TCM Schedule for Saturday, December 14 -- The Essentials: Claudette Colbert

[Staph]

Today's prime time films are all starring one of my favorite actresses, Claudette Colbert. She could do comedy and drama, Broadway and films and television. Enjoy!

I've done Saturday for this week -- any volunteers for next week or for Sunday?


6:45 AM -- 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

This movie was filmed on the same sound-stage on which the movie The Wizard of Oz (1939) had been filmed seventeen years earlier; the set of Altaira's garden is a reuse of the Munchkin Village set from The Wizard of Oz.


8:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #15 (1955)
George Murphy hosts a special Christmas show featuring Judy Garland performing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in a clip from "Meet Me in St. Louis."
BW-26 mins, TV-G,


9:00 AM -- Love Is On The Air (1937)
A crusading radio reporter takes on civic corruption.
Dir: Nick Grinde
Cast: Ronald Reagan, June Travis, Eddie Acuff
C-59 mins, TV-G,

Ronald Reagan's movie debut.


10:15 AM -- Carson on TCM: Ronald Reagan (3/13/75) (2013)
TCM presents an interview from The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, with Ronald Reagan from 3/13/75.
C-9 mins, TV-PG, CC,


10:30 AM -- Swing Shift Maisie (1943)
A brassy showgirl signs on to help the war effort as a factory worker.
Dir: Norman Z. McLeod
Cast: Ann Sothern, James Craig, Jean Rogers
BW-86 mins, TV-G,

The seventh of ten movies starring Ann Sothern as the heroine Maisie Ravier.


12:00 PM -- Seventh Cavalry (1956)
An alleged coward tries to redeem himself by reclaiming General Custer's body.
Dir: Joseph H. Lewis
Cast: Randolph Scott, Barbara Hale, Jay C. Flippen
C-76 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

Filmed in Mexico.


1:30 PM -- The Producers (1967)
A Broadway producer decides to get rich by creating the biggest flop of his career.
Dir: Mel Brooks
Cast: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn
C-90 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Mel Brooks

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Gene Wilder

One major reason the film ever got released at all was due to the intervention of Peter Sellers. After Brooks completed the picture, at that point entitled "Springtime for Hitler," executive producer Joseph E. Levine told Brooks the film wouldn't be released because he thought it was in poor taste and not very funny. Meanwhile, while Sellers was in Hollywood making I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! (1968), he liked to screen movies for him and his friends' entertainment. One night this film was screened, and Sellers loved it. When he heard it would not be released he began calling Levine, and eventually convinced him to release it - the only compromise being that the title be changed to "The Producers".


3:15 PM -- AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Mel Brooks (2013)
Friends and co-workers pay tribute to the legendary funny man.
C-67 mins, TV-14, CC,


4:30 PM -- Grand Prix Challenge Of The Champions (1966)
This short film shows a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of "Grand Prix" (1966) at the actual Grand Prix in Monaco.
Dir: Daniel Davis
C-13 mins,


4:45 PM -- Grand Prix (1966)
Auto racers find danger and romance at the legendary European road race.
Dir: John Frankenheimer
Cast: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand
C-176 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Sound -- Franklin Milton (MGM SSD), Best Film Editing -- Fredric Steinkamp, Henry Berman, Stu Linder and Frank Santillo, and Best Effects, Sound Effects -- Gordon Daniel

James Garner did all his own driving. During breaks in filming there were several mini races in which Garner either tied or bettered the professional drivers hired for filming.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: CLAUDETTE COLBERT



8:00 PM -- The Palm Beach Story (1942)
To finance her husband's career, a married woman courts an eccentric millionaire.
Dir: Preston Sturges
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor
BW-88 mins, TV-G, CC,

The original title of this film was 'Is Marriage Necessary?,' but this was deemed to contravene the Production Code.


9:45 PM -- Tomorrow Is Forever (1946)
A scarred veteran presumed dead returns home to find his wife remarried.
Dir: Irving Pichel
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Orson Welles, George Brent
BW-104 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Richard Long's film debut. Those of us of a certain age remember him as Jarrod Barkley, one of Barbara Stanwyck's sons on the television series The Big Valley (1965-1969).


11:45 PM -- Midnight (1939)
An unemployed showgirl poses as Hungarian royalty to infiltrate Parisian society.
Dir: Mitchell Leisen
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore
BW-94 mins, TV-G, CC,

When Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett turned in their script, the studio liked it, but felt it needed some work. The writers they hired to rewrite the script were: Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett. The studio sent them their own script to rewrite without knowing it. Wilder and Brackett simply retyped their original script and the studio loved the "rewrites" so much, they produced it with no further "changes".


1:33 AM -- Lionpower From MGM (1967)
This short film presents highlights from MGM films scheduled to be released during the upcoming 1967-68 movie seasons.
C-27 mins, TV-PG,


2:00 AM -- Death by Invitation (1971)
The reincarnation of a witch burned at the stake seeks vengeance on her tormentors' descendants.
Dir: Ken Friedman
Cast: Aaron Phillips, Norman Paige, Shelby Leverington
C-82 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

Film debut of Shelby Leverington.


3:30 AM -- Incubus (1965)
An evil spirit plots to snare the soul of a courageous and good man.
Dir: Leslie Stevens
Cast: William Shatner, Milos Milos, Allyson Ames
BW-74 mins, TV-14,

After this film generated acclaim in film festivals around the world and in successful theatrical showings in France, a lab mistakenly destroyed the negative and all prints; the film was considered lost and never released on video. Then, after years of searching, one print was discovered in the permanent collection of the Cinémathèque Française in Paris. From that sole surviving print, this film has been digitally restored with remastered sound. It has since been re-circulated online, generating a new fan base.

Just one year after this film came out, as its prints were being destroyed, William Shatner was cast in Star Trek (1966), cinematographer Conrad L. Hall got his first Academy Award nomination, actor Milos Milos murdered Carolyn Mitchell (estranged wife of Mickey Rooney) and then killed himself, and actress Ann Atmar committed suicide.


5:00 AM -- The Golden Years (1960)
In this instructional film, bowling is made respectable and appealing to middle-class Americans through modernization and design.
BW-15 mins, TV-G,


5:00 AM -- Holiday From Rules (1959)
In this educational film, a group of young children understand why rules are important.
BW-11 mins, TV-G,


5:00 AM -- A Visit to Santa (1963)
Two children dreaming of Christmas visit Santa at the North Pole in this short film.
C-12 mins, TV-G,


5:00 AM -- One Got Fat - Bicycle Safety (1963)
Children wearing monkey masks pay the price for bad bicycle safety habits.
C-15 mins, TV-PG,

[CBHagman]

1. Thanks for doing this.

It occurred to me we still didn't have a regular yet for this gig (I'm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at present).