TCM Schedule for Thursday, October 3, 2013 -- Star of the Month - Vincent Price

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, we are celebrating a couple of the women pioneers of Hollywood, director Dorothy Arzner and actor/director Ida Lupino. And, appropriately for the month, in prime time in October, TCM's Star of the Month is Vincent Price. Enjoy!


6:55 AM -- Katherine Hepburn (1962)
This short film, part of the Hollywood Hist-o-Rama series, offers a brief biography of Katherine Hepburn.
Dir: Joseph R Juliano
BW-4 mins,

Some Hepburn quotes about others in the business:
(When Barbara Walters asked her if she owned a skirt) I have one, Ms. Walters. I'll wear it to your funeral.

(on Marlon Brando) I don't think he's a limited actor at all - I think he's a very gifted actor. Although I'm afraid he may be a limited person.

(on director George Cukor) He has the ability to make me trust myself.

(on Humphrey Bogart) He was a real man -- nothing feminine about him. He knew he was a natural aristocrat -- better than anybody.

(on Peter O'Toole) He can do anything. A bit cuckoo, but sweet and terribly funny.

(1954 comment on Judy Holliday) My, I like Judy Holliday! She looks like a Monet model. And she's so -- so defenseless. I like defenseless people. They're the best.


7:00 AM -- Christopher Strong (1933)
An aviatrix's affair with a married man could cost her her career.
Dir: Dorothy Arzner
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Colin Clive, Billie Burke
BW-78 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Colin Clive (Sir Christopher Strong) was 33 when this movie was made, Billie Burke who played his wife, Lady Strong, was 49, and Helen Chandler who played their daughter, Monica, was 27.


8:30 AM -- The Bride Wore Red (1937)
A chorus girl crashes an exclusive Swiss resort to snare a rich husband.
Dir: Dorothy Arzner
Cast: Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, Robert Young
BW-103 mins, TV-G, CC,

Originally, in 1937, Dorothy Arzner had been assigned by MGM producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz in 1937 to direct Luise Rainer in "The Girl from Trieste," an unperformed Ferenc Molnár play about a prostitute trying to reform herself who discovers the hypocrisies of the respectable class which she aspires to. After the death of Irving Thalberg, Louis B. Mayer was put in charge of MGM. Mayer disliked the perceived exploitation of the female lead's character, and insisted that Molnár's play be rewritten so that it was no longer about a prostitute, but instead a slightly dark Cinderella story with a happy ending. Retitled by Mankiewicz as The Bride Wore Red, Rainer withdrew and was replaced by Joan Crawford.


10:15 AM -- Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
A ballet dancer and a burlesque queen compete for a wealthy suitor.
Dir: Dorothy Arzner
Cast: Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball
BW-90 mins, TV-G, CC,

Lucille Ball and Maureen O'Hara became inseparable friends while shooting this film, and remained lifelong friends until Ball's death in 1989. O'Hara was having lunch with her when Ball first saw her future husband Desi Arnaz.


12:00 PM -- First Comes Courage (1943)
A Norwegian resistance fighter seduces a Nazi officer to learn enemy secrets during World War II.
Dir: Dorothy Arzner
Cast: Merle Oberon, Brian Aherne, Carl Esmond
BW-86 mins, TV-PG,

This film, Dorothy Arzner's last, was one of a handful of movies that were all released around the same time that dealt with the Norwegian Resistance in World War II. The movies include They Raid by Night aka "The Commandos Have Landed"; Commandos Strike at Dawn; and Edge of Darkness.


1:30 PM -- Hard, Fast, and Beautiful (1951)
A domineering mother tries to turn her daughter into a tennis star.
Dir: Ida Lupino
Cast: Claire Trevor, Sally Forrest, Carleton G. Young
BW-78 mins, TV-PG,

Based on the novel of the same name by John R. Tunis.


3:00 PM -- Beware, My Lovely (1952)
A widow discovers her handyman is an escaped mental patient.
Dir: Harry Horner
Cast: Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Taylor Holmes
BW-77 mins, TV-PG, CC,

This story was originally done on the CBS radio show Suspense as "To Find Help" on January 18, 1945, with Frank Sinatra as Howard and Agnes Moorehead as Mrs. Gillis (Mrs. Gordon in the film). This was Sinatra's "dramatic debut" on radio. It was done again on Suspense with Gene Kelly and Ethel Barrymore in 1949, and in 1960 on the NBC TV series Startime, titled "The Man" (the name of the 1950 Mel Dinelli play the movie was based on) it starred Thelma Ritter and Audie Murphy.


