TCM Schedule for Thursday, September 5, 2013 -- Star of the Month - Kim Novak

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is featuring films with music composed by a pair of composers. In the morning, it's Erno Rapee. His two most popularly enduring compositions were the songs 'Charmaine', written in 1926, and 'Diane', written for the 1927 silent movie "Seventh Heaven". The first was later recorded, among others, by Mantovani and Billy May, the second (famously) by Ray Charles and by the Miles Davis Quartet. In the afternoon, the composer is Alfred Newman, winner of nine (count 'em, nine!) Oscars. And in prime time, we begin looking at the films of Star of the Month, Kim Novak. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Jazz Singer (1927)
A cantor's son breaks with family tradition to go into show business.
Dir: Alan Crosland
Cast: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland
BW-96 mins, TV-G,

Won an Honorary Oscar Award -- Warner Bros. for producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry.

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Adaptation -- Alfred A. Cohn

Al Jolson's famous line (as Jack Robin) "You ain't heard nothin' yet." was an ad-lib. The intention was that the film should only have synchronized music, not speech, but Jolson dropped in the line (which he used in his stage act) after the song "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face". The director wisely left it in.


7:45 AM -- The Doorway to Hell (1930)
Despite his efforts to go straight, a young gangster keeps falling back into crime.
Dir: Archie Mayo
Cast: Lew Ayres, Charles Judels, Dorothy Mathews
BW-78 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Rowland Brown

No information about the publication of Rowland Brown's story, "A Handful of Clouds," has been found; it may not have been published.


9:15 AM -- Little Caesar (1930)
A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell
BW-79 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Adaptation -- Francis Edward Faragoh and Robert N. Lee

Clark Gable was originally considered for the part of Joe Massara, but Jack L. Warner decided that Gable's ears were too big, and the role went to Douglas Fairbanks Jr. instead. Gable ultimately signed with MGM, where he would become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood history.


10:45 AM -- The Office Wife (1930)
A gold-digging secretary sets out to lure her boss from his straying wife.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Dorothy Mackaill, Lewis Stone, Hobart Bosworth
BW-59 mins, TV-G, CC,

Based on a novel of the same name by Faith Baldwin.


12:00 PM -- Illicit (1931)
Young free-thinkers turn conventionally jealous when they marry.
Dir: Archie Mayo
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, James Rennie, Charles Butterworth
BW-79 mins, TV-G, CC,

The play that's referred to, "Fifty Million Frenchmen" was a musical comedy written by Cole Porter and opened on Broadway in 1929.


1:30 PM -- The Grapes Of Wrath (1940)
Oklahoma farmers dispossessed during the Depression fight for better lives in California.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine
BW-129 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jane Darwell, and Best Director -- John Ford

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Henry Fonda, Best Film Editing -- Robert L. Simpson, Best Sound, Recording -- Edmund H. Hansen (20th Century-Fox SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Nunnally Johnson, and Best Picture

Prior to filming, producer Darryl F. Zanuck sent undercover investigators out to the migrant camps to see if John Steinbeck had been exaggerating about the squalor and unfair treatment meted out there. He was horrified to discover that, if anything, Steinbeck had actually downplayed what went on in the camps.


3:40 PM -- The Greatest Gift (1942)
In this short film, a French monastery takes in a juggler to care for as they prepare gifts to offer to Our Lady.
Dir: Harold Daniels
Cast: Edmund Gwenn, Lumsden Hare, Hans Conreid
BW-11 mins,

The same story was told in On Camera: Our Lady's Tumbler (1955) (TV Episode), The Juggler of Our Lady (1958) (Short), Startime: The Young Juggler (1960) (TV Episode), Jackanory: Christmas Stories: The Little Juggler (1968) (TV Episode), The Juggler of Notre Dame (1970), and The Juggler of Notre Dame (1982) (TV Movie).


4:00 PM -- Pinky (1949)
A light-skinned black woman returns home after passing for white in nursing school.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters
BW-102 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jeanne Crain, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ethel Barrymore, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ethel Waters

Lena Horne initially campaigned to play the title role in this movie (she was light enough to photograph "white&quot , but in the end, the movie studio felt white American audiences would feel more comfortable with a white actress, especially since love scenes with a white actor were involved.


6:00 PM -- No Way Out (1950)
A racist gangster forces a black doctor to tend to his injuries.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally
BW-107 mins, TV-14, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Lesser Samuels

Although many credit this as Sidney Poitier's film debut, he had previously made three short films for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. However, this was his first credited appearance in a commercial feature film.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: KIM NOVAK



8:00 PM -- Kim Novak: Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival (2013)
The legendary actress talks with TCM host Robert Osborne during the TCM Classic Film Festival.
BW-50 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

As a starlet with Columbia Pictures, Marilyn Pauline Novak resisted pressure to change her name to "Kit Marlowe". Years later, the name was used for the character she played on the television series "Falcon Crest" (1981). (She did agree to change her first name from Marilyn to Kim, as the public associated her given name with Marilyn Monroe).


9:00 PM -- Vertigo (1958)
A detective falls for the mysterious woman he's been hired to tail.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes
C-130 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White or Color -- Hal Pereira, Henry Bumstead, Sam Comer and Frank R. McKelvy, and Best Sound -- George Dutton (Paramount SSD)

Costume designer Edith Head and director Alfred Hitchcock worked together to give Madeleine's clothing an eerie appearance. Her trademark grey suit was chosen for its colour because they thought it seemed odd for a blonde woman to be wearing all grey. Also, they added the black scarf to her white coat because of the odd contrast.


11:15 PM -- Kim Novak: Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival (2013)
The legendary actress talks with TCM host Robert Osborne during the TCM Classic Film Festival.
BW-50 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

On July 24 2000, she watched her memento-filled house in Eagle Point, Oregon, go up in flames. A deputy fire marshal said that the blaze was probably the result of a tree that fell across an electrical power line. Included in the loss were scripts to some of her movies as well as her computer, which contained her long-gestating autobiography. Spared, however, were her menagerie of animals, including horses and llamas, as well as the star's husband of 24 years, veterinarian Bob Malloy. She later said that the fire was a sign that she shouldn't be writing an autobiography.


12:15 AM -- The Man With The Golden Arm (1955)
A junkie must face his true self to kick his drug addiction.
Dir: Otto Preminger
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak
BW-119 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Frank Sinatra, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Joseph C. Wright and Darrell Silvera, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Elmer Bernstein

The Motion Picture Association of America originally refused to issue a seal for this movie because it shows drug addiction. The next year the production code was changed to allow movies to deal with drugs, kidnapping, abortion and prostitution. The film was eventually assigned certificate no. 17011.


2:30 AM -- Pushover (1954)
A police detective falls for the bank robber's girlfriend he is supposed to be tailing.
Dir: Richard Quine
Cast: Fred MacMurray, Phil Carey, Kim Novak
BW-88 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Kim Novak's first credited screen role. She was an uncredited model on a staircase in The French Line (1953).


4:15 AM -- 5 Against the House (1955)
Four college buddies plot to rob a Reno casino.
Dir: Phil Karlson
Cast: Guy Madison, Kim Novak, Brian Keith
BW-83 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

Jo Ann Greer sang "Life of the Party" for Kim Novak and two years later dubbed her co-star, Rita Hayworth, in "Pal Joey."


5:40 AM -- I Won't Play (1944)
In this short film, a Marine boasts his skill as an entertainer, much to the disbelief of his friends.
Dir: Crane Wilbur
Cast: William Benedict, Warren Douglas, William Haade
BW-18 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Two-reel -- Gordon Hollingshead

Based on an original story by Lawrence Schwab.