TCM Schedule for Thursday, January 17, 2019 -- What's On Tonight: TCM Spotlight - Sword and Sandal

[Staph]

Last edited Wed Jan 30, 2019, 09:12 PM - Edit history (1)

During the daylight hours, TCM is all about art and artists. Then in prime time, TCM continues their month of historical or fantasy films from the genre known as Sword and Sandals. Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- THE GAY BRIDE (1934)
A gold digger tries to get ahead by marrying a succession of ill-fated racketeers.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Carole Lombard, Chester Morris, ZaSu Pitts
BW-80 mins, CC,

This was one of Carole Lombard's least favorites among her own filmography. Chester Morris also thought during filming that the movie was a "turkey". Sadly, the newly enforced Production Code had laundered the script beyond recognition, and dulled its impact. Nine months earlier, it would have been a different story.


8:00 AM -- THE FALCON IN MEXICO (1944)
A society sleuth travels South of the border to investigate an art dealer's murder.
Dir: William Berke
Cast: Tom Conway, Mona Maris, Martha MacVicar
BW-70 mins, CC,

Some of the Latin American exterior footage that is seen behind the opening credits, and which is inter-cut with the studio-shot scenes and projected behind the cast in some sequences, is rumored but unconfirmed to have come from Orson Welles' never-completed and Brazilian-located RKO documentary "It's All True"; that project was itself the subject of a documentary, It's All True (1993).


9:15 AM -- REMBRANDT (1936)
The respected painter takes to drink and faces down scandal after his wife dies.
Dir: Alexander Korda
Cast: Charles Laughton, Gertrude Lawrence, Elsa Lanchester
BW-85 mins, CC,

Sam Livesey, the father of three other actors in this movie, Roger Livesey, Barry Livesey and Jack Livesey died the day after the release of this movie in London. This was an incredibly complicated family. According to IMDB:

Brothers Joseph and Sam Livesey married the Edwards sisters. Sam married Margaret Ann in 1900 and Joseph married Mary Catherine in 1905. Sam and Margaret Ann had two sons, Jack (1901) and Barry Livesey (1905). Joseph and Mary Catherine had two children, Roger (1906) and Maggie (1911).

After Joseph died in 1911 and Margaret Ann died in 1913, Sam married Mary Catherine in 1913. They then brought up the children as one large family, having another child of their own, Stella in 1915.

The family tree was further complicated when Roger Livesey married Ursula Jeans, whose brother Desmond Jeans was already married to Roger's sister Maggie.


10:45 AM -- THE HAPPY THIEVES (1962)
A worldly art thief gets mixed up with murder.
Dir: George Marshall
Cast: Rex Harrison, Rita Hayworth, Joseph Wiseman
C-89 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The painting, known as the "Rokeby Venus" is by Velazquez and is his only known nude. It moved to England in 1813 to hang in Rokeby Park, Yorkshire. The painting was purchased by National Art Collections Fund in 1906 for the National Gallery, London. The suffragette Mary Richardson attacked and badly damaged the painting in 1914 but it was restored and returned to display.


12:30 PM -- AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
An American artist finds love in Paris but almost loses it to conflicting loyalties.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant
BW-113 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Alan Jay Lerner, Best Cinematography, Color -- Alfred Gilks and John Alton, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, E. Preston Ames, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, Best Costume Design, Color -- Orry-Kelly, Walter Plunkett and Irene Sharaff, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Vincente Minnelli, and Best Film Editing -- Adrienne Fazan

Leslie Caron didn't speak English when she landed her first major role. She had a vague understanding of the language due to having an American mother, but was not conversant. Luckily for her, the part didn't have many lines and was comprised of mostly dancing, a skill that Caron was very fluent in.


2:30 PM -- THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS (1947)
A woman slowly discovers that her artist husband is a deranged killer.
Dir: Peter Godfrey
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith
BW-99 mins, CC,

While Humphrey Bogart took on the role of an artist, a profession that many audience members, critics, and even Bogie himself felt deviated from his typical tough guy persona, there were limits to what Bogart would agree to. When the director asked Bogart to wear an artist's smock and beret, he patently refused.


4:15 PM -- LUST FOR LIFE (1956)
Passionate biography of painter Vincent van Gogh, whose genius drove him mad.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald
C-122 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Anthony Quinn

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Kirk Douglas, Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- Norman Corwin, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters, E. Preston Ames, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason

In his memoir "The Ragman's Son" Kirk Douglas recounted that John Wayne attended a screening of the film, and was horrified. "Christ, Kirk! How can you play a part like that? There's so few of us left. We got to play strong, tough characters. Not those weak queers," Wayne said. Douglas tried to explain, "It's all make-believe, John. It isn't real. You're not really John Wayne, you know." Wayne (born Marion Morrison) looked at him oddly, as if Douglas had betrayed him.


6:30 PM -- ARSENE LUPIN (1932)
A gentleman thief risks his life in an attempt to steal the Mona Lisa.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Karen Morley
BW-84 mins, CC,

John Gilbert was initially slated to play the title role.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: SWORD AND SANDAL



8:00 PM -- QUO VADIS (1951)
A Roman commander falls for a Christian slave girl as Nero intensifies persecution of the new religion.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn
C-174 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Leo Genn, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Peter Ustinov, Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert Surtees and William V. Skall, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- William A. Horning, Cedric Gibbons, Edward C. Carfagno and Hugh Hunt, Best Costume Design, Color -- Herschel McCoy, Best Film Editing -- Ralph E. Winters, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Miklós Rózsa, and Best Picture

In his memoirs, "Dear Me" (1981), Sir Peter Ustinov recalled that MGM had sought him for the role of Nero, but dithered for months, refusing to commit. During this time, he received numerous telegrams from the studio, one of which stated that they were concerned that he might be too young to play the notorious Roman emperor. Ustinov replied that Nero died when he was thirty, and that if they waited much longer, he'd be too old. The studio cabled back: "Historical research has proved you correct. You have the part."


11:02 PM -- AMALFI WAY (1955)
A short film that looks at the sights, sounds, and customs along Italy's Amalfi Coast.
Dir: Richard Wright
Narrator: John P. Costello
BW-10 mins,


11:15 PM -- THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964)
A mad emperor's excesses leave the Roman Empire open to barbarian invasions.
Dir: Anthony Mann
Cast: Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness
C-183 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Substantially Original Score -- Dimitri Tiomkin

This movie was originally intended to be made after El Cid (1961), and to reunite Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren. The set for the Forum Romanum was being built when Heston rejected the script and expressed an interest in 55 Days at Peking (1963) instead. (Heston got along very badly with Loren on that movie and refused to work with her again.) Samuel Bronston immediately ordered that the work on the Forum be stopped and the landscaping and foundation work be adapted for the Peking set. After filming, the Peking set was torn down and replaced by the Forum. If you look carefully, both sets share a very similar topography.


2:30 AM -- REVOLT OF THE SLAVES (1961)
Roman slaves attempt to overthrow their violent oppressors.
Dir: Nunzio Malasomma
Cast: Rhonda Fleming, Lang Jeffries, Gino Cervi
C-103 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Original title -- La rivolta degli schiavi.


4:30 AM -- AMAZONS OF ROME (1963)
Ancient Rome is threatened with invasion from the Etruscans.
Dir: Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia
Cast: Louis Jourdan, Sylvia Syms, Nicole Courcel
C-91 mins, Letterbox Format

Director Vittorio Cottafavi started the picture, but was fired after three weeks (he and Louis Jourdan did not get along) and replaced by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia.