TCM Schedule for Saturday, March 20, 2021 -- TCM Spotlight: Spring Has Sprung

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in primetime, TCM may or may not be indulging in the Essentials again. I can't find anything scheduled online after January. That said, tonight's Spotlight celebrates the first day of spring. Or as my dad told me every spring:

Spring has sprung, the grass is riz.
I wonder where the birdies is.
Some folks say the bird is on the wing,
But isn't that absurd?
Everybody knows
The wing is on the bird!

Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Whistling in Brooklyn (1943)
1h 27m | Comedy | TV-G
A radio sleuth infiltrates the Brooklyn Dodgers to solve a murder.
Director: S. Sylvan Simon
Cast: Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, Jean Rogers

As the three are escaping the police and angry mobs and Carol realizes the cops are real, Chester says, "Ha! I dood it." That is a catchphrase of Red Skelton's radio (and later television) character, "The Mean Widdle Kid." The phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in April 1942, many newspapers used the phrase "Doolittle Dood It" as a headline. In 1943, Red Skelton made the movie I Dood It (1943).


8:00 AM -- The Cuckoo Clock (1950)
6m | Animation, Children, Comedy | TV-Y7
A cat, sick of a cuckoo, does his best to get rid of the clock.
Director: Tex Avery
Cast: William Hanna, Daws Butler

The William Hanna in the cast is animator/director/producer William Hanna, of Hanna-Barbera Productions, creators of Tom and Jerry, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, the Flintstones, and the Jetsons.


8:08 AM -- Pure Feud (1934)
9m | Comedy, Short | TV-G
Two siblings on vacation find themselves stuck between an odd family feud.
Director: Joseph Henabery
Cast: Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, Vicki Cummings

Debut of Will Wright, who specialized in playing crusty old codgers, rich skinflints, crooked small-town politicians and the like.


8:18 AM -- Cradle of a Nation (1947)
8m | Short, Documentary | TV-G
This visits the Commonwealth of Virginia and showcases some of its many historical sites.
Director: James H Smith
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick

Stops include Mount Vernon, Monticello, Robert E. Lee's birthplace, Charlottesville and the University of Virginia, Williamsburg, and other cities.


8:27 AM -- Sergeant Murphy (1938)
57m | Comedy | TV-G
A lowly private becomes attached to a trained military horse.
Director: B. Reeves Eason
Cast: Ronald Reagan, Mary Maguire, Donald Crisp

James Cagney was offered the lead in the movie, but turned it down. It was then offered to Ronald Reagan, who was a reserve officer in the U.S. Cavalry at the time.


9:30 AM -- The New Adventures of Tarzan: Death's Fireworks (1935)
25m | Action, Adventure | TV-G
Tarzan goes to Guatemala to find his lost friend and help discover hidden treasure.
Director: Edward Kull, Wilbur McGaugh
Cast: Frank Baker, Bruce Bennett, Ula Holt

Episode eleven of twelve.


10:00 AM -- Mess Production (1945)
5m | Animation, Children, Comedy | TV-PG
Olive the riveter rebuffs Bluto with a hot foot and gives Popeye the cold shoulder.
Director: Seymour Kneitel, Graham Place (uncredited)
Cast: Jackson Beck, Jack Mercer, Mae Questel

This short introduces a prettier-looking design for Olive Oyl, which has phased out the original Segar design for the remainder of the Paramount/Famous Studios-produced Popeye cartoons.


10:08 AM -- The Garden Murder Case (1936)
1h 2m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
Society sleuth Philo Vance suspects dirty doings behind a mysterious series of suicides.
Director: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: Edmund Lowe, Virginia Bruce, Benita Hume

In the beginning of the movie, the music used in the background is from MGMs 1935 A Night At The Opera, the Marx Bros. hit movie. Obviously, the studio owned the rights to the music and saved money by using it in the background.


11:30 AM -- Smoked Hams (1934)
18m | Short, Comedy | TV-G
A vaudeville team convinces an agent to book their new act, which uses a Civil War theme.
Director: Lloyd French
Cast: Donald Macbride, Daphne Pollard, Shemp Howard

Shemp Howard, born Samuel Horwitz, was the older brother of Moe Howard and Curly Howard. Shemp was a member of what would become The Three Stooges until 1933, when he was replaced by his brother Curly until 1946. Shemp rejoined the team following Curly's debilitating stroke.


