TCM Schedule for Thursday, December 13, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: Star of the Month Dick Powell

[Staph]

During most of the daylight hours, it's a birthday celebration for Van Heflin, born Emmett Evan Heflin Jr. on December 13, 1908, in Walters, Oklahoma. Heflin started as a leading man, then transitioned to character actor in the 1950s. Heflin once said, 'Louis B. Mayer once looked at me and said, "You will never get the girl at the end". So I worked on my acting.' Then in the late afternoon and in prime time, TCM is continuing the films of Star of the Month Dick Powell. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #18 (1955)
Greta Garbo and John Barrymore perform in a clip from "Grand Hotel"; Roger Moore introduces a clip from "Diane." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-29 mins,


6:30 AM -- PATTERNS (1956)
A replacement in a large corporation encounters loyalty and power struggles.
Dir: Fielder Cook
Cast: Van Heflin, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley
BW-84 mins,

Based on a teleplay by Rod Serling that ran on "Kraft Television Theatre" (1947) in January 1955. It featured several of the same actors that would appear in the movie, including Everett Sloane and Ed Begley. However the part of Fred Staples, the lead, was originated by Richard Kiley and played in the film by Van Heflin.


8:00 AM -- THE PROWLER (1951)
A policeman's obsession with a married woman leads to murder.
Dir: Joseph Losey
Cast: Van Heflin, Evelyn Keyes, John Maxwell
BW-93 mins, CC,

Novelist James Ellroy ("L.A. Confidential", "The Black Dahlia" ) once called this his favorite film and described it as "a masterpiece of sexual creepiness, institutional corruption and suffocating, ugly passion."


10:00 AM -- ACT OF VIOLENCE (1949)
An embittered veteran tracks down a POW camp informer.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh
BW-82 mins, CC,

All the credits except for the title are at the end of the movie, highly unusual for that time.


11:30 AM -- TENNESSEE JOHNSON (1942)
Biography of Andrew Johnson, who followed Abraham Lincoln into office and became the first U.S. president ever to be impeached.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Van Heflin, Lionel Barrymore, Ruth Hussey
BW-103 mins, CC,

Van Heflin suffered from appendicitis during filming. The production filmed around him and his illness did not cause a delay in production.


1:30 PM -- HAPPINESS AHEAD (1934)
An heiress falls for a singing window washer.
Dir: Mervyn Le Roy
Cast: Dick Powell, Josephine Hutchinson, John Halliday
BW-86 mins, CC,

According to the Hollywood Reporter's April 22, 1935 issue, the Acme Window Cleaning Co. sued Warner Brothers for the use of the names Acme Window Cleaning Co. and Peerless Window Cleaning Co. Because the Acme company in the film was portrayed as unscrupulous, the real Acme Co. asked $100,000 in damages. The outcome of the suit has not been determined.


3:00 PM -- TWENTY MILLION SWEETHEARTS (1934)
A promoter neglects his wife to make a singer a radio star.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers
BW-90 mins, CC,

Screenwriter Julius J. Epstein first arrived in Hollywood about 10:30 p.m. on October 14, 1933 and by midnight was collaborating on the screenplay of "Twenty Million Sweethearts" as pages had to be turned in early Monday morning.


4:45 PM -- PAGE MISS GLORY (1935)
A con artist creates a composite photo to win a beauty contest, then has to find the real thing.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Marion Davies, Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell
BW-93 mins, CC,

The first of four films Marion Davies starred in at Warners after leaving MGM, where she had been under contract for a decade.


6:30 PM -- HEARTS DIVIDED (1936)
Napoleon's younger brother falls for a girl from Baltimore.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Marion Davies, Dick Powell, Charles Ruggles
BW-76 mins, CC,

Dick Powell was cast at the request of Marion Davies.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: DICK POWELL



8:00 PM -- SHIPMATES FOREVER (1935)
An admiral's son gives up the Navy for a career as a song-and-dance man.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Lewis Stone
BW-109 mins, CC,

Remade as On Dress Parade (1939). It follows the plot of the earlier Dick Powell musical vehicle closely, but without the music or romantic interests and with enough twists to make it worth watching for its own sake.


10:00 PM -- FLIRTATION WALK (1934)
A West Point cadet falls for his commanding officer's daughter.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Pat O'Brien
BW-98 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (sound director), and Best Picture

Bobby Connolly, the "ensembles director", shot the Hawaiian number on the biggest set ever constructed at Warner Bros. studio up to that time. He followed with the military wedding number, using 400 professional dancers.


12:00 AM -- COLLEEN (1936)
An eccentric millionaire hires a gold digger to run his business.
Dir: Alfred E. Green
Cast: Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Jack Oakie
BW-90 mins, CC,

Seventh of eleven feature films starring Joan Blondell and Dick Powell released from 1931 to 1941. They would be married from 1936-1944.


1:45 AM -- DAMES (1934)
A reformer's daughter wins the lead in a scandalous Broadway show.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler
BW-91 mins, CC,

In the "Dames" number, Dick Powell as a Broadway producer doesn't want to see composer George Gershwin, but when asked by his secretary about seeing Miss Dubin, Miss Warren and Miss Kelly, he lets them enter his office. This is an inside joke, referring to Al Dubin and Harry Warren, who wrote the music for this film, and Orry-Kelly, who was the costume designer.


3:30 AM -- STAGE STRUCK (1936)
Broadway hopefuls put on a show.
Dir: Busby Berkeley
Cast: Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Warren William
BW-92 mins, CC,

When Dick Powell's doctor ordered him to rest his throat, Warner Bros. considered replacing him with Rudy Vallee.


5:15 AM -- BROADWAY GONDOLIER (1935)
A taxi driver travels to Venice and poses as a gondolier to land a radio singing job.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Adolph Menjou
BW-99 mins, CC,

When Dick Powell gives an Italian the Fascist salute, he undermines it by saying, "L'chaim!"--"To your health" in Yiddish.