TCM Schedule for Thursday, February 25, 2020 -- What's On Tonight: Kiss Connection

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is featuring Dream Cinema. Then in prime time, it's the last week of a new February celebration call the Kiss Connection. Tell us about our last round, Roger!

Kissing has provided a touch of titillation to the movies since the early days of the cinema. One of the first movies ever shown commercially to the public was The Kiss, an 1896 snippet of film showing John Rice bussing May Irwin in a now-quaint scene from the stage musical The Widow Jones. Since then, almost all movie romances have been sealed with kisses. So, we thought it might be fun to play a kind of “One Degree of Separation” game in which we connect a number of stars by smooching partners they have in common. Hence The Kiss Connection, in which we trace a trail of osculation in movies of the 1930s-60s that begins and ends with Irene Dunne.

Shown below are the star kissers and the films that link them, along with anecdotes about specific scenes.

February 25: In The Palm Beach Story (1942) Joel McCrea kisses Claudette Colbert, who in Boom Town (1940) kisses Clark Gable, who in Mogambo (1953) kisses Ava Gardner, who in Knights of the Round Table (1953) kisses Robert Taylor, who in Camille (1937) kisses Greta Garbo, who in Ninotchka (1939) kisses Melvyn Douglas, who in Theodora Goes Wild (1936) kisses Irene Dunne – which brings us back full circle to Miss Dunne.

Robert Taylor was considered unlikely casting as Armand in Camille, with Greta Garbo in the title role. The athletic young actor from Nebraska was, in his own way, almost as beautiful as Garbo. But he was relatively inexperienced, resolutely American, and reportedly in awe of his legendary Swedish costar.

Director George Cukor defended the casting, noting that Taylor’s “very crudity, that intensity of young passion” made him “an extremely good Armand.” As it turned out, the stars had good chemistry, and the film worked so well that Garbo would choose Camille as her favorite among all her pictures. It bolstered Taylor’s considerable following among female film fans, who swooned at the many love scenes.

Nevertheless, there were some awkward moments between the stars during filming, including an unfortunate incident during their first kissing scene when Taylor, beset by nerves, let Garbo slip from his arms and fall on the floor. He said later that “she was laughing and I was stumbling all over myself trying to help her up.”

As an actress, Garbo took control of the lovemaking and often played the aggressor. She reportedly startled Taylor in one sequence in which she is seated on his lap and, instead of kissing him just once, does so repeatedly. As critic Charles Taylor puts it in an article in The Observer, “She rains petite nibbling kisses all over his face as if he were a dessert she doesn’t know where to begin tasting.”

. . .

Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Exterminating Angel (1962)
1h 35m | Drama | TV-PG
High society guests find themselves unable to leave the dining room after a posh dinner party.
Director: Luis Buñuel
Cast: Silvia Pinal, Enrique Rambal, Jacqueline Andere

The film's cinematographer, Gabriel Figueroa, frantically approached director Luis Buñuel once he had seen the final cut of the film with concerns that there were several instances of repetition, something he was sure was an editorial mistake. Buñuel assured him that the repetition was a creative choice and reminded him that he edited his own films. The director recalled that Figueroa remained skeptical that the repetition was purposeful and not an editing mistake even after his explanation.


7:45 AM -- Carnival of Souls (1962)
1h 20m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
A church organist battles demons and delusions after a deadly car accident.
Director: Herk Harvey
Cast: Candace Hilligoss, Herk Harvey, Frances Feist

According to director Herk Harvey, one reel of footage for the film was ruined during processing. He said it was a long series of shots that was supposed to take place just before Mary sees the "souls" dancing in the ballroom. In the shots the ghouls were supposed to slowly appear from behind the rotting dock pylons on the salt flats and slowly walk across the prairie to the ballroom, where they would begin to dance. Sadly, the footage was overexposed during processing and couldn't be included in the film.


9:15 AM -- Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
2h 25m | Drama | TV-14
An aging housewife seeks direction when she catches her husband in an affair.
Director: Federico Fellini
Cast: Giulietta Masina, Alba Cancellieri, Mario Pisu

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Piero Gherardi, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Piero Gherardi

The meaning of the ending of the film differed to Giulietta Masina and Federico Fellini. To Fellini, it was a happy ending, it symbolized her freedom and self liberation. To Giulietta Masina, it was more sad, and symbolized that she was alone, abandoned and lonely.


11:45 AM -- Yolanda and the Thief (1945)
1h 48m | Musical | TV-G
A con man poses as a Latin American heiress' guardian angel.
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Fred Astaire, Lucille Bremer, Frank Morgan

Originally planned to star Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. Plans were abandoned when Garland was cast in the big budget western musical The Harvey Girls (1946). The two would eventually be cast opposite each other in Easter Parade (1948).


