TCM Schedule for Friday, July 18, 2014 -- Friday Night Spotlight - 100th Anniversary of WWI

[Staph]

It's another full day of films that take place during World War I. Today's biggie is one that I never think of as a WWI film -- Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- J'Accuse (1919)
In this silent film, a soldier meets his wife's lover in the trenches during World War I.
Dir: Abel Gance
Cast: Severin-Mars,
BW-166 mins,

Filmed in part on the battlefield of St. Mihiel, during battle. The soldiers in the March of the Dead sequence were real soldiers on leave from the front. Most of them were killed within the next few weeks.


9:00 AM -- Today We Live (1933)
An aristocratic English girl's tangled love life creates havoc during World War I.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Robert Young
BW-113 mins, CC,

Film debut of Franchot Tone.


11:00 AM -- A Farewell To Arms (1932)
An American serving in World War I falls for a spirited nurse.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Helen Hayes, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou
BW-89 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Charles Lang, and Best Sound, Recording -- Franklin Hansen (sound director)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson, and Best Picture

Censorship problems arose from early versions of the script, which included phases of Catherine's actual childbirth and references to labor pains, gas, her groaning and hemorrhaging. After these were removed, the MPPDA approved the script, and even issued a certificate for re-release in 1938 when the censorship rules were more strictly enforced. Still, the film was rejected in British Columbia and in Australia, where Hemingway's book was also banned.


12:30 PM -- Stamboul Quest (1934)
A notorious enemy spy falls for an American medical student during World War I.
Dir: Sam Wood
Cast: Myrna Loy, George Brent, Lionel Atwill
BW-86 mins, CC,

In the scene where Annemarie tells Von Sturm of her recent exploits as she prepares to bathe, the slip she is wearing is so shear that it becomes see-through. This was extremely risque for a movie of that era.


2:00 PM -- Ever In My Heart (1933)
During World War I, a woman suspects her husband of being a German spy.
Dir: Archie Mayo
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Otto Kruger, Ralph Bellamy
BW-68 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Bertram Milhauser and Beulah Marie Dix.


3:15 PM -- British Intelligence (1940)
A lady spy uses a British nobleman's home in her undercover work for the Germans.
Dir: Terry Morse
Cast: Boris Karloff, Margaret Lindsay, Bruce Lester
BW-61 mins, CC,

The play opened in New York City, New York, USA on 13 August 1918 and had 335 performances. It was produced by George M. Cohan and the cast included Frank Sheridan and Cora Witherspoon.


4:30 PM -- Dark Journey (1937)
Rival spies fall in love during World War I.The play opened in New York City, New York, USA on 13 August 1918 and had 335 performances. It was produced by George M. Cohan and the cast included Frank Sheridan and Cora Witherspoon.
Dir: Victor Saville
Cast: Conrad Veidt, Vivien Leigh, Joan Gardner
BW-79 mins, CC,

Conrad Veidt was born in Berlin, Germany, and fought for Germany on the Eastern Front in WWI. He worked in Hollywood in the silent days, but returned home with the advent of talking pictures due to his thick accent. He permanently left Germany for England in 1933, a week after his marriage to a Jewish woman, Illona Prager.


6:00 PM -- Rendezvous (1935)
A decoding expert tangles with enemy spies.
Dir: William K. Howard
Cast: William Powell, Rosalind Russell, Binnie Barnes
BW-94 mins, CC,

Based on Herbert O. Yardley book American Black Chamber.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF WORLD WAR I



8:00 PM -- Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
A British military officer enlists the Arabs for desert warfare in World War I.
Dir: David Lean
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn
C-227 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Director -- David Lean, Best Cinematography, Color -- Freddie Young, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- John Box, John Stoll and Dario Simoni, Best Sound -- John Cox (Shepperton SSD), Best Film Editing -- Anne V. Coates, Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Maurice Jarre, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter O'Toole, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Omar Sharif, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson (The nomination for Wilson was granted on 26 September 1995 by the Academy Board of Directors, after research at the WGA found that the then blacklisted writer shared the screenwriting credit with Bolt.)

King Hussein of Jordan lent an entire brigade of his Arab Legion as extras for the film, so most of the "soldiers" are played by real soldiers. Hussein frequently visited the sets and became enamored of a young British secretary, Antoinette Gardiner, who became his second wife in 1962. Their oldest son, 'Abdullah II King of Jordan', ascended to throne in 1999.


12:00 AM -- Gallipoli (1981)
Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in World War I.
Dir: Peter Weir
Cast: Mel Gibson, Bill Kerr, Diane Chamberlain
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

One of the producers was media mogul Rupert Murdoch. His father, Keith, had been a journalist in World War I. He visited Gallipoli briefly in September 1915 and became an influential agitator against how the British top brass had conducted themselves during the battle.


2:00 AM -- Grand Illusion (1937)
French POWs fight to escape their German captors during World War I.
Dir: Jean Renoir
Cast: Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Marcel Dalio
BW-113 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

The movie title "La Grande Illusion" is a reference to the pre-war book "The Great Illusion" by Norman Angell, which argued that war was outmoded, unscientific, and absurd. Though little-known today, it was a tremendous sensation when first published in 1913, and was often cited as evidence that a long European war "could not happen". Renoir aptly picks the title for his own work, knowing that his audience would recognize the reference.


4:00 AM -- King & Country (1964)
A British soldier, charged with desertion, is defended by an officer who despises his actions until he finds out there is more to the case than meets the eye.
Dir: Joseph Losey
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Tom Courtenay, Leo McKern
BW-87 mins, CC,

The still photograph which appears when Private Hamp says the words "king and country" shows King George V riding with his cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II prior to the First World War.