TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 1, 2014 -- Moms in the Movies

[Staph]

Today is a morning of Jeanette MacDonald (or maybe the gowns of Adrian, or perhaps Douglas Shearer and his sound department, or possibly the set decoration of Edwin B. Willis -- they are all associated with today's first four films). This afternoon features birthday boy Glenn Ford, born Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford on May 1, 1916, in Sainte-Christine-d'Auvergne, Portneuf, Québec, Canada, and this evening is all about motherhood in the movies. Supply your own apple pie. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Cat And The Fiddle (1934)
A struggling composer courts a singing star.
Dir: William K. Howard
Cast: Ramon Novarro, Jeanette MacDonald, Frank Morgan
BW-89 min

This movie was rejected for re-release certification because the leading characters were in an illicit sexual relationship without any compensating moral values.


7:30 AM -- The Firefly (1937)
A Spanish spy masquerades as a singer to sabotage Napoleon's forces.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Allan Jones, Warren William
BW-130 min, CC

Except for the songs, this movie has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the operetta, "The Firefly". Also, it has nothing to do with the Joss Whedon one-season wonder starring Nathan Fillion.


10:00 AM -- Sweethearts (1938)
Bickering husband-and-wife stage stars are manipulated into a break-up for publicity purposes.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke II
Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Frank Morgan
C-114 min, CC

Won an Honorary Oscar Award for Oliver T. Marsh and Allen M. Davey for the color cinematography of the M-G-M production Sweethearts

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD), and Best Music, Scoring -- Herbert Stothart

This is MGM's first feature in full Technicolor.


12:00 PM -- Maytime (1937)
An opera star's manager tries to stop her romance with a penniless singer.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, John Barrymore
BW-132 min, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD), and Best Music, Score -- Nat W. Finston (head of department) with score by Herbert Stothart

One of MGM mogul Irving Thalberg's personal projects, this originally began filming in Technicolor, with Paul Lukas as Nikolai Nazaroff and Frank Morgan as August Archipenko. When Thalberg died, production was halted. When it was able to resume, black and white was selected as a more economical format. Lukas and Morgan were no longer available, so John Barrymore and Herman Bing took over their roles.


2:15 PM -- A Stolen Life (1947)
A twin takes her deceased sister's place as wife of the man they both love.
Dir: Curtis Bernhardt
Cast: Bette Davis, Glenn Ford, Dane Clark
BW-107 min, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- William C. McGann (visual) and Nathan Levinson (audible)

Because of her constant insistence for better productions to work on, and an overall better atmosphere on set, Jack L. Warner asked Bette Davis to produce the film. It would be the first and only time she would be able to do this. Reportedly, she was so overworked and also intrigued by this job that she started a relationship with the director of this film to iron out her mind.


4:15 PM -- It Started With A Kiss (1959)
After a whirlwind courtship, an Army officer and his wacky wife try to make their marriage work.
Dir: George Marshall
Cast: Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Eva Gabor
C-100 min, CC, Letterbox Format

The car that Glenn Ford wins is a 1955 Lincoln Futura, the one-off concept car that ultimately became the Batmobile on Batman (1966).


6:00 PM -- Dear Heart (1964)
A middle-aged postmistress falls for an engaged man during a convention in New York.
Dir: Delbert Mann
Cast: Glenn Ford, Geraldine Page, Michael Anderson Jr.
BW-114 min, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Henry Mancini (music), Jay Livingston (lyrics) and Ray Evans for the song "Dear Heart"

At the time this movie was being filmed, the demolition of the above-track-level portions of New York's Pennsylvania Station was beginning. In the opening scene of Evie Jackson's arrival in New York, you can see several panes of station windows broken and replaced with boards. By 1966, the station had been converted from its old to its new form, and the new Madison Square Garden had been added on top of it.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: MOMS IN THE MOVIES



8:00 PM -- Imitation Of Life (1959)
Two mothers, one white, one black, face problems with their rebellious daughters.
Dir: Douglas Sirk
Cast: Lana Turner, John Gavin, Sandra Dee
C-125 min, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Susan Kohner, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Juanita Moore

This film, which focuses on the relationship struggles of mothers and daughters, was Lana Turner's first since a very public scandal involving Turner and her daughter Cheryl Crane. The previous year, the fourteen year old Crane had fatally stabbed Turner's boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato. Stompanato, part of Mickey Cohen's infamous gang, had been beating Turner and Crane's actions were deemed justifiable homicide. Nonetheless, the killing and subsequent scandal created a rift between Turner and her daughter, and seriously threatened to end her film career. However, Turner channeled the pain from her real-life experience and applied it to this film. It would prove to be financially and critically successful, and served as a comeback vehicle for the actress.


10:15 PM -- White Heat (1949)
A government agent infiltrates a gang run by a mother-fixated psychotic.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien
BW-113 min, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Virginia Kellogg

If the surprise expressed by James Cagney's fellow inmates during "the telephone game" scene in the prison dining room appears real, it's because it is. Director Raoul Walsh didn't tell the rest of the cast what was about to happen, so Cagney's outburst caught them by surprise. In fact, Walsh himself didn't know what Cagney had planned; the scene as written wasn't working, and Cagney had an idea. He told Walsh to put the two biggest extras playing cons in the mess-hall next to him on the bench (he used their shoulders to boost himself onto the table) and to keep the cameras rolling no matter what. And there's a surprising extra -- Jim Thorpe, Olympian, is one of the cons in the telephone game.


12:15 AM -- Bachelor Mother (1939)
A fun-loving shop girl is mistaken for the mother of a foundling.
Dir: Garson Kanin
Cast: Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn
BW-82 min, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Felix Jackson

The cast of characters includes a wind-up toy: Donald Duck as himself. Ginger Rogers' character was in charge of a display table full of the Donald Duck toys.


2:00 AM -- The Catered Affair (1956)
A working-class mother fights to give her daughter a big wedding whether the girl wants it or not.
Dir: Richard Brooks
Cast: Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds
BW-94 min, CC, Letterbox Format

The church where the wedding is held is the Church of St. Augustine, which was located in the Bronx on Franklin Ave. between East 167th and 168th St. The church was built in 1894. By 2009, St. Augustine's had fallen into such a state of disrepair that the building could no longer be used. With membership in the parish having dwindled to around 300, St. Augustine's was closed in 2011. The parish church, rectory and convent were demolished in 2013 to make way for subsidized housing.


3:45 AM -- The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
A possessive son's efforts to keep his mother from remarrying threaten to destroy his family.
Dir: Orson Welles
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter
BW-88 min, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Agnes Moorehead, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Stanley Cortez, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Albert S. D'Agostino, A. Roland Fields and Darrell Silvera, and Best Picture

The preview of the movie occurred a short time after Pearl Harbor. Because of this, most of the audience review cards stated that they didn't want to see a depressing movie, and that it should have more laughs and a happy ending. With Orson Welles out of the country, the production team had to make the cuts and changes without his input. Ironically, RKO's reshot ending for the film - a much more uplifting affair than the one that Welles had intended - is much closer to the ending in the novel.


5:30 AM -- Screen Directors Playhouse: The Bitter Waters (1956)
A young man's romance at a German resort is threatened by the woman's past.
BW-25 min