TCM Schedule for Thursday, April 14, 2022 -- What's On Tonight: TCM Spotlight: It's About Time

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, hold onto your wallets -- It's A Stickup! Then in prime time, the TCM Spotlight continues its focus on Time. Tell us about tonight's films, Rob!

The second night of programming kicks off with the classic time travel movie, an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ 1895 novella and the one most people think of when they hear The Time Machine (1960), despite a more recent but rather overstuffed 2002 remake directed by the author’s great-grandson. In this original version, Rod Taylor builds an ornate steampunk vehicle that takes him far into the future where he finds Yvette Mimieux living among a gentle race of humans subjugated by mutants. The most fun parts of the film, though, are the short stops he makes along the way.

Things get a little quirkier after that. Wells himself turns up (played by Malcolm McDowell) in Time After Time (1979), pursuing Jack the Ripper, who has stolen the time machine to escape capture. Things to Come (1936) is also based on a story by Wells, less about time travel than time’s passage as we see a new world rebuilt over the decades after a devastating war and plague. Time Bandits (1981) is visionary director Terry Gilliam’s wildly inventive and funny journey through world history as a curious young boy joins a band of time traveling thieves trying to evade the Supreme Being (Ralph Richardson). The cast includes Sean Connery as Agamemnon, Ian Holm as Napoleon, the peerless Shelley Duvall and Gilliam’s fellow Monty Python mates John Cleese and Michael Palin. And you would do well to set your alarm early to catch the night’s final screening, La Jetée (1962), French filmmaker Chris Marker’s black-and-white avant-garde short (28 minutes) that plays intriguing tricks with time and space. Constructed almost completely from still photos, the highly influential picture inspired a longer (but not necessarily more impactful) feature by Terry Gilliam, 12 Monkeys (1995).

As the Earth Turns (2019) is a feat of cinematic time travel in itself. Originally a silent film shot in 1937 by Richard Lyford, the footage was lost for many years until it was discovered in 2013 by his daughter in the basement of his home long after his death. She had it digitally restored and newly scored for public release, premiering at the Seattle International Film Festival, where it was shot. The plot of the 46-minute film – something about an apocalyptic future war – is less interesting than the visual and acting styles, reminiscent of the uniquely offbeat work of Canadian director Guy Maddin. In addition to working as a director, animator, writer, producer and cinematographer for Disney, the U.S. Army and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Lyford also co-directed (with Robert J. Flaherty) the Academy Award-winning documentary The Titan: Story of Michelangelo (1950).

Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- A Star Is Born (1937)
1h 51m | Romance | TV-G
A fading matinee idol marries the young beginner he's shepherded to stardom.
Director: William A. Wellman
Cast: Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou

Winner of an Honorary Oscar Award for W. Howard Greene for the color photography of A Star Is Born. (plaque) This award was recommended by a committee of leading cinematographers after viewing all the color pictures made during the year.

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- William A. Wellman and Robert Carson

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Fredric March, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Janet Gaynor, Best Director -- William A. Wellman, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Alan Campbell, Robert Carson and Dorothy Parker, Best Assistant Director -- Eric Stacey, and Best Picture

Early in the film, when Esther (Janet Gaynor) stops at Grauman's Chinese Theater to see the stars' footprints, the second one she visits is Harold Lloyd, which is to the right of Gaynor's own prints from 1929, a portion which is visible on screen, including the "r" in her signature.


8:30 AM -- Jack of Diamonds (1967)
1h 48m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A glamorous jewel thief tries to go straight.
Director: Don Taylor
Cast: George Hamilton, Joseph Cotten, Marie Laforêt

George Hamilton was able to demand and receive $100,000.00 for this film. He was at this time considered a hot commodity due in part to the fact that he was dating the president's daughter.


10:30 AM -- High Sierra (1941)
1h 40m | Crime | TV-G
An aging ex-con sets out to pull one more big heist.
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis

John Huston would later remark on Humphrey Bogart's unique appeal in the role of Roy Earle: "Bogie was a medium-sized man, not particularly impressive off-screen, but something happened when he was playing the right part. Those lights and shadows composed themselves into another, nobler personality: heroic, as in 'High Sierra'. I swear the camera has a way of looking into a person and perceiving things that the naked eye doesn't register."


12:15 PM -- The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
1h 52m | Crime | TV-PG
A gang of small time crooks plots an elaborate jewel heist.
Director: John Huston
Cast: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sam Jaffe, Best Director -- John Huston, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Ben Maddow and John Huston, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harold Rosson

When the film was being prepared for a British bow, the producers hesitated because it was so full of American slang. At the time, films heavy with slang were usually re-dubbed for English audiences. Gerard Fairlie, the British author of the "Bulldog Drummond" adventure stories, was called upon as a consultant, and he advised against re-dubbing, even though some words would go right over the heads of British viewers. The film was not re-dubbed and earned good box-office returns in England.


2:15 PM -- They Live by Night (1948)
1h 35m | Crime | TV-PG
After an unjust prison sentence, a young innocent gets mixed-up with hardened criminals and a violent escape.
Director: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Cathy O'donnell, Farley Granger, Howard Da Silva

Robert Mitchum lobbied unsuccessfully for the role of Chicamaw. He told Nicholas Ray that he was very familiar with bank robbers and chain gangs, and even cut and dyed his hair black (in the original treatment Chicamaw was an Indian). He was rejected because he had recently been nominated for an Oscar, and a supporting role was considered unworthy for a rising star.


