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Staph

(6,245 posts)
Tue Aug 20, 2013, 05:51 PM Aug 2013

TCM Schedule for Friday, August 23, 2013 -- Summer Under The Stars -- Elizabeth Taylor

Today's Star, Elizabeth Taylor, is considered one of the last, if not the last major star, to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. And not just any studio, the top of the heap: MGM. Her early movies, as a child in the early 1940s, starred such Hollywood luminaries as Orson Welles and Spencer Tracy. She quickly grew up, however, and by 1950 was, if not starring in, assuming major responsibilities for the success of motion pictures she appeared in. Then with major roles onscreen, came worldwide attention off-screen, most notably due to a succession of famous and/or rich husbands and a series of health crises throughout her life. To put it simply, Elizabeth Taylor has lived a life far more exciting and dramatic than any movie she's ever appeared in and probably most any other movie you could name. She's known internationally for her beauty, especially for those violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early on in her youth and has kept the world hooked on ever since. She's won the Oscar twice and she's earned her place in and out of the sun. (From the IMDB mini biography by Chris Wilson) Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Elizabeth Taylor: An Intimate Portrait (1975)
This television-produced documentary features observations by close friends and colleagues of Elizabeth Taylor, including Vincente Minnelli and Richard Brooks.
Dir: Pat Shields
Cast: Vincente Minnelli, Richard Brooks, Rock Hudson
C-66 mins, TV-PG, CC,

This TV film is included as an extra on the Warner 2 disc edition of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).


7:15 AM -- Lassie Come Home (1943)
A faithful collie undertakes an arduous journey to return to her lost family.
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox
Cast: Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, Dame May Whitty
C-89 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Leonard Smith

Elizabeth Taylor replaced Maria Flynn for the role of Priscilla. Some sources say Flynn was afraid of the dog on the set. Others say that she grew taller than Roddy McDowall or that the strong Technicolor lighting caused her eyes to water. In any case, production was halted. The producer was walking the 600 block of North Foothill Road in Beverly Hills doing his nightly patrol as an air raid warden when he met Francis Taylor, who patrolled the 700 block. Knowing he and Sara wanted to get their daughter into the movies, he asked him to bring Elizabeth to the studio. There she was introduced to Lassie and the production resumed.



8:45 AM -- National Velvet (1944)
A British farm girl fights to train a difficult horse for the Grand National Steeplechase.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp, Elizabeth Taylor
C-124 mins, TV-G, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Anne Revere, and Best Film Editing -- Robert Kern

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary, Edwin B. Willis and Mildred Griffiths, Best Cinematography, Color -- Leonard Smith, and Best Director -- Clarence Brown

After production was completed, arrangements were made to allow Elizabeth Taylor to keep the horse.



11:00 AM -- Life With Father (1947)
A straitlaced turn-of-the-century father presides over a family of boys and the mother who really rules the roost.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: William Powell, Irene Dunne, Elizabeth Taylor
C-118 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Powell, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Robert M. Haas and George James Hopkins, Best Cinematography, Color -- J. Peverell Marley and William V. Skall, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Max Steiner

The play's writers, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, and Clarence Day's widow were on the set and were given veto power on all aspects of the film. According to author David Chierichetti, Mrs. Day approved Irene Dunne's characterization and even lent some jewelry that belonged to the real Vinnie.



1:00 PM -- Father Of The Bride (1950)
A doting father faces mountains of bills and endless trials when his daughter marries.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor
BW-93 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, and Best Picture

The premiere of this film took place six weeks after Elizabeth Taylor's real-life May 6, 1950 marriage to "Nicky" Conrad Hilton Jr.. The publicity surrounding the event is credited with helping to make the film so successful. MGM gave Elizabeth Taylor a wedding gift of a one-off wedding dress designed by Edith Head (a move also designed to promote the film).



2:45 PM -- Father's Little Dividend (1951)
In this sequel to Father of the Bride, a doting father faces a series of comic trials when his daughter has her first child.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor
BW-81 mins, TV-G, CC,

This is one of a handful of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer productions of the 1950-1951 period whose original copyrights were never renewed and are now apparently in Public Domain; for this reason this title is now offered, often in very inferior copies, at bargain prices, by numerous VHS and DVD distributors who do not normally handle copyrighted or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer material.


4:15 PM -- Giant (1956)
A Texas ranching family fights to survive changing times.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean
BW-201 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Director -- George Stevens

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Dean (This was James Dean's second consecutive posthumous nomination.), Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Rock Hudson, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Mercedes McCambridge, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Boris Leven and Ralph S. Hurst, Best Costume Design, Color -- Moss Mabry and Marjorie Best, Best Film Editing -- William Hornbeck, Philip W. Anderson and Fred Bohanan, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Dimitri Tiomkin, Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat, and Best Picture

Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor went for get-to-know-you drinks one night at the very start of the production. They both got exceedingly drunk, finishing the evening at 3:00 am. Their call-time was 5:30 am. Fortunately the scene being shot that morning was a wedding scene with no dialog, so instead of talking, all they had to do was look lovingly at each other. The two actors were concentrating so hard on not being sick that they were quite surprised when some of the people on-set started to cry, so convinced were they of their supposed looks of adoration at each other.