12:00 PM -- King Solomon's Mines (1937)
1h 20m | Adventure | TV-G
African explorers enlist an exiled native chief to help them find a legendary treasure.
Director: Robert Stevenson
Cast: Paul Robeson, Cedric Hardwicke, Roland Young

The film was thought lost for years. It was believed the negative was ceded to MGM when the studio acquired remake rights in 1950. When MGM denied it, it was believed to have been assigned to Pinewood Lake on the studio's property, a watery grave that contains cans and reels of unstable nitrate films. When it did turn up, it was in Rank's Pinewood vaults.


1:30 PM -- Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
1h 21m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A one-armed veteran uncovers small-town secrets when he tries to visit an Asian-American war hero's family.
Director: John Sturges
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy, Best Director -- John Sturges, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Millard Kaufman

It was decided that the film would have no music score, only ambient sounds--clock chimes, prairie winds, etc.--a method that had been employed on MGM's Executive Suite (1954). Dore Schary described the vision in his autobiography: "First the quiet speck of a station in the heart of desolation. A wind blowing, a yowl of coyote, the far-off-horn of a diesel engine, then the roar of the train. The music department hated me."


3:00 PM -- Hearts of the West (1975)
1h 43m | Western | TV-14
An aspiring western novelist in thirties Hollywood becomes a low-budget cowboy star.
Director: Howard Zieff
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Andy Griffith, Donald Pleasence

Star Trek fans will recognize the Vasquez Rocks, pivotal in the Trek episode "Arena", where Captain Kirk battles the reptilian Gorn. Also seen in another episode, "Friday's Child", and in the Star Trek: Picard episode The End Is The Beginning.


5:00 PM -- Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
2h 40m | Drama | TV-PG
A small-town lawyer gets the case of a lifetime when a military man avenges an attack on his wife.
Director: Otto Preminger
Cast: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Stewart, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Arthur O'Connell, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George C. Scott, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Wendell Mayes, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Sam Leavitt, Best Film Editing -- Louis R. Loeffler, and Best Picture

Otto Preminger originally wanted Lee Remick for the part of Laura because he had been impressed with her debut in A Face in the Crowd (1957) and knew that she could play a young sultry woman (even though she was eight months pregnant when Preminger approached her for the role). A few weeks later he called to tell her that he had given the part to Lana Turner and instead offered her the smaller role of Mary Pilant, but Remick boldly refused. Later, on an especially hectic day she received a call saying that she did indeed have the part of Laura because Turner turned it down, she thought it was a joke and hung up. It took another phone call to convince her.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- SPRING HAS SPRUNG



8:00 PM -- Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939)
1h 25m | Comedy | TV-G
Attractive dramatics teacher Gilbert becomes the center of innocent Andy's busy world.
Director: W. S. Van Dyke Ii
Cast: Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker

The seventh of sixteen Andy Hardy films starring Mickey Rooney.


9:45 PM -- A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970)
1h 40m | Romance
When her husband moves them to a small farming town, a woman falls in love with a married neighbor.
Director: Guy Green, Phil Parslow
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Ingrid Bergman, Fritz Weaver

Bruce Lee was fight choreographer for this film.


11:45 PM -- Springtime in the Netherlands (1951)
8m | Short, Documentary | TV-G
This short film explores the customs and traditions of rural Holland.
Director: Ralph Donaldson
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick


12:00 AM -- The Third Man (1949)
1h 33m | Drama | TV-14
A man's investigation of a friend's death uncovers corruption in post-World War II Vienna.
Director: Carol Reed
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles

Winner of an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Krasker

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Carol Reed, and Best Film Editing -- Oswald Hafenrichter

The huge Ferris wheel that Martins and Lime ride on in the Prater was erected in 1897. Sigmund Freud claimed to have used it to induce seasickness in patients whilst experimenting with cocaine as a treatment.


2:00 AM -- The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)
1h 44m | Drama | TV-G
A fading stage star gets caught up in the decadent life of modern Rome when she hires a male companion.
Director: José Quintero, Peter Yates
Cast: Vivien Leigh, Warren Beatty, Lotte Lenya

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lotte Lenya

Warren Beatty beat out John Cassavetes, Anthony Newley, Jeffrey Hunter, Ben Gazzara, James Darren, John Saxon, George Hamilton, Fabian, and Frankie Avalon for the role of Paolo.


4:00 AM -- Late Spring (1949)
1h 47m | Drama | TV-G
A spinster makes a change in her life with the help of her sister.
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Cast: Chishû Ryû, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka

The film was written and shot during the Allied Powers' Occupation of Japan.

[elleng]

1. Birdies HERE!

[Staph]

2. Irish birdies, no doubt!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

[elleng]

3. Thanks, Staph; backatcha.

The bufflehead is a small sea duck of the genus Bucephala, the goldeneyes. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Anas albeola. Wikipedia