TCM Schedule for Friday, April 15 -- Great Escapes

[Staph]

Today we're celebrating tomorrow's birthday of character actor Henry Stephenson, born on April 16, 1871, in Grenada, British West Indies. In primetime this month's theme of Great Escapes continues with more WWII POW camp escapes, all based on true stories. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Walking on Air (1936)
A girl torments her parents by hiring a phony suitor.
Cast: Gene Raymond, Ann Sothern, Jessie Ralph.
Dir: Joseph Santley.
70 min, TV-G

Soundtrack includes the Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby tunes Cabin On The Hilltop, My Heart Wants To Dance, and Let's Make A Wish.


7:15 AM -- Man of Two Worlds (1934)
An Eskimo is brought to England and "civilized."
Cast: Frances Lederer, Elissa Landi, Henry Stephenson.
Dir: J. Walter Ruben.
96 min, TV-G

Stephenson appeared quite frequently in royal support for Warners' top star of the time, Errol Flynn, including Captain Blood (1935) as Lord Willoughby, The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) as Sir Charles Macefield, The Prince and the Pauper (1937) as the Duke of Norfolk, and Essex and Elizabeth (1939) as Lord Burghley.


9:00 AM -- Double Harness (1933)
After tricking a playboy into marriage, a woman sets out to win his love honestly.
Cast: Ann Harding, William Powell, Henry Stephenson.
Dir: John Cromwell.
69 min, TV-PG

This film hadn't been shown for decades and was found in a Merian C. Cooper collection which had been used for television. A two-and-half minute sequence that had been cut from the print was located in a French negative discovered in the National Center for Cinematography in France and restored to the print. The brief segment had been cut for television because it indicated that the characters of Joan Colby (Ann Harding) and John Fletcher (William Powell) were having pre-marital sex.


10:15 AM -- Call of the Flesh (1930)
A Latin lover fights for the heart of a beautiful convent girl.
Cast: Ramon Novarro, Dorothy Jordan, Ernest Torrence.
Dir: Charles Brabin.
100 min, TV-G

Renée Adorée was ill with tuberculosis during filming, and the strenuous nature of filming aggravated her condition so much that she suffered hemorrhaging on set twice on set, almost shutting the production.


12:00 PM -- The Roadhouse Murder (1932)
Reporter has bright idea of claiming to be a murderer and writing his own expose.
Cast: Eric Linden, Dorothy Jordan, Bruce Cabot.
Dir: J. Walter Ruben.
73 min, TV-PG

Debut of Bruce Cabot.


1:15 PM -- One Man's Journey (1933)
Father and son doctors disagree over the son's materialistic goals.
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, May Robson, Joel McCrea.
Dir: John S. Robertson.
72 min, TV-G

Remade as A Man To Remember (1938).


2:30 PM -- Ever in my Heart (1933)
During World War I, a woman suspects her husband of being a German spy.
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Otto Kruger, Ralph Bellamy.
Dir: Archie Mayo.
68 min, TV-PG

Based on a story by Beulah Marie Dix and Bertram Millhauser.


3:45 PM -- Rafter Romance (1933)
A salesgirl falls for a night worker without realizing they share the same apartment.
Cast: Ginger Rogers, Norman Foster, George Sidney.
Dir: William A. Seiter.
73 min, TV-G

Ginger Rogers and Norman Foster replaced Dorothy Wilson and Joel McCrea in the lead roles.


5:00 PM -- Reno (1940)
A divorce lawyer prospers as a gambling tycoon.
Cast: Richard Dix, Gail Patrick, Anita Louise.
Dir: John Farrow.
73 min, TV-PG

Director John Farrow is the father (with Maureen O'Sullivan) of Mia Farrow. That makes him the former father-in-law of Frank Sinatra and André Previn, and the grandfather-in-law of Woody Allen.


6:15 PM -- Blind Adventure (1933)
An American in London stumbles on a criminal ring.
Cast: Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack, Roland Young, Henry Stephenson.
Dir: Ernest B. Schoedsack.
63 min, TV-G

Written by Ruth Rose, who also wrote the screenplays for King Kong and Mighty Joe Young.


7:30 PM -- It's Always Sunday (1956)
A minister befriends two drifters.
Cast: Dennis O'Keefe, Fay Wray, Sheldon Leonard.
Dir: Allan Dwan.
25 min, TV-PG

An episode of the television series Screen Director's Playhouse.


WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: GREAT ESCAPES


8:00 PM -- The Wooden Horse (1950)
British POWs use gymnastics practice to cover their work on an escape tunnel.
Cast: Leo Genn, David Tomlinson, Anthony Steel.
Dir: Jack Lee.
101 min, TV-PG

The events on which the film is based took place at the same prisoner of war camp (Stalag Luft III) and at the same time as the events in the much better-known film of the same genre, The Great Escape (1963). The escape committee of prisoners that was planning the latter decided that other escape activity had to be going on at the same time so that life in the camp would appear normal to the Germans. It was the Wooden Horse tunnel that fell into this category.


10:00 PM -- The Colditz Story (1955)
Allied POWs plot to escape from a Nazi-held castle.
Cast: John Mills, Lionel Jeffries, Anton Diffring.
Dir: Guy Hamilton.
98 min, TV-PG

The character called Pat Reid in the film is the only one which retains his real name from the true events and was not changed for the film. The Captain Patrick Reid character is P.R. Reid whose novel, "The Colditz Story" the film is based on. Reid was also technical consultant on the film. All the other character names were changed for the film.


12:00 AM -- The One That Got Away (1958)
A downed German flier escapes from every prison camp he's put into.
Cast: Hardy Kruger, Michael Goodliffe, Alec McCowen.
Dir: Roy Baker.
111 min, TV-PG

Hardy Krüger was only cast after a couple of British A list actors had passed.


2:00 AM -- Daughter of Horror (1957)
A woman fights through a nightmare world of violence and sexual exploitation.
Cast: Adrienne Barrett, Bruno Ve Sota, Ed McMahon Narrates.
Dir: John Parker.
55 min, TV-MA

Originally called Dementia.


3:15 AM -- The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane (1976)
A thirteen-year-old girl turns to murder after her father dies.
Cast: Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen, Alexis Smith.
Dir: Nicolas Gessner.
C-92 min, TV-MA

Jodie Foster was thirteen at the time of filming and refused to appear nude. Thus, her older sister, Connie Foster, was used as her double in the film's brief nude sequence.


5:00 AM -- Time Out For Trouble (1961)
Filmmakers examine household accidents to determine their causes.
Cast: Bonnie Hammett, John Nesom, Stephen Bell.
Dir: David B. Glidden.
19 min, TV-PG

Produced by the Oklahoma State Department of Health


5:30 AM -- Wonderful World of Tupperware (1959)
Industrial film showing the making of Tupperware.
C-29 min, TV-G

Featuring Anita Bryant singing "We're having a party, a Tupperware party!" I am not making this up.