TCM Schedule for Friday, November 18 -- What's On Tonight: Richard Todd

[Staph]

TCM is giving us a day full of the lesser-known films of Jimmy Stewart, and an evening of Scottish actor Richard Todd. Enjoy!



6:45 AM -- MGM Parade Show #7 (1955)
Ray Bolger performs in a clip from "The Great Ziegfeld"; Debbie Reynolds introduces a clip from "The Tender Trap." Hosted by George Murphy.
26 min, TV-G


7:15 AM -- The Gorgeous Hussy (1936)
President Andrew Jackson's friendship with an innkeeper's daughter spells trouble for them both.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart
103 min, TV-PG , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Beulah Bondi, and Best Cinematography -- George J. Folsey

This was the first film Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone made together after their marriage in 1935.


9:15 AM -- Speed (1936)
A race-car driver fights to prove the worth of his new high-speed carburetor.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: James Stewart, Wendy Barrie, Una Merkel.
70 min, TV-G

The end of the film has a fictional recreation of Malcolm Campbell's record-breaking 300 mph drive at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. However, his book,"My Thirty Years of Speed", published a year earlier, was not used as the basis of this movie.


10:30 AM -- Navy Blue And Gold (1937)
Three buddies fight to survive the rigorous training at Annapolis.
Dir: Sam Wood
Cast: Robert Young, James Stewart, Florence Rice.
94 min, TV-G , CC

Gil Kuhn, captain of the 1936 U.S.C. football team, was "technical expert for gridiron sequences."


12:15 PM -- The Ice Follies Of 1939 (1939)
An ice-skating team breaks up when both partners fall for the same girl.
Dir: Reinhold Schunzel
Cast: Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Lew Ayres.
82 min, TV-G , CC

In Mommie Dearest, this is the movie Crawford is getting ready for in the opening sequences.


1:45 PM -- The Mortal Storm (1940)
The Third Reich's rise tears apart a German family.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young.
100 min, TV-PG , CC

This film was banned for release in Germany by Adolf Hitler for its direct Anti-Nazi sentiments. As a result, all MGM films from that point forward would also be banned in the country for simply being produced and distributed by the same studio as this film.


3:30 PM -- Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
Three showgirls in the Ziegfeld Follies face romantic trials on their way to the top.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr.
133 min, TV-G , CC

This was James Stewart's last performance before serving military service in World War II. He would only come back 5 years later in the classic It's a Wonderful Life.


5:45 PM -- Malaya (1949)
Two men join forces to smuggle rubber out of occupied Malaya during World War II.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Valentina Cortesa.
95 min, TV-PG , CC

Sydney Greenstreet's final film.


7:30 PM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: Richard Gere (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-27 min, TV-14 , CC

Some of Gere's earliest photos, known as "head shots", were taken by boyhood friend and struggling photographer Herb Ritts. The people handling Gere were so impressed with the photos, they began hiring Ritts for other assignments and he is now a top photographer.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: RICHARD TODD



8:00 PM -- Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958)
Dir: Michael Anderson
Cast: Richard Todd, Anne Baxter, Herbert Lom.
87 min, TV-PG , CC

Richard Todd was an officer in the 7th Battalion (LI) The Parachute Regiment. On D-Day this Battalion made contact with Major Howard at the Orne Bridge now called Pegasus Bridge. Todd was the officer who made contact. In the The Longest Day (1962) he played Major Howard and the meeting with Todd was one scene. In D-Day the Sixth of June (1956) he played the commander of his Battalion in the filming of the same scene.


10:00 PM -- A Man Called Peter (1955)
A Scottish boy follows his faith to a bright career preaching in Washington, DC.
Dir: Henry Koster
Cast: Richard Todd, Jean Peters, Marjorie Rambeau.
C-119 min, TV-G , CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Harold Lipstein

Filmed on location in Scotland, Atlanta, and D.C.


12:15 AM -- The Hasty Heart (1950)
Doctors try to get a flinty Scots soldier to open up to his comrades before telling him he's dying.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Ronald Reagan, Patricia Neal, Richard Todd.
102 min, TV-PG , CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Richard Todd

When Lachie asks Yank what he's going to do after the war, Yank replies that he's going back to "...a little place on the Rock River, Dixon, Illinois." This is actor Ronald Reagan's actual boyhood home.


2:00 AM -- Equinox (1970)
Four friends are attacked by a demon while on a picnic, due to possession of a tome of mystic information.
Dir: Dennis Muren
Cast: Edward Connell, Barbara Hewitt, Frank Boers Jr..
C-82 min, TV-PG

Originally a student film project by Dennis Muren, who went to a flourishing career in special effects -- most of the Star Wars films, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. (1982), and Jurassic Park (1993).


3:30 AM -- The Green Slime (1969)
A mysterious fungus invades a space station and turns the inhabitants into monsters.
Dir: Kinji Fukasaku
Cast: Robert Horton, Richard Jaeckel, Luciana Paluzzi.
C-90 min, TV-14

This was the first film ever to be featured on the cult TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000. An edited version of the film appeared on the show's never-aired pilot episode.


5:15 AM -- Her Name Was Ellie, His Name Was Lyle (1967)
Dir: Lothar Wolff
Cast: Lynne Lipton, John Pleshette, Amy Taubin.
28 min, TV-14