TCM Schedule for Thursday, July 26, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: Star of the Month - Steve McQueen

[Staph]

During the daylight hours, TCM is showing films about radio. Somehow, watching a movie about radio seems something of an oxymoron. In the evening hours, it's the last of July's Star of the Month, Steve McQueen. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- WHISTLING IN THE DARK (1941)
A radio detective is kidnapped and forced to plan the perfect murder.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon
Cast: Red Skelton, Conrad Veidt, Ann Rutherford
BW-78 mins, CC,

Based on a Broadway play of the same name by Laurence Gross and Edward Childs Carpenter. Previously filmed in 1933, starring Ernest Truex and Una Merkel.


7:30 AM -- WHISTLING IN DIXIE (1942)
A radio detective's southern honeymoon is cut short by the discovery of a murder.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon
Cast: Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, George Bancroft
BW-74 mins, CC,

"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on May 17, 1943 with Red Skelton reprising his film role.


8:45 AM -- WHISTLING IN BROOKLYN (1943)
A radio sleuth infiltrates the Brooklyn Dodgers to solve a murder.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon
Cast: Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, Jean Rogers
BW-87 mins, CC,

Last movie Ann Rutherford made with MGM studios.


10:15 AM -- PETTICOAT LARCENY (1943)
A radio actress researches a role by mixing with gangsters.
Dir: Ben Holmes
Cast: Ruth Warrick, Joan Carroll, Walter Reed
BW-61 mins, CC,

This film was intended to launch Joan Carroll as a new Shirley Temple. It didn't happen.


11:30 AM -- REMOTE CONTROL (1930)
A radio announcer discovers that one of his colleagues is working with the mob.
Dir: Malcolm St. Clair
Cast: William Haines, Charles King, Mary Doran
BW-65 mins,

The play of the same name premiered on Broadway on September 10, 1929, six weeks before Black Friday and the start of the Great Depression.


12:45 PM -- GENIUS AT WORK (1947)
Two radio sleuths tackle a real murder case.
Dir: Leslie Goodwins
Cast: Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Anne Jeffreys
BW-61 mins,

Last of eight features to team Wally Brown and Alan Carney, RKO's long forgotten answer to Universal's popular Abbott and Costello.


2:00 PM -- BEHIND THE HEADLINES (1937)
A radio station's newsman rushes to the rescue of his peer, who has been kidnapped by bank robbers.
Dir: Richard Rosson
Cast: Lee Tracy, Diana Gibson, Donald Meek
BW-58 mins, CC,

The radio truck used in the film was borrowed from cinematographer J. Roy Hunt, who had built it for his own use.


3:15 PM -- HERE COMES CARTER (1936)
A radio commentator avenges an old wrong by blowing the whistle on Hollywood scandals.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: Ross Alexander, Glenda Farrell, Anne Nagel
BW-58 mins, CC,

Adorning the walls of Ross Alexander's office are large size portraits of up and coming WB players Jane Wyman (who also has a bit as a nurse in this film) and Bill Elliott, then known as Gordon Elliott.


4:30 PM -- ONE FATAL HOUR (1936)
A radio-station manager tries to keep tabloid journalists from reviving a 20-year-old murder case.
Dir: William C. McGann
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Beverly Roberts
BW-57 mins,

Also known as Two Against The World, the film is based on the play Five Star Final by Louis Weitzenkorn and is a remake of the film Five Star Final starring Edward G. Robinson.


5:30 PM -- ARE YOU LISTENING? (1932)
A radio announcer accidentally kills his wife, then leads an on-air hunt for her killer.
Dir: Harry Beaumont
Cast: William Haines, Madge Evans, Anita Page
BW-73 mins,

Based on the novel of the same name by J. P. McEvoy.


6:45 PM -- SUED FOR LIBEL (1940)
When he's sued for libeling a murder suspect, a hot shot reporter decides to solve the crime himself.
Dir: Leslie Goodwins
Cast: Kent Taylor, Linda Hayes, Lilian Bond
BW-66 mins,

Based on a story by Wolfe Kaufman.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: STEVE McQUEEN



8:00 PM -- THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1968)
A bored tycoon turns to bank robbery and courts the insurance investigator assigned to bring him in.
Dir: Norman Jewison
Cast: Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Burke
C-102 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Michel Legrand (music), Alan Bergman (lyrics) and Marilyn Bergman (lyrics) for the song "The Windmills of Your Mind"

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- Michel Legrand

After watching a five hour rough cut of the film, composer Michel Legrand took a six week vacation during which he wrote 90 minutes of music. The film was then reedited to the music, instead of the other way around. If this experiment had failed, Legrand would have written a second score in the traditional way free of charge.


10:00 PM -- THE GETAWAY (1972)
When a bank robbery goes bad, an ex-con and his wife take it on the lam.
Dir: Sam Peckinpah
Cast: Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson
C-123 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

According to "The Garner Files", Luis Delgado was working as Steve McQueen's stand-in. Luis' wife bought him a custom van, built by Tony Nancy, for his birthday. James Garner volunteered to drive the van from Los Angeles to San Antonio to surprise Luis. While on the set, Jim drove an orange VW Beetle in the robbery scene (you can see it through the rear window of the blue Ford that Steve is driving away from the front porch he just wrecked). When Jim asked Sam Peckinpah to be paid for the car stunt, Sam asked "How much do you want?". Jim said "Just give me what you think it's worth." Sam reached in his pocket pulled out $1. Jim later said he had so much fun doing the stunt, he would have paid Sam.


12:15 AM -- PAPILLON (1973)
Two Devil's Island prisoners devote all of their time to hatching escape plans.
Dir: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory
C-151 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Jerry Goldsmith

Although many considered this Steve McQueen's best performance to date, he was overlooked by the Academy. Some say that was because McQueen had "stolen" Ali MacGraw (who became his second wife) from her husband Robert Evans, who was a powerful studio executive at the time. McQueen was also rumored to have slept with many other Hollywood wives. Others say McQueen's Oscar snub was because the actor, in rather coarse language, once told the Golden Globes committee he would accept an award if he won but would never consider going to the ceremony. He did, however, receive a Golden Globe Best Actor nomination.


3:00 AM -- AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE (1978)
A scientist stands against an entire town when he discovers their medicinal spa is polluted.
Dir: George Schaefer
Cast: Steve McQueen, Charles Durning, Bibi Andersson
C-107 mins, CC,

This was a personal project for McQueen, as he made it to prove to many people that he could act. But Warner Bros. could not figure out how to distribute it and decided not to release it domestically. It had a very brief theatrical release in New York a few years after it was made.


5:00 AM -- AFI'S MASTER CLASS - THE ART OF COLLABORATION: SPIELBERG-WILLIAMS (2011)
The composer and the director discuss their work.
Cast: Steven Spielberg, John Williams
C-52 mins, CC, Letterbox Format