TCM Schedule for Saturday, March 28, 2020 -- What's On Tonight: A Mankiewicz Family Weekend

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in primetime, The Essentials are due back at the beginning of May. Tonight is a continuation of the Mankiewicz Family Weekend, with a couple of films written and directed by Joseph, the great-uncle of TCM's Ben Mankiewicz. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- WHITE HEAT (1949)
A government agent infiltrates a gang run by a mother-fixated psychotic.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien
BW-113 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Virginia Kellogg

If the surprise expressed by James Cagney's fellow inmates during "the telephone game" scene in the prison dining room appears real, it's because it is. Director Raoul Walsh didn't tell the rest of the cast what was about to happen, so Cagney's outburst caught them by surprise. In fact, Walsh himself didn't know what Cagney had planned; the scene as written wasn't working, and Cagney had an idea. He told Walsh to put the two biggest extras playing cons in the mess-hall next to him on the bench (he used their shoulders to boost himself onto the table) and to keep the cameras rolling no matter what happened.


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: PIPE DREAMS (1938)
The hear/see/speak no evil monkeys come to life from a small statue on a shelf.
Dir: Hugh Harman
BW-8 mins, CC,

A surprising anti-smoking cartoon, from more than 25 years before the U.S. Surgeon General's report on the dangers of smoking.


8:10 AM -- AN EVENING ALONE (1938)
In this comedic short, a man finds a lot to do when his wife decides to go out with a girlfriend.
Dir: Roy Rowland
Cast: Robert Benchley,
BW-9 mins,

Filmed in New York City.


8:20 AM -- LAND OF THE ZUIDER ZEE (1951)
This short film takes the viewer to popular sites around Holland.
Dir: Ralph F. Donaldson
Narrator: James A. FitzPatrick
C-9 mins,


8:30 AM -- TRUCK BUSTERS (1943)
An independent driver organizes other truckers to fight a corrupt executive.
Dir: B. Reeves Eason
Cast: Richard Travis, Virginia Christine, Charles Lang
BW-58 mins, CC,

The musical theme by Adolph Deutsch is identical to that of another Warner Bros. picture, They Drive by Night (1940).


9:30 AM -- THE MYSTERIOUS MR. M: THE HUMAN TIME-BOMB (1946)
An evil scientist known as "Mr. M." uses a drug he has developed called "hypnotreme" to help steal submarine equipment.
Dir: Lewis D. Collins, Vernon Keays
Cast: Dennis Moore, Pamela Blake, Richard Martin
BW-16 mins, CC,

Episode ten of thirteen.


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: MY POP, MY POP (1940)
Popeye's 99-year-old father won't admit he's too old to help Popeye build a ship.
Dir: Dave Fleischer
Cast: Jack Mercer
BW-7 mins, CC,

One of a number of Popeye shorts which were sent off to Asia in the 80's to undergo the infamous redraw and colorization process.


10:08 AM -- MR. HEX (1946)
A hypnotist turns one of the Bowery Boys into a championship boxer.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan
BW-63 mins, CC,

The story for this Bowery Boys entry was written by Jan Grippo, who was Leo Gorcey's agent and became his producing partner for the Bowery Boys films. This was the only story by Grippo to be produced.


11:30 AM -- HOLLYWOOD WONDERLAND (1947)
In this short film, tour guides take visitors on a promotional guide of Warner Brothers' studios.
Dir: Jack Scholl
Cast: Robert Arthur, Wanda Hendrix, Tom Wilson
C-16 mins,

Features musical numbers edited from earlier Warner Bros. Technicolor shorts: "The Blue Danube" from Gypsy Sweetheart (1935), "Drifting on the Rio Grande" from Swingtime in the Movies (1938), "Swinging Through the Kitchen Door" from Swingtime in the Movies (1938), "Annie Laurie" from Changing of the Guard (1936), "Dancing is the Darndest Fun" from Ride, Cowboy, Ride (1939), "Beyond the Open Road" from The Sunday Round-Up (1936).


12:00 PM -- NIGHT AND THE CITY (1950)
A London hustler has ambitious plans that never work out.
Dir: Jules Dassin
Cast: Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers
BW-96 mins,

Director Jules Dassin made the film while in the process of being blacklisted. Daryll Zanuck told him it may be the last filmed he'd ever direct, so he should shoot the most expensive scenes first so the studio wouldn't be able to blacklist him until it was completed.


1:45 PM -- THE SEARCHERS (1956)
An Indian-hating Civil War veteran tracks down the tribe that slaughtered his family and kidnapped his niece.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles
C-119 mins, CC,

Reportedly this film was seen in a theater in Texas by Buddy Holly and his friends in the summer of 1956. They were so impressed with Ethan's (John Wayne) repeated use of the phrase "That'll be the day" that they used it as the title for their now standard rock song, which they composed soon after.


