TCM Schedule for Saturday, June 25, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: The Essentials: The Art of the Con

[Staph]

According to the TCM website Essentials are back (though apparently without Robert Osborne -- I wonder if he is ill?). And tonight, TCM is featuring a trio of films about Donald Tr.... er, um, a trio of films about con men. Con men who are infinitely more attractive and more intelligent and all around more fun than The Donald. Enjoy!



7:08 AM -- Drunk Driving (1939)
In this short film, an up and coming businessman mixes drinking and driving with tragic consequences.
Dir: David Miller
Cast: Phillip Trent, Granville Bates, Jo Ann Sayers
BW-21 mins,


7:30 AM -- The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)
The Three Musketeers rescue the king's unjustly imprisoned twin.
Dir: James Whale
Cast: Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, Warren William
BW-112 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Score -- Lud Gluskin and Lucien Moraweck

Peter Cushing did double duty on this film. In additional to his own role, he would feed Louis Hayward the lines for the split screen shots. Director 'James Whale' initially cast him only to play opposite Hayward in the sequences where both twins appear together, but was impressed enough with the newcomer that he offered Cushing a small part on horseback. This was Peter Cushing's film debut, and he had the unique opportunity to view his own rushes and improve his own performance, especially since none of it would be used in the finished feature. As 'Second Officer,' he can be seen 17 minutes in, with two lines of dialogue ("I've been here before&quot .


9:30 AM -- Ace Drummond: The Trackless Trail (1936)
In Chapter Seven of Ace Drummond ace pilot tries to find someone to translate a diary written in an ancient language.
BW-20 mins,


10:00 AM -- Ace Drummond: The Sign in the Sky (1936)
In Chapter Eight of Ace Drummond ace pilot invades a criminal mastermind's underground lair.
BW-20 mins,


10:30 AM -- Feudin' Fools (1952)
The Bowery Boys get caught in a hillbilly feud when one of them inherits a Kentucky farm.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Dorothy Ford
BW-63 mins, CC,

Shot in six days, this was the 27th of 48 Bowery Boys movies.


11:48 AM -- So You Want To Be A Detective (1948)
In this comedic short, Joe McDoakes imagines himself as a private detective on a murder case. Vitaphone Release 1636A.
Dir: Richard Bare
Cast: Clifton Young, Donald Kerr, Lila Leeds
BW-11 mins,


12:00 PM -- Dark Passage (1947)
A man falsely accused of his wife's murder escapes to search for the real killer.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett
BW-106 mins, CC,

The first film in which Humphrey Bogart wore a full hairpiece.


2:00 PM -- The Fighting Sullivans (1944)
During WWII, five brothers enlist in the Navy and are assigned to serve on the same ship.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Anne Baxter, Thomas Mitchell, Selena Royle
BW-111 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Edward Doherty and Jules Schermer

After the deaths of the five Sullivan brothers, the United States Navy named two ships after them. They were the Fletcher class destroyer, USS The Sullivans (DD-537) and the Arleigh Burke class destroyer, USS The Sullivans (DDG-68). The former was the first American navy vessel ever to be named after more than one person. Each of the two vessels shared the same motto which was the Sullivan brothers motto: "We Stick Together."


4:00 PM -- Julius Caesar (1953)
An all-star adaptation of Shakespeare's classic about Julius Caesar's assassination and its aftermath.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: John Doucette, George Macready, Michael Pate
BW-121 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Edward C. Carfagno, Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Marlon Brando, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Miklós Rózsa, and Best Picture

Giving Marlon Brando the role of Mark Antony was considered stunt casting at the time because of his reputation for mumbling following A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz had Paul Scofield lined up for the role should Brando's screen test not work out.


6:15 PM -- Blackbeard, The Pirate (1952)
A kidnapped beauty gets caught between feuding pirates.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Robert Newton, Linda Darnell, William Bendix
C-99 mins, CC,

Boris Karloff and Charles Laughton were considered for the Blackbeard role.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: THE ART OF THE CON



8:00 PM -- The Sting (1973)
Two con men hit the big time to take on a gangster in '30s Chicago.
Dir: George Roy Hill
Cast: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw
C-129 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Director -- George Roy Hill, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced -- David S. Ward, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Henry Bumstead and James W. Payne, Best Costume Design -- Edith Head, Best Film Editing -- William Reynolds, Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation -- Marvin Hamlisch, and Best Picture (Julia Phillips became the first female producer to win in the Best Picture category.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Robert Redford, Best Cinematography -- Robert Surtees, and Best Sound -- Ronald Pierce and Robert R. Bertrand

Edith Head won her 8th and final Best Costume Design Academy Award for this film. "Just imagine," she said during her acceptance speech. "Dressing the two handsomest men in the world and then getting this."


10:30 PM -- The Flim-Flam Man (1967)
A seasoned conman teaches a young Army deserter the tricks of the trade.
Dir: Irvin Kershner
Cast: George C Scott, Sue Lyon, Harry Morgan
C-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This movie was filmed in Lexington, Kentucky and surrounding small towns, including Richmond, Winchester, and Irvine, Kentucky. The scene which shows the green bridge and A&P store was shot in Irvine, a small Appalachian town in Estill County, Kentucky. Townspeople had never witnessed a movie being made, and many stood excitedly watching the process. Highly acclaimed actor Harry Dean Stanton was born in West Irvine, which is very close in location to shots taken for this movie. However, Stanton had long since departed for Hollywood, and had already starred in many classic hit shows and movies by that time.


12:30 AM -- The Young In Heart (1938)
A family of con artists saves the life of a wealthy old woman and plots to fleece her.
Dir: Richard Wallace
Cast: Minnie Dupree, Paulette Goddard, Richard Carlson
BW-91 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Leon Shamroy, Best Music, Scoring -- Franz Waxman, and Best Music, Original Score -- Franz Waxman

Legendary stage actress Laurette Taylor (Amanda Wingfield in the original 1945 Broadway production of "The Glass Menagerie&quot made a screen test for David O. Selznick for the role of Miss Fortune, eventually played in the film by Minnie Dupree. The screen test can be seen in the documentary Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003). Maude Adams also made a test, with Janet Gaynor, for the role of Miss Fortune. The 12-minute film has been preserved by George Eastman House.


2:15 AM -- Alice, Sweet Alice (1977)
When people in an Italian-American neighborhood are murdered, suspicion falls on a lonely 12-year-old.
Dir: Alfred Sole
Cast: Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Paula Sheppard
C-105 mins, CC,

Paula E. Sheppard, who played 12-year-old Alice, was 19 during the making of the film.


4:00 AM -- Bloody Birthday (1980)
Three children born at the height of a total eclipse become heartless killers.
Dir: Ed Hunt
Cast: Lori Lethin, Melinda Cordell, Julie Brown
C-85 mins,

The astrology book Joyce consults is "Linda Goodman's Sun Signs." None of the material she supposedly reads out loud is from the book, however.


5:30 AM -- Gang Boy (1954)
In this short film, a police officer tries to prevent a gang war by bringing the rival groups together over dinner.
Dir: Arthur Swerdloff
Cast: Curly Riviera
C-27 mins,