TCM Schedule for Thursday, January 30, 2014 -- Star of the Month - Joan Crawford

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, we've got a selection of films about Philo Vance, a foppish Sherlock Holmes type detective operating in New York in the 1920s and 1930s, and featuring six different Philo Vances. In the late afternoon, TCM is showing a trio of films based on a radio series called I Love A Mystery, by Carlton E. Morse. And in primetime and through out the day tomorrow, we've got our last day featuring the films of Star of the Month Joan Crawford. Enjoy!


6:30 AM -- Le Notti Bianche (1957)
An office worker falls for a woman who's pining for the man who deserted her.
Dir: Luchino Visconti
Cast: Maria Schell, Marcello Mastroianni, Jean Marais
BW-102 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

In order to have misty backgrounds by night but a clear view on actors, director Luchino Visconti and director of photography Giuseppe Rotunno could not use mist filters on camera lenses. Instead they used large rolls of tulle hanging from ceiling to the ground on the sets of Cinecitta studios. Putting street lamps just behind, it worked perfectly for the desired effect.


8:15 AM -- The Bishop Murder Case (1930)
Society sleuth Philo Vance investigates a series of murders inspired by Mother Goose rhymes.
Dir: Nick Grindé
Cast: Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams, Roland Young
BW-87 mins, TV-G, CC,

Several times Roland Young's character sarcastically calls Basil Rathbone's investigator character "Sherlock Holmes". Nine years later Rathbone would take the role of Holmes and it became his iconic role.


9:45 AM -- The Kennel Murder Case (1933)
Society sleuth Philo Vance investigates a murder tied to a Long Island dog show.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: William Powell, Mary Astor, Eugene Pallette
BW-73 mins, TV-G, CC,

Dr. Doremus' repeated line "I'm a Doctor not a..." was later used as the catchphrase of DeForest Kelley's character Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy on the sci-series Star Trek (1966).


11:00 AM -- The Dragon Murder Case (1934)
Society sleuth Philo Vance looks into a murder near a mysterious "dragon pool."
Dir: H. Bruce Humberstone
Cast: Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot
BW-67 mins, TV-PG,

The estate in the novel of the same name was based on Tryon Hall, a mansion in Fort Tryon Park, built after 1900 by Cornelius Kingsley Garrison Billings, a retired president of the Chicago Coke and Gas Company. In 1917 he sold the mansion to John D. Rockefeller Jr. The mansion burned down in 1925, and Rockefeller donated the land where it was located on to the city.


12:15 PM -- The Casino Murder Case (1935)
Society sleuth Philo Vance takes on a series of murders at an aging dowager's mansion.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: Paul Lukas, Alison Skipworth, Donald Cook
BW-83 mins, TV-G, CC,

The first film in which Rosalind Russell receives credit above the title.


1:45 PM -- The Garden Murder Case (1936)
Society sleuth Philo Vance suspects dirty doings behind a mysterious series of suicides.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: Edmund Lowe, Virginia Bruce, Benita Hume
BW-61 mins, TV-G, CC,

First film of Kent Smith.


2:48 PM -- What Do You Think? Tupapaoo (1938)
In this short film, an American trader disrupts life on a Polynesian island.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: Carey Wilson, Moroni Olsen, John Ince
BW-11 mins,


3:00 PM -- Calling Philo Vance (1939)
Society sleuth Philo Vance tangles with foreign agents when he investigates the murder of an aircraft manufacturer.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: James Stephenson, Margot Stevenson, Henry O'Neill
BW-62 mins, TV-G, CC,

Loosely based on The Kennel Murder Case.


4:15 PM -- I Love a Mystery (1945)
A detective tries to protect a man who has predicted his murder will take place in three days.
Dir: Henry Levin
Cast: Jim Bannon, Nina Foch, George Macready
BW-69 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Mr. Kerrigan's brief outline should refer to "Jack - not Joe - and Doc" for Jack Packard & Doc Long played by Jim Bannon and Barton Yarborough. These characters were first introduced on an earlier Carleton E. Morse radio series as San Francisco private eyes in "Adventures by Morse". When he returned to the air after WWII, writer-producer Morse added their posh British thrill-seeking buddy, Reggie York (Tony Randall). Most of the female roles, whether good girl or bad, were performed by Mercedes McCambridge who often superbly juggled two or three different character voices on the 15-min weekday serial and later half-hour weekly program.


