TCM Schedule for Thursday, June 29, 2017 -- TCM Spotlight - Gay Hollywood

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, we get to hear the sweet sounds of Max Steiner, my personal choice for the greatest film composer ever. Interesting fact: As a boy, Steiner was given piano instruction by legendary composer Johannes Brahms. And in prime time, TCM finishes its month-long celebration of Gay Hollywood. Tonight's films and stars include author EDWARD ALBEE in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, actor JOHN GIELGUD in THE LOVED ONE, actress LINDA HUNT in THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, author/actor HARVEY FIERSTEIN in TORCH SONG TRILOGY, actor/dancer RUDOLPH NUREYEV in VALENTINO (1977), and actor JOEL GREY in CABARET. Enjoy!

(I won't have access to my laptop for most of this week, so I'm posting early. Have a good week!)


7:30 AM -- HOLLYWOOD: THE DREAM FACTORY (1972)
Dick Cavett narrates this documentary about the MGM auction and the studio's glorious history.
C-51 mins, CC,


8:30 AM -- MAKE ME A STAR (1932)
A grocery clerk goes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Joan Blondell, Stuart Erwin, ZaSu Pitts
BW-86 mins,

Many top Paramount stars are seen in connection with the fictional Majestic motion picture studio, including Maurice Chevalier (outside the studio gates), Gary Cooper and Tallulah Bankhead (walking around the studio lot), and Jack Oakie, Charles Ruggles, Clive Brook, Claudette Colbert, Fredric March, and Sylvia Sidney (attending the premiere of "Wide Open Spaces&quot .


10:15 AM -- MAN HUNT (1933)
A teen detective tries to help a jewel thief's daughter.
Dir: Irving Cummings
Cast: Junior Durkin, Charlotte Henry, Mrs. Wallace Reid
BW-64 mins,

Quiet, benign, blue-eyed, rangy-framed child/teen actor Junior Durkin, who was an absolute natural on film and possessed major "down home" appeal, showed strong promise in just the few 1930s films he appeared in. A fatal roadster accident quickly ended the dreams of this young "Henry Fonda" type just as he was about to transition into grownup-roles.


11:30 AM -- NO MARRIAGE TIES (1933)
After drinking himself out of a job, a newspaperman turns himself into a tycoon.
Dir: J. Walter Ruben
Cast: Richard Dix, Elizabeth Allen, Doris Kenyon
BW-72 mins,

Alternate title -- The Ad Man -- the name of the play written by Charles W. Curran and Arch Gaffney.


1:00 PM -- RAFTER ROMANCE (1933)
A salesgirl falls for a night worker without realizing they share the same apartment.
Dir: William Seiter
Cast: Ginger Rogers, Norman Foster, George Sidney
BW-73 mins, CC,

Ginger Rogers and Norman Foster replaced Dorothy Wilson and Joel McCrea in the lead roles.


2:30 PM -- CHATTERBOX (1936)
A country girl tries to talk her way into a stage career.
Dir: George Nicholls Jr.
Cast: Anne Shirley, Phillips Holmes, Edward Ellis
BW-68 mins,

Based on the play Long Ago Ladies by David Carb.


3:49 PM -- HOW TO BEHAVE (1936)
In this comedic short, an etiquette expert finds it increasingly difficult to follow his own advice.
Dir: Arthur Ripley
Cast: Robert Benchley, Isabelle Keith, Bess Flowers
BW-10 mins,


4:00 PM -- THE BIG GAME (1936)
A quarterback stands against gangsters out to control the college sports scene.
Dir: George Nicholls Jr.
Cast: Philip Huston, James Gleason, June Travis
BW-74 mins,

The novel "Big Game" by Francis Wallace was first published as a serial entitled "Odds Against Honor" in Collier's magazine in 1935. The idea for the riot scene came from an actual riot at a New York University-Fordham University football game. RKO bought 1000 feet of the 1935 Rose Bowl game footage for use in the film.


5:30 PM -- M'LISS (1936)
A young innocent searches a rough mining town for her drunken father.
Dir: George Nicholls Jr.
Cast: Anne Shirley, John Beal, Guy Kibbee
BW-66 mins,

Based on the novel by Bret Harte, and previously filmed as M'Liss in 1915 and 1918, and as The Girl Who Ran Wild in 1922.


