TCM Schedule for Friday, July 14, 2017 -- What's on Tonight: TCM Spotlight - 50 Years of Hitchcock

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is featuring director Vincente Minnelli, mostly, followed by a couple of films directed by Fred Zinnemann. And in prime time, there is more of 50 Years of Hitchcock. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- ZIEGFELD FOLLIES (1946)
Legendary showman Flo Ziegfeld imagines the kind of Follies he could produce with MGM's musical stars.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer
C-110 mins, CC,

The machine producing the bubbles for the finale was responsible for one of the greatest filming fiascoes in movie history. On the first day of filming the finale, the gas produced by the bubbles caused Vincente Minnelli's cameraman to faint, on top of a forty foot lift. While Minnelli struggled to stop his cameraman from falling, the bubbles continued to pour from the machine to such an extent that the fire brigade was called to turn it off. Even with the machine under control, the gas from the bubbles was a constant hazard. James Melton filmed with a wet handkerchief in his mouth to protect himself!


8:00 AM -- THE COBWEB (1955)
Inmates and staff at a posh asylum clash over love and lunacy.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Charles Boyer
C-124 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This film marks the return of Lillian Gish to MGM after a 22-year absence.


10:15 AM -- VAN GOGH: DARKNESS INTO LIGHT (1956)
This promotional short provides a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Lust for Life" (1956).
C-20 mins,


10:45 AM -- HOME FROM THE HILL (1960)
A southern landowner's family is torn apart by the revelation that he has an illegitimate son.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Eleanor Parker, George Peppard
C-150 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The majority of location filming took place in Oxford, MS, near the University of Mississippi campus. George Hamilton recalled that author William Faulkner, who was writer-in-residence at the university, would climb up a tree and stay there for several hours watching the film being shot. Some scenes were filmed in the small town William Humphrey's novel was set in--Clarksville, TX.


1:30 PM -- A MATTER OF TIME (1976)
An eccentric countess teaches a hotel chambermaid to follow her dreams.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Liza Minnelli, Charles Boyer
C-98 mins, CC,

This is the last film of both Vincente Minnelli and Charles Boyer, the first film of Isabella Rossellini, and the only film in which both Ingrid Bergman (Countess Sanziani) and her daughter Isabella Rossellini (Sister Pia) appear together.


3:30 PM -- MINNELLI ON MINNELLI: LIZA REMEMBERS VINCENTE (1987)
Liza Minnelli shares memories of her famous father while showing clips from his greatest movies.
Dir: Richard Schickel
Cast: Liza Minnelli,
C-69 mins,

Vincente named his daughter Liza Minnelli (born 12 March 1946 in Los Angeles, California) after the Gershwin song Liza. He directed the number for Ziegfeld Follies (1945), but it was cut from the final version of the film.


4:45 PM -- KID GLOVE KILLER (1942)
A police scientist investigates the mayor's murder.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Van Heflin, Marsha Hunt, Lee Bowman
BW-74 mins, CC,

During the sneak preview performance first-time feature director Fred Zinneman noticed that all the MGM executives got up and walked out together. Zinneman later found out that it had nothing to do with the film. They had just gotten the news that Carole Lombard had been killed in a plane crash.


6:15 PM -- LITTLE MISTER JIM (1946)
After his mother's death, a young boy tries to help his father stop drinking.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Jackie "Butch" Jenkins, James Craig, Frances Gifford
BW-93 mins, CC,

Based on the story Army Brat by Tommy Wadelton.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: 50 YEARS OF HITCHCOCK



8:00 PM -- SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943)
A young girl fears her favorite uncle may be a killer.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, MacDonald Carey
BW-108 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Gordon McDonell

The producers assigned scouts to find an appropriate house to serve as a setting for the film in Santa Rosa, where the film was to be shot on location. Alfred Hitchcock had provided specific instructions that the house was to be nice, but somewhat worn-down to emphasize the Newton family's middle class background. The scouts selected the house which appears in the film, and Hitchcock was delighted by the photographs of their selection. The house was well-built with both a charming interior and exterior; however, it was an older house that was slightly out of fashion at the time, needed a few cosmetic repairs, had a bit of an overgrown lawn and garage area, and the exterior painting was faded and chipped. Hitchcock believed that the expensive and sturdy, but weathered and worn, look to the house would give the suggestion that the Newton family could be anyone, just the average American family in any average American town. Hitchcock gave the scouts the authority to rent the house from its owners as a temporary filming location, much to the owners' pride and delight. He was horrified, however, when he appeared at the house to begin filming. The owners, excited by the prospect of a major film being shot at their house, had freshly painted the entire house, manicured the lawn, and made a few repairs to the exterior. Hitchcock had to have his effects team artificially age the wear to the house and shoot around the owners' most-effective recent renovations.


10:00 PM -- LIFEBOAT (1944)
Survivors of a torpedoed boat take in a German Naval officer from the sub that sank them.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak
BW-97 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Alfred Hitchcock, Best Writing, Original Story -- John Steinbeck, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Glen MacWilliams

Director Cameo: in "before" and "after" pictures in a newspaper advertisement for Reduco Obesity Slayer. The pictures were genuine, as he had just been on a crash diet (although not with the fictional Reduco) from 300 to 200 lbs. However, the so-called "Reduco Obesity Slayer" diet pill or potion ad seemed so real that people who had seen the film called the studio and wrote letters to Hitchcock asking where could they get this product. (In Rope (1948), a neon sign advertising "Reduco" with Hitchcock's famous silhouette is seen outside the Manhattan apartment where the film takes place.)


12:00 AM -- SPELLBOUND (1945)
A psychiatrist tries to help the man she loves solve a murder buried in his subconscious.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov
BW-111 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Miklós Rózsa

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Michael Chekhov, Best Director -- Alfred Hitchcock, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- George Barnes, Best Effects, Special Effects -- Jack Cosgrove (photographic), and Best Picture

David O. Selznick wanted much of the film to be based on his experiences in psychotherapy. He even brought his psychotherapist in on the set to be a technical advisor. Once, when she disputed with Alfred Hitchcock on the workings of therapy, Hitchcock responded, "My dear, it's only a movie."


2:15 AM -- NOTORIOUS (1946)
A U.S. agent recruits a German expatriate to infiltrate a Nazi spy ring in Brazil.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Claude Rains, and Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Ben Hecht

After filming had ended, Cary Grant kept the famous UNICA key. A few years later he gave the key to his great friend and co-star Ingrid Bergman, saying that the key had given him luck and hoped it would do the same for her. Decades later, at a tribute to their director Alfred Hitchcock, Bergman went off-script and presented the key to him, to his surprise and delight.


4:15 AM -- THE PARADINE CASE (1948)
A married lawyer falls for the woman he's defending on murder charges.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Gregory Peck, Ann Todd, Charles Laughton
BW-114 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ethel Barrymore

When Keane (Gregory Peck) goes to the Paradine house in Cumberland, he walks over to Mrs. Paradine's piano. On the piano we see close-up of a page of music called Appassionata Op. 69 by Francesco Ceruomo. Francesco Ceruomo is an Italianized version of Franz Waxman, who wrote the background music for the film. The music shown on the piano is the actual music that is playing on the soundtrack at that point.

[longship]

1. "Shadow of a Doubt" is a rather good film.

The princples stand out and Hitch does great weaving the plot.

Well worth a viewing. Trust me; it's very good. Plus... Joseph Cotten.