TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 2, 2019 -- What's On Tonight: TCM Spotlight: WWII Homefront

[Staph]

In the daylight today, it's all about jealous friends and lovers. Then in primetime, TCM begins a salute to the Homefront during World War II. Take it away, Roger!

WWII IN THE MOVIES: THE HOMEFRONT - THURSDAYS IN MAY

This year, TCM honors the 75th anniversary of D-Day with Never Surrender: WWII in the Movies, a two-month salute featuring films from and about the era. This month, to kick off programming and in remembrance of Memorial Day, TCM offers a look at films from various decades that are set during that global conflict and observed from the viewpoint of the American home front. Joining TCM host Ben Mankiewicz to introduce and discuss the movies are five cohosts associated with the National World War II Museum, a military history showcase located in New Orleans, LA.

The National World War II Museum focuses on the contributions made by the United States to Allied victory during WWII. Founded in 2000, it was designated in 2003 by the U.S. Congress as America's official national WWII museum. Emphasizing the American experience during WWII, the museum maintains an affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution. The following cohosts who will appear on-camera as cohosts:

Gordon "Nick" Mueller, President and CEO Emeritus, is a PhD and former historian and Vice Chancellor at the University of New Orleans. He served as Founding President and CEO of the museum and has completed work on a new collection of personal accounts from the Allied invasion of Normandy, Everything We Have: D-Day 6.6.'44. Mueller continues to lead overseas WWII tours, speaks widely on the war experience and assists learning initiatives led by the Institute for the Study of War and Democracy.

Rob Citino, Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian, is a PhD and an award-winning military historian and scholar who has published more than 10 books including The Wehrmacht Retreats, The Death of the Wehrmacht and The German Way of War. Citino, who speaks widely on his topics of expertise, is also the author of numerous articles covering WWII and 20th century military history. He has taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Army War College.

Seth Paridon, Staff Historian, was the first historian hired by the museum's Research Department and served for 12 years as Manager of Research Services. He has led his team in increasing the collection of oral histories to nearly 5,000 and has served as one of the chief historians in the development of many of the museum's exhibits. As Digital Content Manager in the Museum's Media and Education Center, Paridon is tasked with creating historical media utilizing the museum's vast collection of oral history and archival footage.

Lynne Olson, is a New York Times bestselling author of eight books of history covering Britain's role in World War II, has appeared at the museum to discuss her work. Olson's books include Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler; Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War; and Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941.

Gregory Cooke is an Adjunct Writing Instructor in the English and Philosophy Department at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Since 2004, he has been researching, writing and producing historical documentaries about the African-American experience during WWII, a subject in line with the museum's concerns. Cooke's film Choc'late Soldiers from the USA examines the liberating and tumultuous experience of the 140,000 black soldiers stationed in Great Britain during the war.

The films in our WWII Homefront tribute are divided into five categories. Here are highlights:

We begin with Keep the Homefires Burning, which opens with the David O. Selznick classic Since You Went Away (1944), starring Claudette Colbert and Jennifer Jones as the females in a family coping with loneliness and deprivation as the males in their lives serve abroad. Shirley Temple also stars. In the multiple Oscar-winner Mrs. Miniver (1942), with Greer Garson in the title role, a British family must learn to cope with the war--at somewhat closer quarters.

Comedy & Romance includes The More the Merrier (1943), which brought Charles Coburn an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as a retired millionaire who plays cupid for a couple (Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea) during the wartime shortage of living space in Washington, D.C. The screwball comedy The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943) features what many consider Betty Hutton's best performance as a small-town girl who becomes pregnant after a night of wild partying with soldiers.

The War Effort was aided by the all-star Hollywood Canteen (1944), a movie modeled around the real-life free entertainment center for soldiers in Los Angeles during the war. The cast includes Bette Davis and John Garfield, who helped create the club, as well as Barbara Stanwyck, Roy Rogers, Joan Crawford, Eleanor Parker and many others. Tender Comrade (1943) stars Ginger Rogers as a woman who tries communal living while her husband (Robert Ryan) is away at war. This is one of the films that got screenwriter Dalton Trumbo into trouble with the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Under Attack offers Hope and Glory (1987), a beautiful film from writer-director John Boorman recalling his experiences as a 10-year-old who found the London Blitz both terrifying and exciting. The End of the Affair (1955), also set in London, is an adaptation of the Graham Greene novel about the wartime indiscretions of a married woman (Deborah Kerr) with a writer (Van Johnson).

Coming Home is the subject of The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), the multiple-Oscar-winner about the readjustment to civilian life for servicemen played by Best Actor Fredric March, Best Supporting Actor Harold Russell and Dana Andrews. The female leads in this Best Picture winner are Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright and Virginia Mayo. Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) takes a lighter look at the re-entry process, with Eddie Bracken as an ex-Marine innocently drawn into a charade that has him posing as a war hero.

by Roger Fristoe

Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- PUBLIC ENEMY'S WIFE (1936)
An escaped convict's bride joins forces with the FBI.
Dir: Nick Grinde
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Margaret Lindsay, Robert Armstrong
BW-68 mins, CC,

Cesar Romero appears without his mustache in the first part of this film, one of the few (if not only) times he would do so.


