TCM Schedule for Saturday, April 2, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: Wyoming Westerns

[Staph]

Tonight's Essentials features films that were filmed in and/or take place in the beautiful state of Wyoming. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Broadway Melody Of 1938 (1937)
Backstage problems jeopardize a Broadway musical.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Robert Taylor, Eleanor Powell, George Murphy
BW-111 mins, CC,

The song "Dear Mr. Gable" was a birthday present for Clark Gable's 36th birthday. Composer and arranger Roger Edens adapted the old song "You Made Me Love You" by James V. Monaco. It was sung at Gable's birthday party by a young Judy Garland. Producer Louis B. Mayer was so impressed by it, that he gave order to let Garland sing it again in the next great musical MGM was going to produce.


8:00 AM -- Our Relations (1936)
Two sailors get caught in a mountain of mix-ups when they meet their long-lost twins.
Dir: Harry Lachman
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Alan Hale
BW-73 mins, CC,

At 4'9" and under a hundred pounds, Daphne Pollard was almost literally half the size of screen husband Oliver Hardy. She more than made up for the size differential in frostiness, and portrayed Mrs. Hardy in several films.


9:15 AM -- The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date (1940)
A reformed thief tracks down a missing stamp collection and a kidnapped businessman.
Dir: Sidney Salkow
Cast: Warren William, Frances Robinson, Bruce Bennett
BW-65 mins,

Although the credits specify the source of the screenplay was a "work" by Louis Joseph Vance, no novel by this name was ever published, nor did any of Vance's novels contain a similar plot. Only some of the characters are in other novels.


10:30 AM -- Blonde Dynamite (1950)
The Bowery Boys get into the escort service and get mixed up with crooks.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Adele Jergens
BW-66 mins, CC,

The 17th of 48 Bowery Boys movies.


11:38 AM -- Glacier Park And Waterton Lakes (1942)
This short film explores the history, land, and people of Glacier Park and Waterton Lakes.
C-8 mins,


12:00 PM -- Tarzan The Ape Man (1932)
A British lord raised by apes kidnaps a beautiful noblewoman exploring Africa with her father.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke
Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Neil Hamilton, C. Aubrey Smith
BW-100 mins, CC,

Tarzan's distinctive call was either created by sound recordist Douglas Shearer from various sounds, or it was indeed Johnny Weissmuller doing the yell himself. Co-star Maureen O'Sullivan insisted throughout her life that it was Weissmuller doing the yell without any technical assistance.


1:49 PM -- Jungle Safari (1950)
This promotional short for "King Solomon's Mines" (1950) focuses on the challenges of on-location filming in the African wilderness.
C-10 mins,


2:00 PM -- King Solomon's Mines (1950)
A spirited widow hires a daredevil jungle scout to find a lost treasure in diamonds.
Dir: Compton Bennett
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger, Richard Carlson
C-103 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert Surtees, and Best Film Editing -- Ralph E. Winters and Conrad A. Nervig

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

Errol Flynn was originally cast as Quartermain, but turned it down, as he did not desire to sleep in a tent on location in Africa. Instead he did Kim (1950), which was filmed in India, but the accommodations for the actors were at a local resort.


4:00 PM -- Valley Of The Kings (1954)
Archaeologists clash with graverobbers during the search for a priceless Egyptian treasure.
Dir: Robert Pirosh
Cast: Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, Carlos Thompson
C-86 mins, CC,

It was possible to film in Egypt as it was before the pro-Soviet Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser seized power. After 1954 few Western films were made in Egypt due to the country's increasing ties with the Soviet Union and China.


5:35 PM -- Film Antics (1954)
An amusing short film that looks at human and animal babies.
Dir: Dave O'Brien
BW-8 mins,


5:45 PM -- Mogambo (1953)
In this remake of Red Dust, an African hunter is torn between a lusty showgirl and a married woman.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly
C-116 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ava Gardner, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Grace Kelly

Donald Sinden (and all male members of the crew who removed their shirts) had to shave any hair from their chests daily, as Clark Gable (who did not have a hairy chest) thought it an affront to his 'manliness'.


7:51 PM -- Seeing Ceylon (1953)
This short film explores the culture, customs and natural beauty of the British colony of Ceylon, today known as Sri Lanka.
C-8 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: WYOMING WESTERNS



8:00 PM -- Shane (1953)
A mysterious drifter helps farmers fight off a vicious gunman.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin
C-118 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Loyal Griggs

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Brandon De Wilde, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Palance, Best Director -- George Stevens, Best Writing, Screenplay -- A.B. Guthrie Jr., and Best Picture

In the funeral scene, the dog consistently refused to look into the grave. Finally, director George Stevens had the dog's trainer lie down in the bottom of the grave, and the dog played his part ably. The coffin (loaded with rocks for appropriate effect) was then lowered into the grave, but when the harmonica player began to play "Taps" spontaneously, the crew was so moved by the scene that they began shoveling dirt into the grave before remembering the dog's trainer was still there.


10:15 PM -- The Virginian (1946)
Best friends become enemies when one signs on with a rustler.
Dir: Stuart Gilmore
Cast: Joel McCrea, Brian Donlevy, Sonny Tufts
C-87 mins, CC,

One of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since. It received its first telecast in Philadelphia Monday 2 March 1959 on WCAU (Channel 10). At this time, color broadcasting was in its infancy, limited to only a small number of high rated programs, primarily on NBC and NBC affiliated stations, so most vintage film showings were still in B&W. Viewers were not offered the opportunity to see these films in their original Technicolor until several years later.


11:51 PM -- Yosemite The Magnificent (1941)
This short film takes the viewer to California's Yosemite National Park.
C-8 mins,


12:00 AM -- Wyoming (1940)
Outlaw pals are tempted to go straight.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Wallace Beery, Leo Carrillo, Ann Rutherford
BW-88 mins,

This film was first telecast in New York City 10 December 1956 on WCBS, in Los Angeles 17 January 1957 on KTTV and in San Francisco 22 March 1958 on KGO-TV.


1:39 AM -- Gem-Jams (1943)
In this short film man's wife suspects him of cheating so she hires a private detective and finds the results surprising.
Dir: Lambert Hillyer
Cast: Leon Errol, Dorothy Christy, Al Hill
BW-18 mins,


2:00 AM -- Abar, The First Black Superman (1977)
A scientist turns his African-American bodyguard into a superhero to fight bigotry.
Dir: Frank Packard
Cast: J. Walter Smith, Tobar Mayo, Roxie Young
C-102 mins,

Based on a story by James Smalley.


3:45 AM -- Shaft in Africa (1973)
Shaft is recruited to go undercover to break up a modern slavery ring where young Africans are lured to Paris to do chain-gang work.
Dir: John Guillermin
Cast: Richard Roundtree, Frank Finlay, Vonetta McGee
C-112 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Most of the Africa scenes were shot in Ethiopia.


5:45 AM -- A Day in the Death of Donny B. (1969)
A heroin addict desperately tries to raise the money for a fix in this short film.
Dir: Carl Fick
BW-14 mins,