TCM Schedule for Thursday, July 24, 2014 -- What's On Tonight - Kirk Douglas

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is featuring the films of Cedric Gibbons, art director with eleven Oscars to his name, though we will be watching his early, pre-Oscar films from the 1930s. In prime time, we get a lovely selection of films starring Kirk Douglas. Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- The Kiss (1929)
A woman's generosity to an amorous youth leads to tragedy.
Dir: Jacques Feyder
Cast: Greta Garbo, Conrad Nagel, Anders Randolf
BW-62 mins,

MGM's (and Greta Garbo's) last silent film.


7:30 AM -- The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1929)
A chic jewel thief in England falls in love with one of her marks.
Dir: Sidney Franklin
Cast: Norma Shearer, Basil Rathbone, George Barraud
BW-94 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Achievement -- Hanns Kräly (No official nominees had been announced this year.)

This was the first MGM film released with an optical sound-track (Western Electric variable density.) Prior to this, MGM used Warner Bros' sound-on-disk method.


9:18 AM -- Trixie Friganza In "My Bag O' Trix" (1929)
In this short film, Trixie Friganza performs a vaudeville act involving a song and story.
Dir: Murray Roth
Cast: Trixie Friganza,
BW-10 mins,

Because the entire soundtrack of this film survives, the print shown on Turner Classic Movies substitutes a still of Trixie Friganza during the first 100 seconds of her monologue. They explained that part of the footage was lost because of nitrate decomposition.


9:30 AM -- Wise Girls (1929)
A sheepish plumber gets conned into a marriage scheme.
Dir: E. Mason Hopper
Cast: Elliott Nugent, Norma Lee, Roland Young
BW-98 mins,

Based on the play Kempy, by Elliott Nugent and J.C. Nugent.


11:15 AM -- Strictly Unconventional (1930)
A woman looks up her philandering mother-in-law for advice on adultery
Dir: David Burton
Cast: Catherine Dale Owen, Paul Cavanagh, Tyrrell Davis
BW-55 mins,

The play opened in London, England on 3 March 1921. It opened on Broadway in New York City on 12 September 1921 and closed in February 1922 after 175 performances. The opening night cast included John Halliday as Ted, Estelle Winwood as Elizabeth and Walter Soderling as the Butler. There were 2 revivals of the play: in 1938 with Tallulah Bankhead and John Emery, and in 1989, with Stewart Granger, Rex Harrison and Glynis Johns.


12:15 PM -- Lovers Courageous (1932)
A failed playwright falls for an admiral's daughter.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Madge Evans, Roland Young
BW-77 mins,

Actor Reginald Denny is seen as a photograph of 'Jimmy' on a nightstand, but in the film itself, Reginald Owen plays the role.


1:45 PM -- The White Sister (1933)
A noblewoman becomes a nun when she thinks her lover is killed during the war.
Dir: Victor Fleming
Cast: Helen Hayes, Clark Gable, Lewis Stone
BW-106 mins, CC,

This was the first movie that Clark Gable wore a mustache.


3:45 PM -- Beg, Borrow Or Steal (1937)
Con men on the Riviera live by their wits.
Dir: William Thiele
Cast: Frank Morgan, Florence Rice, John Beal
BW-72 mins, CC,

Based on a short story by William C. White.


5:00 PM -- Personal Property (1937)
The bailiff charged with disposing of a financially strapped widow's estate pretends to be her butler.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke II
Cast: Jean Harlow, Robert Taylor, Reginald Owen
BW-84 mins, CC,

Throughout the film, Jean wears a star sapphire ring, a sort of engagement ring from her boyfriend William Powell.


6:30 PM -- Stronger Than Desire (1939)
A lawyer's wife keeps mum as her husband defends an innocent woman for the crime she committed.
Dir: Leslie Fenton
Cast: Virginia Bruce, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Bowman
BW-78 mins, CC,

Based on the novel Evelyn Prentice by W.E. Woodward. Woodward was credited with creating a new down to earth style of biographical writing and for coining the word "debunk".



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: KIRK DOUGLAS



8:00 PM -- Lust For Life (1956)
Passionate biography of painter Vincent van Gogh, whose genius drove him mad.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald
C-122 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Anthony Quinn

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Kirk Douglas, Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- Norman Corwin, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters, E. Preston Ames, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason

Parts of the film were shot in Auvers-sur-Oise, where Vincent van Gogh lived and died. Kirk Douglas had his hair cut specially in the style of the artist and had it dyed to a similar reddish tint. This was enough to make some of the older inhabitants of the town believe that Van Gogh had returned.


10:15 PM -- Kirk Douglas: Before I Forget (2009)
Kirk Douglas shares stories about his life, his family, his work, and his philosophy in this documentary.
C-85 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Douglas has long been involved in humanitarian causes and has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the US State Department since 1963. His efforts were rewarded in 1981 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 1983 with the Jefferson Award. Furthermore, the French honored him with the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. More recognition followed for his work with the American Cinema Award (1987), the German Golden Kamera Award (1987), The National Board of Reviews Career Achievement Award (1989), an honorary Academy Award (1995), Recipient of the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award (1999) and the UCLA Medal of Honor (2002).


12:00 AM -- Young Man With a Horn (1950)
A young trumpet player is torn between an honest singer and a manipulative heiress.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day
BW-112 mins, CC,

Doris Day wrote that she was unhappy making this film, which brought back stressful memories of her early career as a band singer, and also because Kirk Douglas and Lauren Bacall (having dated at one time in real life) seemed to intentionally shut her out, making her feel unwelcome.


2:00 AM -- Out of the Past (1947)
A private eye becomes the dupe of a homicidal moll.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas
BW-97 mins, CC,

After Humphrey Bogart refused the lead it was offered to John Garfield and then Dick Powell, both of whom turned it down. Robert Mitchum was fourth choice.


3:41 AM -- "Early Sports Quiz" What's Your I.Q. No. 13 (1947)
In this short film, an audience is asked multiple-choice questions about various sports.
Cast: Dave O'Brien,
BW-9 mins,


4:00 AM -- The Hook (1963)
Three soldiers in Korea go through inner torment when they're ordered to execute an enemy soldier.
Dir: George Seaton
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Robert Walker Jr., Nick Adams
BW-98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The Korean War started on June 25th, 1950, and ended in armistice on 27th of July, 1953.