TCM Schedule for Saturday, January 8, 2022 -- What's On Tonight: Epic Saturday Nights

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in primetime, TCM begins a month of Epic Saturday nights, featuring some of Hollywood's greatest epics. Tonight's big film is Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
1h 37m | Comedy | TV-G
A man's infatuation with a gold-digging beauty continues after his marriage.
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Olivia De Havilland, Rita Hayworth

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Heinz Roemheld

Remake of Paramount's 'One Sunday Afternoon' which starred Gary Cooper and Fay Wray in 1933.


8:00 AM -- The Screwy Truant (1945)
7m | Animation | TV-G
Screwy Squirrel decides to go fishing instead of going to school and the truant officer dog tries to find out why.
Director: Tex Avery (fred)
Cast: Billy Bletcher, Pinto Colvig, William Hanna

The school house is painted blue. There is a sign that says "The Little Red School House" and the word Red is crossed out. Underneath is another sign saying "Technicolor Red has Gone to War". This is a parody of the wartime ad for Lucky Strike cigarettes which said "Lucky Strike Red has Gone to War".


8:08 AM -- Goofy Movies Number Two (1934)
9m | Short | TV-G
This provides a spoof on movie newsreels combined with humorous narration of silent screen footage.
Cast: Pete Smith, Billy Bletcher, Dr. William Axt

The silent being spoofed is the Danish film A Victim of the Mormons (1911).


8:18 AM -- To the Coast of Devon (1950)
8m | Short | TV-G
This short film focuses on the history, culture, and people of Bath, England.
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick


8:27 AM -- Target (1952)
1h 1m | Western | TV-G
Two cowhands join forces with a lady Marshall to fight a land-grabbing scheme.
Director: Stuart Gilmore
Cast: Tim Holt, Linda Douglas, Walter Reed


9:30 AM -- Batman and Robin: Robin Rides the Wind (1949)
17m | Short | TV-G
Batman and Robin search for a machine stolen by a mysterious, cloaked-and-hooded figure known only as The Wizard.
Director: Spencer Gordon Bennet
Cast: Robert Lowery, Johnny Duncan, Jane Adams

Although Vicki Vale is a comic book character, her kid brother Jimmie appears to be unique to this movie.


10:00 AM -- Baby Wants Spinach (1950)
6m | Animation | TV-PG
Imagine the mess Popeye can get into as a baby-sitter. Olive leaves Swee'Pea with him and mayhem ensues.
Director: Seymour Kneitel
Cast: Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Jackson Beck

Remake of Little Swee'pea (1936).


10:08 AM -- Smugglers' Cove (1948)
1h 6m | Comedy | TV-G
The Bowery Boys take on a gang of German smugglers.
Director: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell

The 11th of 48 Bowery Boys movies released from 1946 to 1958.


11:30 AM -- Pony Express Days (1940)
19m | Western | TV-PG
Buffalo Bill Cody attempts to help the Pony Express.
Director: B. Reeves Eason
Cast: Creighton Hale, David Bruce, Frank Wilcox

Included as a special feature in Warner Home Video's 2005 DVD release of the TV series "Adventures of Superman - The Complete First Season".


12:00 PM -- The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)
2h 10m | Drama | TV-G
Twain moves from Mississippi riverboats to the Gold Rush to literary immortality.
Director: Irving Rapper
Cast: Fredric March, Alexis Smith, Donald Crisp

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- John Hughes and Fred M. MacLean, Best Effects, Special Effects -- Paul Detlefsen (photographic), John Crouse (photographic) and Nathan Levinson (sound), and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Max Steiner

The scene where Clemens receives an honorary degree from Oxford University in 1907 was the recreation of an event that C. Aubrey Smith, who plays the Oxford Chancellor, actually witnessed.


2:30 PM -- Ivanhoe (1952)
1h 46m | Epic | TV-G
Sir Walter Scott's classic tale of the noble knight torn between his fair lady and a beautiful Jew.
Director: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Freddie Young, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Miklós Rózsa, and Best Picture

One of the archers shooting from the walls of Warwick Castle is "Mad Jack" Churchill (a.k.a. John Churchill), a World War II veteran who was am expert archer and carried a sword and longbow into battle. On one raid on a German position in 1940, he notched an arrow onto his longbow, fired at a German soldier and killed him, making him the last British soldier on record to have done so.


