TCM Schedule for Friday, May 13, 2022 -- What's On Tonight: A Night At The Academy Museum

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is fighting Friday the Thirteen by playing "lucky" films. Then in prime time, TCM is featuring more films from the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Seven Years Bad Luck (1921)
1h 5m | Silent | TV-G
In this silent film, a man's attempts to avoid bad luck after he breaks a mirror lead straight to it.
Director: Max Linder
Cast: Max Linder, Thelma Percy, Alta Allen

The broken mirror routine is a precursor to the one in Duck Soup (1933) starring The Marx Brothers. A double was used, and the scene took hours and hours to rehearse.


7:15 AM -- Lucky Devils (1933)
1h 3m | Drama | TV-G
Two Hollywood stuntmen compete for the same pretty extra.
Director: Ralph Ince
Cast: Bill Boyd, Dorothy Wilson, William Gargan

The location filming at the end of the movie (the film on which Skipper is a laborer) was done at Copper Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River, which runs primarily through Trinity County, California. The location is called "Copper River" in the film; though it is technically called Copper Creek in reality. Sometimes the creek does get called Copper River by some.


8:30 AM -- You Can't Buy Luck (1937)
1h 1m | Crime | TV-G
A racehorse owner tries to buy victory by performing good deeds, but gets mixed up in murder instead.
Director: Lew Landers
Cast: Onslow Stevens, Helen Mack, Vinton Haworth

This film made RKO a modest profit of $24,000 according to studio records.


9:45 AM -- Lucky Night (1939)
1h 30m | Romance | TV-G
During a drunken night out, an heiress marries a broken-down gambler.
Director: Norman Taurog
Cast: Myrna Loy, Robert Taylor, Joseph Allen

The only feature film that top MGM stars Myrna Loy and Robert Taylor made together.


11:30 AM -- Lucky Partners (1940)
1h 42m | Comedy | TV-G
Two strangers who share a sweepstakes ticket take it on the lam.
Director: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Ronald Colman, Ginger Rogers, Jack Carson

Ginger Rogers turned down the role of Hildy Johnson (eventually played by Rosalind Russell) in the Howard Hawks comedy His Girl Friday (1940) so she could co-star with Ronald Colman in this movie.


1:30 PM -- Lucky Losers (1950)
1h 9m | Comedy | TV-PG
The Bowery Boys almost strike it rich when they break into the stock market.
Director: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Hillary Brooke

The 18th of 48 Bowery Boys movies.


2:45 PM -- Lucky Me (1954)
1h 40m | Musical | TV-G
When the members of a musical troupe take cleaning jobs, their lead singer falls for a famous songwriter.
Director: Jack Donohue
Cast: Doris Day, Robert Cummings, Phil Silvers

This was Day's follow up film to her 1953 hit Calamity Jane, which included the chart-topping, Oscar-winning tune Secret Love. Hoping to replicate that success, Warners hired the song-writing team behind Calamity to do the score for Lucky Me. What they came up with included the Secret Love-like ballad I Speak to the Stars, sung by Day in a dream sequence. Despite its similarity to Secret Love, I Speak to the Stars, like the rest of this film's forgettable musical score, never caught on with the movie-going public.


4:45 PM -- O Lucky Man! (1973)
3h 6m | Comedy | TV-14
A surrealist musical about a coffee salesman in Europe.
Director: Lindsay Anderson
Cast: Malcolm Mcdowell, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts

After the success of If.... (1968), Malcolm McDowell suggested to producer and director Lindsay Anderson that they should work again. Anderson replied that good scripts don't grow on trees, and that McDowell should consider writing his own if he wanted to give himself a good part. Although McDowell was only thirty at the time, he based this movie around the concept of his own life story, and then brought it to David Sherwin, who then crafted the screenplay.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- A NIGHT AT THE ACADEMY MUSEUM



8:00 PM -- The Night of the Hunter (1955)
1h 33m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A bogus preacher marries an outlaw's widow in search of the man's hidden loot.
Director: Charles Laughton
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish

At their initial meeting, Lillian Gish asked Charles Laughton why he wanted her for the part and he replied, "When I first went to the movies, they sat in their seats straight and leaned forward. Now they slump down, with their heads back, and eat candy and popcorn. I want them to sit up straight again."


10:00 PM -- Do the Right Thing (1989)
2h | Drama | TV-MA
Racial tensions erupt when a Brooklyn pizza owner refuses to include black celebrities in his display of famous fans.
Director: Spike Lee
Cast: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Danny Aiello, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Spike Lee

During the 1990 Oscar ceremony, while announcing the Best Picture nominees, Kim Basinger caused some controversy when she ignored her scripted text and said: "We've got five great films here, and they're great for one reason: because they tell the truth. But there is one film missing from this list, that deserves to be on it, because ironically, it might tell the biggest truth of all, and that's Do the Right Thing (1989)." Spike Lee would later thank her for it in a 2019 episode of the podcast "Unspooled".


12:15 AM -- The Third Man (1949)
1h 33m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-14
A man's investigation of a friend's death uncovers corruption in post-World War II Vienna.
Director: Carol Reed
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles

Winner of an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Krasker

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Carol Reed, and Best Film Editing -- Oswald Hafenrichter

Somewhat apocryphal stories abound regarding Carol Reed discovering musician Anton Karas while scouring Vienna bars and nightclubs. Reed actually heard Karas playing at a production party and insisted the Austrian zither player come to Reed's hotel room and record songs to use for the contract. Later in production, Reed realized he wanted to use Karas' music for the whole film and flew Karas out to London to record the score. Karas became a top-selling musician thanks to the film and opened a nightclub called "The Third Man" in Vienna, which he ran to the end of his days.


2:00 AM -- New York Ninja (2021)
1h 33m
A sound technician in New York City turns to vigilantism after his pregnant wife is murdered.
Director: John Liu, Kurtis Spieler
Cast: Don Wilson, Michael Berryman, Linnea Quigley

John Liu originally shot the film in 1984 in New York City. The film remained unfinished until Vinegar Syndrome found the original unedited camera negative in their film archive. With the sound elements and script lost, producer/editor Kurtis Spieler finished the film and hired a new cast to dub the voices as well as the band Voyag3r to create an original score.


3:45 AM -- American Ninja (1985)
1h 35m | Action | TV-14
An American soldier, stationed in the Philippines and well-versed in the martial arts, goes up against an arms dealer's army.
Director: Sam Firstenberg
Cast: Michael Dudikoff, Guich Koock, Judie Aronson

Originally the studio chose Chuck Norris to star. He chose not to do the film because he didn't want his face hidden on camera. He said, "If I'm going to be in a film, I don't want my face hidden. I'm going to be me."


5:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #26 (1955)
25m | Documentary | TV-G
Eleanor Powell performs in a clip from Broadway Melody.