TCM Schedule for Thursday, March 23, 2017 -- TCM Spotlight - March Malice

[Staph]

From the TCM website:

The world may love a good hero, but don't we also secretly admire a great villain? The bad character often propels a film's action and provides a juicy role for an expressive actor. At times these evil, spiteful antagonists can loom so large as to outshine the good guys. This month on TCM we give villains their due by pairing some of the most nefarious characters in 32 different categories and letting viewers decide who reigns as the worst of them all. Our villains run the gamut and come in all shapes, sizes and forms.

Today we get TRUE CRIME -- BONNIE AND CLYDE, HOSTAGE SITUATIONS -- THE PETRIFIED FOREST and KEY LARGO, DANGEROUS FRIENDS -- STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and THE THIRD MAN, NAZIS -- THE STRANGER and CASABLANCA, ALIENS AMONG US -- INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) and THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, MONSTERS -- GOJIRA (GODZILLA) and KING KONG (1933), and SPACE MONSTERS -- THE X FROM OUTER SPACE and 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH. Enjoy!


6:13 AM -- THE SKY DIVERS (1969)
This promotional short film offers a behind-the-scenes look at "The Gypsy Moths" (1969), focusing exclusively on skydiving.
Dir: Dale Mackey
Narrator: Wink Martindale
C-15 mins,


6:30 AM -- BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
The legendary bank robbers run riot in the South of the 1930s.
Dir: Arthur Penn
Cast: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard
C-111 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Estelle Parsons, and Best Cinematography -- Burnett Guffey

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Warren Beatty, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Faye Dunaway, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Gene Hackman, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Michael J. Pollard, Best Director -- Arthur Penn, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- David Newman and Robert Benton, Best Costume Design -- Theadora Van Runkle, and Best Picture

Warner Brothers had so little faith in the film that, in an unprecedented move, it offered its first-time producer Warren Beatty 40% of the gross instead of a minimal fee. The movie then went on to gross over $50 million.


8:24 AM -- DECADE FOR DECISION (1957)
This short "call to arms" film was made after the Russians launched the first orbiting satellite, Sputnik.
Cast: Dwight Weist, Clifford C. Furnas
BW-15 mins,

This is one of several short subjects, already in the can, and slated for release by RKO Radio Pictures as part of their RKO-Pathe Specials 1956-1957 season, but which received no theatrical distribution at the time, as a result of the demise of RKO. In 1994, they became part of the TCM library and, for the past 20+ years, finally saw the light of day through occasional airings on cable television.


8:45 AM -- THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1935)
An escaped convict holds the customers at a remote desert cantina hostage.
Dir: Archie L. Mayo
Cast: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin
BW-82 mins, CC,

Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart had played the same roles in the stage version. Warner Bros. wanted to put Howard in the film but replace Bogart with Edward G. Robinson. Howard insisted on Bogart, sending a telegram to Jack Warner which read "Insist Bogart play Mantee; no Bogart, no deal." Bogart would later name his second child with Lauren Bacall Leslie, in honor of Howard, the man who gave him his first big break.


10:15 AM -- KEY LARGO (1948)
A returning veteran tangles with a ruthless gangster during a hurricane.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall
BW-100 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Claire Trevor

In a classic case of a director being emotionally manipulative, John Huston informed Claire Trevor that they were to film her song that very day. Trevor was not a trained singer, and had not even rehearsed the song yet. She also felt very intimidated by the A-list actors seated directly in front of her. The result was a hesitant, nervous, uncomfortable rendition, exactly the feeling Huston was hoping to get.


12:15 PM -- STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)
A man's joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Burks

This was the last full feature for Robert Walker who died eight months after filming finished from an allergic reaction to a drug.


2:15 PM -- THE THIRD MAN (1950)
A man's investigation of a friend's death uncovers corruption in post-World War II Vienna.
Dir: Carol Reed
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles
BW-104 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Krasker

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Carol Reed, and Best Film Editing -- Oswald Hafenrichter

David O. Selznick insisted the filmmakers use Alida Valli for the female lead. Actually, Carol Reed and Alexander Korda were happy with the choice. Selznick became dissatisfied that Reed had Valli wear more plain clothes, wanting her to look glamorous and beautiful throughout. Reed won out on this aspect, due to the support of Korda.


4:00 PM -- THE STRANGER (1946)
A small-town schoolteacher suspects her new husband may be an escaped Nazi war criminal.
Dir: Orson Welles
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Orson Welles
BW-94 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Victor Trivas

Orson Welles originally wanted Agnes Moorehead to play the FBI part. The studio said no and instead gave him Edward G. Robinson.