4:00 PM -- Kansas City Confidential (1952)
1h 38m | Crime | TV-PG
To commit the perfect crime, a former detective keeps his colleagues' identities secret from each other.
Director: Phil Karlson
Cast: John Payne, Coleen Gray, Preston Foster

Quentin Tarantino has said that Reservoir Dogs (1992) was inspired by this movie. The parallels are obvious.


5:45 PM -- There Was a Crooked Man ... (1970)
2h 6m | Western | TV-PG
A Western crook tries to break out of prison.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Hume Cronyn

A realistic 1880s territorial prison replica was constructed on four acres in the high-desert country of the Joshua Tree National Monument. Designed by Edward Carrere, Oscar-winning designer of such movies as "The Wild Bunch (1969)," it was one of the most massive location sets ever built. The prison's 20-foot-high, four-feet-thick walls enclosed 14 buildings, including a guards' barracks, warden's quarters, mess hall, kitchen, hospital, blacksmith shop, a mule shed, corral, seven guard towers, a solitary confinement cell and a gallows. Unlike a typical movie set, the buildings had to be roofed because aerial footage of the location would be filmed. Some 80 loads of rocks were trucked in (and later removed) to create the enormous hard-labor rock pile in the movie. Since no indigenous plants could be harmed, thousands of desert plants also had to be trucked to the location.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- IT'S ABOUT TIME



8:00 PM -- The Time Machine (1960)
1h 43m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-G
A turn-of-the-century inventor sends himself into the future to save humanity.
Director: George Pal
Cast: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Yvette Mimieux

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Gene Warren and Tim Baar

Rod Taylor fights a Morlock right outside the time machine and then sends the device into the future, which causes rapid decay of the body. This effect was achieved by making a wax figure of a Morlock, then melting it with intense heat, and speeding up the footage, thus giving the illusion of decomposing flesh.


10:00 PM -- Time After Time (1979)
1h 52m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-MA
When Jack the Ripper steals his time machine, author H.G. Wells travels to modern-day San Francisco to bring the murderer to justice.
Director: Nicholas Meyer
Cast: Malcolm Mcdowell, David Warner, Mary Steenburgen

H.G. Wells arrives in the present on November 5, 1979. The same "time travel arrival date" was used in Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann (1982) (November 5, 1877), and Back to the Future (1985) (November 5, 1955). And I saw the movie in the theatre on that exact date. It was seriously creepy to think that Jack the Ripper was in San Francisco. Right. Bloody. Now!


12:00 AM -- As the Earth Turns (2019)
Silent | TV-G
An apocalyptic future war that could destroy the planet is explored in this silent film, shot in 1937.
Director: Richard Lyford
Cast: Barbara Berjer, Alan Hoelting, Edwin C. Frost

This 1937 silent independent movie was lost for eighty years. It only became known because of a on-line forum between movie fans. The film was discovered in the basement of the home of Richard Lyford in 2013 by his daughter. She then pursued having the film restored and released to the public. GT Recording did digital restoration. Music and video mixing was done by Clatter&Din (now Formosa Interactive Seattle). 8th Sense Productions released the movie in 2019.


1:00 AM -- Time Bandits (1981)
1h 50m | Adventure | TV-PG
A young boy embarks on an adventure through time with a group of runaway dwarfs.
Director: Terry Gilliam
Cast: John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall

In the original script, King Agamemnon was introduced as: "The warrior took off his helmet, revealing someone that looks exactly like Sean Connery, or an actor of equal but cheaper stature." To writer, producer, and director Terry Gilliam's surprise, the script ended up in Connery's hands. He expressed interest in the part, and his agent approached them for the role.


3:15 AM -- Things to Come (1936)
1h 53m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
Two generations of philosophers try to bring an end to war.
Director: William Cameron Menzies
Cast: Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson

Briefly, at about 1:18, people are shown riding personal transport devices somewhat similar to a Segway device. At several points, about 1:09 huge tunneling machines are shown similar to machines used in the 1990's to bore various tunnels in the world, for example the English Channel Tunnel (The Chunnel) Admittedly they do not use the same method to remove Earth from the tunnel but they achieve the same end result; huge tunnels. Also shown are vast fully automated factories requiring little human intervention. And flat screen and Jumbotron screens are also depicted. All of these were nonexistent at the time of filming and little in technology to give hope to their future creation, yet they all came into existence within 80 years.


5:00 AM -- La Jetee (1962)
27m | Experimental | TV-PG
The story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.
Director: Chris Marker
Cast: Davos Hanich, Jean Negroni, William Klein

This short film was the inspiration for the Terry Gilliam film 12 Monkeys (1995).


5:30 AM -- Alice in Movieland (1940)
21m | Short | TV-PG
When a beauty queen tries to make it in Hollywood, she learns stardom comes at a price.
Director: Jean Negulesco
Cast: Joan Leslie, Nana Bryant, Jack Mower

The first time that Craig Stevens and Alexis Smith would appear together on-screen. A little more than four years later they would begin their marriage that lasted just nine days short of 49 years.