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Staph

(6,245 posts)
Wed Apr 18, 2018, 04:26 PM Apr 2018

TCM Schedule for Saturday, April 21, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: Perfect Heists

There's another daylight schedule looking like an old-time movie house's Saturday matinee -- cowboy movies, cartoons, and several short subjects. Then in prime time, we're following a bunch of loveable rogues, so loveable that two of tonight's three films have been remade (The Thomas Crown Affair (1968/1999) and Ocean's 11/Eleven (1960/2001, with sequels in 2004, 2007, and 2018's Ocean's Eight). Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- SMILIN' THROUGH (1941)
An embittered man threatens the love life of his niece, who's a dead ringer for his lost fiancee.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Brian Aherne, Gene Raymond
C-100 mins, CC,

The original play opened in New York on 30 December 1919 and ran for 175 performances. Authors Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin used a single pseudonym (Allan Langdon Martin) as the author, but Cowl starred in the play under her real name. Also in the play were Charlotte Granville and Henry Stephenson. The play was also filmed, under the same title, in 1922 and 1932.


8:00 AM -- RED RIVER ROBIN HOOD (1943)
Two ranchers fend off a crooked land grabber.
Dir: Lesley Selander
Cast: Tim Holt, Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards, Barbara Moffett
BW-57 mins, CC,

1942 was a banner year for Tim Holt. He starred in seven B westerns - more than any other year in his prolific career. Pirates of the Prairie was the sixth movie of the seven, followed by this one, Red River Robin Hood.


8:00 AM -- LET'S ASK NOSTRADAMUS (1953)
In this short film, the prophecies of Nostradamus are compared to events of the French Revolution.
Dir: Peter Ballbusch
Cast: John Burton,
BW-11 mins,


8:00 AM -- MARTIN BLOCK'S MUSICAL MERRY-GO-ROUND #1 (1948)
In this musical short, Freddy Martin and his band perform several numbers and Martin Block is interviewed by Keenan Wynn.
BW-11 mins,


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: BEAR AND THE BEAN (1947)
Barney Bear receives an annoying, sombrero-wearing jumping bean from Mexico.
Dir: Michael Lah
Cast: Billy Bletcher
C-7 mins, CC,


9:30 AM -- RED BARRY: MIDNIGHT TRAGEDY (1938)
The seventh chapter in the Red Barry serial. An undercover detective must uncover the truth and figure out who stole two million dollars in bonds.
Dir: Ford Beebe, Alan James
Cast: Buster Crabbe, Frances Robinson, Edna Sedgewick
BW-20 mins,


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: SOCK-A-BYE, BABY (1934)
Popeye babysits an infant when many obstacles and problems ensue.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Seymour Kneitel (uncredited)
Cast: William Costello, Mae Questel
BW-6 mins, CC,


10:00 AM -- TARZAN TRIUMPHS (1943)
The jungle king helps the princess of a lost civilization fight off Nazi invaders.
Dir: William Thiele
Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Johnny Sheffield, Frances Gifford
BW-76 mins,

Jane's absence was explained in a letter saying that she was visiting relatives in England. Maureen O'Sullivan was sick of playing Jane, but her absence probably had more to do with the fact that the franchise had switched from MGM to RKO, and O'Sullivan was an MGM contract player.


11:30 AM -- OKAY FOR SOUND (1946)
This short film celebrates the 20th Anniversary of Warner's Vitaphone sound-on-film process. Vitaphone Release 1492A.
Cast: John Barrymore, James Cagney, Anna Case
BW-20 mins,

Features clips from The Silent Man (1917), Don Juan (1926), Overture: Tannhäuser (1926) (Short), La Fiesta (1926) (Short), Mischa Elman (1926) (Short), Efrem Zimbalist & Harold Bauer Playing Theme and Variations from 'The Kreutzer Sonata' by Beethoven (1926) (Short), The Jazz Singer (1927), Lights of New York (1928), The Singing Fool (1928), Little Caesar (1931), Give Me Liberty (1936) (Short), A Stolen Life (1946), Night and Day (1946), Of Human Bondage (1946), Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946), The Big Sleep (1946), Never Say Goodbye (1946), Humoresque (1946), The Man I Love (1947), Nora Prentiss (1947), and That Way with Women (1947).


12:00 PM -- THE BANK DICK (1940)
When he foils two robberies in one day, the town drunkard is hired to guard the local bank.
Dir: Edward Cline
Cast: W. C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel
BW-72 mins, CC,

"Mahatma Kane Jeeves" (the pseudonym used by W.C. Fields as screenwriter) is a play on words from stage plays of the era. "My hat, my cane, Jeeves!" And in fact, at the end of the film his butler does hand him his hat and his cane.


