TCM Schedule for Thursday, September 2, 2021 -- The Sounds of Silents

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has a nice selection of Crime Comedies. Then in prime time, the theme is The Sounds of Silents, five sound films about the era of silent movies. I think this is the first time I've seen Hugo (2011) on TCM. Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- Murder She Said (1961)
1h 26m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
When nobody will believe she witnessed a murder, elderly sleuth Miss Marple take...
Director: George Pollock
Cast: Margaret Rutherford, Arthur Kennedy, Muriel Pavlow

The name of the manor house where Miss Jane Marple conducts her inquiries was called Rutherford Hall in Dame Agatha Christie's novel. This was changed to Ackenthorpe in this movie to avoid comparison with the surname of Dame Margaret Rutherford (Miss Jane Marple).


7:45 AM -- The Gazebo (1960)
1h 40m | Comedy | TV-G
A suburban couple tries to cope with a murder victim whose body refuses to stay hidden.
Director: George Marshall
Cast: Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Carl Reiner

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

This is the last black-and-white feature appearance by Debbie Reynolds, performing her final monochrome song and dance - "Something Called Love" (music by Walter Kent, lyrics by Walton Farrar).


9:30 AM -- Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
2h 16m | Comedy | TV-G
An aging fruit vendor, who has been deceiving her grown daughter that she's a wealthy socialite.
Director: Frank Capra
Cast: Glenn Ford, Bette Davis, Hope Lange

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Peter Falk, Best Costume Design, Color -- Edith Head and Walter Plunkett, and Best Music, Original Song -- Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "Pocketful of Miracles"

Before Bette Davis accepted the role, Shirley Booth was Frank Capra's first choice for Apple Annie. Booth viewed the original version of the film, Lady for a Day (1933), and informed Director Frank Capra that there was no way she could match the Oscar-nominated performance of May Robson in the original film, and politely declined the role.


12:00 PM -- Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
2h 3m | Musical | TV-PG
A Chicago gangster stumbles into philanthropic work during a gang war.
Director: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.

Nominee for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "My Kind of Town", and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Nelson Riddle

Making this film should have been fun. Instead, by more than one account, it was a waking nightmare for all involved. John F. Kennedy was assassinated soon after filming started, casting a pall over the entire set. Not long after that, Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped from his dressing room at Lake Tahoe, Nevada (Upon payment of a large ransom, he was released, unharmed, a few days later). Victor Buono, who played Deputy Sheriff Alvin Potts, later observed that it was a minor miracle that filming was completed at all.


2:15 PM -- The Alphabet Murders (1965)
1h 30m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigates a series of murders committed in a...
Director: Frank Tashlin
Cast: Tony Randall, Anita Ekberg, Robert Morley

The only movie in which both Hercule Poirot (Tony Randall) and Miss Jane Marple (Dame Margaret Rutherford) appeared.


4:00 PM -- The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968)
1h 50m | Crime | TV-PG
A kidnapped gangster turns his captors into a crack band of crooks.
Director: Ken Annakin
Cast: Vittorio De Sica, Raquel Welch, Robert Wagner

Robert Wagner wrote in his autobiography that Raquel Welch was constantly late on the set, keeping the cast and crew waiting for hours while she had her hair and make-up done. Finally, Edward G. Robinson cracked, telling Welch off in an angry ten minute tirade which left Welch in tears and apologizing for her behavior. However, Wagner writes, the next day, she was late again.


6:00 PM -- Sophie's Place (1969)
1h 46m | Comedy | TV-PG
Two crooks hired to rob an old lady's estate discover they can't do it.
Director: Jim O'Connolly
Cast: Telly Savalas, Edith Evans, Warren Oates

Ronald Truffet, the French impressionist painter mentioned, does not exist in reality.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- THE SOUNDS OF SILENTS



8:00 PM -- The Comic (1969)
1h 35m | Drama | TV-14
A silent comic's rampant ego ruins the lives of those around him.
Director: Carl Reiner
Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Michele Lee, Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney wore a special prosthetic in his right eye to play Cockeye. The character was originally supposed to be cross-eyed, but on the first day of shooting the actor claimed he was physically unable to do this. Director Carl Reiner confirmed this by placing his finger on the tip of Rooney's nose and telling him to look at it, without result. Reiner later said about Rooney, "This man could do everything in show business - sing, dance, act - but he couldn't cross his eyes!"


