TCM Schedule for Thursday, June 9, 2016 -- What's On Tonight - TCM Spotlight: Stage to Screen

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is showing a selection of the films with music composed and/or conducted by David Raksin. It's not his birthday, but the man did receive a couple of Oscar nominations over the years, for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Forever Amber (1947) and Separate Tables (1958). And in prime time on Wednesdays and Thursdays this month, TCM is showing films that began on the stage. Tonight's selection includes a lovely selection of musicals from the 1950s. Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- Cyrano De Bergerac (1950)
A swordsman and poet helps another man woo the woman he loves.
Dir: Michael Gordon
Cast: Jose Ferrer, Mala Powers, William Prince
BW-114 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- José Ferrer

The false nose that José Ferrer wore as Cyrano was reported to have cost United Artists $1,500.


8:30 AM -- The Green Pastures (1936)
God tests the human race in this reenactment of Bible stories set in the world of black American folklore.
Dir: Marc Connelly
Cast: Rex Ingram, Oscar Polk, Eddie Anderson
BW-93 mins, CC,

The studio's anxiety about "The Green Pastures" all-Black cast is evident in the film's 3:48 minute trailer. It consists of white actor Dick Powell talking directly to the camera, white workers preparing costumes and props, and author Marc Connelly explaining the rationale for the bare sets to a studio executive. Accrding to Connelley it is how a "simple, devout" people would imagine heaven. At no time are Rex Ingram or any of the film's stars shown in the preview and there is only a brief sequence of black extras in a long shot.


10:15 AM -- A Lady Without Passport (1950)
A secret service agent falls in love with an illegal immigrant.
Dir: Joseph H. Lewis
Cast: Hedy Lamarr, John Hodiak, James Craig
BW-74 mins, CC,

Feature film debut of Steven Hill.


11:45 AM -- The Next Voice You Hear... (1950)
The voice of God mystically appears on the radio, changing all who hear it.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: James Whitmore, Nancy Davis, Gary Gray
BW-83 mins, CC,

This is apparently one of only three films in which the MGM lion is not shown roaring at the start of the opening credits, probably because of the religious theme of the film. The only other known incidence of a non-roaring lion is Ben-Hur (1959), which also has a religious theme, and Westward the Women (1951). (The studio's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) uses the illustrated lion from the MGM record label at its beginning, not a real lion, and so doesn't count.)


1:15 PM -- The Man with a Cloak (1951)
A mystery man tries to help a young innocent escape a murderous housekeeper.
Dir: Fletcher Markle
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Barbara Stanwyck, Louis Calhern
BW-81 mins, CC,

After the first meeting with Madeleine, Charles Theverner addresses his pet raven named Villon, after the French poet François Villon, and quotes from Villon's "Ballade des dames du temps jadis" ("Ballad of the Ladies of Times Past&quot : "Où sont les neiges d'antant?" ("Oh, where are the snows of yesteryear!&quot . Later, Dupin quotes the same Ballad in English. He also reads from the book a few lines of Edgar Poe's "The Raven."


2:45 PM -- It's A Big Country (1952)
Seven stories celebrate the glorious diversity of American life.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Ethel Barrymore, Keefe Brasselle, Gary Cooper
BW-89 mins, CC,

According to IMDB, the eight episode titles are: 1) Interruptions, Interruptions; 2) Census Taker; 3) Negro Story; 4) Rosika, the Rose; 5) Letter from Korea; 6) Lone Star; (7) Minister in Washington; 8) Four Eyes.


4:30 PM -- The Big Combo (1955)
A police detective tries to convict a mob boss by going to the man's girlfriend.
Dir: Joseph Lewis
Cast: Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Brian Donlevy
BW-84 mins,

This film skirted the Production Code by making several not-too-subtle hints that Mr. Brown's henchmen, Fante and Mingo (played by Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman), were a homosexual couple. The names 'Fante' and 'Mingo' were later used by writer-director Joss Whedon for two characters - twin brothers - that the Serenity crew meet in the movie Serenity (2005). They were played by Rafael Feldman and Yan Feldman respectively.


