TCM Schedule for Saturday, March 11, 2017 -- What's On Tonight - WWII Italy

[Staph]

Tonight's not-really-the-Essentials are a trio of films that take place in and near the Italian battlefields of World War II. Enjoy!


6:30 AM -- THE FOUR FEATHERS (1939)
A disgraced officer risks his life to help his childhood friends in battle.
Dir: Zoltan Korda
Cast: John Clements, Ralph Richardson, C. Aubrey Smith
C-115 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Georges Périnal and Osmond Borradaile

Alexander Korda spared no expense in this production, shooting in Technicolor and doing most of the exteriors on location in the Sudan. The sailing ships pulled by hordes of Sudanese along the Nile were constructed specially for the production in exact period detail at great cost.


8:30 AM -- SOLDIERS THREE (1951)
Three British officers look for adventure in 19th-century India.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Stewart Granger, Walter Pidgeon, David Niven
BW-92 mins,

Robert Newton plays Private Bill Sykes. He memorably played the Charles Dickens villain Bill Sykes in the David Lean adaptation of Oliver Twist (1948). The characters Sykes, Malloy, and Ackroyd are loosely adapted from characters named Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris in the Rudyard Kipling stories.


10:10 AM -- WINNING YOUR WINGS (1942)
Starring James Stewart, this short film is designed to encourage recruits for the American Army Air Forces. Vitaphone Release 960-961A.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Dolores Moran, Juanita Stark, Charles Drake
BW-18 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary

Only time John Huston directed James Stewart.


10:30 AM -- CONGO MAISIE (1940)
Brooklyn showgirl Maisie gets stranded in the African jungle with a romantic doctor.
Dir: Henry C. Potter
Cast: Ann Sothern, John Carroll, Rita Johnson
BW-71 mins, CC,

The second of ten movies starring Ann Sothern as the heroine Maisie Ravier.


11:50 AM -- TOURING NORTHERN ENGLAND (1950)
This short film focuses on the history, culture, and people of Northern England.
Narrator: James A. FitzPatrick
C-9 mins,


12:00 PM -- THE ENEMY BELOW (1957)
During World War II, an American destroyer meets a German U-Boat.
Dir: Dick Powell
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Curt Jurgens, Al Hedison
C-98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In real life, the destroyer USS Borie (DD-215) rammed U-boat U-405 and sank it. The Borie was severely damaged, could not be salvaged and sank the next day. The crew was rescued by another vessel.


1:52 PM -- THE BOUNTY (1962)
This silent promotional short presents footage of the "HMS Bounty" for the remake of "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962).
C-7 mins,


2:00 PM -- SHENANDOAH (1965)
A Virginia farmer fights to keep his family together during the Civil War.
Dir: Andrew V. McLaglen
Cast: James Stewart, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett
C-105 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound -- Waldon O. Watson (Universal City SSD)

The opening battle scenes are taken from Raintree County (1957) and are printed as a mirror image of the original footage. (The same scenes can also be seen in, among other films, How the West Was Won (1962).)


4:00 PM -- THE LAST SUNSET (1961)
A sheriff finds the outlaw he's hunting leading a cattle drive and decides to help him before arresting him.
Dir: Robert Aldrich
Cast: Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas, Dorothy Malone
C-112 mins, CC,

Among some of the more ludicrous titles that Universal proposed for the film were "The Magnificent Two", "The Majestic Brutes", "Seething Guns", "The Fuel and the Fire", "Two to Make Hate", "Death is My Middle Name" and "Appointment with a Dead Sun".


6:00 PM -- RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (1962)
Two aging gunslingers sign on to transport gold from a remote mining town.
Dir: Sam Peckinpah
Cast: Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Mariette Hartley
C-94 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Final film of Randolph Scott. He retired from acting once he saw the finished film, saying he wanted to quit while he was ahead and that he would never be able to better his work here.


7:48 PM -- KINGDOM OF THE SAGUENAY (1963)
This short film takes the viewer down the Saguenay River, located in Quebec.
Dir: Douglas Sinclair
C-9 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: WWII ITALY



8:00 PM -- THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (1963)
U.S. troops stationed in Italy at the end of World War II try to destroy a Nazi munitions stronghold.
Dir: Robert Totten
Cast: Larry D. Mann, Victor French, Jon Cedar
BW-91 mins, CC,

One of the Italian partisans is played by Majel Barrett, later wife of Gene Roddenberry, and memorably the actress who played Nurse Christine Chapel in the original recipe Star Trek television series, Lwaxana Troi (mother of Deanna Troi) in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the voice of the Computer on the Enterprise and other Federation ships in ST:TNG, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, and just about every Star Trek film up to and including J.J. Abrams re-imagined Star Trek (2009).


9:45 PM -- A WALK IN THE SUN (1946)
A platoon of American soldiers captures an Italian farmhouse.
Dir: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, George Tyne
BW-117 mins, CC,

The footage of the platoon attacking the German armored car--which was actually a US Army halftrack--has been used in many subsequent war movies and TV shows.


12:00 AM -- FORCE OF ARMS (1951)
An Army sergeant romances a WAC in World War II Italy.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: William Holden, Nancy Olson, Frank Lovejoy
BW-98 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Richard Tregaskis.


1:49 AM -- 100 YEARS AT THE MOVIES (1994)
This short documentary celebrates the centennial of American filmmaking through a montage of clips of influential motion pictures.
Dir: Chuck Workman
C-9 mins,

The first commercially available movie in the United States aired on Broadway in New York City on April 14, 1894. The footage shown there was viewed through a narrow slot in a former shoe store.


3:00 AM -- THRASHIN' (1986)
Teens from rival skateboarding gangs fall in love.
Dir: David Winters
Cast: Josh Brolin, Robert Rusler, Pamela Gidley
C-92 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

When Chrissy is on the bus she has the October 1985 edition of "Seventeen" Magazine. Pamela Gidley, who plays Chrissy, frequently appeared as a cover girl for "Seventeen" in the early 1980s.


4:45 AM -- HARD TICKET TO HAWAII (1987)
In Molokai, two undercover drug enforcement agents are after a vicious drug kingpin.
Dir: Andy Sidaris
Cast: Ronn Moss, Andy Sidaris, Dona Speir
BW-96 mins,

The yacht of the villain, Mr. Chang, belonged to Glen A. Larson in real life.