TCM Schedule for Thursday, October 23, 2014 -- TCM Special Theme - Ghost Stories

[Staph]

During the morning, TCM is dealing with spies, and in prime time it's more Halloween-themed Ghost Stories. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Night Of The Lepus (1972)
Husband-and-wife scientists unwittingly unleash a horde of giant man-eating rabbits.
Dir: William F. Claxton
Cast: Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun
C-89 mins, Letterbox Format

In an interview with film historian Tom Weaver, star Janet Leigh said she took her role because it was shot near her home, and meant less time away from her family. She also said "I've forgotten as much as I could about that picture."


7:45 AM -- They Made Her a Spy (1939)
A woman becomes a secret agent to avenge her brother's death.
Dir: Jack Hively
Cast: Sally Eilers, Allan Lane, Fritz Leiber
BW-69 mins,

Allan Lane--aka "Rocky Lane"--became a star of many low-budget westerns, mainly for Republic Pictures, but is probably best remembered as the voice of "Mr. Ed" in the successful TV series Mister Ed (1958).


9:00 AM -- All Through The Night (1942)
A criminal gang turns patriotic to track down a Nazi spy ring.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Conrad Veidt, Kaaren Verne
BW-107 mins, CC,

When Gloves (Bogart) shows the desk clerk the newspaper with his mug on it, it's actually a pic of him as Roy Earle from High Sierra.


10:48 AM -- On The Road To Monterrey (1943)
This short film takes the viewer on a tour of three cities in Mexico.
C-9 mins,


11:00 AM -- Hotel Reserve (1946)
An Austrian refugee tries to figure out which guest at a French resort is a spy.
Dir: Victor Hanbury
Cast: James Mason, Lucie Mannheim, Raymond Lovell
BW-79 mins, CC,

The camera that Peter Vadassy uses is a Zeiss Ikon Contax.


12:30 PM -- Saboteur (1942)
A young man accused of sabotage goes on the lam to prove his innocence.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings, Otto Kruger
BW-109 mins, CC,

Alfred Hitchcock's original director's cameo was cut by order of the censors. He and his secretary played deaf pedestrians. When Hitch's character made an apparently indecent proposal to her in sign language, she slapped his face. A more conventional cameo in front of a drugstore was substituted.


2:30 PM -- The 39 Steps (1935)
A man falsely suspected of killing a spy races across Scotland handcuffed to the beautiful blonde who turned him in.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim
BW-86 mins, CC,

Before filming the scene where Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll run through the countryside, Alfred Hitchcock handcuffed them together and pretended for several hours to have lost the key in order to put them in the right frame of mind for such a situation.


3:58 PM -- Night Intruder (1938)
In this short film, a woman must use her head when she discovers a burglar has entered her her house. Vitaphone Release B49.
Dir: Joseph Henabery
Cast: Helen Carew, Jean Whittaker, Floyd Gibbons
BW-11 mins,


4:15 PM -- Above Suspicion (1943)
A honeymooning couple are asked to spy on the Nazis in pre-war Europe.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt
BW-91 mins, CC,

Crawford always said she wished Hitchcock had directed this film. And indeed, the film contains many "Hitchcockian" touches (mistaken identity, music as a plot cue, innocents recruited to do dangerous tasks, etc.)


6:00 PM -- The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
A woman writing a scientist's biography is mistaken for a spy.
Dir: Frank Tashlin
Cast: Doris Day, Rod Taylor, Arthur Godfrey
C-110 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Alice Pearce and George Tobias appear as a married couple. They were also husband and wife in Bewitched (1964) (1964). Paul Lynde, who plays Homer Cripps, also appeared in the show as Samantha's zany Uncle Arthur.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPECIAL THEME: GHOST STORIES



8:00 PM -- The Innocents (1961)
A governess convinces herself the children in her charge are haunted.
Dir: Jack Clayton
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins
BW-99 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

At one point when Deborah Kerr's character wanders around the house at night with only a candelabra for illumination, you might think you see something in the corner of your eye. You do. It's the clapperboard which had briefly wandered into shot. Jack Clayton decided to keep it in because he liked the idea of something almost subliminal being present to add to the air of unease.


9:48 PM -- Camera Sleuth (1950)
This short film dramatizes how real-life investigator Jo Goggin uses a motion-picture surveillance camera to gather evidence.
Dir: Dave O'Brien
Cast: John Miljan,
BW-10 mins,


10:00 PM -- The Uninvited (1944)
A brother and sister buy a house with a ghostly secret.
Dir: Lewis Allen
Cast: Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp
BW-99 mins, CC,

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

The beautiful song "Stella By Starlight" was written specifically for this movie and is featured several times. In the movie Roderick Fitzgerald "writes" it for Stella Meredith.


11:50 PM -- Wandering Here And There (1944)
This short film takes the viewer to various places around the United States.
Dir: James A. FitzPatrick
C-9 mins,


12:00 AM -- The Woman In White (1948)
Classic mystery about the adventures of a young tutor sent to a ghostly country estate.
Dir: Peter Godfrey
Cast: Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker, Sydney Greenstreet
BW-109 mins, CC,

Wilkie Collins' 'The Woman in White' published in 1860, is considered to be the first modern mystery employing a crime-detecting hero.


2:00 AM -- Night Of Dark Shadows (1971)
Newlyweds try to survive life at a haunted family estate.
Dir: Dan Curtis
Cast: David Selby, Grayson Hall, Kate Jackson
C-94 mins,

It is reported that MGM forced Dan Curtis to cut over 35 minutes from the completed film, and gave him only 24 hours to do the job. So the film, which was meant to be approximately 129 minutes, was shortened about 94 minutes, which according to some caused the film to lose its coherence. Much of the excised footage was recovered in 1999, but unfortunately, without sound.


3:35 AM -- A Look At The World Of "Soylent Green" (1973)
This short film gives a behind-the-scenes look at the science fiction film "Soylent Green" (1973).
C-10 mins,


4:00 AM -- The Others (2001)
The mother of two children comes to suspect her remote country estate is haunted.
Dir: Alejandro Amenßbar
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Fionnuala Flanagan, Christopher Eccleston
C-105 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In a pivotal scene, Grace finds a photograph album containing pictures of people she believed to be sleeping. Mrs. Mills informs her they're all deceased, and that people photographed the deceased in the previous (19th) century. In reality, people did photograph their deceased loved ones during the late 19th century. Most were photographed lying down, as if in a deep sleep; others would be propped up in chairs, posed with favorite objects (children with favorite playthings; adults with books or newspapers), or standing up, with the help of special frames or supports.

My mother's family has a similar picture of one of her little brothers, who died as an infant.


5:50 AM -- The Moonshine War (Featurette) (1970)
This humorous promotional short offers a behind-the-scenes look at the production of "The Moonshine War" (1970).
BW-7 mins,