TCM Schedule for Saturday, June 10, 2017 -- The Essentials - Score by Mikls Rzsa

[Staph]

The Essentials tonight feature the music of Miklós Rózsa. Rózsa won three Oscars, and was nominated for another 13. Tonight we will see three of those nominated films. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- DOCTOR X (1932)
A reporter investigates a series of cannibalistic murders at a medical college.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy
C-76 mins, CC,

Contrary to Technicolor's usual edict, Warner Brothers also shot a black-and-white version of the film. The Technicolor version was shot by Ray Rennahan and the B&W version by Richard Towers. The camera angles of the the two versions are considerably different, with the Technicolor camera given priority for the best compositions. Two of these, for example, are Lee Tracy and Mae Busch in the house of prostitution scene and the sequence with Tracy in the skeleton room. For a time Warner Brothers did not have a print of the original Technicolor version and it was assumed to be lost. The Technicolor version was finally discovered and restored by the UCLA Archives.


7:30 AM -- INVISIBLE INVADERS (1959)
Invisible aliens use newly raised corpses to conquer the Earth.
Dir: Edward L. Cahn
Cast: John Agar, Jean Byron, Philip Tonge
BW-67 mins, CC,

Due to the film's meager budget, cast members had to perform their own stunts with little preparation or training. According to Robert Hutton, this almost led to disaster at least once during the shoot. John Agar very nearly overturned a jeep carrying himself and Hutton during a scene in which he was instructed to brake and swerve sharply. The jeep tilted onto two wheels and very nearly toppled over with the actors inside.


9:00 AM -- BLACK BEAUTY (1946)
A motherless girl searches for the horse she raised.
Dir: Max Nosseck
Cast: Mona Freeman, Richard Denning, Evelyn Ankers
BW-72 mins, CC,

The horse playing Black Beauty, a stallion called Fury, was the highest paid animal star after Lassie the dog.


10:30 AM -- ALIAS BOSTON BLACKIE (1942)
A reformed thief tracks down an escaped convict so he can prove the man is innocent.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: Chester Morris, Adele Mara, Richard Lane
BW-67 mins, CC,

Towards the end of the film, the action takes place at the "Jane Drake Theatre," where "Jane Drake" is appearing a play called "Bedtime Story," written by "Lucius Drake". These characters, the play and the theatre are all left over from Bedtime Story (1941), also produced by Columbia Pictures a few months earlier, starring Loretta Young and Fredric March in the Drake roles.


11:45 AM -- STRIKE UP THE BAND (1940)
A high-school band sets out to win a national radio contest.
Dir: Busby Berkeley
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra
BW-120 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Roger Edens and George Stoll for the song "Our Love Affair", and Best Music, Score -- George Stoll and Roger Edens

The puppet orchestra made of fruit that comes to life playing instruments for Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland on a kitchen table, was the work of animator George Pal. He had just arrived in Hollywood from Europe via New York and this was among his first projects. Pal's work was relatively unknown by American audiences, thus he was uncredited. The idea for the sequence was that of another New York-to-Hollywood transfer: Vincente Minnelli.


2:00 PM -- THE PIRATE (1948)
An actor poses as a notorious pirate to court a romantic Caribbean girl.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Walter Slezak
C-102 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Lennie Hayton

The film's musical production final sequence, "Be a Clown", composed by Cole Porter, featured the acrobatic and dancing talents of the Nicholas Brothers, with Gene Kelly, who choreographed the dance number. Judy Garland joins Kelly's act and the film ends with the two of them singing a reprise of "Be a Clown." The dance sequence was the first time The Nicholas Brothers had danced onscreen with a Caucasian, while it was Kelly's insistence that they perform with him. The Nicholas Brothers were the ones punished. When released to the feature movie theater circuit distribution, this Nicholas Brothers sequence was deleted by MGM when screened in the Southern States, such as Memphis, because it featured black performers, the result of racial bigotry in the South. Only in the Northern States' movie theaters, were audiences allowed to view the entire end production presentation. Essentially blackballed, Fayard and Harold moved to Europe and did not return until the mid-sixties making a comeback appearance on The Hollywood Palace (1964) hosted by Roy Rogers and Trigger.


