TCM Schedule for Saturday, September 8, 2018 -- What's On Tonight - Sean Connery Adventures

[Staph]

Connery. Sean Connery.

'Nuff said. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- GALLANT BESS (1946)
A soldier takes the Army horse that saved his life back to the farm.
Dir: Andrew Marton
Cast: Marshall Thompson, George Tobias, Clem Bevans
C-100 mins, CC,

In addition to the horse playing a dual role, the horse was also a gelding which is a male, not a female. Quite an acting challenge for any actor.


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: THE ALLEY CAT (1941)
An alley cat spies a high-class female cat on her balcony and falls for her.
Dir: Hugh Harman
Cast: Sara Berner, Harry Lang
BW-9 mins, CC,

The society cat says, "Come up and see me sometime", which is the famous catchphrase of Mae West.


8:11 AM -- NOSTRADAMUS AND THE QUEEN (1953)
In this short film, an elderly Catherine de Medici reflects back on how the prophecies of Nostradamus accurately predicted her fate.
Cast: Grandon Rhodes, Maria Palmer, Mitchell Lewis
BW-11 mins,


8:22 AM -- ROBBERS OF THE RANGE (1941)
Railroad agents frame a landowner who wont sell out to them.
Dir: Edward Killy
Cast: Tim Holt, Virginia Vale, Ray Whitley
BW-62 mins, CC,

Virginia Vale, who was female lead in most of George O'Brien's RKO westerns, makes her only Tim Holt western appearance here.


9:30 AM -- TAILSPIN TOMMY IN THE GREAT AIR MYSTERY: CROSSED AND DOUBLE CROSSED (1935)
A 12-episode serial in which Tailspin Tommy evades volcanoes, anti-aircraft shells, and time bombs as he foils a plan by corrupt profiteers to steal an island's oil reserves.
Director: Ray Taylor
Stars: Clark Williams, Jean Rogers, Noah Beery Jr.
BW-20 mins,

Part eight.


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: THE HYP-NUT-TIST (1935)
Popeye takes Olive to a stage show of a hypnotist (Bluto).
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Seymour Kneitel (uncredited)
Cast: Gus Wickie, William Costello, William Pennell
BW-7 mins, CC,

Remade as A Balmy Swami (1949) (Short)


10:08 AM -- TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE (1959)
The jungle king pursues four criminals out to exploit a diamond mine.
Dir: John Guillermin
Cast: Gordon Scott, Anthony Quayle, Sara Shane
C-87 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Sean Connery was paid $5,600 for his role in this movie. When asked to play in the next Tarzan movie, he said he couldn't because "two fellows took an option on me for some spy picture and are exercising it. But I'll be in your next." The "spy picture" was Dr. No (1962).


11:45 AM -- HARRY WARREN: AMERICA'S FOREMOST COMPOSER (1933)
In this short film, songwriter Harry Warren performs a number of his own compositions, such as "Forty-Second Street" and "You're My Everything." Vitaphone Release 1544.
Dir: Ray McCarey
BW-9 mins,

The soundtrack includes Young and Healthy (1932) with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin, I Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a Five and Ten Cent Store) (1931) with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Mort Dixon and Billy Rose, Have a Little Faith in Me (1929) with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Sam Lewis and Joe Young, Ooh, That Kiss (1931) with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Mort Dixon and Joe Young, Cheerful Little Earful (1930) with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Billy Rose, Would You Like to Take a Walk? (1930) with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Mort Dixon and Billy Rose, Cryin' for the Carolines (1929) with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Sam Lewis and Joe Young, You're My Everything (1931) with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Mort Dixon and Joe Young, Shadow Waltz (1933) with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin, and Forty-Second Street (1932) with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin.


12:00 PM -- VALLEY OF THE SUN (1942)
A government spy goes after a crooked Indian agent in Arizona.
Dir: George Marshall
Cast: Lucille Ball, James Craig, Sir Cedric Hardwicke
BW-78 mins, CC,

Also listed as cast members: "Indians from the pueblos of Taos, Santa Clara, Jemes, San Juan and Tesuque".