5:37 PM -- ARE ANIMALS ACTORS? (1945)
This short film takes a look at various animal acts training and working in Hollywood.
Narrator: Knox Manning
BW-14 mins,


6:00 PM -- CASABLANCA (1942)
An American saloon owner in North Africa is drawn into World War II when his lost love turns up.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid
BW-103 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Director -- Michael Curtiz, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Humphrey Bogart, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Claude Rains, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Arthur Edeson, Best Film Editing -- Owen Marks, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Max Steiner

In the famous scene where the "Marseillaise" is sung over the German song "Watch on the Rhine", many of the extras had real tears in their eyes. A large number of them were actual refugees from Nazi persecution in Germany and elsewhere in Europe and were overcome by the emotions the scene brought out.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: MARCH MALICE



8:00 PM -- GOJIRA (1956)
American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable, dinosaur-like beast.
Dir: Inoshiro Honda
Cast: Fuyuki Murakami, Akihiko Hirata, Momoko Kochi
BW-96 mins,

The sound department tried numerous animal roars for Godzilla but felt they were unsuitable for an animal of such immense size. Akira Ifukube came up with Godzilla's roars by rubbing a coarse, resin-coated leather glove up and down the strings of a contrabass (double bass), and reverberated the recorded sound. Also, Godzilla's thunderous footsteps were made by beating a kettle drum with a knotted rope.


9:47 PM -- RUSHIN' BALLET (1937)
Two boys get trapped in a dance recital in this comedic short film.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Tommy Bond, Gloria Brown, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer
BW-11 mins,


10:00 PM -- KING KONG (1933)
A film crew discovers the "eighth wonder of the world," a giant prehistoric ape, and brings him back to New York, where he wreaks havoc.
Dir: Merian C. Cooper
Cast: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot
BW-104 mins, CC,

Merian C. Cooper's first vision for the film was of a giant ape on top of the world's tallest building fighting airplanes. He worked backward from there to develop the rest of the story.


12:00 AM -- INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
Soulless pods take over the inhabitants of a small California town.
Dir: Don Siegel
Cast: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates
BW-80 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Kevin McCarthy and author Jack Finney have always denied the rumor that the story is a statement against McCarthyism and Communism; they just saw it as a thriller. Director Don Siegel, however, believes that the political references to Sen. Joseph McCarthy and totalitarianism are inescapable, even though he tried not to emphasize them.


1:30 AM -- THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951)
The crew of a remote Arctic base fights off a murderous monster from outer space.
Dir: Christian Nyby
Cast: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite
BW-87 mins, CC,

When Scotty mentions having attended the 1928 execution of Ruth Snyder and Judd Grey, another character asks him if he was able to get a picture of it. Scotty answers, "No, they didn't allow cameras, but one guy - " He is interrupted by the Thing's approach before he can finish the sentence. Scotty is referring to Chicago Tribune photographer Tom Howard, who smuggled a miniature camera into the execution chamber strapped to his ankle and was able to take a famous photograph of Snyder's final moments in the electric chair.


3:15 AM -- THE X FROM OUTER SPACE (1967)
A reptilian extraterrestrial of mysterious origin lays waste to the Japanese countryside.
Dir: Kazui Nihonmatsu
Cast: Eiji Okada, Shun'ya Wazaki, Itoko Harada
C-88 mins, Letterbox Format

In the 1990s after Nikkatsu Co. folded (the studio responsible for Gappa, the Triphibian Monster), Shochiku announced "Gappa vs. Guilala" which never came to be. Guilala has since appeared in an American TV commercial and a sequel film.


4:49 AM -- FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH (1939)
This short film acknowledges the shipping industry's vitality to the motion picture business.
Cast: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery
BW-10 mins,


5:00 AM -- 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957)
A crashed spaceship unleashes a rapidly growing monster from Venus.
Dir: Nathan Juran
Cast: William Hopper, Joan Taylor, Frank Puglia
BW-83 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

One of the reasons the film takes place in Italy is that Ray Harryhausen always wanted to vacation there but could never afford to go on his own.

[longship]

1. Holy shit! What a day of great films!

And late night has some great early SciFi, including the original Body Snatchers and The Thing.

There is hardly a clunker on the schedule. I would DVR the entire day if I had access to TCM.

* Petrified Forest -- Bogart's break out role.
* The Third Man -- an absolutely wonderful film
* Gojira -- Yup! The original.
* Key Largo -- Nyah! Johnny Rocco! Plus Bogie and Bacall.
* Strangers on a Train -- Robert Walker is chilling! Hitch in top form.