TCM Schedule for Thursday, March 19, 2015 -- What's On Tonight - Bert I. Gordon

[Staph]

Today in the daylight hours, TCM is featuring the early films of Katharine Hepburn, one for each of her first five years, and one of her later films, unfortunately with Hepburn's part chopped up to feature co-star Bob Hope. And in prime time, there's a nice selection of the films of sci-fi and horror director Bert I. Gordon, affectionately known as Mr. B.I.G. Enjoy!


7:45 AM -- Words And Music (1948)
Songwriters Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart search for love while rising to the top.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Perry Como, Mickey Rooney, Ann Sothern
C-121 mins, CC,

Richard Rodgers reportedly disliked every aspect of this film except for the casting of Janet Leigh as his wife.


10:00 AM -- Christopher Strong (1933)
An aviatrix's affair with a married man could cost her her career.
Dir: Dorothy Arzner
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Colin Clive, Billie Burke
BW-78 mins, CC,

Finds for the opening "treasure hunt" scene include a life-buoy from the S.S. Venture, which was the ship featured in King Kong. That movie was being made on the same lot at the same time, with Selznick also as producer.


11:30 AM -- The Little Minister (1934)
A young miss masquerades as a gypsy to win a minister's love.
Dir: Richard Wallace
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, John Beal, Alan Hale
BW-110 mins, CC,

Katharine Hepburn reportedly wasn't interested in taking the part of "Babbie" until she heard Margaret Sullavan wanted the part badly.


1:30 PM -- Break of Hearts (1935)
An unknown composer tries to save the conductor she loves from his drinking problem.
Dir: Philip Moeller
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Charles Boyer, John Beal
BW-78 mins, CC,

The character of Franz Roberti was based on two real-life conductors of the period: Leopold Stokowski, who was well known for his rearrangements of music by Bach, Wagner and other composers; and Arturo Toscanini, who was notorious for insulting his musicians during rehearsals the way Roberti does in the film.


3:00 PM -- A Woman Rebels (1936)
A Victorian feminist has an illegitimate baby.
Dir: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Herbert Marshall, Elizabeth Allen
BW-88 mins, CC,

The film lost $222,000 at the box office and was Katharine Hepburn's 3rd flop in a row, contributing to exhibitors declaring her "box office poison".


4:30 PM -- Quality Street (1937)
A woman masquerades as her own niece to get back at a neglectful suitor.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Franchot Tone, Eric Blore
BW-83 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Score -- Roy Webb (musical director); Score by Roy Webb

Katharine Hepburn and Joan Fontaine both appeared in productions of The Lion in Winter (Hepburn in a 1968 film version, Fontaine in a 1979 Austrian stage production) and both passed away at the age of 96.


6:00 PM -- The Iron Petticoat (1956)
Against their better judgment, a romance develops between an Air Force officer and a Soviet aviatrix.
Dir: Ralph Thomas
Cast: Bob Hope, Katharine Hepburn, Noelle Middleton
C-94 mins, CC,

Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn had a difficult and wary relationship during production as Hepburn became aware that the film was being changed to a typical Hope comedy leaving nearly fifty percent of her work on the film on the cutting room floor. As a result writer Ben Hecht unsuccessfully tried to have his name removed from the film.


7:36 PM -- I Never Forget A Face (1956)
This short film takes a look at various "famous faces" through history, from political figures to inventors. Vitaphone Release 2603A.
Dir: Robert Youngson
Cast: Dwight Weist, Ward Wilson, Hiram Johnson
BW-11 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel -- Robert Youngson



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: BERT I. GORDON



8:00 PM -- Tormented (1960)
A composer is haunted by the ghost of the former lover he let die.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: Richard Carlson, Susan Gordon, Lugene Sanders
BW-75 mins, CC,

A portion of the score actually came from William Castle's House on Haunted Hill (1959) which Allied Artists had distributed the previous year.


9:30 PM -- Cyclops (1957)
A scientific expedition discovers a 25-foot tall mutant.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: James Craig, Gloria Talbott, Lon Chaney [Jr.]
BW-65 mins, CC,

Voice specialist Paul Frees is given credit for special voice effects. His contributions included the vocal sounds of the cyclops, the breathing sound of the giant lizard and the "Mexican" voice heard on the plane's radio.


10:45 PM -- Attack of the Puppet People (1958)
A scientist shrinks humans so they can be his puppet friends.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: John Agar, John Hoyt, June Kenny
BW-79 mins,

On the evening of June 16, 1972, if Alfred C. Baldwin III (in a nearby hotel as a lookout for the Watergate burglars) had not been so engrossed in a broadcast of this film, he might have sooner warned his colleagues of the two plainclothes detectives who made the historic arrests.


12:15 AM -- The Magic Sword (1962)
A good witch's son uses his mother's magic to rescue a princess from an evil sorcerer.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: Basil Rathbone, Estelle Winwood, Gary Lockwood
C-80 mins, Letterbox Format

Though the film was subjected to the usual Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988) skewering (in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Magic Sword (1992)), the makers of the show admitted (in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide book) that "this is actually a pretty good movie."


1:45 AM -- The Boy and the Pirates (1960)
Magic transports a boy to the days of cutthroats and buccaneers.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: Charles Herbert, Susan Gordon, Murvyn Vye
C-84 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This was Bert I. Gordon's first film in color.


3:15 AM -- Picture Mommy Dead (1966)
A woman is released from an asylum after the shock suffered during the death of her mother.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: Don Ameche, Martha Hyer, Zsa Zsa Gabor
C-83 mins,

Star Don Ameche liked the script for the movie, but initially turned down the role because it was to be filmed in California, and he and his family had just settled on the other side of the country. Director Bert I. Gordon paid Ameche a visit to ask him to reconsider, and after it came up that they were both born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Ameche agreed to star in the film.


4:45 AM -- Village of the Giants (1965)
Delinquent teens ingest a substance and grow to 30 feet tall, then proceed to take over a small town.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford, Beau Bridges
C-81 mins, Letterbox Format

Exteriors were shot on the Columbia Studios backlot (now part of the Warner Bros. Backlot), the same lot as the exteriors for the TV series Bewitched (1964) and I Dream of Jeannie (1965). Many scenes were shot on Courthouse Square at Universal Studios, which doubled as Hill Valley in Back to the Future (1985). The fountain that Freddy Cannon sings in front of is the same one seen in the opening of Friends (1994).