TCM Schedule for Friday, December 30, 2016 -- What's On Tonight - Star of the Month - Myrna Loy

[Staph]

Today is the last of Star of the Month Myrna Loy, and more than half of the scheduled films were Oscar-nominated. The lady was quality! Enjoy!


7:45 AM -- NIGHT INTO MORNING (1951)
After a fire kills his family, a college professor sinks into alcoholism.
Dir: Fletcher Markle
Cast: Ray Milland, John Hodiak, Nancy Davis (Reagan)
BW-86 mins, CC,

In the promotional film The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story (1951), this film is referred to only under its working title, "People in Love".


9:15 AM -- THE TIME MACHINE (1960)
A turn-of-the-century inventor sends himself into the future to save humanity.
Dir: George Pal
Cast: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Yvette Mimieux
C-103 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Gene Warren and Tim Baar

Alan Young (David Filby/James Filby) is the only actor to appear in both this film and the remake, The Time Machine (2002). Young passed away in May of 2016. Such a cruel year!


11:00 AM -- WHEN LADIES MEET (1933)
A female novelist doesn't realize her new friend is the wife whose husband she's trying to steal.
Dir: Harry Beaumont
Cast: Ann Harding, Robert Montgomery, Myrna Loy
BW-85 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction -- Cedric Gibbons

Rachel Crothers's play opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 6 October 1932 and closed 4 March 1933 after 173 performances. The opening night cast included Walter Abel as Jimmie, Spring Byington as Bridget, Frieda Inescort as Mary, Herbert Rawlinson as Rogers and Selena Royle as Clare.


12:30 PM -- THE RAINS CAME (1939)
A Hindu doctor's affair with a British noblewoman is disrupted by a violent flood.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Myrna Loy, Tyrone Power, George Brent
BW-104 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Fred Sersen (photographic) and Edmund H. Hansen (sound)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Arthur C. Miller, Best Art Direction -- William S. Darling and George Dudley, Best Sound, Recording -- Edmund H. Hansen (20th Century-Fox SSD), Best Film Editing -- Barbara McLean, and Best Music, Original Score -- Alfred Newman

During filming in 1937, Myrna Loy had a narrow escape when her horse bolted while shooting a scene; she was nearly killed.


2:30 PM -- SO GOES MY LOVE (1946)
An inventor rises to fame with the support of his loving wife.
Dir: Frank Ryan
Cast: Myrna Loy, Don Ameche, Rhys Williams
BW-88 mins, CC,

The Universal International backlot was used for the wagon ride scene. The two houses used in the film were constructed on stage 12. In 1950, the stock units from the sound stage sets were reconstructed on the new colonial street. The "Maxim house" was used in the movie " One Desire" (1955) and the "Allison Home" used in the movie "Harvey" (1950) In 1964 Universal studios tour guides called the sets the "Munster House" (Maxim house) and the "Harvey house" . Today the sets are located on Wisteria Lane - 4349 Wisteria Lane (Allison Home) - 4351 Wisteria Lane (Maxim house)


4:00 PM -- THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBY-SOXER (1947)
A teenage girl's crush on a playboy spells trouble, particularly when he falls for her older sister.
Dir: Irving Reis
Cast: Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple
BW-95 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Sidney Sheldon

Myrna Loy was almost 23 years older than her on-screen sister Shirley Temple.


5:38 PM -- DIAMOND DEMON (1947)
The unusual talents of Johnny Price, a minor league baseball pitcher and trick artist, are showcased in this short film.
Dir: Dave O'Brien
BW-9 mins,


6:00 PM -- MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE (1948)
A New York businessman's dream of a country home is shattered when he buys a tumbledown rural shack.
Dir: H. C. Potter
Cast: Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas
BW-94 mins, CC,

Although this film was from the novel of the same name, much of the story is autobiographical. Eric Hodgins and his wife built the actual house in the rural Litchfield County, Connecticut town of New Milford. Located in the bucolic Merryall section of town, the house recently sold for $1.2 million.


7:36 PM -- LET'S SING GRANDFATHER'S FAVORITES (1948)
In this short film, the audience is invited to sing along to songs written from the 1890s and early 1900s. Vitaphone Release 1619A.
Dir: Jack Scholl
BW-9 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: MYRNA LOY



8:00 PM -- MIDNIGHT LACE (1960)
A young woman can't get anyone to believe she's being stalked.
Dir: David Miller
Cast: Doris Day, Rex Harrison, John Gavin
C-108 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene

In her autobiography, Doris Day wrote that to prepare herself for one of the terror scenes, she recalled a time when her first husband, trombonist Al Jorden, dragged her out of bed when she was ill and pregnant and hurled her against a wall. Day related that in the scene she wasn't acting hysterical, she WAS hysterical, and at the end of the take she collapsed in a real faint. She was carried to her dressing room, and producer Ross Hunter shut down production for a few days while she recovered.


10:00 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.


12:00 AM -- LONELYHEARTS (1958)
A sensitive young reporter assigned to write an advice column gets caught up in his readers' lives.
Dir: Vincent J. Donehue
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Robert Ryan, Myrna Loy
BW-103 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Maureen Stapleton

Based on the play by Howard Teichmann, which was based on the novel Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West. The story was also filmed as Advice to the Lovelorn (1933), I'll Tell the World (1945), and American Playhouse: Miss Lonelyhearts (1983 - TV).


2:00 AM -- MYRNA LOY: SO NICE TO COME HOME TO (1991)
Kathleen Turner hosts this retrospective look at Loy's career.
Dir: Richard Schickel
Cast: Kathleen Turner,
C-46 mins, CC,

At Venice High school, in the middle of a small rose garden, is a larger-than-life-size statue of actress Myrna Loy. And it was made years before Myrna appeared in a single movie. Actually, it isn't a particularly good likeness of Miss Loy. Standing atop a stone pedestal, back arched, the short-haired figure is semi-nude (wearing only a thin gown which leaves little to the imagination), with one arm raised in a dramatic pose. All three statues were modeled by Venice High students, and the trio are meant to depict the "Mental," "Physical" and "Spiritual." According to the bronze plaque on the east side of the pedestal, the statues were erected in 1921, which means that Myrna Loy (then named Myrna Williams) was only 16 years old when she posed for the "Spiritual" statue - long before she became a celebrity.


3:00 AM -- DESIGN FOR LIVING (1933)
An independent woman can't chose between the two men she loves.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins
BW-91 mins, CC,

Considerable censorship difficulties arose because of sexual discussions and innuendos, although the Hays Office eventually approved the film for release. However, it was banned by the Legion of Decency and was refused a certificate by the PCA for re-release in 1934, when the production code was more rigorously enforced.


4:45 AM -- THE LOVE PARADE (1929)
A count finds his marriage to a queen less than satisfying.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Lupino Lane
BW-109 mins,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Maurice Chevalier, Best Director -- Ernst Lubitsch, Best Cinematography -- Victor Milner, Best Art Direction -- Hans Dreier, Best Sound, Recording -- Franklin Hansen (sound director), and Best Picture

Film debut of Jeanette MacDonald.