TCM Schedule for Saturday, December 5, 2020 -- The Essentials: Dashiell Hammett Double Feature

[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 give us a Dashiell Hammett double feature show! Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)
1h 42m | Comedy | TV-G
A wimpish bookkeeper with a passion for sea life slips off a pier and comes back as a fish.
Director: Arthur Lubin
Cast: Don Knotts, Carole Cook, Jack Weston

This was the final animated film work released by Warner Brothers before the animation studio was shut down. Warners would continue to release theatrical shorts produced by Depatie-Freleng Enterprises until 1969.


8:00 AM -- Out-Foxed (1949)
8m | Comedy
A kennel club unleashes a group of hunting hounds but they get more than they bargain for when the prey is a very sophisticated fox.
Director: Tex Avery (fred)
Cast: William H. Thompson, Daws Butler

There are ten dogs total (nine males & one female) and all are named at the introduction. The female, Cynthia, is no longer shown after the dogs' keeper mentions the prize of the catcher of the fox is a steak.


8:10 AM -- Make Mine Memories (1955)
7m | Comedy | TV-G
This short film provides a funny twist on two silent films.
Director: Richard O. Fleischer
Cast: Ward Wilson, Harry Carey, Frances Dinsmoor


8:18 AM -- Colorful Holland (1950)
8m | Documentary | TV-G
This short film takes the viewer to four villages in the Netherlands.
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick


8:27 AM -- Bulldog Drummond in Africa (1938)
1h | Adventure | TV-G
Bulldog Drummond must race to Africa to save his friend from a madman.
Director: Louis King
Cast: John Howard, Heather Angel, H. B. Warner

This is one of 8 Bulldog Drummond adventures produced by Paramount in the late 1930s, and sold to Congress Films (II) in mid-1954 for re-release; Congress redesigned the opening and closing credits, in order to eliminate all evidence of Paramount's ownership, going so far as to even alter the copyright claimant statements on the title cards; Congress, in turn, sold the films to Governor Films for television syndication. Along the way, Paramount, having disowned the films, never bothered to renew the copyrights, and they fell into public domain, with the result that inferior VHS and DVD copies have been in distribution for many years, from a variety of sub-distributors who specialize in public domain material.


9:30 AM -- Wild West Days: The Circle of Doom (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 ten of thirtenn.


10:00 AM -- Wood Peckin (1943)
7m | Comedy | TV-PG
Popeye tangles with a tough woodpecker as he searches for a mast for his boat.
Director: Izzy Sparber (as I. Sparber), Nick Tafuri (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.


10:08 AM -- The Mexican Spitfire's Baby (1941)
1h 9m | Comedy | TV-G
An advertising executive and his temperamental life adopt a war orphan who turns out to be a beautiful woman.
Director: Leslie Goodwins
Cast: Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, Charles

A 'blue plate special' is a colloquialism referring the practice of diners and restaurants offering a low-priced meal as a daily special, usually presented on a divided plate (usually blue in colour). The meal was usually some sort of meat and three vegetables.


11:30 AM -- Calling All Girls (1942)
19m | Musical | TV-G
This short film presents the process that studios use to select girls to be members of the chorus line in movie musicals.
Director: No Director Available
Cast: Owen Crompton, Busby Berkeley, James Cagney

The first few minutes of this short show the process that studios use to select girls to be members of the chorus line in movie musicals. The following numbers from popular 1930s musicals are then presented: "Don't Say Goodnight" from Wonder Bar (1934); "Lullaby of Broadway" from Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935); "Shadow Waltz" from Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933); and "By a Waterfall" and "Shanghai Lil" from Footlight Parade (1933).


12:00 PM -- Bachelor Mother (1939)
1h 20m | Comedy | TV-G
A fun-loving shop girl is mistaken for the mother of a foundling.
Director: Garson Kanin
Cast: Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Felix Jackson

After making this movie, David Niven returned to England to serve in the British Army during World War II. At the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, German infiltrators into American lines caused roadblocks to be established and military police asked all suspicious persons questions about things no German was likely to know. Lt. Col. David Niven was stopped at a roadblock and was asked who won the baseball World Series in 1940. He replied, "I haven't the faintest idea. But I do know that I made a picture with Ginger Rogers in 1938." The MP replied, "OK, beat it Dave. But watch your step, for Chrissake."


1:30 PM -- Bell, Book and Candle (1959)
1h 46m | Comedy | TV-PG
A beautiful witch puts a love spell on an unknowing publisher.
Director: Richard Quine
Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White or Color -- Cary Odell and Louis Diage, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White or Color -- Jean Louis

One of the many Siamese cats who played Pyewacket was named Houdini. While the other Siamese used were professionally trained for film, Houdini was an untrained pet Siamese chosen for being particularly photogenic and well-socialized, which made him ideal for close-ups and for scenes in which Pyewacket must be handled by humans. Unfortunately, Houdini was still required to do a few small stunts. As he was untrained, the only way the crew found to make him "act" was to startle or chase him. Behind-the-scenes footage shows the animal stressed and visibly terrified. By the end of shooting, Houdini was a nervous wreck who feared humans. The cat was said never to have fully recovered from his ordeal.


