TCM Schedule for Thursday, April 12, 2018 -- TCM Spotlight: Victorian Era in Film

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is showing films with suspicious, possibly criminal husbands (Melania, take notes!) Then in prime time, TCM is showing the films about the Victorian era every Thursday this month. Tell us about tonight's special theme, Roger!

Victorian Science and Exploration encompasses the terrifying (Oscar® winner Fredric March in 1931's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and the beguiling (Rex Harrison in 1967's Doctor Dolittle), as well as the adventurous. Mike Todd's all-star movie version of the Jules Verne Around the World in 80 Days (1956) is a tale about the efforts of an English gentleman (David Niven) attempting to circle the globe. It won an Oscar® for Best Picture. Also in this category: The Time Machine (1960) and First Men in the Moon (1964).

by Roger Fristoe

Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- SUPER-SLEUTH (1937)
A movie detective gets carried away with his role and starts trying to solve real-life crimes.
Dir: Ben Stoloff
Cast: Jack Oakie, Ann Sothern, Eduardo Ciannelli
BW-70 mins, CC,

From the play by Harry Segall.


7:45 AM -- MURDER ON A HONEYMOON (1935)
A schoolteacher jumps into detective mode when a fellow airplane passenger gets sick and dies.
Dir: Lloyd Corrigan
Cast: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Lola Lane
BW-74 mins, CC,

The third of six films about schoolteacher/detective Hildegarde Withers, based on novels by Stuart Palmer. The first three films featured Edna May Oliver as Withers. The next film starred Helen Broderick, and the fifth and sixth starred Zazu Pitts. A 1972 TV movie about Withers starred Eve Arden.


9:00 AM -- THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS (1947)
A woman slowly discovers that her artist husband is a deranged killer.
Dir: Peter Godfrey
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith
BW-99 mins, CC,

Filmed at the height of their popularity, this marked the only film pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck.


10:45 AM -- CONSPIRATOR (1949)
A newlywed suspects her husband of being a Communist spy.
Dir: Victor Saville
Cast: Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Flemyng
BW-87 mins, CC,

Robert Taylor, though American, plays an Englishman, whilst Elizabeth Taylor, English by birth, plays an American. She had unhappy memories of making this film, later claiming that Robert Taylor had made clumsy efforts to seduce her.


12:15 PM -- GASLIGHT (1944)
A newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten
BW-114 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ingrid Bergman, and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, William Ferrari, Edwin B. Willis and Paul Huldschinsky

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Charles Boyer, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Angela Lansbury, Best Writing, Screenplay -- John L. Balderston, Walter Reisch and John Van Druten, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, and Best Picture

Charles Boyer's wife, Pat Paterson was pregnant with what would be the couple's first and only child. Boyer and Paterson had been trying to have a baby for many years, and Boyer was exceptionally nervous while making this film. He would rush between takes to call and check on his wife's health as the expected birth date grew nearer. The baby was expected to come after Boyer had finished working on the film, but he arrived weeks early while Boyer was on set. The actor broke down in tears when he was notified, and he informed the rest of the cast and crew of his son's birth. Production was halted for the day and the cast and crew opened up bottles of champagne to celebrate the birth.


2:15 PM -- SUSPICION (1941)
A wealthy wallflower suspects her penniless playboy husband of murder.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Sir Cedric Hardwicke
BW-99 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Joan Fontaine

Nominee for Oscars for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Franz Waxman, and Best Picture

Film historian Ben Mankiewicz has noted that Cary Grant was so displeased with his experience with director Alfred Hitchcock during the making of this film that he publicly vowed never again to work with the director. The rift between actor and director was mended, however, and Grant and Hitchcock collaborated on three more films, Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955) and North by Northwest (1959), each of which was generally well-received by audiences and critics.


4:00 PM -- UNDERCURRENT (1946)
A sheltered woman realizes that either her husband or his mysterious brother is a psychopath.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor, Robert Mitchum
BW-116 mins, CC,

Katharine Hepburn and Robert Mitchum didn't get along. One day she told him, "You know you can't act, and if you hadn't been good looking you would never have got a picture at all. I'm tired of working with people like you who have nothing to offer."


