TCM Schedule for Saturday, December 12, 2020 -- The Essentials: David Niven 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 David Niven double feature show! Yum! Enjoy!


6:30 AM -- The Case of the Curious Bride (1935)
1h 20m | Mystery | TV-G
Perry Mason helps a young woman whose supposedly dead husband suddenly returns to life.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Woods

In The Case of the Curious Bride (1935), one of Errol Flynn's earliest films, his role consisted of lying on a marble slab as a corpse. There was also a flashback sequence towards the end of the film showing how Flynn was killed. The film in question has appeared at least twice on Turner Classic Movies during Errol Flynn festivals despite his very limited (certainly less than two minutes) screen time.


8:00 AM -- Poor Little Me (1935)
10m | Comedy
Rejected by the other forest animals, a sad skunk bemoans his friendless life until he meets a rabbit with a congested nose.
Director: Hugh Harman


8:12 AM -- Wrong Way Butch (1950)
10m | Comedy | TV-G
This short film provides a humorous look at what can happen when tools and machinery are misused and safety warnings ignored.
Director: David Barclay
Cast: Pete Smith, Dave O'brien, David Barclay

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel -- Pete Smith

Having six fingers or six toes is called Hexadactyly. Having six fingers or toes is one of the most common congenital malformations.


8:23 AM -- Colorful Colorado (1944)
8m | Documentary | TV-G
This focuses on the sights and sounds of Colorado.
Director: James A. Fitzpatrick
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick

This MGM short, part of James A. Fitzpatrick's Traveltalks series starts off in Denver, capital of Colorado, the mile high city. Known as a recreational and health center, it is noted for its beautiful parks. The Museum of Natural History has specimens of local animal life. About an hour's drive from Denver on Lookout Mountain is the grave of Col. William Cody, 'Buffalo Bill', known as a scout and a plainsman. In Colorado Springs, there is a monument to the great American humorist Will Rogers who loved the stretches of open country. Much of the mountain area of Colorado is owned by the Federal government as national forest and there are many well stocked trout streams. In Mesa Verde National Park you will find the cave dwellings once used by Native Americans.


8:32 AM -- Bulldog Drummond's Revenge (1937)
55m | Adventure | TV-G
Captain Drummond travels to Switzerland in order to marry his girlfriend but the disappearance of a dangerous cargo of explosives makes him delay his plans.
Director: Louis King
Cast: John Barrymore, John Howard, Louise Campbell

In this third film of the series and second starring Barrymore, the actor had so many memory problems from his drinking that he couldn't play his scenes without cue cards.


9:30 AM -- Wild West Days: The Thundering Herd (1937)
30m | 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 eleven of thirteen.


10:00 AM -- Spinach Fer Britain (1933)
6m | Comedy | TV-PG
Popeye delivers his precious and needed cargo of spinach to Britain, despite the efforts of a Nazi submarine to sink his ship.
Director: Izzy Sparber (as I. Sparber), James Tyer (uncredited)
Cast: Jack Mercer

At the very end, Popeye's pipe plays the "V for Victory" tune.


10:08 AM -- Mexican Spitfire's Elephant (1942)
1h 4m | Comedy | TV-G
A temperamental Latina and her family get caught in the search for a rare art treasure.
Director: Leslie Goodwins
Cast: Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, Walter Reed

For some reason, Zasu Pitts as Miss Peppers of Idlewild Inn is completely uncredited in this movie.


11:30 AM -- The Love Department (1935)
19m | Romance | TV-PG
A love columnist can't find her own love connection in this musical short.
Director: Roy Mack
Cast: Donald Douglas, Milt Douglas, Don Tomkins

Jimmy Jackson's $20/week salary would be equivalent to about $375/week (just under $20K/year) in 2020.


12:00 PM -- A Christmas Carol (1938)
1h 9m | Drama | TV-G
In this adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale, an elderly miser learns the error of ways on Christmas Eve.
Director: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart

The word "humbug" is misunderstood by many people, which is a pity since the word provides a key insight into Scrooge's hatred of Christmas. The word "humbug" describes deceitful efforts to fool people by pretending to a fake loftiness or false sincerity. So when Scrooge calls Christmas a humbug, he is claiming that people only pretend to charity and kindness in a scoundrel effort to delude him, each other, and themselves. In Scrooge's eyes, he is the one man honest enough to admit that no one really cares about anyone else, so for him, every wish for a Merry Christmas is one more deceitful effort to fool him and take advantage of him. This is a man who has turned to profit because he honestly believes everyone else will someday betray him or abandon him the moment he trusts them.


1:30 PM -- 3 Godfathers (1949)
1h 45m | Drama | TV-G
Three outlaws on the run risk their freedom and their lives to return a newborn to civilization.
Director: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz, Harry Carey Jr.

