TCM Schedule for Thursday, November 10 -- TCM Spotlight: All Aboard!

[Staph]

It's a daytime birthday celebration for Claude Rains, born November 10, 1889, in the Camberwell area of London. We have a day full of his movies, and an evening in the continuing theme of a luxurious life at sea. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Anthony Adverse (1936)
An orphan runs off to a life of adventure, then returns to France in search of the girl he left behind.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Fredric March, Olivia de Havilland, Donald Woods.
141 min, TV-G , CC

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gale Sondergaard, Best Cinematography -- Tony Gaudio, Best Film Editing -- Ralph Dawson, and Best Music, Score -- Leo F. Forbstein (head of department) and (Warner Bros. Studio Music Deprtment) with score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Anton Grot, Best Assistant Director -- William H. Cannon, and Best Picture

Film debut of Gale Sondergaard, who won a "Best Supporting Actress" Academy Award (which was a new category).


8:30 AM -- Four Daughters (1938)
A small-town family's peaceful life is shattered when one daughter falls for a rebellious musician.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Claude Rains, Jeffrey Lynn, John Garfield.
90 min, TV-G , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Garfield, Best Director -- Michael Curtiz, Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Lenore J. Coffee and Julius J. Epstein, and Best Picture

John Garfield's first film and an Oscar nomination.


10:15 AM -- Daughters Courageous (1939)
A father returns to the family he left years earlier and tries to solve their problems.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: John Garfield, Claude Rains, Jeffrey Lynn.
107 min, TV-G , CC

Because John Garfield was playing a Mexican general in Juarez when the Epstein brothers were writing the screenplay to this movie, they made his character Hispanic as a joke.


12:15 PM -- Four Wives (1939)
Three married women play matchmaker for their widowed sister.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Priscilla Lane, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane.
99 min, TV-G , CC

Max Steiner's "Symphonie Moderne", written for the movie, was later expanded and published in 1941.


2:15 PM -- Four Mothers (1941)
Four married sisters face financial problems as motherhood approaches.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Claude Rains, Jeffrey Lynn, Eddie Albert.
85 min, TV-G

Sequel to Four Wives (1939), which was a sequel to Four Daughters (1938), which was based on the novel Sister Act by Fannie Hurst.


3:45 PM -- Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
A prizefighter who died before his time is reincarnated as a tycoon with a murderous wife.
Dir: Alexander Hall
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Evelyn Keyes, Claude Rains.
94 min, TV-G , CC

Won Oscars for Best Writing, Original Story -- Harry Segall, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Robert Montgomery, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- James Gleason, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Walker, Best Director -- Alexander Hall, and Best Picture

Columbia chief Harry Cohn had serious misgivings about this adaptation of Harry Segall's minor stage play. He preferred to reserve his more lavish budgets for surefire successes (i.e., anything featuring the studio's biggest star, Rita Hayworth). However, Sidney Buchman was eventually able to talk Cohn into forking out for costly celestial sets and Farnsworth's elaborate mansion and also into hiring Robert Montgomery on loan-out from MGM. Buchman was also able to convince Cohn that he had a better appreciation of what the public would pay to see than the Wall Street bankers who Cohn answered to.


5:30 PM -- Mr. Skeffington (1944)
A flighty beauty marries a stockbroker for convenience and almost ruins both their lives.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Walter Abel.
146 min, TV-G , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Claude Rains, and Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Bette Davis

Bette Davis was not the first choice for the role of Fanny. The part was first offered first to Merle Oberon and then to Hedy Lamarr who both turned it down.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: ALL ABOARD



8:00 PM -- Love Affair (1939)
Near-tragic misunderstandings threaten a shipboard romance.
Dir: Leo McCarey
Cast: Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer, Maria Ouspenskaya.
87 min, TV-G , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Irene Dunne, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Maria Ouspenskaya, Best Art Direction -- Van Nest Polglase and Alfred Herman, Best Music, Original Song -- Buddy G. DeSylva for the song "Wishing, Best Writing, Original Story -- Mildred Cram and Leo McCarey, and Best Picture

After this movie was released restaurants were suddenly bombarded with requests for pink champagne.


9:30 PM -- One Way Passage (1932)
An ocean voyage leads to romance for a dying heiress and a condemned criminal.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: William Powell, Kay Francis, Aline MacMahon.
68 min, TV-G , CC

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Robert Lord

Although the character's name would change, Frank McHugh plays the same part in the remake titled 'Til We Meet Again (1940 -- starring Merle Oberon and George Brent).


10:45 PM -- Now, Voyager (1942)
A repressed spinster is transformed by psychiatry and her love for a married man.
Dir: Irving Rapper
Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains.
118 min, TV-G , CC

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Max Steiner

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Bette Davis, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gladys Cooper

Filming went a few weeks over schedule, which in turn caused some conflicts with Casablanca, which also starred Claude Rains and Paul Henreid. Rains finished work on this movie June 3rd in 1942 and did his first scene on Casablanca at 10:30 the next morning.


1:00 AM -- That Girl From Paris (1936)
A French opera star in hiding hooks up with a swing band.
Dir: Leigh Jason
Cast: Lily Pons, Jack Oakie, Gene Raymond.
104 min, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio SSD)

In the beginning of the film, Pons' character escapes her wedding in a non-supercharged 1936 Cord Phaeton. The Indiana-made car, which cost about $3,700 was rare even when new and exotic enough to look like it belonged in the movie which begins set in France.


3:00 AM -- Dodsworth (1936)
A husband whose wife left him looks for new love in Europe.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas.
101 min, TV-PG , CC

Won an Oscar for Best Art Direction -- Richard Day

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Walter Huston, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Maria Ouspenskaya, Best Director -- William Wyler, Best Sound, Recording -- Oscar Lagerstrom (United Artists SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Sidney Howard, and Best Picture

At the time of filming, Mary Astor was going through a very public and very scandalous divorce from her husband, who used Astor's diary to prove that she had been having an affair with playwright George S. Kaufman. With the press constantly stalking her, she sometimes slept on the set to avoid confrontation. Many of the cast sided with Astor throughout the ordeal, including William Wyler, Samuel Goldwyn and Ruth Chatterton, who appeared as a character witness on Astor's behalf.


4:45 AM -- Babbitt (1934)
A small-town businessman bumbles into blackmail and a real-estate swindle.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, Claire Dodd.
74 min, TV-G , CC

Based on the novel by Sinclair Lewis (who also wrote Dodsworth, the preceding film!), and filmed previously in 1924 with Willard Louis and Mary Alden in the lead roles.

[CBHagman]

1. Go, Claude!

Or, if you will, Willie Rains. ;-) In any event, given the presence of Now, Voyager on the evening schedule, it's not just during the day that Claude Rains will shine.