TCM Schedule for Friday, September 6, 2013 -- Friday Night Spotlight - Future Shock!

[Staph]

In the daytime, TCM is featuring films by screenwriter Isobel Lennart. She first worked in the mail room at MGM, later became a contract writer, 1942-57. As a member of the Communist Party (1939-44), she was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952. Lennart became a 'friendly witness', naming 21 people as former party members. As a result, her name was removed from the blacklist and she was permitted to continue working. In primetime, we're getting movies that show a variety of dystopic futures. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Affairs of Martha (1942)
A servant's scandalous novel lands her employers in hot water.
Dir: Jules Dassin
Cast: Marsha Hunt, Richard Carlson, Marjorie Main
BW-67 mins, TV-G, CC,

Lennart's screenplay was originally called Once Upon A Thursday.


7:15 AM -- Lost Angel (1943)
A girl raised to be a genius gets lost and discovers the simple pleasure of life.
Dir: Roy Rowland
Cast: Margaret O'Brien, James Craig, Marsha Hunt
BW-91 mins, TV-G, CC,

"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on June 19, 1944 with Margaret O'Brien, James Craig and Keenan Wynn reprising their film roles.


8:45 AM -- A Stranger In Town (1943)
A Supreme Court justice on vacation takes on crooked small-town politicians.
Dir: Roy Rowland
Cast: Frank Morgan, Richard Carlson, Jean Rogers
BW-67 mins, TV-G,

First film of John Hodiak.


10:00 AM -- Holiday Affair (1949)
A young widow is torn between a boring businessman and a romantic ne'er-do-well.
Dir: Don Hartman
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh, Wendell Corey
BW-87 mins, TV-G, CC,

Although this modest film was not a success at the time, annual showings on Turner Classic Movies in recent years has made this film something of a minor Holiday classic.


11:30 AM -- A Life Of Her Own (1950)
An innocent small-town girl climbs to the top of the modeling business man by man.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Lana Turner, Ray Milland, Tom Ewell
BW-109 mins, TV-PG, CC,

The ending in the original script had washed-up model Lily James, played by Lana Turner, at forty-five years of age working as a hotel maid. The original ending as filmed had Lily James committing suicide, following in the footsteps of Mary Ashton, the older model Lily meets earlier in the film who jumps to her death from a window. After filming finished in late March 1950 the film was shown to test audiences who gave such a negative reaction to this ending that retakes were done in mid-April 1950, to provide the film with the happier ending that's used in the finished film, much to the dismay of director George Cukor.


1:30 PM -- Period Of Adjustment (1962)
A newlywed couple's honeymoon is disrupted by their friends' marital problems.
Dir: George Roy Hill
Cast: Tony Franciosa, Jane Fonda, Jim Hutton
BW-112 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- George W. Davis, Edward C. Carfagno, Henry Grace and Richard Pefferle

The original Broadway production of "Period of Adjustment" by Tennessee Williams opened at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York on November 10, 1960 and ran for 132 performances. The Tennessee Williams play was adapted for this movie by Isobel Lennart.


3:15 PM -- Fitzwilly (1967)
When an aging philanthropist goes broke, her butler robs from the rich so she can give to the poor.
Dir: Delbert Mann
Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Feldon, Edith Evans
C-103 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

First movie appearance of Barbara Feldon, though she started working in television since 1964, and had begun her role as Agent 99 in Get Smart in 1965.


5:00 PM -- Funny Girl (1968)
Comedienne Fanny Brice fights to prove that she can be the greatest star and find romance even though she isn't pretty.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford
C-157 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Barbra Streisand (Tied with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter (1968))

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Kay Medford, Best Cinematography -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Film Editing -- Robert Swink, Maury Winetrobe and William Sands, Best Music, Original Song -- Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics) for the song "Funny Girl", Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation) -- Walter Scharf, Best Sound -- Columbia SSD, and Best Picture

Producer Ray Stark was Fanny Brice's son-in-law and the baby that Fanny (Barbra Streisand) gave birth to in reality grew up to become Stark's wife.


7:48 PM -- The Movie Album #1 (1935)
BW-10 mins,


TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: FUTURE SHOCK!



8:00 PM -- Metropolis (1927)
In this silent film, a city of the future is threatened with destruction when a wealthy corporate leader enlists a mad scientist to put down labor reformers.
Dir: Fritz Lang
Cast: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
BW-149 mins, TV-PG,

Much to Fritz Lang's dismay, Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels were big fans of the film. Goebbels met with Lang and told him that he could be made an honorary Aryan despite his Jewish background. Goebbels told him "Mr Lang, we decide who is Jewish and who is not". Lang left for Paris that very night.


10:33 PM -- Movie Album #2 (1935)
BW-10 mins,


10:45 PM -- Things To Come (1936)
Two generations of philosophers try to bring an end to war.
Dir: William Cameron Menzies
Cast: Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson
BW-97 mins, TV-PG,

Before filming started, author H.G. Wells told everyone connected with the movie how much he'd hated Fritz Lang's film Metropolis and how he wanted them to do the opposite of what Lang (whom he called "Lange&quot and his crew had done.


12:30 AM -- Escape From New York (1981)
Set in the future, Manhattan becomes a prison and an ex-bank robber is in charge of rescuing the president.
Dir: John Carpenter
Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine
C-99 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

The Secret Service agent attempting to break into the cockpit of Air Force One at the beginning of the movie is Steven Ford, son of President Gerald Ford.


2:15 AM -- Brazil (1985)
A clerk in a bureaucratic future world becomes an enemy of the state when he falls in love.
Dir: Terry Gilliam
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond
C-132 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Norman Garwood and Maggie Gray, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard and Charles McKeown

Universal executive Sid Sheinberg didn't want the film released because he thought it too pessimistic, the ending was downbeat, and it was not commercial enough for mainstream acceptance. Terry Gilliam refused to back down and showed the film to several LA film critics. They declared it the best film of the year. Gilliam eventually won out and Sheinberg, rather than face embarrassment at keeping such a lauded film from the public gave into Gilliam's demands. It's especially ironic what with the film's themes of a man standing up to the state. The only difference is Lowry loses, and Gilliam wins. The struggle is recounted in The Battle For Brazil, written by Jack Matthews in 1987.


4:30 AM -- Beautiful Brazil (1951)
A short travel documentary on Brazil, from Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paolo.
Narrator: James A. FitzPatrick
C-8 mins,


4:50 AM -- On Location With Westworld (1973)
This promotional short shows what occurred behind-the-scenes during the shooting of "Westworld" (1973).
C-9 mins,


5:00 AM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: Quentin Tarantino (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-28 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Tarantino was named after the Burt Reynolds character Quint Asper from "Gunsmoke" (1955).


5:30 AM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: Ed Norton (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-26 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

Norton's babysitter, Betsy True, went on to perform as Cossette in a Broadway version of Les Miserables. She was the one who originally piqued Edward's interest in acting, taking him to see his first play, If I Were A Princess, at age six.

[Graybeard]

1. A sci-fi feast tonight.

What a line-up! Classics 'Metropolis' (8pm) and 'Things To Come' (10:45),

camp 'Escape From New York' (12:30 am) and the "Monty Pythonesque"

'Brazil' (2:15 am).

btw In 'Brazil' look for very funny cameo bits by Robert De Niro and
Bob Hoskins.