TCM Schedule for Friday, April 6, 2018 -- TCM Special Theme: Starring Leila Hyams

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is showing a selection of films about intrepid reporters. I think that the TCM folks are closet liberals -- these films are very positive examples of the profession of journalism. And you have the chance to watch two different versions of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's The Front Page, the 1931 version with Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien as the two reporters, and His Girl Friday (1940), with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in the reporter roles. It's a wonderful example of gender-swapping that today's Hollywood could take advantage of! Then in prime time, TCM is featuring some of the films of Leila Hyams, a star of early talkies in the pre-code era. She retired in 1936 to concentrate on her marriage, quite successfully apparently as she remained married to her agent husband Phil Berg until her death in 1977. Enjoy!



6:15 AM -- BACK IN CIRCULATION (1937)
A reporter tries to win her editor's heart by solving a murder case.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Joan Blondell, Margaret Lindsay
BW-81 mins, CC,

The opening train wreck was done using pre-WWII O gauge Lionel trains and 1:48 scale signals.


7:40 AM -- A GIRL'S BEST YEARS (1937)
A woman reporter is hired by an author-songwriter to help him avoid additional breach-of-promise suits in this comedic short.
Dir: Reginald LeBorg
Cast: Esther Muir, Harry Earles, Barnett Parker
BW-19 mins,


8:00 AM -- I'M MUCH OBLIGED (1936)
In this short film, a newspaper columnist calls people at random and asks them "What would you like to do?"
Dir: Roy Mack
Cast: Ian MacLaren, George Dobbs,
BW-22 mins,


8:30 AM -- FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940)
An American reporter covering the war in Europe gets mixed up in the assassination of a Dutch diplomat.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall
BW-121 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Albert Bassermann, Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Charles Bennett and Joan Harrison, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Rudolph Maté, Best Art Direction, Black-and-White -- Alexander Golitzen, Best Effects, Special Effects -- Paul Eagler (photographic) and Thomas T. Moulton (sound), and Best Picture

Shooting was completed on May 29, 1940, after which Alfred Hitchcock made a visit to England. He returned on July 3 with the word that the Germans were expected to start bombing at any time. Ben Hecht was hurriedly called in and wrote the tacked-on final scene set at a London radio station. It was filmed on July 5, and the real-life bombing started on July 10, 1940.


10:45 AM -- THE FRONT PAGE (1931)
A crusading newspaper editor tricks his retiring star reporter into covering one last case.
Dir: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Adolph Menjou, Pat O'Brien, Mary Brian
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Adolphe Menjou, Best Director -- Lewis Milestone, and Best Picture

The last line of the play had to be partly obliterated by the sound of a typewriter being accidentally struck because the censors (even of that day) wouldn't allow the phrase "son-of-a-bitch" to be used in a film.


12:30 PM -- LIBELED LADY (1936)
When an heiress sues a newspaper, the editor hires a reporter to compromise her.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy
BW-98 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Picture

Reportedly, while shooting the movie, the four stars had become close friends, and William Powell even gave up his old habit of hiding out in his dressing room between scenes so he could join in the fun with the rest of the cast. One of the biggest jokes was a running gag Spencer Tracy played on Myrna Loy, claiming that she had broken his heart with her recent marriage to producer Arthur Hornblow Jr. He even set up an "I Hate Hornblow" table in the studio commissary, reserved for men who claimed to have been jilted by Loy.


2:15 PM -- THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
Tabloid reporters crash a society marriage.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart
BW-112 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Stewart, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Donald Ogden Stewart

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ruth Hussey, Best Director -- George Cukor, and Best Picture

Playwright Philip Barry based the character of Tracy on Helen Hope Montgomery Scott, a Main Line Philadelphia socialite famous for throwing lavish parties at her family's 800-acre estate in Radnor, PA. The studio reportedly intended to shoot the film at Ardrossan (the name of the family's estate), but decided against it after seeing the size and scale of the main house and the expansiveness of the estate. The producers reportedly thought that no one would believe that anyone could actually live like that, particularly in America in the 1940s.


4:15 PM -- HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940)
An unscrupulous editor plots to keep his star reporter-and ex-wife-from re-marrying.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
BW-92 mins, CC,

During the 1930s, Howard Hawks was hosting a dinner party when the topic of dialogue was brought up. He pulled out a copy of "The Front Page" to demonstrate the snappy exchanges between characters, taking the role of Burns. A female guest took the role of Hildy. While reading, Hawks realized the dialogue sounded much better with a woman reading, and quickly secured the rights for the film from Howard Hughes. Ben Hecht (the author of The Front Page) approved the gender change and the screenplay was put into production.


