TCM Schedule for Saturday, July 27, 2019 -- The Essentials: Starring James Earl Jones

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in primetime, The Essentials is back! (or should that be The Essentials are back?), with trailblazing producer, director and screenwriter Ava DuVernay, who will join primetime host Ben Mankiewicz to discuss the films she has chosen. Tonight's theme is a few of the films of the amazing voice James Earl Jones. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU (1942)
Brothers feud over a girl they both fall for while covering World War II.
Dir: Wesley Ruggles
Cast: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Robert Sterling
BW-108 mins, CC,

Filming was halted on January 16, 1942 due to the death of Clark Gable's wife, Carole Lombard, and resumed on February 23. Shortly after finishing this film, Gable enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces and would not make another feature film until 1945.


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: TOM TURKEY AND HIS HARMONICA HUMDINGERS (1940)
Tom Turkey and his friends play their harmonicas so enthusiastically that they nearly destroy the general store.
Dir: Hugh Harman
Cast: Mel Blanc, Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals
BW-7 mins, CC,


8:09 AM -- SEA SPIDERS (1932)
This short film takes a look at the lives of Tahitian boatmen.
Cast: Gayne Whitman
BW-9 mins,


8:19 AM -- VISITING VIRGINIA (1947)
This short film focuses on the agriculture, history, and natural wonders of Virginia.
Dir: James H Smith
Cast: James A. FitzPatrick
C-9 mins,


8:29 AM -- LAWLESS VALLEY (1939)
After doing time for a crime he didn't commit, a cowboy tries to find the men who framed him.
Dir: David Howard
Cast: George O'Brien, Kay Sutton, Walter Miller
BW-59 mins, CC,

Goofs: When George O'Brien is released from prison (after a 2 year incarceration for STAGECOACH ROBBERY) he's wearing a 1938 suit and tie, as is the Prison Warden. When he gets home, his sweetheart is also wearing totally contemporary 1938 fashions, even though there are no paved streets, and people still use oil lamps and ride in horse and buggies.


9:30 AM -- LOST CITY OF THE JUNGLE: PENDRANG GUILLOTINE (1946)
Episode eleven of thirteen.
Dir: Lewis D. Collins, Ray Taylor
Cast: Russell Hayden, Jane Adams, Lionel Atwill
BW-17 mins, CC,


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: THE JEEP (1938)
Popeye brings his magical dog, The Jeep, over to see Olive and Swee'pea, just as the tyke has escaped from his crib.
Dirs: Dave Fleischer, Seymour Kneitel (uncredited)
Cast: Margie Hines, Jack Mercer
BW-8 mins, CC,

A Popeye short with no spinach!


10:08 AM -- SPOOK BUSTERS (1946)
When they set themselves up as ghost hunters, the Bowery Boys tangle with a mad scientist.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Douglass Dumbrille
BW-68 mins, CC,

The working title for this film was "Ghost Busters"!


11:30 AM -- SLAPSIE MAXIE'S (1939)
In this comedic short, a waiter accidentally knocks out a boxing champion leading to a humorous "rematch."
Dir: Noel Smith
Cast: Glenn Langan, Sailor Vincent, John Ridgely
BW-16 mins,


12:00 PM -- JOURNEY INTO FEAR (1942)
A munitions expert gets mixed up with gunrunners in Turkey.
Dir: Norman Foster
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Del Rio, Ruth Warrick
BW-68 mins, CC,

In late August 1942, RKO decided to delay the release of the movie because critics disliked it in press previews. By that time, Orson Welles' contract was terminated by a new studio head. As part of the settlement, Welles agreed to edit the last reel, and film additional scenes. He added the voice-over by Joseph Cotten throughout the movie, and designed the sequence before the credits.


1:15 PM -- ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959)
A small-town lawyer gets the case of a lifetime when a military man avenges an attack on his wife.
Dir: Otto Preminger
Cast: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara
BW-161 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Stewart, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Arthur O'Connell, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George C. Scott, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Wendell Mayes, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Sam Leavitt, Best Film Editing -- Louis R. Loeffler, and Best Picture

The part played by Lee Remick was first offered to Lana Turner, who agreed to take it on the condition that she would wear gowns designed exclusively by her personal couturier, Jean Louis. When director Otto Preminger objected that such gowns were not suitable for the role, Turner turned down the part. Columbia was ready to give in to Turner's demands but Preminger resisted and gave the role to Remick, then almost a beginner.