John Ford dedicated his film 3 Godfathers (1948), to Harry Carey Sr., who died in 1947, the year before this picture was made. At the beginning of the film, Ford eulogized Carey as the "Bright Star of the early western sky." The film opens with a lone rider atop a hill. He is silhouetted against the setting sun, and sitting atop the horse in the manner Harry Carey was known to do.


3:30 PM -- Meet John Doe (1941)
2h 3m | Drama | TV-G
A reporter's fraudulent story turns a tramp into a national hero and makes him a pawn of big business.
Director: Frank Capra
Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Richard Connell and Robert Presnell Sr.

Well into production, Frank Capra refused to reveal publicly what the film was about. Part of the motivation for his secrecy was fear that powerful US fascist organizations would pressure Warner Bros. not to make the film, but he also did not have a completed screenplay, and keeping mum on the film's subject was his way of keeping Warner Bros. from pulling out of its agreement.


5:45 PM -- The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
1h 52m | Comedy | TV-G
An acerbic critic wreaks havoc when a hip injury forces him to move in with a Midwestern family.
Director: William Keighley
Cast: Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Monty Woolley

Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, authors of the play from which this film was adapted, were good friends with Alexander Woollcott, a famous critic, radio personality, and lecturer at the time. Woollcott requested that they write a play FOR him, but they never came up with a plot. One day Woollcott came to visit Hart unexpectedly and turned his house upside down, taking over the master bedroom, ordering Hart's staff around and making a general nuisance of himself. When Hart told Kaufman of the visit, he asked, "Imagine what would have happened if he broke his leg and had to stay?" They looked at each other and knew they had a play.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS -- DAVID NIVEN DOUBLE FEATURE



8:00 PM -- A Matter of Life and Death (1947)
1h 44m | Drama | TV-PG
An injured aviator argues in celestial court for the chance to go on living.
Director: Michael Powell
Cast: David Niven, Kim Hunter, Robert Coote

The first scene shot was David Niven washing up on the beach. Originally planned to fade in from black, Michael Powell decided on the spot that the effect would be too cheesy. When Jack Cardiff told him to look through the camera, Cardiff then deliberately breathed right onto the lens, which fogged the glass for a few seconds until it evaporated. Powell loved the idea and had him use it for the shot.


10:00 PM -- Enchantment (1949)
1h 42m | Drama | TV-G
When a well-off family takes in a young orphan, her presence ignites romance and jealousy.
Director: Irving Reis
Cast: Teresa Wright, David Niven, Evelyn Keyes

Rollo (the nickname of Niven's character General Sir Roland Dane) was the surname of Niven's first wife who tragically died after a fall at their home in California two years previously.


12:00 AM -- The Burglar (1957)
1h 30m | Drama | TV-PG
A band of crooks robs a spiritualist.
Director: Paul Wendkos
Cast: Dan Duryea, Jayne Mansfield, Martha Vickers

Producer Louis W. Kellman cast the relatively unknown Jayne Mansfield as Gladden after seeing the normally jaded and unflappable film crew's "overheated" reaction to her on the set of Pete Kelly's Blues (1955).


2:00 AM -- Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
1h 18m | Drama | TV-G
Nuclear tests awaken two prehistoric monsters whose battles threaten to level Japan.
Director: Motoyoshi Odo
Cast: Hiroshi Koizumi, Setsuko Wakayama, Mindru Chiaki

Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya wanted the fight scenes filmed in slow motion, but a camera technician accidentally undercranked the camera instead of overcranking it, resulting in the action appearing faster than reality. Tsuburaya liked the effect, and decided to use it in the film.


3:30 AM -- Godzilla vs. The Thing (1964)
1h 30m | Action | TV-PG
An unscrupulous land developer drives both Mothra and Godzilla to attack Tokyo.
Director: Inoshiro Honda
Cast: Akira Takarada, Yuriko Hoshi, Hiroshi Koizumi

The famous scene where Godzilla destroys the castle in Nagoya actually had to be filmed several times, and the castle had to be built twice. To make the castle fall correctly, two men are sitting behind pushing it with long sticks. The first time the scene was shot, the two men pushed too soon, and the castle collapsed before Godzilla even touched it. The miniature castle then had to be rebuilt. The second time the opposite problem happened, and the two men missed their cue. A second take had to be done with Godzilla clawing away at it as the two men push it over from behind. The moment where Godzilla's foot slides on the ledge (causing him to fall into the castle) has been thought by many to be an accident. According to Haruo Nakajima (the actor inside Godzilla) the fall was actually scripted that way and done on purpose.


5:15 AM -- Monster Zero (1965)
1h 33m | Action | TV-PG
Aliens try to use Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan to take over the planet.
Director: Inoshiro Honda
Cast: Nick Adams, Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno

Nick Adams is speaking English throughout the Film, despite the fact he seems to be conversing with the other actors, who are clearly speaking Japanese. Adams was simply dubbed over into Japanese for the Japanese release. Conversely, when the film was finally released in the US, Nick Adams voice is the only voice not dubbed over. The Japanese speaking actors are dubbed over into English.