TCM Schedule for Saturday, August 16, 2014 -- Summer Under The Stars - Herbert Marshall

[Staph]

Today's Vedette de l'été is Hebert Marshall, born Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall on May 23, 1890, in London, England. He had trained to become a certified accountant, but his interest turned to the stage. He lost a leg while serving in World War I, he was rehabilitated with a wooden leg. This did not stop him from making good his decision to make the stage as his vocation. He used a very deliberate square-shouldered and guided walk - largely unnoticeable - to cover up his disability. He spent 20 years in distinguished stage work in London before films. He almost made the transition from stage directly to sound movies except for one silent film, Mumsie (1927), produced in Great Britain. His wonderful mellow, baritone British accent rolled out with a minimum of mouth movement and a nonchalant ease that stood out as unique. His rather blasé demeanor could take on various nuances - without overt emotion - to fit any role he played, whether sophisticated comedy or drama - and the accent fit just as well. He filled the range from romantic lead, with several sympathetic strangers thrown in, to dignified military officer to doctor to various degrees of villainy - his unemotional delivery meshing with the cold, impassive criminal character. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Riptide (1934)
A chorus girl weds a British lord then falls for an old flame.
Dir: Edmund Goulding
Cast: Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, Herbert Marshall
BW-92 mins,

Snow was trucked in from the Sierra Mountains for use in the Alpine scene.


7:30 AM -- When Ladies Meet (1941)
A female novelist doesn't realize her new friend is the wife whose husband she's trying to steal.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Greer Garson
BW-105 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Randall Duell and Edwin B. Willis

Remake of a 1933 film starring Ann Harding and Myrna Loy.


9:30 AM -- Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble (1944)
A college boy has to cope with a pair of beautiful twins.
Dir: George B. Seitz
Cast: Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Fay Holden
BW-107 mins, CC,

MGM originally intended to continue the Hardy family pictures without Mickey Rooney, who was overseas in the Army. The New York Times reported in February 1945 that author Booth Tarkington had been hired by MGM to write a film story to feature Lewis Stone, Fay Holden and Sara Haden in their usual roles. The film was never made and Mickey Rooney was back by the time the next Hardy family film went before the cameras.


11:30 AM -- Trouble in Paradise (1932)
A love triangle ignites trouble between two jewel theives and their intended victim.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall
BW-82 mins, CC,

The scenes in which Herbert Marshall is running up and down the stairs at Madame Colet's were done with a double who is only seen from the rear. Mr. Marshall lost a leg in WWI and although it was almost impossible to notice that he used a prosthesis, he could not perform any action that called for physical agility.


1:00 PM -- The Moon and Sixpence (1942)
Loosely inspired by the life of Gauguin, a man abandons his middle-classed life to start painting.
Dir: Albert Lewin
Cast: George Sanders, Herbert Marshall, Doris Dudley
C-89 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Dimitri Tiomkin

The rights to this film were originally bought by RKO in 1932 as a vehicle for John Barrymore. It was remade as Somerset Maugham TV Theatre: The Moon and Sixpence (1951) (TV Episode) with Lee J. Cobb in the main role, The Moon and Sixpence (1959) (TV Movie) starring Laurence Olivier, and BBC Play of the Month: The Moon and Sixpence (1967) (TV Episode) with Charles Gray.


2:30 PM -- The Little Foxes (1941)
An ambitious woman takes on her corrupt brothers and honest husband in her drive for wealth.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright
BW-116 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Bette Davis, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Patricia Collinge, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Teresa Wright, Best Director -- William Wyler, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Lillian Hellman, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Stephen Goosson and Howard Bristol, Best Film Editing -- Daniel Mandell, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Meredith Willson, and Best Picture

Bette Davis and William Wyler fought a great deal during filming. Disagreements ranged from Davis's interpretation of the character (Wyler thought she should be more sympathetic) to the appearance of the house (Davis thought it was far too opulent for a family struggling financially), to her appearance (Wyler thought her white makeup made her look like a Kabuki performer.) Davis eventually walked out of production, but returned when she heard rumors she was going to be replaced by Katharine Hepburn or Miriam Hopkins.


