TCM Schedule for Saturday, April 9, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: Jane Wyman

[Staph]

Due to a production delay, The Essentials with Robert Osborne and co-host Sally Field has been delayed. In the meantime, Ben Mankiewicz will be stepping in with tonight's Essentials, featuring films starring the beautiful and beautifully talented Jane Wyman. Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- Life Begins For Andy Hardy (1941)
A small-town boy tries life in the big city before going to college.
Dir: George B. Seitz
Cast: Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland
BW-101 mins, CC,

The eleventh of sixteen Andy Hardy films starring Mickey Rooney, the third pairing of Mickey with Judy Garland.


8:15 AM -- Seven Chances (1925)
To inherit a fortune man races to find a bride by 7 p.m.
Dir: Buster Keaton
Cast: Buster Keaton, T. Roy Barnes, Snitz Edwards
BW-56 mins,

In his desperate search for a woman--any woman--to marry, Buster Keaton is passing a variety theater. There is a large picture of a visiting artiste who is playing there, and Keaton bribes someone to let him go in at the stage door. As he goes in, a workman removes a box that was obscuring the bottom of the poster, and we see the name of the "artiste": Julian Eltinge. Eltinge was a famous female impersonator, so famous that no further explanation is needed when Keaton almost immediately emerges, looking disconcerted.


9:15 AM -- The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance (1941)
A reformed jewel thief fights to clear his name when he's framed for murder.
Dir: Sidney Salkow
Cast: Warren William, June Storey, Henry Wilcoxon
BW-75 mins,

First credited film role for Lloyd Bridges.


10:30 AM -- Lucky Losers (1950)
The Bowery Boys almost strike it rich when they break into the stock market.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Hillary Brooke
BW-70 mins, CC,

The 18th of 48 Bowery Boys movies.


11:49 AM -- The Soundman (1950)
This short film takes a look at the history and different jobs of the Hollywood sound department.
Cast: George Cooper,
BW-10 mins,


12:00 PM -- The Secret Garden (1949)
An orphaned girl changes the lives of those she encounters at a remote estate.
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox
Cast: Margaret O'Brien, Herbert Marshall, Dean Stockwell
C-92 mins, CC,

Dickon is supposed to be around the same age as Mary and Colin (10 years old), but the actor who portrayed him, Brian Roper, was about 20 years old at the time of filming. Margaret O'Brien and Dean Stockwell were also a few years older than the characters they played in the movie.


1:47 PM -- One Against The World (1939)
This short film presents the story of Dr. Ephraim McDowell, who came under scrutiny for his pioneering of surgical practices.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Edward Hearn, Claire McDowell, Jonathan Hale
BW-11 mins,


2:00 PM -- The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
A Kansas farm girl dreams herself into a magical land where she must fight a wicked witch to escape.
Dir: Victor Fleming
Cast: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger
C-102 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Harold Arlen (music) and E.Y. Harburg (lyrics) for the song "Over the Rainbow", and Best Music, Original Score -- Herbert Stothart

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Harold Rosson, Best Art Direction -- Cedric Gibbons and William A. Horning, Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound), and Best Picture

"Over the Rainbow" was nearly cut from the film; MGM felt that it made the Kansas sequence too long, as well as being too far over the heads of the children for whom it was intended. The studio also thought that it was degrading for Judy Garland to sing in a barnyard. A reprise of the song was cut: Dorothy sang it to remember Kansas while imprisoned in the Witch's castle. Judy Garland began to cry, along with the crew, because the song was so sad.


4:00 PM -- Annie (1982)
An orphan attracts the attention of a Wall Street tycoon and a con artist.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Aileen Quinn
C-127 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Dale Hennesy and Marvin March, and Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score -- Ralph Burns

Steve Martin was offered the role of Rooster. He turned it down when he heard he would be working alongside Bernadette Peters. They were breaking up at the time, and Steve felt it would be too painful to work with her for several months.


6:15 PM -- The Phantom Tollbooth (1970)
A bored boy enters a fantasy world where letters and numbers are at war.
Dir: Chuck Jones
Cast: Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Candy Candido
C-89 mins, CC,

This film was actually made in 1968 but due to MGM's financial problems and frequently changing management, the film was not heavily promoted. When it was released in 1970, it was not a box office success.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: JANE WYMAN



8:00 PM -- The Lost Weekend (1945)
A writer fights to overcome his addiction to liquor.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry
BW-101 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Ray Milland, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- John F. Seitz, Best Film Editing -- Doane Harrison, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Miklós Rózsa

It was only in later years that Billy Wilder discovered that the title of Charles R. Jackson's novel is actually a typo. It was supposed to have been called "The Last Weekend".


10:00 PM -- Johnny Belinda (1948)
A small-town doctor helps a deaf-mute farm girl learn to communicate.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
Cast: Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres, Charles Bickford
BW-102 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jane Wyman

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Lew Ayres, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Charles Bickford, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Agnes Moorehead, Best Director -- Jean Negulesco, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Irma von Cube and Allen Vincent, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Ted D. McCord, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Robert M. Haas and William Wallace, Best Sound, Recording, Best Film Editing -- David Weisbart, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Max Steiner, and Best Picture

Jane Wyman became the first person, actor or actress since the silent era to win an Oscar without uttering a word, after sound was created, just before The Jazz Singer (1927) was filmed.


11:51 PM -- Crashing The Movies (1948)
This short film presents clips of people performing strange stunts.
BW-8 mins,


12:00 AM -- So Big (1953)
A schoolteacher-turned-farmer fights to save the land and her son.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Jane Wyman, Sterling Hayden, Nancy Olson
BW-102 mins, CC,

Tommy Rettig and Jon Provost both portrayed a young Dirk. They both were also cast as Lassie's boy master in the TV series.


2:00 AM -- Shock (1977)
A woman believes her late abusive husband has possessed their son.
Dir: Mario Bava
Cast: Daria Nicolodi, John Steiner, David Colin
C-92 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The film was released in the USA as "Beyond the Door II", although it has no connection with "Beyond the Door" (1974).


3:45 AM -- Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
A girl once possessed by a demon finds that it still lurks within her.
Dir: John Boorman
Cast: Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher
BW-118 mins, CC,

William Friedkin, director of the first film, told a story, recalled to by a Warner Bros. executive, at the Chicago Critics Film Festival in April 2013. Studio heads came to the sneak preview of "Exorcist II" in a limo, and told the drivers to go get fast food. They entered the auditorium, and within 10 minutes into the film, an audience member stood up, glanced into the crowd, and proclaimed: "The people who made this piece of shit are in this room!" 10 or 12 other audience members gathered to find the executives. The heads rushed out of the theater and realized that there were no cars to make their escape. They were subsequently chased down the street by a group of angry audience members.


5:45 AM -- The Bottle and the Throttle (1965)
In this short film teenager runs down a mother and child after having one too many alcoholic beverages.
C-10 mins,