7:45 AM -- CHINA SKY (1945)
A dedicated doctor joins the Chinese in their fight against Japanese invaders.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Randolph Scott, Ruth Warrick, Ellen Drew
BW-78 mins, CC,

This film had a long and difficult gestation. RKO bought the rights to Pearl Buck's story in September of 1941. The screenplay went through many re-writes as in the original novel it was a Chinese doctor who collaborates with the Japanese for money and RKO studio executives objected to that. Finally, by March of 1944 the doctor's nationality had been changed to Japanese-Korean.


9:15 AM -- THE CHOCOLATE SOLDIER (1941)
A jealous husband tests his opera-singer wife's fidelity by pretending to be another man.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Nelson Eddy, Risë Stevens, Nigel Bruce
BW-102 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Karl Freund, Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD), and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Herbert Stothart and Bronislau Kaper

When the stage version of "The Chocolate Soldier" premiered, it was as a musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's satirical play "Arms and the Man". Shaw strongly voiced his outrage over the way his play had been adapted and forbade any other musical adaptations of his plays (at least, as long as he was alive). "The Chocolate Soldier" had already been made into a silent film using the plot of Shaw's "Arms and the Man" (The Chocolate Soldier (1914)), but when this film was made, the plot of Ferenc Molnar's "The Guardsman" was used so as not to further offend Shaw, who was still alive.


11:00 AM -- CAUSE FOR ALARM (1951)
A woman fights to intercept a letter in which her husband tries to prove her guilty of murder.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan, Bruce Cowling
BW-74 mins, CC,

Producer Tom Lewis wanted Judy Garland for the part, but his wife Loretta Young wanted the part also. She retained a lawyer who told him that he was discriminating against her because she was his wife. She got the part.


12:15 PM -- THE HEAVENLY BODY (1943)
An astronomer's neglected wife takes up astrology and a handsome astrologer.
Dir: Alexander Hall
Cast: William Powell, Hedy Lamarr, James Craig
BW-95 mins, CC,

Joan Crawford was offered the lead role but turned it down saying, "It was about a girl who stands around and does nothing. I told the studio to give the part to Hedy Lamarr."


2:00 PM -- SINNER'S HOLIDAY (1930)
A jealous young man frames his sister's boyfriend.
Dir: John G. Adolfi
Cast: Grant Withers, Evelyn Knapp, James Cagney
BW-60 mins, CC,

Film debut of James Cagney. Cagney was signed for the film, along with Joan Blondell, at the insistence of Al Jolson, who had seen the pair in the Broadway stage version, originally titled, "Penny Arcade," bought the rights, and insisted that they repeat their performances in the Warner Brothers film. Interestingly, though Cagney owed his film start to Jolson, the two would never meet.


3:15 PM -- THE GUARDSMAN (1931)
A jealous husband dons a disguise to test his wife's fidelity.
Dir: Sidney Franklin
Cast: Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Roland Young
BW-82 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Alfred Lunt, and Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Lynn Fontanne

On the final day of filming, MGM head of production Irving Thalberg, informed the Lunts that they would be required to re-shoot what Thalberg thought was an unsatisfactory scene. The Lunts protested because they thought they had done their best but were finally coerced into re-shooting the scene. When Thalberg saw the newly shot footage he accused Alfred Lunt of purposely crossing his eye as to sabotage the re-shoot. Lunt replied that he couldn't do that on purpose and the reason why the eye was wandering was because of fatigue. Before Thalberg could ask for another re-shoot, Lunt went to the studio barber to get a haircut, making it impossible to re-shoot anymore.


4:45 PM -- RAGE IN HEAVEN (1941)
A jealous man plots to fake his death and incriminate his wife's suspected lover.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke II
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders
BW-85 mins, CC,

W.S. Van Dyke took over the direction of the movie from Robert B. Sinclair, who became ill shortly after shooting began. Van Dyke was in the Marines, but was granted a 14-day leave to finish the picture. Neither Sinclair nor Van Dyke was available for retakes, which were then directed by Richard Thorpe.


6:15 PM -- IT'S LOVE I'M AFTER (1937)
A squabbling stage couple gets mixed up with an amorous fan and her jealous suitor.
Dir: Archie L. Mayo
Cast: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Olivia De Havilland
BW-90 mins, CC,

This film has an unusually high number of connections to "Gone with the Wind," the first time Howard and DeHavilland acted together before playing Ashley and Melanie; Davis, who at one time was considered for Scarlett, and the mention by DeHavilland of Clark Gable near the end.


