TCM Schedule for Saturday, March 7, 2015 -- The Essentials: Score by Georges Auric

[Staph]

Tonight's Essentials features the works of French composer Georges Auric. Enjoy!



7:10 AM -- San Sebastian 1746 In 1968 (1968)
This short film provides a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of "Guns For San Sebastian&quot 1968) in northern Mexico.
Dir: Floyd L. Peterson
BW-10 mins,


7:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #2 (1955)
Judy Garland and Bert Lahr perform in a clip from "The Wizard of Oz"; Gene Kelly introduces a clip from "It's Always Fair Weather." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-25 mins,


8:00 AM -- An Act of Murder (1948)
When a judge learns his wife has terminal brain cancer, he begins to consider mercy-killing.
Dir: Michael Gordon
Cast: Fredric March, Edmond O'Brien, Florence Eldridge
BW-91 mins,

Florence Eldridge, who portrays Fredric March's wife, also portrayed his wife twelve years later in 'Inherit the Wind'. The two actors were married in real life.


9:32 AM -- Law Of The Badlands (1945)
A cavalry officer is framed for a murder and seeks vengeance in this short film. Vitaphone Release 1327A.
Dir: Jack Scholl
Cast: Trevor Bardette, Norman Willis, Herman Hack
BW-20 mins,


10:00 AM -- Batman: The Electrical Brain (1943)
The Caped Crusader battles a Japanese scientist turning people into zombies,
BW-26 mins,


10:30 AM -- Carry on Spying (1964)
Secret agents travel around the world to retrieve a stolen formula.
Dir: Gerald Thomas
Cast: Kenneth Williams, Barbara Windsor, Bernard Cribbins
BW-88 mins, Letterbox Format

The movie spoofed the Ian Fleming spy and criminal organization acronym, such as SMERSH and SPECTRE from the James Bond films, and UNCLE from the movies and TV series. These acronym spoofs in this picture were BOSH, SNOG, SMUT and STENCH. Their meanings are as follows: BOSH: The British Operational Security Headquarters; SNOG: The Society for the Neutralisation of Germs; SMUT: The Society for the Monopoly of Universal Technology and STENCH: The Society for Total Extinction of Non-Conforming Humans.


12:04 PM -- The Soundman (1950)
This short film takes a look at the history and different jobs of the Hollywood sound department.
Cast: George Cooper,
BW-10 mins,


12:15 PM -- Challenge To Lassie (1949)
A faithful dog changes the lives of all who know her after her master dies.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Edmund Gwenn, Donald Crisp, Geraldine Brooks
C-76 mins, CC,

This story is based loosely on that of "Greyfriars Bobby", which has appeared in several film versions.


1:46 PM -- The Relaxed Wife (1957)
A short industrial film that seeks to help working men and their wives deal with life's little problems.
C-13 mins,


2:00 PM -- A Face In The Crowd (1957)
A female television executive turns a folk-singing drifter into a powerful media star.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa
BW-126 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann used to refer to controversial, former FOX News commentator/professional idiot Glenn Beck as "Lonesome Rhodes" Beck, after Andy Griffith's character in this film.


4:15 PM -- Psycho (1960)
A woman on the run gets mixed up with a repressed young man and his violent mother.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin
BW-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Janet Leigh, Best Director -- Alfred Hitchcock, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- John L. Russell, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Joseph Hurley, Robert Clatworthy and George Milo

Alfred Hitchcock ran a deliciously droll and terse radio ad in the summer of 1960. In an era when sponsors used "Brand X" to describe their competitors' products, Hitch's voice said he wanted to compare his new movie with "Brand X". Then, the sound of a horse neighing and horse clippity-clop sounds. Hitch's voice said simply "Brand X is a western." "Now for my picture", followed by a loud scream. End of commercial!


6:15 PM -- Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964)
A mad United States General orders an air strike against Russia.
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden
BW-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter Sellers, Best Director -- Stanley Kubrick, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Stanley Kubrick, Peter George and Terry Southern, and Best Picture

The scene where Gen. Turgidson trips and falls in the War Room, and then gets back up and resumes talking as if nothing happened, really was an accident. Stanley Kubrick mistakenly thought that it was George C. Scott really in character, so he left it in the film.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: SCORE BY GEORGES AURIC



8:00 PM -- Roman Holiday (1953)
A runaway princess in Rome finds love with a reporter who knows her true identity.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert
BW-118 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Audrey Hepburn, Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Dalton Trumbo (The screen credit and award were originally credited to Ian McLellan Hunter who fronted for Dalton Trumbo. In December 1992 the Academy decided to change the records and to credit Mr. Trumbo with the achievement. Ian McLellan Hunter was removed from the Motion Picture Story category and the Oscar was posthumously presented to Trumbo's widow on May 10th, 1993.), and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Edith Head

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Eddie Albert, Best Director -- William Wyler, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Franz Planer and Henri Alekan, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Hal Pereira and Walter H. Tyler, Best Film Editing -- Robert Swink, and Best Picture

Director William Wyler normally filmed a lot of takes in order to get the movie right. But The Mouth of Truth scene only took one take. Not known to Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck hid his hand in his sleeve when he took it out of the Mouth. Hepburn's reaction therefore is both genuine and spontaneous: exactly what Wyler was looking for.


10:15 PM -- Caesar And Cleopatra (1945)
Julius Caesar gives the famed Egyptian queen lessons in government.
Dir: Gabriel Pascal
Cast: Vivien Leigh, Claude Rains, Stewart Granger
C-128 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- John Bryan

In this film, Flora Robson plays "Ftatateeta", a servant of Queen Cleopatra, played by Vivien Leigh. In the film, "Fire Over England" (1937), Vivien Leigh plays "Cynthia", a servant of Queen Elizabeth I, played by Flora Robson.


12:30 AM -- Orpheus (1949)
A poet follows his dead wife into the underworld, only to fall in love with Death.
Dir: Jean Cocteau
Cast: Edouard Dermit, Jean Marais, Marie Déa
BW-96 mins,

Orphee's obsession with deciphering hidden messages contained in random radio noise is a direct nod to the coded messages that the BBC concealed in their wartime transmissions for the French Resistance.


3:10 AM -- Nostradamus And The Queen (1953)
In this short film, an elderly Catherine de Medici reflects back on how the prophecies of Nostradamus accurately predicted her fate.
Cast: Mitchell Lewis, Grandon Rhodes, Forrest Taylor
BW-11 mins,


3:30 AM -- The Visitor (1979)
A young girl with telekinetic powers becomes the center of a battle between good and evil.
Dir: Michael J Paradise
Cast: Mel Ferrer, Glenn Ford, Lance Henriksen
C-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Sam Peckinpah had trouble remembering his lines. Because of Peckinpah's difficulty with his dialogue, the fact that his character was the ex-husband of Barbara Collins was never clearly established in the movie. Moreover, Peckinpah's voice was dubbed by another actor.


4:30 AM -- Tentacles (1977)
A giant octopus attacks a seaside resort.
Dir: Ovidio G Assonitis
Cast: Shelley Winters, Henry Fonda, Bo Hopkins
C-102 mins, Letterbox Format

Henry Fonda filmed his scenes in one day. All his scenes are fairly static ones, largely involving him talking on a telephone. The reason for this is that Fonda had just had a pacemaker fitted and couldn't do anything too strenuous.