1:30 PM -- COWBOY (1958)
Real-life writer Frank Harris signs on as a ranch hand and learns the ropes from an experienced cowboy.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Glenn Ford, Jack Lemmon, Anna Kashfi
C-92 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- William A. Lyon and Al Clark

The script is based on the memoirs of Frank Harris, chronicling his first trial drive as a greenhorn from Chicago. Born in Ireland in 1856 of Welsh parents, Harris became a noted writer as well as a friend and confidante of the elite literati of his day including fellow Irishmen Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, and George Bernard Shaw in addition to Guy de Maupassant, Matthew Arnold, Aleister Cowley, and James Thurber. His varied career includes credits as a reporter (during the Boer War), editor (of the London Evening News), publisher, short story writer, novelist, playwright, biographer (of Shaw and Wilde), and Shakesperean scholar. However, his only enduring fame comes from his controversial, sexually explicit memoir, "My Life and Loves."


3:15 PM -- BATTLE CRY (1955)
A group of Marines eagerly await deployment during World War II.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Van Heflin, Aldo Ray, Mona Freeman
C-148 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Max Steiner

Film debut of L.Q. Jones (billed under his real name of "Justus E. McQueen"; he took his character's name in this film as his real name after this film was released).


6:00 PM -- 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

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

Linda 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.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SEAN CONNERY ADVENTURES



8:00 PM -- ROBIN AND MARIAN (1976)
An aging Robin Hood comes home to resume his relationship with Maid Marian and his battles against the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Dir: Richard Lester
Cast: Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Shaw
C-107 mins, CC,

Audrey Hepburn was convinced to take the role of Marian, in part, from the insistence of her sons. Once her young sons learned that Sir Sean Connery had been cast as Robin Hood, they begged their mother to take the part, so she could act with "James Bond". She happily complied.


10:00 PM -- THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975)
Two con artists set out to take over a remote Asian land with a priceless golden treasure.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer
C-129 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted From Other Material -- John Huston and Gladys Hill, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Alexandre Trauner, Tony Inglis and Peter James, Best Costume Design -- Edith Head, and Best Film Editing -- Russell Lloyd

John Huston tried to launch the film version of "The Man Who Would Be King" many times before completing it. It was originally conceived as a vehicle for Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart in the fifties, and later as a vehicle for Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, then Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. When it was considered as a vehicle for Robert Redford and Paul Newman, Newman suggested Sir Sean Connery and Michael Caine.


12:15 AM -- DESPERATE (1947)
An innocent trucker takes it on the lam when he's accused of robbery.
Dir: Anthony Mann
Cast: Steve Brodie, Audrey Long, Raymond Burr
BW-73 mins, CC,

Raymond Burr's fourth film role. He became a film noir regular, usually playing a heavy.


2:00 AM -- SHIP OF FOOLS (1965)
Passengers on a steam ship in the '30s struggle with their tangled relations and the rise of Nazism.
Dir: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Vivien Leigh, Simone Signoret, Jose Ferrer
BW-149 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Ernest Laszlo, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Robert Clatworthy and Joseph Kish

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Oskar Werner, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Simone Signoret, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Michael Dunn, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Abby Mann, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Bill Thomas and Jean Louis, and Best Picture

Katharine Hepburn was first choice for the aging Southern belle, but because of Spencer Tracy's bad health she opted to continue to care for him, and she was replaced by Vivien Leigh. This became Leigh's final film before her death on July 8, 1967 at the age of 53.


4:45 AM -- 21 DAYS (1940)
After accidentally killing his mistress' husband, a man must decide whether to let another man hang for his crime.
Dir: Basil Dean
Cast: Vivien Leigh, Leslie Banks, Laurence Olivier
BW-75 mins, CC,

This movie was filmed in 1937 but released on January 7, 1940. William Dewhurst, who played the Lord Chief Justice, died on October 26, 1937. His only child, Paul, died in 1937 fighting in the Spanish Civil War, only a few months before William Dewhurst's demise.

I wonder if the release was scheduled to take advantage of Leigh's exploding stardom after Gone With The Wind (1939).