4:30 PM -- The Secret Garden (1949)
An orphaned girl changes the lives of those she encounters at a remote estate.
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox
Cast: Margaret O'Brien, Herbert Marshall, Dean Stockwell
C-92 mins, CC,

There are several moments when Mary (Margaret O'Brien) refers to her servant in India. When watching the film, one hears the word "servant," but Mary's mouth is clearly forming the word "Aya" as in other versions of The Secret Garden.


6:15 PM -- The Underworld Story (1950)
A corrupt newspaperman, blacklisted from his big-city paper, becomes involved with a murder case for a small town paper.
Dir: Cyril Endfield
Cast: Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Gale Storm
BW-91 mins,

Based on a story by Craig Rice.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: HERBERT MARSHALL



8:00 PM -- Foreign Correspondent (1940)
An American reporter covering the war in Europe gets mixed up in the assassination of a Dutch diplomat.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall
BW-120 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Albert Bassermann, Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Charles Bennett and Joan Harrison. Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Rudolph Maté, Best Art Direction, Black-and-White -- Alexander Golitzen, Best Effects, Special Effects -- Paul Eagler (photographic) and Thomas T. Moulton (sound), and Best Picture

Shooting was completed on May 29, 1940, after which Alfred Hitchcock made a visit to England. He returned on July 3 with the word that the Germans were expected to start bombing at any time. Ben Hecht was hurriedly called in and wrote the tacked-on final scene set at a London radio station. It was filmed on July 5, and the real-life bombing started on July 10, 1940.


10:15 PM -- Murder! (1930)
A juror who had voted to convict a murder suspect tries to prove someone else did it before the execution date.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Herbert Marshall, Nora Baring, Miles Mander
BW-100 mins, CC,

A German version called Mary (1931) was filmed at the same time using German actors, but the same sets.


12:00 AM -- The Letter (1940)
A woman claims to have killed in self-defense, until a blackmailer turns up with incriminating evidence.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson
BW-95 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Bette Davis, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- James Stephenson, Best Director -- William Wyler, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Tony Gaudio, Best Film Editing -- Warren Low, Best Music, Original Score -- Max Steiner, and Best Picture

Jack L. Warner originally asked William Wyler to test James Stephenson for the role of the lawyer. Wyler was surprised at how suited Stephenson was for the part and then was astonished when Warner balked at casting him, worrying about the stock player's lack of name recognition. Wyler insisted on keeping him, putting him in the odd position of having to fight to cast an actor that Warner had originally suggested.


1:45 AM -- The Letter (1929)
A planter's wife shoots a neighbor, but tells conflicting stories of what happened.
Dir: Jean De Limur
Cast: Jeanne Eagels, O. P. Heggie, Reginald Owen
BW-60 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jeanne Eagels (No official nominees had been announced this year.)

First American film of Herbert Marshall, who plays Leslie Crosbie's murdered lover, Geoffrey Hammond. In the 1940 remake starring Bette Davis, he plays her husband, Robert Crosbie. Also, Herbert Marshall played author W. Somerset Maugham in The Razor's Edge (1946). Additionally, Marshall's daughter, Sarah Marshall, plays Mrs. Joyce in the 1982 made-for-television version of The Letter (1982).


3:00 AM -- High Wall (1947)
Psychiatry provides the key to proving a veteran flyer innocent of his wife's murder.
Dir: Curtis Bernhardt
Cast: Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, Herbert Marshall
BW-99 mins, CC,

Based on a play by Alan R. Clark and Bradbury Foote.


4:45 AM -- Make Way for a Lady (1936)
A widower's daughter plays matchmaker for her father.
Dir: David Burton
Cast: Herbert Marshall, Anne Shirley, Gertrude Michael
BW-65 mins,

Based on the novel Daddy and I by Elizabeth Jordan.

[CBHagman]

1. The stories you turn up!

Herbert Marshall and Claude Rains both came out of the First World War with handicaps (Rains was left almost blind in one eye due to poison gas attack), yet none of us would have known it.

[Staph]

2. I steal the stories!

Most of them come from IMDB and Wikipedia. I'm just fascinated by the world of movies, and love to see what happened behind the scenes.

[CBHagman]

3. I know, but in these days of short attention spans...

...I appreciate that you are motivated to collect the material and put it out there. That's part of the reason TCM is such a treasure. Not only do they include film rarities in their schedule but they take the time to explore background and themes.