TCM Schedule for Friday, October 17, 2014 -- Friday Night Spotlight - Africa

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating Montgomery Clift, born on October 17, 1920, in Omaha, Nebraska. Then in prime time, it's back to Africa. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- The Search (1948)
An American soldier in post-war Europe becomes attached to a homeless child.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Aline MacMahon, Wendell Corey
BW-104 mins, CC,

Won a Juvenile Oscar Award for Ivan Jandl for the outstanding juvenile performance of 1948 in The Search.

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Richard Schweizer and David Wechsler

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Montgomery Clift, Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Richard Schweizer and David Wechsler

Montgomery Clift's film debut; he first appears 36 minutes into the movie.


8:00 AM -- The Big Lift (1950)
Two Air Force sergeants find love while flying the Berlin Airlift.
Dir: George Seaton
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Paul Douglas, Cornell Borchers
BW-118 mins,

The film was made in occupied Germany. All scenes were photographed in the real locations associated with the story, including episodes in the American, French, British and Russian sectors of Berlin. With the exception of Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas, all military personnel in the film were actual members of the US military on duty in Germany at the time.


10:00 AM -- I Confess (1953)
A priest suspected of murder can only clear himself by violating the sanctity of the confessional.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden
BW-95 mins, CC,

Montgomery Clift drank during the shooting and his eyes appear glazed during the ferry scene. Alfred Hitchcock was a very non-confrontational director and delegated an assistant director and Karl Malden to talk to the actor about it.


11:45 AM -- Raintree County (1957)
In this sumptuous Civil War story, a willful southern belle goes mad out of fear that she may be part black.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Marie Saint
C-173 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Elizabeth Taylor, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- William A. Horning, Urie McCleary, Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt, Best Costume Design -- Walter Plunkett, and Best Music, Scoring -- Johnny Green

On May 12, 1956, during the shooting of this film, Montgomery Clift was involved in a serious car accident on his way back home from a party at the house of Elizabeth Taylor. His friend Kevin McCarthy witnessed the accident from his car, drove back and informed Taylor and her then husband Michael Wilding, who immediately drove to the location together with Rock Hudson. Taylor entered the car through the back door, crawled to the front seat and removed the two front teeth from Clift's throat that threatened to choke him. Hudson finally managed to pull him out of the wreck and together they protected him from being photographed until the ambulance arrived. This was necessary because soon after the emergency call had come in to the local police station, reporters were already on their way and arrived at the scene when Clift was still in the car. The accident was well publicized. After nine weeks of recovery and with plastic surgery, Clift returned to the movie set and finished the film, but with considerable difficulties. His dashing looks, though, were gone forever. If you notice in some scenes, his nose and chin look different, and the left side of his face is more or less immobile.


2:45 PM -- The Young Lions (1958)
A Jewish soldier faces anti-Semitism when he enlists to fight World War II.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin
BW-167 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph MacDonald, Best Sound -- Carlton W. Faulkner (20th Century-Fox SSD), and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Hugo Friedhofer

Dean Martin was a close friend of Montgomery Clift. Martin was always grateful for the help Clift had given him while filming The Young Lions (1958) - Martin's first major dramatic role - and he would accompany him to parties after the rest of Hollywood had disowned him due to his increasing addictions to drugs and alcohol.


5:45 PM -- The Defector (1966)
A shady CIA agent recruits an American physicist to help a Russian scientist defect.
Dir: Raoul Lévy
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Hardy Kruger, Macha Méril
C-100 mins, Letterbox Format

Montgomery Clift passed away less than three months after this film was completed.


7:30 PM -- MGM Parade Show #32 (1955)
Walter Pidgeon introduces clips from "The Swan" and Part One of "The Pirate" featuring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly.
BW-26 mins,





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



8:00 PM -- King Solomon's Mines (1950)
A spirited widow hires a daredevil jungle scout to find a lost treasure in diamonds.
Dir: Compton Bennett
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger, Richard Carlson
C-103 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert Surtees, and Best Film Editing -- Ralph E. Winters and Conrad A. Nervig

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

The scene in which Deborah Kerr cuts her own hair and then cuts to her sunning with a perfectly coiffed hairstyle got such a big laugh at the initial screenings of the film that producers debated removing the scene. However, they couldn't figure out another way to explain Kerr's change of hairstyle, so they kept the improbable scenes intact.


10:00 PM -- Trader Horn (1931)
An African trader and a white jungle goddess join forces against a hostile tribe.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke II
Cast: Harry Carey, Edwina Booth, Duncan Renaldo
BW-122 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

Halfway through filming, MGM sent a sound crew to Africa because of the public's desire for all-talking sound pictures. However, the sound quality was so poor almost all the dialogue sequences were reshot at MGM's Culver City Studio. African natives Mutia Omoolu and Riano Tindama were brought back to Hollywood for some additional filming. When this activity caused rumors to circulate that the entire production was filmed on the back lot, MGM scrapped much of the new footage, including scenes with Marjorie Rambeau, who was replaced by Olive Carey as Edith Trent.


12:15 AM -- Mountains of the Moon (1990)
Two noted British explorers become rivals in the quest to find the source of the Nile.
Dir: Bob Rafelson
Cast: Patrick Bergin, Iain Glen, Fiona Shaw
C-136 mins, Letterbox Format

In an scene set in 1854, Isabel is looking at a copy of "The Perfumed Garden" translated by Burton. Burton did not publish this translation until 1886.


2:45 AM -- The Macomber Affair (1947)
A wealthy playboy and his wife hire a great white hunter to guide them to the African hunting grounds.
Dir: Zoltan Korda
Cast: Gregory Peck, Joan Bennett, Robert Preston
BW-89 mins, CC,

For the African scenes, Reginald Denny invented the first radio-controlled model airplane and, with Osmond Borradaile, put a camera on board in 1946.


4:30 AM -- Mogambo (1953)
In this remake of Red Dust, an African hunter is torn between a lusty showgirl and a married woman.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly
C-116 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ava Gardner, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Grace Kelly

Donald Sinden (and all male members of the crew who removed their shirts) had to shave any hair from their chests daily, as Clark Gable (who did not have a hairy chest) thought it an affront to his 'manliness'.