TCM Schedule for Friday, October 19, 2018 -- What's On Tonight -- Directed by Gerald Thomas

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is checking out death row. Then in prime time, TCM is celebrating director Gerald Thomas. He was one of the creators and the only director of the Carry On films, 31 classic British comedy motion pictures (1958–92), four Christmas specials, a television series of thirteen episodes, and three West End and provincial stage plays. The films' humour was in the British comic tradition of the music hall and bawdy seaside postcards. Producer Peter Rogers and director Gerald Thomas drew on a regular group of actors, the Carry On team, that included Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth, Hattie Jacques, Terry Scott, Bernard Bresslaw, Barbara Windsor, Jack Douglas, and Jim Dale. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- YOU CAN'T GET AWAY WITH MURDER (1939)
A young tough takes the rap for a hardened gangster.
Dir: Lewis Seiler
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Billy Halop
BW-79 mins, CC,

The original play opened in New York on 26 March 1937.


7:30 AM -- THE MAN WHO TALKED TOO MUCH (1940)
A defense lawyer sets out to topple a powerful gangster.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: George Brent, Virginia Bruce, Brenda Marshall
BW-76 mins,

Another film based on a fictionalized account of the life and legend of lawyer William Fallon, the famous Great Mouthpiece of the roaring 20s.


9:00 AM -- THE MURDER MAN (1935)
A hard-drinking reporter specializes in murder cases, until he becomes a suspect in one himself.
Dir: Tim Whelan
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Virginia Bruce, Lionel Atwill
BW-69 mins, CC,

James Stewart spoke his first movie line in this film: "Hi, Joe." And this film marks the first for Spencer Tracy under MGM contract. He would remain at MGM for the next 20 years.


10:15 AM -- STRANGE JUSTICE (1932)
A crooked banker and his assistant devise a scheme to frame an ex-con for their crime.
Dir: Victor Schertzinger
Cast: Marian Marsh, Reginald Denny, Richard Bennett
BW-64 mins,

A print of this film survives in the UCLA Film and Television archives.


11:30 AM -- THE LAST MILE (1932)
An innocent man sent to death row gets caught in a prison riot.
Dir: Sam Bischoff
Cast: Howard Phillips, Preston S. Foster, George E. Stone
BW-69 mins,

The Broadway play of the same name upon which this film is based opened at the Sam H. Harris Theatre, 226 W. 42nd St. on February 13, 1930 and ran for 289 performances until October. Spencer Tracy played the lead role of John Mears. Clark Gable also played the role in later productions. Both actors were brought to the attention of Hollywood because of their involvement with this play.


12:45 PM -- TWO SECONDS (1932)
In the last moments of his life, a criminal reviews the circumstances that led him to death row.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Vivienne Osborne, Guy Kibbee
BW-67 mins, CC,

In the film, Bud refers so a "Peggy Joyce" twice when talking to John about setting him up with dates. He is referring to Peggy Hopkins Joyce, a well-known actress, model, and dancer at the time, who had already married and divorced four (eventually six) wealthy men and led a lavish and scandalous lifestyle. At one point in 1928 she was so wealthy that she purchased the 127 ct. Portuguese Diamond for $373,000 ($5.3M in 2017). The diamond is now in the Smithsonian's National Gem Collection.


2:00 PM -- ARE THESE OUR CHILDREN? (1931)
Authorities try to figure out how a young man from a good background ended up on death row.
Dir: Wesley Ruggles
Cast: Eric Linden, Beryl Mercer, Billy Butts
BW-84 mins,

RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. was refused a certificate from the Hays Office for the film's re-release in 1937, when the production code was more rigorously enforced. The wild behavior of the high-school students was deemed against the code.


3:30 PM -- TIME WITHOUT PITY (1957)
A father comes to the aid of his son who is on Death Row.
Dir: Joseph Losey
Cast: Michael Redgrave, Ann Todd, Leo McKern
BW-85 mins, CC,

This was the last film Peter Cushing made before gaining screen stardom in Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957).


5:00 PM -- BACK IN CIRCULATION (1937)
A reporter tries to win her editor's heart by solving a murder case.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Joan Blondell, Margaret Lindsay
BW-81 mins, CC,

The opening train wreck was done using pre-WWII O gauge Lionel trains and 1:48 scale signals.


6:30 PM -- YOU CAN'T ESCAPE FOREVER (1942)
Although she's been demoted to writing the advice column, a newspaper woman still tries to expose a racketeer.
Dir: Jo Graham
Cast: George Brent, Brenda Marshall, Gene Lockhart
BW-78 mins, CC,

When George Brent runs into Charles Halton, whose character is called Gates, he says, "Greetings, Gates." This is a play on "Greetings, gate," a hipster phrase of the time, which Brent is obviously saying to annoy Gates, who is very old-fashioned and fussy.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: DIRECTED BY GERALD THOMAS



8:00 PM -- CARRY ON SCREAMING! (1966)
A clueless police detective tries to stop a mad scientist.
Dir: Gerald Thomas
Cast: Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Harry H. Corbett
C-97 mins, CC,

It is likely that the character name Doctor Watt was a play on Doctor Who (1963). Doctor Watt actually says "Who is my uncle or was, I haven't seen him for years I don't know what happened to him". Ironically, Jon Pertwee, who plays Doctor Fettle in the movie, later went on to become the third Doctor Who a few years later.


10:00 PM -- NURSE ON WHEELS (1963)
Quietly competent young Joanna moves with her scatterbrain mother to a country village to take up her first job as District Nurse.
Dir: Gerald Thomas
Cast: Juliet Mills, Ronald Lewis, Joan Sims
BW-86 mins,

Joan Sims was originally cast in the title role but put on weight before production started causing producer Peter Rogers to recast but offered Joan any other role for the same top billing salary and she chose the part of Deborah, the vicar's daughter.


11:45 PM -- RAISING THE WIND (1961)
A group of students at an elite music school decide to share a flat in order to cut their living costs and have somewhere to practice together.
Dir: Gerald Thomas
Cast: James Robertson Justice, Leslie Phillips, Sidney James
BW-91 mins,

The conductor's joke about the girl's harp sounding like skeletons making love on a tin roof is actually a paraphrase of a quip from famed British conductor Thomas Beecham, who described the sound of the harpsichord (NOT harp) as being like "skeletons copulating on a tin roof."


1:30 AM -- SING SISTER SING (1935)
In this comedic short, Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly move into an apartment... and end up driving each other crazy!
Dir: James Parrott
Cast: Thelma Todd, Patsy Kelly, Arthur Housman
BW-20 mins,


2:00 AM -- DREAMSCAPE (1984)
A psychic tries to thwart a plot to control the U.S. president through his dreams.
Dir: Joseph Ruben
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Max von Sydow, Christopher Plummer
C-99 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Dennis Quaid was the first and only choice for Alex Gardner, after the producers loved his dedication for the role and the project during its pre-production stage.


3:45 AM -- DEAD SLEEP (1990)
Young nurse investigates suspicious deaths in a psychiatric ward.
Dir: Alec Mills
Cast: Linda Blair, Tony Bonner, Sueyan Cox
BW-90 mins, CC,

This film is considered an "Ozploitation" (Australian exploitation) picture.


5:30 AM -- SHAKE HANDS WITH DANGER (1970)
Short safety film about dangers associated with earthmoving equipment operation, showing many simulated accidents on construction sites.
C-23 mins,