TCM Schedule for Friday, July 28, 2017 -- What's on Tonight: TCM Spotlight - 50 Years of Hitchcock

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is headed out to sea, with a selection of films about sailors, mostly enjoying a song and dance sort of shore leave. And in prime time, there is the last of 50 Years of Hitchcock, featuring his last five films (not counting his documentary Memory of the Camps, shot as British troops freed the prisoners of German concentration camps in 1945 but not released until 2014). Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- THREE SAILORS AND A GIRL (1953)
Three sailors on leave back a Broadway hit.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Jane Powell, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson
C-95 mins, CC,

Based on a play by George S. Kaufman.


7:45 AM -- ON THE TOWN (1949)
Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City.
Dir: Gene Kelly
Cast: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett
C-98 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Roger Edens and Lennie Hayton

A total of 5 days was spent filming in New York City. The 2 major problems faced by the crew was the weather (it rained for most of the shoot) and the popularity of Frank Sinatra. Gene Kelly explained that the movie was filmed at the height of Sinatra mania and Frank would be instantly recognized by people on the streets. To avoid crowds the cast insisted on taxis instead of limousines for transportation and that the camera be hidden inside a station wagon. During the finale of the "New York, New York" musical number, which takes place in the sunken plaza at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in front of the statue of Prometheus, you can see at the top of the frame of the last shot, the heads of hundreds of curious spectators staring at the three stars over the wall behind the statue.


9:30 AM -- SHIPMATES FOREVER (1935)
An admiral's son gives up the Navy for a career as a song-and-dance man.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Lewis Stone
BW-109 mins, CC,

Near the end of the movie, there is a great shot of a Martin P3M-2 seaplane landing in the ocean. Markings on the side of the plane show a "6". There were only 6 P3M-2's built.


11:30 AM -- BORN TO DANCE (1936)
A sailor on leave helps a young dancer make it to the top on Broadway.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Eleanor Powell, James Stewart, Virginia Bruce
BW-106 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Dance Direction -- Dave Gould for "Swingin' the Jinx", and Best Music, Original Song -- Cole Porter for the song "I've Got You Under My Skin"

Cole Porter picked James Stewart for the male lead and later said he sang "Easy to Love" as well as any professional singer. A dubbing track was prepared with baritone Jack Owens, but it was decided that Stewart's tenor voice was perfect for the song. In That's Entertainment! (1974), Stewart said, "The song had become a huge hit, even my singing wouldn't hurt it."


1:30 PM -- FOLLOW THE FLEET (1936)
Two sailors on leave romance a dance-hall hostess and her prim sister.
Dir: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Randolph Scott
BW-110 mins, CC,

During the fight scene between Fred Astaire and Randolph Scott, Astaire - not skilled in movie fight scenes - accidentally bloodied Scott's nose; Astaire was mortified, but Scott remained pointedly nonchalant.


3:30 PM -- NAVY BLUES (1941)
Honolulu days are far from peaceful for a boatload of amorous sailors.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Ann Sheridan, Jack Oakie, Martha Raye
BW-108 mins, CC,

Film debut of Jackie Gleason.


5:30 PM -- ANCHORS AWEIGH (1945)
A pair of sailors on leave try to help a movie extra become a singing star.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, Gene Kelly
C-139 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- George Stoll (On 10 September 2001 Kevin Spacey purchased Stoll's Oscar statuette at a Butterfields auction in Los Angeles and returned it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Gene Kelly, Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert H. Planck and Charles P. Boyle, Best Music, Original Song -- Jule Styne (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "I Fall in Love Too Easily", and Best Picture

For the most famous sequence in the film, Mickey Mouse was originally meant to be the dance partner of Gene Kelly. However, when Walt Disney refused to have his most famous character appear in an MGM film. Kelly turned to MGM's own animation studio and used Jerry Mouse of Tom and Jerry fame. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the writer/directors of MGM's "Tom and Jerry" cartoons, supervised the animation for the sequence. The scene initially didn't work as the animators had forgotten to add shadows for Jerry's dances with Kelly. Additional moneys had to be allocated to cover the 10,000 new drawings that would be required.



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



8:00 PM -- MARNIE (1964)
A rich man marries a compulsive thief and tries to unlock the secrets of her mind.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Diane Baker
C-130 mins, CC,

Alfred Hitchcock, following his usual practice, bid for the film rights to Winston Graham's novel anonymously, so as to keep the price down. However, in this instance, the scheme backfired - the anonymity of the purchaser made Graham suspicious, although he regarded the amount of money on offer as extremely generous. He instructed his agent to ask for twice as much. Hitchcock agreed, on condition that the deal be closed immediately. When Graham discovered who it was who had bought the rights, he said he would have given them away free for the honor of having one of his stories filmed by Alfred Hitchcock.


10:30 PM -- TORN CURTAIN (1966)
A U.S. scientist pretends to defect to follow his mentor behind the Iron Curtain.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Paul Newman, Julie Andrews, Lila Kedrova
C-128 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

One of the reasons Alfred Hitchcock did not want to use Paul Newman and Julie Andrews was their very high fees. For the rest of his career Hitchcock would never hire performers with the same sort of fee or above.


1:00 AM -- TOPAZ (1969)
A French agent is sent to Cuba to spy for the CIA.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: John Forsythe, Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin
C-126 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

According to Alfred Hitchcock, this was another of his experimental movies. In addition to the dialogue, the plot is revealed through the use of colors, predominantly red, yellow and white. He admits that this did not work out.


3:30 AM -- FRENZY (1972)
When a temperamental man's ex-wife falls victim to a serial killer, he becomes the number one suspect.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Jon Finch, Barry Foster, Barbara Leigh-Hunt
C-116 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Midway through the film, there is a famous continuous shot in which the camera backs away from the door of Rusk's upper-floor apartment and descends the staircase, seemingly without a cut, to the ground level, out the building's front door, and then to the opposite side of the street. The interiors were shot with an overhead track in a studio, and there is an imperceptible cut as a man passes by the front door, carrying a sack of potatoes. This is subtly blended into a new shot of the camera pulling away from the building exterior that was actually used on location.


5:30 AM -- FAMILY PLOT (1976)
A phony psychic takes on a pair of kidnappers.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris
C-120 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

At one point during filming, Bruce Dern questioned Alfred Hitchcock about why he was cast in the movie. Hitchcock replied, "Because Mr. Packinow wanted a million dollars, and Hitch doesn't pay a million dollars." It took Dern a while to realize that "Mr. Packinow" was Al Pacino.