TCM Schedule for Saturday, December 1, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: Christmas Classics

[Staph]

Tonight, TCM's non-essential Essentials begins the month of December with classic Christmas films, every Saturday and Sunday night. Take it away, Roger!

Join TCM in this holiday month for a celebration of all your favorite things about Christmas movies, including crackling fires, candy canes, tinsel-laden trees, carols and, of course, sparkling entertainment!

In primetime each Saturday and Sunday evening in December, we will present a double feature of specially selected Christmas classics. On the first two Sundays of the month, TCM prime host Ben Mankiewicz will sit with Jeremy Arnold, TCM writer and author of Turner Classic Movies: Christmas in the Movies: 30 Classics to Celebrate the Season (2018). The book, available through the TCM Shop, provides a history of the best and most beloved yuletide favorites over a period of eight decades.

Our Christmas Classics will introduce three TCM premieres that are new to our Christmas programming. Trail of Robin Hood (1950) is a Roy Rogers Western in which Roy foils a plot to poach Christmas trees and, with the Riders of the Purple Sage, sings a song called "Ev'ry Day is Christmas Day in the West." The Holly and the Ivy (1952) is a British drama starring Ralph Richardson as a clergyman whose neglect of his grown children creates tensions at a family gathering. Little Women (1994) is one of several film versions of the beloved Louisa May Alcott novel about Massachusetts sisters growing up during and after the Civil War. Gillian Armstrong directed this version, which stars Winona Ryder as Jo March.

Saturday and Sunday programming also includes holiday romances with such potent star combinations as Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in Remember the Night (1940); Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart in The Shop Around the Corner (1940); David Niven and Loretta Young (plus Cary Grant!) in The Bishop's Wife (1947); and Janet Leigh and Robert Mitchum in Holiday Affair (1949).

And, of course, no lineup of classic holiday films would be complete without Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Our Sunday programming features a British version that was released in the U.S. in 1951 after having been shown in Great Britain under the title Scrooge. Alistair Sim stars as the curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge, and critic A.O. Scott considered this as the best of all movie versions of the story.

by Roger Fristoe

Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Edison, the Man (1940)
Thomas Edison fights to turn his dreams into reality.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Rita Johnson, Lynne Overman
BW-107 mins

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Hugo Butler and Dore Schary

This was one of the films that Spencer Tracy really believed in and actively supported not because he starred in it, but because he was a great admirer of Thomas A. Edison. This was unusual as Tracy was known throughout most of his career to disparage his own gifts as well as the importance of motion pictures. Also, prior to this film Spencer Tracy had been a very active member of the "Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". He even hosted the awards show on at least one occasion. However when the nominations came out for the best films of 1940, Tracy was appalled that "Edison the Man" was so overlooked in the nominations. It was only nominated for best writing. Tracy swore he would never attend another academy award ceremony again. He never did. Not without irony is that although he was nominated another 6 times over the next 28 years, Tracy never won another Oscar after that after winning two in a row in the previous two years.


8:00 AM -- MGM Cartoons: Peace on Earth (1939)
Two curious squirrel children are told how mankind was ended by war.
Dir: Hugh Harman
Cast: Mel Blanc, The Hollywood Choir Boys
C-9 mins, CC

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Cartoons

Several of the animators who worked on this anti-war cartoon were veterans of World War One, and had experienced combat similar to that depicted in the film. In a darkly ironic note, they would be working on wartime propaganda cartoons two years later.


8:10 AM -- Let's Sing a Song from the Movies (1948)
In this short film, a compilation of musicals are shown and the audience is invited to sing along. Vitaphone Release 1607A.
Dir: Jack Scholl
Cast: The Melody Makers, Art Gilmore, Ethel Waters
BW-11 mins, CC

Features clips from The Silent Man (1917), On with the Show! (1929), Footlight Parade (1933), San Antonio (1945) and The Time, the Place and the Girl (1946).


8:21 AM -- Beautiful Banff and Lake Louise (1935)
This short film focuses on the majestic towns and landscapes of the Canadian Rockies.
Dir: Benjamin D. Sharpe
Cast: Donald Novis, James A. FitzPatrick
C-8 mins


8:30 AM -- Song of the Saddle (1936)
A cowboy sets out to avenge the murder of his father years ago.
Dir: Louis King
Cast: Dick Foran, Alma Lloyd, Charles Middleton
BW-58 mins

In the scene where henchman Gene Alsace poses as the Singing Kid, his singing voice is dubbed by Bob Nolan.


9:30 AM -- Mandrake, the Magician: Across the Deadline (1939)
The eighth installment of the Mandrake, the Magician series.
BW-30 mins


10:00 AM -- Popeye: Bridge Ahoy! (1936)
Popeye, Olive and Wimpy build a bridge that threatens Bluto's overpriced ferry business.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Seymour Kneitel (uncredited)
Cast: Lou Fleischer, Jack Mercer, Mae Questel
BW-7 mins

Notable as the first cartoon where Popeye eats more than one can of spinach.


10:08 AM -- The Penguin Pool Murder (1932)
A feisty school teacher sets out to solve a murder in an aquarium.
Dir: George Archainbaud
Cast: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Robert Armstrong
BW-65 mins

The first of three appearances by Edna May Oliver as Hildegarde Withers, the others being Murder on the Blackboard (1934) and Murder on a Honeymoon (1935). The series ground to a halt when Edna May Oliver left her RKO contract in 1935. The studio tried to continue the series with different actresses but audience interest was negligible and original novelist Stuart Palmer was not happy about this attempt at all.


