TCM Schedule for Thursday, January 22, 2014 -- What's On Tonight - SAG Lifetime Achievement Honoree

[Staph]

This evening, TCM is honoring the 2015 Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Debbie Reynolds. You can see her receive her award on Sunday, January 25, on both TBS and TNT. Enjoy!


6:45 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,

Cary Grant was also considered to play the leading part, but in 1932 he was still too young for the part. Ernst Lubitsch wanted the touch of experience in the actor face, so he chose the 42-year-old Herbert Marshall and 33-year-old Kay Francis to supply that look.


8:15 AM -- They Call It Sin (1932)
An innocent young chorus girl fights the advances of her lecherous producer.
Dir: Thornton Freeland
Cast: Loretta Young, George Brent, Una Merkel
BW-69 mins, CC,

Early in the film, Loretta Young's character refers to herself as "just a farmer's daughter." Fifteen years later, Miss Young won an Oscar for "The Farmer's Daughter."


9:30 AM -- She Done Him Wrong (1933)
A saloon singer fights off smugglers, an escaped con and a Salvation Army officer out to reform her.
Dir: Lowell Sherman
Cast: Mae West, Cary Grant, Owen Moore
BW-65 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

Mae West was signed by Paramount in 1931 to make a film adaptation of her stage success 'Diamond Lil'. They then spent the next two years trying to figure out a way of getting the material past the censors. The battle over 'Diamond Lil' led to the head of the Production Board, James Wingate, quitting and being replaced by the much more hardline Joseph Breen who was prompted to set up a fairly stringent and moral Production Code. In the meantime, 'Diamond Lil' transformed into the slightly watered down "She Done Him Wrong" and was one of the last films to be made before the introduction of the Production Code.


10:45 AM -- Today We Live (1933)
An aristocratic English girl's tangled love life creates havoc during World War I.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Robert Young
BW-113 mins, CC,

Variety reported in its review that director Howard Hawks used footage from the movie Hell's Angels (1930) for the big bomber expedition sequence, the main dogfight, and the head-on collision of two airplanes.


12:45 PM -- Goodbye Again (1933)
An author's reunion with an old flame angers the secretary who loves him.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Genevieve Tobin
BW-66 mins,

The original play "Goodbye Again" by Allan Scott and George Haight opened in New York at the Theatre Masque on 28 December 1928 and ran for 216 performances.


2:00 PM -- This Man is Mine (1934)
A woman fights to keep her husband from cheating.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Irene Dunne, Constance Cummings, Ralph Bellamy
BW-76 mins,

This film was on a "to-be-boycotted" list, compiled by the Catholic Church in Detroit, Michigan.


3:17 PM -- The Hollywood You Never See (1934)
This promotional short film offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Cleopatra" (1934).
Dir: Herbert Moulton
BW-10 mins,


3:30 PM -- No More Ladies (1935)
A society girl tries to reform her playboy husband by making him jealous.
Dir: Edward H. Griffith
Cast: Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Charlie Ruggles
BW-81 mins, CC,

Joan Crawford loaned her make-up man, hairdresser and an Adrian gown to Gail Patrick for her screen test. When Patrick got the role and tried to thank Crawford, she wouldn't hear of it, saying only, "People helped me when I started out."


5:00 PM -- Man of the Moment (1935)
A fortune-hunter saves a young woman from drowning, risking his marriage to an heiress.
Dir: Monty Banks
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Margaret Lockwood,
BW-81 mins,

Adapted from the story Water Nymph by Yves Mirande.


