TCM Schedule for Friday, June 16, 2017 -- What's on Tonight: TCM Special Theme - European Vacation

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In the daylight hours, TCM is featuring the films of prolific director Lew Landers. Then in prime time, TCM continues their month-long European Vacation. Tonight, we're in Italy, so enjoy!


7:45 AM -- SINCERELY YOURS (1955)
Hearing loss creates professional and romantic crises for a concert pianist.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Liberace, Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone
C-115 mins, CC,

This was Liberace's screen acting debut, and went over so poorly that other than cameo appearances in When the Boys Meet the Girls and The Loved One (both 1965) Liberace was never seen on the big screen again.


10:00 AM -- LAW OF THE UNDERWORLD (1938)
A respectable citizen lures two innocents into his secret criminal plots.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: Chester Morris, Anne Shirley, Eduardo Ciannelli
BW-61 mins,

No publication of the short story, "The Lost Game," by John B. Hymer and Samuel Shipman has been found. It is, however, listed onscreen as the source of the movie. Their play, "Crime," based on the story, opened in New York City, New York, USA on 22 February 1927 and closed in August 1927 after 186 performances. It was produced by A.H. Woods and the opening night cast (with their character names) included Chester Morris (Rocky), James Rennie (Eugene), Douglass Montgomery (Tommy Brown), Sylvia Sidney (Annabelle Porter), Kay Johnson (Dorothy Palmer), Barbara Barondess and Jack La Rue.


11:15 AM -- DANGER PATROL (1937)
Tempers ignite when an explosives carrier falls in love with a colleague's daughter.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: Sally Eilers, John Beal, Harry Carey
BW-60 mins,

Based on a story by Helen Vreeland Smith and Hilda Vincent.


12:30 PM -- LIVING ON LOVE (1937)
A man and woman working different shifts share the same apartment without realizing it.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: James Dunn, Whitney Bourne, Joan Woodbury
BW-62 mins,

One of the six "lost" RKO films (another is the first version of the story, Rafter Romance (1933)) unseen for many years and not released to television. In 2006, Turner Classic Movies acquired the rights and showed all six in April 2007.


1:45 PM -- CRASHING HOLLYWOOD (1938)
A true to life gangster movie stirs up an all out mob assault on Hollywood.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: Lee Tracy, Joan Woodbury, Paul Guilfoyle
BW-61 mins, CC,

The original play, by Paul Dickey and Mann Page, opened in New York City, New York, USA on 14 August 1922, but closed after only 12 performances.


3:00 PM -- DYNAMITE PASS (1950)
Highwaymen invade a road built by cowboys.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: Tim Holt, Lynne Roberts, Regis Toomey
BW-60 mins,

Mary Madden (Lynne Roberts) accuses someone of slipping her brother Dan a 'Mickey' but the term 'Mickey' or 'Mickey Finn' representing an incapacitating drug slipped into someone's drink didn't originate until the late 1890s, decades after the setting portrayed in this movie.


4:15 PM -- DOUBLE DANGER (1938)
A jewel thief faces surprising competition when he tries to rob the police commissioner's home.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: Preston Foster, Whitney Bourne, Donald Meek
BW-62 mins,

From a story by Arthur T. Horman.


5:30 PM -- SEVEN KEYS TO BALDPATE (1947)
A mystery writer runs into the real thing when he holes up at a deserted inn.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: Phillip Terry, Jacqueline White, Eduardo Ciannelli
BW-68 mins, CC,

George M. Cohan's play opened on Broadway in New York at the Astor Theater on September 22nd, 1913 and ran for 320 performances.


6:45 PM -- TWELVE CROWDED HOURS (1939)
A reporter avenges his editor's murder by gangsters.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: Richard Dix, Lucille Ball, Allan Lane
BW-65 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Garrett Fort and Peter Ruric.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPECIAL THEME: EUROPEAN VACATION



8:00 PM -- LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (1962)
A woman's efforts to marry off her daughter are hindered by a family secret.
Dir: Guy Green
Cast: Olivia De Havilland, Rossano Brazzi, Yvette Mimieux
C-101 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

George Hamilton was a last minute replacement for James Darren. Filmed in Florence and Rome, Italy.


10:00 PM -- THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS. STONE (1961)
A fading stage star gets caught up in the decadent life of modern Rome when she hires a male companion.
Dir: José Quintero
Cast: Vivien Leigh, Warren Beatty, Lotte Lenya
BW-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lotte Lenya

This was Williams' personal favorite film adaptation of any of his works. Filmed in Rome and at Elstree Studios in the UK.


12:00 AM -- A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1986)
An Englishwoman visiting Florence is torn between her straitlaced fiance and a young Bohemian.
Dir: James Ivory
Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands, Maggie Smith
C-117 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was not present at the awards ceremony. James Ivory accepted the award on her behalf.), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Gianni Quaranta, Brian Ackland-Snow, Brian Savegar and Elio Altamura, and Best Costume Design -- Jenny Beavan and John Bright

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Denholm Elliott, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Maggie Smith, Best Director -- James Ivory, Best Cinematography -- Tony Pierce-Roberts, and Best Picture

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) and A Room with a View (1985) both opened in New York on the same day, March 7, 1986. Both movies featured Daniel Day-Lewis in prominent and very different roles: in A Room with a View, he played a repressed, snobbish Edwardian upperclassman, while in Laundrette, he played a lower-class gay ex-skinhead in love with an ambitious Pakistani businessman in Thatcher's London. When American critics saw Day-Lewis, who was then virtually unknown in the US, in two such different roles on the same day, many (including Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times and Vincent Canby of The New York Times) raved about the talent it must have taken him to play such vastly different characters.

Filmed in Florence and in the UK.


2:15 AM -- DEATH IN VENICE (1971)
An aging author on vacation becomes obsessed with a young aristocrat.
Dir: Luchino Visconti
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Romolo Valli, Mark Burns
C-130 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design -- Piero Tosi

Dirk Bogarde based his appearance on that of the distinguished composer/conductor Gustav Mahler, whose Fifth and Third Symphonies were adapted as background music for the film. Filmed in Venice and in the Dolomites in Italy.


4:45 AM -- VOICES OF VENICE (1951)
This short film captures the unique architectural essence and various personal experiences of the city of Venice.
Dir: James A. FitzPatrick
C-8 mins,


5:00 AM -- INDISCRETION OF AN AMERICAN WIFE (1954)
An American woman tries to break off her relationship with her Italian lover.
Dir: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Montgomery Clift, Gino Cervi
BW-63 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Christian Dior

David O. Selznick wanted to have a slick romance depicted while Vittorio De Sica wanted to show a ruined romance. In this, he had the full support of the film's star, Montgomery Clift. Filmed in Rome.