TCM Schedule for Thursday, November 22, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: Family Fun

[Staph]

Happy Thanksgiving! Throughout the day and evening, TCM has a great selection of films about families having fun. Tell us more, Roger!

Whether you're spending time with family, friends, pets or your friends at TCM, celebrate the love of company this Thanksgiving with our Family Classics/Family Fun programming, featuring a selection of movies from five decades that appeal equally to children and adults.

Our choices range from the high-seas adventure of the Rudyard Kipling tale Captains Courageous (1937), starring Spencer Tracy and Freddie Bartholomew; to the imaginative fantasy of The Phantom Toolbooth (1970), an adaptation of the children's book by Norton Juster that blends live action and animation.

As it happens, four of our classics star a radiant young Elizabeth Taylor. She was 12 years old when cast in her breakthrough role in National Velvet (1944) as a girl determined to race her beloved horse in the males-only Grand National race. In Courage of Lassie (1946), Taylor costarred with the famous collie in the story of a dog who suffers trauma during service in World War II. Taylor was the lovely ingénue of the heartwarming family story Life with Father (1947) and the vainglorious Amy in MGM's version of Louisa Mae Alcott's Little Women (1949), in which she stole the movie from her costars.

Comedies in this series include Frank Capra's You Can't Take It With You (1938), with James Stewart as a conventional young man coping with the eccentricities of his fiancée's (Jean Arthur) family; Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), with the deliciously cast Cary Grant and Myrna Loy as a couple whose dream of constructing a new home leads to hilarious complications; Ma and Pa Kettle (1949), with Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride as a lovable country couple; and Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960), in which Doris Day shines as the wife of a drama critic (David Niven) and the mother of four obstreperous boys.

Children's stories include The Secret Garden (1949), one of many dramatized versions of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel about a young girl (in this case Margaret O'Brien) whose discovery of a hidden garden changes the lives of those around her. Much like The Phantom Tollbooth, Tom Thumb (1958) explores a world of fantasy through live action and animation. This musicalized version of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale stars a miniaturized Russ Tamblyn as a thumb-sized boy who brightens the lives of a childless couple.

by Roger Fristoe

Enjoy!

(I have to admit that I have difficulty with the idea of "family fun" on November 22. I have memories of Kennedy's assassination, even though I was only nine. And on another, entirely different subject -- Happy Thanksgiving!)

(“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.” -- Ralph Waldo Emerson)



6:00 AM -- CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS (1937)
A spoiled rich boy is lost at sea and rescued by a fishing boat, where hard work and responsibility help him become a man.
Dir: Victor Fleming
Cast: Freddie Bartholomew, Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore
BW-117 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Marc Connelly, John Lee Mahin and Dale Van Every, Best Film Editing -- Elmo Veron, and Best Picture

Spencer Tracy was impressed early on by Freddie Bartholomew's dedication to the role, jumping over the side of the boat in order to get what he considered sufficiently wet after having been shot with a hose and doused with a bucket of water. "The kid can take it," Tracy said. "I hand it to him."


8:15 AM -- THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH (1970)
A bored boy enters a fantasy world where letters and numbers are at war.
Dir: Chuck Jones
Cast: Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Candy Candido
C-89 mins, CC,

This film was actually made in 1968 but due to MGM's financial problems and frequently changing management, the film was not heavily promoted. When it was released in 1970, it was not a box office success.


10:00 AM -- NATIONAL VELVET (1944)
A British farm girl fights to train a difficult horse for the Grand National Steeplechase.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp, Elizabeth Taylor
C-123 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Anne Revere, and Best Film Editing -- Robert Kern

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Clarence Brown, Best Cinematography, Color -- Leonard Smith, and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary, Edwin B. Willis and Mildred Griffiths

Elizabeth Taylor fell in love with King Charles while visiting the Rivera Country Club..he was acquired by MGM for ($800) to star in the movie National Velvet with her. Elizabeth spent time each day riding, caring and bonding with him in order to prepare for her role in National Velvet. King Charles was reported to be aggressive to his handlers except for Elizabeth Taylor..she and King had a special bond that became evident throughout the Movie. At the end of the movie Elizabeth found she had been gifted with "The Pi" and she and King Charles remained together until his death.


