TCM Schedule for Saturday, December 9, 2017 -- The Essentials: Fay Bainter

[Staph]

Tonight's Essentials feature a trio of films featuring Fay Bainter. She started acting in theater at the age of six, but did not make her first film until 1934, at the age of 41. She usually played understanding and sympathic wives, mothers, aunts, and best friends.

And there are some interesting films in the daylight hours. Most of them are remakes of earlier films or have been remade later. A couple of goodies -- the original The Maltese Falcon (1931) which is not the Bogart version, and the 1935 version of The Three Musketeers. If I have counted correctly, there are at least 40 filmed versions of Alexandre Dumas' novel, from 1903 to 2016! Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- THE MALTESE FALCON (1931)
In the first screen version of The Maltese Falcon, detective Sam Spade investigates the theft of a priceless statue.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Bebe Daniels, Ricardo Cortez, Dudley Digges
BW-78 mins, CC,

When originally sold to television in the 1950s, the title was changed to "Dangerous Female" in order to avoid confusion with its illustrious remake, The Maltese Falcon (1941). Fifty years later, Turner Classic Movies restored its original title card. However, as recently as April 27, 2017, the service used by cable companies to provide data for their viewing guides used the "Dangerous Female" title for TCM's showing of the movie on that date.


8:15 AM -- THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1935)
Alexandre Dumas's classic swashbuckler about a young guardsman fighting for the queen's honor.
Dir: Rowland V. Lee
Cast: Walter Abel, Paul Lukas, Margot Grahame
BW-96 mins, CC,

Nigel De Brulier had already played Cardinal Richelieu in the 1921 film The Three Musketeers (1921) as well as the 1929 film The Iron Mask (1929). In addition, he also played Richelieu in the 1939 film The Man in the Iron Mask (1939).


10:00 AM -- ROBERTA (1935)
A football player inherits a chic Paris fashion house.
Dir: William A. Seiter
Cast: Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers
BW-106 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jerome Kern (music), Dorothy Fields (lyrics) and Jimmy McHugh (lyrics) for the song "Lovely to Look at"

The floor in the "I'll Be Hard to Handle" dance was the only wooden floor in all of the Fred Astaire / Ginger Rogers musicals. They both loved working on it, as they could tap and actually make the sounds of the taps. In the other musicals their taps were dubbed over, as they were too quiet. Their enjoyment is clearly seen, as their giggles at each other are unscripted.


12:00 PM -- 3 GODFATHERS (1949)
Three outlaws on the run risk their freedom and their lives to return a newborn to civilization.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz, Harry Carey Jr.
C-106 mins, CC,

This is a remake of the silent film The Three Godfathers (1916), which starred Ford's long-time friend Harry Carey. When Carey died in 1947, Ford decided to remake the story in Technicolor and dedicate the film to his memory. Carey's son, Harry Carey Jr., plays one of the three, "The Abilene Kid". The film Three Godfathers (1936) is based on the same source, so this film is, in some sense, a remake of that film as well.


2:00 PM -- IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE (1947)
Two homeless men move into a mansion while its owners are wintering in the South.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Don DeFore, Ann Harding, Charlie Ruggles
BW-115 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani

Originally planned to be directed by Frank Capra, he chose to do It's a Wonderful Life (1946) instead.


4:15 PM -- THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (1943)
A loner gets caught up in a posse's drive to find and hang three suspected rustlers.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes
BW-76 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

Henry Fonda was generally unhappy with the quality of the films he had to do while under contract to 20th Century-Fox. This was one of only two films from that period that he was actually enthusiastic about starring in. The other was The Grapes of Wrath (1940).


6:00 PM -- THE FAR COUNTRY (1955)
Two cowboys on the road to Alaska help a wagon train in trouble.
Dir: Anthony Mann
Cast: James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Corinne Calvet
C-97 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

One of James Stewart's favorite stories of his film career concerned his horse, Pie, a sorrel stallion whom Stewart called, "One of the best co-stars I ever had." Pie appeared as Stewart's horse in 17 Westerns, and the actor developed a strong personal bond with the horse. Pie was very intelligent, Stewart recalled, and would often "act for the cameras when they were rolling. He was a ham of a horse." When shooting the climax of "The Far Country," the script called for Stewart's horse to walk down a dark street alone, with no rider in the saddle, to fool the bad guys who were waiting to ambush Stewart. Assistant Director John Sherwood asked Stewart if Pie would be able to do the scene. Stewart replied, "I'll talk to him." Just before the cameras rolled, Stewart took Pie aside and whispered to the horse for several minutes, giving him instructions for the scene. When Stewart let the horse go, Pie walked perfectly down the middle of the street, to his trainer who was waiting with a sugar cube just out of camera range. He did the scene in one take. When Pie died in 1970, Stewart arranged to have the horse buried at his California ranch.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: FAY BAINTER



8:00 PM -- WOMAN OF THE YEAR (1942)
Opposites distract when a sophisticated political columnist falls for a sportswriter.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Fay Bainter
BW-114 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner Jr.

