TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 29, 2014 -- Orson Welles and Henry Jaglom

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is featuring one of my favorite character actors, Eric Blore. He's probably best remembered these days as butler or waiter or gentleman's gentleman, in many of the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers films. He was most frequently seen in comedies or musicals, but he had a few dramatic roles as well.

This evening, filmmaker Henry Jaglom serves as host for this look at his relationship with friend and colleague Orson Welles, with whom Jaglom shared taped lunch conversations during a period from 1981 until a few days before Welles' death in 1985. The tapes became the basis of Peter Biskind's 2013 book, My Lunches with Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles.

Along with Jaglom's reminiscences, TCM is showcasing a pair of films from each director. Welles' masterpiece Citizen Kane (1941) is followed by his stylized documentary F for Fake (1973), about fraudulent practices by a number of individuals including Welles himself. Jaglom's unconventional drama Someone to Love (1987) features a group of artistic types, including Welles (in his last screen performance) and Jaglom, who meet in a deserted theater to talk about loneliness and other issues. Also showing is Jaglom's Eating (1990), a "serious comedy" in which women at a party talk about their relationships with food. Enjoy!


7:16 AM -- Cash Stashers (1953)
In this short film, we see the humorous (and disastrous) results when people save their money in unsafe places.
Dir: Dave O'Brien
Cast: Sally Payne, Dave O'Brien, Moro and Yaconelli
BW-9 mins,


7:30 AM -- Two Sisters From Boston (1946)
Two girls with Broadway aspirations find work in a Bowery saloon.
Dir: Henry Koster
Cast: Kathryn Grayson, June Allyson, Lauritz Melchior
BW-112 mins, CC,

Sammy Fain and Ralph Freed wrote additional songs that were not used in the picture: "Autumn Twilight," "Indian Holiday," "Lanterns in the Sky," "More Than Ever" and "Seattle."


9:30 AM -- Old Man Rhythm (1935)
A business leader goes back to college to keep an eye on his playboy son.
Dir: Edward Ludwig
Cast: Charles Buddy Rogers, George Barbier, Barbara Kent
BW-75 mins, CC,

The soundtrack features songs with music by Lewis E. Gensler and lyrics by Johnny Mercer, including There's Nothing Like A College Education, Boys Will Be Boys, Comes The Revolution Baby, I Never Saw A Better Night, and Old Man Rhythm.


10:45 AM -- Seven Keys to Baldpate (1935)
A mystery writer runs into the real thing when he holes up at a deserted inn.
Dir: William Hamilton
Cast: Gene Raymond, Margaret Callahan, Eric Blore
BW-69 mins, CC

Based on a novel by Earl Derr Biggers, later made into a play by George M. Cohan, and filmed six more times, in 1917, 1925, 1929, 1946 (as a TV movie), 1947, and 1983 (as House of the Long Shadows). I've never heard of this one!


12:00 PM -- Smartest Girl in Town (1936)
A girl in search of a rich husband mistakes a millionaire for a male model.
Dir: Joseph Santley
Cast: Gene Raymond, Ann Sothern, Helen Broderick
BW-58 mins,

Also known as Million Dollar Profile.


1:00 PM -- Sons O' Guns (1936)
A song-and-dance man gets caught up in war and espionage.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Joan Blondell, Beverly Roberts
BW-79 mins, CC,

Originally set to be produced by United Artists for a 1931 release, with Al Jolson and Lili Damita as the stars (Damita was slated to reprise her role from the original Broadway production). After Jolson's ordeal with UA filming Hallelujah I'm a Bum, the film's rights were sold to Warner Brothers as well as the remainder of Jolson's contract to UA.


2:30 PM -- To Beat the Band (1936)
A man courts a widow in order to inherit his aunt's fortune.
Dir: Ben Stoloff
Cast: Hugh Herbert, Helen Broderick, Roger Pryor
BW-67 mins, CC,

The soundtrack includes the following Matty Malneck/Johnny Mercer songs -- Eeney-Meeney-Miney-Mo, If You Were Mine, Santa Claus Came In The Spring, I Saw Her At Eight O'Clock, and Meet Miss America.


