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We're remembering the Great Depression this month on TCM. From their introduction:
"Throughout the Great Depression, Americans flocked to the movies as an affordable form of entertainment and social interaction. For a quarter or so, customers could forget their troubles with glitzy musicals (Gold Diggers of 1933) or screwy comedies (My Man Godfrey, 1936), while rubbing elbows with others who were temporarily escaping harsh realities. Still today, movies are considered a recession-proof industry; the tougher the times, the greater the need for escapism.
"Yet many Hollywood movies of the 1930s were more than mere entertainment, offering an examination of hot-button topics of the day including socialism (Our Daily Bread, 1934), vagrancy (Wild Boys of the Road, 1933) and the role of financial institutions in the country’s woes (American Madness, 1932). To mark the 80th anniversary of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, our festival includes The Crash (1932), in which a wealthy couple struggles to survive its losses.
"The Depression left such a deep mark on the country that filmmakers over the decades have continued to examine this turbulent time. With his screen version of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1940), John Ford dramatizes the plight of Dust Bowl migrants. Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) looks at the grueling dance marathons of the period, while Hal Ashby’s Bound for Glory (1976) tells the story of Depression-era troubadour Woody Guthrie. In a lighter vein, Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) blurs the line between reality and film fantasy as a movie hero of the ’30s steps out of the screen to romance a lonely young woman. Joel and Ethan Cohen’s boisterous O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), proudly presented in its TCM premiere, follows the misadventures of three escaped convicts in the Deep South of the Depression." (Films in bold will be featured on TCM this month.)
During the day, we have a series of films about women who rebel against society, or who succeed after starting on the wrong side of the tracks. Enjoy!
5:00am -- Private Screenings: Mitchum/Russell (1996) Co-stars and lifelong friends Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell recall their careers with host Robert Osborne. Cast: Robert Osborne, Jane Russell, Robert Mitchum Dir: Tony Barbon BW-31 mins, TV-G
Includes clips from The Outlaw (1943), Undercurrent (1946), Desire Me (1947), Out of the Past (1947), His Kind of Woman (1951), Macao (1952), The Night of the Hunter (1955), and Ryan's Daughter (1970).
6:00am -- Anna Karenina (1947) Adaptation of Tolstoy's classic tale of a woman who deserts her family for an illicit love. Cast: Vivien Leigh, Ralph Richardson, Kieron Moore, Hugh Dempster Dir: Julien Duvivier BW-113 mins, TV-14
One of 25 different versions of the Tolstoy novel. Other films featured Anna Karenina played by Greta Garbo, Alla Tarasova, Claire Bloom, Nicola Pagett, Jacqueline Bisset, Sophie Marceau, and Helen McCrory.
8:00am -- Nora Prentiss (1947) An ambitious singer ruins a doctor's life. Cast: Ann Sheridan, Kent Smith, Bruce Bennett, Robert Alda Dir: Vincent Sherman BW-112 mins, TV-PG
Ann Sheridan was Frank Capra 's first choice for the role of Ann Mitchell in Meet John Doe (1941) but she was vetoed by Warner Bros. in a contract dispute. Barbara Stanwyck got the part.
10:00am -- Mrs. Soffel (1984) A prison warden's wife is seduced into helping a notorious killer escape. Cast: Diane Keaton, Mel Gibson, Matthew Modine, Edward Herrmann Dir: Gillian Armstrong C-112 mins, TV-14
The jail used in the movie is the actual Allegheny County Jail that figures in the story. Designed by noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson, built between 1884-1888, it served as a jail until 1995 and is now used by the juvenile and family sections of the Common Pleas Court.
12:00pm -- Sister Kenny (1946) True story of the Australian nurse who fought to gain acceptance for her polio-treatment methods. Cast: Rosalind Russell, Alexander Knox, Dean Jagger, Philip Merivale Dir: Dudley Nichols BW-116 mins, TV-G
Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Rosalind Russell
While addressing a forum of doctors, Sister Kenny is asked whether she remembers the final paragraph of the oath she took to become a registered nurse, and she recounts that paragraph. The real Sister Kenny received no formal nursing training and was not a registered nurse. She enlisted as a nurse in the army in WW1 backed by a letter from a doctor stating she had experience working in a bush hospital and was given the title Sister by the army.
2:00pm -- Lady L (1965) A beautiful laundress rises through European society. Cast: Sophia Loren, Paul Newman, David Niven, Cecil Parker Dir: Peter Ustinov C-109 mins, TV-PG
The film was originally intended as a comedy vehicle for Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida, and Sir Ralph Richardson with George Cukor as its director.
