TCM Schedule for Friday, March 7, 2014 -- Friday Night Spotlight - Food In The Movies

[Staph]

There's an unusual theme during the daylight hours today -- the films of independent producer Benedict Bogeaus. His General Service Studio, originally built in 1919 by a former Chaplin employee named John Jasper, was used for television production in the 1950s and was the first site for the filming of I Love Lucy. In prime time, it's ruin your diet time, when TCM celebrates food in the movies. Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- Tarzan And The Amazons (1945)
Archaeologists trick Boy into helping them find a hidden valley ruled by women.
Dir: Kurt Neumann
Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, Johnny Sheffield
BW-76 mins, CC,

Johnny Weissmuller had two different Janes during his run as Tarzan. This is the first film for Jane Number Two, Brenda Joyce. (The first was, of course, Maureen O'Sullivan.)


8:00 AM -- Tarzan and the Huntress (1947)
Tarzan fights to keep a seductive female big game hunter from capturing too many animals.
Dir: Kurt Neumann
Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, Johnny Sheffield
BW-72 mins, CC,

Johnny Sheffield's last movie as Boy. He was sixteen at the release of this film.


9:30 AM -- Captain Kidd (1945)
An infamous pirate tries to double cross the King of England.
Dir: Rowland V. Lee
Cast: Charles Laughton, Randolph Scott, Barbara Britton
BW-81 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Werner Janssen

Four years before this movie was made, Charles Laughton co-starred in It Started with Eve (1941), In that film, Laughton's character, Jonathan Reynolds Sr., is said to have been born two centuries too late. The assistant newspaper editor comments that he could have been "Captain Kidd himself".


11:00 AM -- The Macomber Affair (1947)
A wealthy playboy and his wife hire a great white hunter to guide them to the African hunting grounds.
Dir: Zoltan Korda
Cast: Gregory Peck, Joan Bennett, Robert Preston
BW-89 mins, CC,

For the African scenes, Reginald Denny invented the first radio-controlled model airplane and, with Osmond Borradaile, put a camera on board in 1946.


12:30 PM -- The Crooked Way (1949)
A war hero's amnesia keeps him from dealing with his criminal past.
Dir: Robert Florey
Cast: John Payne, Sonny Tufts, Ellen Drew
BW-86 mins,

In one scene, John Payne hitches a ride in a mortuary van from a place called "Green Acres". It's coincidental that the movie's cast includes Frank Cady and Percy Helton, who both appeared on the TV series of the same name.


2:00 PM -- My Outlaw Brother (1951)
A ranger tries to pry his brother from the Mexican bandit gang he's joined.
Dir: Elliot Nugent
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Wanda Hendrix, Robert Preston
BW-82 mins,

Based on western writer Max Brand's book "South of the Rio Grande".


3:30 PM -- One Big Affair (1952)
An American schoolteacher on tour in Mexico is assumed to be kidnapped when she separates from her tour group to join a stateside lawyer on his trip to Acapulco.
Dir: Peter Godfrey
Cast: Evelyn Keyes, Dennis O'Keefe, Mary Anderson
BW-79 mins,

The second of two films costarring Keyes and Anderson. The first was Gone With The Wind, with Keyes playing Suellen O'Hara (Scarlet's sister), and Anderson portraying Maybelle Merriwether, one of the belles of Atlanta.


5:00 PM -- Count the Hours (1953)
A lawyer defends a migrant worker in a sensational murder trial.
Dir: Don Siegel
Cast: Teresa Wright, MacDonald Carey, Dolores Moran
BW-75 mins, CC,

Shot in nine days.


6:15 PM -- Enchanted Island (1958)
Two 19th-century sailors jump ship only to discover their tropical paradise is a cannibal stronghold.
Dir: Allan Dwan
Cast: Dana Andrews, Jane Powell, Don Dubbins
C-94 mins, CC,

This was one of the last films produced for RKO. By the time it was completed, RKO had ceased production and distribution. It was released through Warner Brothers.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: FOOD IN THE MOVIES



8:00 PM -- Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
A chef and his three daughters try to deal with their tangled love lives.
Dir: Ang Lee
Cast: Sihung Lung (Sihung Lung), Yang Kuei-Mei (Yang Kuei-Mei), Sylvia Chang
C-124 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film -- Taiwan

The opening sequence - in which a Sunday lunch is lovingly prepared - took over a week to film.


10:15 PM -- Mostly Martha (2001)
An Italian sous-chef arrives to lighten the mood between a headstrong chef and her niece.
Dir: Sandra Nettelbeck
Cast: Martina Gedeck, Sergio Castellitto, Maxime Foerste
C-107 mins, Letterbox Format

Sergio Castellitto's German wasn't good enough so Frank Glaubrecht was brought in to dub his voice for the German version.


12:15 AM -- Tom Jones (1963)
In this adaptation of Henry Fielding's novel, a country boy in 18th-century England becomes a playboy.
Dir: Tony Richardson
Cast: Albert Finney, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith
C-122 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Director -- Tony Richardson (Tony Richardson was not present at the awards ceremony. Edith Evans accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- John Osborne, Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- John Addison (John Addison was not present at the awards ceremony. Elmer Bernstein accepted the award on his behalf.), and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Albert Finney, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Hugh Griffith, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Diane Cilento, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Edith Evans, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Joyce Redman, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Ralph W. Brinton, Ted Marshall, Jocelyn Herbert and Josie MacAvin

Much of the scene in which Tom Jones and Mrs. Waters are eating together was improvised during the three hours it took to shoot, and the actors felt the effects from the food for days.


2:30 AM -- Women In Love (1969)
In the twenties, two free-thinking sisters try to balance sexual passion with independence.
Dir: Ken Russell
Cast: Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson
C-130 mins, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Glenda Jackson (Glenda Jackson was not present at the awards ceremony. Juliet Mills accepted the award on her behalf.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Ken Russell, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Larry Kramer, and Best Cinematography -- Billy Williams

Both Oliver Reed and Alan Bates were initially apprehensive about filming the legendary wrestling scene due to insecurity over who had the largest "member". Eventually, after both actors got drunk, compared sizes and realized there was little difference between the two, filming continued with relative ease.


5:00 AM -- Dinner At Eight (1933)
A high-society dinner party masks a hotbed of scandal and intrigue.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery
BW-111 mins, CC,

The dowager character played by Marie Dressler is reportedly based on actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell, for whom George Bernard Shaw wrote the role of Eliza Doolittle in the play "Pygmalion", the basis for the musical My Fair Lady (1964). Mrs. Campbell was legendary for her inappropriate remarks, and she failed dismally in an attempt at a Hollywood film career.