3:45 PM -- Hitting A New High (1937)
A crackpot press agent tries to pass off an aspiring opera singer as a jungle girl.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Lily Pons, Jack Oakie, John Howard
BW-85 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio SSD)

The film lost considerable money at the box office. Lily Pons never made another non-concert film.


5:15 PM -- The Soldier and the Lady (1937)
A Russian courier struggles to deliver a message to the troops fighting Tartar invaders.
Dir: George Nicholls Jr.
Cast: Anton Walbrook, Elizabeth Allen, Akim Tamiroff
BW-85 mins, CC,

RKO bought the rights to the French version Michel Strogoff (1936) for $75,000, and specifically signed its star Anton Walbrook so that they could use some scenes from that movie. About 22 scenes were edited into the new version, including Siberia footage, battle footage, Tartar camps and the river on fire. The Hollywood Reporter mentioned that the new footage shot blended perfectly with the old footage.


6:45 PM -- Lady Scarface (1942)
Police try to capture a murderous female gangster and her band of killers.
Dir: Frank Woodruff
Cast: Dennis O'Keefe, Judith Anderson, Frances Neal
BW-66 mins, CC,

Modern sources claim the screenplay was based on the movie, Wanted: Jane Turner (1936).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: ORSON WELLES & HENRY JAGLOM



8:00 PM -- Citizen Kane (1941)
The investigation of a publishing tycoon's dying words reveals conflicting stories about his scandalous life.
Dir: Orson Welles
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead
BW-119 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles (On Friday, July 19th, 2003, Orson Welles' Oscar statuette went on sale at an auction at Christie's, New York, but was voluntarily withdrawn so the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences could buy it back for just 1 dollar. The statuette, included in a large selection of Welles-related material, was going to be sold by Beatrice Welles, the youngest of the filmmaker's three daughters and the sole heir of his estate and was expected to sell at over 300,000 dollars.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Orson Welles, Best Director -- Orson Welles, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Gregg Toland, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Perry Ferguson, Van Nest Polglase, A. Roland Fields and Darrell Silvera, Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio SSD), Best Film Editing -- Robert Wise, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Bernard Herrmann, and Best Picture

On the night the movie opened in San Francisco, Welles found himself alone with William Randolph Hearst in an elevator at the city's Fairmont Hotel. Aware that his father and Hearst were friends, Welles extended an invitation to the magnate to attend the premiere of Citizen Kane (1941). Hearst disregarded the offer and as Hearst was about to exit the elevator at his floor, Welles remarked, "Charles Foster Kane would have accepted."


10:15 PM -- F for Fake (1973)
Director Orson Welles examines the career of a notorious art forger.
Dir: Orson Welles
Cast: Orson Welles, Oja Kodar, Joseph Cotten
C-88 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Actress Oja Kodar, who appears in a muse-like fashion in this film, was Welles' real-life girlfriend at the time.


12:00 AM -- Someone to Love (1987)
A Hollywood film director assembles a group of friends and strangers in a deserted movie theater in an examination of failed relationships and loneliness.
Dir: Henry Jaglom
Cast: Orson Welles, Henry Jaglom, Andrea Marcovicci
C-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The last film appearance of Orson Welles. He died in October of 1985, and the film was not released until April 21, 1988.


2:00 AM -- Eating (1990)
A group of women gather for the birthday party of a friend and discuss their lives and associations with food.
Dir: Henry Jaglom
Cast: Nelly Alard, Frances Bergen, Mary Crosby
C-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

After a successful stint in many television roles, this was one of the first feature films in which renowned character actress Beth Grant appeared before her roles in hit movies such as Speed (1994), A Time to Kill (1996), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and The Artist (2011).


4:00 AM -- My Dinner With Andre (1981)
A conversation between a globe-trotting theater director and a playwright playfully explores ideas about art, theater, and daily life.
Dir: Louis Malle
Cast: Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory, Jean Lenauer
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Contrary to popular belief, Gregory and Shawn have said they are not playing themselves in the film and are merely playing characters with their own names. When asked about it, they said if the opportunity ever came to remake the film, they would switch roles.