TCM Schedule for Saturday, February 3, 2018 -- 31 Days of Oscar: Best Cinematography Winners

[Staph]

Tonight's Oscar category is Best Cinematography, so prepare yourself for a day of great natural beauty. Two of my favorites are She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949), with its expansive views of Monument Valley in Utah and Arizona, and A River Runs Through It (1992), a valentine to the beauties of Montana. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Lassie Come Home (1943)
A faithful collie undertakes an arduous journey to return to her lost family.
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox
Cast: Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, Dame May Whitty
C-89 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Leonard Smith

The film was shot in the state of Washington and in Monterey, CA, while the rapids scene was shot on the San Joaquin River in California.


7:30 AM -- Strangers on a Train (1951)
A man's joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Burks

Cinematographer Robert Burks began an association with Alfred Hitchcock on this picture that would last another 13 years and a dozen films. "You never have any trouble with him as long as you know your job and do it," Burks said. "Hitchcock insists on perfection. He has no patience with mediocrity on the set or at a dinner table. There can be no compromise in his work, his food, or his wines."


9:30 AM -- Show Boat (1951)
Riverboat entertainers find love, laughs and hardships as they sail along "Old Man River."
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel
C-108 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Charles Rosher, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Adolph Deutsch and Conrad Salinger

Director George Sidney was forced to leave for a few days because of illness, so uncredited associate producer Roger Edens directed the beautifully shot, fog-enshrouded "departure" sequence, including the performance by William Warfield of "Ol' Man River." It is the one scene in the film that has been praised even by critics who detest this version of "Show Boat."


11:30 AM -- The Four Feathers (1939)
A disgraced officer risks his life to help his childhood friends in battle.
Dir: Zoltan Korda
Cast: John Clements, Ralph Richardson, C. Aubrey Smith
C-115 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Georges Périnal and Osmond Borradaile

The action scenes, photographed by Osmond Borradaile, were not only filmed where the historical battles had actually taken place but also included among the many extras people who had witnessed or participated in the fighting more than 40 years earlier. These battle scenes further benefited from Zoltan Korda's expertise at large-scale action and his early experience as a cavalry officer.


1:45 PM -- Blood and Sand (1941)
A married matador's rise to stardom is complicated by an affair with a beautiful aristocrat.
Dir: Rouben Mamoulian
Cast: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth
C-125 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Ernest Palmer and Ray Rennahan

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright and Thomas Little

Director Rouben Mamoulian based many of the film's color schemes and designs on the works of great Spanish painters such as El Greco and Velasquez.


4:00 PM -- King Solomon's Mines (1950)
A spirited widow hires a daredevil jungle scout to find a lost treasure in diamonds.
Dir: Compton Bennett
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger, Richard Carlson
C-103 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert Surtees, and Best Film Editing -- Ralph E. Winters and Conrad A. Nervig

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

The location footage in this film, especially the various animals, was re-used as stock footage for dozens of films in the fifties and later, including Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959), Watusi (1959) and the 1973 version of Trader Horn (1973).


6:00 PM -- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
An aging Cavalry officer tries to prevent an Indian war in the last days before his retirement.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar
C-104 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Winton C. Hoch

Winton C. Hoch filed a protest with the cinematographers' union about overtime involved in being made to shoot the lightning and thunder scenes over the troops. As it turned out, it was these shots that won him an Oscar for cinematography.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY WINNERS



8:00 PM -- A River Runs Through It (1992)
A preacher's sons, one serious, one wild, look out for each other while growing up in rural Montana.
Dir: Robert Redford
Cast: Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt, Tom Skerritt
C-124 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography -- Philippe Rousselot

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published -- Richard Friedenberg, and Best Music, Original Score -- Mark Isham

Even though the film claims that it is filmed in Missoula, it is actually filmed in and around Livingston, Bozeman and Big Timber, Montana. Many of the fishing scenes were filmed in the Gallatin Canyon on the Gallatin River south of Bozeman.


10:15 PM -- Bound for Glory (1976)
True story of folk singer Woody Guthrie, who rose to the top while fighting for the rights of migrant farm workers.
Dir: Hal Ashby
Cast: David Carradine, Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon
C-148 mins, Letterbox Format, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Haskell Wexler, and Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score -- Leonard Rosenman

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Getchell, Best Costume Design -- William Ware Theiss, Best Film Editing -- Robert C. Jones and Pembroke J. Herring, and Best Picture

The pivotal Steadicam sequence that first captivated industry insiders involved David Carradine's amble through a migrant camp. The Steadicam operator, Garrett Brown, descends into the scene on a Chapman crane and follows Woody Guthrie (Carradine) as he gets off a pickup truck and walks past some 900 extras. The sequence, which looks quite simple on film, posed a challenge to operator and crew in that, just as Brown stepped off the crane platform laden with his weighty armature, grips had to simultaneously counterbalance the crane arm to prevent it from becoming a human catapult.


1:00 AM -- The Hustler (1961)
A pool shark falls into the clutches of a crooked gambler.
Dir: Robert Rossen
Cast: Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie
BW-135 mins, Letterbox Format, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Eugen Schüfftan, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Harry Horner and Gene Callahan

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Newman, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Piper Laurie, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jackie Gleason, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George C. Scott (Refused even to be nominated.), Best Director -- Robert Rossen, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Sidney Carroll and Robert Rossen, and Best Picture

The picture was shot by Eugen Schüfftan, who had invented an optical effects process that employed mirrors to create backgrounds. According to crew reports, many of the pool room shots employed this process to varying degrees. The picture was also shot in CinemaScope, a wide-screen process usually reserved for big epics and action pictures.


3:30 AM -- Battleground (1949)
American soldiers in France fight to survive a Nazi siege just before the Battle of the Bulge.
Dir: William Wellman
Cast: Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban
BW-119 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Robert Pirosh, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Paul Vogel

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- James Whitmore, Best Director -- William A. Wellman, Best Film Editing -- John D. Dunning, and Best Picture

Dore Schary completed the film twenty days under its original shooting schedule by instituting several other innovations. He also ordered twenty-five sets built on one soundstage, and then had Art Director Hans Peters map out in detail the terrain, action, and possible camera angles. Copies of these drawings were then given to Director William A. Wellman and Cinematographer Paul Vogel. Some of the sets were used several times over, as the film's actions shifted.


5:45 AM -- Captains Of The Clouds (1942)
A mail flyer joins the Canadian air force for fun but has to prove his worth when he goes to war.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: James Cagney, Dennis Morgan, Brenda Marshall
C-113 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Sol Polito, and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Ted Smith and Casey Roberts

This was the first Hollywood picture to be filmed entirely on location in Canada.

[BigmanPigman]

1. I LOVE their annual "month of Oscars".

They used to be in alphabetical order but this list is all over the place and it isn't based on year either. What is their "plan" in deciding this year's order for viewing? Is it based on the catagory it won the award for?
Now that I can record from HDTV I will be able to watch all of them this year without losing sleep.