6:00 PM -- NIGHT MUST FALL (1937)
A charming young man worms his way into a wealthy woman's household, then reveals a deadly secret.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Dame May Whitty
BW-116 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Robert Montgomery, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- May Whitty



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPECIAL THEME: VICTORIAN ERA IN FILM



8:00 PM -- DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1941)
A scientist's investigations into the nature of good and evil turn him into a murderous monster.
Dir: Victor Fleming
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner
BW-113 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, Best Film Editing -- Harold F. Kress, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Franz Waxman

The character of Ivy Peterson was taken not from Robert Louis Stevenson's original novella, but from the 1931 film version. Ivy never appears in the original story, nor, for that matter, does Jekyll's fiancée. Due to the Hay's Code much of the film had to be watered down from the 1931 version. The character of Ivy Peterson had to be changed from a prostitute to a barmaid.


10:00 PM -- AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (1956)
A Victorian gentleman bets that he can beat the world's record for circling the globe.
Dir: Michael Anderson
Cast: David Niven, Cantinflas, Shirley MacLaine
C-182 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- James Poe, John Farrow and S.J. Perelman, Best Cinematography, Color -- Lionel Lindon, Best Film Editing -- Gene Ruggiero and Paul Weatherwax, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Victor Young (Posthumously.), and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Michael Anderson, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- James W. Sullivan, Ken Adam and Ross Dowd, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Miles White

The role of Passepartout was greatly expanded from the novel to accommodate Mexican star Cantinflas. In the mid-1950s he was the wealthiest movie star in the world, and got top billing in Latin countries. The bullfighting sequence was added because Cantinflas had bullfighting experience. He was actually in the ring with the bull, eschewing the use of a stunt double. It was one of the first sequences shot.


1:15 AM -- FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1964)
A scientist's experimental space craft puts him in the path of an intergalactic invasion.
Dir: Nathan Juran
Cast: Edward Judd, Lionel Jeffries, Martha Hyer
C-103 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In the book, the large monster which the Selenites hunt is called a Mooncalf. This is an old English term for idiot, since it was believed that being out under a full moon could cause madness (think also "lunatic&quot , but is also a clever pun on H.G. Wells' part, as the Selenites also hunt this beast like cattle, the young of which is called a calf.


3:15 AM -- THE TIME MACHINE (1960)
A turn-of-the-century inventor sends himself into the future to save humanity.
Dir: George Pal
Cast: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Yvette Mimieux
C-103 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Gene Warren and Tim Baar

In the DVD special feature entitled "Time Machine: The Journey Continues", FX designers Wah Chang, Tim Baar and Gene Warren state that the scene of the limb with several apples and leaves growing on it at an accelerated rate while George moves forward in time was actually a painting done by artist Bill Brace. The canvas was photographed with a locked-off camera, one frame at a time, as Brace rendered the progressive growth of the leaves and apples in great detail.


5:15 AM -- DOCTOR DOLITTLE (1967)
A veterinarian who can communicate with animals travels abroad to search for a giant sea snail.
Dir: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newley
C-149 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Effects, Special Effects -- L.B. Abbott, and Best Music, Original Song -- Leslie Bricusse (For the song "Talk to the Animals". Leslie Bricusse was not present at the awards ceremony. 'Sammy Davis Jr.' accepted the award on his behalf.)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Robert Surtees, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Mario Chiari, Jack Martin Smith, Ed Graves, Walter M. Scott and Stuart A. Reiss, Best Sound, Best Film Editing -- Samuel E. Beetley and Marjorie Fowler, Best Music, Original Music Score -- Leslie Bricusse, Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Lionel Newman and Alexander Courage, and Best Picture

"The Reluctant Vegetarian" number proved to be one of the hardest to film, mainly because of the number of animals that had to sit still for a lengthy period. Hours of rehearsal and preparation went into it before filming actually started. During the first take, it looked like they might actually get it done without any additional shooting but then Rex Harrison stopped singing. Director Richard Fleischer asked him why he stopped, and Harrison said he heard him yell "Cut!". Fleischer denied this, and just as they were starting to argue about it both heard a voice yell "Cut!". The guilty party turned out to be Polynesia the Parrot, who obviously had heard Fleischer yell this word many times during the production. Harrison took this in good humor, saying, "That's the first time I've ever been directed by a parrot. But she may be right. I probably can do it better."