TCM Schedule for Thursday, December 29, 2016 -- What's On Tonight - In Memoriam

[Staph]

From the TCM website:

With this night of programming TCM remembers some of the greats from the film world that we lost this year and were unable to honor with full programming tributes. George Kennedy is represented by his Oscar®-winning role as the sadistic prisoner of Cool Hand Luke (1967). Musical-comedy star Gloria DeHaven sparkles in Two Girls and a Sailor (1944), playing the sister of June Allyson, and performing some swinging 1940s songs. The great Alan Rickman gives a representative performance as the lovelorn Col. Brandon in Sense and Sensibility (1995). Patty Duke won her Oscar® for playing Helen Keller--brilliantly--in The Miracle Worker (1962). Marni Nixon convincingly provided the singing voice for many an actress including Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961). And Nancy Reagan (billed as Nancy Davis during her years as an actress) was the sympathetic leading lady of several films of the 1950s including Night Into Morning (1951).

Enjoy and remember!


6:45 AM -- CAMILLE (1937)
In this classic 19th-century romance, a kept woman runs off with a young admirer in search of love and happiness.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore
BW-109 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greta Garbo

Even though Greta Garbo liked George Cukor, he did have one behaviour on the set that annoyed her. He had the habit of sitting behind the camera during a scene and mouthing the words along with the actors, sometimes making hand and facial gestures as well. Garbo didn't waste any time telling him that she found it extremely distracting and asked him to stop. Nevertheless, she and Cukor worked remarkably well together, and over the course of filming they developed a deep respect for each other.


8:45 AM -- THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE (1945)
A scarred veteran and a homely woman are transformed by love.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Herbert Marshall
BW-92 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Roy Webb

In 1973 it was announced that a remake would be made. According to Young the setting would be updated and Dorothy McGuire and he would be playing the parts of the housekeeper and blind pianist originally played by Mildred Natwick and Herbert Marshall. The idea fell through after McGuire watched a screening of the original at Young's invitation at the actor's home. She said that the film belonged to another period and that she did not want to go backward.


10:30 AM -- THE BIG STEAL (1949)
Seduction and murder follow the theft of an Army payroll.
Dir: Don Siegel
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix
BW-71 mins, CC,

The shooting schedule had to be rearranged to accommodate Robert Mitchum's 43 day stay in prison for marijuana possession.


11:48 AM -- CITY OF CHILDREN (1949)
This short film looks at a community in Illinois that is the home for orphaned children.
BW-10 mins,


12:00 PM -- BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955)
A one-armed veteran uncovers small-town secrets when he tries to visit an Asian-American war hero's family.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis
C-81 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated
Oscar Best Actor in a Leading Role
Spencer Tracy
Best Director
John Sturges
Best Writing, Screenplay
Millard Kaufman

The sign behind the hotel desk is a quote often attributed to English evangelist John Wesley:
"Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can." (And often quoted in speeches by good United Methodist Hillary Clinton!)


1:33 PM -- M-G-M JUBILEE OVERTURE (1954)
This short film celebrates Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 30th anniversary with The MGM Symphony Orchestra performing numbers from the studio's best-known musicals.
Dir: George Sidney
C-10 mins, Letterbox Format


1:45 PM -- BENEATH THE 12-MILE REEF (1953)
Love brings together two families of rival sponge fishers.
Dir: Robert D. Webb
Cast: Robert Wagner, Terry Moore, Gilbert Roland
C-101 mins, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Edward Cronjager

The legal status of Beneath the 12-Mile Reef was eventually resolved by 20th Century Fox, and the movie was rescued from public domain so that a quality DVD could be released through Fox Cinema Archives. Fans are now able to enjoy the movie with stereo sound and a quality picture - complete with the "lost" scene in which Gilbert Roland stuffs a cigar into Peter Graves' mouth after beating him in a fist fight.


3:45 PM -- BULLITT (1968)
When mobsters kill the witness he was assigned to protect, a dedicated policeman investigates the case on his own.
Dir: Peter Yates
Cast: Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset
C-114 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Frank P. Keller

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound

While filming the scene where the giant airliner taxis just above Steve McQueen, observers were shocked that no double was used. Asked if the producers couldn't have found a dummy, the actor wryly replied, "They did."


