TCM Schedule for Friday, January 6, 2017 -- What's On Tonight - Starring Vanessa Redgrave

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, we have a morning of Star of the Month Jane Wyman and an afternoon of birthday girl Loretta Young, born Gretchen Michaela Young, on January 6, 1913, in Salt Lake City, Utah. In prime time tonight, TCM is featuring films of Vanessa Redgrave from the late 1960s and 1970s. First up is The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976), an interesting Sherlock Holmes / Sigmund Freud pastiche. Holmes, by the way, is purported to have been born on January 6, 1854, or January 6, 1861, depending on your source. Happy birthday, William Sherlock Scott Holmes! Enjoy!


7:00 AM -- PRIVATE DETECTIVE (1939)
Rival detectives fall in love when they're forced to work together.
Dir: Noel Smith
Cast: Jane Wyman, Dick Foran, Gloria Dickson
BW-56 mins, CC,

From a story by Kay Krausse.


8:00 AM -- KID NIGHTINGALE (1939)
A waiter becomes a singing prizefighter.
Dir: George Amy
Cast: John Payne, Jane Wyman, Walter Catlett
BW-57 mins,

From a story by Lee Katz.


9:00 AM -- THE CROWD ROARS (1938)
A fighter's hard-drinking father gets his son mixed up with the underworld.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Robert Taylor, Edward Arnold, Frank Morgan
BW-90 mins,

Robert Taylor has more bare-chest scenes here than in any of his other movies. Yummy!


10:30 AM -- THE KID FROM KOKOMO (1939)
A fight manager decides his client needs a family for publicity purposes.
Dir: Lewis Seiler
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Wayne Morris, Joan Blondell
BW-93 mins, CC,

Based on the story Broadway Cavalier by Dalton Trumbo.


12:15 PM -- READY, WILLING AND ABLE (1937)
Two songwriters want to cast a British star in their new show.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Ruby Keeler, Lee Dixon, Allen Jenkins
BW-94 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Dance Direction -- Bobby Connolly for "Too Marvelous for Words"

Last film of Ross Alexander, who died two months before this film was released.


2:00 PM -- KEY TO THE CITY (1950)
Two mayors meet and fall in love during a convention in San Francisco.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Clark Gable, Loretta Young, Frank Morgan
BW-101 mins, CC,

Dore Schary, the head of MGM, personally asked Loretta Young to be Clark Gable's costar even though he knew about the affair and love child (Judy Lewis) between the two actors fifteen years earlier. She accepted because refusing would lead to more rumors than during their affair.


3:45 PM -- RACHEL AND THE STRANGER (1948)
A mail-order bride finds herself attracted to a handsome drifter.
Dir: Norman Foster
Cast: Loretta Young, William Holden, Robert Mitchum
BW-79 mins, CC,

Loretta Young was famous for placing a "swear jar" on the sets of all of her films, charging anyone in the cast or crew who used foul language 25 cents for doing so, then giving the funds to one of her favorite charities. Whilst making this film with her, Robert Mitchum reputedly held his tongue about his pious co-star until shooting was completed. As he exited the set on the final day of production, Mitchum smiled, dropped a $20 bill into the jar, and said, "This should just about cover everything I've been wanting to say to Loretta."


5:15 PM -- LIFE OF JIMMY DOLAN (1933)
A boxer facing a murder charge finds refuge in a children's home.
Dir: Archie Mayo
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Loretta Young, Aline MacMahon
BW-88 mins, CC,

Aline MacMahon, who played Loretta Young's middle-aged mother in this film, that same year co-starred as a showgirl alongside Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell in Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). MacMahon was only 34 years old!


6:45 PM -- TAXI! (1932)
A feisty independent cab driver fights off a crooked syndicate.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: James Cagney, Loretta Young, George E. Stone
BW-69 mins, CC,

James Cagney had to be taught how to drive for the movie Taxi! Since he was a New Yorker without much need to drive in the 1930s, he had not learned to drive up until that point.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STARRING VANESSA REDGRAVE



8:00 PM -- THE SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION (1976)
Sherlock Holmes seeks psychiatric help from Sigmund Freud and gets caught up in mystery.
Dir: Herbert Ross
Cast: Alan Arkin, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Duvall
C-113 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Nicholas Meyer, and Best Costume Design -- Alan Barrett

Bernard Herrmann was slated to compose this score but passed away the December before the film was completed. He had gone as far as to suggest a musical beginning to director Ross, where, as the credits roll, the camera slowly dollies toward a performing orchestra, eventually finishing with a closeup of Holmes as one of the violinists. Herrmann's idea was to imply this is what Holmes did during his absence. Ross chose to use a different start.


10:00 PM -- AGATHA (1979)
A fictional account of the real life, eleven day, never explained 1926 disappearance of famed murder mystery writer Agatha Christie.
Dir: Michael Apted
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Vanessa Redgrave, Timothy Dalton
C-98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design -- Shirley Russell

British writer, Kathleen Tynan was so intrigued by the Christie disappearance story, she tried to make a documentary about those eleven days. But when funding for the doc fell through, she wrote a screenplay about the incident instead, a fictional version of it.


12:00 AM -- JULIA (1977)
To help a childhood friend, playwright Lillian Hellman carries money for the resistance into Nazi territory.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards Jr.
C-117 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jason Robards (Jason Robards was not present at the ceremony. Presenters Maggie Smith and Michael Caine accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Vanessa Redgrave, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Alvin Sargent

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jane Fonda, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Maximilian Schell, Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, Best Cinematography -- Douglas Slocombe, Best Costume Design -- Anthea Sylbert, Best Film Editing -- Walter Murch and Marcel Durham, Best Music, Original Score -- Georges Delerue, and Best Picture

The shadowy person sitting in the fishing boat at the beginning and end of the film is actually Lillian Hellman. Jane Fonda did the voice-over.


2:00 AM -- OUT OF SEASON (1975)
A hotel keeper and her daughter compete for the affections of a charismatic guest.
Dir: Alan Bridges
Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, Cliff Robertson, Susan George
C-89 mins, CC,

In the film's story, it is alluded to that 19-year old Joanna (Susan George) is the illegitimate daughter from an affair 20 years earlier between Joe (Cliff Robertson) and Ann (Vanessa Redgrave). The name "Joanna" is a form of hybrid of the character names of "Joe" and "Anne".


3:33 AM -- ON LOCATION WITH WESTWORLD (1973)
This promotional short shows what occurred behind-the-scenes during the shooting of "Westworld" (1973).
C-9 mins,


4:00 AM -- A QUIET PLACE IN THE COUNTRY (1969)
A beautiful ghost inspires a painter to commit murder.
Dir: Elio Petri
Cast: Franco Nero, Vanessa Redgrave, Georges Géret
C-106 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Elio Petri wanted Jack Nicholson for the role of Leonardo Ferri, but he was unavailable. The part was eventually played by Franco Nero.