TCM Schedule for Thursday, July 28 -- TCM Spotlight: Race and Hollywood

[Staph]

Today, TCM celebrates the birth of Joe E. Brown, in 1892, in Holgate, Ohio, with plenty of his films from the early 1930s. Oh, how I wish they would show my favorite of his roles, Osgood Fielding III in Some Like It Hot (1959). In primetime TCM continues their Race and Hollywood series with a look at Arabs in film, with a rare Josephine Baker film, Princesse Tam Tam (1935). Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- MGM Parade Show #4 (1955)
George Murphy tours Lake Metro, where "Mutiny on the Bounty" and "Show Boat" were shot, and introduces a clip from "Good News." These clips feature June Allyson and Peter Lawford.
26 min, TV-G


6:30 AM -- On With The Show (1929)
An inexperienced newcomer steps in for a musical comedy's ailing star.
Dir: Alan Crosland
Cast: Betty Compson, Louise Fazenda, Sally O'Neil.
C-104 min, TV-G

The first full-length sound motion picture produced entirely in color. Although produced in two-strip Technicolor, all existing prints are black-and-white. Approximately one minute of the original Technicolor footage was recently discovered and preserved. The scene involves Jerry (Sam Hardy) going onstage in costume.


8:15 AM -- Top Speed (1930)
A humble clerk pretends to be a millionaire and gets mixed up in a yachting race.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Bernice Claire, Jack Whiting.
71 min, TV-G

In September 1928, Warner Bros. Pictures purchased a majority interest in First National Pictures and from that point on, all "First National" productions were actually made under Warner Bros. control, even though the two companies continued to retain separate identities until the mid-1930's, after which time "A Warner Bros.-First National Picture" was often used.


9:30 AM -- Going Wild (1931)
A lovesick fool pretends to be an ace flyer.
Dir: William A. Seiter
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Laura Lee, Walter Pidgeon.
66 min, TV-G

Remake of The Aviator (1929), starring Edward Everett Horton.


10:45 AM -- Local Boy Makes Good (1931)
A timid student turns into a track-and-field star.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Dorothy Lee, Ruth Hall.
68 min, TV-G, CC

The play, "The Poor Nut" by J.C. Nugent and Elliott Nugent, opened at Henry Miller's Theatre in New York on 27 April 1925 with co-writer Elliott Nugent in the lead, and closed in May 1925 after 32 performances.


12:00 PM -- Sit Tight (1931)
A young man goes into the wrestling ring to win a pretty lady trainer.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Winnie Lightner, Joe E. Brown, Paul Gregory.
76 min, TV-G

Based on a story by Rex Taylor.


1:30 PM -- 6 Day Bike Rider (1934)
A young failure tries to impress his girlfriend by entering a bicycle race.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Maxine Doyle, Frank McHugh.
69 min, TV-G

During its initial run, this film was preceded by Show Kids in some theaters.


2:45 PM -- A Very Honorable Guy (1934)
A gambler sells his body to science to pay his debts.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Alice White, Robert Barrat.
62 min, TV-G

Based on a Damon Runyon story.


4:00 PM -- Polo Joe (1936)
A young man has to learn polo fast to impress his girlfriend.
Dir: William McGann
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Carol Hughes, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher.
64 min, TV-G, CC

Joe E. Brown happily claimed that he was the only youngster in show business who ran way from home to join the circus with the blessings of his parents. In 1902, the ten-year-old Brown joined a circus tumbling act called the Five Marvellous Ashtons, which toured various circuses and vaudeville theaters.


5:15 PM -- Sons O' Guns (1936)
A song-and-dance man gets caught up in war and espionage.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Joan Blondell, Beverly Roberts.
79 min, TV-G, CC

The musical play, Sons O' Guns, opened at the Imperial Theatre in New York on 26 November 1929 and closed on 9 August 1930 after 295 performances. Co-Writer Jack Donahue played 'Jimmy Canfield' in the opening night cast, which also included Lili Damita as Yvonne and William Frawley as Hobson.


6:45 PM -- When's Your Birthday? (1937)
An astrologer trusts the stars to make him a championship boxer.
Dir: Harry Beaumont
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Marian Marsh, Fred Keating.
74 min, TV-G

The original prints of this film had a Technicolor animation sequence, created by Robert Clampett and Leon Schlesinger.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: RACE AND HOLLYWOOD



8:00 PM -- Princess Tam Tam (1935)
A French novelist passes off a Tunisian shepherdess as royalty to get back at his cheating wife.
Dir: Max Montagu
Cast: Josephine Baker, Albert Prejean, Germaine Aussey.
77 min, TV-PG

An advertising poster for this film is pictured on one stamp of a set of five 42¢ USA commemorative postage stamps honoring Vintage Black Cinema, issued 16 July 2008. Other films honored in this set are Black and Tan, The Sport of the Gods, Caldonia, and Hallelujah!.


9:30 PM -- The Band's Visit (2007)
An Egyptian police band gets lost in Israel.
Dir: Eran Kolirin
Cast: Saleh Bakri, Khalifa Natour, Ronit Elkabetz.
C-87 min, TV-MA, CC

The movie was selected to be Israel's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of The 80th Annual Academy Awards, but it was disqualified by AMPAS because more than 50% of the film's dialogue was found to be in English, as opposed to Arabic and Hebrew. After an unsuccessful appeal, Israel sent Beaufort instead.


11:15 PM -- Rana's Wedding (2003)
When her father orders her to marry, a Palestinian girl searches for her lover in occupied Jerusalem.
Dir: Hany Abu-Assad
Cast: Ismael Dabbagh, Clara Khoury, Khalifa Natour.
C-86 min, TV-PG

Filmed on location in Ramallah, Palestine, and Jerusalem.


1:00 AM -- La Battaglia di Algieri (1967)
Algiers revolts against the French Foreign Legion.
Dir: Gillo Pontecorvo
Cast: Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Brahim Haggiag.
121 min, TV-14

In 1969, nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Gillo Pontecorvo, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Franco Solinas and Gillo Pontecorvo

In 1967, nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film -- Italy.

In 2003, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon screened this film for officers and civilian experts who were discussing the challenges faced by the US military forces in Iraq. The flier inviting guests to the screening read: "How to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas".


3:15 AM -- Taste of Cherry (1997)
An Iranian tries to find someone to help him commit suicide.
Dir: Abbas Kiarostami
Cast: Homayoun Ershadi, Abdol Hossain Bagheri, Afshin Khorshid Bakhtari.
C-99 min, TV-14

The film's coda was to a certain extent unplanned, according to an interview with Kiarostami. After they had filmed preliminary versions of the final scene, they did the final scene proper, but the lab accidentally destroyed these final reels. Kiarostami then decided that the off-focus and colors of the test reels worked, and used those instead.


5:00 AM -- The MGM Story (1950)
A collection of MGM previews with an introduction by Lionel Barrymore.
C-57 min, TV-G