TCM Schedule for Friday, February 6, 2015 -- 31 Days of Oscar - 1939

[Staph]

Today's daytime schedule features coming of age stories, and tonight features arguably the best year ever in film production, 1939. TCM is showing the 1939 winners and nominees for Best Picture, excepting Dark Victory, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Love Affair (watch it on Tuesday, March 3), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (watch it on Thursday, February 26), Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men (watch it on Monday, February 23), Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, and Wuthering Heights. What an amazing year! Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Captains Courageous (1937)
A spoiled rich boy is lost at sea and rescued by a fishing boat, where hard work and responsibility help him become a man.
Dir: Victor Fleming
Cast: Freddie Bartholomew, Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore
BW-117 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Marc Connelly, John Lee Mahin and Dale Van Every, Best Film Editing -- Elmo Veron, and Best Picture

This was one of the final films Lionel Barrymore made before his degenerative arthritis crippled him. The following year, he was hobbling around on crutches in Frank Capra's You Can't Take It With You (1938); after that, he was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.


8:00 AM -- Little Women (1949)
The four daughters of a New England family fight for happiness during and after the Civil War.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien
C-122 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis and Jack D. Moore

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert H. Planck and Charles Edgar Schoenbaum

The basket that Margaret O'Brien carries around in this movie is the same basket that her Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) co-star Judy Garland carried in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Both Oz and Little Women were produced by Mervyn LeRoy.


10:02 AM -- So You Think You're Not Guilty (1950)
In this comedic short, a simple traffic violation turns into a 10-year jail sentence for Joe McDoakes. Vitaphone Release 1876A.
Dir: Richard Bare
Cast: Douglas Fowley, Frank Marlowe, Ted Stanhope
BW-11 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel -- Gordon Hollingshead

A rare entry in the Joe McDoakes series because there is no narrator.


10:15 AM -- My Life As A Dog (1986)
A young boy's life changes the summer he moves in with relatives while his sick mother tries to recover.
Dir: Lasse Hallström
Cast: Anton Glanzelius, Anki Lidén, Manfred Serner
C-101 mins,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Lasse Hallström, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Lasse Hallström, Reidar Jönsson, Brasse Brännström and Per Berglund

Theatrical film debut of Anton Glanzelius.


12:00 PM -- The 400 Blows (1959)
A 12-year-old boy turns to crime to escape family problems.
Dir: François Truffaut
Cast: Jean-Pierre Leaud, Guy Decomble, Claire Maurier
BW-100 mins, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- François Truffaut and Marcel Moussy

The title of the film comes from the French idiom "faire les quatre cents coups", meaning "to raise hell".


1:45 PM -- Splendor In The Grass (1961)
Sexual repression drives a small-town Kansas girl mad during the roaring twenties.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Pat Hingle
C-124 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- William Inge

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Natalie Wood

Jane Fonda wrote in her autobiography that she tested for the role of Deanie. When Elia Kazan asked her if she was ambitious, she replied "no" (even though she was) because "good girls aren't supposed to be ambitious." Fonda writes that she believes this was the reason for her not getting the role.


4:00 PM -- Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
An alienated teenager tries to handle life's troubles and an apron-wearing dad.
Dir: Nicholas Ray
Cast: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sal Mineo, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Natalie Wood, and Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Nicholas Ray

When the scenes were shot for the chickie run aftermath when the teenagers ran to the edge of the cliff to look down; they witnessed what looked like the sun rising and exploding. Steffi Sidney, who played Mil, would later comment that it looked like an atomic bomb went off, and it was. What they witnessed was "Zucchini", the 14th and final fission bomb (weighing 28 kilotons) launched for Operation Teapot.


6:00 PM -- The Reivers (1969)
A young man comes of age when he stows away in his grandfather's stolen car.
Dir: Mark Rydell
Cast: Steve McQueen, Sharon Farrell, Will Geer
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Rupert Crosse, and Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- John Williams

The Winton Flyer was not a real automobile. It was created from scratch for this movie by Kenneth Howard, aka Von Dutch. The car was designed to resemble a typical vehicle from 1904, but built to withstand the rigors of filming. Steve McQueen called the car "the real star of the picture", and took possession of it after filming ended. It remained in his collection until his death in 1980. It can be seen in the Peterson Automotive Museum In Los Angeles.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR - 1939



8:00 PM -- Wuthering Heights (1939)
A married noblewoman fights her lifelong attraction to a charismatic gypsy.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven
BW-104 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Gregg Toland

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Laurence Olivier, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Geraldine Fitzgerald, Best Director -- William Wyler, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, Best Art Direction -- James Basevi, Best Music, Original Score -- Alfred Newman, and Best Picture

Laurence Olivier found himself becoming increasingly annoyed with William Wyler's exhausting style of film-making. After yet another take, he is said to have exclaimed, "For God's sake, I did it sitting down. I did it with a smile. I did it with a smirk. I did it scratching my ear. I did it with my back to the camera. How do you want me to do it?" Wyler's retort was, "I want it better." However, Olivier later said these multiple takes helped him as a succeed as a film actor


10:00 PM -- Gone With the Wind (1939)
Classic tale of Scarlett O'Hara's battle to save her beloved Tara and find love during the Civil War.
Dir: Victor Fleming
Cast: Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil, Vivien Leigh
C-233 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Vivien Leigh, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Hattie McDaniel (Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to be nominated for and win an Oscar.), Best Director -- Victor Fleming, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Sidney Howard (Posthumously. Sidney Howard became the first posthumous Oscar nominee and winner.), Best Cinematography, Color -- Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan, Best Art Direction -- Lyle R. Wheeler, Best Film Editing -- Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom, and Best Picture

Won a Technical Achievement Award for R.D. Musgrave for pioneering in the use of coordinated equipment in the production Gone with the Wind.

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Clark Gable, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Olivia de Havilland, Best Sound, Recording -- Thomas T. Moulton (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), Best Effects, Special Effects -- Jack Cosgrove (photographic), Fred Albin (sound) and Arthur Johns (sound), and Best Music, Original Score -- Max Steiner

The fact that Hattie McDaniel would be unable to attend the premiere in racially segregated Atlanta annoyed Clark Gable so much that he threatened to boycott the premiere unless she could attend. He later relented when she convinced him to go.


2:00 AM -- The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)
The Three Musketeers rescue the king's unjustly imprisoned twin.
Dir: James Whale
Cast: Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, Warren William
BW-112 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Score -- Lud Gluskin and Lucien Moraweck

Peter Cushing did double duty on this film. In additional to his own role, he would feed Louis Hayward the lines for the split screen shots. Director James Whale initially cast him only to play opposite Hayward in the sequences where both twins appear together, but was impressed enough with the newcomer that he offered Cushing a small part on horseback. This was Peter Cushing's film debut, and he had the unique opportunity to view his own rushes and improve his own performance, especially since none of it would be used in the finished feature. As Second Officer, he can be seen 17 minutes in, with two lines of dialogue ("I've been here before&quot .


4:00 AM -- Pride And Prejudice (1940)
Jane Austen's comic classic about five sisters out to nab husbands in 19th-century England.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Mary Boland
BW-118 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse

According to Edward Maeder, Adrian, the costume designer, asked director Robert Z. Leonard to place the film in a later time period than that of the novel so that the costumes might be more opulent than those of Jane Austen's time.