9:45 PM -- Hugo (2011)
2h 6m | Adaptation | TV-PG
When wily and resourceful Hugo discovers a secret left by his father, he unlocks...
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Lee

Winner of Oscars for Best Achievement in Cinematography -- Robert Richardson, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing -- Tom Fleischman and John Midgley, Best Achievement in Sound Editing -- Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty, Best Achievement in Visual Effects -- Robert Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning, and Best Achievement in Art Direction -- Dante Ferretti (production designer) and Francesca Lo Schiavo (set decorator)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Achievement in Directing -- Martin Scorsese, Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay -- John Logan, Best Achievement in Film Editing -- Thelma Schoonmaker, Best Achievement in Costume Design -- Sandy Powell, Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score -- Howard Shore, and Best Picture

The driving force behind the movie was Martin Scorsese's young daughter Francesca Scorsese, who presented him a copy of the Brian Selznick book as a birthday gift, hoping that he would make a movie out of it someday. It was also her suggestion to have the movie presented in 3-D. Rather than having the 3-D accomplished by post-conversion, Scorsese decided to have it shot in native format, so together with visual effects supervisor Robert Legato and cinematographer Robert Richardson, they spent (before filming) about two weeks at the Cameron/Pace group doing a crash course on filming in that format.


12:00 AM -- Sunset Blvd. (1950)
1h 51m | Drama | TV-PG
A failed screenwriter falls into a mercenary romance with a faded silent-film star.
Director: Billy Wilder
Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich Von Stroheim

Winner of Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman Jr., Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Hans Dreier, John Meehan, Sam Comer and Ray Moyer, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Franz Waxman

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Holden, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Gloria Swanson, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Erich von Stroheim, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Nancy Olson, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- John F. Seitz, Best Film Editing -- Arthur P. Schmidt and Doane Harrison, and Best Picture

Unlike the character she played, Gloria Swanson had accepted the fact that the movies didn't want her anymore and had moved to New York, where she worked on radio and, later, television. Although she had long before ruled out the possibility of a movie comeback, she was nevertheless highly intrigued when she got the offer to play the lead.

Gloria Swanson almost considered rejecting the role of Norma Desmond after Billy Wilder requested she do a screen test for the role. Her friend George Cukor, who initially recommended her for the part, told her, "If they want you to do ten screen tests, do ten screen tests. If you don't, I will personally shoot you." Swanson agreed to the audition, and won the role.


2:00 AM -- Singin' in the Rain (1952)
1h 43m | Musical | TV-G
A silent-screen swashbuckler finds love while trying to adjust to the coming of sound films
Director: Gene Kelly
Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jean Hagen, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Lennie Hayton

Debbie Reynolds used to chew gum. Before a take of the song "You Were Meant For Me", she stuck her gum on the rung of a ladder. Gene Kelly, during the take, leaned on the ladder and his toupee stuck on the gum. Reynolds stated that, after Kelly yelled at her for that, she never chewed gum again.


4:00 AM -- The Jazz Singer (1927)
1h 36m | Musical | TV-G
A cantor's son breaks with family tradition to go into show business.
Director: Alan Crosland
Cast: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland

Winner of an Honorary Oscar Award to Warner Bros., for producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Adaptation -- Alfred A. Cohn

Many documentaries and historians state that immediately after the release and success of The Jazz Singer (1927) that all of Hollywood switched to sound. This is not true for several reasons. First, there were two competing and incompatible sound systems. The Vitaphone process was cumbersome, relying on an electro-mechanical interface between the projector and the turntable. Fox's Fotofilm was a superior sound-on-film process that allowed for easier editing but required a costlier projector (the Vitaphone system would be quietly killed off by 1932). Secondly, either sound process nearly doubled the budget of a film. Thirdly, theater chains faced enormous conversion costs (MGM-parent company Loew's Inc. owned over 1,000 outlets, and took a deliberately slow wait-and-see attitude toward sound). The first feature film with all synchronous dialog was Lights of New York (1928). Also, in the midst of the talkie-craze of 1928-30, studio bosses were faced with a limited amount of sound equipment and qualified sound technicians, causing them innumerable headaches over which productions to produce as talkies vs. silents. Also, silents were internationally marketable via cheap title card translations while talkies, prior to the advent of subtitles, usually required completely different foreign language versions to be produced simultaneously. Low budget producers of westerns along poverty row were especially impacted, with silents continuing in that market through the end of 1930. Many studios continued to produce both silent and sound versions of their films, including the classic All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).

[elleng]

1. Hugo is so good!