TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 3 -- What's On Tonight: True Crime

[Staph]

This evening's theme is a new one for this month -- True Crime. Enjoy!


7:00 AM -- Dynamite (1929)
A socialite marries a condemned man for money, only to learn he's been reprieved.
127 min, TV-PG
Dir: Cecil B. De Mille
Cast: Conrad Nagel, Kay Johnson, Charles Bickford

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction -- Mitchell Leisen (No official nominees had been announced this year.)

Cecil B. DeMille's first all-sound film (The Godless Girl was essentially a silent film with sound sequences added), and his first of three films for MGM.


9:15 AM -- One Man's Journey (1933)
Father and son doctors disagree over the son's materialistic goals.
72 min, TV-G
Dir: John Robertson
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, May Robson, Dorothy Jordan

Based on the story Failure by Katharine Havilland-Taylor. Was remade in 1938 as A Man To Remember.


10:30 AM -- Chance at Heaven (1934)
A society girl steals a simple gas station attendant from his working-class girlfriend.
71 min, TV-G
Dir: William Seiter
Cast: Ginger Rogers, Joel McCrea, Marian Nixon

Marian Nixon replaced Dorothy Wilson in the role of Glory Franklyn.


11:45 AM -- Bells Are Ringing (1960)
An answering service operator gets mixed up in her clients' lives.
C-126 min, TV-G
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Fred Clark

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- André Previn

Judy Holliday's last film.


2:00 PM -- The Power And The Prize (1956)
An ambitious executive jeopardizes his career to marry a European refugee.
98 min, TV-G
Dir: Henry Koster
Cast: Robert Taylor, Elisabeth Mueller, Burl Ives

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

Based on the novel "March or Die - The Story of the French Legion", by Howard Swigett.


4:00 PM -- The Mighty McGurk (1946)
A punch-drunk prizefighter living on the Bowery takes in an orphaned boy.
86 min, TV-PG
Dir: John Waters
Cast: Wallace Beery, Dean Stockwell, Edward Arnold

In 1902, 16-year-old Wallace Beery joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant to the elephant trainer. He left two years later after a leopard clawed his arm.


5:30 PM -- The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm (1962)
Fanciful biography of the German fairy-tale collectors, with reenactments of three of their stories.
C-136 min, TV-G
Dir: Henry Levin
Cast: Laurence Harvey, Karl Boehm, Claire Bloom

Won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Color -- Mary Wills

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- George W. Davis, Edward C. Carfagno, Henry Grace and Richard Pefferle, Best Cinematography, Color -- Paul Vogel, and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Leigh Harline

The second major motion picture filmed in 3-camera Cinerama, although it was released before the first, How the West Was Won.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: TRUE CRIME



8:00 PM -- In Cold Blood (1967)
Two vagrants try to outrun the police after committing a savage crime in this real-life shocker.
134 min, TV-14
Dir: Richard Brooks
Cast: Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Conrad L. Hall, Best Director -- Richard Brooks, Best Music, Original Music Score -- Quincy Jones, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Richard Brooks

To get the authenticity he wanted, Richard Brooks filmed in all the actual locations including the Clutter house (where the murders took place) and the actual courtroom (6 of the actual jurors were used). Even Nancy Clutter's horse Babe was used in a few scenes. The actual gallows at the Kansas State Penitentiary were used for filming the executions, however, in a 2002 interview, Charles McAtee (who was State Corrections Director for Kansas in the 1960's), clarified the hangman in the film was an actor, not the real deal.


10:30 PM -- The Boston Strangler (1968)
Federal and local law officers try to catch a deadly serial killer.
C-116 min
Dir: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, George Kennedy

Other actors considered for the role of Albert DeSalvo were Robert Redford, Horst Buchholz, Stuart Whitman, and Warren Beatty.


12:15 AM -- 10 Rillington Place (1971)
A serial killer frames a mentally challenged man.
C-111 min, TV-14
Dir: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt

According to the commentary by John Hurt on the DVD, real-life retired executioner Albert Pierrepoint was a technical advisor for the execution scene. This scene was the first British people had seen in a cinema of a British hanging, and as it was still covered under the government's Official Secrets Act, no details regarding the scene were available. This is where Albert Pierrepoint came in, under an assumed name, and was able to re-create the harrowing scene to maximize the true terror of what it must have been like.


2:15 AM -- The Onion Field (1979)
When his partner is killed by a disturbed ex-con, a policeman struggles to regain his confidence.
C-126 min, TV-MA
Dir: Harold Becker
Cast: John Savage, James Woods, Franklyn Seales

Ted Danson's feature film debut.


5:00 AM -- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
A visiting city reporter's assignment suddenly revolves around the murder trial of a local millionaire.
C-155 min, TV-14
Dir: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Kevin Spacey, John Cusack, Jack Thompson

For the Christmas party scene at Mercer house, they actually invited a large number of people who had previously been at Jim William's parties, including several members of his family. These extras praised the movie party because, not only was the atmosphere correct, but Kevin Spacey perfectly played Jim and how he meandered through his parties.