TCM Schedule for Friday, March 16, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: Star of the Month - Elizabeth Taylor

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, someone at TCM is humming "I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay!" Then in prime time, it's the last night for Star of the Month, Elizabeth Taylor. Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- THE IRON MISTRESS (1952)
American adventurer Jim Bowie fights to make his way in the lumber business.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Alan Ladd, Virginia Mayo, Joseph Calleia
C-109 mins, CC,

"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60-minute adaptation of the movie on December 28, 1954, with Virginia Mayo reprising her film role.


8:30 AM -- THE GO-GETTER (1937)
A Navy veteran with one leg fights to make himself a success.
Dir: Busby Berkeley
Cast: George Brent, Anita Louise, Charles Winninger
BW-92 mins, CC,

The opening scenes show the crash of a Navy airship, blimp. The movie Was released just 16 days after the Hindenburg crash.


10:15 AM -- VALLEY OF THE GIANTS (1938)
A lumberman takes on pirates out to plunder the forest.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Wayne Morris, Claire Trevor, Frank McHugh
BW-79 mins, CC,

Based on the story of the same name by Peter B. Kyne.


12:00 PM -- GOD'S COUNTRY AND THE WOMAN (1936)
A lady lumberjack falls for one of her workers, not realizing it's a business rival in disguise.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: George Brent, Beverly Roberts, Barton MacLane
C-85 mins, CC,

Bette Davis was to star in the movie, but was suspended when she failed to show up. She refused all of Jack L. Warner's offers until he agreed to her salary demands and a more open contract.


1:45 PM -- KING OF THE LUMBERJACKS (1940)
A northwoods lumberjack unwittingly marries his best friend's girl.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: John Payne, Gloria Dickson, Stanley Fields
BW-59 mins, CC,

Also filmed as God's Country and the Woman (1916), God's Country and the Law (1921), and God's Country (1946).


3:00 PM -- GUNS OF THE TIMBERLAND (1960)
A lumberjack battles a group of ranchers over the rights to a nearby forest.
Dir: Robert D. Webb
Cast: Alan Ladd, Jeanne Crain, Gilbert Roland
C-91 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

During the project, producer/star Alan Ladd considered casting Van Heflin, Edmond O'Brien and Tony Martin for supporting roles.


4:45 PM -- ELIZABETH TAYLOR: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT (1975)
This television-produced documentary features observations by close friends and colleagues of Elizabeth Taylor, including Vincente Minnelli and Richard Brooks.
Cast: Richard Brooks, Vincente Minnelli,
C-66 mins, CC,

Hosted by Peter Lawford.


6:00 PM -- CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958)
A dying plantation owner tries to help his alcoholic son solve his problems.
Dir: Richard Brooks
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives
C-108 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Newman, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Elizabeth Taylor, Best Director -- Richard Brooks, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Richard Brooks and James Poe, Best Cinematography, Color -- William H. Daniels, and Best Picture

This film was originally to be filmed in black and white, as was the standard practice with "artistic" films in the 1950s. (Virtually all film adaptations of the plays of Tennessee Williams had been in B&W up to that time.) However, once Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor were cast in the leads, director Richard Brooks insisted on shooting in color, in deference to the public's well known enthusiasm for Taylor's violet and Newman's strikingly blue eyes.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: ELIZABETH TAYLOR



8:00 PM -- SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER (1960)
A dowager tries to buy a lobotomy to silence the woman who witnessed her son's murder.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift
BW-114 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Elizabeth Taylor, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Oliver Messel, William Kellner and Scott Slimon

According to author Garson Kanin in his memoir "Tracy and Hepburn", Katharine Hepburn was reportedly so furious at the way Montgomery Clift was treated by Sam Spiegel and Joseph L. Mankiewicz during the filming that, after making sure that she would not be needed for retakes, she told both men off and actually spat at them (although it remains unclear just which one of the two she spat at, or if she spat at both.)


10:15 PM -- REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE (1967)
A military officer becomes obsessed with an enlisted man.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Brian Keith
C-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Originally released in a version in which all scenes were suffused with the color gold, with one object in each scene (such as a rose) normally-colored. This was in reference to the houseboy's drawing of a golden peacock, in whose eye the world is a mere reflection. However, that version puzzled audiences, so it was withdrawn and a normally-colored version released.


12:30 AM -- THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN (1970)
A chorus girl meets a pianist in Las Vegas and they embark on an affair only to be interrupted by his gambling and the arrival of her former lover.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Warren Beatty, Charles Braswell
C-113 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Because Elizabeth Taylor wanted to be near husband Richard Burton, who was at the time filming Staircase (1969) in Europe, she demanded this film, with its Las Vegas setting, be filmed in Paris, France. The studio agreed, thereby increasing the budget considerably as detailed American streetscapes, casinos, apartments and supermarkets had to be recreated in Paris. In the end (after 86 days shooting in Paris) the company had to move to the real Las Vegas anyway for ten additional days of intensive shooting.


2:45 AM -- SECRET CEREMONY (1968)
A tormented rich girl hires a prostitute to act as her mother.
Dir: Joseph Losey
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Mia Farrow, Robert Mitchum
C-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

When the film aired on NBC several years later, it was not only heavily edited to sanitize some of the seamier sexual suggestions but also included newly shot footage (none involving any of the actors who appeared in the actual film: Michael Tolan. Paul Rogers), including a prologue and epilogue in which a psychiatrist character discussed the characters' failings and attempted to explain away the truncated film's many plot holes. Among other major changes was the profession of Elizabeth Taylor's character, who somehow morphed from a prostitute in the theatrical release to a wig model in the TV version.


4:45 AM -- NIGHT WATCH (1973)
A woman recovering from mental problems witnesses a murder, but nobody believes her.
Dir: Brian G. Hutton
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Billie Whitelaw
C-99 mins, CC,

Elizabeth Taylor's only performance in a horror film.