1:30 PM -- THE YOUNG PHILADELPHIANS (1959)
A young lawyer from the wrong side of town tries to break into society.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Paul Newman, Barbara Rush, Alexis Smith
BW-137 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Robert Vaughn, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harry Stradling Sr., and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Howard Shoup

According to the author of the book "The Philadelphian", Richard Powell, the cross examination of the butler and the sniff test of different kinds of alcoholic spirits was based on a real court case.



4:00 PM -- 4 FOR TEXAS (1963)
Double-crossing outlaws go straight and become rival saloon owners.
Dir: Robert Aldrich
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Anita Ekberg
C-115 mins, CC,

The riverboat "Sultana" shares the same name with an overloaded Mississippi riverboat side-wheeler that exploded and sank on April 27, 1865 while transporting Union troops returning from Confederate prison camps during the closing days of the Civil War. She was designed with a capacity of only 376 passengers, but she was carrying 2,155 when three of the boat's four boilers exploded and she burned to the waterline and sank near Memphis, Tennessee, killing 1,192 passengers.


6:15 PM -- THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE (1974)
A suddenly unemployed executive and his understanding wife must adapt to their new life.
Dir: Melvin Frank
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Elizabeth Wilson, Anne Bancroft
BW-98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

According to the Jack Lemmon's biography "Lemmon" by Don Widener, actress Anne Bancroft recounted this episode from the film's shooting: " (Jack was) nice to a point where he's crazy...We had a scene in Prisoner (of Second Avenue) where he had to carry a shovel in - a very close two-shot favoring me. I played the scene with tears in my eyes because Jack had accidentally hit me in the shin with that shovel. The director saw something was wrong so he stopped everything. I had a big bump on my leg, but it was Friday and over the weekend I fixed it up. When we came back on Monday the first scene was a retake of the shovel thing. Well, Jack brought the shovel in and I anticipated getting hit again. He's so full of energy, you're sure he's not noticing; but he never touched me. The take was fine, but Jack limped away. To avoid hurting me, he had cut himself. He was bleeding and we had to bandage his leg; his wound was much worse than mine. He is so kind he hurt himself rather than injure someone else. That's a little crazy! It's the nicest crazy I know, and I know a lot of crazy people."



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PERFECT HEISTS



8:00 PM -- THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1968)
A bored tycoon turns to bank robbery and courts the insurance investigator assigned to bring him in.
Dir: Norman Jewison
Cast: Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Burke
C-102 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Michel Legrand (music), Alan Bergman (lyrics) and Marilyn Bergman (lyrics) for the song "The Windmills of Your Mind"

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- Michel Legrand

After watching a five hour rough cut of the film, composer Michel Legrand took a six week vacation during which he wrote 90 minutes of music. The film was then reedited to the music, instead of the other way around. If this experiment had failed, Legrand would have written a second score in the traditional way free of charge.



10:00 PM -- OCEAN'S ELEVEN (1960)
A group of friends plot to rob a Las Vegas casino.
Dir: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra
C-127 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

According to Frank Sinatra Jr. on the DVD Commentary, Sammy Davis Jr. was forced to stay at a "colored only" hotel during the filming because Las Vegas would not allow blacks to stay at the major hotels despite his appearing with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the others at the Sands Hotel. He was only allowed to stay at the major hotels after Frank Sinatra confronted the casino owners on his behalf, therefore breaking Vegas' unofficial color barrier.


12:15 AM -- CRY DANGER (1951)
An innocent ex-con sets out to find the real criminals.
Dir: Robert Parrish
Cast: Dick Powell, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Erdman
BW-79 mins, CC,

In an interview with Tom Weaver, Jean Porter said the film was "directed by Dick Powell, and he wasn't given director credit. Dick gave Robert Parrish the director's credit, but Dick did all the directing."


2:00 AM -- MRS. SOFFEL (1984)
A prison warden's wife is seduced into helping a notorious killer escape.
Dir: Gillian Armstrong
Cast: Diane Keaton, Mel Gibson, Matthew Modine
C-112 mins, CC,

The jail used in the movie, is the actual Allegheny County Jail that figures in the story. Designed by noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson, built between 1884-1888, it served as a jail until 1995, and is now used by the juvenile and family sections of the Common Pleas Court.


4:00 AM -- PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975)
When a group of schoolgirls mysteriously disappear, the survivors find their lives changed forever.
Dir: Peter Weir
Cast: Martin Vaughan, Rachel Roberts, Vivean Gray
C-107 mins, CC,

There are several times during the story in which clocks and watches stop for no apparent reason; author Joan Lindsay was well known amongst her friends for having the peculiar quality of (unintentionally) stopping watches and clocks in her vicinity, a phenomenon that occurred -and was recorded- many times during her life.


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