TCM Schedule for Saturday, November 28, 2020 -- The Essentials: Parisian Painters

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in primetime, in the Essentials, Ben Mankiewicz and special co-host Brad Bird take us to Gay Paree, to enjoy the works of two very different painters. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Key Largo (1948)
1h 41m | Crime | TV-G
A returning veteran tangles with a ruthless gangster during a hurricane.
Director: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Claire Trevor

At one point in the movie, Romanian born Edward G. Robinson's character, Johnny Rocco, angrily says, "After living in the USA for more than 30 years they call me an undesirable and want to throw me out of the country...like I was a dirty red or something." A year after this film, he was investigated by the Committee on Un-American Activities which claimed the progressive Democrat, was "frequently involved in Communist fronts and causes". Robinson eventually testified as a friendly witness but he was still grey listed in the 1950's. Robinson also owned a copy of Leon Trotsky's Autobiography "My Life", that the famed exiled had autographed for him.


8:00 AM -- Little Gravel Voice (1942)
8m | Comedy | TV-G
The ear-splitting brays of a little burro prevent any other young animals from befriending him.
Director: Rudolf Ising


•8:10 AM -- Tale of a Trotter (1956)
7m | Documentary | TV-G
Follow the life of Spunky, a trotter or standard bred racehorse used for harness racing with "sulkies".
Cast: Marty Glickman, Peter Roberts

This is one of several short subjects, already in the can, and slated for release by RKO Radio Pictures as part of their Sportscopes 1956-1957 season, but which received no theatrical distribution at the time, as a result of the demise of RKO. In 1994, they became part of the TCM library and, for the past 20+ years, finally saw the light of day through occasional airings on cable television.


8:18 AM -- Land of Tradition (1950)
8m | Documentary | TV-G
This focuses on the history, contributions, and traditions of Great Britain.
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick


8:28 AM -- Penrod's Double Trouble (1938)
1h 1m | Comedy | TV-G
A missing boy's lookalike takes his place and raises havoc.
Director: Lewis Seiler
Cast: Billy Mauch, Bobby Mauch, Dick Purcell

Based on the Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington.


9:30 AM -- Wild West Days: Walls of Fire (1937)
21m | Action | TV-G
Retired lawman Kentucky Wade and his three buddies come to Brimstone and help their friends.
Director: Ford Beebe, Clifford Smith
Cast: John Mack Brown, George Shelley, Lynn Gilbert

Episode nine of thirteen.


10:00 AM -- Ration for the Duration (1933)
8m | Comedy | TV-PG
Popeye's nephews would rather go fishing than work in his victory garden so he tells them the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.
Director: Seymour Kneitel, Dave Tendlar (uncredited)
Cast: Jack Mercer

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.


10:09 AM -- Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost (1942)
1h 10m | Comedy | TV-G
An advertising executive and his temperamental wife investigate a haunted house.
Director: Leslie Goodwins
Cast: Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, Charles

Notorious as the main feature on the double bill which also featured the original release of the Orson Welles classic The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). "Ambersons" was therefore relegated to "second feature" status, something usually reserved for B pictures.


11:30 AM -- Soak the Poor (1937)
16m | Drama | TV-G
This deals with racketeers shaking down small grocers and working in on the relief tickets, designed to get food to the hungry and needy during the Depression.
Director: Harold S. Bucquet
Cast: Davison Clark, Charles Hamilton, George Chandler

11th of 48 films in MGM's "Crime Does Not Pay" series released from 1935 to 1947.


12:00 PM -- Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
2h 12m | Adventure | TV-PG
Classic adventure about the sadistic Captain Bligh, who drove his men to revolt during a South Seas expedition.
Director: Frank Lloyd
Cast: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone

Winner of an Oscar for Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Clark Gable, Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Charles Laughton, Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Franchot Tone, Best Director -- Frank Lloyd, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Jules Furthman, Talbot Jennings and Carey Wilson, Best Film Editing -- Margaret Booth, and Best Music, Score -- Nat W. Finston (head of departmment) with score by Herbert Stothar

According to a 1940 "New York Times" news item, Frank Lloyd announced his intention to film a follow-up, called "Captain Bligh", which he planned to produce on an independent basis at Universal following his work on The Howards of Virginia (1940). Lloyd's sequel, which was never made, was to cover Bligh's career as governor of the Australian penal colony, with Charles Laughton recreating his role. According to 1945 and 1946 HR news items, Charles Nordhoff wrote a novel-length sequel to the Fletcher Christian story, which was to be produced by Carey Wilson and have Clark Gable reprise his role. The sequel, which was never produced, was to take Christian back to England and to South America.


