TCM Schedule for Friday, February 24, 2017 -- 31 Days of Oscar: Oscar A to Z Day 24

[Staph]

It's day twenty-four of 31 Days of Oscar, Alphabet Style. Today brings us 1958's The Sheepman (a comedy about a range war between cattlemen and a sheep dude) to 1957's The Spirit of St. Louis (Jimmy Stewart as an over-aged Charles Lindbergh). Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- THE SHEEPMAN (1958)
A tough sheep farmer battles the local cattle baron for land and a beautiful woman.
Dir: George Marshall
Cast: Glenn Ford, Shirley MacLaine, Leslie Nielsen
C-86 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- William Bowers (screenplay) and James Edward Grant (screenplay/story)

Final film of G. Pat Collins.


7:30 AM -- SHENANDOAH (1965)
A Virginia farmer fights to keep his family together during the Civil War.
Dir: Andrew V. McLaglen
Cast: James Stewart, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett
C-105 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound -- Waldon O. Watson (Universal City SSD)

The opening battle scenes are taken from Raintree County (1957) and are printed as a mirror image of the original footage. (The same scenes can also be seen in, among other films, How the West Was Won (1962).)


9:30 AM -- SHOW BOAT (1951)
Riverboat entertainers find love, laughs and hardships as they sail along "Old Man River."
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel
C-108 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Charles Rosher, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Adolph Deutsch and Conrad Salinger

MGM vied for the rights to film "Show Boat" as early as 1938. Universal Studios had owned the rights to the musical since 1929, and had made earlier versions in 1929 (with different songs) and 1936. MGM had hopes of starring the reigning operatic duo of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in the roles of Gaylord and Magnolia. but when that didn't happen, they showcased new stars Tony Martin and Kathryn Grayson - in a kind of screen test as Ravenal and Magnolia in the Kern film biography Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) (and Grayson did eventually appear in the 1951 "Show Boat&quot . The third lead in the film, the biracial Julie, was considered at various times for Judy Garland, Dinah Shore, and Lena Horne. Shore, although not a major film star, did have a somewhat exotic visage at the time - her hair and eyes were very dark, and she did almost as many blues and torch songs as a band singer in the 1940's as did Garland. Horne mentions in her biography that she wanted to do the role of Julie badly, but only got as far as performing a single number in the "Clouds" film in the opening "Show Boat" vignette. America, after all, was still a segregated nation in 1950. Interracial romance was still taboo on screen - and Julie kisses and romantically interacts with her white husband several times.


11:30 AM -- THE SILVER CHALICE (1954)
A silversmith is charged with engraving the Holy Grail.
Dir: Victor Saville
Cast: Virginia Mayo, Pier Angeli, Jack Palance
C-135 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- William V. Skall, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Franz Waxman

When the film ran on television in 1966, Paul Newman took out ads in the Hollywood trade papers, calling it "the worst motion picture produced during the 1950s," apologizing for his performance, and asking people not to watch the film. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect, and many people tuned in to watch it on TV. Newman once screened the movie for friends at his home, giving them whistles, pots, and wooden spoons, and encouraging them to make noisy critiques of the film.


2:00 PM -- SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
A silent-screen swashbuckler finds love while trying to adjust to the coming of sound.
Dir: Gene Kelly
Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds
C-103 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jean Hagen, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Lennie Hayton

Debbie Reynolds remarked many years later that making this movie and surviving childbirth were the two hardest things she ever had to do.


3:45 PM -- THE SLIPPER AND THE ROSE (1976)
An impoverished orphan dreams of attending the royal ball.
Dir: Bryan Forbes
Cast: Gemma Craven, Richard Chamberlain, Edith Evans
C-143 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman for the song "The Slipper and the Rose Waltz (He Danced with Me/She Danced with Me)", and Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score -- Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman and Angela Morley

The scene where Cinderella is seen swinging on a chair surrounded by climbing flowers while she is in exile is a direct reference to the well-known painting "The Swing" by Jean-Honore Fragonard, a famous French artist who was praised for his use of color. Details of Cinderella's costume and setting are similar to Fragonard's painting, right down to the color of her dress and the style of her hat.


6:15 PM -- SMALL TOWN GIRL (1953)
A sheriff's daughter falls for a playboy arrested for speeding.
Dir: Leslie Kardos
Cast: Jane Powell, Farley Granger, Ann Miller
C-94 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Nicholas Brodszky (music) and Leo Robin (lyrics) for the song "My Flaming Heart"

Bobby Van performs a long 'dance' sequence in which he jumps continuously. At first glance it seems that he does it all in one take. However, the dance was so tiring that it was cut into four segments so that he could rest. The cuts are covered by changes in camera angle and placement.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: DAY 24



8:00 PM -- SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
Two musicians on the run from gangsters masquerade as members of an all-girl band.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon
BW-122 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Orry-Kelly

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Jack Lemmon, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Charles Lang, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Ted Haworth and Edward G. Boyle

Jack Lemmon wrote that the first sneak preview had a bad reaction with many audience walkouts. Many studio personnel and agents offered advice to Billy Wilder on what scenes to reshoot, add and cut. Lemmon asked Wilder what he was going to do. Wilder responded: "Why, nothing. This is a very funny movie and I believe in it just as it is. Maybe this is the wrong neighborhood in which to have shown it. At any rate, I don't panic over one preview. It's a hell of a movie." Wilder held the next preview in the Westwood section of Los Angeles, and the audience stood up and cheered.


10:15 PM -- SPARTACUS (1960)
An heroic slave leads a revolt against the corrupt Roman Empire.
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons
C-196 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Peter Ustinov, Best Cinematography, Color -- Russell Metty, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Alexander Golitzen, Eric Orbom, Russell A. Gausman and Julia Heron, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Valles and Bill Thomas

Nominated for Oscars for Best Film Editing -- Robert Lawrence, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Alex North

The original version included a scene where Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier) attempts to seduce Antoninus (Tony Curtis). The Production Code Administration and the Legion of Decency both objected. At one point Geoffrey Shurlock, representing the censors, suggested it would help if the reference in the scene to a preference for oysters or snails was changed to truffles and artichokes. In the end the scene was cut, but it was put back in for the 1991 restoration. However, the soundtrack had been lost in the meantime and the dialogue had to be dubbed. Curtis was able to redo his lines, but Olivier had died. Joan Plowright, his widow, remembered that Anthony Hopkins had done a dead-on impression of Olivier and she mentioned this to the restoration team. They approached Hopkins and he agreed to voice Olivier's lines in that scene. Hopkins is thanked in the credits for the restored version.


1:45 AM -- SPEEDY (1928)
In this silent film, a young man helps his girlfriend save the family trolley business.
Dir: Ted Wilde
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Ann Christy, Bert Woodruff
BW-86 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Director, Comedy Picture -- Ted Wilde

The streetcar crash into the elevated train support was an unplanned accident (no one was injured); the idea of replacing the broken wheel with a manhole cover had to be improvised on the scene.


3:30 AM -- THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS (1957)
Charles Lindbergh risks his life to complete his historic flight from New York to Paris.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: James Stewart, Murray Hamilton, Patricia Smith
C-135 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Louis Lichtenfield

James Stewart was given the role of Charles A. Lindbergh after John Kerr had turned it down, owing to his disapproval of Lindbergh's pro-Nazi sympathies and his racist and anti-Semitic views. This was despite the fears of the producers that Stewart was too old for the part.