6:30 PM -- Fools for Scandal (1938)
A Hollywood star falls for a broken down aristocrat.
Dir: Mervyn Le Roy
Cast: Carole Lombard, Fernand Gravet, Ralph Bellamy
BW-80 mins, CC,

Of the songs written for this film by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, only one would be sung on screen, "There's a Boy in Harlem," vocalized by Jeni Le Gon and The Three Brown Sisters, accompanied by Les Hite and His Orchestra. "Food for Scandal" (the working title of this feature) served as rhyming patter between Carole Lombard and Fernand Gravey (plus some whistling done by Mr. Gravey alone). Heard in the picture as background music, "How Can You Forget?" was revived in 1958, complete with a Benny Goodman arrangement, for a Broadway play, "The World of Suzie Wong." Three tunes submitted by Rodgers and Hart for the feature were discarded: "Let's Sing About Nothing," "Love Knows Best" and "Once I Was Young." According to Richard Rodgers in "Musical Stages: An Autobiography," published in 1975, the songwriters became aware of the fate of their score when they went to see the picture.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SAG LIFE ACHIEVEMENT HONOREE



8:00 PM -- Singin' In The Rain (1952)
A silent-screen swashbuckler finds love while trying to adjust to the coming of sound.
Dir: Gene Kelly
Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds
C-103 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jean Hagen, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Lennie Hayton

In the "Would You" number, Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) is dubbing the voice of Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) because Lina's voice is shrill and screechy. However, it's not Reynolds who is really speaking, it's Jean Hagen herself, who actually had a beautiful deep, rich voice. So you have Jean Hagen dubbing Debbie Reynolds dubbing Jean Hagen. And when Debbie is supposedly dubbing Jean's singing of "Would You", the voice you hear singing actually belongs to Betty Noyes, who had a much richer singing voice than Debbie.


10:00 PM -- The Catered Affair (1956)
A working-class mother fights to give her daughter a big wedding whether the girl wants it or not.
Dir: Richard Brooks
Cast: Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds
BW-94 mins, CC,

The church where the wedding is held is the Church of St. Augustine, which was located in the Bronx on Franklin Ave. between East 167th and 168th St. The church was built in 1894. By 2009, St. Augustine's had fallen into such a state of disrepair that the building could no longer be used. With membership in the parish having dwindled to around 300, St. Augustine's was closed in 2011. The parish church, rectory and convent were demolished in 2013 to make way for subsidized housing.


11:45 PM -- The Mating Game (1959)
A tax agent falls for a farm girl whose father he's investigating.
Dir: George Marshall
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Tony Randall, Paul Douglas
C-97 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This was Paul Douglas' last film. He died in 1959 of a heart attack, the same year it was made. He was born in 1907, making him 52 when he made this film. He had been offered a starring role in Billy Wilder's 1960 comedy, The Apartment, but the role was given to Fred McMurray after Paul Douglas passed away.


1:30 AM -- The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)
Musical biography of the backwoods girl who struck it rich in Colorado and survived the Titanic.
Dir: Charles Walters
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell, Ed Begley
C-129 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Debbie Reynolds, Best Cinematography, Color -- Daniel L. Fapp, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- George W. Davis, E. Preston Ames, Henry Grace and Hugh Hunt, Best Costume Design, Color -- Morton Haack, Best Sound -- Franklin Milton (M-G-M SSD), and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Robert Armbruster, Leo Arnaud, Jack Elliott, Jack Hayes, Calvin Jackson and Leo Shuken

As with most Hollywood biopics, there are differences with the real story, most notably in that Margaret (Molly) and J.J. never reconciled. They separated in 1909 although they remained good friends who cared deeply for each other until his passing. She was also not quite the social outcast as depicted in the film. Other aspects of her life that were missing from the movie: they had two children, a son and daughter. Margaret Brown was a passionate social crusader and philanthropist; she was a champion of women's rights, including education and getting the vote. She also championed worker's rights, historic preservation, education and literacy, and child welfare, including being instrumental in founding the modern juvenile court system. After the sinking of the Titanic she was noted for her efforts in having the heroism of the men aboard the ship commemorated. After WWI she was also a leader in helping rebuild France and aiding wounded soldiers, and received the French Legion of Honor. She also ran twice for the U.S. Senate. She died in 1932.


3:45 AM -- Mary, Mary (1963)
A man on the verge of divorce is shocked by wife's glamorous makeover.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Barry Nelson, Michael Rennie
BW-126 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The original Broadway production of "Mary, Mary" by Jean Kerr opened at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York on March 8, 1961 and ran for 1572 performances. This is one of the few instances when a movie was released while the Broadway play was still running.