TCM Schedule for Friday, June 21, 2013 -- Friday Night Spotlight: Noir Writers

[Staph]

This month's Friday Spotlight is Noir Writers, and we've got a couple of the classics, including Double Indemnity (1944) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). And in the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating the twin birthdays of Judy Holliday (born Judith Tuvim on June 21, 1921, in New York City) and Jane Russell (born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell on June 21, 1921 in Bemidji, Minnesota). Enjoy!


6:30 AM -- Adam's Rib (1949)
Husband-and-wife lawyers argue opposite sides in a sensational women's rights case.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday
BW-101 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin

In her early monologue scene with Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday can be seen trembling. This was not acting, but nervousness. The inexperienced Judy Holliday was terrified of performing with Katharine Hepburn.

To help build up Judy Holliday's image, particularly in the eyes of Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn, Katharine Hepburn deliberately leaked stories to the gossip columns suggesting that her performance in Adam's Rib was so good that it had stolen the spotlight from Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. This got Cohn's attention and Holliday won the part in Born Yesterday.


8:15 AM -- Born Yesterday (1950)
A newspaper reporter takes on the task of educating a crooked businessman's girlfriend.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford, William Holden
BW-102 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Judy Holliday (Judy Holliday was not present at the awards ceremony. Ethel Barrymore accepted on her behalf.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Jean Louis, Best Director -- George Cukor, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Albert Mannheimer, and Best Picture

To help facilitate shooting, George Cukor decided to rehearse Born Yesterday as if it were still a stage play. For two weeks, the cast worked on their lines while a construction crew built a 300-seat mini-theater within one of the studio's sound-stages. It was there that Judy Holliday, William Holden and Broderick Crawford gave six performances in front of a live audience so that Cukor could precision-time the pacing of the film's jokes.


10:00 AM -- Bells Are Ringing (1960)
An answering service operator gets mixed up in her clients' lives.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Fred Clark
C-126 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- André Previn

Hal Linden's movie debut. He played the understudy for Sydney Chaplins' Jeffery Moss on Broadway and eventually performed the role with Judy Holliday. This was Holliday's last film.


12:15 PM -- The Outlaw (1943)
Billy the Kid and Doc Holliday fight over possession of a stallion and a sultry Mexican girl.
Dir: Howard Hughes
Cast: Jack Beutel, Thomas Mitchell, Jane Russell
BW-116 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Jane Russell got the role after a nationwide search by Howard Hughes for a busty actress. Once they'd found her, Hughes and his aircraft engineers designed a special cantilevered bra to enhance the appearance of her bust. She never wore it, but this movie was the reason the famous bra was designed.

In his book "Hollywood", Garson Kanin wrote that one day in New York, he and George S. Kaufman were walking down Broadway and counted five billboards with an alluring picture of Jane Russell advertising this film, prompting Kaufman to remark: "They ought to call it A Sale of Two Titties".


2:15 PM -- Young Widow (1946)
A young newspaperwoman tries to get over the loss of her husband in World War II.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: Jane Russell, Louis Hayward, Faith Domergue
BW-99 mins, TV-G,

Jane Russell said in 1996 that, "Young Widow should have died with her husband".


4:00 PM -- The French Line (1954)
A Texas heiress masquerades as a model in hopes of finding true love.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Jane Russell, Gilbert Roland, Arthur Hunnicutt
C-102 mins, TV-G, CC,

Jane Russell's dance to Looking For Trouble was shot in two versions. For the American release, she did her pelvic "bumps" behind a flower planter. For the European release, the "bumps" were done without anything hiding them.


6:00 PM -- Underwater! (1955)
Divers race the clock to find a Caribbean treasure before modern-day pirates can catch up to them.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Jane Russell, Gilbert Roland, Richard Egan
C-99 mins, TV-PG, CC,

At a promotional event for the movie, a young Jayne Mansfield was one of several swimmers participating in a underwater skit when the top of her bathing suit came off, which obviously drew attention to her, and not the movie. It is believed that she let this happen on purpose for the free publicity.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: NOIR WRITERS



8:00 PM -- Nocturne (1946)
A police detective refuses to believe a composer's death was suicide.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: George Raft, Lynn Bari, Virginia Huston
BW-87 mins, TV-PG, CC,

When Police Lt. Joe Warne says, "I like that alibi. It's round, it's firm, it's fully packed.", he is riffing on a phrase often used in advertising for Lucky Strike cigarettes at the time: "So round, so firm, so fully packed."


9:45 PM -- They Won't Believe Me (1947)
A faithless husband is charged with a murder he didn't commit.
Dir: Irving Pichel
Cast: Susan Hayward, Robert Young, Jane Greer
BW-80 mins, TV-PG, CC,

When Larry (Robert Young) and Verna (Susan Hayward) are driving to Reno and the truck veers in front of them, the windshield cracks before they collide.


11:15 PM -- Double Indemnity (1944)
An insurance salesman gets seduced into plotting a client's death.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
BW-108 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Barbara Stanwyck, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- John F. Seitz, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Miklós Rózsa, Best Sound, Recording -- Loren L. Ryder (Paramount SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder, and Best Picture

This marks the only film appearance of screenwriter and novelist Raymond Chandler. About 16 minutes into this movie, Chandler is sitting outside an office as Fred MacMurray walks past. Chandler glances up at MacMurray from a paperback he is reading, a great clue of his identity.


1:15 AM -- The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Illicit lovers plot to kill the woman's older husband.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway
BW-113 mins, TV-PG, CC,

This caused a stir amongst 1940s audiences who were shocked when it seemed clear to them that John Garfield uses his tongue in one of his kissing scenes with Lana Turner.


3:15 AM -- Serenade (1956)
A rising opera star is torn between his wealthy benefactor and a poor innocent.
Dir: Anthony Mann
Cast: Mario Lanza, Joan Fontaine, Sarita Montiel
C-122 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

Remade in Turkey as Kirik plak (in English, The Broken Disk) (1959).


5:30 AM -- Because You're Mine (1952)
After being drafted, an opera star falls for his sergeant's sister.
Dir: Alexander Hall
Cast: Mario Lanza, Doretta Morrow, James Whitmore
C-103 mins, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for an Oscar as Best Music, Original Song -- Nicholas Brodszky (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "Because You're Mine"

The older woman who asks for Renaldo's autograph is played by Mario Lanza's real-life mother; the unspeaking man with her is Mario's father.

[longship]

1. Double Indemnity!!

One of my faves. A tremendous cast.