4:30 PM -- Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
1h 21m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A one-armed veteran uncovers small-town secrets when he tries to visit an Asian-American war hero's family.
Director: John Sturges
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy, Best Director -- John Sturges, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Millard Kaufman

John Sturges had already moved on to his next film, The Scarlet Coat (1955), so Herman Hoffman took charge of filming the opening. The plan was to shoot the train hurtling toward the audience, almost like a 3-D movie, but it would have been deadly to attempt a helicopter maneuver into the path of a speeding locomotive. Stunt flier Paul Mantz offered the perfect solution: have the train running backwards, fly the copter over the retreating engine, then project the footage in reverse. "It's a helluva shot," Sturges later said, "but I didn't make it."


6:00 PM -- Gilda (1946)
1h 50m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A gambler discovers an old flame in South America, but she's married to his new boss.
Director: Charles Vidor
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready

The film was briefly shown in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), which was based on the Stephen King novella "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", both of which use a poster of Rita Hayworth as a Chekhov's Gun. (I assume that the denizen's of the Classic Films Group are all familiar with the concept of Chekov's Gun. If you aren't, check out https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChekhovsGun - but be aware that the TV Tropes website is one of the greatest time sinks in the entire internet!)



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- EPIC SATURDAY NIGHTS



8:00 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, Best Writing, and 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.)

Throughout his career, Peter O'Toole was notorious for fluffing his lines by breaking into fits of laughter. This film, his first major starring role, was no exception. It first became evident in the key scene where he first meets Prince Faisal, played by Alec Guinness, who had a formidable reputation not only for his acting ability, but his total professionalism on stage and set. Time and again, O'Toole made his grand entrance into the Bedouin tent to act out the dramatic scene with Guinness, and time and again he burst into laughter, ruining the takes. Finally, with Guinness getting totally ticked and David Lean getting exasperated at the waste of time and footage, the famed director turned to O'Toole and told him to take a long walk and compose himself. O'Toole did so, and, mortified at his own behavior, thoroughly chastised himself during the break and returned to the set with a steely resolve to get through the scene in a professional manner. With the cameras rolling once more and everyone expecting another outburst of laughter from O'Toole, he entered the tent, approached Alec Guinness, and finally managed to get the first line out with a straight face. Alec Guinness, with his own nerves on edge in expectation of another ruined take from O'Toole, promptly burst out laughing.


12:00 AM -- Nightmare Alley (1947)
1h 51m | Drama | TV-14
An ambitious carnival worker attempts to scam his way out of the carnival in this brutal noir.
Director: Edmund Goulding
Cast: Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray

According to Eddie Muller of the Film Noir Foundation, charlatans and grifters in the new age/mystic con would use the phrase "Are you a friend of Stan Carlisle?", or a variation of it, to confirm that the person they were talking to was in the same line of business.


2:15 AM -- Shampoo (1975)
1h 49m | Comedy | TV-MA
A hairdresser expresses his fear of commitment by seducing his female clients.
Director: Hal Ashby
Cast: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Lee Grant

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lee Grant

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Warden, Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Robert Towne and Warren Beatty, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Richard Sylbert, W. Stewart Campbell and George Gaines

Julie Christie and Carrie Fisher both made films with Alec Guinness. Christie was in Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Fisher in the Star Wars films. Doctor Zhivago was also the inspiration for the relationship between Fisher's on-screen parents; Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala; in the second Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) prequel, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002).


4:15 AM -- Kaleidoscope (1966)
1h 43m | Comedy | TV-14
A pretty girl lures a luckless gambler into a dangerous poker game.
Director: Jack Smight
Cast: Warren Beatty, Susannah York, Clive Revill

Harry Dominion's profile bears a strong resemblance to Napoleon. Early in the film Angel McGinnis tells Barney that she has always had a thing for Napoleon and so when Dominion walks across the poker room she greets him with "Vivre Le'Emperor" and Dominion responds by placing his hand across his chest inside his jacket in the style of Napoleon to return the gesture.

[rsdsharp]

1. "This is a parody of the wartime ad for Lucky Strike cigarettes which

said ‘Lucky Strike Red has Gone to War’”.

The phrase was Lucky Strike GREEN has gone to war. Lucky Strike changed its package from green to white in 1942.

[Staph]

2. Good catch!

I got the trivia from IMDB.