TCM Schedule for Thursday, February 16, 2017 -- 31 Days of Oscar: Oscar A to Z Day 16

[Staph]

It's day sixteen of 31 days of Oscar, alpha and omega style. Today's selections take us from 1943's Madame Curie (future Nobel Prize winner has marital troubles -- oh, Hollywood, never change!) to 1938's Merrily We Live (that bears a startling resemblance to My Man Godfrey (1936)). Enjoy!


6:30 AM -- MADAME CURIE (1943)
The famed female scientist fights to keep her marriage together while conducting early experiments with radioactivity.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Henry Travers
BW-124 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Walter Pidgeon, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt, Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD), Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Herbert Stothart, and Best Picture

The third of Greer Garson's run of five consecutive Oscar nominations for Best Actress. She had been nominated for Blossoms in the Dust (1941) and won for Mrs. Miniver (1942). She would be nominated again the next two years for Mrs. Parkington (1944) and The Valley of Decision (1945).


8:45 AM -- MADAME X (1929)
Infidelity and an accidental death force a society wife to leave her infant son.
Dir: Lionel Barrymore
Cast: Lewis Stone, Ruth Chatterton, Raymond Hackett
BW-95 mins,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ruth Chatterton (No official nominees had been announced this year.), and Best Director -- Lionel Barrymore (No official nominees had been announced this year.)

Patron saint of the Classic Films Group Robert Montgomery was originally intended for the role of Raymond, eventually played by Raymond Hackett.


10:30 AM -- THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (1942)
A possessive son's efforts to keep his mother from remarrying threaten to destroy his family.
Dir: Orson Welles
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter
BW-88 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Agnes Moorehead, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Stanley Cortez, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Albert S. D'Agostino, A. Roland Fields and Darrell Silvera, and Best Picture

One of former silent star Dolores Costello's last roles. She was forced to retire from the film business as her face had become badly scarred by early film make-up which was highly caustic.


12:15 PM -- MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1954)
A playboy becomes a doctor to right the wrong he's done to a sightless widow.
Dir: Douglas Sirk
Cast: Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Agnes Moorehead
C-108 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jane Wyman

Jeff Chandler turned down the role of Bob Merrick (Rock Hudson's role) because he thought the story was too "soppy".


2:15 PM -- THE MAGNIFICENT YANKEE (1950)
True story of the lifelong love affair between Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and his wife.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Edith Evanson, James Lydon, Richard Anderson
BW-89 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Louis Calhern, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Walter Plunkett

The scenes where Oliver Wendell Holmes visits his wife's grave were filmed at the actual grave of Oliver Wendell and Fanny Holmes in Arlington National Cemetery.


3:45 PM -- A MAJORITY OF ONE (1961)
A Jewish widow falls in love with a Japanese businessman.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Alec Guinness, Ray Danton
C-149 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Harry Stradling Sr.

The play "A Majority of One" by Leonard Spigelgass opened at the Shubert Theater in New York on February 16, 1959 and ran for 556 performances. Tsuruko Kobayashi and Mae Questel recreated their stage roles in this filmed production. Leonard Spigelgass wrote the play and adapted his work for the screenplay.


6:15 PM -- THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
Hard-boiled detective Sam Spade gets caught up in the murderous search for a priceless statue.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George
BW-100 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sydney Greenstreet, Best Writing, Screenplay -- John Huston, and Best Picture

Three of the falcon statuettes still exist and are conservatively valued at over $1 million each. This makes them some of the most valuable film props ever made; indeed, each is now worth more than three times what the film cost to make.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: DAY 16



8:00 PM -- THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956)
International spies kidnap a doctor's son when he stumbles on their assassination plot.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda de Banzie
C-120 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for the song "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)"

It was during the making of this film, when she saw how camels, goats and other "animal extras" in a marketplace scene were being treated, that Doris Day began her lifelong commitment to preventing animal abuse. She was so appalled at the conditions the animals were in that she refused to work unless they were properly fed and cared for. The production company actually had to set up "feeding stations" for the various goats, sheep, camels, etc.--and feed them every day--before Day would agree to go back to work.


