TCM Schedule for Friday, May 25, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: Memorial Day Marathon

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is featuring Feisty Females. Take it away, Roger!

To celebrate the unstoppable vitality of the feminine spirit, TCM presents a collection of films that focus on dynamic women and the irrepressible actresses who play them.

Barbara Stanwyck gives us one of the most liberated and notorious heroines of the pre-Code era in Baby Face (1933), in which she plays Lily Powers, an ambitious young woman from the wrong side of the tracks who sleeps her way to the top. Stanwyck gives a memorable and spirited performance, and the film itself was so frank in its treatment of sexuality that it helped usher in the movies' Production Code.

Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933) was another Depression-era heroine who shocked audiences of the day with her "amoral" behavior. Kay Francis stars as Dr. Stevens, a young pediatrician who decides to have a baby out of wedlock. She takes a cavalier attitude and remarks to a friend that "I didn't invent the idea. Women have been having babies for a long while!"

Jezebel (1938), the character that brought Bette Davis her second Best Actress win, is a sister-under-the-skin to another scheming daughter of the Old South, Scarlett O'Hara of Gone With the Wind fame. As Jezebel, Davis gets to run the gamut from willful Southern belle to self-sacrificing heroine willing to face an outbreak of yellow fever to save the life of the man she loves but cannot have. And, of course, she does it with the inimitable Davis energy and style.

The Women (1939), a film version of the Clare Booth Luce stage comedy about the relationships among Manhattan socialites of the 1930s, has a whole passel of feisty females - and a load of effervescent performances. Norma Shearer stars as a virtuous wife trying to keep shameless hussy Joan Crawford from stealing her husband. Taking sides in the struggle are vivacious associates played by Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland, Paulette Goddard and Joan Fontaine.

Yes, My Darling Daughter (1939) casts Priscilla Lane as a free-spirited young woman who shocks family and friends with her determination to spend a weekend with her lover before he heads off to work in Europe for two years. Fay Bainter costars as Lane's mother, a liberal pioneer for women's freedom who finds her feminist principles challenged by her daughter's actions.

In the screen version of the hit Broadway musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), Debbie Reynolds got her best chance to kick up her heels in a rambunctious star turn. Reynolds received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her free-wheeling interpretation of Brown, the Titanic survivor and Colorado social climber. A Variety critic praised Reynolds for the "enormous amount of verve and vigor" she packed into her performance.

by Roger Fristoe

Then in prime time, TCM begins their traditional Memorial Day Marathon. I wish that they would select a different batch of films. Every year it's the same films, mostly from World War II. These were shown last year on Memorial Day Weekend and will be shown again this weekend -- The Wings of Eagles (1957), No Time for Sergeants (1957), Mister Roberts (1955), Journey Into Fear (1942), Action in Arabia (1944), Nazi Agent (1942), Across the Pacific (1942), Twelve O'clock High (1949), Operation Crossbow (1965), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Where Eagles Dare (1968), The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Operation Pacific (1951). At least last year TCM spent a day honoring the Korean War. I'd like to see a day of Revolutionary War films or Civil War films or women at war or . . . . /end rant!

Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- THE LADY IS WILLING (1942)
A Broadway star has to find a husband so she can adopt an abandoned child.
Dir: Mitchell Leisen
Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Fred MacMurray, Aline MacMahon
BW-91 mins,

Early in the shooting, Marlene Dietrich tripped while carrying child-actor David James. She twisted her body to save the baby from striking the floor, but severely injured her right ankle in a fall, and her entire right leg had to be placed in a cast. That's why in this film she is always shown in full-length outfits (gowns, slacks, etc.) and just one shot of her unclothed leg is seen, and that is in shadow.


7:30 AM -- MARY STEVENS, M.D. (1933)
A woman doctor decides to have a baby without benefit of marriage.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Kay Francis, Lyle Talbot, Glenda Farrell
BW-72 mins,

Based on a story by Virginia Kellogg.


8:45 AM -- QUEEN CHRISTINA (1933)
Romantic tale of the 17th-century Swedish queen and her romance with a Spanish diplomat.
Dir: Rouben Mamoulian
Cast: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Ian Keith
BW-99 mins, CC,

For the famous closing shot of Greta Garbo at the prow of the ship, director Rouben Mamoulian had wanted the camera to begin with a long shot, and then, in one unbroken take, gradually dolly in on a two-thirds close-up of Garbo's face, holding on her at the end of the shot. Unfortunately, with the camera's 48mm lens that close to the human face, pores tend to resemble craters on the surface of the moon. Borrowing on aspects of the magic lantern, Mamoulian devised a large, ruler-shaped, glass filter strip that was clear at one end, becoming increasingly more diffused along its length. With this glass filter mounted in front of the lens, as the camera moved in on Garbo, the glass strip was gradually drawn through the filter holder, beginning with the clear end, and ending with the diffused end (close-up), softening Garbo's facial features with more flattering results. Prior to shooting that final scene, Mamoulian suggested that Garbo should think about nothing and avoid blinking her eyes, so that her face could be a "blank sheet of paper" and every member of the audience could write the ending of the film themselves.


10:30 AM -- YES, MY DARLING DAUGHTER (1939)
A freethinker's liberal ways are tested when her daughter announces plans for a premarital fling.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Priscilla Lane, Jeffrey Lynn, Roland Young
BW-86 mins, CC,

Was banned in several parts of the United States due to the subject matter.


