overland to running condition that he had recovered from a barn. His vehicle was hired, and as no one else knew how to operate it, he appeared in the movie as the driver, with one line, "Yes, Ma'am."


2:45 AM -- KISS OF THE TARANTULA (1976)
A disturbed teenage girl unleashes her pet tarantula against her "enemies."
Dir: Chris Munger
Cast: Eric Mason, Suzanne Ling, Herman Wallner
C-85 mins,

There is no connection between this film and the novel/play/film/musical The Kiss of the Spider Woman.


4:15 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.