TCM Schedule for Thursday, September 20, 2018 -- AAFCA Presents: The Black Experience On Film

[Staph]

In the evening hours, TCM continues their theme of the Black Experience on Film. From the TCM website:

Since Hollywood's earliest beginnings, images of minorities on screen were often presented through a filtered lens of stereotypes and one-dimensional characters. This representation rarely showcased the nuanced differences in experience among racial groups in America, or the connective similarities. African-Americans in particular were largely seen as service workers and background characters with few lines and little complexity.

However, that's not the whole of Hollywood's history of depicting black characters and themes. During cinema's first century, films were made that highlighted the diversity of African-American lives. TCM has partnered with the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) to present a month-long study of these movies. On each night of our Spotlight, 13 different members of the collective will sit in pairs to discuss a variety of films and their attempts to portray the Black Experience.

...

(Tonight's theme -- ) Strong Black Women includes Diahann Carroll in Claudine (1974), as a single mother in Harlem who falls in love with a garbage collector (James Earl Jones). John Berry directed the movie, which brought Carroll an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Sparkle (1976), shown in its TCM premiere, was inspired by the real-life group The Supremes and features Lonette McKee, Irene Cara and Dwan Smith as ambitious sisters who achieve stardom as a singing group based in Harlem. The film, directed by Sam O'Steen, attracted a cult following and was remade in 2012.

by Roger Fristoe

Enjoy!



7:00 AM -- THE BIG LIFT (1950)
Two Air Force sergeants find love while flying the Berlin Airlift.
Dir: George Seaton
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Paul Douglas, Cornell Borchers
BW-118 mins,

The film was made in occupied Germany. All scenes were photographed in the real locations associated with the story, including episodes in the American, French, British and Russian sectors of Berlin. With the exception of Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas, all military personnel in the film were actual members of the US military on duty in Germany at the time.


9:15 AM -- SIDE STREET (1950)
A New York City mailman is chased by both cops and crooks when he steals a shipment of dirty money.
Dir: Anthony Mann
Cast: Farley Granger, Cathy O'Donnell, James Craig
BW-83 mins, CC,

Director Anthony Mann's final film noir. After this he would mostly make westerns.


10:45 AM -- YOUNG MAN WITH IDEAS (1952)
A country lawyer moves his family to Los Angeles.
Dir: Mitchell Leisen
Cast: Glenn Ford, Ruth Roman, Denise Darcel
BW-85 mins, CC,

The $85,000 verdict that is celebrated wold equal $774,000 in 2016.


12:15 PM -- KEY TO THE CITY (1950)
Two mayors meet and fall in love during a convention in San Francisco.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Clark Gable, Loretta Young, Frank Morgan
BW-101 mins, CC,

Dore Schary, the head of MGM, personally asked Loretta Young to be Clark Gable's co-star, even though he knew about the affair and love child (Judy Lewis) between the two fifteen years earlier. She accepted because refusing would lead to more rumors than during their affair.


2:15 PM -- DOUBLE TROUBLE (1967)
A teen heiress falls for an American rock singer in London.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Elvis Presley, Annette Day, John Williams
C-92 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Although the film is set in Europe, Elvis Presley never filmed outside Culver City, CA. Location work in Belgium used body doubles Joe Clauwers for Elvis Presley and Polly Geerts for Annette Day. Elvis never traveled outside the US, for either movies or concerts, because his manager, Tom Parker, was actually not an American citizen--he was Dutch and, technically, was in the country illegally--and was afraid that if he left the US he would not be allowed back in if it was discovered he was an "illegal alien".


