TCM Schedule for Friday, January 20, 2017 -- What's On Tonight - The Saint Marathon

[Staph]

Someone on the scheduling team at TCM has a delightful sense of humor and of the importance of the day. At 5:45, TCM is showing A Face in the Crowd. If you have not seen it, watch! Lonesome Rhodes (yep, that's where Keith Olbermann got his nickname for Glenn Beck!) is a fake, a phony, a trump. Then in prime time TCM is showing seven of the nine films in The Saint series -- based on the character Simon Templar, from the nearly 100 novels by Leslie Charteris. Enjoy!


7:00 AM -- PRINCESS O'ROURKE (1943)
A flying ace's romance with a princess creates diplomatic problems.
Dir: Norman Krasna
Cast: Olivia De Havilland, Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn,
BW-95 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Norman Krasna

Generally considered the film that caused Olivia de Havilland to sue Warner Brothers over contract rights. She won the lawsuit, resulting in California Labor Code Section 2855, informally known as the "De Havilland Law".


8:45 AM -- ONE MORE TOMORROW (1946)
A playboy and a lady photographer allow social differences to come between them.
Dir: Peter Godfrey
Cast: Ann Sheridan, Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson,
BW-88 mins, CC,

Filmed between early April and early June of 1943, with shooting recommencing between mid-October and early November, this movie finally premiered on May 24, 1946 at the Strand Theatre in Manhattan. Allegedly, the picture had not received a quicker release due to Warner Bros.' lack of confidence in the box office potential.


10:30 AM -- HONEYMOON FOR THREE (1941)
A novelist pretends to be married to hold his fans at bay.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Ann Sheridan, George Brent, Charlie Ruggles,
BW-75 mins, CC,

The original play "Goodbye Again" opened in New York on 28 December 1932 and ran for 216 performances. It featured a then-unknown James Stewart in a small role as a chauffeur.


12:00 PM -- THE KING AND THE CHORUS GIRL (1937)
While vacationing in New York, a European prince falls for a showgirl.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Fernand Gravet, Joan Blondell, Edward Everett Horton,
BW-94 mins, CC,

Written by Norman Krasna and Groucho Marx. Yes, that Groucho Marx!


1:45 PM -- THE FOUNTAINHEAD (1949)
An idealistic architect battles corrupt business interests and his love for a married woman.
Dir: King Vidor
Cast: Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey,
BW-113 mins, CC,

Ayn Rand was furious that Roark's courtroom speech was edited down for time, and as a result refused to allow for a film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged during her lifetime.


3:45 PM -- BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1961)
A young writer gets caught up in a party girl's carefree existence.
Dir: Blake Edwards
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal,
BW-115 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Henry Mancini (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) for the song "Moon River", and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Henry Mancini

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Audrey Hepburn, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- George Axelrod, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Hal Pereira, Roland Anderson, Sam Comer and Ray Moyer

At a post-production meeting following a screening of the film, a studio executive, in reference to "Moon River," said, "Well, I think the first thing we can do is get rid of that stupid song." Audrey Hepburn stood up at the table and said, "Over my dead body!" The song stayed in the picture.


5:45 PM -- A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957)
A female television executive turns a folk-singing drifter into a powerful media star.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa,
BW-126 mins, CC,

Elia Kazan and Budd Schulberg spent months researching the advertising world, even gaining access to ad agency meetings, in order to understand the way Madison Avenue approaches and shapes the thinking of the American public.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE SAINT MARATHON



8:00 PM -- THE SAINT IN NEW YORK (1938)
The Saint goes undercover to get the goods on New York's mob kingpins.
Dir: Ben Holmes
Cast: Louis Hayward, Kay Sutton, Sig Rumann,
BW-72 mins, CC,

The kidnapped child is Viola Throckmorton. In the novel, her name was Viola Inselheim, daughter of a prominent Jewish businessman. This is one of several alterations of ethnicity in the film adaptation. "Dutch," a gangster, becomes "Hutch" in the film.


9:30 PM -- THE SAINT STRIKES BACK (1939)
The Saint helps a young beauty take vengeance on the mobsters who ruined her father.
Dir: John Farrow
Cast: George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, Jerome Cowan,
BW-64 mins, CC,

The first film in the series to utilize the whistled "Saint Theme". The composer is unknown, but is held to be either Templar's creator Leslie Charteris or RKO's Roy Webb.


10:45 PM -- THE SAINT IN LONDON (1939)
The Saint's investigation of a counterfeiting ring uncovers a nest of spies.
Dir: John Paddy Carstairs
Cast: George Sanders, Sally Gray, David Burns,
BW-72 mins, CC,

John Paddy Carstairs also directed for the Roger Moore 1960's TV series The Saint, which he helped get off the ground. Saint creator Leslie Charteris dedicated his 1963 book "The Saint in the Sun" to the director.


12:15 AM -- THE SAINT'S DOUBLE TROUBLE (1940)
Reformed jewel thief Simon Templar lands in hot water when a look-alike smuggles stolen goods out of Egypt.
Dir: Jack Hively
Cast: George Sanders, Helene Whitney, Jonathan Hale,
BW-67 mins, CC,

Egyptian King Amenok III, said to have died 4000 years earlier, is entirely fictitious.


1:30 AM -- THE SAINT IN PALM SPRINGS (1941)
Reformed jewel thief Simon Templar's efforts to deliver a fortune in rare stamps are complicated by murder.
Dir: Jack Hively
Cast: George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, Paul Guilfoyle,
BW-66 mins, CC,

Although he is credited for the story, very little of Leslie Charteris' original concept actually made it to the screen. He later adapted his version of the story for his book "The Saint Goes West", which included several digs at the Hollywood movie industry.


2:45 AM -- THE SAINT'S VACATION (1941)
Reformed jewel thief Simon Templar vies with Nazi agents for possession of a mysterious music box,
Dir: Leslie Fenton
Cast: Hugh Sinclair, Sally Gray, Arthur Macrae,
BW-61 mins, CC,

RKO decided to form a British Company to utilize funds frozen by the British government because of the "Films Act," which limited money taken out of the country to 50% of revenues earned from American films distributed in Great Britain. This was the first film made using those frozen funds.


4:00 AM -- SAINT MEETS THE TIGER (1943)
The Saint infiltrates a small English village run by smugglers.
Dir: Paul Stein
Cast: Hugh Sinclair, Jean Gillie, Gordon McLeod,
BW-69 mins, CC,

Although not the first screen appearance of Simon Templar, this film is based on the very first Saint novel, Meet the Tiger!


5:15 AM -- SCREEN DIRECTORS PLAYHOUSE: CLAIRE (1956)
A doctor's bride is haunted by guilt over the death of his first wife.
BW-26 mins,

[BillyBobBrilliant]

1. And THAT is just

Where I will be -- All night -- watching movies about 'The Saint.' I will fall asleep watching those.
There will be nothing on the Major Networks, or News Channels to interest me on THAT day!

[Staph]

2. I'll be on the road

to Washington! Women's March, here we come!