TCM Schedule for Saturday, July 8, 2017 -- The Essentials - Directed by James Whale

[Staph]

The Essentials tonight features a quartet of films directed by James Whale. We tend to think of Whale strictly as a director of horror films -- after all, he directed the classic versions of Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). But he is also the man who directed the quintessential version of Show Boat (1936), with Paul Robeson's magnificent Ol' Man River. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- ANTHONY ADVERSE (1936)
An orphan runs off to a life of adventure, then returns to France in search of the girl he left behind.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Fredric March, Olivia De Havilland, Donald Woods
BW-141 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gale Sondergaard, Best Cinematography -- Tony Gaudio, Best Film Editing -- Ralph Dawson, and Best Music, Score -- Leo F. Forbstein (head of department) with score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Anton Grot, Best Assistant Director -- William H. Cannon, and Best Picture

Tony Curtis was a huge fan of Hervey Allen's book. He changed his name from Bernard Schwartz to Tony Curtis in homage to the lead character and was even buried with a copy of the novel.


8:30 AM -- A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (1947)
An injured aviator argues in celestial court for the chance to go on living.
Dir: Michael Powell
Cast: David Niven, Kim Hunter, Robert Coote
C-104 mins, CC,

It was during a visit to Hollywood in 1945 that director Michael Powell decided to cast the then-unknown Kim Hunter as June, the American servicewoman, largely upon the recommendation of Alfred Hitchcock, who had done a series of screen tests of actors and actresses auditioning for parts in his upcoming production, Notorious (1946). The trouble was that in these tests, Hunter was not seen but, rather, heard off-camera, feeding lines and cues to the actors Hitchcock was actually testing. But Hitchcock assured Powell that he would arrange a "face-to-face" with Hunter and her agent, so that he could see for himself whether she fit the requirements of the "all-American" girl Powell had envisioned opposite David Niven. And upon first encountering Hunter, Powell agreed with Hitchcock that she indeed was a perfect choice for the role.


10:30 AM -- ONE MYSTERIOUS NIGHT (1944)
A reformed thief helps the police recover an Egyptian diamond.
Dir: Oscar Boetticher Jr.
Cast: Chester Morris, Janis Carter, William Wright
BW-62 mins, CC,

Seventh of 14 Boston Blackie films starring Chester Morris.


12:00 PM -- THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
Oklahoma farmers dispossessed during the Depression fight for better lives in California.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine
BW-129 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jane Darwell, and Best Director -- John Ford

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Henry Fonda, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Nunnally Johnson, Best Sound, Recording -- Edmund H. Hansen (20th Century-Fox SSD), Best Film Editing -- Robert L. Simpson, and Best Picture

Prior to filming, producer Darryl F. Zanuck sent undercover investigators out to the migrant camps to see if John Steinbeck had been exaggerating about the squalor and unfair treatment meted out there. He was horrified to discover that, if anything, Steinbeck had actually downplayed what went on in the camps.


2:30 PM -- MANY RIVERS TO CROSS (1955)
A pioneer woman sets her sights on a trapper.
Dir: Roy Rowland
Cast: Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, Victor McLaglen
C-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Cyril J. Mockridge's score was conducted (uncredited) by Miklós Rózsa. This was Mockridge's only picture at MGM, on loan from 20th Century Fox.


4:15 PM -- I SHOT JESSE JAMES (1949)
After shooting his best friend, an outlaw tries to cope with guilt.
Dir: Samuel Fuller
Cast: Preston Foster, Barbara Britton, John Ireland
BW-81 mins,

Director Samuel Fuller said that he wanted to make this picture because, unlike many filmmakers in Hollywood, he did not see the real Jesse James as a "folk hero" or someone to be admired. Fuller saw him as a cold-blooded psychopath who shot down women, children, the elderly, the helpless (his gang once stopped a Union hospital train and executed every wounded federal soldier on it) and, in Fuller's words, Bob Ford "did something that should have been done quite a bit earlier in the life of Jesse Woodson James".


5:45 PM -- GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL (1957)
Dramatization of the legendary battle between Wyatt Earp and the Clanton Gang.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming
C-123 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- George Dutton (Paramount SSD), and Best Film Editing -- Warren Low

This is the second of three dramatisations of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in which DeForest Kelley (Morgan Earp) appeared. He previously played Ike Clanton in You Are There: The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (October 26, 1881) (1955) and later played Dr. Leonard McCoy, who has assumed the role of Tom McLaury, in Star Trek: Spectre of the Gun (1968).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: DIRECTED BY JAMES WHALE



8:00 PM -- BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)
To save his wife, Baron Frankenstein must build a mate for his monster.
Dir: James Whale
Cast: Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson
BW-75 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Gilbert Kurland (sound director)

The tiny mermaid in Dr. Pretorius' bottle was Josephine McKim, a member of the 1924 and 1928 U.S. Women's Olympic Swim Teams and one of the four members of that team to win the 1928 gold medal in the 400-Meter Freestyle Relay. McKim was also Maureen O'Sullivan's body double in the infamous nude swimming scene of the previous year's Tarzan and His Mate (1934).


9:45 PM -- THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK (1939)
The Three Musketeers rescue the king's unjustly imprisoned twin.
Dir: James Whale
Cast: Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, Warren William
BW-112 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Score -- Lud Gluskin and Lucien Moraweck

Peter Cushing did double duty on this film. In additional to his own role, he would feed Louis Hayward the lines for the split screen shots. Director James Whale initially cast him only to play opposite Hayward in the sequences where both twins appear together, but was impressed enough with the newcomer that he offered Cushing a small part on horseback. This was Peter Cushing's film debut, and he had the unique opportunity to view his own rushes and improve his own performance, especially since none of it would be used in the finished feature. As 'Second Officer,' he can be seen 17 minutes in, with two lines of dialogue ("I've been here before&quot .


12:00 AM -- SHOW BOAT (1936)
Riverboat entertainers find love, laughs and hardships as they sail along "Old Man River."
Dir: James Whale
Cast: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger
BW-114 mins, CC,

The design of the show boat is true to what a real show boat of that era might have looked like. This is partly because Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II wished it that way in their original stage instructions for the play, partly because of Edna Ferber's concern for historical accuracy, and partly because of director James Whale's sense of period design.


2:15 AM -- THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933)
A scientist's experiments with invisibility turn him into a madman.
Dir: James Whale
Cast: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan
BW-72 mins, CC,

On the DVD short documentary, Claude Rains' daughter tells of a time when the two went to see this movie in the theater years after it was made. It was bitterly cold and his face was completely covered by a hat and scarf. When he spoke to ask for the tickets, the attendant immediately recognized his voice and wanted to let them in for free. Rains was quite upset at this and demanded that he pay full price.


3:45 AM -- GYMKATA (1985)
A champion gymnast competes to win the U.S. a strategic missile site.
Dir: Robert Clouse
Cast: Kurt Thomas, Tetchie Agbayani, Richard Norton
C-90 mins, CC,

The film's source material ("The Terrible Game" by Dan Tyler Moore) was originally published in 1957. A film version of the book was originally planned in the early-1960s as a Rock Hudson vehicle, but never got off the ground.


5:30 AM -- PERVERSION FOR PROFIT (1965)
This anti-porn short film shows a floodtide of filth engulfing the country in the form of newsstand obscenity.
Cast: Damian O'Flynn,
C-31 mins,