TCM Schedule for Thursday, March 26, 2015 -- What's On Tonight - More Hammer Noir

[Staph]

This afternoon, TCM is featuring some of the films from the Perry Mason series -- not the television series starring Raymond Burr, but four films with three different Masons. And in prime time, it's a creepy selection of noir films from Hammer Film Productions. Enjoy!


6:19 AM -- Aeronutics (1941)
In this comedic short, a young trainee learning to become a pilot soon realizes he's in over his head.
Dir: Francis Corby
Narrator: Pete Smith
BW-10 mins,


6:30 AM -- Dulcy (1940)
A scatterbrained beauty tries to help her fiance's career by throwing a big party.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon
Cast: Ann Sothern, Ian Hunter, Roland Young
BW-73 mins, CC,

The original play opened in New York on 13 August 1921, with Lynn Fontanne as the title character. The book Schuyler Van Dyke is reading, "Nuts! An Intimate Glimpse Into the Life of the American Peanut," originally was "Pschopathia-Sexualis," but was changed at the request of the Hays office.


7:45 AM -- Fast And Furious (1939)
Married book-dealers Joel and Garda Sloane get mixed up with murder during a beauty pageant
Dir: Busby Berkeley
Cast: Franchot Tone, Ann Sothern, Ruth Hussey
BW-73 mins, CC,

The last in the "Fast Trilogy" of mystery/comedy whodunits. The other two are Fast Company (1938) - with Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice in the starring roles, and Fast and Loose (1939) - with Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell as Joel and Garda Sloane.


9:00 AM -- Three Hearts For Julia (1943)
When his wife threatens him with divorce, a reporter courts her again.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Ann Sothern, Melvyn Douglas, Lee Bowman
BW-90 mins,

Joan Crawford was offered the lead role, but turned it down.


10:45 AM -- The Manitou (1978)
A psychic's girlfriend finds out that a lump on her back is a growing reincarnation of a 400 year-old demonic Native American spirit.
Dir: William Girdler
Cast: Stella Stevens, Tony Curtis, Michael Ansara
C-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

When this film was premiered in South Africa in 1978, the invitations were printed on vomit bags.


12:30 PM -- Chubasco (1968)
A young delinquent tries to redeem himself by working on a tuna boat.
Dir: Allen H. Miner
Cast: Richard Egan, Christopher Jones, Susan Strasberg
C-100 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Filmed in San Diego, California.


2:12 PM -- Phantoms, Inc. (1945)
This short film focuses on fake "spiritualists" and psychics who con innocent people out of their money.
Dir: Harold Young
Cast: Lloyd Ingraham, Crane Whitley, King Baggot
BW-17 mins,

One of the Crime Does Not Pay series.


2:30 PM -- The Case of the Lucky Legs (1935)
Perry Mason tries to stay on the wagon while investigating the murder of a crooked beauty contest promoter.
Dir: Archie L. Mayo
Cast: Warren William, Genevieve Tobin, Patricia Ellis
BW-78 mins, CC,

In the trailer Patricia Ellis is described as "She's the mystery girl in 'The Case of the Lucky Legs,' and all her brains are BELOW the knees. When she steps out, the fun begins."


4:00 PM -- The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936)
Perry Mason's honeymoon with Della Street is interrupted by the murder of a scandal-sheet publisher.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: Warren William, Claire Dodd, Winifred Shaw
BW-63 mins, CC,

Perry Mason actually married Della Street in this movie.


5:15 PM -- The Case of the Black Cat (1936)
Perry Mason looks into a trio of murders heralded by the shriek of a cat.
Dir: William McGann
Cast: Ricardo Cortez, June Travis, Jane Bryan
BW-66 mins, CC,

After appearing in earlier entries as Spudsy Drake, Perry's detective assistant/friend is now refereed to as Paul Drake.


6:30 PM -- The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937)
Perry Mason tries to find out if a long-lost heiress is the real thing.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: Donald Woods, Ann Dvorak, Anne Nagel
BW-70 mins, CC,

Author Erle Stanley Garner objected so vehemently to what he felt was the miscasting of Ricardo Cortez as Mason, that Warners replaced him with Donald Woods.


7:42 PM -- Strictly G.I. (1943)
This patriotic short film features a filmed broadcast of the Command Performance radio program, featuring such Hollywood stars as Betty Hutton and Lana Turner.
BW-13 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: MORE HAMMER NOIR



8:00 PM -- Heat Wave (1954)
A blonde bombshell enlists an American writer to help kill her wealthy husband.
Dir: Ken Hughes
Cast: Alex Nicol, Hillary Brooke, Sidney James
BW-68 mins,

Based on a novel High Wray by Ken Hughes.


9:19 PM -- The Camera Caught It (1954)
This short film looks at various images that cameras managed to film, none of which was staged.
BW-9 mins,


9:30 PM -- Paid to Kill (1954)
After hiring a hit man to kill him, a man changes his mind.
Dir: Montgomery Tully
Cast: Dane Clark, Cecile Chevreau, Paul Carpenter
BW-71 mins,

Taking advantage of arrangements favoured by the UK's Eady levy (a state film subsidy established after the war) in 1950, American producer Robert Lippert formed a business alliance with Hammer studios. Under the agreement, Lippert would provide American acting talent - frequently shop-worn stars or just supporting actors who fancied a profitable trip out of the country - while Hammer would supply the rest of the cast and the production facilities. Together they would split the profits. Famous for his concern with the bottom line, Lippert produced over 140 films between 1946 and 1955, characteristically genre pieces such as I Shot Jesse James or Rocketship XM. For the British deal, most of the films were noir-ish thrillers -including 5 DAYS/ PAID TO KILL.


10:50 PM -- The Million Dollar Nickel (1952)
This propaganda short focuses on how the war against Communism can be fought by the purchase of a stamp.
BW-9 mins,


11:00 PM -- The Gambler and the Lady (1952)
A gambler tries to buy his way into British society.
Dir: Patrick Jenkins
Cast: Dane Clark, Kathleen Byron, Naomi Chance
BW-72 mins,

First Hammer film of George Pastell.


12:20 AM -- Life In The Andes (1952)
This short film takes the viewer to the western side of South America, to the Andes.
C-8 mins,


12:30 AM -- Dead on Course (1952)
A plane crash uncovers a cargo shipper's ties to the crime world.
Dir: Terence Fisher
Cast: Zachary Scott, Robert Beatty, Naomi Chance
BW-72 mins,

Based on a novel by Trevor Dudley Smith, under his alias Elleston Trevor.


1:49 AM -- Operation Dirty Dozen (1967)
This promotional short film provides a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "The Dirty Dozen" (1987).
C-9 mins,


2:00 AM -- Pulp (1972)
A pulp fiction novelist fights to survive an assignment to ghost write a controversial star's memoirs.
Dir: Mike Hodges
Cast: Michael Caine, Mickey Rooney, Lionel Stander
C-95 mins, Letterbox Format

The original title was "Memoirs of a Ghostwriter".


3:39 AM -- Lady Sings The Blues (Featurette) (1972)
This promotional short for the motion picture "Lady Sings the Blues" (1972) features behind-the-scenes footage of Diana Ross discussing her role as Billie Holiday.
C-10 mins,


4:00 AM -- Gumshoe (1972)
A would be private eye gets mixed up in a smuggling case.
Dir: Stephen Frears
Cast: Albert Finney, Billie Whitelaw, Frank Finlay
C-86 mins, CC,

Debut directorial film of Stephen Frears.


5:30 AM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: Bill Murray (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-29 mins, CC, Letterbox Format