TCM Schedule for Saturday, June 13, 2015 -- The Essentials: Robert Vaughn

[Staph]

Tonight's Essentials features a trio of films starring the devilishly handsome Robert Vaughn. Interesting fact -- The California Democratic Party originally wanted him to challenge Ronald Reagan for Governor. Even though Vaughn is a liberal Democrat, and disliked Reagan, he refused and instead stood behind Governor Brown, who lost the election to Reagan. Another possible candidate considered was Gregory Peck. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- The Sea Hawk (1940)
A British buccaneer holds the Spanish fleet at bay with the covert approval of Elizabeth I.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains
BW-128 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White -- Anton Grot, Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Effects, Special Effects -- Byron Haskin (photographic) and Nathan Levinson (sound), and Best Music, Score -- Erich Wolfgang Korngold

The beautifully crafted costumes were made for an Errol Flynn film from the previous year, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939). Reusing them saved Warner Bros. a huge amount of money, since the costumes were heavily researched, meticulously created and very expensive.


8:10 AM -- Seventh Column (1943)
This short film shows how carelessness and safety hazards can harm the war effort.
Dir: Will Jason
Cast: Dave O'Brien,
BW-9 mins,


8:30 AM -- Satellite in the Sky (1956)
Astronauts are trapped on a space station with a ticking bomb.
Dir: Paul Dickson
Cast: Kieron Moore, Lois Maxwell, Donald Wolfit
C-84 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The feisty female reporter is played by Lois Maxwell, best known as Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films. Her macho male lead is Kieron Moore who played the bully in a small Irish town in Darby O'Gill and the Little People.


10:00 AM -- Batman: The Executioner Strikes (1943)
Episode 14 of the Batman serial.
BW-16 mins,


10:30 AM -- African Treasure (1952)
Bomba the Jungle Boy takes on diamond smugglers.
Dir: Ford Beebe
Cast: Johnny Sheffield, Laurette Luez, Martin Garralaga
C-70 mins,

Seventh of the twelve Bomba the Jungle Boy films.


11:49 AM -- Jungle Safari (1950)
This promotional short for "King Solomon's Mines" (1950) focuses on the challenges of on-location filming in the African wilderness.
C-10 mins,


12:00 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.


2:00 PM -- The Sand Pebbles (1966)
A naval engineer stationed in 1926 China defies local authorities to rescue a group of missionaries.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna
C-179 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Steve McQueen, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Mako, Best Cinematography, Color -- Joseph MacDonald, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Boris Leven, Walter M. Scott, John Sturtevant and William Kiernan, Best Sound -- James Corcoran (20th Century-Fox SSD), Best Film Editing -- William Reynolds, Best Music, Original Music Score -- Jerry Goldsmith, and Best Picture

Pat Boone badly wanted the lead role. He says he believes he didn't get it because director Robert Wise wanted a "real actor" instead of a singer-turned-actor.


5:15 PM -- Ice Station Zebra (1968)
A sub commander on a perilous mission must ferret out a Soviet agent on his ship.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan
C-152 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Daniel L. Fapp, and Best Effects, Special Visual Effects -- Hal Millar and J. McMillan Johnson

Patrick McGoohan was filming his famous TV series The Prisoner (1967) at the time he appeared in this movie. In order to allow him to take time off from his TV series, the episode "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling" was written in which McGoohan's character, Number Six, has his mind transferred into the body of another man. "The Girl Who Was Death" was also altered so that No 6 wore a Sherlock Holmes disguise, so that his double Frank Maher could film a lot of the scenes.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: ROBERT VAUGHN



8:00 PM -- Bullitt (1968)
When mobsters kill the witness he was assigned to protect, a dedicated policeman investigates the case on his own.
Dir: Peter Yates
Cast: Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset
C-114 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Frank P. Keller

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound

At the time, San Francisco was not a big film-making mecca and the mayor, Joe Alioto, was very keen to promote it as such. Consequently, Bullitt (1968) enjoyed a freedom of movement around the city that would be hard to come by today, including giving up an entire hospital wing for filming, closing down multiple streets for three weeks for a car chase scene and taking over San Francisco International Airport at night.


10:15 PM -- To Trap a Spy (1964)
Secret agents try to stop the assassination of an African leader touring the U.S.
Dir: Don Medford
Cast: Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Luciana Paluzzi
C-93 mins,

This film is a re-edited version of the pilot episode for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), plus footage from at least one other episode, with a number of changes. The famous character of Mr. Waverly is not in this film, for example.


12:00 AM -- The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970)
A man in a coma since birth reawakens with the mind of an infant.
Dir: Alan Cooke
Cast: Terence Stamp, Robert Vaughn, Nigel Davenport
C-97 mins, CC,

Based on a novel by Charles Eric Maine. The film was an attempt by Amicus Productions to branch into the non-horror field. (They had also tried to option the rights to Flowers For Algernon but been unable to secure them.) The large budget was provided by Columbia Pictures.


2:00 AM -- The Manitou (1978)
A psychic's girlfriend finds out that a lump on her back is a growing reincarnation of a 400 year-old demonic Native American spirit.
Dir: William Girdler
Cast: Stella Stevens, Tony Curtis, Michael Ansara
C-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Last film of director William Girdler. Shortly before the film's release he was killed in a helicopter crash in the Philippines while scouting locations for an upcoming film.


3:45 AM -- Trog (1970)
A scientist tries to protect a caveman brought back from suspended animation.
Dir: Freddie Francis
Cast: Joan Crawford, Michael Gough, Bernard Kay
C-91 mins, Letterbox Format

Final theatrical film of Joan Crawford.


5:18 AM -- The Sun... The Sand... The Hill... (1965)
This promotional short presents a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "The Hill" (1965).
Dir: Roland Saland
BW-7 mins,


5:30 AM -- Wonderful World of Tupperware (1959)
This short industrial film focuses on the making of Tupperware.
Dir: George J. Yarbrough
C-29 mins,

[CBHagman]

1. I'd never heard that story about Robert Vaughn.

Nice to know that he, like the late James Garner, is a liberal Democrat.

I'm also glad to report that Vaughn is still working all these years after a generation of kids were glued to their TV sets watching The Man from U.N.C.L.E. A few years back he was in a long-running British series called Hustle, in which he played a con artist who reportedly took up the trade when the shoe store where he was working was shut down and the employees thrown out of work. The premise of Hustle is that the grifters observe a code of honor in which they only target the sleazy and the greedy, never innocent victims.