TCM Schedule for Saturday, September 24, 2016 -- The Essentials - Van Heflin

[Staph]

The Essentials for tonight features the excellent actor Van Heflin. Heflin got his big break in Hollywood after Katharine saw him on Broadway in 1936, spent a couple of decades in leading roles in smaller pictures, and moved to character roles in the 1950s. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #28 (1955)
Walter Pidgeon introduces Part Two of "Captains Courageous" and interviews Robby the Robot from "Forbidden Planet."
BW-26 mins,


6:30 AM -- CAGED (1950)
A young innocent fights to survive the harsh life in a women's prison.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby
BW-97 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Eleanor Parker, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Hope Emerson, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Virginia Kellogg and Bernard C. Schoenfeld

In an early example of product placement, Snickers, Mason Mints and Life-Savers are clearly visible when Harper opens the drawer in her room.


8:30 AM -- THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946)
Illicit lovers plot to kill the woman's older husband.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway
BW-113 mins, CC,

As a contrast to the fact she's playing an inherently evil character, Lana Turner wears white throughout most of the film.


10:30 AM -- CLIPPED WINGS (1953)
The Bowery Boys join the air force and almost turn it into a fly-by-night organization.
Dir: Edward Bernds
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey
BW-64 mins,

The 31st of 48 Bowery Boys movies.


12:00 PM -- GENTLEMAN JIM (1942)
Fanciful biography of 19th-century boxing champion Jim Corbett.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson
BW-104 mins, CC,

Errol Flynn did all of his own boxing stunts in the film, and although production was shut down for a time after Flynn suffered a mild heart attack, he came back and finished the picture without ever using a double.


2:00 PM -- FAIL-SAFE (1964)
A failure in the U.S. defense system threatens to start World War III.
Dir: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau
BW-112 mins, CC,

Columbia Pictures produced both this movie and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Director Stanley Kubrick insisted his movie be released first, and it was, in January 1964. When Fail-Safe (1964) was released, it garnered excellent reviews, but audiences found it unintentionally funny because of "Strangelove", and stayed away. Henry Fonda later said he would never have made this movie if he had seen "Strangelove" first, because he would have laughed too.


4:00 PM -- A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957)
A female television executive turns a folk-singing drifter into a powerful media star.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa
BW-126 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann often referred to FOX News commentator Glenn Beck as "Lonesome Rhodes" Beck, after Andy Griffith's character in this film.


6:15 PM -- WITH SIX YOU GET EGGROLL (1968)
A widow and a widower have to contend with hostile children when they fall in love.
Dir: Howard Morris
Cast: Doris Day, Brian Keith, Pat Carroll
C-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Jamie Farr and William Christopher play supporting roles in this film as two hippie bikers. Five years before the two would co-star as 'Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger' and 'Lt. Father Francis John Patrick Mulcahy' on M*A*S*H (1972).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: VAN HEFLIN



8:00 PM -- SHANE (1953)
A mysterious drifter helps farmers fight off a vicious gunman.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin
C-118 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Loyal Griggs

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Brandon De Wilde, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Palance, Best Director -- George Stevens, Best Writing, Screenplay -- A.B. Guthrie Jr., and Best Picture

George Stevens originally cast Montgomery Clift as Shane and William Holden as Joe Starrett. When both decided to do other films instead, "Shane" was nearly abandoned before Stevens asked studio head Y. Frank Freeman who was available. Upon seeing a list of actors under contract to the studio, Stevens cast Alan Ladd, Van Heflin and Jean Arthur within three minutes.


10:15 PM -- PATTERNS (1956)
A replacement in a large corporation encounters loyalty and power struggles.
Dir: Fielder Cook
Cast: Van Heflin, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley
BW-84 mins,

Based on a teleplay by Rod Serling that ran on "Kraft Television Theatre" (1947) in January 1955. It featured several of the same actors that would appear in the movie, including Everett Sloane and Ed Begley. However the part of Fred Staples, the lead, was originated by Richard Kiley (Van Heflin in this film). Begley's character, Bill Briggs, was called Andy Sloane in the original version. Serling's teleplay won him the first of his six Emmy Awards.


12:00 AM -- THE FEMININE TOUCH (1941)
An author writing a book on jealousy discovers his wife is an expert on the subject.
Dir: Major W. S. Van Dyke II
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Don Ameche, Kay Francis
BW-98 mins, CC,

Original screenplay by George Oppenheimer, Edmund L. Hartmann, and Ogden Nash. I love Ogden Nash:

"A one-L lama, he's a priest.
A two-L llama, he's a beast.
But I would bet a silk pajama
There isn't any three-L lllama. *

* The author's attention has been called to a type of conflagration known as a three-alarmer. Pooh."


2:00 AM -- NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR (1985)
God and Satan debate the futures of three poor sinners.
Dir: John Carr
Cast: John Phillip Law, Cameron Mitchell, Marc Lawrence
C-93 mins,

The first part (or in some versions, the third part) of this anthology horror film, "Case Of Harry Billings" starring Richard Moll, was edited from an unfinished, unreleased horror film, "Scream Your Head Off" (although copies of it are reported to be available). That film was written by Philip Yordan and directed by John Carr (both were also credited as the writer and director of this film).


3:45 AM -- HORROR EXPRESS (1972)
An anthropologist discovers a frozen monster which he believes may be the Missing Link.
Dir: Eugenio Martin
Cast: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Telly Savalas
C-88 mins, Letterbox Format

Filmed in December 1971, the first Christmas for Peter Cushing since the February 14 death of his beloved wife Helen. Christopher Lee's family made it as warm an affair as possible for Cushing, who would grieve for his lost wife for the remainder of his life, often playing roles that mirrored his own sadness. Despite the freezing working conditions and "abominable" food, this film provided one of the few co-starring roles where the two actors get to work in unison, rather than opposing one another, with Cushing getting the most amusing lines.


5:30 AM -- WONDERFUL WORLD OF TUPPERWARE (1959)
This short industrial film focuses on the making of Tupperware.
Dir: George J. Yarbrough
C-29 mins,

[longship]

1. Fail-Safe!

A pretty chilling movie. Filmed in B&W. A fine cast, who do an excellent job.

Look for Dom DeLuise in a rare dramatic role in the SAC headquarters. It's short, but he does good.

This film was overshadowed by Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, released prior to Fail-Safe because of Kubrick's deliberate interference. In fact, Henry Fonda later said that if he had seen Strangelove before being casted for Fail-Safe he would have turned the role down. There are some of us who are glad that he did not.

Walter Matthau is chilling as the war hawk Pentagon advisor. This from his dramatic role period.

A great morality tale.

Recommended.