TCM Schedule for Saturday, February 20, 2021 -- TCM Spotlight: Happy Birthday, Sidney Poitier

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in primetime, TCM finally returns to the Essentials. Tonight, Ben Mankiewicz and special co-host Brad Bird celebrate the birthday of the amazing Sidney Poitier, born February 20, 1927, in Miami. A brief bio from IMDB:

A native of Cat Island, The Bahamas (although born, two months prematurely, in Miami during a visit by his parents), Poitier grew up in poverty as the son of farmers Evelyn (nee Outten) and Reginald James Poitier, who also drove a cab. He had little formal education and at the age of 15 was sent to Miami to live with his brother, in order to forestall a growing tendency toward delinquency. In the U.S., he experienced the racial chasm that divides the country, a great shock to a boy coming from a society with a majority of African descent.

At 18, he went to New York, did menial jobs and slept in a bus terminal toilet. A brief stint in the Army as a worker at a veteran's hospital was followed by more menial jobs in Harlem. An impulsive audition at the American Negro Theatre was rejected so forcefully that Poitier dedicated the next six months to overcoming his accent and improving his performing skills. On his second try, he was accepted. Spotted in rehearsal by a casting agent, he won a bit part in the Broadway production of "Lysistrata", for which he earned good reviews. By the end of 1949, he was having to choose between leading roles on stage and an offer to work for Darryl F. Zanuck in the film No Way Out (1950). His performance as a doctor treating a white bigot got him plenty of notice and led to more roles. Nevertheless, the roles were still less interesting and prominent than those white actors routinely obtained. But seven years later, after turning down several projects he considered demeaning, Poitier got a number of roles that catapulted him into a category rarely if ever achieved by an African American man of that time, that of leading man. One of these films, The Defiant Ones (1958), earned Poitier his first Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. Five years later, he won the Oscar for Lilies of the Field (1963), the first African American to win for a leading role.

He remained active on stage and screen as well as in the burgeoning Civil Rights movement. His roles in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and To Sir, with Love (1967) were landmarks in helping to break down some social barriers between blacks and whites. Poitier's talent, conscience, integrity, and inherent likability placed him on equal footing with the white stars of the day. He took on directing and producing chores in the 1970s, achieving success in both arenas.

Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Sinbad the Sailor (1947)
1h 57m | Adventure | TV-PG
The Arabian Nights hero sets off to find the lost treasure of Alexander the Great.
Director: Richard Wallace
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Maureen O'hara, Walter Slezak

Due to his service in the US Naval Reserve after the United States' entry into World War II, this was Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s first film since The Corsican Brothers (1941) six years earlier.


8:00 AM -- Mutts About Racing (1958)
6m | Animation, Comedy, Family
It's Droopy vs Butch in a cross-country automobile race!
Director: Michael Lah
Cast: Vic Perrin, Bill Thompson


8:08 AM -- Wild Water (1957)
8m | Short, Documentary | TV-G
This short film focuses on the sport of kayaking.
Director: Earle Luby
Cast: Peter Roberts, Fritzi Schwingl, Jack Davis

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.


8:17 AM -- George Town (1941)
9m | Documentary, Short | TV-G
This short film takes the viewer to British colony of Penang.
Director: James A. Fitzpatrick
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick


8:27 AM -- Quick Money (1938)
59m | Drama | TV-G
A small-town mayor fights crooks set on opening a gambling resort.
Director: Edward Killy
Cast: Fred Stone, Gordon Jones, Dorothy Moore

Based on a story by Arthur T. Horman.


9:30 AM -- The New Adventures of Tarzan: Flaming Waters (1935)
25m | Action, Adventure
Tarzan goes to Guatemala to find his lost friend and help discover hidden treasure.
Director: Edward Kull, Wilbur McGaugh
Cast: Frank Baker, Bruce Bennett, Ula Holt

Episode seven of twelve.


