TCM Schedule for Friday, October 10, 2014 -- Friday Night Spotlight - Africa

[Staph]

This morning, TCM is featuring films directed by John Francis Dillon, born in New York City on July 13, 1884 (his brother, Robert Dillon, also entered the film business, becoming a writer and director). He began his film career in 1913 as an actor in two-reel Keystone comedies, billed as "Jack Dillon". It wasn't long before he was also directing as well as acting in two-reelers, for a variety of studios. He became better known as a director than as an actor, however, and had a string of successes in the silent era--e.g., Flaming Youth (1923), The Perfect Flapper (1924), We Moderns (1925))--and his directorial career lasted into the 1930s, although with the coming of sound he was relegated to lower-budget comedies and "B" pictures. His best known picture is probably Call Her Savage (1932), which was silent-screen sexpot Clara Bow's "comeback" film after a string of professional failures and personal disasters. The film was well received and got Bow very good reviews, but it couldn't save her career and she left films the next year.

In the afternoon, the films feature Sally Blane, older sister of Loretta Young, and in prime time, the Friday Night Spotlight on Africa continues. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- One Night at Susie's (1930)
A boarding house keeper's gangster tenants step in to help when her son is framed for murder.
Dir: John Francis Dillon
Cast: Billie Dove, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Helen Ware
BW-62 mins,

In a separately filmed trailer, Vitaphone production reel #4032, Billie Dove speaks to the audience about the picture.


7:20 AM -- Envy (1930)
In this short film, two bored couples think they can find happiness if they exchange spouses for the evening. Vitaphone Release 1125.
Dir: Arthur Hurley
Cast: Madge Evans, Eric Dressler, Romney Brent
BW-9 mins,


7:30 AM -- Sally (1930)
A waitress dreams of becoming a Broadway star.
Dir: John Francis Dillon
Cast: Marilyn Miller, Alexander Gray, Joe E. Brown
C-102 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction -- Jack Okey

riginally presented in 100% 2-color Technicolor, today the complete film survives only in black and white, with a singular musical number, "Wild Rose," in color.


9:15 AM -- Spring Is Here (1930)
A young woman is torn between the nice guy her father likes and the bad boy he doesn't.
Dir: John Francis Dillon
Cast: Lawrence Gray, Alexander Gray, Bernice Claire
BW-69 mins,

Ford Sterling and Louise Fazenda, who played heroine Bernice Claire's parents, were both veterans of Mack Sennett's Keystone studios in the silent era.


10:30 AM -- The Reckless Hour (1931)
A young innocent almost ruins her life for the love of an unfeeling cad.
Dir: John Francis Dillon
Cast: Dorothy Mackaill, Conrad Nagel, H. B. Warner
BW-71 mins,

The play, "Ambush," opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 10 October 1921 and had 90 performances. The opening night cast included Florence Eldridge as Margaret and Frank Reicher as Walter, played by Dorothy Kackaill and H. B. Warner in this film


11:45 AM -- Half-Marriage (1929)
A society girl marries a struggling architect in secret.
Dir: William J. Cowen
Cast: Olive Borden, Morgan Farley, Ken Murray
BW-69 mins,

Watch for gossip columnist Hedda Hopper as Judy's mother.


1:00 PM -- Tanned Legs (1929)
A husband and wife chase younger lovers while their daughter takes up with a crook.
Dir: Marshall Neilan
Cast: June Clyde, Arthur Lake, Sally Blane
BW-66 mins,

In nine years, Arthur Lake would begin to play the role he is most remembered for today - Dagwood Bumstead, in the Blondie series of movies, radio serials and television series.


2:15 PM -- The Very Idea (1929)
A eugenics expert uses science to help his sister and her husband have a child.
Dir: Richard Rosson
Cast: Sally Blane, Jeanne De Bard, Allen Kearns
BW-65 mins,

Based on the play by William LeBaron. Astor Theatre: 9 Aug 1917- Aug 1917 (closing date unknown/15 performances). Cast: Mabel Allan, Richard Bennett, William Probert Carleton, Ruth Collins, Josephine Drake, Dorothy Mackaye, Florence Oakley, Purnell Pratt (as "George Green&quot , Ernest Truex (as "Gilbert Goodhue&quot . Produced by Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson and L. Lawrence Weber.


3:30 PM -- The Silver Streak (1935)
On its inaugural run, a high-speed train has to race a polio victim to an iron lung.
Dir: Tommy Atkins
Cast: Sally Blane, Charles Starrett, William Farnum
BW-72 mins,

The train in the film was the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy RR's "Pioneer Zephyr" passenger train. After the train was retired from service in 1960 it was donated to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago where it is still on display. By the way, there is no connection to the Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor Silver Streak (1976).


5:00 PM -- A Bullet for Joey (1955)
A deported gangster sneaks into Canada to kidnap a scientist for the Reds.
Dir: Lewis Allen
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, George Raft, Audrey Totter
BW-87 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Based on a story by James Benson Nablo.


6:30 PM -- Illegal (1955)
A DA falls apart when his machinations send an innocent man to the chair.
Dir: Lewis Allen
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Nina Foch, Hugh Marlowe
BW-88 mins, Letterbox Format

Frank Garland's impressive collection of Impressionist art actually was loaned to the film by collector Edward G. Robinson. Included are works by Gaugin, Degas, Duran, and Robinson's wife, Gladys Lloyd.



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



8:00 PM -- Khartoum (1966)
Epic story of the British general who fell to the Arabs in 1885.
Dir: Basil Dearden
Cast: Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier, Richard Johnson
C-136 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Robert Ardrey

The film was criticized for neglecting to mention the many very good reasons why Prime Minister Gladstone was reluctant to send an army into the Sudan.


10:15 PM -- Something Of Value (1957)
Childhood friends end up on opposite sides of a bloody African uprising.
Dir: Richard Brooks
Cast: Rock Hudson, Dana Wynter, Wendy Hiller
BW-113 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Although shooting animals and getting out of the vehicle were forbidden in the Nairobi National Park, Rock Hudson was allowed out of the Land Rover to aim his gun at a zebra. The actual shooting of a zebra was filmed by the second unit in the Nanyuki area about 100 miles away.


12:15 AM -- The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Algiers revolts against the French Foreign Legion.
Dir: Gillo Pontecorvo
Cast: Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Brahim Haggiag
BW-121 mins, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Gillo Pontecorvo, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Franco Solinas and Gillo Pontecorvo

In 2003, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon screened this film for officers and civilian experts who were discussing the challenges faced by the US military forces in Iraq. The flier inviting guests to the screening read: "How to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas".


2:30 AM -- Zulu Dawn (1979)
The British military lead an ill-advised war against the Zulu nation.
Dir: Douglas Hickox
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Peter O'Toole, Simon Ward
C-117 mins, Letterbox Format

Whereas the battle depicted in the earlier Zulu (1964) was an astounding success for the British, the Battle of Islandlhwana shown in this movie was a major disaster. About 1500 British soldiers were killed by an army of 25,000 Zulus--meaning that the British were outnumbered by a factor of 16:1.


4:30 AM -- Sanders of the River (1935)
A British District Officer in Nigeria fights against gun-runners and slavers with the aid of a loyal native chief.
Dir: Zoltan Korda
Cast: Paul Robeson, Leslie Banks, Nina Mae McKinney
BW-88 mins, CC,

Jomo Kenyatta, who was President of Kenya from 1963 to 1978, had a bit part in this movie as a tribal chief.