3:30 PM -- The Apartment (1960)
2h 5m | Comedy | TV-PG
An aspiring executive lets his bosses use his apartment for assignations, only to fall for the big chief's mistress.
Director: Billy Wilder
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley Maclaine, Fred MacMurray

Winner of Oscars for Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Alexandre Trauner and Edward G. Boyle, Best Film Editing -- Daniel Mandell, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Jack Lemmon, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Shirley MacLaine, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Kruschen, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph LaShelle, and Best Sound -- Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

The inebriated Santa in the bar scene is the same actor Hal Smith who played the inebriated Otis Campbell on The Andy Griffith Show (1960).


5:45 PM -- It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
1h 55m | Comedy | TV-G
Two homeless men move into a mansion while its owners are wintering in the South.
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Don Defore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani

The men are getting paid $1.00 an hour for shoveling snow. One dollar in 1947 is worth $11.50 in 2020. The minimum wage in New York City in 2020 is $15.00 (though NYS will not reach $15.00/hour until December 31, 2020). (Although the character doesn't state whether that is $1 each or for both men together.)



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS -- DASHIELL HAMMETT DOUBLE FEATURE



8:00 PM -- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
1h 40m | Crime | TV-PG
Hard-boiled detective Sam Spade gets caught up in the murderous search for a priceless statue.
Director: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sydney Greenstreet, Best Writing, Screenplay -- John Huston, and Best Picture

There is an inordinate amount of smoking done by the main actors in this film. According to then-studio employee (and future screenwriter) Stuart Jerome, this resulted in a feud between studio head Jack L. Warner and stars Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre. Warner hated to see actors smoking on the screen, fearing it would prompt smokers in the movie audience to step out into the lobby for a cigarette. During filming he told director John Huston that smoking should be kept to a minimum. Bogart and Lorre thought it would be fun to annoy Warner by smoking as often as possible, and got their co-stars, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet, to go along with the joke. During the initial filming of the climactic confrontation, all four actors smoked heavily. After seeing the rushes, Warner furiously called Huston to his office and threatened to fire him from the picture if he didn't tell Bogart and Lorre to knock it off. Realizing their prank had backfired, Bogart and Lorre agreed to stop smoking on camera. However, when the next series of rushes came back, it was obvious that the "lack" of smoking by the actors was taking away from the sinister mood of the scene. Huston went back to Warner and convinced him that the smoking added the right amount of atmospheric tension to the story, arguing that the characters would indeed smoke cigarettes while waiting nervously for the Maltese Falcon to arrive.


10:00 PM -- The Thin Man (1934)
1h 20m | Comedy | TV-G
In New York, a detective, his wife and his dog solve the murder case of an eccentric inventor.
Director: W. S. Van Dyke
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Powell, Best Director -- W.S. Van Dyke, Best Writing, Adaptation -- Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, and Best Picture

According to Myrna Loy, the biggest problem during shooting was the climactic dinner party scene when Nick reveals the killer. William Powell complained that he had too many lines to learn and could barely decipher the complicated plot he was unraveling. It was the one scene when several retakes were necessary, which brought up an entirely new problem. The script called for oysters to be served to the dinner guests, and in take after take, the same plate of oysters was brought out under the hot lights. "They began to putrefy," Loy said. "By the time we finished that scene, nobody ever wanted to see another oyster."


12:00 AM -- Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951)
1h 30m | Crime | TV-PG
A man who spent his formative years in prison for murder is released and struggles to adjust to the outside world.
Director: Felix Feist
Cast: Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran, Lurene Tuttle

Steve Cochran broke his leg shooting a fight scene with Hugh Sanders during the first week of filming. After a short hospital stay, he wore a cast for two weeks during this production.


2:00 AM -- Pat and Mike (1952)
1h 35m | Comedy | TV-G
A promoter falls for a gym teacher he bills as the world's top woman athlete.
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Aldo Ray

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin

The husband and wife writing team of Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon were close friends of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. They wrote this script especially for them to capture the essence of their real-life personalities and relationship as well as to showcase Hepburn's athletic abilities. Tracy really was cranky but lovable, and Hepburn really was a terrific athlete. She was excellent at golf and one of the best tennis players in Hollywood.


4:00 AM -- Three Guys Named Mike (1951)
1h 30m | Comedy | TV-G
A stewardess can't choose among three suitors.
Director: Charles Walters
Cast: Jane Wyman, Van Johnson, Howard Keel

A young Barbara Billingsley (June Cleaver, from Leave It To Beaver (1957-1963) shows up as the instructor at stewardess school.