TCM Schedule for Saturday, October 21, 2017 -- The Essentials - Celia Johnson

[Staph]

Tonight's Essentials feature films starring Celia Johnson. She was born on December 18, 1908 in Ellerker Gate, Richmond, Surrey, England as Celia Elizabeth Johnson. She was an actress, known for Brief Encounter (1945), In Which We Serve (1942) and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969). She was married to Peter Fleming, elder brother to James Bond author Ian Fleming. She died on April 26, 1982 in Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, England. Enjoy!



6:15 AM -- LADY FOR A DAY (1933)
A gangster helps an old apple-vendor pose as a society woman to fool her visiting daughter.
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Warren William, May Robson, Guy Kibbee
BW-96 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- May Robson, Best Director -- Frank Capra, Best Writing, Adaptation -- Robert Riskin, and Best Picture

One of the reasons Glenda Farrell was borrowed by Columbia from Warner Brothers, her home studio, and cast as Missouri Martin was because she was screenwriter Robert Riskin's then current girlfriend. When Capra remade Damon Runyon's story 28 years later, he found himself forced to accept Hope Lange in the same part, here rechristened Queenie Martin, because she was then the current paramour of co-producer star Glenn Ford.


8:00 AM -- LONG LOST FATHER (1934)
A man who deserted his daughter years earlier tries to help her out of a jam.
Dir: Ernest B. Schoedsack
Cast: John Barrymore, Helen Chandler, Donald Cook
BW-63 mins,

Katharine Hepburn was put on suspension by RKO for refusing the female lead in this film.


9:15 AM -- JOY OF LIVING (1938)
A Broadway musical star falls for an eccentric millionaire.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Irene Dunne, Douglas Fairbanks, Alice Brady
BW-91 mins, CC,

Based on an original story by Dorothy Fields and Herbert Fields.


2:15 PM -- THE LADYKILLERS (1955)
An eccentric bandit gang moves into a little old lady's boardinghouse to plot a major heist.
Dir: Alexander Mackendrick
Cast: Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom
C-91 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Original -- William Rose

Critics have praised William Rose's script as a first-rate example of British comedy and for doing an excellent job of capturing the world of British manners and tradition. Rose, in fact, was an American, who after World War Two, had decided to stay and work in Britain where he ended up also marrying a British woman, and so he was no stranger to British culture at the time.


4:00 PM -- JIM THORPE--ALL AMERICAN (1951)
The famous Native American athlete fights prejudice in his pursuit of sports stardom.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Charles Bickford, Steve Cochran
BW-105 mins, CC,

The film depicts Jim Thorpe as being married once, and having had one child who died young. In fact, he was married a total of three times and had seven other surviving children.


6:00 PM -- TRAPEZE (1956)
An aging trapeze star and his protegee fall for the same woman.
Dir: Carol Reed
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida
C-106 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The 41-year-old Burt Lancaster performed all but one of the trapeze stunts himself, having worked in a circus before entering films. He insisted on doing the climactic triple somersault, but technical adviser Eddie Ward initially was hesitant on Lancaster performing the stunt, so Ward doubled for Lancaster during the first weeks of shooting. Director Carol Reed eventually hired Lancaster's longtime friend, stuntman Nick Cravat to perform the stunt.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: CELIA JOHNSON



8:00 PM -- BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945)
Two married strangers meet in a train station and fall in love.
Dir: David Lean
Cast: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway
BW-87 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Celia Johnson, Best Director -- David Lean, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Anthony Havelock-Allan, David Lean and Ronald Neame

Celia Johnson was not looking forward to the four-week location shoot at the railway station, but her opinion changed when they got there and the cast and crew developed a spirit of camaraderie. Between scenes she usually played poker with the crew or worked a crossword puzzle. She also was impressed with the hospitality shown by the station master, who let them warm up in his office during the cold winter nights.


9:45 PM -- THE ASTONISHED HEART (1949)
A woman falls in love with her best friend's husband.
Dir: Terence Fisher
Cast: Noel Coward, Michael Hordern, Celia Johnson
BW-89 mins,

Having written the play the film was based on and then the script for the film, Noël Coward asked to see the early rushes. Believing that Michael Redgrave was miscast in the leading role Noel spoke to J. Arthur Rank and persuaded him to let him take over the part, then went and spoke to Michael who agreed to relinquish the role.


11:30 PM -- IN WHICH WE SERVE (1942)
Survivors of a bombed British destroyer think back on the paths that led them to war.
Dir: Noel Coward
Cast: Noel Coward, Celia Johnson, John Mills
BW-115 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Noël Coward, and Best Picture

The idea for the film sprang out of Noël Coward's friendship with Winston Churchill (the two often painted together) and his desire to do something more substantial than urbane comedies to help the war effort for his friend. Coward acutely felt that with the coming of war, the world of which he wrote - bright young things scampering around drawing rooms - was a world that no longer existed.


2:00 AM -- WILLARD (1971)
A social misfit uses his only friends, pet rats, to exact revenge on his tormentors.
Dir: Daniel Mann
Cast: Bruce Davison, Sondra Locke, Elsa Lanchester
C-95 mins, CC,

According to Ernest Borgnine's autobiography, they offered him a choice of a higher salary or a percentage of the box office. Borgnine chose a higher salary.


3:45 AM -- BEN (1972)
A lonely boy befriends Ben, the leader of a violent pack of killer rats.
Dir: Phil Karlson
Cast: Lee Harcourt Montgomery, Joseph Campanella, Arthur O'Connell
C-94 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Walter Scharf (music) and Don Black (lyrics) for the song "Ben"

Donnie Osmond tells that the theme song was offered to him, but his schedule prevented his recording it and the song was given to Michael Jackson.


5:30 AM -- ONE GOT FAT (1963)
Children wearing monkey masks pay the price for bad bicycle safety habits in this instructional short.
Dir: Dale Jennings
Cast: Diane Chambers, Charles Hagens, Dan Whitehead
C-15 mins,


5:30 AM -- HOLIDAY FROM RULES? (1959)
In this educational short film, a group of young children understand why rules are important.
Dir: William H. Murray
C-11 mins,