TCM Schedule for Friday, October 6 -- What's On Tonight: Directed by Peter Yates

[Staph]

Happy birthday to June Allyson, born as Eleanor Geisman, on October 7, 1917, in the Bronx. TCM is showing her films during the day and showing some of the films of director Peter Yates (who passed away on January 9, 2011) in primetime. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- MGM Parade Show #6 (1955)
Greta Garbo performs in a clip from "Anna Christie"; Robert Taylor introduces a clip from "Quentin Durward." Hosted by George Murphy.
26 min, TV-G


6:30 AM -- The Sailor Takes A Wife (1945)
A sailor gets more than he bargained for from a quickie marriage.
Dir: Richard Whorf
Cast: Robert Walker, June Allyson, Hume Cronyn.
91 min, TV-G

Along with her husband Dick Powell, June Allyson persuaded future President of the United States Ronald Reagan to switch from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in 1962. She has a lot to answer for!


8:15 AM -- Her Highness And The Bellboy (1945)
A hotel bellboy is the unlikely choice to escort a visiting princess, over the protests of his invalid girlfriend.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Hedy Lamarr, Robert Walker, June Allyson.
111 min, TV-G , CC

Mickey Rooney was supposed to star in this movie but Rooney ended up being drafted into the war, so Robert Walker was cast instead.


10:15 AM -- Till The Clouds Roll By (1946)
True story of composer Jerome Kern's rise to the top on Broadway and in Hollywood.
Dir: Richard Whorf
Cast: June Allyson, Lucille Bremer, Judy Garland.
C-136 min, TV-G

When MGM originally began planning this film, it asked Jerome Kern what he thought about Robert Walker being cast. He said it sounded all right, but he wanted to hear his wife's opinion. He phoned her from the office and she told him to stay and play himself and send Walker home to her.


12:45 PM -- High Barbaree (1947)
A downed pilot looks back on his life as he awaits rescue in the South Pacific.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Van Johnson, June Allyson, Thomas Mitchell.
91 min, TV-PG , CC

The original ending for the film had Van Johnson hearing over his radio that the ship on which his lady-love, June Allyson, was serving had been sunk. Johnson then died and the picture ended. The New York Times reported on November 17, 1946 that 40 percent of the audience opinion cards handed out at a preview of the film in Los Angeles demanded that Johnson's character live. MGM spent $50,000 to shoot scenes for a new ending, which also had Allyson's character surviving as well.


2:30 PM -- The Bride Goes Wild (1948)
A womanizing author of children's books borrows a son to woo his illustrator.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Van Johnson, June Allyson, Butch Jenkins.
98 min, TV-G , CC

Fourth of six movies that paired June Allyson and Van Johnson.


4:15 PM -- Battle Circus (1953)
A doctor fights for his life during the Korean War.
Dir: Richard Brooks
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, June Allyson, Keenan Wynn.
90 min, TV-PG , CC

The film originally had a different title but the studio and the director thought that title would mislead audiences, so the title "Battle Circus" was instead chosen. The title that was rejected: "MASH".


6:00 PM -- The Opposite Sex (1956)
In this musical remake of The Women, a happily married singer lets her catty friends convince her to file for divorce.
Dir: David Miller
Cast: June Allyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray.
C-117 min, TV-PG , CC

When June Allyson slaps Joan Collins, June was told Joan would pull back before impact and Joan was told June would not strike her. The connection was made and we see a slap so hard, Joan's earrings fly off her ears. Joan would not speak to June for several days believing it was intentional.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: DIRECTED BY PETER YATES



8:00 PM -- Summer Holiday (1963)
Four London boys tour Europe trying to sell the idea of a combination bus and hotel.
Dir: Peter Yates
Cast: Cliff Richard, Lauri Peters, Melvyn Hayes.
C-108 min, TV-PG

A young Barbra Streisand was first considered for the role of the American stowaway Barbara, but was then deemed "too big" (as in too famous) for the part and would take the limelight away from Cliff Richard.


10:00 PM -- One Way Pendulum (1964)
An eccentric family gets mixed up in an imaginary murder trial.
Dir: Peter Yates
Cast: Eric Sykes, George Cole, Julia Foster.
84 min, TV-PG

Yates' second film.


