TCM Schedule for Thursday, April 6, 2017 -- Star of the Month - Character Actors

[Staph]

During the daylight hours, it's a birthday celebration for Walter Huston, born on April 5, 1883, in Toronto, Ontario. There are three generations of Oscar winners in the Huston family: Walter, his son John Huston and his granddaughter Anjelica Huston. They are the first family to do so, the second family were the Coppolas - Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia Coppola, Nicolas Cage and Carmine Coppola. Then in prime time, TCM continues this month's theme of Character Actors. Tonight's actors include May Robson in One Man's Journey (1933), Zasu Pitts in Sing and Like It (1934), Edna May Oliver in David Copperfield (1935), and Helen Broderick in The Bride Walks Out. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- ALWAYS IN MY HEART (1942)
A convict returns home to find his family has forgotten him.
Dir: Jo Graham
Cast: Kay Francis, Walter Huston, Gloria Warren
BW-92 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Ernesto Lecuona (music) and Kim Gannon (lyrics) for the song "Always in My Heart"

Although Walter Huston had sung in his theater roles earlier, this was the first time he sang in a movie.


7:45 AM -- GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE (1933)
A crooked president reforms mysteriously.
Dir: Gregory LaCava
Cast: Walter Huston, Karen Morley, Franchot Tone
BW-86 mins, CC,

The protest march of the "army of the unemployed" in the story was no doubt a reference to the protest march of the "Bonus Army" in 1932, where veterans of WWI marched on Congress to demand payment of promised bonuses. They were attacked with tanks and tear gas by the U.S. Army led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur on orders of President Herbert Hoover. William Randolph Hearst, who railed against that action in his newpapers, saw to it that the President in this film helped the people. Meanwhile, Louis B. Mayer, a staunch Republican, delayed the movie until Hoover was out of office.


9:30 AM -- KONGO (1932)
A crippled madman seeks revenge on the daughter of the man who betrayed him.
Dir: William Cowen
Cast: Walter Huston, Lupe Velez, Conrad Nagel
BW-86 mins, CC,

Remake of West of Zanzibar (1928), starring Lionel Barrymore, Lon Chaney and Mary Nolan.


11:15 AM -- NIGHT COURT (1932)
A corrupt judge attacks a reformer's family.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke
Cast: Phillips Holmes, Walter Huston, Anita Page
BW-92 mins, CC,

Based on the play by Mark Hellinger and Charles Beahan.


1:00 PM -- THE GREAT SINNER (1949)
A young man succumbs to gambling fever.
Dir: Robert Siodmak
Cast: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Melvyn Douglas
BW-110 mins, CC,

Based on the 1866 short novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.


3:00 PM -- REPORT FROM THE ALEUTIANS (1943)
Documentary cameras capture life among the fighter pilots stationed in the Aleutians.
Dir: Capt. John Huston
Cast: Capt. John Huston, Walter Huston,
BW-45 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary, Features

Use of footage of everyday daily life of the American soldier included in this documentary was objected to by the US Army authorities. Narrator-director John Huston fought for the inclusion of this footage for a couple of months and was successful in retaining these scenes in the documentary.


4:00 PM -- AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945)
Guests at a remote island mansion realize a crazed killer is stalking them.
Dir: René Clair
Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward
BW-97 mins, CC,

This movie, as all existent versions of "Ten Little Indians," is based not on the novel by Agatha Christie but on her very similar play. While the identity of the murderer is the same in both versions, the outcome of who survives the murderer's plot is very different.


5:45 PM -- THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
Three prospectors fight off bandits and each other after striking-it-rich in the Mexican mountains.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt
BW-126 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Walter Huston, Best Director -- John Huston, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- John Huston

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

In his Oscar acceptance speech, Walter Huston said, "Many, many years ago, I brought up a boy and I said to him, 'Son, if you ever become a writer, try to write a good part for your old man sometime'. Well, by cracky, that's what he did!"



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: CHARACTER ACTORS



8:00 PM -- ONE MAN'S JOURNEY (1933)
Father and son doctors disagree over the son's materialistic goals.
Dir: John Robertson
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, May Robson, Dorothy Jordan
BW-72 mins, CC,

Based on the short story "Failure" by Katharine Haviland-Taylor in American Magazine (Nov 1932).


9:45 PM -- SING AND LIKE IT (1934)
A gangster tries to turn his tone-deaf girlfriend into a singing star.
Dir: William A. Seiter
Cast: ZaSu Pitts, Pert Kelton, Edward Everett Horton
BW-72 mins, CC,

Although the Catholic Church of Detroit placed this movie on its "to be boycotted" list in July 1934, the Production Code Administration gave it an approval certificate for its re-release in 1935, when the its Code was more rigorously enforced.


11:15 PM -- DAVID COPPERFIELD (1935)
Charles Dickens' classic tale of an orphaned boy's fight for happiness and the colorful characters who help and hinder him.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: W. C. Fields, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan
BW-130 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Film Editing -- Robert Kern, Best Assistant Director -- Joseph M. Newman, and Best Picture

Freddie Bartholomew was discovered after an extensive casting search in both the US and the UK. Louis B. Mayer was pushing hard for his young star, Jackie Cooper, but David O. Selznick was determined to cast someone less American. Bartholomew traveled to America with his aunt who - some say - effectively kidnapped him and took him to America against his parents' wishes.


1:45 AM -- THE BRIDE WALKS OUT (1936)
A model weds a struggling engineer then has her own struggles with domesticity.
Dir: Leigh Jason
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Gene Raymond, Robert Young
BW-81 mins, CC,

Based on an original story by Howard Emmett Rogers.


3:30 AM -- YOU BELONG TO ME (1941)
A playboy marries a woman doctor then grows jealous of her male patients.
Dir: Wesley Ruggles
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Edgar Buchanan
BW-95 mins, CC,

The last filming pairing of Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck.


5:30 AM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #28 (1955)
Walter Pidgeon introduces Part Two of "Captains Courageous" and interviews Robby the Robot from "Forbidden Planet."
BW-29 mins, CC,