TCM Schedule for Friday, July 27 -- What's On Tonight: Tricky Dick

[Staph]

Today, TCM is going to the dogs . . . and the parrots and other sorts of animals. And in prime time, TCM is featuring films about comic strip detective Dick Tracy, beginning with Warren Beatty's turn as the detective in 1990. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- The Case of the Howling Dog (1934)
74 min, TV-PG
Perry Mason gets caught between feuding neighbors who claim to be married to the same woman.
Dir: Alan Crosland
Cast: Warren William, Mary Astor, Allen Jenkins

First time the character Perry Mason ever appeared on film.


7:30 AM -- A Dog of Flanders (1935)
72 min, TV-G
A Belgian boy nurses a stray dog back to health.
Dir: Edward Sloman
Cast: Frankie Thomas, O. P. Heggie, Helen Parrish

One of at least seven films made of the novel by Ouida (Maria Louise Ramé).


8:45 AM -- The Voice Of Bugle Ann (1936)
72 min, TV-G
A Missouri farmer's love for his hunting dog triggers a feud that divides the county.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Eric Linden

"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on July 30, 1945 with Lionel Barrymore reprising his film role.


10:00 AM -- Breakfast for Two (1937)
68 min, TV-G
A Texas heiress competes with a gold digger for the love of a playboy.
Dir: Alfred Santell
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Herbert Marshall, Glenda Farrell

Based on the story "A Love Like That", by David Garth.


11:15 AM -- Go Chase Yourself (1938)
70 min, TV-G
A bank teller gets mixed up with crooks.
Dir: Edward F. Cline
Cast: Joe Penner, Lucille Ball, Richard Lane

No character names are credited with the cast list; Joe Penner's surname is spelled both as "Meeley" and "Meely" within the film.


12:30 PM -- Bad Little Angel (1939)
72 min, TV-G
An orphan on the run tries to find a new home.
Dir: William Thiele
Cast: Virginia Weidler, Gene Reynolds, Guy Kibbee

Rex, the dog in this movie, was the same dog who played Toto in The Wizard of Oz.


2:00 PM -- The Ghost Comes Home (1940)
79 min, TV-G
A man who's presumed dead returns to his family.
Dir: William Thiele
Cast: Frank Morgan, Billie Burke, Ann Rutherford

A great amount of footage of Pookey the Parrot had to be removed because he imitated the "Cut!" command of director Wilhelm Thiele and often screamed it in the middle of a scene.


3:30 PM -- I'll Wait For You (1941)
73 min, TV-G
A wounded gangster's recuperation on a remote farm leads to love.
Dir: Robert B. Sinclair
Cast: Robert Sterling, Marsha Hunt, Virginia Weidler

Remake of Hide-Out (1934) starring Robert Montgomery and Maureen O'Sullivan.


5:00 PM -- The Big Street (1942)
89 min, TV-G
A nightclub waiter, who's in love with a selfish showgirl, gets to prove his love when she's injured.
Dir: Irving Reis
Cast: Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Barton MacLane

Based on a story by Damon Runyon.


6:30 PM -- Around The World (1943)
79 min, TV-G
Kay Kyser and his Kollege of Musical Knowledge entertain the troops overseas.
Dir: Allan Dwan
Cast: Kay Kyser, Mischa Auer, Joan Davis

Joan Davis encounters a sulphur-crested cockatoo in the streets of Cairo. Cockatoos are native to Australia and some islands to its north, and are not found in Africa.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TRICKY DICK


8:00 PM -- Dick Tracy (1990)
C-105 min, TV-14
The intrepid comic strip detective fights off a ruthless gangster and his seductive girlfriend.
Dir: Warren Beatty
Cast: Warren Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Richard Sylbert and Rick Simpson, Best Makeup -- John Caglione Jr. and Doug Drexler, and Best Music, Original Song -- Stephen Sondheim for the song "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)"

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Al Pacino, Best Cinematography -- Vittorio Storaro, Best Costume Design -- Milena Canonero, and Best Sound -- Thomas Causey, Chris Jenkins, David E. Campbell and Doug Hemphill

The main colors in the film are the six that the original comic strip appeared in: red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, plus black and white.


9:55 PM -- Dick Tracy Special (2009)
C-30 min, TV-PG
Leonard Maltin interviews Warren Beatty as Dick Tracy, while film clips trace the history of the comic strip detective.


10:30 PM -- Dick Tracy (1945)
61 min, TV-PG
Dick is faced with a series of murders in which the victims all come from different social and economic backgrounds.
Dir: William Berke
Cast: Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Mike Mazurki

The first of four classic Dick Tracy movies.


11:45 PM -- Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball (1946)
62 min, TV-PG
A police detective uses his girlfriend to track down a homicidal maniac.
Dir: Gordon M. Douglas
Cast: Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Lyle Latell

Ian Keith as "Vitamin Flintheart" is doing a wicked but devastatingly accurate impersonation of John Barrymore.


1:00 AM -- Dick Tracy's Dilemma (1947)
60 min, TV-PG
Dick Tracy takes on "The Claw" in this crime thriller
Dir: John Rawlins
Cast: Ralph Byrd, Lyle Latell, Kay Christopher

Ralph Byrd, who had previously played Dick Tracy in four serials Republic produced in the late '30s and early 40's, was hired to replace Morgan Conway because, after the two previous films (Dick Tracy and Dick Tracy vs. Cueball), exhibitors complained. To them, Byrd was Dick Tracy, and only Byrd would do. RKO accepted this and hired him to finish the series. Unfortunately for Byrd, because of this he spent his career typecast as Dick Tracy.


2:15 AM -- The Gamma People (1956)
79 min, TV-PG
A mad scientist uses gamma rays to turn the country's youth into either geniuses or subhumans at the bidding of an equally mad dictator.
Dir: John Gilling
Cast: Paul Douglas, Eva Bartok, Leslie Phillips

Based on a story by Robert Aldrich, who went on to direct 37 films, including What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) and The Dirty Dozen (1967).


3:45 AM -- The Wild, Wild Planet (1965)
C-94 min, TV-14
Space amazons control the Earth by shrinking its leaders.
Dir: Anthony Dawson
Cast: Tony Russel, Lisa Gastoni, Massimo Serato

While filming, a crack in the pool while filled with "blood" originated a leak, so people in the neighborhood suddenly saw blood-like red-colored water coming out from their taps.


5:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #28 (1955)
26 min, TV-G
Walter Pidgeon introduces Part Two of "Captains Courageous" and interviews Robby the Robot from "Forbidden Planet."