4:00pm -- Rose-Marie (1936) An opera singer goes undercover in the Canadian wilderness to hunt for her criminal brother. Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Reginald Owen, Allan Jones Dir: W. S. Van Dyke BW-111 mins, TV-G
MGM's original intention was to film in Technicolor and to star Grace Moore. If these plans had gone through, this would have been MGM's first feature length Technicolor film. However, Moore decided to pass on the film, Jeanette MacDonald was cast, photography switched to black-and-white, and this film became one of the biggest musical successes in MGM's history.
6:00pm -- Kitty Foyle (1940) A girl from the wrong side of the tracks endures scandal and heartbreak when she falls for a high-society boy. Cast: Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Eduardo Ciannelli Dir: Sam Wood BW-108 mins, TV-G
Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ginger Rogers
Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Sam Wood, Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Dalton Trumbo, and Best Picture
Ginger Rogers was initially reluctant to take on the lead role, as the novel the film was based on contained explicit sexuality and Kitty has an abortion in it. Rogers' mother advised her to wait until she sees a screenplay before making up her mind, pointing out that the production code wouldn't allow most of the material Rogers found objectionable to be seen in films anyway. Sure enough, the adapted screenplay was "clean" enough for Rogers.
What's On Tonight: TCM SPOTLIGHT: LIFE DURING THE DEPRESSION
8:00pm -- Bound For Glory (1976) True story of folk singer Woody Guthrie, who rose to the top while fighting for the rights of migrant farm workers. Cast: David Carradine, Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon, Gail Strickland Dir: Hal Ashby C-148 mins, TV-14
Won Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Haskell Wexler, and Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score -- Leonard Rosenman
Nominated for Oscars for Best Costume Design -- William Ware Theiss, Best Film Editing -- Robert C. Jones and Pembroke J. Herring, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Getchell, and Best Picture
Singer Tim Buckley was cast as Woody Guthrie, but died of a heroin overdose before shooting took place.
10:45pm -- Our Daily Bread (1934) When he inherits a small farm, a Depression-weary man turns it into a collective operation. Cast: Karen Morley, Tom Keene, Barbara Pepper, Addison Richards Dir: King Vidor BW-74 mins, TV-G
After the film's premiere at the "Century of Progress" exhibition in Chicago, Illinois, the film was cut by more than 10 minutes for its national release. Many of the cast from the original showing are missing in the prints available today.
12:15am -- Heroes For Sale (1933) A veteran fights drug addiction to make his way in the business world. Cast: Richard Barthelmess, Aline MacMahon, Loretta Young, Gordon Westcott Dir: William A. Wellman BW-72 mins, TV-G
Director William A. Wellman used real hoboes for the fight scene and real laundry workers for the laundry scenes.
1:30am -- The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) Oklahoma farmers dispossessed during the Depression fight for better lives in California. Cast: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin Dir: John Ford BW-129 mins, TV-G
Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jane Darwell, and Best Director -- John Ford
Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Henry Fonda, Best Film Editing -- Robert L. Simpson, Best Sound, Recording -- Edmund H. Hansen (20th Century-Fox SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Nunnally Johnson, and Best Picture
Prior to filming, producer Darryl F. Zanuck sent undercover investigators out to the migrant camps to see if John Steinbeck had been exaggerating about the squalor and unfair treatment meted out there. He was horrified to discover that, if anything, Steinbeck had actually downplayed what went on in the camps.
3:45am -- The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936) Documentary cameras delve into the causes of the Depression's dust bowl. Narrator: Thomas Chalmers Dir: Pare Lorentz BW-25 mins, TV-G
Three of the four cameramen (all but Paul Ivano) who worked on this film were fired by director/writer Pare Lorentz. Basically, they considered him too verbally script-oriented and not sufficiently visually oriented. One of these cameramen was Paul Strand, who went on to become one of America's most honored still photographers.
4:15am -- Three Faces West (1940) A refugee must choose between the man she loves and the man who helped her father escape the Third Reich. Cast: John Wayne, Sigrid Gurie, Charles Coburn, Spencer Charters Dir: Bernard Vorhaus BW-79 mins, TV-PG
An unusual film, with a political agenda that seems to be part pro New Deal, it is part anti-fascist and part pro good old American community values. It sometimes comes across a more conservative answer to The Grapes of Wrath.
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