7:45 PM -- Carson on TCM: Elizabeth Taylor (2/21/92) (2013)
TCM presents a classic interview from The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.
C-10 mins, TV-PG, CC,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: ELIZABETH TAYLOR



8:00 PM -- Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958)
A dying plantation owner tries to help his alcoholic son solve his problems.
Dir: Richard Brooks
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives
C-108 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Newman, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Elizabeth Taylor, Best Cinematography, Color -- William H. Daniels, Best Director -- Richard Brooks, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Richard Brooks and James Poe, and Best Picture

This film was originally to be filmed in black and white, as was the standard practice with "artistic" films in the 1950s. (Virtually all film adaptations of the plays of Tennessee Williams had been in B&W up to that time.) However, once Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor were cast in the leads, director Richard Brooks insisted on shooting in color, in deference to the public's well known enthusiasm for Taylor's violet and Newman's strikingly blue eyes.



10:00 PM -- Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
A dowager tries to buy a lobotomy to silence the woman who witnessed her son's murder.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift
BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Elizabeth Taylor, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Oliver Messel, William Kellner and Scott Slimon

Screenwriter Gore Vidal credited film critic Bosley Crowther with the success of this film. Crowther wrote a scathing review denouncing the film as the work of degenerates obsessed with rape, incest, homosexuality, and cannibalism among other qualities. Vidal believed advertising such salacious detail made audiences flock in droves to the film.



12:00 AM -- Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
An academic couple reveal their deepest secret to a pair of newcomers during an all-night booze fest.
Dir: Mike Nichols
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal
BW-131 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Elizabeth Taylor (Elizabeth Taylor was not present at the awards ceremony. Anne Bancroft accepted the award on her behalf.), Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Sandy Dennis (Sandy Dennis was unable to attend the Academy Awards presentations, because she was working on a new film, Sweet November (1968), being shot in New York.), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Richard Sylbert and George James Hopkins, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Haskell Wexler, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Irene Sharaff

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Richard Burton, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George Segal, Best Director -- Mike Nichols, Best Film Editing -- Sam O'Steen, Best Music, Original Music Score -- Alex North, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Ernest Lehman, and Best Picture

The movie was one of a series of films in the 1960s, beginning with the The Pawnbroker, to successfully challenge the Production Code Office. In addition to the compromise on language, WB studio head, Jack L. Warner, undercut the Code's usefulness by arranging to have the film released with the "For Adults Only" and required theaters to prohibit selling tickets to unaccompanied minors, which in effect unofficially created the Restricted rating years before the Motion Picture Association of America abandoned the Production Code for a classification system (G-GP-M-X) in 1968.



2:30 AM -- Reflections In A Golden Eye (1967)
A military officer becomes obsessed with an enlisted man.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Brian Keith
C-109 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

The role of Maj. Penderton was extremely physically demanding, and the insurance company underwriting the production required proof that star Montgomery Clift was fit enough for the role, after his years of illness. Clift's long-time friend Elizabeth Taylor committed her large salary as insurance in order to secure Clift for the role. Clift subsequently died of a heart attack before filming began, and the role went to Marlon Brando.


4:30 AM -- Conspirator (1949)
A newlywed suspects her husband of being a Communist spy.
Dir: Victor Saville
Cast: Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Flemyng
BW-87 mins, TV-PG, CC

Based on a novel by British painter and writer Humphrey Slater, who fought with the International Brigades in Spain against Franco in the 1930s but became ideologically disaffected.


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TCM Schedule for Friday, August 23, 2013 -- Summer Under The Stars -- Elizabeth Taylor (Original Post) Staph Aug 2013 OP
Father Of The Bride (1PM) Graybeard Aug 2013 #1

Graybeard

(6,996 posts)
1. Father Of The Bride (1PM)
Fri Aug 23, 2013, 07:35 AM
Aug 2013

I've read that Father of the Bride was written as a movie for Jack Benny. All of the penny-pinching jokes about how much everything will cost was in the famous Jack Benny image.

But then MGM decided that this would be a great vehicle to showcase their new, upcoming star Liz. The studio heads wanted to present her in the best possible light so FOTB was upgraded to an A movie and she was surrounded by MGM's top stars, Spencer Tracy & Joan Bennett, et al.
(Jack Benny was out.)

The result is a top-notch film receiving Oscar noms for Best Screenplay. Best Actor (Tracy) and Best Picture.
.
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