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Staph

(6,245 posts)
Tue Mar 20, 2018, 10:50 PM Mar 2018

TCM Schedule for Saturday, March 24, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: Neil Simon

There's another daylight schedule looking like an old-time movie house's Saturday matinee -- cowboy movies, cartoons, and a short travelogue. Then in prime time, the not-Essentials are a pair of Neil Simon's works. Enjoy!



6:15 AM -- BOMBSHELL (1933)
A glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.
Dir: Victor Fleming
Cast: Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan
BW-96 mins, CC,

The film was unofficially based on the life of Clara Bow, Holllywood's original "It Girl." Director Victor Fleming was once engaged to her.


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: THE EARLY BIRD DOOD IT! (1942)
A worm enlists the help of a cat to get rid of the bird who chases him each morning.
Dir: Tex Avery
Cast: Frank Graham, Dick Nelson
C-9 mins, CC,


8:00 AM -- GLIMPSES OF CALIFORNIA (1946)
This short film takes the viewer to sunny California.
Cast: James A. FitzPatrick
C-9 mins,


8:00 AM -- OUR OLD CAR (1946)
In this short film, a man traces his history by the succession of cars his father owned.
Dir: Cy Endfield
Cast: Arthur Space, Jack Perrin, Jacqueline White
BW-11 mins,


8:00 AM -- HAUNTED GOLD (1932)
A cowboy and his girl fight bandits and a ghost over an abandoned mine.
Dir: Mack V. Wright
Cast: John Wayne, Duke, Sheila Terry
BW-58 mins, CC,

The statuette of the Maltese Falcon, previously used in the original version of The Maltese Falcon (1931) can be seen in a scene where the film's heroine Sheila Terry is playing the organ.


9:30 AM -- RED BARRY: THE DECOY (1938)
The third chapter in the Red Barry serial. An undercover detective must uncover the truth and figure out who stole two million dollars in bonds.
Dir: Ford Beebe, Alan James
Cast: Buster Crabbe, Frances Robinson, Edna Sedgewick
BW-21 mins,

Not seen on TV over the last 50+ years, this 1938 serial was one of many Universal cliffhangers based on comic strip characters. It was shown in the early 1950s to the young TV viewing audience, but then it suddenly vanished, along with Ace Drummond (1936), Tim Tyler's Luck (1937), Radio Patrol (1937) and others. Except for the "Flash Gordon" trilogy (1936-40) and Buck Rogers (1939), also starring Buster Crabbe, these Saturday-matinée specials seemed to have dropped "off the radar", but thankfully have been revived for home video on VHS and now DVD.


10:00 AM -- TARZAN ESCAPES (1936)
Jane Parker's cousins try to kidnap the jungle king to get their hands on her inheritance.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, John Buckler
BW-89 mins, CC,

Three films into the series, Tarzan and Jane's nest-like home in the trees has expanded into a Swiss Family Robinson-like home with running water and an elephant-manipulated elevator to bring people up to the home.


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: BLOW ME DOWN (1933)
Upon Popeye's arrival to Mexico, Olive Oyl is a dancer and he must fight Bluto to save the town.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Willard Bowsky
Cast: William Costello, William Pennell, Bonnie Poe
BW-6 mins,

The title is one of Popeye's catchphrases.


12:00 PM -- KISMET (1955)
In this Arabian Nights musical, the "king of the beggars" infiltrates high society when his daughter is wooed by a handsome prince.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray
C-113 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The orange seller (the man who Hajj (Howard Keel) holds down and calls the "father of none and son of many" ) was played by Jamie Farr, best known for his role as Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger on M*A*S*H (1972-1983).


2:00 PM -- THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (1947)
A spirited widow rents a haunted cottage and builds an emotional bond with the resident ghost.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders
BW-104 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Charles Lang

Gene Tierney's first approach to the character of Lucy Muir was playful, almost screwball. After a conference between Darryl F. Zanuck and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the first two days shooting were redone so that Tierney could give the character more depth. The change resulted in huge critical acclaim for the actress.



4:00 PM -- MIDNIGHT LACE (1960)
A young woman can't get anyone to believe she's being stalked.
Dir: David Miller
Cast: Doris Day, Rex Harrison, John Gavin
C-108 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene

In her autobiography, Doris Day wrote that to prepare herself for one of the terror scenes, she recalled a time when her first husband, trombonist Al Jorden, dragged her out of bed when she was ill and pregnant and hurled her against a wall. Day related that in the scene she wasn't acting hysterical, she WAS hysterical, and at the end of the take she collapsed in a real faint. She was carried to her dressing room, and producer Ross Hunter shut down production for a few days while she recovered.



6:00 PM -- THE WRONG MAN (1956)
A musician is mistaken for a vicious thief, with devastating results.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle
BW-105 mins, CC,

The scene where Henry (Manny) Fonda is taken to prison was filmed in a real prison. As he is led to his cell , you can hear one of the inmates yell out "What'd they get ya for, Henry??", and a bunch of other prisoners laughing.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: NEIL SIMON



8:00 PM -- THE ODD COUPLE (1968)
A divorced neat freak moves in with his sloppy best friend.
Dir: Gene Saks
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, John Fiedler
C-105 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Neil Simon, and Best Film Editing -- Frank Bracht

Walter Matthau, who played Oscar in both the original Broadway play and the movie, asked the play's author, Neil Simon, if he could play Felix instead. This was because Matthau thought Oscar's personality was too similar to his own and the role would be too easy; whereas playing the persnickety Felix would be a real acting challenge. Simon replied, "Walter, go and be an actor in somebody else's play. Please be Oscar in mine." Matthau finally agreed to it.



10:00 PM -- THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE (1974)
A suddenly unemployed executive and his understanding wife must adapt to their new life.
Dir: Melvin Frank
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Elizabeth Wilson, Anne Bancroft
BW-98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Playwright Neil Simon was accused of hating New York City because of his play "The Prisoner of Second Avenue". Simon said of this to the 'New York Daily News': "Who hates it? I love it. I'm writing about big city life. The problems in 'Prisoner' are not exclusive to New York. People are robbed everywhere. There are major strikes in London, Paris, every major city. I only single out New York because I happen to live there".


12:00 AM -- NO QUESTIONS ASKED (1951)
A young lawyer's primrose path to success gets him framed for murder.
Dir: Harold F. Kress
Cast: Barry Sullivan, Arlene Dahl, George Murphy
BW-81 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Berne Giler.


1:45 AM -- DEATHTRAP (1982)
A blocked playwright plots to kill a beginner and steal his script.
Dir: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, Dyan Cannon
C-116 mins, CC,

Director Sidney Lumet once commented on the real stage-play scenes seen in this movie: "We used the original set of 'Deathtrap' as our set for Sidney Bruhl's flop play. The Music Box (Theatre) is dark on Mondays, so we shot there on a Monday, along with six hundred dress extras as first-nighters. Thus, the opening scene is a movie of a play-within-a-play which takes place within the play on which the movie is based. If that's not completely clear, it's at least a 'first'!".


4:00 AM -- TIME AFTER TIME (1979)
When Jack the Ripper steals his time machine, author H.G. Wells travels to modern-day San Francisco to track him down.
Dir: Nicholas Meyer
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, David Warner, Mary Steenburgen
C-112 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen met and fell in love while shooting this picture. They were married from September 29, 1980, to October 1, 1990. Director Nicholas Meyer chose to not let them meet before the scene was filmed, to keep their reactions fresh for the scene. He had no idea they would actually fall in love.


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