TCM Schedule for Saturday, September 10, 2016 -- The Essentials - Inside Hollywood

[Staph]

The Essentials for tonight give us an insider's view of Hollywood, warts and all. Interestingly, all three are Oscar-nominated or Oscar-winning. I guess Hollywood likes a good hometown story. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- HELEN OF TROY (1956)
A shipwrecked prince's love for a married queen triggers war between Greece and Troy.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Rossana Podestà, Jack Sernas, Sir Cedric Hardwicke
C-121 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Noted British actor Edmund Purdom overdubbed in English the lines of French-Lithuanian actor Jacques Sernas on the soundtrack of this film, due to Sernas not having a firm English-speaking voice. Sernas at that point in his career was learning English but had not yet mastered the language. Purdom was not credited with his voiceover talent for this picture, as the film's producers wanted the public to think Sernas did it all on his own.


8:15 AM -- ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (1958)
A space visitor's touch turns an unhappy heiress into a vengeful giant.
Dir: Nathan Hertz
Cast: Allison Hayes, William Hudson, Yvette Vickers
BW-66 mins, CC,

This film was made right after the success of Sputnik. The alien spacecraft is called a "satellite" because the writer thought that meant any spherical shaped spacecraft.


9:30 AM -- TORCHY BLANE IN PANAMA (1938)
An ambitious newspaper woman traces bank robbers to an ocean liner.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: Lola Lane, Paul Kelly, Tom Kennedy
BW-59 mins,

Fifth of the nine Torchy Blane films. The first four starred Glenda Farrell, then one with Lola Lane, another three with Glenda Farrell, and the last was played by Jane Wyman.


10:30 AM -- JALOPY (1953)
The Bowery Boys enter an auto race when one of them invents a new super gas.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey
BW-62 mins, CC,

The 29th of 48 Bowery Boys movies.


12:00 PM -- OLIVER! (1968)
Musical version of the Dickens classic about an orphan taken in by a band of boy thieves.
Dir: Carol Reed
Cast: Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, Oliver Reed
C-154 mins, CC,

Won an Honorary Oscar Award for Onna White for her outstanding choreography achievement for Oliver!

Won Oscars for Best Director -- Carol Reed, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- John Box, Terence Marsh, Vernon Dixon and Ken Muggleston, Best Sound, Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation) -- Johnny Green, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Ron Moody, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Wild, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Vernon Harris, Best Cinematography -- Oswald Morris, Best Costume Design -- Phyllis Dalton, and Best Film Editing -- Ralph Kemplen

Mark Lester did not do his own singing in Oliver! It was dubbed by Kathe Green, daughter of Johnny Green, the music arranger/supervisor on the film. Johnny revealed this for the first time publicly in 1988 during an interview on the 20th anniversary of the film. He says that Mark Lester was "tone deaf and arrhythmic". He originally had two boys set to dub his singing but during post production they realized their voices didn't match Mark's look, so they used Johnny's daughter instead.


2:45 PM -- THE LAVENDER HILL MOB (1952)
An overlooked gold transporter with twenty years service plots to steal a million pounds of gold.
Dir: Charles Crichton
Cast: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James
BW-81 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- T.E.B. Clarke

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Alec Guinness

Audrey Hepburn was considered for a larger role in this film, but stage work made her unavailable. Alec Guinness was impressed with the young actress and arranged for her to appear in a bit part. This is considered to be Hepburn's first appearance in a major film.


4:15 PM -- THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE (1953)
A Scottish lord rebels against the British by taking up piracy.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Errol Flynn, Roger Livesey, Anthony Steel
C-89 mins, CC,

Stuntman Bob Anderson doubled for both actors in a sword fight and therefore "killed" himself.


6:00 PM -- COLORADO TERRITORY (1949)
An outlaw just released from prison is sucked back into a life of crime in this remake of High Sierra.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone
BW-94 mins, CC,

Colorado Territory is a remake of the same director's 1941 film High Sierra.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: INSIDE HOLLYWOOD



8:00 PM -- A STAR IS BORN (1937)
A fading matinee idol marries the young beginner he's shepherded to stardom.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou
C-111 mins, CC,

Won an Honorary Oscar Award for W. Howard Greene for the color photography of A Star Is Born. (plaque) This award was recommended by a committee of leading cinematographers after viewing all the color pictures made during the year.

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- William A. Wellman and Robert Carson

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Fredric March, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Janet Gaynor, Best Director -- William A. Wellman, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Alan Campbell, Robert Carson and Dorothy Parker, Best Assistant Director -- Eric Stacey, and Best Picture

The celebrated final line of the film was an afterthought. The original scene had Esther arriving at the Chinese Theater and collapsing in the forecourt sobbing, "Oh, Norman! Norman!" The scene was reshot two ways: with the familiar "Mrs. Norman Maine" tagline and the oddly irrelevant "Hello, everybody, this is Vicki Lester."


10:00 PM -- THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952)
An unscrupulous movie producer uses everyone around him in his climb to the top.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Elaine Stewart, Sammy White, Leo G. Carroll
BW-118 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gloria Grahame, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Charles Schnee, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Surtees, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Edward C. Carfagno, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Kirk Douglas

The character of Shields is regarded as a mixture of producer David O. Selznick, Orson Welles and producer Val Lewton. Georgia, the alcoholic daughter of an iconic actor, is very clearly based on Diana Barrymore. Bartlow, the college professor turned best-selling author turned screenwriter, is thought to be based on Paul Green, a UNC professor who followed a similar career track. Gilbert Roland's appearance as "Gaucho" is seen as a self-parody; the Mexican-born actor, once a star in silent dramas, had just appeared as "The Cisco Kid" in a string of "B" westerns.


12:15 AM -- THE PLAYER (1992)
A rising producer tries to cover up the accidental killing of a screenwriter who was stalking him.
Dir: Robert Altman
Cast: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward
C-124 mins, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Robert Altman, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published -- Michael Tolkin, and Best Film Editing -- Geraldine Peroni

The opening tracking shot (8 minutes) includes people talking about famous long tracking shots in other movies. The scene was rehearsed for a day, shot for half a day. Fifteen takes were done, five were printed, and the third one was used in the film. The entire sequence was unscripted, and all the dialogue is improvised.


2:30 AM -- BOSS (1975)
Two black bounty hunters sign on as sheriffs for a small Western town.
Dir: Jack Arnold
Cast: Fred Williamson, D'Urville Martin, R. G. Armstrong
C-87 mins,

The original title was Boss N***** (but I'm not going to spell out the word -- figure it out yourself!)


4:00 AM -- BLACK EYE (1974)
A private eye stumbles on a series of murders connected to a movie star's death.
Dir: Jack Arnold
Cast: Fred Williamson, Rosemary Forsyth, Teresa Graves
C-98 mins,

Based on the novel Murder on the Wild Side by Jeff Jacks.


5:45 AM -- R.F.D. GREENWICH VILLAGE (1969)
A couple tours around New York in this promotional short for corduroy clothing.
C-11 mins,