4:00 PM -- MADE IN PARIS (1966)
A young fashion designer is transformed by her first trip to Paris.
Dir: Boris Sagal
Cast: Ann-Margret, Louis Jourdan, Richard Crenna
BW-103 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

As pre-release publicity MGM sent costume designer Helen Rose to New York City and Chicago with "25 Fabulous Helen Rose Fashion Creations" from the $250,000 wardrobe designed for the film. The first fashion show was presented at the National Press Fashion Show sponsored by The New York Couture Group in January 1966. A week later the famous Pump Room in The Ambassador East Hotel was the scene for the Chicago show, followed by the world premiere of the film at The Chicago Theatre on January 28, 1966. A vial of the Robert Piguet fragrance "Bandit" was handed out to the ladies for the first three days of the movies run in Chicago.


6:00 PM -- THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS. STONE (1961)
A fading stage star gets caught up in the decadent life of modern Rome when she hires a male companion.
Dir: José Quintero
Cast: Vivien Leigh, Warren Beatty, Lotte Lenya
BW-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lotte Lenya

This was Tennessee Williams' personal favorite film adaptation of any of his works.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: AAFCA PRESENTS: THE BLACK EXPERIENCE ON FILM



8:00 PM -- CLAUDINE (1974)
A single mother falls for a garbage collector who's not sure he's ready to raise six children.
Cast: Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs
C-92 mins, CC,

Nominee
Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role
Diahann Carroll

Diana Sands was originally cast as the lead, but she died of cancer shortly before shooting began. Prior to her death, Sands insisted that her very good friend Diahann Carroll be cast in her place. The director felt that Diahann Carroll was too sophisticated to play the role of a welfare mother. However, Carroll was from the Bronx, knew women like Claudine and knew she could play that part as well as anyone else.


10:00 PM -- SPARKLE (1976)
A girl group experiences turmoil after one of their members turns to drugs and another achieves their desired fame all by herself.
Dir: Sam O'Steen
Cast: Philip Michael Thomas, Irene Cara, Lonette Mckee
BW-98 mins, CC,

Joel Schumacher's original script had some material that was cut from the film. The character Levi (Dorian Harewood) was arrested, and while in jail became a born again Christian, and he became a Jesse Jackson-like figure. Stix (Philip Michael Thomas) was to be a fictional incarnation of songwriter and Motown record label founder Berry Gordy. The final version is instead somewhat influenced by said musician. The title character Sparkle (Irene Cara) was to be a complete opposite of Diana Ross, as Sparkle is an innocent, whereas Diana was always very driven, and ambitious -while Sparkle is a child, she's a pure soul in a world of turmoil around her, and remains true to herself. Delores (Dwan Smith), the third sister, who is intelligent in politics; was to became political, and goes down south and becomes an Angela Davis inspired figure.


12:00 AM -- LOSING GROUND (1982)
A philosophy professor responds to her husband's philandering by pursuing fulfillment on her own.
Dir: Kathleen Collins
Cast: Seret Scott, Bill Gunn, Duane Jones
C-86 mins,

The film never received distribution outside of festival screenings in director Kathleen Collins's lifetime. It was only decades after she died, that her daughter, who had inherited the negatives of the film, approached Milestone Films, and asked them to help restore and release the film.


1:45 AM -- CLEOPATRA JONES (1973)
A female drug agent locks horns with a violent drug dealer.
Dir: Jack Starrett
Cast: Tamara Dobson, Bernie Casey, Brenda Sykes
C-89 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Cleo's car is a customized black and silver 1973 Corvette Stingray. When she opens the door to get out, the T-bar panel in the roof above the driver's seat automatically opens, so she can get out without squashing her afro.


3:30 AM -- I DIED A THOUSAND TIMES (1955)
An ex-con dreaming of one last heist faces dissension within his gang.
Dir: Stuart Heisler
Cast: Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, Lori Nelson
C-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Remake of High Sierra with Jack Palance playing the Humphrey Bogart's role of Roy Earle


5:30 AM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #13 (1955)
George Murphy introduces clips featuring Susan Hayward and Fernand Gravet from "The Great Waltz" and "I'll Cry Tomorrow."
BW-30 mins,