6:45 PM -- THE WITNESS CHAIR (1936)
A woman lets her lover stand trial for the murder she committed.
Dir: George Nicholls Jr.
Cast: Ann Harding, Walter Abel, Douglass Dumbrille
BW-64 mins, CC,

In the middle of shooting, Ann Harding stated she did not like the script and would not continue, despite having requested that the studio buy the rights to the story and having approved the script earlier. But she finished the movie after RKO threatened to sue her for the amount ($80,000) already spent on the production.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: GAY HOLLYWOOD



8:00 PM -- WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966)
An academic couple reveal their deepest secret to a pair of newcomers during an all-night booze fest.
Dir: Mike Nichols
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal
BW-131 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Elizabeth Taylor (Elizabeth Taylor was not present at the awards ceremony. Anne Bancroft accepted the award on her behalf.), Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Sandy Dennis (Sandy Dennis was unable to attend the Academy Awards presentations, because she was working on a new film, Sweet November (1968), being shot in New York. Mike Nichols accepted the award on her behalf.), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Haskell Wexler, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Richard Sylbert and George James Hopkins, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Irene Sharaff

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Richard Burton, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George Segal, Best Director -- Mike Nichols, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Ernest Lehman, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Film Editing -- Sam O'Steen, Best Music, Original Music Score -- Alex North, and Best Picture

According a 2005 interview with Edward Albee, the original writer of the play which the film is based, producer Ernest Lehman hired himself to write the screenplay for $250,000. Also, Albee says that when director Mike Nichols and stars Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor read the script, they hated it so much that, unknown to Lehman, they changed all of the dialog back to Albee's play save two lines: "Hey, let's go to the roadhouse!" and "Hey, let's come back from the roadhouse!" Albee said, "Two lines for $250,000, $125,000 a piece. That's pretty good."


10:30 PM -- THE LOVED ONE (1965)
An Englishman in Hollywood moves into the funeral business.
Dir: Tony Richardson
Cast: Robert Morse, Jonathan Winters, Anjanette Comer
BW-121 mins, CC,

Sir Francis Hinsley, played by John Gielgud, tells his nephew, "Ah, that's Sir Ambrose Abercrombie, one of our most ardent thespians . . . he usually plays prime ministers or butlers". Gielgud himself played prime ministers on the screen three times: Disraeli twice, in The Prime Minister (1941) and later in Edward the King (1975), as well as Salisbury in Murder by Decree (1979), and was perhaps best known to the general public for his role as Hobson the butler in Arthur (1981) and its sequel Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988).


1:00 AM -- THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY (1982)
Two American journalists get more than they'd bargained for during an Indonesian revolution.
Dir: Peter Weir
Cast: Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hunt
C-115 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Linda Hunt

Director Peter Weir cast Linda Hunt in the role of Billy Kwan, after failing to find an actor who could play the part in the way he wanted. Hunt is the first actress to have won an Academy Award for portraying a member of the opposite sex. Hunt is also the only actress ever to win an Academy Award for playing a man, with no cross dressing or gender confusion involved. Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry (1999)) received one for playing a biological female, who identifies as a man, while Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love (1998)) received one for playing a woman, pretending to be a man, pretending to be a woman.


3:02 AM -- POLTERGEIST (FEATURETTE) (1982)
A behind-the-scenes promotional short on the making of "Poltergeist" (1982).
Dir: Frank Marshall
C-7 mins,


3:15 AM -- TORCH SONG TRILOGY (1988)
A drag queen's affair with a bisexual throws his life into turmoil.
Dir: Paul Bogart
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Matthew Broderick, Harvey Fierstein
C-119 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Harvey Fierstein won the 1983 Tony Award (New York City) for Actor in a Drama for "Torch Song Trilogy" and for Author of the best Play and recreated his stage role in the movie version.


5:15 AM -- VALENTINO (1977)
The famed silent screen star is torn between love and his career.
Dir: Ken Russell
Cast: Rudolf Nureyev, Leslie Caron, Michelle Phillips
BW-128 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The real life person character of Vaslav Nijinsky appears in this movie played by actor Anthony Dowell. Reportedly, Nijinsky had taught Valentino the dance the tango. Originally, director Ken Russell offered Rudolf Nureyev the role of Nijinsky but his wife costume designer Shirley Russell suggested he cast him as Valentino due to the physical similarities between the pair. Nureyev had previous portrayed Nijinsky in the never completed Nijinsky: Unfinished Project (1970). Ken Russell was later offered to direct the theatrical feature film Nijinsky (1980) but likely was already committed to making Altered States (1980).