TCM Schedule for Friday, June 7, 2013 -- Friday Night Spotlight: Noir Writers

[Staph]

This month's Friday Spotlight is Noir Writers, and TCM has wisely chosen to start with one of the best -- Dashiell Hammett, creator of hard-boiled private detective Sam Spade, and hard-drinking detective duo Nick and Nora Charles (of The Thin Man novel and films). Enjoy!

(And if you can spare a good thought or two, I'm going in the hospital for surgery today, June 7. It should only be an overnight stay, but I'll be in touch when I have 'net access again.)


6:00 AM -- The Idle Class (1921)
In this silent short, the Little Tramp discovers he's a dead ringer for a rich man with a beautiful, unhappy wife.
Dir: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charles Chaplin,
BW-33 mins, TV-G,

Goofs -- The movie begins with "The Summer Season" and yet the telegraph the absent minded husband holds at the beginning is dated November 2.


6:45 AM -- Outward Bound (1930)
Passengers on a fog-shrouded ship learn that they are lost souls on the way to heaven or hell.
Dir: Robert Milton
Cast: Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Helen Chandler
BW-83 mins, TV-PG,

Leslie Howard's first American film. He had appeared in the stage version in London and New York.


8:15 AM -- The Return of Peter Grimm (1936)
A strong-willed patriarch returns from the dead to amend the wrongs he did his family.
Dir: George Nicholls Jr.
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Helen Mack, Edward Ellis
BW-83 mins, TV-PG,

The play opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 17 October 1911 and closed in May 1912 after 231 performances. The opening night cast included Thomas Meighan as James and John St. Polis as Frederik.


9:45 AM -- Carefree (1938)
A psychiatrist falls in love with the woman he's supposed to be nudging into marriage with someone else.
Dir: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Ralph Bellamy
BW-83 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Van Nest Polglase, Best Music, Original Song -- Irving Berlin for the song "Change Partners and Dance with Me", and Best Music, Scoring -- Victor Baravalle

Fred Astaire refused to sing the Irving Berlin song "The Yam" because he thought it was silly, so Ginger Rogers got a rare chance to sing it alone. Later Fred joined in the dance after Ginger was finished singing.


11:15 AM -- Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
A newspaperman serves as key witness in a circumstantial murder case.
Dir: Boris Ingster
Cast: Peter Lorre, John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet
BW-64 mins, TV-14, CC,

Peter Lorre owed RKO two days on his contract and was given this role with few scenes and few lines, but received top billing.


12:30 PM -- Tom, Dick And Harry (1941)
A girl accepts three wedding proposals at once and dreams of marriage to each man.
Dir: Garson Kanin
Cast: Ginger Rogers, George Murphy, Alan Marshal
BW-87 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Paul Jarrico

George Murphy, in his autobiography, said alternate endings were filmed showing Janie marrying each of her three suitors. Murphy claimed that most test audience members wanted Janie to marry his character, Tom, the hard-working automobile salesman, but it was ultimately decided Harry, the free-spirited auto mechanic, would win the lady's hand. Murphy was miffed at his character's loss and compared Harry unfavorably to the "hippies" of the 1960s. George Murphy, ladies and gentlemen, classic Republican!


2:00 PM -- Kathleen (1941)
A neglected daughter tries to find the right wife for her widowed father.
Dir: Harold S. Bucquet
Cast: Shirley Temple, Herbert Marshall, Laraine Day
BW-88 mins, TV-G,

Based on a story by Kay Van Riper.


3:30 PM -- I Married An Angel (1942)
A playboy drops his many girlfriends when he falls in love with a grounded angel.
Dir: Maj. W. S. Van Dyke II
Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Edward Everett Horton
BW-85 mins, TV-G, CC,

Originally planned as a vehicle for Jeanette MacDonald 10 years earlier, but the somewhat racy content put the musical on hold at MGM, until it was a hit on Broadway in 1938.


5:00 PM -- Jack And The Beanstalk (1952)
A baby-sitter dreams himself and his best friend into the famous fairy tale.
Dir: Jean Yarbrough
Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Buddy Baer
C-78 mins, TV-G, CC,

Early in the movie, when Jack (Lou Costello) first meets the employment agency's receptionist (Dorothy Ford), he tells her: "I like girls like you, eyes of blue and five feet two". This is a reference to the refrain of the 1920's popular song, "Has Anybody Seen My Gal?" It's only after she rises from her chair that he realizes his misconception; he is dwarfed by Dorothy Ford's 6' 2" full height.