6:00 PM -- WOMAN OF THE YEAR (1942)
Opposites distract when a sophisticated political columnist falls for a sportswriter.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Fay Bainter
BW-114 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner Jr.

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn

The first scene shot was the characters' first date, in a bar. Katharine Hepburn was so nervous she spilled her drink, but Spencer Tracy just handed her a handkerchief and kept going. Hepburn proceeded to clean up the spill as they played the scene. When the drink dripped through to the floor, she tried to throw Tracy off by going under the table, but he stayed in character, with the cameras rolling the entire time.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STARRING LEILA HYAMS



8:00 PM -- FREAKS (1932)
A lady trapeze artist violates the code of the side show when she plots to murder her midget husband.
Dir: Tod Browning
Cast: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova
BW-62 mins, CC,

Although production chief Irving Thalberg decided to re-cut the picture immediately after the disastrous test screening, he could not cancel the world premiere on January 28, 1932 at the 3,000-seat Fox Theatre in San Diego. This is the only venue at which the uncut version of "Freaks" is known to have played. Ironically, the unexpurgated "Freaks" was a major box-office success. Crowds lined up around the block to see the picture, which broke the theatre's house record. By the end of the run, word had spread that "Freaks" was about to be butchered, and the theatre advertised, "Your last opportunity to see 'Freaks' in its uncensored form!"


9:15 PM -- RUGGLES OF RED GAP (1935)
A Western rancher wins a British valet in a poker game.
Dir: Leo McCarey
Cast: Charles Laughton, Mary Boland, Charlie Ruggles
BW-91 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Picture

Edward Dmytryk, the film's editor, said that Charles Laughton became so emotional during the scene in the saloon where he recites the Gettysburg Address that it took director Leo McCarey 1-1/2 days to complete shooting it. According to Dmytryk, the preview audiences found Laughton's close-ups in the scene embarrassing and tittered through the speech. When substitute shots of Laughton from behind were inserted, the audience found the reaction shots of the other people reacting to him very moving, and the second preview was extremely successful. Nazi Germany banned the release of any German-dubbed version of this film because of the Gettysburg Address speech.


11:00 PM -- WAY OUT WEST (1930)
When a carnival barker gets caught conning the local cowboys, he's forced to work off his sentence on the open range.
Dir: Fred Niblo
Cast: William Haines, Leila Hyams, Polly Moran
BW-70 mins, CC,

Leila Hyams was once described as "The Golden Girl" by an artist because of her perfect pink skin and blonde hair coloring and, according to a 1928 Photoplay Magazine article, she carried a small satin case suspended from her garter that contained an extra pair of stockings, in case the ones she was wearing were damaged.


12:30 AM -- THE PHANTOM OF PARIS (1931)
A magician is charged with killing his fiancee's father.
Dir: John S. Robertson
Cast: John Gilbert, Leila Hyams, Lewis Stone
BW-74 mins, CC,

Originally announced in 1927 as a film starring Lon Chaney under the title 'Seven Seas'.


2:00 AM -- NIGHT OF THE STRANGLER (1975)
A young serial-killer carves a bloody trail on Halloween through an unsuspecting city.
Dir: Joy N. Houck Sr.
Cast: Micky Dolenz, Chuck Patterson, James Ralston
C-91 mins, CC,

The title of the film is "Night of the Strangler". None of the victims are actually strangled and there is no explanation for the "Strangler" title by any of the characters within the film.


3:45 AM -- THE STRANGLER (1964)
A lab technician with low self esteem, brought on by his dominant mother, becomes a serial killer of female nurses.
Dir: Burt Topper
Cast: Victor Buono, David McLean, Diane Sayer
BW-89 mins, CC,

Released nearly 3 months after the real Boston Strangler claimed his final victim.


5:30 AM -- SUMMER OF '63 (1963)
In this social guidance short film, teens on the make spread syphilis among their friends.
Cast: Dolores Faith, Mory Schoolhouse, Charlotte Stewart
C-21 mins,

The original movie V.D. from 1961 was incorporated into this film as a flashback from the original character Monk, who is now a doctor.