7:49 PM -- YOU, JOHN JONES! (1943)
An air raid warden realizes how fortunate he is to live safely with his family while others around the world suffer from the war in this short film aimed at boosting U.S morale.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Ann Sothern, Beal Wong, Margaret O'Brien
BW-10 mins,

John Jones is working at the Lockheed plant in Burbank, California, where they are producing P-38 Lightning fighter planes. The P-38 was the only military aircraft in production in the U.S. from the beginning to the end of WWII. Over 10,000 were made.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: WWII HOMEFRONT



8:00 PM -- SINCE YOU WENT AWAY (1944)
A mother and wife struggle to cope while her husband is off serving in World War II.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten
BW-172 mins, CC,

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

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Claudette Colbert, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Monty Woolley, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jennifer Jones, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Stanley Cortez and Lee Garmes, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Mark-Lee Kirk and Victor A. Gangelin, Best Film Editing -- Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom, Best Effects, Special Effects -- Jack Cosgrove (photographic) and Arthur Johns (sound), and Best Picture

One of David O. Selznick's staff members told the producer about Margaret Buell Wilder's novel; he was immediately taken with it. However, Selznick really wanted to make an epic-sized movie, so he had to do a complete overhaul of the book to suit those ends. He was particularly interested in the character of the older daughter, Jane, knowing that it would make a great part for Jennifer Jones.


11:15 PM -- MRS. MINIVER (1942)
A British family struggles to survive the first days of World War II.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright
BW-134 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Teresa Wright, Best Director -- William Wyler (William Wyler was not present at the awards ceremony because he was overseas shooting for the Army Air Force. His wife Margaret Tallichet on his behalf.), Best Writing, Screenplay -- George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West and Arthur Wimperis, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Walter Pidgeon, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Henry Travers, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- May Whitty, Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD), Best Film Editing -- Harold F. Kress, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic), Warren Newcombe (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound)

William Wyler openly admitted that he made the film for propaganda reasons. Wyler - a Jew who was born in Germany - strongly believed that the US should join the war against Nazism, and was concerned that America's policy of isolationism would prove damaging, so he made a film that showed ordinary Americans what their British equivalents were undergoing at the time. The film's subsequent success had a profound effect on American sympathy towards the plight of the British. The US was already supporting the British Empire through Lend-Lease and the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. Lend-Lease had also been extended to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941.


1:45 AM -- HAPPY LAND (1943)
A small-town druggist thinks back on the life of the son who has just died in World War II.
Dir: Irving Pichel
Cast: Don Ameche, Frances Dee, Harry Carey
BW-75 mins, CC,

Many of the adult actors lived well beyond normal life expectancy for those of their generation. Of the main characters, Frances Dee and Ann Rutherford lived the longest, both passing away at age 94. Dee passed away in 2004 and Rutherford in 2012, while Don Ameche passed away at age 85 in 1993. Richard Crane was not as long lived, passing away at age 50 in 1969. In a parallel to the film, both screen parents outlived the actor that played their son. Of the other main credited adult supporting actors, Cara Williams born in 1925 is still alive at age 91 as of today, Adeline De Walt Reynolds lived to age 98, passing away in 1961, and Harry Morgan, lived to age 96, passing away in 2011.


3:15 AM -- THE HUMAN COMEDY (1943)
A small-town telegraph boy deals with the strains of growing up during World War II.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Frank Morgan, James Craig
BW-117 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- William Saroyan

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Mickey Rooney, Best Director -- Clarence Brown, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harry Stradling Sr., and Best Picture

Writer William Saroyan wanted desperately to direct the film despite having no experience in directing. Louis B. Mayer told Saroyan that he would consider the request and assigned the writer to direct a one reel short. The short film was a disappointment and studio stalwart Clarence Brown was promptly assigned. Saroyan was so bitter about the experience he wrote a play about Mayer soon after titled "Get Away Old Man". He also adapted the story he wrote for the film into a novel, which was published within weeks of the movie premiere and became a best seller.


5:15 AM -- THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER (1944)
An American woman with a British husband fights to keep her family together through two world wars.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Irene Dunne, Alan Marshal, Roddy McDowall
BW-126 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- George J. Folsey

Irene Dunne reads a telegram from her Anglophobe father to a group of English people. Her father begs her not to marry an Englishman she is in love with and tells her "You're a Yankee through and through! Think of Paul Revere! Think of the Old North steeple! Remember the Alabama!" The viewer may become confused at this point. "Remember the Alabama"? Shouldn't it be "Remember the Alamo"? However, since the context of the telegram is anti-British any mention of the Alamo would be irrelevant. What Irene Dunne's father is apparently taking about is the C.S.S. Alabama, one of several Confederate warships that were built in British shipyards over United States protest during the Civil War. These ships attacked U.S. shipping in the Atlantic Ocean. Since Irene Dunne arrives in England in April of 1914 and married just before August 4, 1914 when Great Britain declared war on Germany, the telegram was probably sent close to the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Alabama by the U.S.S. Kearsarge on June 19, 1864 in the English Channel. The United States sued Great Britain in 1869 over the building of the Confederate warships and was awarded $15,500,000.