2:30 PM -- Giant (1956)
3h 21m | Drama | TV-PG
A Texas ranching family fights to survive changing times.
Director: George Stevens
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean

Winner of an Oscar for Best Director -- George Stevens

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Dean (This was James Dean's second consecutive posthumous nomination.), Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Rock Hudson, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Mercedes McCambridge, Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Boris Leven and Ralph S. Hurst, Best Costume Design, Color -- Moss Mabry and Marjorie Best, Best Film Editing -- William Hornbeck, Philip W. Anderson and Fred Bohanan, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Dimitri Tiomkin, and Best Picture

Interesting note is that Dame Elizabeth Taylor, who played Leslie, was a year younger than Carroll Baker who played Luz Benedict II, Leslie and Bick's youngest daughter.


6:00 PM -- Welcome to Hard Times (1967)
1h 43m | Drama | TV-PG
A broken-down sheriff tries to help his town stand against a mysterious outlaw.
Director: Burt Kennedy
Cast: Henry Fonda, Janice Rule, Keenan Wynn

Originally made for television in 1966, but released to theaters instead, before being shown on TV because of its violent content.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS -- PARISIAN PAINTERS



8:00 PM -- An American in Paris (1951)
1h 53m | Romance | TV-PG
An American artist finds love in Paris but almost loses it to conflicting loyalties.
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant

Winner of Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Alan Jay Lerner, Best Cinematography, Color -- Alfred Gilks and John Alton, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, E. Preston Ames, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, Best Costume Design, Color -- Orry-Kelly, Walter Plunkett and Irene Sharaff, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Vincente Minnelli, and Best Film Editing -- Adrienne Fazan

George Gershwin wrote his jazz-influenced orchestral piece "An American in Paris" while visiting the latter city in the 1920s during the raucous period known as the Jazz Age. Gershwin stated in interviews that the piece was intended to embody the hedonism and gaiety of the 1920s era which the French called "les Années folles" ("the crazy years&quot . However, for the 1951 film, screenwriter Alan Jay Lerner set the film in the culturally conservative 1940s, over twenty years later. Several critics lamented this change.


10:00 PM -- Moulin Rouge (1952)
1h 58m | Drama | TV-PG
French painter Toulouse-Lautrec fights to find love despite his physical limitations.
Director: John Huston
Cast: Jose Ferrer, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Suzanne Flon

Winner of Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Paul Sheriff and Marcel Vertès, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Marcel Vertès

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- José Ferrer, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Colette Marchand, Best Director -- John Huston, Best Film Editing, and Best Picture

José Ferrer was transformed into the short artist Toulouse-Lautrec by the use of camera angles, make-up, costume, concealed pits and platforms, and short body doubles. Ferrer also used a set of special knee pads of his own design which allowed him to walk on his knees with his lower legs strapped to his upper body. He suffered extreme pain and could only use them for short periods of time. The cane he used in most of his scenes was of absolute necessity. This fact was covered in a LIFE Magazine story in 1952.


12:15 AM -- Suspense (1946)
1h 40m | Musical | TV-PG
The new manager of an ice show plots to steal the owners business and his wife.
Director: Frank Tuttle
Cast: Belita, Barry Sullivan, Bonita Granville

Final film of Eugene Pallette. Classic movie fans will have seen him many times, but I best remember him as Friar Tuck to Errol Flynn's Robin Hood in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).


2:15 AM -- Topaz (1969)
2h 5m | Political | TV-PG
A French agent is sent to Cuba to spy for the CIA.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: John Forsythe, Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin

According to Sir Alfred Hitchcock, this was another of his experimental movies. In addition to the dialogue, the plot is revealed through the use of colors, predominantly red, yellow, and white. He admits that this did not work out.


4:30 AM -- My Favorite Spy (1942)
1h 26m | Comedy | TV-G
Bandleader Kay Kyser leaves his bride at the altar to help catch international spies.
Director: Tay Garnett
Cast: Kay Kyser, Ellen Drew, Jane Wyman

The War Department Motion Picture Board of Review initially rejected the film for release because the story misrepresented the Army Intelligence Division as engaging in espionage. After studio revisions, the film was still refused approval because the Army said that Kay Kyser's character would never be called into the Intelligence Service without qualifications and training. Producer Harold Lloyd suggested that Kyser get the orders from a mixup of names, but that revision was still rejected because the Army did not want a commissioned officer to be made to be the object of ridicule. A further revision having Kyser decommissioned and entering the Intelligence Service as a civilian was finally approved by the War Department. Additional scenes were filmed in late February 1942 to make the changes in the film.