4:15 PM -- FAIL-SAFE (1964)
A failure in the U.S. defense system threatens to start World War III.
Dir: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau
BW-112 mins, CC,

Columbia Pictures produced both this movie and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Director Stanley Kubrick insisted his movie be released first, and it was, in January 1964. When Fail-Safe (1964) was released, it garnered excellent reviews but audiences found it unintentionally funny because of "Strangelove", and stayed away. Henry Fonda later said he would never have made this movie if he had seen "Strangelove" first, because he would have laughed, too.


6:15 PM -- FAT CITY (1972)
A washed-up boxer tries to show a young hopeful the ropes.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Susan Tyrrell, Candy Clark
C-97 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Susan Tyrrell

The meaning and relevance of the film and source novel's 'Fat City' title is, according to a 29th August 1969 LIFE magazine interview by Michael Durham with the film's source novelist Leonard Gardner, as follows: "Lots of people have asked me about the title of my book. It's part of Negro slang. When you say you want to go to 'Fat City', it means you want the good life. I got the idea for the title after seeing a photograph of a tenement in an exhibit in San Francisco. 'Fat City' was scrawled in chalk on a wall. The title is ironic: 'Fat City' is a crazy goal no one is ever going to reach."



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: STARRING JAMES EARL JONES



8:00 PM -- CLAUDINE (1974)
A single mother falls for a garbage collector who's not sure he's ready to raise six children.
Dir: John Berry
Cast: Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs
C-92 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Diahann Carroll

The director felt that Diahann Carroll was too sophisticated to play the role of a welfare mother. However, Carroll was from the Bronx, knew women like Claudine and knew she could play that part as well as anyone else.


10:00 PM -- THE GREAT WHITE HOPE (1970)
A black boxer and his white mistress face racial prejudice when he wins the championship.
Dir: Martin Ritt
Cast: James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Lou Gilbert
C-103 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Earl Jones, and Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jane Alexander

The original Broadway production of "The Great White Hope" by Howard Sackler opened at the Alvin Theater in New York on October 3, 1968, ran for 546 performances and won the 1969 Tony Award for the Best Play. James Earl Jones won the 1969 Tony Award for Best Actor in Play and recreated his stage role in the movie version. Jane Alexander won the 1969 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play and recreated her stage role in the movie version. The play author also wrote the screenplay for the movie version.


12:00 AM -- THIEVES' HIGHWAY (1949)
A war-veteran-turned-truck driver attempts to avenge the crippling and robbing of his father at the hands of an amoral produce scofflaw.
Dir: Jules Dassin
Cast: Richard Conte, Valentina Cortesa, Lee J. Cobb
BW-94 mins, CC,

The film started production, in the San Francisco produce market, through the cooperation of the Wholesale Fruit and Produce Dealers Association but when the studio decided to use the title Thieves' Market for the film, the Dealers Association strongly protested.


2:00 AM -- BORN YESTERDAY (1950)
A newspaper reporter takes on the task of educating a crooked businessman's girlfriend.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford, William Holden
BW-102 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Judy Holliday (Judy Holliday was not present at the awards ceremony but watched it with several nominees in New York including fellow-best actress candidate Gloria Swanson. In Hollywood, Ethel Barrymore accepted on her behalf.)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- George Cukor, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Albert Mannheimer, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Jean Louis, and Best Picture

Judy Holliday and Broderick Crawford extended their famous gin-rummy scene to their off-screen relationship. Afraid of flying, Holliday insisted on taking the train to Washington for location shooting. Crawford went along and they passed the four-day trip playing gin for money. When they arrived in Washington, Holliday had won $600 from him, along with his undying friendship.


4:00 AM -- IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU (1953)
A dizzy model in love with fame rents a billboard and puts her name on it.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Judy Holliday, Peter Lawford, Jack Lemmon
BW-87 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Jean Louis

In a 1972 interview, George Cukor told Gavin Lambert about the little natural moments that come out in performances - as an example he described the shooting of the seduction scene in Adam's apartment. "It so happened we had a property man on the picture who'd worked with The Three Stooges. He said, 'I have an idea, may I help on this?' I said, 'Please do,' and he suggested, 'Let her take the earring off herself, so he can nuzzle her ear.' So we did, and it made a terribly funny moment. Later in the scene she had to pour champagne down Peter Lawford's neck. We only have four shirts for Peter Lawford, so we could only shoot four takes, and it was tricky for the camera. On the last take I said, 'Judy if you laugh, I'll just kill you, I'll kill you dead.' Well, she didn't laugh, but she giggled, and it was absolutely great. I asked if she'd done it deliberately, in spite of what I'd said, and she didn't really know. Sometimes you get these very human things on the set."


5:30 AM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #24 (1955)
Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney perform in a clip from "Strike Up the Band"; John Gilbert and Renee Adoree perform in a clip from "The Big Parade." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-29 mins, CC,