12:15 PM -- THE SECRET GARDEN (1949)
An orphaned girl changes the lives of those she encounters at a remote estate.
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox
Cast: Margaret O'Brien, Herbert Marshall, Dean Stockwell
C-92 mins, CC,

British writer Noel Streatfeild (1895-1986), author of children's classic "Ballet Shoes", was on an extended vacation to California in 1947 and spent several weeks observing the filming of the movie, paying especial attention to the younger actors. In a magazine serial in 1948 and then as a book the following year, she published "The Painted Garden" (US: "Movie Shoes&quot . It concerns an English girl who reluctantly has to spend the summer in the States where she is spotted as a potential lead for an adaptation of "The Secret Garden", describing the process of film-making from a child's perspective.


2:00 PM -- TOM THUMB (1958)
A six-inch-tall boy takes on a pair of comical crooks.
Dir: George Pal
Cast: Russ Tamblyn, Alan Young, June Thorburn
C-92 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Tom Howard

The head of MGM's British operations was so impressed that George Pal brought this film in under budget that he suggested that Pal submit a script for his favorite unproduced project. Pal chose The Time Machine (1960).


3:45 PM -- LITTLE WOMEN (1949)
The four daughters of a New England family fight for happiness during and after the Civil War.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien
C-122 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis and Jack D. Moore

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert H. Planck and Charles Edgar Schoenbaum

In addition to being pregnant with her first biological child, June Allyson also adopted her first child whilst the film was in production. When Allyson learned that her daughter, Pamela Powell, had arrived for the first time at her home, she immediately left the set without asking permission, and raced home to hold her daughter. She returned later that day and told the rest of the cast and crew the joyous news.


6:00 PM -- COURAGE OF LASSIE (1946)
A young girl tries to rehabilitate the famous collie after his return from combat service in World War II.
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Morgan, Tom Drake
C-93 mins, CC,

Although the title of the film suggests it, there is no mention of the character Lassie anywhere in the movie.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FAMILY FUN



8:00 PM -- LIFE WITH FATHER (1947)
A straitlaced turn-of-the-century father presides over a family of boys and the mother who really rules the roost.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: William Powell, Irene Dunne, Elizabeth Taylor
C-118 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Powell, Best Cinematography, Color -- J. Peverell Marley and William V. Skall, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Robert M. Haas and George James Hopkins, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Max Steiner

The play's writers, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, and Clarence Day's widow were on the set and given veto power on all aspects of the film. According to author David Chierichetti, Mrs. Day approved Irene Dunne's characterization and even lent some jewelry that belonged to the real Vinnie.


10:15 PM -- YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938)
A girl from a family of freethinkers falls for the son of a conservative banker.
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart
BW-126 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Director -- Frank Capra, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Spring Byington, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Robert Riskin, Best Cinematography -- Joseph Walker, Best Sound, Recording -- John P. Livadary (Columbia SSD), and Best Film Editing -- Gene Havlick

Shortly before filming began, Lionel Barrymore lost the use of his legs to crippling arthritis and a hip injury. To accommodate him, the script was altered so that his character had a sprained ankle, and Barrymore did the film on crutches.


12:30 AM -- MA AND PA KETTLE (1949)
On the verge of eviction, the hillbilly family wins a slogan contest and moves into an automated home.
Dir: Charles Lamont
Cast: Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Richard Long
BW-76 mins, CC,

Second of eight films in which Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride portrayed Ma and Pa Kettle. The first was The Egg and I (1947), with the Kettles as secondary characters.


2:00 AM -- PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES (1960)
A drama critic and his family try to adjust to life in the country.
Dir: Charles Walters
Cast: Doris Day, David Niven, Janis Paige
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Beginning her feature-film career portraying Katharine Hepburn's mother in Little Women (1933), Spring Byington closed her movie years playing Doris Day's mother in this film. She would go on to work in television, most notably as Aunt Daisy Cooper on Laramie (1959).


4:00 AM -- MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE (1948)
A New York businessman's dream of a country home is shattered when he buys a tumbledown rural shack.
Dir: H. C. Potter
Cast: Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas
BW-94 mins, CC,

Although this film was from the novel of the same name, much of the story is autobiographical. Eric Hodgins and his wife built the actual house in the rural Litchfield County, Connecticut town of New Milford. Located in the bucolic Merryall section of town, the house recently sold for $1.2 million.