TCM Schedule for Friday, April 7, 2017 -- TCM Spotlight - Post-War Melodrama

[Staph]

Fridays in April, TCM is showing Post-WWII Melodramas. Today's selection includes the catagories The Whole Town's Talking -- with films Kings Row (1942), East Side, West Side (1949), and Some Came Running (1958), Hollwood's Cautionary Tales -- The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), and The Goddess (1958), ad Love During Wartime -- Love Letters (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), The End of the Affair (1955), and From Here To Eternity (1953). Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- NINE LIVES ARE NOT ENOUGH (1941)
A reporter tries to solve a series of boardinghouse murders.
Dir: A. Edward Sutherland
Cast: Ronald Reagan, Joan Perry, James Gleason
BW-63 mins,

From the novel by Jerome Odlum.


7:15 AM -- ONE FOR THE BOOK (1948)
A lovelorn actress shares her apartment with a lonely soldier.
Dir: Irving Rapper
Cast: Ronald Reagan, Eleanor Parker, Eve Arden
BW-103 mins, CC,

The film has not been shown on television under its original title for years. It is always shown under its reissue title, "One For the Book". The original title was The Voice of the Turtle.


9:00 AM -- KINGS ROW (1942)
Small town scandals inspire an idealistic young man to take up psychiatry.
Dir: Sam Wood
Cast: Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan
BW-127 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Sam Wood, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- James Wong Howe, and Best Picture

Initially screenwriter Casey Robinson thought it was madness to tackle an adaptation of Henry Bellamann's controversial novel as it featured such topics as incest, adultery and suicide, all of which would never get past the Hays Code. Indeed, Joseph I. Breen, who ran the Hays Office, wrote an open letter declaring the novel's unsuitability for movie treatment. Robinson and producer David Lewis met with Breen to discuss his views and agreed to remove as much offending content as possible, pitching the adaptation as a coming of age tale for an idealistic young doctor who is amazed at what he sees in the world around him. It took several drafts but eventually Breen was satisfied with Robinson's take on the material.


11:15 AM -- EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE (1949)
A chic New York couple is torn apart by a seductive model.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, James Mason, Van Heflin
BW-108 mins, CC,

Gale Sondergaard, who plays Barbara Stanwyck's mother in this film, was 50 years old when it was produced. Stanwyck was 42.


1:15 PM -- SOME CAME RUNNING (1958)
A veteran returns home to deal with family secrets and small-town scandals.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine
C-136 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Shirley MacLaine, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Arthur Kennedy, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Martha Hyer, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White or Color -- Walter Plunkett, and Best Music, Original Song -- Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "To Love and Be Loved"

It was during the making of this film that Shirley MacLaine found herself welcomed into what would later be called the "Rat Pack" fraternity that included Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, her co-stars in this film. MacLaine says the group known as the "Rat Pack" was actually called "The Clan" by the members while "Rat Pack" was a term given in the 1950s to Humphrey Bogart and his pals.


3:45 PM -- THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952)
An unscrupulous movie producer uses everyone around him in his climb to the top.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Elaine Stewart, Sammy White, Leo G. Carroll
BW-118 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gloria Grahame, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Charles Schnee, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Surtees, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Edward C. Carfagno, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Kirk Douglas

The character of Shields (played by Kirk Douglas) is regarded as a mixture of producer David O. Selznick, Orson Welles and producer Val Lewton. Georgia (Lana Turner), the alcoholic daughter of an iconic actor, is very clearly based on Diana Barrymore. Bartlow (Dick Powell), the college professor turned best-selling author turned screenwriter, is thought to be based on Paul Green, a UNC professor who followed a similar career track. Gilbert Roland's appearance as "Gaucho" is seen as a self-parody; the Mexican-born actor, once a star in silent dramas, had just appeared as "The Cisco Kid" in a string of "B" westerns.


6:00 PM -- THE GODDESS (1958)
Booze, pills and loneliness mark a young actress' rise to stardom.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Kim Stanley, Lloyd Bridges, Steve Hill
BW-105 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Paddy Chayefsky

The Emily Ann Faulkner/Rita Shawn character (played by Kim Stanley) was based on Marilyn Monroe.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: POST-WAR MELODRAMA



8:00 PM -- LOVE LETTERS (1945)
A soldier falls for the woman who may have killed his best friend.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ann Richards
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jennifer Jones, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Hans Dreier, Roland Anderson, Sam Comer and Ray Moyer, Best Music, Original Song -- Victor Young (music) and Edward Heyman (lyrics) for the song "Love Letters", and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Victor Young

The role of Singleton was initially planned for Ann Richards, but when Jennifer Jones became available, Richards ended up playing Dilly, Singleton's friend.


10:15 PM -- THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
Three returning servicemen fight to adjust to life after World War II.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews
BW-170 mins, CC,

Won an Honorary Oscar for Harold Russell for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance in The Best Years of Our Lives.

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Fredric March (Fredric March was not present at the awards ceremony. Cathy O'Donnell accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Harold Russell, Best Director -- William Wyler, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Robert E. Sherwood, Best Film Editing -- Daniel Mandell, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Hugo Friedhofer, and Best Picture

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

Director William Wyler was furious when he learned that Samuel Goldwyn had sent Harold Russell for acting lessons; he preferred Russell's untrained, natural acting. During the wedding scene at the end, Russell fluffed his lines during his vows. Rather than calling cut and ordering a re-take, Wyler liked how natural it sounded and this was the take used.


1:30 AM -- THE END OF THE AFFAIR (1955)
A married woman cheats on her husband in World War II London.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Van Johnson, John Mills
BW-106 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Based on the novel by Graham Greene. Remade in 1999 with Ralph Fiennes, Stephen Rea and Julianne Moore in the leading roles.


3:45 AM -- FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
Enlisted men in Hawaii fight for love and honor on the eve of World War II.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr
BW-118 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Frank Sinatra, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Donna Reed, Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Daniel Taradash, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Burnett Guffey, Best Sound, Recording -- John P. Livadary (Columbia SSD), Best Film Editing -- William A. Lyon, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Montgomery Clift, Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Burt Lancaster, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Deborah Kerr, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Jean Louis, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Morris Stoloff and George Duning

Montgomery Clift threw himself into the character of Prewitt, learning to play the bugle (even though he knew he'd be dubbed) and taking boxing lessons. Fred Zinnemann said, "Clift forced the other actors to be much better than they really were. That's the only way I can put it. He got performances from the other actors, he got reactions from the other actors that were totally genuine."