12:00 PM -- BABY FACE (1933)
A beautiful schemer sleeps her way to the top of a banking empire.
Dir: Alfred E. Green
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Donald Cook
BW-76 mins, CC,

In spring of 1933 this film was submitted to the New York State Board of Censors, who rejected it, demanding a number of cuts and changes. Warner Brothers made these changes prior to the film's release in July 1933. In 2004, a "dupe negative" copy of the film as it existed prior to being censored was located at the Library of Congress. This uncensored version received its public premiere at the London Film Festival in November 2004, more than 70 years after it was made.


1:30 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,

Winner of 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

Nominee 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.


3:30 PM -- THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN (1964)
Musical biography of the backwoods girl who struck it rich in Colorado and survived the Titanic.
Dir: Charles Walters
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell, Ed Begley
C-129 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Debbie Reynolds, Best Cinematography, Color -- Daniel L. Fapp, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- George W. Davis, E. Preston Ames, Henry Grace and Hugh Hunt, Best Costume Design, Color -- Morton Haack, Best Sound -- Franklin Milton (M-G-M SSD), and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Robert Armbruster, Leo Arnaud, Jack Elliott, Jack Hayes, Calvin Jackson and Leo Shuken

As with most Hollywood biopics, there are differences with the real story, most notably in that Margaret (Molly) and J.J. never reconciled. They separated in 1909 although they remained good friends who cared deeply for each other until his passing. She was also not quite the social outcast as depicted in the film. Other aspects of her life that were missing from the movie: they had two children, a son and daughter. Margaret Brown was a passionate social crusader and philanthropist; she was a champion of women's rights, including education and getting the vote. She also championed worker's rights, historic preservation, education and literacy, and child welfare, including being instrumental in founding the modern juvenile court system. After the sinking of the Titanic she was noted for her efforts in having the heroism of the men aboard the ship commemorated. After WWI she was also a leader in helping rebuild France and aiding wounded soldiers, and received the French Legion of Honor. She also ran twice for the U.S. Senate. She died in 1932.


5:45 PM -- THE WOMEN (1939)
A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell
BW-133 mins, CC,

George Cukor told Rosalind Russell to play the part of Sylvia very broad. "Because in this picture Sylvia's breaking up a family, and there's a child involved, and if you're a heavy," Cukor told her, "audiences will hate you. Don't play it like a heavy, just be ridiculous." Of this advice Russell said, "He was a hundred-percent right. I was frightened to death, but from then on, I did what he said, and everything that came to me from 'The Women'--namely, my reputation as a comedienne--I owe to George . . . He was marvelous to work for, he could think of a hundred bits of business for every moment."



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: MEMORIAL DAY MARATHON



8:00 PM -- THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (1961)
A team of Allied saboteurs fight their way behind enemy lines to destroy a pair of Nazi guns.
Dir: J. Lee Thompson
Cast: Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn
C-157 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Bill Warrington (visual) and Chris Greenham (audible)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- J. Lee Thompson, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Carl Foreman, Best Sound -- John Cox (Shepperton SSD), Best Film Editing -- Alan Osbiston, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Dimitri Tiomkin, and Best Picture

Gregory Peck often said he was disappointed that so many viewers had missed how anti-war the film was intended to be. Peck was a life-long pacifist, who strongly opposed U.S. involvement in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He was also against joining World War II, until Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.


11:00 PM -- THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967)
A renegade officer trains a group of misfits for a crucial mission behind enemy lines.
Dir: Robert Aldrich
Cast: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson
C-150 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Sound Effects -- John Poyner

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Cassavetes, Best Sound, and Best Film Editing -- Michael Luciano

At a cocktail function in London, Lee Marvin got drunk and propositioned an old lady in the most vulgar manner possible. So slurred was his speech that she asked him to repeat it and he obliged. The woman turned out to be Sean Connery's aunt, and Connery was on his way to Marvin's general direction when producer Kenneth Hyman intervened. "Don't hit him in the face, Sean", he begged, "He's got his close-ups tomorrow". Fortunately, Connery saw the funny side and roared with laughter. "You fucking producers", he said as he left.


1:45 AM -- OPERATION CROSSBOW (1965)
Allied agents go behind enemy lines to destroy a German missile base.
Dir: Michael Anderson
Cast: Sophia Loren, George Peppard, Trevor Howard
C-116 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

For the scene in which a street is wiped out by a V-2, the filmmakers actually destroyed a row of flats which were slated for demolition. The shot was, necessarily, done in one take.


4:00 AM -- THE MEMPHIS BELLE: A STORY OF A FLYING FORTRESS (1944)
A documentary on the 25th bombing mission of the Memphis Belle, a B-17 in the US 8th Air Force.
Dir: Lt. Col. William Wyler
Cast: Eugene Kern, Corp. John Beal, Capt. Robert K. Morgan
BW-40 mins,

Pilot Robert Morgan named the aircraft after his girlfriend at the time, Margaret Polk, of Memphis, Tenn. Morgan chose the nose artwork from a 1941 illustration in Esquire magazine by famous pin-up artist George Petty. She is wearing a blue outfit on the port (left) side of the aircraft and a red one on the starboard (right) side.


4:45 AM -- WINGS FOR THE EAGLE (1942)
Dedicated aircraft workers compete for the same girl.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Ann Sheridan, Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson
BW-84 mins, CC,

The studio received permission to film inside the Lockheed Aircraft Co. in Burbank, California, but each member of the crew was required to carry a birth certificate to enter the plant.