10:00 AM -- She-Sick Sailors (1944)
6m | Animation, Children, Comedy | TV-PG
Bluto impersonates Superman and completely baffles both Olive Oyl and Popeye.
Director: Seymour Kneitel, James Tyer (uncredited)
Cast: Jackson Beck, Jack Mercer, Mae Questel


10:08 AM -- Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940)
1h 16m | Drama | TV-G
A young doctor uses pioneering methods to treat a mental patient.
Director: Harold S. Bucquet
Cast: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day

Nurse Molly Byrd tells Mary Lamont that she is 49 years old. In fact, Alma Kruger, the actress who played Ms. Byrd was 72 when the film opened.


11:30 AM -- Romance Road (1937)
18m | Short, Adventure | TV-G
A RCMP sergeant must mediate a land rights dispute between an advancing railroad and French Canadian trappers.
Director: Bobby Connolly
Cast: Stuart Holmes, Leyland Hodgson, Wade Lane

Primarly made to show off and experiment with the new 3-color Technicolor process, and to support longer B&W feature films from the same studio, just as it's now included as an extra on the DVD of WB's Life of Emile Zola starring Paul Muni.


12:00 PM -- Mad Love (1935)
1h 7m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
A mad doctor grafts the hands of a murderer on to a concert pianist's wrists.
Director: Karl Freund
Cast: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive

You may recognize the voice of Edward Brophy, who plays convicted killer Rollo. In addition to supporting roles and character parts in dozens of well-known films, Brophy also was the voice of Timothy, the circus mouse who befriended and mentored the flying baby elephant in Walt Disney's Dumbo.


1:15 PM -- Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
1h 48m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A young girl fears her favorite uncle may be a killer.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Gordon McDonell

The producers assigned scouts to find an appropriate house to serve as a setting for this movie in Santa Rosa, where this movie was to be shot on-location. Sir Alfred Hitchcock had provided specific instructions that the house was to be nice, but somewhat worn-down to emphasize the Newton family's middle class background. The scouts selected the house which appears in the movie, and Hitchcock was delighted by the photographs of their selection. The house was well-built with both a charming interior and exterior. However, it was an older house that was slightly out of fashion at the time, needed a few cosmetic repairs, had a bit of an overgrown lawn and garage area, and the exterior painting was faded and chipped. Hitchcock believed that the expensive and sturdy, but weathered and worn, look to the house would give the suggestion that the Newton family could be anyone, just the average American family in any average American town. Hitchcock gave the scouts the authority to rent the house from its owners as a temporary filming location, much to the owners' pride and delight. He was horrified, however, when he appeared at the house to begin filming. The owners, excited by the prospect of a major movie being shot at their house, had freshly painted the entire house, manicured the lawn, and made a few repairs to the exterior. Hitchcock had to have his effects team artificially age the wear to the house and shoot around the owners' most-effective recent renovations.


3:15 PM -- The Guns of Navarone (1961)
2h 37m | War | TV-PG
A team of Allied saboteurs fight their way behind enemy lines to destroy a pair of Nazi guns.
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Cast: Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Bill Warrington (visual) and Chris Greenham (audible)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- J. Lee Thompson, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Carl Foreman, Best Sound -- John Cox (Shepperton SSD), Best Film Editing -- Alan Osbiston, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Dimitri Tiomkin, and Best Picture

Private Brown (Stanley Baker) is referred to as "The Butcher of Barcelona" by Captain Mallory, as a reference to his service with the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War. In the 1930s, Carl Foreman, the producer and screenwriter of the movie, had been a member of the Communist Party, many of whose members fought for the Republic during the Civil War. Foreman was blacklisted during the early 1950s and moved to England, where he continued to work in the film industry. During the period of the blacklist, left-wing supporters of the Spanish Republic often were denounced for being "premature anti-fascists" for having fought against Franco, Hitler, and Mussolini before the U.S. went to war against the Axis two years after the collapse of the Spanish Republic.


