TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 2, 2013 -- What's On Tonight -- Late King Vidor

[Staph]

In prime time this evening, TCM is featuring four films from the later years of the career of director King Vidor. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Son Of India (1931)
A rajah's son falls for an American girl touring India.
Dir: Jacques Feyder
Cast: Ramon Novarro, Conrad Nagel, Marjorie Rambeau
73 min, TV-PG

Adapted from the book Mr. Isaacs by Francis Marion Crawford.


7:15 AM -- The Mystery Of Mr. X (1934)
A sophisticated jewel thief tries to prove himself innocent of a string of cop murders.
Dir: Edgar Selwyn
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Elizabeth Allen, Lewis Stone
84 min, TV-PG

Philip MacDonald's novel was first published in London as "X v. Rex" using his pseudonym, Martin Porlock. It was published in America as "The Mystery of the Dead Police" under his real name.


9:00 AM -- I Am A Thief (1935)
A man dodges jewel thieves while carrying a fortune in diamonds on the Orient Express.
Dir: Robert Florey
Cast: Mary Astor, Ricardo Cortez, Dudley Digges
64 min, TV-G

Based on a story by Ralph Block and Doris Malloy.


10:15 AM -- The Case of the Black Cat (1936)
Perry Mason looks into a trio of murders heralded by the shriek of a cat.
Dir: William McGann
Cast: Ricardo Cortez, June Travis, Jane Bryan
66 min, TV-PG

Director Alan Crosland died in an auto accident during filming, and was replaced by William C. McGann.


11:30 AM -- Married Before Breakfast (1937)
A madcap inventor tries to market a razor-less shaving cream.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: Robert Young, Florence Rice, June Clayworth
71 min, TV-G

From a story by Harry Ruskin.


12:45 PM -- Double Danger (1938)
A jewel thief faces surprising competition when he tries to rob the police commissioner's home.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: Preston Foster, Whitney Bourne, Donald Meek
62 min, TV-G

From a story by Arthur T. Horman.


2:00 PM -- The Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Dir: John Brahm
Cast: Laraine Day, Brian Aherne, Robert Mitchum
85 min, TV-PG

The set used in this film for the house of Mrs. Willis (Katherine Emery) is the same one used for the house of Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains) in Notorious.


3:30 PM -- Macao (1952)
A man on the run in the Far East is mistaken for an undercover cop.
Dir: Josef von Sternberg
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, William Bendix
81 min, TV-PG

Gloria Grahame did not want to be in this movie; Howard Hughes admitted that he never saw her previous performance opposite Humphrey Bogart in the film In a Lonely Place, which is today unanimously considered among her finest performances. When Grahame asked to be loaned out to make George Stevens's A Place in the Sun, Hughes turned down her request and forced her to make this movie (she reportedly dryly told her then-husband and uncredited director Nicholas Ray, who she was in the process of divorcing, that she wouldn't ask for alimony if he could get her out of this movie). Grahame later stated that she intentionally over-acted out of hatred for Hughes.


5:00 PM -- The Great Diamond Robbery (1954)
A diamond cutter unwittingly helps a jewel thief.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Red Skelton, Cara Williams, James Whitmore
70 min, TV-PG

This was Skelton's last film for MGM. He had been under contract with the studio since 1940.


6:15 PM -- Moonfleet (1955)
A British buccaneer is torn between three seductive women.
Dir: Fritz Lang
Cast: Stewart Granger, George Sanders, Joan Greenwood
C-87 min, TV-PG

This film was simultaneously produced in two different versions. A CinemaScope version which has an aspect ratio of 2.55:1, and a spherical (non-CinemaScope) version intended to be matted during projection to a 1.75:1 aspect ratio.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: LATE KING VIDOR



8:00 PM -- Duel In The Sun (1946)
A fiery half-breed comes between a rancher's good and evil sons.
Dir: King Vidor
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck
C-144 min, TV-14

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jennifer Jones, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lillian Gish

David O. Selznick had originally intended this property as his artistic follow-up to Gone with the Wind. He envisioned a lavish production with no expense spared, and ultimately he got his wish. Constant production delays, many caused by Selznick's meddling and the hiring and firing of as many as seven directors (including Selznick himself), as well as an extended editing period to cut the film from its original 26-hour running time, caused the budget to balloon to a then-horrifying sum of $6 million, plus an additional $2 million in marketing costs. Though the film eventually did turn a profit, it effectively marked the end of Selznick's career. However, he went on to produce prestige films such as The Paradine Case, Portrait of Jennie, The Third Man and A Farewell to Arms.


10:30 PM -- Ruby Gentry (1952)
A tempestuous girl from the swamps ignites passions when she moves into the business world.
Dir: King Vidor
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Charlton Heston, Karl Malden
83 min, TV-14

The swamp background noise, instead of being North Carolina wildlife, is jungle noises - perhaps the same sound clip from Cape Fear with Gregory Peck. Both were to have taken place in the swamps of North Carolina, yet both sounded like something out of Tarzan.


12:00 AM -- Lightning Strikes Twice (1951)
An actress champions the cause of a man whom she believes has been falsely accused of murdering his wife.
Dir: King Vidor
Cast: Ruth Roman, Richard Todd, Mercedes McCambridge
90 min, TV-PG

Based on the novel A Man Without Friends by Margaret Echard.


1:45 AM -- An American Romance (1944)
A European immigrant becomes a master of industry but almost loses his family.
Dir: King Vidor
Cast: Brian Donlevy, Ann Richards, Walter Abel
C-121 min, TV-G

After the world premiere in Cincinnati, Ohio, the New York Office of M-G-M ordered 30 minutes to be cut from the film, since exhibitors complained about its length. In his autobiography, King Vidor says he expected the cuts to come out of the documentary footage in the film, but that footage was already wedded to the music. So the cuts came out of the dramatic portions. Many of the actors listed in the cast may not be seen in the 121-minute cut version which Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has shown.


4:00 AM -- Comrade X (1940)
An American warms up an icy Russian streetcar conductor.
Dir: King Vidor
Cast: Clark Gable, Hedy Lamarr, Oscar Homolka
90 min, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Walter Reisch

At the time this film was released, in 1940, World War II had already begun in Europe, but the Soviet Union still had a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany. In the film, Mac is able to fool a character by pretending to hear news that Germany has broken the pact and launched an invasion of the USSR. Of course, that's exactly what happened the very next year when Germany launched Operation Barbarossa in summer 1941.


5:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #19 (1955)
Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly perform in a clip from "Ziegfeld Follies"; George Murphy introduces a clip from "Ransom." Hosted by George Murphy.
25 min, TV-G

[CBHagman]

1. As always, great stories...

...with the one for Comrade X being today's jaw-dropper.