5:30 PM -- The Devil's Mask (1946)
A detective tries to identify a shrunken head found in a crashed cargo plane.
Dir: Henry Levin
Cast: Anita Louise, Jim Bannon, Michael Duane
BW-66 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Carlton E. Morse was also the creator of one of the longest running radio soap operas, One Man's Family.


6:45 PM -- The Unknown (1946)
A woman with amnesia hires two detectives to keep her alive long enough to claim her inheritance.
Dir: Henry Levin
Cast: Karen Morley, Jim Bannon, Jeff Donnell
BW-71 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Based in part on the radio play Faith, Hope and Charity Sisters, by Malcolm Stuart Boylan and Julian Harmon.



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



8:00 PM -- The Best Of Everything (1959)
Three secretaries look for love while working in the publishing business.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
Cast: Hope Lange, Stephen Boyd, Suzy Parker
C-121 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Costume Design, Color -- Adele Palmer, and Best Music, Original Song -- Alfred Newman (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "The Best of Everything"

This film features many important Manhattan sites. Thirty-three minutes into the film, Caroline Bender (Hope Lange) and April Morison (Diane Baker) are crossing Christopher Street from south to north near where Waverly Place comes into Christopher Street east of Sheridan Square. They walk east on Christopher Street, while carrying on a conversation. Look above their heads. In the rear, you will see the red neon sign of The Stonewall Inn lit up, even though the afternoon sun is still shining. Yes, this is the same Stonewall Inn where a decade later the modern gay liberation movement began when drag queens confronted police who had come to raid the bar.


10:15 PM -- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
A crazed, aging star torments her sister in a decaying Hollywood mansion.
Dir: Robert Aldrich
Cast: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono
BW-134 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Norma Koch

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Bette Davis, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Victor Buono,
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Ernest Haller, and Best Sound -- Joseph D. Kelly (Seven Arts-Warner Bros. Glen Glenn Sound Department)

Bette Davis had been nominated for Best Actress in her film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), which also starring Joan Crawford. If Bette had won, it would have set a record number of wins for an actress. According to the book "Bette & Joan - The Divine Feud" by Shaun Considine, the two had a life long mutual hatred, and a jealous Joan Crawford actively campaigned against Bette Davis for winning Best Actress, and even told Anne Bancroft that if Anne won and was unable to accept the Award, Joan would be happy to accept it on her behalf. According to the book - and this may or may not be 100% true, but it makes a good anecdote - on Oscar night, Bette Davis was standing in the wings of the theatre waiting to hear the name of the winner. When it was announced that Anne Bancroft had won Best Actress for The Miracle Worker (1962), Bette Davis felt an icy hand on her shoulder as Joan Crawford said "Excuse me, I have an Oscar to accept".


12:45 AM -- Della (1964)
A wealthy, reclusive woman holds a dark secret in this rare Joan Crawford film.
Dir: Robert Gist
Cast: Paul Burke, Charles Bickford, Joan Crawford
C-68 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Filmed as a pilot for a television series.


2:00 AM -- Trog (1970)
A scientist tries to protect a caveman brought back from suspended animation.
Dir: Freddie Francis
Cast: Joan Crawford, Michael Gough, Bernard Kay
C-91 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

After seeing this film, Joan Crawford supposedly joked that if it hadn't been for her end-of-life conversion to Christian Science, she might have committed suicide due to her embarrassment at having been in it.


3:45 AM -- The Karate Killers (1967)
The men from U.N.C.L.E. fight off karate-chopping henchmen to track down a secret formula.
Dir: Barry Shear
Cast: Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Jill Ireland
C-93 mins, TV-PG,

Originally a two part episode titled The Five Daughters Affair.


5:19 AM -- Kingdom Of The Saguenay (1963)
This short film takes the viewer down the Saguenay River, located in Quebec.
C-9 mins,


5:30 AM -- The Caretakers (1963)
A progressive psychiatrist clashes with the conservative head nurse at a state institution.
Dir: Hall Bartlett
Cast: Robert Stack, Polly Bergen, Joan Crawford
BW-98 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

From The Washington Post, May 22, 1963: "So impressed were Senators Lister Hill and Thomas Kuchel with 'The Caretakers,' a film on mental health, that they arranged a showing for senators and their staffs this afternoon in the New Senate Office building. The extra attraction: a post-screening reception in honor of stars Joan Crawford and Robert Stack, writer Henry F. Greenburg and producer Hal Bartlett."

[brooklynboy49]

1. I never liked Joan Crawford

Not a single one of her movies. Not a one.

Was she considered a sex symbol? She's so damned unattractive! Then again, I never could understand why Fred Astaire and David Niven were leading men. YUCK!