5:45 PM -- INSIDE DAISY CLOVER (1966)
A girl on the road to stardom fights the dehumanizing effects of Hollywood life.
Dir: Robert Mulligan
Cast: Natalie Wood, Christopher Plummer, Robert Redford
C-128 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ruth Gordon, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Robert Clatworthy and George James Hopkins, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Edith Head and Bill Thomas

Robert Redford's agent tried to dissuade him from appearing in the film. Redford accepted the role on the proviso that the script was altered to tone down his character's sexuality. To Redford's dismay, after his footage was completed, a new line was scripted and shot which left no question that his character was bisexual.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: IN MEMORIAM



8:00 PM -- COOL HAND LUKE (1967)
A free-spirited convict refuses to conform to chain-gang life.
Dir: Stuart Rosenberg
Cast: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J. D. Cannon
C-127 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George Kennedy

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Newman, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson, and Best Music, Original Music Score -- Lalo Schifrin

George Kennedy (Dragline) and Richard Davalos (Blind Dick) died only nine days apart: Kennedy on February 28, 2016 and Davalos on March 8, 2016.


10:15 PM -- TWO GIRLS AND A SAILOR (1944)
Singing sisters create a World War II canteen and become rivals for the same man.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, Van Johnson
BW-124 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Richard Connell and Gladys Lehman

June Allyson'e future husband Dick Powell suggested that the actress switch roles with co-star Gloria DeHaven and play the plain sister while DeHaven play the glamorous one. DeHaven remarked in 1989, "Maybe she knows something I don't; but that doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense. I wish they had reversed it - hers was the better role."


12:30 AM -- SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995)
Jane Austen's classic tale of two sisters with different romantic notions.
Dir: Ang Lee
Cast: Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet
C-136 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published -- Emma Thompson

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Emma Thompson, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Kate Winslet, Best Cinematography -- Michael Coulter, Best Costume Design -- Jenny Beavan and John Bright, Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Patrick Doyle, and Best Picture

Kate Winslet admitted that she was terrified of Alan Rickman when she met him in the hair and make up trailer. She thought he would think she was a terrible actress and get her fired. After a week or two, she got to know him, and realized how sweet and warm he was in real life. Kate ended up totally adoring him and would work with him again on A Little Chaos that Alan Rickman directed and co stared with her.


3:00 AM -- THE MIRACLE WORKER (1962)
True story of the determined teacher who helped Helen Keller overcome deafness and blindness to learn to communicate.
Dir: Arthur Penn
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Victor Jory
BW-107 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Anne Bancroft (Anne Bancroft was not present at the awards ceremony. Joan Crawford accepted the award on her behalf.), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Patty Duke

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Arthur Penn, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- William Gibson, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Ruth Morley

Although Patty Duke had been playing Helen Keller in the play for more than a year, she almost didn't get the part in the film adaptation. The studio felt that being a teenager, she looked too old to play a seven-year-old. However, they decided to use Duke after deciding to use Anne Bancroft, who played Duke's original Annie Sullivan in the play.


5:00 AM -- WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
A young couple from dueling street gangs falls in love.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn
C-154 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George Chakiris, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Rita Moreno, Best Director -- Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins (For the first time a directing award is being shared.), Best Cinematography, Color -- Daniel L. Fapp, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Boris Leven and Victor A. Gangelin, Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene Sharaff, Best Sound -- Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD) and Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), Best Film Editing -- Thomas Stanford, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal, and Best Picture

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Ernest Lehman

Even though dubbing Natalie Wood was Marni Nixon's chief assignment, Nixon also did one number for Rita Moreno, which required a relatively high vocal register. Having dubbed Wood as well as Moreno, Nixon felt she deserved a cut of the movie-album royalties. Neither the movie or the record producers would bow to her demands. Leonard Bernstein broke the stalemate by volunteering a percentage of his income, a gesture of loyalty-royalty since Nixon had been a performer-colleague of his at New York Philharmonic concerts. He ceded one-quarter of one percent of his royalties to her (a generous amount).

[CBHagman]

1. Wow, what a move by Leonard Bernstein.

As always, I have to write "I didn't know that story," but good for Lenny for stepping up.