TCM Schedule for Thursday, March 25, 2021 -- What's On Tonight: Classic Films in the Rearview Mirror

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, we're wrapping up last night's theme of Greenstreet & Lorre, followed by a quartet of films directed by David Lean. Then in prime time, it's the last week of Reframed: Classic Films in the Rearview Mirror. For more on these classic films that have issues in today's world, read A Look At The Past With TCM's Writers at https://www.tcm.com/articles/Article/020950/a-look-at-the-past-with-tcms-writers and enjoy!


6:30 AM -- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
1h 40m | Crime | TV-PG
Hard-boiled detective Sam Spade gets caught up in the murderous search for a priceless statute.
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

At 357 pounds, 60-year-old British newcomer Sydney Greenstreet was so large that the studio had to specially manufacture his entire wardrobe for the role of Kasper Gutman. The chair in which Greenstreet sits while talking with Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) in the hotel room was also specially made for him; the chairs the prop department was going to use weren't wide enough to accommodate Greenstreet's girth nor strong enough to support his weight.


8:30 AM -- Casablanca (1942)
1h 42m | Romance | TV-PG
An American saloon owner in North Africa is drawn into World War II when his lost love turns up.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid

Winner of Oscars for Best Director -- Michael Curtiz, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Humphrey Bogart, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Claude Rains, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Arthur Edeson, Best Film Editing -- Owen Marks, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Max Steiner

Sydney Greenstreet wanted to wear something more ethnic to show that his character had assimilated into the Moroccan lifestyle. This idea was nixed by producer Hal B. Wallis who insisted that he wear his now-iconic white suit.


10:30 AM -- Brief Encounter (1945)
1h 26m | Romance | TV-PG
Two married strangers meet in a train station and fall in love.
Director: David Lean
Cast: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Celia Johnson, Best Director -- David Lean, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Anthony Havelock-Allan, David Lean and Ronald Neame

After the success of this movie, Sir David Lean was accosted by an angry man in a train station, who told him how much he hated the movie. "Do you realize, Sir, that if Celia Johnson could contemplate being unfaithful to her husband, my wife could contemplate being unfaithful to me?" he stammered.


12:00 PM -- The Passionate Friends (1949)
1h 35m | Drama | TV-PG
A married woman has one last fling with her childhood sweetheart.
Director: David Lean
Cast: Ann Todd, Trevor Howard, Isabel Dean

This movie is based on the 1913 novel "The Passionate Friends" by H. G. Wells, who also wrote "The Invisible Man", which was made into a 1933 hit movie starring Claude Rains, one of the stars in this movie.


2:00 PM -- Great Expectations (1946)
1h 58m | Drama, Romance | TV-G
A mysterious benefactor finances a young boy's education.
Director: David Lean
Cast: John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Finlay Currie

Winner of Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Guy Green, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- John Bryan and Wilfred Shingleton

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- David Lean, Best Writing, Screenplay -- David Lean, Ronald Neame and Anthony Havelock-Allan, and Best Picture

Sir Alec Guinness admired the way Sir David Lean directed him, singling out a close-up in which he had to laugh out loud, and which he struggled to make look unmanufactured. Lean told him to forget about the whole thing, sat by his side, and made a little signal to the camera to start turning in the course of the conversation. He said something which made Guinness laugh and then said, "Cut." Guinness: "So he got this shot on a totally false premise, but thank God. I don't think I would have ever achieved it otherwise."


4:00 PM -- Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
3h 46m | Adventure | TV-14
A British military officer enlists the Arabs for desert warfare in World War I.
Director: David Lean
Cast: Peter O'toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn

Winner of Oscars for Best Director -- David Lean, Best Cinematography, Color -- Freddie Young, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- John Box, John Stoll and Dario Simoni, Best Sound -- John Cox (Shepperton SSD), Best Film Editing -- Anne V. Coates, Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Maurice Jarre, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter O'Toole, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Omar Sharif, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson (The nomination for Wilson was granted on 26 September 1995 by the Academy Board of Directors, after research at the WGA found that the then blacklisted writer shared the screenwriting credit with Bolt.)

Almost all movement in the movie goes from left to right. Director Sir David Lean said he did this to emphasize that this movie was a journey.

