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Staph

(6,245 posts)
Fri Jun 17, 2016, 12:45 AM Jun 2016

TCM Schedule for Friday, June 17, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: TCM Special Theme: Billy Wilder

In most of the daylight hours, TCM is showing films starring Warner Oland, a native of Sweden who went on to play Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan. According to co-star Keye Luke, Oland didn't need make-up when he played Charlie Chan; all he would do is curl down his mustache and curl up his eyebrows. In fact, the Chinese often mistook him for one of their own countrymen. He attributed this to the fact that his Russian grandmother was of Mongolian descent.. And in prime time, TCM continues its month-long look at superb writer/director Billy Wilder, with a selection of his romantic films from the 1940s and 1950s. Enjoy!



6:15 AM -- Oliver! (1968)
Musical version of the Dickens classic about an orphan taken in by a band of boy thieves.
Dir: Carol Reed
Cast: Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, Oliver Reed
C-154 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Honorary Oscar Award for Onna White for her outstanding choreography achievement for Oliver!

Won Oscars for Best Director -- Carol Reed, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- John Box, Terence Marsh, Vernon Dixon and Ken Muggleston, Best Sound, Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation) -- Johnny Green, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Ron Moody, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Wild, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Vernon Harris, Best Cinematography -- Oswald Morris, Best Costume Design -- Phyllis Dalton, and Best Film Editing -- Ralph Kemplen

While filming the scene where Oliver gets a peek at Fagin's treasure, director Carol Reed was not satisfied with the reaction on Mark Lester's face. Later, while re-shooting the scene, he hid a small white rabbit in his pocket and stood behind the camera. As Ron Moody opened the box of treasures, Reed pulled the rabbit out of his pocket. Lester's reaction to the sight of the rabbit was then used in the final film.



9:00 AM -- Tell It To The Marines (1926)
In this silent film tough drill sergeant and a spoiled recruit become romantic rivals.
Dir: George Hill
Cast: Lon Chaney, William Haines, Eleanor Boardman
BW-103 mins,

Because his performance was considered to be so realistic, Lon Chaney became the first actor to be granted an honorary membership in the U.S. Marine Corps. When Chaney died in 1930, Gen. Smedley Butler arranged for a military chaplain and honor guard at Chaney's funeral. Sgt. H.H. Hopple, who had been a technical advisor on this film, served as the honor guard.


10:50 AM -- Cavalcade Of San Francisco (1940)
This short film celebrates the past and present of San Francisco.
C-9 mins,


11:00 AM -- Old San Francisco (1927)
In this silent film, an Asian villain menaces a family of aristocratic Spanish settlers.
Dir: Alan Crosland
Cast: Dolores Costello, Warner Oland, Charles Emmett Mack
BW-89 mins,

The original credits include a music score, conductor and orchestra, despite the film being a silent film. The Vitaphone Symphony Orchestra played at the first-run performance in New York, and the credit was also in printed programs distributed to the audience.


12:45 PM -- When a Man Loves (1927)
In this silent film French adventurer fights to save a young innocent forced into a life of prostitution.
Dir: Alan Crosland
Cast: John Barrymore, Dolores Costello, Warner Oland
BW-112 mins,

Myrna Loy (uncredited) can be recognized as the chained prisoner directly behind Manon in the prison, on the wagon, and on the deck of the ship.


2:45 PM -- The Big Gamble (1932)
A gambler fakes his death so he can pay off his creditors with the insurance money.
Dir: Fred Niblo
Cast: Bill Boyd, James Gleason, Warner Oland
BW-61 mins,

Based on a story by Octavus Roy Cohen. No, not that Roy Cohen.


4:00 PM -- The Son-Daughter (1932)
Young Asians in San Francisco find their love thwarted by clan warfare.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Helen Hayes, Ramon Novarro, Lewis Stone
BW-79 mins,

Anna May Wong was very eager to play Lian Wha, but was turned down - by her own account, because the producers considered her "too Chinese to play a Chinese".