6:00 PM -- Jubal (1956)
A rancher's wife falls for a wandering cowhand.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, Rod Steiger
C-101 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Filmed along the Grand Teton Range in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The lake is Lake Jackson.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: STAGE TO SCREEN



8:00 PM -- The King and I (1956)
The king of Siam clashes with the British governess hired to teach his children.
Dir: Walter Lang
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, Rita Moreno
C-133 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Yul Brynner, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Lyle R. Wheeler, John DeCuir, Walter M. Scott and Paul S. Fox, Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene Sharaff, Best Sound, Recording -- Carlton W. Faulkner (20th Century-Fox SSD), and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Alfred Newman and Ken Darby

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Deborah Kerr, Best Director -- Walter Lang, Best Cinematography, Color -- Leon Shamroy, and Best Picture

The reality of the "Shall We Dance" sequence was that Deborah Kerr suffered continual bruising from the hoops in her skirt, and Yul Brynner - a chain smoker who had already lost a lung to his habit - had to take oxygen in between takes.


10:30 PM -- Carousel (1956)
A dramatic love story unfolds between a rough-talking, macho carousel barker, and a young, innocent mill worker.
Dir: Henry King
Cast: Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Cameron Mitchell
C-129 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

While appearing in a nightclub act with his wife at Lake Tahoe, Gordon MacRae received an emergency phone call to replace Frank Sinatra as Billy Bigelow in the film version of Richard Rodgers's and Oscar Hammerstein II's stage hit Carousel (1956), after Sinatra walked out before filming. Originally, it was said that Sinatra left when he discovered that every scene was to be filmed twice - once for regular CinemaScope and once for CinemaScope 55. However, Shirley Jones later revealed that the real reason Frank Sinatra left was that Sinatra received a call from Ava Gardner, who was in Africa with Clark Gable shooting, Mogambo. She'd said something to the effect that if Frank Sinatra didn't fly to her immediately, she was going to have an affair with Clark Gable.

Within three days MacRae, who was already familiar with the Broadway show and had wanted to play the role, reported to the set. Ironically, the producers then discovered a way to shoot in CinemaScope 55 and then convert it to regular CinemaScope without filming the movie twice.


1:00 AM -- Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
Fanciful musical biography of wild West sharpshooter Annie Oakley.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern
C-107 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Adolph Deutsch and Roger Edens

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Charles Rosher, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis and Richard Pefferle, and Best Film Editing -- James E. Newcom

Writers Dorothy and Herbert Fields and Producers Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II had originally arranged for Jerome Kern to write the musical score. When Kern died suddenly, he was replaced by Irving Berlin. This was the first time that Irving Berlin wrote a score for a show with an existing plot. In his many musical plays and films the songs were written first, then the scripts were written for the situations suggested by the songs.


3:00 AM -- Guys and Dolls (1955)
A big-city gambler bets that he can seduce a Salvation Army girl.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra
C-149 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Oliver Smith, Joseph C. Wright and Howard Bristol, Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene Sharaff, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Jay Blackton and Cyril J. Mockridge

Marlon Brando had been cast in the role of Sky Masterson, a role coveted by Frank Sinatra, while Sinatra was relegated to the supporting role of Nathan Detroit. Relations between the two actors were strained during production. Many years later, Brando said of Sinatra, "Frank's the kind of guy who, when he gets to Heaven, is going to give God a hard time for making him bald."


5:45 AM -- Kiss Me Kate (1953)
Feuding co-stars reunite for a musical version of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew."
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller
C-110 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- André Previn and Saul Chaplin

In supplemental information on the DVD mention is made that Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore neglected to rehearse their "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" number more than once or twice because they thought it was silly. When it came time to shoot it they made numerous fumbles and mistakes which the director thought was on purpose. He later complemented them on making it look like something a couple of thugs would perform. They never told him the truth.