The 35mm master interpositive produced by Technicolor in 1966 had reel 2A flipped. So left and right became reversed on-screen for about 10 minutes in all prints, including initial video releases and television broadcasts. With no writing on the screen during these 10 minutes, it was nearly impossible to spot this error. During the restoration by Robert A. Harris, Sir David Lean pointed out the error, and it was corrected. This reversal also led to an urban myth about this movie: that Lawrence had switched his watch from his left wrist to his right wrist. Due to the reversed imagery in reel 2A, he indeed had appeared to do this in early released versions of the film.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- REFRAMED: CLASSIC FILMS IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR



8:00 PM -- My Fair Lady (1964)
2h 50m | Comedy | TV-G
A pompous phonetics professor is so sure of his abilities he bets he can pass off a street urchin as a lady.
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Rex Harrison (Rex Harrison dedicated his Oscar to "two fair ladies": Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn.), Best Director -- George Cukor, Best Cinematography, Color -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton and George James Hopkins, Best Costume Design, Color -- Cecil Beaton, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- André Previn, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Stanley Holloway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gladys Cooper, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Alan Jay Lerner, and Best Film Editing -- William H. Ziegler

According to Nancy Olson, who was married to lyricist Alan Jay Lerner at the time he was writing the musical, Lerner and Frederick Loewe had the most trouble writing the final song for Professor Henry Higgins. The two writers had based the whole concept of the musical around the notion that Henry was far too intellectual a character to emotionally sing outright, but should speak his songs on pitch, more as an expression of ideas. However, both composer and lyricist knew that Henry would need a love song towards the end of the story when Eliza Doolittle has abandoned him. This presented an obvious problem: how to write an emotional song for an emotionless character. Lerner suffered bouts of insomnia trying to write the lyrics. One night, Olson claims, she brought him a cup of tea to soothe his nerves. As she entered his study, Lerner thanked her and said, "I guess I've grown accustomed to you . . . I've grown accustomed to your face." According to Olson, his eyes suddenly lit up, and she sat down and watched him write the entire song in one sitting, based on the idea that although Henry couldn't "love" Eliza in the traditional sense, he would surely notice the value she represented as part of his life.


11:00 PM -- The Children's Hour (1961)
1h 47m | Drama
A malicious student tries to destroy the teachers at a girls' school..
Director: William Wyler
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley Maclaine, James Garner

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Fay Bainter, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Franz Planer, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Fernando Carrere and Edward G. Boyle, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Dorothy Jeakins, and Best Sound -- Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

Shirley MacLaine, in the documentary The Celluloid Closet (1995), said that nobody on the set of The Children's Hour (1961) discussed the ramifications of the issues regarding homosexuality that are implied, but never spoken about outright, in the film. She said, "none of us were really aware. We might have been forerunners, but we weren't really, because we didn't do the picture right. We were in the mindset of not understanding what we were basically doing. These days, there would be a tremendous outcry, as well there should be. Why would Martha break down and say, 'Oh my god, what's wrong with me, I'm so polluted, I've ruined you.' She would fight! She would fight for her budding preference. And when you look at it, to have Martha play that scene - and no one questioned it - what that meant, or what the alternatives could have been underneath the dialog, it's mind boggling. The profundity of this subject was not in the lexicon of our rehearsal period. Audrey and I never talked about this. Isn't that amazing. Truly amazing."


1:15 AM -- Psycho (1960)
1h 49m | Horror | TV-PG
A woman on the run gets mixed up with a repressed young man and his violent mother.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Janet Leigh, Best Director -- Alfred Hitchcock, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- John L. Russell, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Joseph Hurley, Robert Clatworthy and George Milo

In the book, Norman is about forty. In the movie, he is about twenty-six. Sir Alfred Hitchcock deliberately aged him down to make him seem less predator and creep-like, and more like a put upon victimized man-boy, to elicit audience sympathy for him, and to make the ending reveal more shocking.


3:15 AM -- Dragon Seed (1944)
2h 25m | War | TV-PG
Chinese peasants fight to survive the Japanese occupation during World War II.
Director: Jack Conway
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Walter Huston, Aline Macmahon

Nominee
Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Aline MacMahon
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
Sidney Wagner

Filmed in 1943 on the MGM lot in Culver City, CA, the film features an unusual assortment of non-Asian actors with odd accents playing Chinese and Japanese: Russian-born and Stanislavski-trained Akim Tamiroff as Wu Lien; Turhan Bey, Viennese born son of a Turkish father and Czechoslovakian mother as the middle son, Lao Er Tan; New England patrician Katharine Hepburn as his wife; American Aline MacMahon--no longer one of the wisecracking Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)--as the wife of Ling Tang; English-born Henry Travers (best remembered as Clarence the Angel from It's a Wonderful Life (1946)) as the Third Cousin;" Irish-American J. Carrol Naish as the Japanese Kitchen Overseer; and finally Jewish Robert Lewis, co-founder of the Actors Studio and Meryl Streep's teacher at the Yale Drama School, as Japanese Capt. Sato.