TCM Schedule for Saturday, March 13, 2021 -- TCM Spotlight: Holmes & Watson

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in primetime, TCM may or may not be indulging in the Essentials again. I can't find anything scheduled online after January. That said, tonight's Spotlight features films starring the world's first consulting detective and his sidekick, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Stratton Story (1949)
1h 46m | Drama | TV-G
True story of Monty Stratton, the baseball star who fought to continue his career after losing his leg.
Director: Sam Wood
Cast: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Douglas Morrow

Although Monty Stratton was a real baseball player who continued to play baseball after having a right-leg, above-knee amputation, much of the story was fictionalized for this film. For instance, in the hunting accident, the real Monty Stratton shot himself with a pistol, rather than with a rifle. Also, the game in which the real Monty Stratton returned to baseball after his amputation was not an All-Star game, as in the movie, but rather a 1939 charity game between the White Sox and the Cubs (the proceeds of which went to Stratton).


8:00 AM -- Bottles (1936)
10m | Animation, Comedy, Family
An old pharmacist falls asleep in his apothecary and dreams about all of the bottles coming to life.
Director: Hugh Harman
Cast: Bernice Hansen, Delos Jewkes, Frank Nelson

This short is available as a special feature on the MGM DVD of San Francisco (1936).


8:11 AM -- The Emergency Case (1930)
9m | Comedy, Short | TV-G
A man assumes his brother's identity as a doctor to avoid a speeding ticket.
Director: Arthur Hurley
Cast: Loretta Shea, Al Ochs, Hugh Cameron


8:21 AM -- Cape Breton Island (1948)
9m | Short, Documentary | TV-G
This focuses on the history, land, and people of Cape Breton island.
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick


8:31 AM -- Gambling on the High Seas (1940)
56m | Drama | TV-G
A reporter tries to nail a gambling-ship owner for murder.
Director: George Amy
Cast: Wayne Morris, Jane Wyman, Gilbert Roland

This film might have the most headlines and articles used per minute in a Hollywood feature. Newspaper pages are flashed on screen 22 times in 55 minutes for an average of once every two and a half minutes.


9:30 AM -- Secret Signals (1935)
22m | Action, Adventure | TV-G
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 ten of thirteen.


10:00 AM -- For Better or Nurse (1945)
7m | Animation, Children, Comedy | TV-PG
When Olive takes a job as a nurse in a hospital, Popeye and Bluto try to impress her.
Director: Izzy Sparber (as I. Sparber), Dave Tendlar (uncredited)
Cast: Jackson Beck, Mae Questel, Harry Welch

Jack Mercer was on active military duty and wasn't available to do Popeye's voice for this cartoon.


10:08 AM -- The Dragon Murder Case (1934)
1h 8m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
Society sleuth Philo Vance looks into a murder near a mysterious "dragon pool."
Director: H. Bruce Humberstone
Cast: Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot

Tropical fish were not as yet popular in Southern California, but they were called for in the script as one of the film's most important sets was a solarium filled with fish tanks, most remarkably, with Siamese fighting fish. Pet stores did not stock them as there was no demand. Then an advanced collector located in the San Fernando Valley agreed to have his collection rented. The appearance of tropical fish in "The Dragon Murder Case" was the spark that boosted tropical fish sales nationwide.


11:30 AM -- Rhythmitis (1936)
19m | Short, Musical | TV-G
In this short musical, a doctor develops pills that assist a man to tap dance.
Director: Roy Mack
Cast: Hal Le Roy, Toby Wing, Frances Hunt


12:00 PM -- Test Pilot (1938)
1h 58m | Adventure | TV-G
An irresponsible test pilot's wife and best friend try to get him to grow up.
Director: Victor Fleming
Cast: Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Original Story -- Frank Wead, Best Film Editing -- Tom Held, and Best Picture

After Jim (Clark Gable) flies away from Ann (Myrna Loy), he passes over the ballpark where they recently attended a baseball game. Although the movie takes place in Kansas, the ballpark shown in the fly over is Wrigley Field, north of downtown Chicago.


2:15 PM -- Run Silent Run Deep (1958)
1h 33m | War | TV-PG
Officers on a WWII submarine clash during a perilous Pacific tour.
Director: Robert Wise
Cast: Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Warden

The real submarine captain that Clark Gable's character was based on, Captain Edward L. Beach, was only 23 years old at the time of the events depicted. Gable was 57.


