TCM Schedule for Friday, July 22, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: Star of the Month: Olivia De Havilland

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is highlighting films directed by Jack Conway, one of the early MGM contract directors. He is best remembered today for directing A Tale Of Two Cities (1935), starring Ronald Colman as Sydney Carton. Then in prime time, it's more of 100 year old Olivia de Havilland, with a nice selection of her films from the 1940s and 1950s. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- THE SMART SET (1928)
An egotistical polo player has to redeem himself after he's kicked off the U.S. team.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: William Haines, Jack Holt, Alice Day
BW-80 mins,

Turner Classic Movies premiered the print on television on 2 December 2007. The only crew credits shown was on the title page ("A Jack Conway Production&quot ; the crew credits in the IMDb database is from the AFI Catalogue of Feature Films, 1921-30, which are obtained from studio records and/or copyright submissions.


7:30 AM -- OUR MODERN MAIDENS (1929)
In this silent film, a flapper offers herself to a diplomat to advance her fiance's career.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Joan Crawford, Rod La Rocque, Douglas Fairbanks
BW-76 mins, CC,

Joan Crawford married co-star Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in a well orchestrated publicity event for the film.


9:00 AM -- UNTAMED (1929)
An oil heiress raised to be wild falls for a penniless young man.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Ernest Torrence
BW-86 mins, CC,

Crawford's first lead in a "talking picture."


10:30 AM -- THEY LEARNED ABOUT WOMEN (1930)
Professional baseball players win big with their vaudeville act until love gets in the way.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Joseph T. Schenck, Gus Van, Bessie Love
C-95 mins, CC,

Joe Schenck was a big baseball fan and for a while was the captain of the vaudeville "All-Stars" baseball team. Tragically, Schenck died soon after the movie was completed.


12:15 PM -- THE UNHOLY THREE (1930)
A ventriloquist, a strong man and a midget form a criminal alliance.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Lon Chaney, Lila Lee, Elliott Nugent
BW-72 mins, CC,

Lon Chaney's final film and only sound film. Known as "The Man of 1000 Faces", Chaney signed a legal affidavit declaring all the voices he performed in this, his only talking film, were actually his own. Thus, in addition to multiple characters, he performed multiple voices.


1:30 PM -- JUST A GIGOLO (1931)
To escape gold diggers, a British lord pretends to be a gigolo.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: William Haines, Irene Purcell, C. Aubrey Smith
BW-66 mins,

Though Cedric Gibbons is credited as the art director of this film, this was part of his contract with MGM, where all films produced by the studio bore his name. The art direction was actually the work of the film's star, William Haines, who would soon leave acting to pursue what would become a highly successful, decades-long career as an interior designer.


2:45 PM -- HELL BELOW (1933)
A submarine captain clashes with one of his crew during World War I.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Walter Huston, Madge Evans
BW-101 mins, CC,

The print shown on TCM is the 1937 re-release, with some bits of 1933 dialogue obviously eliminated in order to meet the stricter standards of the now enforced 1934 production code.


4:30 PM -- THE NUISANCE (1933)
Love trips up an ambulance chasing lawyer.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Lee Tracy, Madge Evans, Frank Morgan
BW-83 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Chandler Sprague and Howard Emmett Rogers.


6:00 PM -- HIGH BARBAREE (1947)
A downed pilot looks back on his life as he awaits rescue in the South Pacific.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Van Johnson, June Allyson, Thomas Mitchell
BW-91 mins, CC,

The original ending for the film had Van Johnson hearing over his radio that the ship on which his lady-love, June Allyson, was serving had been sunk. Johnson then died and the picture ended. The New York Times reported on November 17, 1946 that 40 percent of the audience opinion cards handed out at a preview of the film in Los Angeles demanded that Johnson's character live. MGM spent $50,000 to shoot scenes for a new ending, which also had Allyson's character surviving as well.


7:44 PM -- LIFE IN THE ANDES (1952)
This short film takes the viewer to the western side of South America, to the Andes.
C-8 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: OLIVIA De HAVILLAND



8:00 PM -- MY COUSIN RACHEL (1952)
A young man suspects his cousin's wife of murder.
Dir: Henry Koster
Cast: Olivia De Havilland, Richard Burton, Audrey Dalton
BW-98 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Richard Burton, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph LaShelle, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Lyle R. Wheeler, John DeCuir and Walter M. Scott, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Charles Le Maire and Dorothy Jeakins

Greta Garbo and Vivien Leigh turned down the role of Rachel.


9:45 PM -- THE PROUD REBEL (1958)
A rancher tries to raise money to treat his mute son.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Alan Ladd, Olivia De Havilland, Dean Jagger
C-103 mins, Letterbox Format

According to Olivia De Havilland, Alan Ladd was a bit afraid to star in this movie because of Mike Curtiz' reputation of being harsh with actors.


11:45 PM -- THE AMBASSADOR'S DAUGHTER (1956)
A diplomat's daughter in Paris turns a fact-finding mission into a non-stop party.
Dir: Norman Krasna
Cast: Olivia De Havilland, John Forsythe, Myrna Loy
C-103 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The film market became segmented when studios realized that they could release and distribute differing versions of films for domestic and international audiences. In this film, in a scene set in a Parisian nightclub, Joan Fisk (Olivia de Havilland), daughter of the US Ambassador to France and American GI Sgt. Danny Sullivan (John Forsythe) watched a stage revue. In the European version, the dancers were topless.


1:45 AM -- HOLD BACK THE DAWN (1941)
A gigolo flees Nazi occupation and sets his sights on a shy schoolteacher who happens to be a US citizen.
Dir: Mitchell Leisen
Cast: Charles Boyer, Olivia De Havilland, Paulette Goddard
BW-116 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Olivia de Havilland, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Leo Tover, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Hans Dreier, Robert Usher and Sam Comer, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Victor Young, and Best Picture

The original script included an early scene where Charles Boyer talks to a cockroach in his room. Boyer dismissed the scene as idiotic and convinced director Mitchell Leisen to delete it; screenwriters Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett were so incensed at Leisen for giving in they resolved to direct and produce their own movies from then on.


3:50 AM -- GLEN GRAY AND THE CASA LOMA ORCHESTRA (1941)
In this musical short film, Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra play such popular tunes as "Purple Moonlight" and "Broom Street." Vitaphone Release 479A.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
BW-9 mins,


4:00 AM -- THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE (1941)
A man's infatuation with a gold-digging beauty continues after his marriage.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Olivia De Havilland, Rita Hayworth
BW-99 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Heinz Roemheld

Even though it is for only a few seconds, we hear Rita Hayworth sing with her own voice. This is believed to be the only time in a film when this happens.


5:49 AM -- SKINNAY ENNIS AND HIS ORCHESTRA (1941)
In this short musical, Skinnay Ennis attempts to get his orchestra in shape for an audition. Vitaphone Release 9935.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
Cast: John Ridgely, Creighton Hale ,
BW-9 mins,

[Auggie]

1. I like to imagine some of the awesome talkies Lon Chaney could have made had he lived longer

Think of him playing opposite Cagney, Bogart, Robinson or Raft. Wow!