TCM Schedule for Friday, March 25 -- Housing Shortages

[Staph]

Happy birthday to David Lean, born on this day in 1908. We have a day of his films, and an evening of movies featuring housing shortages. Enjoy!



6:15 AM -- This Happy Breed (1944)
A middle-class family faces personal triumphs and tragedies when they move to a new home in the suburbs.
Cast: Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, John Mills.
Dir: David Lean.
BW-111 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

The comment, early in the film about the cat and buttering its paws, comes from a technique used when a cat moves house. According to this, if the cat has butter on its paws it will stop and lick it of. As cats are very clean creatures, the butter on its paws and the bits of dirt/ dust/ debris that will inevitably stick to it will annoy the cat. The cat will sit down to clean itself and, in doing so, will take in its new surroundings creating a mental map of where its new home is and helping it to make the adjustment to its new surroundings.


8:15 AM -- Brief Encounter (1945)
Two married strangers meet in a train station and fall in love.
Cast: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway.
Dir: David Lean.
BW-86 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Celia Johnson, Best Director -- David Lean, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Anthony Havelock-Allan, David Lean and Ronald Neame

Carnforth station was chosen partly because it was so far from the South East of England that it would receive sufficient warning of an air-raid attack that there would be time to turn out the filming lights to comply with wartime blackout restrictions.


9:45 AM -- Great Expectations (1946)
A mysterious benefactor finances a young boy's education.
Cast: John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Finlay Currie.
Dir: David Lean.
BW-118 mins, TV-G, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- John Bryan and Wilfred Shingleton, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Guy Green

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- David Lean, Best Writing, Screenplay -- David Lean, Ronald Neame and Anthony Havelock-Allan, and Best Picture

John Mills, playing Pip from the age of 18 to 25, was actually 38 at the time of filming.


11:45 AM -- Oliver Twist (1948)
The famed orphan gets caught up in Fagin's criminal band while searching for familial love.
Cast: Alec Guinness, Robert Newton, John Howard Davies.
Dir: David Lean.
BW-116 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

Banned on inital release in both Israel and Egypt; in Israel for being anti-Semitic, and in Egypt for making Fagin too sympathetic.


1:45 PM -- Hobson's Choice (1954)
A widower father fights to control the lives of his three strong-willed daughters.
Cast: Charles Laughton, John Mills, Brenda De Banzie.
Dir: David Lean.
BW-108 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

Charles Laughton had already played the role of Hobson when he was a teenager on stage in his native town of Scarborough.


3:43 PM -- This Is...Omar Sharif (1965)
BW-2 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

As of 2009, Sharif is only one of six performers who won a Golden Globe Award as Best Lead Actor/Actress in a Motion Picture Drama without being nominated for an Oscar for that same role (his for Doctor Zhivago (1965)). The others are Spencer Tracy in The Actress (1953), Anthony Franciosa in Career (1959), Shirley MacLaine in Madame Sousatzka (1988), Jim Carrey in The Truman Show (1998) and Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road (2008).


3:45 PM -- Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Illicit lovers fight to stay together during the turbulent years of the Russian Revolution.
Cast: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Rod Steiger.
Dir: David Lean.
C-200 mins, TV-PG,

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- John Box, Terence Marsh and Dario Simoni, Best Cinematography, Color -- Freddie Young, Best Costume Design, Color -- Phyllis Dalton, Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Maurice Jarre, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Bolt

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Tom Courtenay, Best Director -- David Lean, Best Film Editing -- Norman Savage, Best Sound -- A.W. Watkins (M-G-M British SSD) and Franklin Milton (M-G-M SSD), and Best Picture

The film was torn apart by critics when first released. Newsweek, in particular, made comments about "hack-job sets" and "pallid photography." David Lean was so deeply affected by these criticisms (despite the popularity of the film with the general public) that he swore he would never make another film.


7:51 PM -- How To Train A Dog (1936)
A satirical Robert Benchley short making fun of trying to raise and train a dog.
BW-8 mins, CC, Letterbox Format



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: HOUSING SHORTAGES



8:00 PM -- The More the Merrier (1943)
The World War II housing shortage brings three people together for an unlikely romance.
Cast: Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, Charles Coburn.
Dir: George Stevens.
BW-104 mins, TV-G, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Charles Coburn

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jean Arthur, Best Director -- George Stevens, Best Writing, Original Story -- Frank Ross and Robert Russell, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Richard Flournoy, Lewis R. Foster, Frank Ross and Robert Russell, and Best Picture

The unusual little car Connie's friends drive is a Fiat Topolino convertible. 'Topolino' means 'little mouse' in Italian.


10:00 PM -- Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)
An inept secretary goes to work for a bogus real estate firm thinking it's for real.
Cast: Lucille Ball, William Holden, James Holden.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon.
BW-88 mins, TV-G, Letterbox Format

A real, honest-to-goodness quote from the film --
Hood: It's Dick. Are you in?
Peggy Donato: I'm always in for Dick.


11:34 PM -- SCENIC OREGON (1943)
C-10 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

James A. FitzPatrick wanders from the Columbia River to the Bonneville Dam, Celilo Falls, and Crater Lake National Park.


11:45 PM -- Pillow to Post (1945)
A girl pretends to be a war bride to get a hotel room in Washington.
Cast: Ida Lupino, Sydney Greenstreet, William Prince. Dir: Vincent Sherman.
BW-92 mins, TV-G, Letterbox Format

William Conrad's first film project.


1:30 AM -- Now Playing April (2011)
BW-19 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format


2:00 AM -- Carnival Magic (1982)
An animal tamer plots revenge when a magician with a talking chimp overshadows his carnival act.
Cast: Don Stewart, Regina Carrol, Howard Segal.
Dir: Al Adamson.
C-86 mins, CC,


3:33 AM -- All Eyes On Sharon Tate (1966)
A short behind the scenes promo for "Eye of the Devil" (1966), showcasing the late Sharon Tate, then a young, 22-year-old hopeful at MGM.
BW-10 mins, CC, Letterbox Format


3:45 AM -- Berserk! (1967)
A lady ringmaster milks the publicity from a string of murders.
Cast: Joan Crawford, Diana Dors, Ty Hardin. Dir: Jim O'Connolly.
C-96 mins, TV-PG,


5:30 AM -- The Relaxed Wife (1957)
The modern miracle of tranquilizers helps working men and their wives deal with life's little problems.
C-13 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format


5:45 AM -- The Terrible Truth (1951)
A juvenile court judge investigates the tragedy of marijuana addiction.
C-10 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

[CBHagman]

1. I knew it had to involve "The More the Merrier."

That's the very first thing I think of when I hear "housing shortage."

Still a sexy little movie, too.