4:00 PM -- Inherit the Wind (1960)
2h 7m | Drama | TV-PG
True story of a Tennessee schoolteacher who went on trial in 1925 for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.
Director: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Ernest Laszlo, and Best Film Editing -- Frederic Knudtson

The actual Scopes Monkey Trial testimony was quite dull, until Clarence Darrow (Drummond) called William Jennings Bryan (Brady) as a defense witness. Firing questions about the earth's origins and Adam and Eve, Darrow quickly forced Bryan into raging contradictions, proving his point that the Bible, in light of scientific knowledge, cannot be interpreted literally.


6:15 PM -- The Producers (1967)
1h 28m | Comedy | TV-14
A Broadway producer decides to get rich by creating the biggest flop of his career.
Director: Mel Brooks
Cast: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Mel Brooks

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Gene Wilder

The original Swedish title for the film was a direct translation of the original title, Producenterna (The Producers). The film didn't arouse much interest from the public. This changed when the title was replaced by "Det våras för Hitler" (Springtime for Hitler). Then the film became an instant smash. All subsequent Mel Brooks films then got Swedish title starting with "Det våras för..." e.g. "Det våras för Frankenstein" (Young Frankenstein (1974))/ ..."Sherriffen" (Blazing Saddles (1974)) / ..."Galningarna" (High Anxiety (1977) et cetera except for Brooks' two last films, which received the Swedish titles "Robin Hood: Karlar i trikåer" (Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)) and "Dracula - Död men lycklig" (Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995); literally "Dracula - Dead but Happy" ).



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- HOLMES & WATSON



8:00 PM -- The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
2h 5m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-14
The legendary sleuth becomes involved with a mysterious French woman while investigating the Loch Ness monster.
Director: Billy Wilder
Cast: Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Irene Handl

With a 260-page script and a budget of $10 million, this was set to be a two hour and forty-five-minute Road Show movie with an intermission for comfort. It was to be the "Big One" for Billy Wilder. The shooting schedule ran for six months and resulted in a rough-cut that came in at three hours and twenty minutes. The movie was originally structured as a series of very specifically structured linked episodes, each with a particular title and theme. The opening sequence was to feature Watson's grandson in London claiming his inherited dispatch box from Cox & Company, and there was also a flashback to Holmes' Oxford days to explain his distrust of women. All were shot, but deleted from the final print. So what happened? Well, it appears that United Artists suffered several major movie flops in 1969 that pretty much scuppered the road show format for Wilder's massive project. Studio execs ordered the movie to be cut to fill a regular theatrical running time, whittling it down to a two hour and five-minute version. The episodic format made the pruning process relatively simple, so cut were the opening sequence, the Oxford flashback and two full episodes titled "The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners" at fifteen minutes, and "The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room" at thirty minutes. We can only hope that the full footage can one day be restored, although a full print is not currently thought to exist.


10:15 PM -- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
1h 24m | Suspense/Mystery
Sherlock Holmes investigates the haunting of an isolated British estate by a murderous canine.
Director: Terence Fisher, John Peverall
Cast: Peter Cushing, Andre Morell, Christopher Lee

In this film, Christopher Lee played Sir Henry Baskerville. In the previous film tonight, he played Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's older and smarter brother. In three other films, he played Sherlock himself.


12:00 AM -- The Night Holds Terror (1955)
1h 26m | Crime
Escaped convicts take over a suburban home.
Director: Andrew Stone, Melville Shyer
Cast: Jack Kelly, Hildy Parks, Vince Edwards

Based on a true story that happened in February 1953.


3:00 AM -- Kim Novak: Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival (2013)
50m | Documentary
An in-depth interview with the famous actress concerning her life and career, taped in April 2012.
Cast: Kim Novak, Robert Osborne

Novak is currently living in Oregon and raising horses and llamas.


4:00 AM -- Jeanne Eagels (1957)
1h 49m | Drama
The famed actress fights drug addiction to build a career and find love.
Director: George Sidney, Charles S. Gould
Cast: Kim Novak, Jeff Chandler, Agnes Moorehead

As with most film biographies, this film is more screenwriter's fancy than fact. Among other things, Jeanne Eagels was never a carnival dancer and was never known to have been the cause of another performer's suicide. Further, the character of Sal Satori was a fictional compilation character based upon several men in her life.