TCM Schedule for Friday, December 6 -- Friday Night Spotlight: The Hollywood Costume

[Staph]

Today TCM is starting this month's new Friday Night Spotlight, the Hollywood Costume. Beautiful work! Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (1933)
A crime wave grips the city and all clues seem to lead to the nefarious Dr. Mabuse.
Dir: Fritz Lang
Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Gustav Diesel, Otto Wernicke
BW-121 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

Banned by Josef Goebbels, in 1933, for its subversive nature and the possibility that it might "incite people to anti-social behavior and terrorism against the State". The film was not shown to the German public until August 24, 1951 when it was presented in an edited 111 minute version.


8:45 AM -- Blackmail (1929)
A shopkeeper's daughter fights off blackmail after she kills a young artist who had tried to rape her.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Anny Ondra, Sara Allgood, Charles Paton
BW-86 mins, TV-PG,

Much of the film was originally shot silent; when sound became available during the course of shooting, director Alfred Hitchcock re-shot certain scenes with sound, thus making it the Master of Suspense's first talkie. There was one complication with this change, however. Leading lady Anny Ondra had a thick German accent which was inappropriate to her character, Alice White. Joan Barry was chosen to provide a different voice for her, but post-production dubbing technology did not exist then. The solution was for Barry to stand just out of shot and read Alice's lines into a microphone as Ondry mouthed them in front of the camera. This is generally acknowledged as the first instance of one actor's voice being dubbed by another, even though the word "dub" is technologically inappropriate in this case.


10:15 AM -- The Informer (1935)
An Irish rebel turns in his best friend to earn passage money to America, then has to dodge the suspicions of his cohorts.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, Preston Foster
BW-92 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Victor McLaglen, Best Director -- John Ford, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Dudley Nichols (Refused to accept his award because of the antagonism between several industry guilds and the academy over union matters. This marked the first time an Academy award had been declined. Academy records show that Dudley was in possession of an Oscar statuette by 1949., and Best Music, Score -- Max Steiner (head of departmment)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Film Editing -- George Hively, and Best Picture

John Ford kept Victor McLaglen continually off-balance (and thus in character) by getting him drunk, changing his schedules, verbally abusing him on and off the set and filming scenes when he'd told McLaglen that they were only rehearsing. For the crucial rebel court scene, the story goes that Ford reduced the actor to a trembling wreck by promising him the day off only to bring him into the studio early and extremely hung over, insisting that he spit out his lines. McLaglen was so furious with Ford over this that he threatened to quit acting and kill the director.


12:00 PM -- Dead of Night (1945)
Guests at a country estate share stories of the supernatural.
Dir: Alberto Cavalcanti
Cast: Mervyn Johns, Roland Culver, Hartley Power
BW-103 mins, TV-14, CC,

Cosmolgists Fred Hoyle, Thomas Gold and Hermann Bondi, developed the Steady State theory of the universe, an alternative to the Big Bang, after seeing "Dead of Night". They said that the circular nature of the plot inspired the theory.


1:45 PM -- Pride of the Marines (1945)
A blinded Marine tries to adjust to civilian life.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: John Garfield, Eleanor Parker, Dane Clark
BW-120 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Albert Maltz

On the train to Philadelphia, Al (John Garfield) talks to Lee (Dane Clark) about the difficulty he anticipates in getting a job for a blind man. Lee responds that because he, Lee, is Jewish, he has trouble finding a job as well and the wax philosophic about a day when people are discriminated against for any reason. But in real life, it was Garfield who was Jewish.


4:00 PM -- My Dream Is Yours (1949)
A talent scout turns a young unknown into a radio singing star.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Jack Carson, Doris Day, Lee Bowman
C-101 mins, TV-G, CC,

The novelty song "I Tick, Tick, Tick" that Doris Day's character sings for her first audition was written to take advantage of the publicity surrounding the atomic clock which had just been invented. This clock, now even more precise, is now the standard to which all clocks in the US are set.