10:15 PM -- THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962)
An experienced gunman and a peace-loving tenderfoot clash with a Western bully.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles
BW-123 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Edith Head

The one cast member who could get away with just about anything on the set was Lee Marvin. John Ford appreciated him not only for his acting and his World War II service as a Marine, but for Marvin's genuineness as a person. One day, Ford came on the set and Marvin whistled loudly through his teeth. The crew froze, certain there would be trouble. Instead Ford just smiled, because he recognized that what Marvin was doing was giving the admiral's whistle and piping the director "on board."


12:30 AM -- MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER (1971)
A gambler and a prostitute become business partners in a remote Old West mining town.
Dir: Robert Altman
Cast: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois
C-121 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Julie Christie

During post-production on this film, Robert Altman was having a difficult time finding a proper musical score, until he attended a party where the album "Songs of Leonard Cohen" was playing and noticed that several songs from the album seemed to fit in with the overall mood and themes of the movie. Cohen, who had been a fan of Altman's previous film, Brewster McCloud (1970), allowed him to use three songs from the album - "The Stranger Song", "Sisters of Mercy" and "Winter Lady" - although Altman was dismayed when Cohen later admitted that he didn't like the movie. A year later, Altman received a phone call from Cohen, who told him that he changed his mind after re-watching the movie with an audience and now loved it.


3:00 AM -- MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944)
Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor
C-113 mins, CC,

Won a Juvenile Oscar Award for Margaret O'Brien for outstanding child actress of 1944

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe, Best Cinematography, Color -- George J. Folsey, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- George Stoll, and Best Music, Original Song -- Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin for the song "The Trolley Song"

Judy Garland was at first reluctant to accept the role of Esther Smith for fear of being typecast as a "girl next door" type, as she had played such a role in many of her previous films. By this point in her career, she had not only been married briefly, she was also a lover of Hollywood nightlife and had briefly dated many of the famous Hollywood playboys of the time, including Artie Shaw, Tyrone Power and Joe Mankiewicz. In real life, she was a far cry from the girl-next-door types she had played onscreen and wanted to be given the glamor treatment received by the other actresses at MGM. With encouragement from director Vincente Minnelli, who did see Garland as she had wanted to be seen for years (beautiful and womanly), make-up artist Dorothy Ponedel worked on Garland and brought out her natural beauty. Garland's eyebrows were modified to a more defined arch, her cheeks highlighted with a subtle blush, her nose discs and dental caps removed. Garland had worn the nose discs and dental caps in all of her previous films; the caps were worn to disguise her crooked teeth, the nose discs to turn up her nose and create a more pronounced profile. "Dottie" Ponedel threw away the discs and caps, telling Garland she was pretty enough not to need them. To create a glamorous effect, while at the same time drawing attention to Garland's full lips and large brown eyes, Ponedel applied a bright red lip color and false lashes, both of which became staples of Garland's signature look from that point onward. During filming, Minnelli used special lighting to display the results of Ponedel's handiwork effectively. Garland was very pleased with the results and even more impressed when she attended a screening of the film and saw herself onscreen, and later stated that working on this film was the first time she had ever felt beautiful. She would continue to work with Ponedel for the rest of her years at MGM.


5:00 AM -- MERRILY WE LIVE (1938)
A society matron's habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants leads to romance for her daughter.
Dir: Norman Z. McLeod
Cast: Constance Bennett, Brian Aherne, Alan Mowbray
BW-95 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Billie Burke, Best Cinematography -- Norbert Brodine, Best Art Direction -- Charles D. Hall, Best Sound, Recording -- Elmer Raguse (Hal Roach SSD), Best Music, Original Song -- Phil Charig (music) and Arthur Quenzer (lyrics) for the song "Merrily We Live"

Alan Mowbray, Billie Burke, and Constance Bennett had worked on director Norman Z. McLeod's previous film, Topper (1937). The commercial and critical success of Topper played a large role in their inclusion in this film.

[Afromania]

1. Good group of movies

I've always liked Madam Curie but always seem to catch pieces of it here and there. There was one about Pasteur I can't remember the name of exactly that was really fantastic as well. Funny how this country has had repeat bouts against science over the course its' history.

[Staph]

2. I suspect that the Pasteur film you are thinking of

is The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), starring Paul Muni. Muni won an Oscar for his role!