6:00 PM -- The Sunshine Boys (1975)
1h 51m | Comedy | TV-14
A feuding comedy team reunites for a television comeback.
Director: Herbert Ross
Cast: Walter Matthau, George Burns, Richard Benjamin

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George Burns

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Walter Matthau, Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted From Other Material -- Neil Simon, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Albert Brenner and Marvin March

First feature film for George Burns for thirty-six years. Burns had not appeared in a movie since Honolulu (1939). This movie was considered Burns' comeback movie, the comeback being considered one of the most significant ever in Hollywood film history.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIDNEY POITIER



8:00 PM -- Lilies of the Field (1963)
1h 34m | Comedy | TV-PG
An itinerant handyman in the Southwest gets a new outlook on life when he helps a group of German nuns build a chapel.
Director: Ralph Nelson
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Lisa Mann

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Sidney Poitier (Sidney Poitier became the first African American to win the Best Actor Oscar and the only one until Denzel Washington for Training Day (2001), 38 years later. By a strange coincidence, Washington won the Best Actor award on the same night when Poitier received an Honorary Oscar.)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lilia Skala, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- James Poe, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Ernest Haller, and Best Picture

The film was shot on Linda Ronstadt's father's small ranch. There was no art director, but the Property Master, Robert Eaton, actually supervised the construction of the chapel, adjacent to existing ranch buildings. The interiors of the Nun's abode were filmed in these buildings. Eaton rented a prop organ, furniture, and other set dressing and hand props from the Hollywood Cinema Mercantile Property House, located on Santa Monica Blvd near Paramount Studios. Eaton drove a rental truck carrying all the props to Arizona for the shoot, returning all the props after the film's completion. Watching the main Nun's interior abode, the prop organ stands against one wall, with a painting hanging on an adjacent wall. There is absolutely no continuity in where the prop table and chairs, related organ and hanging picture belong. The props are choreographed to the actors' motivation or movement in each scene.


10:00 PM -- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
1h 48m | Comedy | TV-PG
The daughter of a well-to-do white family comes home from a vacation to announce her intention to marry a black doctor.
Director: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn (Katharine Hepburn was not present at the awards ceremony. George Cukor accepted the award on her behalf.), and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- William Rose

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy (Posthumously.), Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Cecil Kellaway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Beah Richards, Best Director -- Stanley Kramer, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Robert Clatworthy and Frank Tuttle, Best Film Editing -- Robert C. Jones, Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Frank De Vol, and Best Picture

Due to Spencer Tracy's health, the cast was always working from two shooting scripts, one with Tracy, one without. Typically, Katharine Hepburn brought Tracy in the morning, they worked until she decided he was too tired, then Tracy and Hepburn left. Sidney Poitier, who already had received a Best Actor Oscar for Lilies of the Field (1963), was intimidated by working with two legends, and preferred to perform to empty high backed chairs.


12:00 AM -- Native Son (1951)
1h 45m | Adaptation
In 1940s Chicago, a young black man takes a job as a chauffeur to a white family.
Director: Pierre Chenal
Cast: Jean Wallace, Richard Wright, Nicholas Joy

Canada Lee was set to star as Bigger Thomas (he had shot to fame in Orson Welles's Broadway production of Native Son), but he was stuck in limbo with South African customs agents during the filming of Cry, the Beloved Country (1951), not to mention his failing health eventually caused Lee to back out of the project.


2:00 AM -- Diner (1982)
1h 50m | Drama | TV-MA
A group of friends who hang out in a Baltimore diner face the problems of growing up.
Director: Barry Levinson
Cast: Steve Guttenberg, Mickey Rourke, Daniel Stern

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Barry Levinson

Barry Levinson had the main actors arrive in Baltimore a week before filming began to get to know each other and build rapport. Predictably, the young male actors went out on the town to clubs and tried to pick up women. Sometimes they would use bogus stories about what they were doing in Baltimore. Tim Daly says he came up with the most popular one, that they were engineers working on a rotating rooftop restaurant.


4:00 AM -- Avalon (1990)
2h 7m | Drama
A Polish-Jewish family try to make a better future for themselves in the United States.
Director: Barry Levinson
Cast: Rachel Aviva, Christine Mosere, Frank Tamburo

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Barry Levinson, Best Cinematography -- Allen Daviau, Best Costume Design -- Gloria Gresham, and Best Music, Original Score -- Randy Newman

The home in the suburbs where the Kaye family moves from Avalon is Writer, Producer, and Director Barry Levinson's actual childhood home in Forest Park, west of Baltimore's city center.