TCM Schedule for Friday, May 24, 2013 -- Friday Night Spotlight: Second Looks

[Staph]

During the day, the featured films are eponymous woman's films (time to hit the dictionary!). And tonight's theme continues to be Second Looks, a chance to see movies that were not so well regarded when first released but now worthy of a second look. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Sadie McKee (1934)
A working girl suffers through three troubled relationships on her road to prosperity.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Joan Crawford, Gene Raymond, Franchot Tone
BW-93 mins, TV-G, CC,

Part of this movie is used as the golden oldie Joan Crawford is watching as Blanche Hudson in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? And the song, "All I Do Is Dream of You," written for the film and sung by Gene Raymond was later used for Debbie Reynolds' first number in "Singing in the Rain."


7:45 AM -- Lilly Turner (1933)
After unwittingly marrying a bigamist, a pregnant woman faces many trials on the road to romance.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: Ruth Chatterton, George Brent, Frank McHugh
BW-65 mins, TV-PG,

Warner Bros. tried to re-release the movie in 1936, but the Production Code office refused to award an approval certificate.


9:00 AM -- Ann Vickers (1933)
A social worker's fight for reform is compromised by her love for a corrupt judge.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Irene Dunne, Walter Huston, Conrad Nagel
BW-76 mins, TV-G, CC,

Some objections were made by the Hays Office concerning the plot of the first draft of the screenplay, where Ann marries Captain Resnick and then has an affair with Barney. The plot was changed to Ann being seduced by the Captain with the offense somehow deemed less if only one of the parties in the adulterous affair is married. No reference is made about any abortion in the trip to Havana, and in the released print the cause of death of Ann's baby girl is never mentioned. RKO applied for an "Approved" certificate in 1935, when the production code was more rigorously enforced, but they were informed that no certificate would be given because of the film's attitude towards adultery.


10:30 AM -- Ruby Gentry (1952)
A tempestuous girl from the swamps ignites passions when she moves into the business world.
Dir: King Vidor
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Charlton Heston, Karl Malden
BW-83 mins, TV-14, CC,

The swamp background noise, instead of being North Carolina wildlife, is jungle noises - perhaps the same sound clip used in Cape Fear with Gregory Peck. Both were to have taken place in the swamps of North Carolina, yet both sounded like something out of Tarzan.


12:00 PM -- Esther Waters (1948)
A housemaid's life is complicated by the attentions of a seductive groom.
Dir: Ian Dalrymple
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Kathleen Ryan, Cyril Cusack
BW-110 mins, TV-PG,

Also known as Sin of Esther Waters.


2:00 PM -- Harriet Craig (1950)
A woman's devotion to her home drives away friends and family.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Joan Crawford, Wendell Corey, Lucile Watson
BW-94 mins, TV-PG,

In this film, Harriet recounts to several people her negative experiences having to work in a laundry in her youth. In her own life, Joan Crawford also had to work in a laundry in her youth because of her family's poverty, and hated it. Crawford's adopted daughter Christina theorized that this hatred led to the famous "wire hangers" incident described by her in 'Mommie Dearest.'


4:00 PM -- Kitty Foyle (1940)
A girl from the wrong side of the tracks endures scandal and heartbreak when she falls for a high-society boy.
Dir: Sam Wood
Cast: Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig
BW-108 mins, TV-G, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ginger Rogers

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Sam Wood, Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Dalton Trumbo, and Best Picture

Among the many letters that Ginger Rogers received for her work in the film, this was the one that she treasured the most: "Hello Cutie - Saw "Kitty" last night and must write this note to say "That's it!" Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! You were superb Ginge - it was such a solid performance - the kind one seldom sees on stage or screen and it should bring you the highest honors anyone can win!! Hope to see you soon, As ever your, Fred."


6:00 PM -- Nora Prentiss (1947)
An ambitious singer ruins a doctor's life.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Ann Sheridan, Kent Smith, Bruce Bennett
BW-112 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Goofs -- When the surgeons are washing up for an operation, before gloves, the elder surgeon touches the door before going inside the surgery room.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: SECOND LOOKS



8:00 PM -- Inside Daisy Clover (1965)
A girl on the road to stardom fights the dehumanizing effects of Hollywood life.
Dir: Robert Mulligan
Cast: Natalie Wood, Christopher Plummer, Robert Redford
C-129 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ruth Gordon, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Robert Clatworthy and George James Hopkins, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Edith Head and Bill Thomas

This is an interesting movie for film buffs since many scenes feature shots in various areas and departments of Warner Bros. Studios, in Burbank, California. The actual studio appeared as the mythical "Swann Studios" in the film.


10:15 PM -- The Loved One (1965)
An Englishman in Hollywood moves into the funeral business.
Dir: Tony Richardson
Cast: Robert Morse, Jonathan Winters, Anjanette Comer
BW-121 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

After WWII, Evelyn Waugh came to Hollywood to work on a movie adaptation of his novel "Brideshead Revisited". While in Hollywood he went to a funeral at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Waugh was offended by the pretense of both the American film industry and the American funeral industry, and wove the two together into the novel on which this film was based.


12:30 AM -- Mickey One (1965)
A comic tries to escape his mob connections.
Dir: Arthur Penn
Cast: Warren Beatty, Alexandra Stewart, Hurd Hatfield
BW-93 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

Location filming was done in Chicago March through May of 1964. The stars stayed at the Astor Towers Hotel during filming. Interiors were shot at Fred Niles Studios which are now Oprah's Harpo Studios. The exterior of the Xanadu night club in the film was the old Gate of Horn folk club at the southeast corner of Dearborn & Chicago. The interior night club scenes were shot in what had been the short-lived "new" Chez Paree at 400 N. Wabash. The film opened in Chicago on October 27, 1965 at the Woods Theater which can be seen in film with the film "The Cardinal" listed on the marquee.


2:15 AM -- The Arrangement (1969)
A car crash causes a rich man to reconsider the life he leads.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Faye Dunaway, Deborah Kerr
C-126 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

In his autobiography, Elia Kazan says he wanted Marlon Brando to play the protagonist of his film, Eddie Anderson. Brando initially agreed to play the role, but backed out after the assassination of Martin Luther King, saying he could not go on with the film in light of such terrible events. While Kazan, a political person himself, took Brando's exit graciously, he wondered whether Brando's excuse was just a con and that he didn't really want to play the role. Kazan says that Brando's interest in playing the role, during their discussions, never got beyond his desire that the studio use a particular Italian wigmaker for his hairpieces. On his part, Kazan had urged Brando to lose weight so that the character would be "lean and hungry."


4:30 AM -- The Fortune (1975)
A married man tries to figure out how to share in his rich girlfriend's fortune.
Dir: Mike Nichols
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Stockard Channing
C-88 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

In an interview on Trio's series Face Time, producer Peter Guber revealed that the film Shampoo was only made because its creators insisted on its being green-lit along with The Fortune. Everyone concerned was convinced The Fortune would be a huge hit, given its stellar line-up of filmmakers, so the deal was accepted. As it turned out, The Fortune was a flop and Shampoo was the huge hit.

[longship]

1. Unforgettable Rod Steiger as Mr. Joyboy. "The Loved One"