11:31 PM -- One Reel Wonder: Lionpower From Mgm (1967)
In this short, MGM showed distributors and exhibitors highlights from the studio's films scheduled to be released during the upcoming 1967-68 film seasons.
Cast: Alan Alda, Robert Aldrich, Carroll Baker
C-27 min,

Featured films include The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), Our Mother's House (1967), Point Blank (1967), Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), More Than a Miracle (1967), The Comedians (1967), Jack of Diamonds (1967), Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1968), The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968), Sol Madrid (1968), The Power (1968), Guns for San Sebastian (1968), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Dark of the Sun (1968), A Man Called Dagger (1968), Speedway (1968), Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968), The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968), Ice Station Zebra (1968), Where Eagles Dare (1968), and The Extraordinary Seaman (1969).


12:00 AM -- Bullitt (1968)
When mobsters kill the witness he was assigned to protect, a dedicated policeman investigates the case on his own.
Dir: Peter Yates
Cast: Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset.
C-114 min, TV-MA , CC

Won an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Frank P. Keller

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound -- (Warner Bros.-Seven Arts SSD)

The famous chase sequence takes place over a number of non-contiguous streets in and south of San Francisco. The sequence apparently starts under Highway 101 in the Mission District. When the Charger does a U-turn on what is Precita Avenue to follow the Mustang, a storage tank on Potrero Hill, in the southeast part of SF, is visible in the distance. The next few scenes are in the Bernal and Potrero areas; you can see green hills to the southwest on the horizon in one shot.

Twenty-one seconds later, Coit Tower appears in the Mustang's front window to the east (as can be ascertained by the buildings' shadows). They then come to a stop for a Cable Car on Hyde Street and Filbert. The twin towers of Sts. Peter and Paul Church are visible just to the right of Coit Tower. They turn hard left next onto a four-lane street with a concrete median, what might be Columbus. A F-type street car is seen coming the opposite direction. They top a rise and Angel Island comes into view slightly on the left, placing them on about Stockton and Chestnut. They turn north, then west, then south uphill.

In the next cut, they are coming downhill, north towards the Bay. They turn west and the next few scenes are inter-cut, reused footage of the same street sequence, as shown by repeated presence of the same Cadillac and a Green Volkswagen Beetle. They drive downhill or north, towards the Bay, and turn west in front of the same Caddy, several blocks north of Van Ness. They turn left or south, going uphill. They then are headed north and turn from Larkin St. onto Francisco St. headed west.

In the next scene the Dodge is going north, rounding Laguna onto Marina, having leaped six blocks. They turn from Laguna St., in front of Ft. Mason, onto Marina and in front of the Safeway. (The bottom of the store's name can be seen as the Dodge veers onto Marina.) They accelerate down Marina with the Marina Green and the Bay visible in the background. In the next cut, Ft. Mason is again visible in the background as they once again round the turn on Marina onto the Marina green. With the next cut they turn in front of the Safeway again.

The next cut puts them eight miles away, back in the Vistacion Valley district, turning right from University St. on to Mansell St. From there they cut to Western entrance to Guadelupe Canyon Parkway on San Bruno Mountain in Daly City three miles away, heading East. To extend the length of the chase the cars are shown driving East then West and back and forth with each cut while supposedly heading only one way before the Charger crashes at the Parkway's Eastern exit in Brisbane.


2:00 AM -- She Freak (1967)
A diner waitress joins a traveling circus.
Dir: Byron Mabe
Cast: Claire Brennen, Lee Raymond, Lynn Courtney.
C-83 min, TV-PG

Felix Silla (Shorty) and his leading lady, the late Claire Brennen, met on the set of this movie. They began a nine-year relationship and managed to keep it secret for all of those years, despite the fact that it produced a son.


3:30 AM -- Berserk (1967)
A lady ringmaster milks the publicity from a string of murders.
Dir: Jim O'Connolly
Cast: Joan Crawford, Ty Hardin, Diana Dors.
C-96 min, TV-PG , CC

Joan Crawford was asked by producer Herman Cohen to not drink alcohol during filming. She informed Cohen that she was "just a sipper", however she respected his wishes.


5:15 AM -- LSD: Insight or Insanity? (1967)
Dir: Jean Yarbrough
Cast: William Boyett, Pat Cardi, Pam Ferden.
0 min,


5:45 AM -- Alcohol is Dynamite (1967)
Dir: Jean Yarbrough
Cast: William Boyett, Pat Cardi, Pam Ferden.
0 min,