4:00 PM -- A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (1966)
A devout scholar gets caught in the middle of Henry VIII's plans to break with the Catholic Church.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern
C-121 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Scofield (Paul Scofield was not present at the awards ceremony. His co-star Wendy Hiller accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Bolt, Best Cinematography, Color -- Ted Moore, Best Costume Design, Color -- Elizabeth Haffenden and Joan Bridge, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Robert Shaw, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Wendy Hiller

Robert Bolt borrowed the title from Robert Whittinton, a contemporary of Thomas More, who in 1520 wrote of him: "More is a man of an angel's wit and singular learning; I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability? And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity: a man for all seasons."


6:15 PM -- THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA (1958)
A Cuban fisherman believes his long dry spell will end when he catches a legendary fish.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Felipe Pazos Jr., Harry Bellaver, Spencer Tracy
C-87 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Dimitri Tiomkin

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy, and Best Cinematography, Color -- James Wong Howe

Ernest Hemingway himself was initially involved in the production, although the extent of his participation after selling his book was to go marlin-fishing off the coast of Peru to try to find a fish worthy enough for the picture. In the end, the producers used a rubber marlin and stock footage of marlin fishing in which Hemingway didn't participate in. After seeing the film, Ernest Hemingway expressed his disappointment and said that Spencer Tracy looked less the Cuban peasant fisherman and more the rich old actor that he was.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: SCORE BY MIKLOS ROSZA



8:00 PM -- THE LOST WEEKEND (1945)
A writer fights to overcome his addiction to liquor.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry
BW-101 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Ray Milland, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- John F. Seitz, Best Film Editing -- Doane Harrison, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Miklós Rózsa

The first film featuring a "theremin" on the soundtrack - a musical instrument which produces a strange "wailing" sound that later became familiar to 1950s science-fiction film audiences. Miklós Rózsa used it in composing the score for the nightmare sequences.


10:00 PM -- LYDIA (1941)
An unmarried woman stages a reunion with former suitors to recapture the romance of her past.
Dir: Julien Duvivier
Cast: Merle Oberon, Edna May Oliver, Alan Marshal
BW-99 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Miklós Rózsa

This is the last film for both Edna May Oliver and John Halliday.


12:00 AM -- IVANHOE (1952)
Sir Walter Scott's classic tale of the noble knight torn between his fair lady and a beautiful Jew.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine
C-107 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Freddie Young, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Miklós Rózsa, and Best Picture

At the beginning of the film when Ivanhoe is looking for Richard I by singing until he finds the king, is historically accurate, with the exception that the singer was a minstrel called Blondel. When Leopold of Austria captured Richard I, Blondel went round all the castles singing Richard's favourite song. Supposedly Richard had co-written the song. When he heard Richard join in the chorus, he went home and told the Normans where Richard was.


2:00 AM -- PORTRAIT OF JASON (1967)
An aspiring entertainer reveals what it means to be black and gay in the '60s.
Dir: Shirley Clarke
Cast: Jason Holliday,
BW-108 mins, CC,

This film was previously thought to have been lost, until a 16 mm print of the film was discovered at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research in 2013 and has since been restored by the Academy Film Archive, Milestone Films and Modern Videofilm.


4:00 AM -- THE CONNECTION (1962)
A film director pays addicts to let him film them as they wait for their dealer.
Dir: Shirley Clarke
Cast: William Redfield, Warren Finnerty, Garry Goodrow
BW-103 mins, CC,

This film was held up for release after the Board of Regents of the Motion Picture Division of New York State's Dept. of Education viewed the film and refused to grant it a license to be commercially shown. This was mostly due to the repeated use (seven times) of a four-letter word that rhymes with "hit" and is used as a slang synonym for heroin. The film was judged obscene but opened without a license anyway at the D.W. Griffith Theater on October 3, 1962, only to receive several bad reviews from the major NY film critics. Director Shirley Clarke sued and a month later, the highest court in the state reversed the decision of the Board of Regents. However, the reputation of the film was already damaged and to this day, it has never recouped its original $167,000 budget.