6:00 PM -- Forbidden Planet (1956)
A group of space troopers investigates the destruction of a colony on a remote planet.
Dir: Fred McLeod Wilcox
Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen
C-99 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie, Irving G. Ries and Wesley C. Miller

Star Trek (1966) creator Gene Roddenberry has been quoted as saying that this film was a major inspiration for that series. Perhaps not accidentally, Warren Stevens, who plays "Doc" here, would later be a guest star in 1968's Star Trek: By Any Other Name (1968), where the true shape of the alien Kelvans, like the Krell in this movie, was implied to be extremely non-humanoid but never shown. 1701, which is the serial number of the Starship Enterprise, allegedly comes from the clock mark 17:01 when the C57D enters orbit around Altair IV.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: THE HOLLYWOOD COSTUME



8:00 PM -- Blonde Venus (1932)
A nightclub singer gives in to a rich playboy to finance her husband's medical treatment.
Dir: Josef von Sternberg
Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, Cary Grant
BW-94 mins, TV-14, CC,

Costume designer -- Travis Banton

Cary Grant said that Josef von Sternberg directed him not really much during the filming, but taught him the most important thing. On the first day Grant came on the set, von Sternberg looked at him and said, "Your hair is parted on the wrong side." So Grant parted it on the other side and kept it that way the rest of his career.


10:00 PM -- Cleopatra (1934)
The fabled queen of Egypt leads Julius Caesar and Marc Antony astray.
Dir: Cecil B. DeMille
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Henry Wilcoxon
BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Costume designer -- Vicky Williams, costumes for Miss Colbert -- Travis Banton

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography -- Victor Milner

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Franklin Hansen (sound director), Best Film Editing -- Anne Bauchens, Best Assistant Director -- Cullen Tate, and Best Picture

When she first started having discussions with Cecil B. DeMille about playing the part of Cleopatra, Claudette Colbert expressed a lot of unease about her climactic scene with an asp, being terrified of snakes. On the day the scene was to be filmed, DeMille had one of the largest snakes sent over from Los Angeles Zoo and approached Colbert onset with it as she sat in costume on her throne. The actress was terrified and pleaded with him not to come any nearer to her with the enormous snake, whereupon DeMille produced the diminutive little asp and said "How about this instead?" Colbert was perfectly happy to film the scene with such a small snake instead.


12:00 AM -- Casablanca (1942)
An American saloon owner in North Africa is drawn into World War II when his lost love turns up.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid
BW-103 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Costume design -- Orry-Kelly, Tailor for Mr. Bogart's tuxedo -- Anthony Gasbarri, and Jeweler -- Eugene Joseff

Won Oscars for Best Director -- Michael Curtiz, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Humphrey Bogart, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Claude Rains, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Arthur Edeson, Best Film Editing -- Owen Marks, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Max Steiner

In the famous scene where the "Marseillaise" is sung over the German song "Watch on the Rhine", many of the extras had real tears in their eyes; a large number of them were actual refugees from Nazi persecution in Germany and elsewhere in Europe and were overcome by the emotions the scene brought out.


2:00 AM -- Auntie Mame (1958)
An eccentric heiress raises her nephew to be a free spirit.
Dir: Morton DaCosta
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Forrest Tucker, Coral Browne
C-143 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

Costume design -- Orry-Kelly, Costumer jeweler -- Joan Joseff

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Rosalind Russell, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Peggy Cass, Best Cinematography, Color -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White or Color -- Malcolm C. Bert and George James Hopkins -- Best Film Editing -- William H. Ziegler, and Best Picture

Reportedly, the character of Auntie Mame was based on Patrick Dennis's real-life aunt, Marian Tanner. A good-natured eccentric, who lived to be nearly one hundred years old, Ms. Tanner's advice to those seeking a more interesting, adventurous life was to never be afraid to try a new experience and to keep an open mind about everything and everybody.


4:30 AM -- The Women (1939)
A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell
BW-133 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Costume design -- Gowns by Adrian, Costume jeweler -- Eugene Joseff

In addition to its all-female cast, every animal that was used in the film (the many dogs and horses) was female as well. In addition, none of the works of art seen in the backgrounds were representative of the male form.