6:30 PM -- The Old Man and the Sea (1958)
A Cuban fisherman believes his long dry spell will end when he catches a legendary fish.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Felipe Pazos Jr., Harry Bellaver, Spencer Tracy
C-87 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Dimitri Tiomkin

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy, and Best Cinematography, Color -- James Wong Howe

Ernest Hemingway himself was initially involved in the production, although the extent of his participation after selling his book was to go marlin-fishing off the coast of Peru to try to find a fish worthy enough for the picture. In the end, the producers used a rubber marlin and stock footage of marlin fishing in which Hemingway didn't participate in. After seeing the film, Ernest Hemingway expressed his disappointment and said that Spencer Tracy looked less the Cuban peasant fisherman and more the rich old actor that he was. Tracy won an Oscar nomination for the role.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: NOIR WRITERS



8:00 PM -- The Maltese Falcon (1931)
In the first screen version of The Maltese Falcon, detective Sam Spade investigates the theft of a priceless statue.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Bebe Daniels, Ricardo Cortez, Dudley Digges
BW-79 mins, TV-G, CC,

When originally sold to television in the 1950s, the title was changed to 'Dangerous Female', in order to avoid confusion with its illustrious remake The Maltese Falcon (1941) . After more than fifty years, Turner Classic Movies has finally restored its original title card.


9:30 PM -- City Streets (1931)
A racketeer must choose between his criminal life and love.
Dir: Rouben Mamoulian
Cast: Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney, Paul Lukas
BW-83 mins, TV-PG, CC,

The first sound flashback. Dialogue heard earlier in the film was repeated over a huge close-up of Sylvia Sidney's tear-stained face as she recalls the past.


11:00 PM -- After The Thin Man (1936)
Married sleuths Nick and Nora Charles try to clear Nora's cousin of a murder charge.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart
BW-112 mins, TV-G, CC,

The elegant car that Nick and Nora ride out to Col. MacFay's estate in is a 1935 Lincoln. These were an expensive, low-production car, with only about 1,400 made that year. The major movie studios kept a number of expensive cars around for executive purposes, and they often did double duty as props as required in production.


1:00 AM -- The Glass Key (1942)
A hired gun and his gangster boss fall out over a woman.
Dir: Stuart Heisler
Cast: Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd
BW-85 mins, TV-14, CC,

The title of this book and movie is most obscure; thankfully its meaning is described by Richard Layman in his book, Shadow Man: The life of Dashiell Hammett. A glass key symbolizes an act or experience which cannot be reversed or forgotten. It is a key made of glass which allows one entry to a room or a building but which shatters after one use. Skeleton keys were used for many years before and after this story to lock doors from both sides; hence, a skeleton key made of glass which breaks in a lock will prohibit the locking of a door and will prohibit one from leaving the room. Hence, once in the chamber one is subject to see one's choice through.


2:30 AM -- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Hard-boiled detective Sam Spade gets caught up in the murderous search for a priceless statue.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George
BW-100 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sydney Greenstreet, Best Writing, Screenplay -- John Huston, and Best Picture

Sam Spade refers to Wilmer (Elisha Cook Jr.) as a "gunsel", a term the censors assumed was a slang reference to a gunman. The Yiddish term "gunsel", literally "little goose", *may* be a vulgarism for homosexual (the word "faigle", or "little bird", is usually used in that manner). It is more usually an "underground" term which refers to a person who is either a "fall guy" or a "stool pigeon", in which case Spade is making both a direct and an indirect reference to Wilmer's character.


4:30 AM -- Satan Met A Lady (1936)
In the second screen version of The Maltese Falcon, a detective is caught between a lying seductress and a lady jewel thief.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Bette Davis, Warren William, Alison Skipworth
BW-74 mins, TV-G, CC,

The second of three film adaptations of Dashiell Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon," this film has notable connections to both other versions. First, this film's screenwriter, Brown Holmes, was also credited as a screenwriter on The Maltese Falcon, directed by Roy Del Ruth. Second, this film's cinematographer, Arthur Edeson, was also the director of photography for John Huston's The Maltese Falcon. Third, Warren William, who plays the Sam Spade character (Ted Shane) in this film, also played Perry Mason in a series of films beginning in 1934, but was replaced in 1936 by Ricardo Cortez - who had played Sam Spade in the 1931 "Maltese Falcon". Finally, Bette Davis filled in for Raymond Burr when he had to have surgery in Perry Mason: The Case of Constant Doyle.

[longship]

1. All three "Maltese Falcons"

I saw the Bette Davis version years ago. Never saw the first. The Huston version is a favorite of mine. Love to see all three.

I don't have cable here, so I couldn't have anyway.

Nice to see TCM keeping up their quality.