4:00 PM -- COUNTDOWN (1968)
An astronaut takes a one-way voyage to the moon.
Dir: Robert Altman
Cast: James Caan, Joanna Moore, Robert Duvall
C-101 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The Pilgrim spacecraft is a ludicrous hybrid of the entire Gemini spacecraft grafted onto the descent stage of an Apollo lunar module. Such a thing was beyond impossible. There was a lunar Gemini program, the so-called "Big Gemini" which would have featured crew space for as many as 12 astronauts, but this never got past the concept stage and did not include a lunar lander. The model shown in the film has been assembled from plastic model kits of Gemini and Apollo available off the shelf in suburban stores during the late 1960s.


6:00 PM -- THE FOUR MUSKETEERS (1975)
To maintain control of the French monarchy, Cardinal Richelieu kidnaps D'Artagnan's true love.
Dir: Richard Lester
Cast: ichael York, Raquel Welch, Oliver Reed
C-107 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Costume Design -- Yvonne Blake and Ron Talsky

Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston) says to d'Artagnan (Michael York) that he has no personal enemies, only enemies of France. This line is in neither the original novel nor the script. Charlton Heston came across this quote of the Cardinal's when researching the role, and asked director Richard Lester to find a place to include it in this movie.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: A MANKIEWICZ FAMILY WEEKEND



8:00 PM -- A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (1948)
A small-town seductress notifies her three best friends that she has run off with one of their husbands.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern
BW-103 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Director -- Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Picture

This film was based on John Klempner's novel, "A Letter to Five Wives." At one point the film was called "A Letter to Four Wives". Upon submitting the adapted screenplay to 20th Century-Fox chief Darryl F. Zanuck, Joseph L. Mankiewicz mentioned that he found it too long and asked how he felt the movie could be shortened. "Take out one of the wives," Zanuck replied. Originally, the movie would have featured Anne Baxter as the fourth wife. Zanuck didn't feel Baxter's segment was as strong as the other three, so that one was cut.


10:00 PM -- PEOPLE WILL TALK (1951)
A controversial doctor gets mixed up with an unwed mother.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Cary Grant, Jeanne Crain, Finlay Currie
BW-110 mins, CC,

At the concert sitting behind Jeanne Crain was Bess Flowers, a well-known and prolific "dress extra" who was widely regarded as "Queen of the Extras". She appeared almost 1,000 times in a wide variety of movies and films, 25 of which were nominated for Best picture. In the list of "1,001 Movies You Need To See Before You Die", she was in 33, far more than any other performer.


12:00 AM -- CRIME WAVE (1954)
A reformed parolee is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter.
Dir: Andre DeToth
Cast: Sterling Hayden, Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk
BW-74 mins, CC,

According to TCM Noir Alley, one of André De Toth's greatest talents as a Director was his extraordinary instinct for casting. His films often featured actors appearing in unexpected roles that in hind sight, seem inspired. For example, Gene Nelson, well known song-and-dance man, makes his only detour into Film Noir in Crime Wave, as lead Steve Lacey.


1:45 AM -- FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (1971)
In Russia before the revolution, a Jewish milkman tries to marry off his daughters who have plans of their own.
Dir: Norman Jewison
Cast: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey
C-181 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Oswald Morris, Best Sound -- Gordon K. McCallum and David Hildyard, and Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score -- John Williams

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Topol, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Leonard Frey, Best Director -- Norman Jewison, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Robert F. Boyle, Michael Stringer and Peter Lamont, and Best Picture

Lillian Michelson, an uncredited movie researcher, who on previous projects could track down pictures of historical items needed for recreation in movies, met a challenge because there were no photos of Jewish girls' underwear from the 1890s. She went to a Jewish restaurant and asked some older women from the time if anybody remembered what they looked like, one woman told her to stay right there, she was going to go to her apartment, "And cut you out a pattern, because we had to sew our underwear back then".


5:00 AM -- THE METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STORY (1950)
A collection of MGM previews with an introduction by Lionel Barrymore.
Dir: Herman Hoffman
C-57 mins, CC,

[CBHagman]

1. Ooh, what a great prime time schedule.

Letter to Three Wives is fun, and keep an eye out for Thelma Ritter.

And People Will Talk is an adaptation of Curt Goetz's Dr. Prätorius, with a plot that must have given the Hays Office fits. Sometime I must look up how they adapted the story...

Fun bonus with People Will Talk: Cary Grant's character gets to conduct Brahms!

[elleng]

2. *1:45 AM -- FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (1971)

In Russia before the revolution, a Jewish milkman tries to marry off his daughters who have plans of their own.
Dir: Norman Jewison
Cast: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey
C-181 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Oswald Morris, Best Sound -- Gordon K. McCallum and David Hildyard, and Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score -- John Williams

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Topol, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Leonard Frey, Best Director -- Norman Jewison, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Robert F. Boyle, Michael Stringer and Peter Lamont, and Best Picture

Lillian Michelson, an uncredited movie researcher, who on previous projects could track down pictures of historical items needed for recreation in movies, met a challenge because there were no photos of Jewish girls' underwear from the 1890s. She went to a Jewish restaurant and asked some older women from the time if anybody remembered what they looked like, one woman told her to stay right there, she was going to go to her apartment, "And cut you out a pattern, because we had to sew our underwear back then".

[Staph]

3. I love this movie!

It came out as I graduated from high school, the middle of three girls. The older three daughters reminded me of my sisters and me!