1:45 PM -- The Red Shoes (1948)
2h 14m | Romance, Drama | TV-G
Tale of a famous ballerina who must choose between art and love.
Director: Michael Powell
Cast: Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer

Winner of Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Hein Heckroth and Arthur Lawson, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Brian Easdale

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Emeric Pressburger, Best Film Editing -- Reginald Mills, and Best Picture

The film went massively over budget and the Rank Company, which financed it and was to release it, had little faith in its commercial potential. It tried to bury the film by not giving it a premiere (backer J. Arthur Rank walked out of its first performance) and by just letting it quietly show at late screenings at a cinema in London. Rank wasn't even prepared to strike a print for the American market. Slowly, however, audiences started to pick up on the film, and Rank realized that it might have potential to be a breakout hit after all. Indeed, when an initial print was made for the US, it played at an off-Broadway theater for an unprecedented 110 weeks. That was enough to convince Universal to take up the distribution rights for the US, which it did in 1951.


4:15 PM -- Brigadoon (1954)
1h 48m | Musical | TV-G
Two American hunters in Scotland discover a mystical village that only materializes once every century.
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, Cyd Charisse

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, E. Preston Ames, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene Sharaff, and Best Sound, Recording -- Wesley C. Miller (M-G-M)

Howard Keel and Jane Powell were originally slated to play the leads. When commitments on other films left them unavailable, Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse were cast instead, and dancing subsequently took precedence over singing.


6:15 PM -- Dreams (1940)
10m | Short, Documentary | TV-G
This short film examines why certain dreams occur and how they affect certain individuals.
Director: Felix E. Feist
Cast: John Nesbitt, Johnny Arthur, Peter Cushing

Number 18 in the MGM Passing Parade series.


6:30 PM -- I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
1h 9m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
A nurse in the Caribbean resorts to voodoo to cure her patient, even though she's in love with the woman's husband.
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: James Ellison, Frances Dee, Tom Conway

Val Lewton did not like the article "I Walked With A Zombie" by Inez Wallace that had been optioned, so he adapted the story to fit the novel "Jane Eyre" because he felt the article's plot was too clichéd.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- THE KISS CONNECTION



8:00 PM -- The Palm Beach Story (1942)
1h 28m | Comedy
To finance her husband's career, a married woman courts an eccentric millionaire.
Director: Preston Sturges, Hal Walker
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Joel Mccrea, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee

Preston Sturges came up with the character of J.D. Hackensacker III by accident. He wanted to see My Life with Caroline (1941), but arrived at the theatre an hour early. With nothing better to do, he caught the tail end of the second feature, the low-budget musical Time Out for Rhythm (1941). Radio crooner Rudy Vallee was the male lead and though he was primarily straight man for all the film's jokes, every time he opened his mouth the audience roared. Sturges immediately created the role with Vallee in mind. Studio management fought casting the radio star, since his early pictures had been flops, but Sturges persisted. Even with the failed films in his past, Vallee still commanded a high fee because of his success on the radio.

Last Thursday, in Primrose Path (1940), Ginger Roger kissed Joel McCrea. Today, Joel kisses Claudette Colbert...


9:45 PM -- Boom Town (1940)
1h 56m | Adventure | TV-PG
Friends become rivals when they strike-it-rich in oil.
Director: Jack Conway
Cast: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harold Rosson, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound)

Clark Gable was anxious to do the film because his father had been an oil rigger, and Gable himself had worked on oil rigs in Oklahoma before becoming an actor.

Claudette Colbert kisses Clark Gable ...


12:00 AM -- Mogambo (1953)
1h 55m | Adventure | TV-PG
In this remake of Red Dust, an African hunter is torn between a lusty showgirl and a married woman.
Director: John Ford
Cast: Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ava Gardner, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Grace Kelly

After each day's location shooting, Ava Gardner bathed in a canvas tub set up and filled by the native boy assigned to her. When the British colonial government complained about her appearing naked before the natives while bathing, she laughed, threw off her clothes and paraded naked through the camp.

Clark Gable kisses Ava Gardner ...


2:15 AM -- Knights of the Round Table (1953)
1h 55m | Romance | TV-G
Queen Guinevere is torn between love for her husband and Sir Lancelot.
Director: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Alfred Junge, Hans Peters and John Jarvis, and Best Sound, Recording -- A.W. Watkins (M-G-M Sound Department)

Powerscourt Waterfall in County Wicklow, Ireland was also used in two other Arthurian epics, Excalibur (1981) and King Arthur (2004).

Ava Gardner kisses Robert Taylor ...


4:30 AM -- Camille (1937)
1h 48m | Romance | TV-PG
In this classic 19th-century romance, a kept woman runs off with a young admirer in search of love and happiness.
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greta Garbo

Many people found Greta Garbo's process as an actress inscrutable, though no one questioned it because the results spoke for themselves. Her habit was to work out a performance ahead of time in private as much as possible. Too many eyes on her in front of the camera made her uneasy. As George Cukor once explained, "[Garbo] said that when she was acting she had some sort of an ideal picture in her mind - something she was creating - and she never saw the rushes because she was always disappointed in what she saw. But she said while she was acting she could imagine certain things and if she saw people just off the set staring at her, she felt like an ass, like somebody with a lot of paint on her face making faces. It stopped her imagination."

Robert Taylor kisses Greta Taylor ...