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn

The first scene shot was the characters' first date, in a bar. Katharine Hepburn was so nervous she spilled her drink, but Spencer Tracy just handed her a handkerchief and kept going. Hepburn proceeded to clean up the spill as they played the scene. When the drink dripped through to the floor, she tried to throw Tracy off by going under the table, but he stayed in character, with the cameras rolling the entire time.


10:00 PM -- JEZEBEL (1938)
A tempestuous Southern belle's willfulness threatens to destroy all who care for her.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent
BW-104 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Bette Davis (On 19 July 2001 Steven Spielberg purchased Davis' Oscar statuette at a Christie's auction and returned it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This was the second time in five years Spielberg did so to protect an Oscar from further commercial exploitation.), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Fay Bainter

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Ernest Haller, Best Music, Scoring -- Max Steiner, and Best Picture

Bette Davis came to the realization that William Wyler was a very special director when he insisted she come view the dailies with him, something she had never done with any other director before. They watched a scene where her character was coming down a staircase, a scene that had really irritated Davis as she couldn't understand why Wyler wanted to film it over 30 times. Watching the rushes however, she saw one of the takes in which he had captured a fleeting, devil-may-care expression that summed her character up perfectly. After that, she happily accepted however many takes Wyler wanted.


12:00 AM -- THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (1947)
An accountant dreams of being a hero but finds it's not so easy in real life.
Dir: Norman Z. McLeod
Cast: Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Boris Karloff
C-110 mins, CC,

Author James Thurber acknowledged that the character Walter Mitty was based on his friend, writer Robert Benchley. Thurber said that he got the idea for Mitty from the character created by Benchley in a series of shorts that he made for Fox and MGM, respectively, in the 1920s and 1930s. Thurber is also on record as saying that he hated this film and that Danny Kaye's interpretation of Mitty is nothing at all like he intended the character to be.


2:00 AM -- PRIVATE PARTS (1972)
A young girl moves into her estranged aunt¿s hotel when she begins to suspect that a guest was murdered.
Dir: Paul Bartel
Cast: Ayn Ruymen, Lucille Benson, John Ventantonio
C-86 mins, CC,

Director's Cameo : Paul Bartel appears as a derelict who comes out from behind a tree in the park scene.


3:45 AM -- SCENES FROM THE CLASS STRUGGLE IN BEVERLY HILLS (1989)
In the home of a wealthy Beverly Hills actress, the male servants make a bet with one another to see who can seduce the other¿s employer first.
Dir: Paul Bartel
Cast: Jacqueline Bisset, Ray Sharkey, Robert Beltran
C-104 mins, CC,

After seeing the object of his obsession in a sex scene in this film, Robert John Bardot decided there and then that actress Rebecca Schaeffer should die. After getting her home address in Los Angeles, Bardot showed up on her doorstep on July 18, 1989 with a .357 Magnum revolver and confronted the young actress. After getting her autograph, Bardot wandered off but returned an hour later. He rang her doorbell and when Schaeffer responded, Bardot shot her, point blank, in the chest. She screamed "why?!" before collapsing in a pool of blood. Her murder woke Hollywood up to the dangers of stalkers towards celebrities. Bardot is serving a life sentence for the murder.


5:45 AM -- A VISIT TO SANTA (1963)
Two children dreaming of Christmas visit Santa at the North Pole in this short film.
C-12 mins,

[longship]

1. 3 Godfathers, Pedro Armendariz.

His last film was the second James Bond film From Russia with Love, which I consider to be hands down the finest of that genre. Here, Armendariz plays the Turkish station chief. He was already dying of cancer, but plays the role beautifully.

I always thought that he committed suicide shortly after completing filming of this film, rather than suffer. Other sites list that he just died of cancer.

Regardless, he is damned good in the role.