TCM Schedule for Thursday, January 23, 2014 -- Star of the Month - Joan Crawford

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is featuring the films of Jean Hersholt. How do you know that name? In 1939 Hersholt helped to form the Motion Picture Relief Fund. This helped to support industry employees with medical care when they were down on their luck and was used to create the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. This led to the creation in 1956 of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian an honorary Academy Award given to an "individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry." And in primetime and through out the day tomorrow, we've got the films of Star of the Month Joan Crawford. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Battle of the Sexes (1928)
In this silent film, a gold digger and her boyfriend plot to fleece a respectable middle-aged businessman.
Dir: D. W. Griffith
Cast: Jean Hersholt, Phyllis Haver, Belle Bennett
BW-88 mins, TV-G,

Adela Rogers St. Johns published a book entitled "The Single Standard" in 1928, the same year this movie was released. It is not known if this book is related to the movie in any way.


7:34 AM -- The Ingenues 'The Band Beautiful' (1928)
An all-woman orchestra plays several popular songs in this short film.
BW-9 mins,


7:45 AM -- The Younger Generation (1929)
A rising businessman tries to make his immigrant parents assimilate.
Dir: Frank R. Capra
Cast: Jean Hersholt, Lina Basquette, Ricardo Cortez
BW-84 mins, TV-G,

This movie is based on a Fannie Hurst play, "It Is to Laugh," which opened at the Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre in New York City on 26 December 1926 and closed after 32 performances in January 1927.


9:15 AM -- Hell Harbor (1930)
A pirate's descendent tries to force his daughter into a marriage for money.
Dir: Henry King
Cast: Lupe Velez, Jean Hersholt, John Holland
BW-83 mins, TV-PG,

Rondo Hatton's first film. He was working as a reporter in Tampa, Florida, and assigned to report on a film company working in Rocky Point. Director Henry King noticed Hatton's distinctive appearance and persuaded him to appear in the film. King also advised him to quit the newspaper and move to Hollywood, which he did.


10:45 AM -- Private Lives (1931)
A divorced couple rekindles the spark after landing in adjoining honeymoon suites with new mates.
Dir: Sidney Franklin
Cast: Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, Reginald Denny
BW-84 mins, TV-G,

The original play opened in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, and starred Noel Coward (who also directed), Gertrude Lawrence, Laurence Olivier and Adrianne Allen. After a 5-week tour of England, it opened a scheduled 3-month engagement in London on 24 September 1930, after which it came to Broadway, New York City, on 27 January 1931 and ran for 256 performances, closing in September 1931. Jill Esmond replaced Allen in New York for the role of Sybil. The very popular play had 6 Broadway revivals alone, the last in 2002, and is continually revived the world over.


12:15 PM -- A Soldier's Plaything (1931)
A group of U.S. soldiers run riot through France after the end of World War I.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Lotti Loder, Harry Langdon, Ben Lyon
BW-57 mins, TV-G,

Based on an original story by Viña Delmar.


1:15 PM -- Are You Listening? (1932)
A radio announcer accidentally kills his wife, then leads an on-air hunt for her killer.
Dir: Harry Beaumont
Cast: William Haines, Madge Evans, Anita Page
BW-73 mins, TV-G,

From the novel by Dwight Taylor. Not at all based on the O.J. Simpson case.


2:30 PM -- Emma (1932)
A housekeeper faces unexpected snobbery when she marries her boss.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Marie Dressler, Richard Cromwell, Jean Hersholt
BW-72 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Marie Dressler

After winning her Best Actress Academy Award in 1931 for "Min and Bill," Marie was nominated again the very next year for her role in this film, Emma.


3:45 PM -- Unashamed (1932)
A society girl's brother goes on trial for killing her lover.
Dir: Harry Beaumont
Cast: Helen Twelvetrees, Robert Young, Lewis Stone
BW-76 mins, TV-G, CC,

Jean Hersholt was the uncle of actor Leslie Nielsen.


5:15 PM -- The Painted Veil (1934)
A wife strays, then fights to redeem herself to her husband.
Dir: Richard Boleslawski
Cast: Greta Garbo, Herbert Marshall, George Brent
BW-85 mins, TV-G, CC,

Queen Christina (1933) and The Painted Veil (1934), which were both huge hits in Europe (making twice their budget in the UK alone), but were underwhelming US successes.


6:45 PM -- Tough Guy (1936)
To save his beloved dog, a boy runs away from home, only to get mixed up with gangsters.
Dir: Chester M. Franklin
Cast: Jackie Cooper, Joseph Calleia, Rin Tin Tin Jr.
BW-76 mins, TV-G, CC,

Hersholt translated over 160 of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales into English. These were published in 1949 in six volumes as "The Complete Andersen". Hersholt was knighted by King Christian X of Denmark in 1948, partly due to this endeavor. Hersholt's grave in Forest Lawn Memorial Park is marked with a statue of Klods Hans, a Hans Christian Anderson character who left Denmark to find his way in the the world - much as Hersholt himself did.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: JOAN CRAWFORD



8:00 PM -- Mildred Pierce (1945)
A woman turns herself into a business tycoon to win her selfish daughter a place in society.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott
BW-111 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Joan Crawford (Joan Crawford was not present at the awards ceremony and feigned ill that night. Meanwhile she listened to the show on the radio. When she won, she ushered the press into her bedroom, where she finally accepted her Oscar.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Eve Arden, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ann Blyth, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Ranald MacDougall, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Ernest Haller, and Best Picture

Shooting the early scenes, director Michael Curtiz accused Joan Crawford of needlessly glamorizing her working mother role. She insisted she was buying her character's clothes off the rack, but didn't mention that her own dressmaker was fitting the waists and padding out the shoulders.


10:00 PM -- Humoresque (1946)
A classical musician from the slums is sidetracked by his love for a wealthy neurotic.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
Cast: Joan Crawford, John Garfield, Oscar Levant
BW-125 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Franz Waxman

John Garfield's violin "performances" are actually played by two professional violinists standing on either side of him, one to bow and one to finger. The actual music was performed by Isaac Stern. According to Isaac Stern's autobiography, "My First 79 Years" (New York: Knopf, 1999; page 51) when the movie shows closeups of the hands alone playing the violin (without Garfield in the frame), those are Stern's hands you see.


12:15 AM -- Flamingo Road (1949)
A stranded carnival dancer takes on a corrupt political boss when she marries into small-town society.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet
BW-94 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Originally intended as a vehicle for Ann Sheridan, who turned down role played by Joan Crawford.


2:00 AM -- The Damned Don't Cry (1950)
Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Joan Crawford, David Brian, Steve Cochran
BW-103 mins, TV-PG, CC,

The title comes from Eugene O'Neill's "Mourning becomes Electra", in which a brother tells his sister: "Don't cry... the damned don't cry."


3:45 AM -- Possessed (1947)
A married woman's passion for a former love drives her mad.
Dir: Curtis Bernhardt
Cast: Joan Crawford, Van Heflin, Raymond Massey
BW-108 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Joan Crawford

The second film with this title Crawford appeared in. The first was the 1931 film "Possessed" with a young Clark Gable.


5:45 AM -- It's a Great Feeling (1949)
When nobody at Warner Bros. will work with him, movie star Jack Carson decides to turn an unknown into his co-star.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Dennis Morgan, Doris Day, Jack Carson
C-85 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jule Styne (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "It's a Great Feeling"

Joan Crawford does a cameo and directs a short speech to Jack Carson before slapping his face. It's the same one she gives to Ann Blyth in Mildred Pierce (1945) before slapping her face. Carson co-starred in that film with Crawford.