4:20 PM -- In The Land Of Diamonds (1952)
This short film explores the treasures and attractions of Bloemfontein, South Africa, the world capital of the diamond trade.
C-9 mins,

South Africa and Cape Town are seen, including a rare Liger (lion/tiger mix).


4:30 PM -- On Dangerous Ground (1952)
A tough cop sent to help in a mountain manhunt falls for the quarry's blind sister.
Dir: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Ward Bond
BW-82 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Ida Lupino directed the film for several days when Nicholas Ray fell ill.


6:00 PM -- While The City Sleeps (1956)
Reporters compete to catch a serial killer.
Dir: Fritz Lang
Cast: Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders
BW-100 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Although Howard Duff and Ida Lupino were married in real life, they have no scenes together.


7:43 PM -- From The Four Corners (1941)
Three former British Empire soldiers, (one each from New Zealand, Australia, and Canada) meet Leslie Howard in London.
Dir: Anthony Havelock-Allan
Cast: Leslie Howard, Wylie Watson, Margaret Yarde
BW-16 mins,

Written by Leslie Howard and A.G. Macdonald.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: VINCENT PRICE



8:00 PM -- The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
Elizabeth I's love for the Earl of Essex threatens to destroy her kingdom.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland
BW-106 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Anton Grot, Best Cinematography, Color -- Sol Polito and W. Howard Greene, Best Effects, Special Effects -- Byron Haskin (photographic) and Nathan Levinson (sound), Best Music, Scoring --
Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD)

Bette Davis had originally wanted Laurence Olivier for the role of Lord Essex, claiming that Errol Flynn could not speak blank verse well. She remained extremely upset about this through the entire filming, and Flynn and Davis never worked again together in a film, but according to Olivia de Havilland, she and Davis screened the film again a short while before Davis's stroke. At film's end, Davis turned to de Havilland and declared that she had been wrong about Flynn, and that he gave a fine performance as Essex.


10:00 PM -- Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
A beautiful neurotic will stop at nothing to hold onto her husband's love.
Dir: John M. Stahl
Cast: Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain
C-110 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Leon Shamroy

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Gene Tierney, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Lyle R. Wheeler, Maurice Ransford and Thomas Little, and Best Sound, Recording -- Thomas T. Moulton (20th Century-Fox SSD)

The title is taken from a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet.


12:00 AM -- The Keys of the Kingdom (1945)
A crusading priest struggles to build a mission in China.
Dir: John M. Stahl
Cast: Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price
BW-137 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Gregory Peck, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- James Basevi, William S. Darling, Thomas Little and Frank E. Hughes, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Arthur C. Miller, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Alfred Newman

Academy Award Theater broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on August 21, 1946 with Gregory Peck reprising his film role.


2:30 AM -- The Three Musketeers (1948)
Athletic adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic adventure about the king's musketeers and their mission to protect France.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, June Allyson
C-126 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert H. Planck

Fearing pressure from church groups, MGM had the script refer to Richelieu as Prime Minister rather than Cardinal and almost all traces of him being a cardinal or a man of the church at all have been removed, even though other versions of this story kept Richelieu explicitly a cardinal without any repercussions.


4:51 AM -- Heart To Heart (1949)
This short film focuses on heart disease and preventive measures an individual should take to avoid heart failures.
Dir: Gunther von Fritsch
BW-21 mins, TV-PG,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary, Short Subjects -- Herbert Morgan

Filmed on location at the Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.


5:15 AM -- The Bribe (1949)
A sultry singer tries to tempt a federal agent from the straight-and-narrow.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Charles Laughton
BW-98 mins, TV-PG, CC

Last acting project of Samuel S. Hinds. Hinds was a lawyer in Hollywood until the stock market crash of 1929, in which he lost most of his money. Hinds, who had an interest in theater acting, decided to embark on a career in acting, albeit it age 54. The tall, dignified-looking Hinds appeared in over 200 films, often cast as kindly authoritarian figures. You may remember him as the father of the March girls in Little Women (1933 -- the Katharine Hepburn version) or as Peter Bailey, Jimmy Stewart's father in It's A Wonderful Life (1946).

[CBHagman]

1. As always, great background on the films and actors.

I particularly liked the comments from Katharine Hepburn and also the back story on Samuel S. Hinds.

As for the adaptation of the Molnar play (e.g., The Bride Wore Red, I'm going to have to find the source material, especially since I hate things like Pretty Woman, which is really all about the money.