5:30 PM -- Before Dawn (1933)
Detectives compete to solve the murders at a mysterious mansion.
Dir: Irving Pichel
Cast: Stuart Erwin, Dorothy Wilson, Warner Oland
BW-61 mins, CC,

Working title: "Death Watch"


6:45 PM -- Mandalay (1934)
A woman with a past tries to get rid of a former lover.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Kay Francis, Ricardo Cortez, Warner Oland
BW-65 mins, CC,

The "black fever" that Dr. Burton (Lyle Talbot) is on his way beyond Mandalay to treat is medically known as visceral leishmaniasis. It is the second most prevalent disease caused by parasitic protozoa, and it is spread by sand flies - much as malaria (the most prevalent) is spread by mosquitoes. In the pre-antibiotic era of this film, Burton's trip would have been most dangerous indeed.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPECIAL THEME: BILLY WILDER



8:00 PM -- Sabrina (1954)
Two wealthy brothers fall for the chauffeur's daughter.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden
BW-114 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Edith Head

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Audrey Hepburn, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Billy Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor and Ernest Lehman, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Charles Lang, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Hal Pereira, Walter H. Tyler, Sam Comer and Ray Moyer

Humphrey Bogart was a last minute replacement for Cary Grant (supposedly, Grant rejected the part because he did not want to carry an umbrella onscreen). Bogart and William Holden couldn't stand each other. Bogart disapproved of Audrey Hepburn (he wanted his wife Lauren Bacall in the role), while Holden fell in love with her. Bogart got $300,000, Holden got $150,000, and Hepburn only $15,000. Asked how he liked working with Hepburn, Bogart replied: "It's OK, if you don't mind to make a dozen takes."



10:00 PM -- Love in the Afternoon (1957)
An aging American tycoon overcomes his inhibitions to court a young Parisian.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier
BW-130 mins, CC,

Gary Cooper was very pleased with his performance and was very disappointed that the majority of critics thought him miscast due to his age. Indeed, the film's box office failure was largely attributed to him being considered too old to play Audrey Hepburn's lover. In April 1958 he had a full facelift, but the procedure was largely unsuccessful.


12:16 AM -- Jasper National Park (1952)
This short film takes the viewer to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies.
C-8 mins,


12:30 AM -- A Foreign Affair (1948)
A prim Congresswoman gets caught up in the romantic decadence of post-war Germany.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, John Lund
BW-116 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and Richard L. Breen, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Charles Lang

Future Emmy-winning editor John Woodcock, assisting in the cutting of the picture, recalls a moment when Billy Wilder was reviewing the footage he shot in Berlin. Seeing aerial shots of block after block of levelled buildings, Woodcock remarked that he felt a little sorry for the Germans. Wilder jumped up in a rage: "To hell with those bastards! They burned most of my family in their damned ovens! I hope they burn in hell!"



2:30 AM -- Ball of Fire (1942)
A group of professors takes in a nightclub singer hiding from the law to protect her gangster boyfriend.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Homolka
BW-112 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Barbara Stanwyck, Best Writing, Original Story -- Thomas Monroe and Billy Wilder, Best Sound, Recording -- Thomas T. Moulton (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Alfred Newman

Producer Samuel Goldwyn promised director Billy Wilder a $10,000 bonus if the film became a box-office hit. When it was released in theaters, it was an instant success. One day Wilder stopped by Goldwyn's office and asked for his $10,000 bonus. Goldwyn flew into a rage. "You Hungarian thief!" he shouted at Wilder. "I never promised any such thing! Get out of here!" Wilder left the office, furious. That night, however, Goldwyn's wife, Helen, awoke to find him pacing the floor of their bedroom. "I've just remembered that Wilder was right," Goldwyn told her. "I DID promise him a $10,000 bonus." "What are you going to do?" asked Helen. "What CAN I do?" Goldwyn replied. "I'm going to sit down here and write Wilder a check for $5,000!"



4:23 AM -- Martin Block's Musical Merry-Go-Round #2 (1948)
In this musical short, disc jockey Martin Block introduces several musical performances led by Tex Beneke.
BW-10 mins,


4:45 AM -- Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1956)
A playboy finds love while managing a posh hotel in Rome.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Dean Martin, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Eva Bartok
C-114 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Dean Martin's first film without Jerry Lewis.


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