TCM Schedule for Friday, June 28, 2013 -- Friday Night Spotlight: Noir Writers

[Staph]

This month's Friday Spotlight is Noir Writers, and our final authors are Cornell Woolrich (sometimes writing as William Irish) and Raymond Chandler. Enjoy!


7:15 AM -- The Vagabond Lover (1929)
A small-town boy finds fame and romance when he joins a dance band.
Dir: Marshall Neilan
Cast: Rudy Vallee, Sally Blane, Marie Dressler
BW-65 mins, TV-G,

Rudy Vallee's movie debut.


8:30 AM -- Love Affair (1939)
Near-tragic misunderstandings threaten a shipboard romance.
Dir: Leo McCarey
Cast: Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer, Maria Ouspenskaya
BW-87 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Irene Dunne, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Maria Ouspenskaya, Best Art Direction -- Van Nest Polglase and Alfred Herman, Best Music, Original Song -- Buddy G. DeSylva for the song "Wishing", Best Writing, Original Story -- Mildred Cram and Leo McCarey, and Best Picture

After this movie was released restaurants were suddenly bombarded with requests for pink champagne.


10:00 AM -- June Bride (1948)
Two bickering reporters turn a small-town wedding into a battleground.
Dir: Bretaigne Windust
Cast: Bette Davis, Robert Montgomery, Fay Bainter
BW-97 mins, TV-G, CC,

Because the Dewey-Truman presidential race was going on during filming, one of Mary Wickes' lines was shot with both candidates names in it. The original print used Dewey as the winner. When Truman unexpectedly won, the other version was quickly printed and rushed to theaters.


11:45 AM -- Love In The Afternoon (1957)
An aging American tycoon overcomes his inhibitions to court a young Parisian.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier
BW-130 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

The original ending of the film just showed the two lovers departing together on a train, which threatened to land the film on the Catholic Legion of Decency's "Condemned List." As a result, Maurice Chevalier was called back to do the voice-over heard at the close of the film, in which he reports that the couple are "now married and serving a life sentence in New York City."


2:00 PM -- Rhapsody (1954)
A wealthy socialite is torn between the classical violinist who excites her and the pianist who needs her.
Dir: Charles Vidor
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Vittorio Gassman, John Ericson
C-116 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Based on the novel Maurice Guest by Henry Handel Richardson.


4:00 PM -- Cannery Row (1982)
A marine biologist falls for a prostitute in an offbeat waterfront town.
Dir: David S. Ward
Cast: Nick Nolte, Debra Winger, Audra Lindley
C-120 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

For some reason, screenwriter-director David S. Ward lowered the character's stated I.Q. (181 in the book "Sweet Thursday&quot for his film by 30 points. An Intelligence Quotient of 170 and above are considered "super-genius" (versus the "genius" I.Q. of 140 and above). Perhaps Ward didn't believe that star Nick Nolte would be believable with such a high I.Q.


6:00 PM -- Mrs. Soffel (1984)
A prison warden's wife is seduced into helping a notorious killer escape.
Dir: Gillian Armstrong
Cast: Diane Keaton, Mel Gibson, Matthew Modine
C-112 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

The jail used in the movie is the actual Allegheny County Jail that figures in the story. Designed by noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson, built between 1884-1888, it served as a jail until 1995 and is now used by the juvenile and family sections of the Common Pleas Court.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: NOIR WRITERS



8:00 PM -- The Leopard Man (1943)
When a leopard escapes during a publicity stunt, it triggers a series of murders.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: Dennis O'Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks
BW-66 mins, TV-PG, CC,

The black leopard Dynamite also appeared in Val Lewton's Cat People.


9:30 PM -- Deadline at Dawn (1946)
An aspiring actress risks her life to clear a sailor charged with murder.
Dir: Harold Clurman
Cast: Susan Hayward, Paul Lukas, Bill Williams
BW-83 mins, TV-G, CC,

The only film directed by legendary stage director Harold Clurman.


11:00 PM -- Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Detective Philip Marlowe's search for a two-timing woman leads him to blackmail and murder.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley
BW-95 mins, TV-PG, CC,

RKO was on the verge of bankruptcy when it signed up aging matinée idol Dick Powell to make a series of musicals. Powell only signed under the proviso that he could play a straight dramatic role first, so he was cast as Philip Marlowe. Attached director Edward Dmytryk was initially horrified at this casting decision. Dick Powell's portrayal of Philip Marlowe earned the approval of Raymond Chandler himself.


1:00 AM -- The Big Sleep (1946)
Private eye Philip Marlowe investigates a society girl's involvement in the murder of a pornographer.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely
BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC,

While working on the script, writers William Faulkner and Leigh Brackett couldn't figure out from the novel who murdered a particular character. So they phoned Raymond Chandler, who angrily told them the answer was right there in the book. They shrugged and returned to their work. Chandler soon phoned to say that he looked at the book himself and couldn't figure out who killed the character, so he left it up to them to decide. In the original cut, shown to the armed services, this question is resolved; in the film as released, it isn't.


3:00 AM -- Lady in the Lake (1947)
Philip Marlowe searches for a missing woman in this mystery shot entirely from the detective's viewpoint.
Dir: Robert Montgomery
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan
BW-103 mins, TV-PG, CC,

The entire movie plot unfolds from lead Robert Montgomery's point of view, thus creating a rarity in film: the principal character is only seen on-screen as a reflection in mirrors and windows, and as the narrator speaking directly to the audience. The first-person camera technique is known as "subjective camera," and had not before been employed in this manner beyond the first few minutes of a film (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in 1931, by pioneering director Rouben Mamoulian.)


5:00 AM -- Strangers On A Train (1951)
A man's joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker
BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Burks

This is the movie that determined the location of Carol Burnett's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1951, she was working as an usher when this film was playing at the Warner Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. A couple arrived late, and Burnett, having already seen the film, advised them that it was a wonderful film that should be seen from the very beginning. The manager of the theatre very rudely fired her for this. Years later, when Carol Burnett was asked where she would like to have her star placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she requested that it be placed in front of that theatre.

[cyberswede]

1. Hot dog!

That's a lot of my faves all in one night!
I'm a huge Chandler fan!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

2. I love The Leopard Man

Last edited Sat Jun 29, 2013, 02:23 PM - Edit history (3)

Jacques Tourneur directed some nice b&w horror films like this one, Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie and my favorite The Night Of The Demon, all very creepy and atmospheric. Jacques Tourneur of course directed probably the greatest of all film noirs, Out Of The Past (1947) with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas, considered by most critics to be the quintessential example of the genre.

The Big Sleep is one of my favorite films of all time. And what's more, it is truffled full of gorgeous women.


The very saucy lady cab driver who asks Bogart out on a date, Joy Barlow, offering him a "ride".



Lady cabbie: "Listen if you ever need a ride again . . ."

Marlow: "Day or night?"

Lady cabbie: "Night. I work during the day."


The bookstore scene with the lovely Dorothy Malone.




The incredible Martha Vickers.






The wonderful Peggy Knudsen




The beautifully elegant Sonia Darrin




The incomparable Lauren Bacall.




along with the extraordinarily sexy club hat check girl, Lorraine Miller.