TCM Schedule for Friday, January 13, 2017 -- What's On Tonight - A Night With Cleopatra

[Staph]

In prime time TCM is featuring the Queen of Denial, er, the Nile, in films ranging from the sublime (George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) with Claude Rains and Vivian Leigh) to the ridiculous (Carry On Cleo (1964)). Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- CRIME BY NIGHT (1944)
Married detectives investigating a small-town murder uncover a spy ring.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: Jane Wyman, Jerome Cowan, Faye Emerson
BW-73 mins, CC,

Based on Geoffrey Homes book "Forty Whacks".


7:30 AM -- MY FAVORITE SPY (1942)
Bandleader Kay Kyser leaves his bride at the altar to help catch international spies.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Kay Kyser, Ellen Drew, Jane Wyman
BW-86 mins,

The War Department Motion Picture Board of Review initially rejected the film for release because the story misrepresented the Army Intelligence Division as engaging in espionage. After studio revisions, the film was still refused approval because the Army said that Kay Kyser's character would never be called into the Intelligence Service without qualifications and training. Producer Harold Lloyd suggested that Kyser get the orders from a mixup of names, but that revision was still rejected because the Army did not want a commissioned officer to be made to be the object of ridicule. A further revision having Kyser decommissioned and entering the Intelligence Service as a civilian was finally approved by the War Department. Additional scenes were filmed in late February 1942 to make the changes in the film.


9:00 AM -- THE LADY TAKES A SAILOR (1949)
A woman is saved from drowning by a mysterious submarine, but nobody believes her.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Jane Wyman, Dennis Morgan, Eve Arden
BW-99 mins, CC,

"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on May 15, 1950 with Jane Wyman and Dennis Morgan reprising their film roles.


10:45 AM -- FLIGHT ANGELS (1940)
Airline stewardesses vie for the love of a dashing pilot.
Dir: Lewis Seiler
Cast: Virginia Bruce, Dennis Morgan, Wayne Morris
BW-74 mins, CC,

Warner Bros. contract players Paul Panzer, Leo White and Jack Wise announce their real names when they board airplanes as passengers.


12:00 PM -- BAD MEN OF MISSOURI (1941)
The Younger Brothers become outlaws to fight off carpetbaggers.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Dennis Morgan, Jane Wyman, Wayne Morris
BW-71 mins, CC,

Humphrey Bogart rejected a role in this film, with the words "Are you kidding?"


1:15 PM -- WYOMING KID (1947)
A gambler falls for the wife of the outlaw he's out to catch.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Dennis Morgan, Jane Wyman, Janis Paige
C-99 mins, CC,

Originally titled Cheyenne.


3:00 PM -- DANGEROUS (1935)
A young fan tries to rehabilitate an alcoholic actress he's fallen in love with.
Dir: Alfred E. Green
Cast: Bette Davis, Franchot Tone, Margaret Lindsay
BW-78 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Bette Davis (On 14 December 2002 Steven Spielberg anonymously bought Davis' Oscar at a Sotheby's auction in New York to return it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The statuette was among the memorabilia sold by the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain, which has emerged from bankruptcy protection.)

Though Bette Davis was very proud of the Oscar she won for this film, she didn't think she deserved it that year - in her opinion, Katharine Hepburn should have won for Alice Adams (1935). Davis always thought she won as compensation for not even being nominated for her star-making performance in Of Human Bondage (1934) the previous year.


4:30 PM -- THE THIRTEENTH CHAIR (1937)
A phony psychic tries to solve a murder that took place during her seance.
Dir: George B. Seitz
Cast: Dame May Whitty, Madge Evans, Lewis Stone
BW-67 mins,

From the play by Bayard Veiller, this was previously filmed in 1919 and 1929.


5:45 PM -- WHAT DO YOU THINK? (1937)
This short film poses the question, "does extrasensory perception really exist?"
Dir: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: William Henry,
BW-10 mins,


6:00 PM -- WHEN WERE YOU BORN? (1938)
An astrologer tries to help the police catch a killer.
Dir: William McGann
Cast: Margaret Lindsay, Anna May Wong, Lola Lane
BW-65 mins,

Based on an original story by Manley Hall.


7:15 PM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #26 (1955)
Eleanor Powell performs in a clip from "Broadway Melody"; Spencer Tracy performs in a clip from "Captains Courageous." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-25 mins,


7:43 PM -- GLIMPSES OF WASHINGTON STATE (1940)
This short film takes the viewer to several locations in the state of Washington.
C-9 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: A NIGHT WITH CLEOPATRA



8:00 PM -- CLEOPATRA (1934)
The fabled queen of Egypt leads Julius Caesar and Marc Antony astray.
Dir: Cecil B. DeMille
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Henry Wilcoxon
BW-101 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography -- Victor Milner

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Franklin Hansen (sound director), Best Film Editing -- Anne Bauchens, Best Assistant Director -- Cullen Tate, and Best Picture

When Cecil B. DeMille was in pre-production on this film, he asked to screen the original version, Cleopatra (1917) with Theda Bara. No prints could be found on in Los Angeles, so a copy of it was borrowed from the Fox office in New York. After DeMille viewed the film it was sent back to Little Ferry, New Jersey. On July 9, 1937, a fire at the storage facility destroyed almost all of Fox's known archived prints, most likely including Cleopatra. The screening for DeMille's company, on February 15, 1934, may have been the last time anyone saw the legendary film.


10:00 PM -- CLEOPATRA (1963)
The legendary Egyptian queen tries to use her beauty to conquer the Roman Empire.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison
C-251 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Leon Shamroy, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- John DeCuir, Jack Martin Smith, Hilyard M. Brown, Herman A. Blumenthal, Elven Webb, Maurice Pelling, Boris Juraga, Walter M. Scott, Paul S. Fox and Ray Moyer, Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene Sharaff, Vittorio Nino Novarese and Renié, and Best Effects, Special Visual Effects -- Emil Kosa Jr.

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Rex Harrison, Best Sound -- James Corcoran (20th Century-Fox SSD) and Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD), Best Film Editing -- Dorothy Spencer, Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Alex North, and Best Picture

While filming Cleopatra's triumphant entry into Rome, a scene requiring thousands of extras and the transportation of a huge barge carrying the Queen of Egypt, Joseph L. Mankiewicz had to cut the scene, roll back the barge, and begin again because one camera caught an enterprising extra hawking gelato to his fellow extras.


2:30 AM -- CARRY ON CLEO (1965)
Two kidnapped Britons run afoul of Cleopatra.
Dir: Gerald Thomas
Cast: Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor
C-92 mins,

The owners of the British department store Marks and Spencer were alerted to a send-up of their store's name ("Marcus and Spencius&quot and associated use of the store's colours (green and gold) and called in their lawyers. Legal action was averted when it was explained that no slight against the store was intended, and the owners settled for an apology and a letter of explanation to be sent to a leading newspaper. This idea was later dropped, however, and the incident forgotten.


4:15 AM -- CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA (1945)
Julius Caesar gives the famed Egyptian queen lessons in government.
Dir: Gabriel Pascal
Cast: Claude Rains, Vivien Leigh, Flora Robson
C-128 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- John Bryan

This movie was shot during WW2, which resulted in production being halted repeatedly due to German bombing raids. The war also hampered the production's ability to get necessary materials, so the crew had to do the best they could with what they had.