11:30 AM -- The Luckiest Guy in the World (1946)
A man destroys his life through gambling debts and stealing company funds in this short film.
Dir: Joseph Newman
Cast: Barry Nelson, Eloise Hardt, Milton Kibbee
BW-21 mins, CC

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Two-reel -- Jerry Bresler

Released over a year after its predecessor, Purity Squad (1945), this was the final entry in the long and successful Crime Does Not Pay 2-reel series.


12:00 PM -- Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor
C-113 mins

Winner of a Juvenile Oscar Award for Margaret O'Brien for outstanding child actress of 1944

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe, Best Cinematography, Color -- George J. Folsey, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- George Stoll, and Best Music, Original Song -- Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin for the song "The Trolley Song"

The entire cast and crew were immediately impressed with Vincente Minnelli's attention to detail in every shot. He had consulted author Sally Benson on how the interiors of the Smith home should look, and she had provided a wealth of first-hand information. As a result, the look of each set was near perfection according to the time period. According to Mary Astor, "The only anachronisms were the girls' long-swinging hairdos. Girls 'put their hair up' as soon as they got out of pigtails, the first instant they were allowed to by reluctant parents. It was a symbol, like the first long pants for boys."


2:00 PM -- The Petrified Forest (1936)
An escaped convict holds the customers at a remote desert cantina hostage.
Dir: Archie L. Mayo
Cast: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin
BW-82 mins, CC

Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart had played the same roles in the stage version. Warner Bros. wanted to put Howard in the film but replace Bogart with Edward G. Robinson. Howard insisted on Bogart, sending a telegram to Jack L. Warner which read "Insist Bogart play Mantee; no Bogart, no deal." Bogart would later name his second child with Lauren Bacall Leslie, in honor of Howard, the man who gave him his first big break.


3:30 PM -- The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
War correspondent Ernie Pyle joins an Army platoon during World War II to learn what battle is really about.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: Burgess Meredith, Robert Mitchum, Freddie Steele
BW-109 mins, CC

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Robert Mitchum, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Leopold Atlas, Guy Endore and Philip Stevenson, Best Music, Original Song -- Ann Ronell for the song "Linda", and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Louis Applebaum and Ann Ronell

The extras in the film were real American GIs, in the process of being transferred from the war in Europe to the Pacific. Many of them were killed in the fighting on Okinawa - the same battle in which Ernie Pyle was killed by a Japanese machine gunner - never having seen the movie in which they appeared.


5:30 PM -- The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
Michelangelo fights censorship and an autocratic pope to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Dir: Carol Reed
Cast: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, Diane Cilento
C-139 mins, Letterbox Format, CC

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Leon Shamroy, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- John DeCuir, Jack Martin Smith and Dario Simoni, Best Costume Design, Color -- Vittorio Nino Novarese, Best Sound -- James Corcoran (20th Century-Fox SSD), and Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Alex North

The book on which this movie is based covers the entire life of Michaelangelo. This movie based on a single chapter. One of the shortest, if not the shortest, in the entire book.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: CHRISTMAS CLASSICS



8:00 PM -- Beyond Tomorrow (1940)
A ghost tries to smooth the way for two young lovers he knew during his lifetime.
Dir: A. Edward Sutherland
Cast: Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Winninger
BW-84 mins, CC

Based on a story by Adele Comandini (who also wrote the classic Christmas in Connecticut (1945), remade as a television movie under the same name in 1992)) and Mildred Crim (who wrote the story for Love Affair (1939), which was remade as An Affair To Remember (1957) and Love Affair (1994)).


9:45 PM -- The Bishop's Wife (1947)
An angel helps set an ambitious bishop on the right track.
Dir: Henry Koster
Cast: Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven
BW-109 mins

Winner of an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Henry Koster, Best Film Editing -- Monica Collingwood, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Hugo Friedhofer, and Best Picture

Originally Cary Grant played the bishop and David Niven the angel. When original director William A. Seiter left the film, Henry Koster replaced him and viewed what had been shot so far. He realized that the two were in the wrong roles. It took some convincing because Grant wanted the title role of the Bishop. He eventually accepted the change and his role as the angel was one of the most widely praised of his career.


12:00 AM -- Crack-Up (1946)
An art critic risks his reputation and his life to track down a forgery racket.
Dir: Irving Reis
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Claire Trevor, Herbert Marshall
BW-93 mins, CC

Set largely around Manhattan Museum, Lt. Cochrane warns Steele he's "liable to wind up in Bellevue!". This is a reference to another Manhattan institution, the Bellevue Hospital Center (the oldest public hospital in the United States, founded in 1736).


2:00 AM -- Magnum Force (1973)
A maverick San Francisco police detective hunts down a band of vigilante cops.
Dir: Ted Post
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Mitch Ryan
C-122 mins, Letterbox Format, CC

This film made Hal Holbrook a recognizable star. When he learned he had been cast in this film he was delighted. He later said that the reason was that, as this was the sequel to the highly popular Dirty Harry (1971), it meant that finally he would be in a movie that people would actually see.


4:00 AM -- The Ice Pirates (1984)
Two space pirates are dragooned into helping a princess find her father.
Dir: Stuart Raffill
Cast: Robert Urich, Mary Crosby, Michael D Roberts
C-94 mins, CC

The film was intended to be a serious sci-fi film with a $20 million budget, but MGM slashed the budget to $8 million and had the script rewritten as a comedy.