TCM Schedule for Saturday, July 23, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: The Essentials: Brenda de Banzie

[Staph]

TCM is calling tonight The Essentials, but I still don't know who the host will be. The theme for tonight is an actress that I have never heard of -- Brenda de Banzie. According to IMDB:

"The daughter of a musical conductor, fair-haired, slightly plump Brenda de Banzie appeared in just a handful of films. As the result of two outstanding performances, she became an unexpected star when well into her middle age. Brenda first came to public notice as a sixteen year old chorine on the London stage in 'Du Barry Was a Lady', in 1942. By that time, she had already been treading the boards in repertory for some seven years. The theatre was, first and foremost, her preferred medium. In the early 1950's, she had an excellent run of top-billed performances at the West End, which included 'Venus Observed' with Laurence Olivier, and 'Murder Mistaken', as a wealthy hotel owner whose husband is plotting to bump her off for her money. For this, she won the coveted Clarence Derwent Award as Best Supporting Actress.

"Critical plaudits tempted her to try her luck on screen, so Brenda eventually made her celluloid debut in Anthony Bushell's murder mystery The Long Dark Hall (1951). Her performance, as a rather vulgar and dowdy boarding house landlady, drew good notices - including one from Bosley Crowther of The New York Times. In 1954, director David Lean cast Brenda in her defining role as Maggie Hobson, a middle-aged, temperamental spinster, opposite Charles Laughton and John Mills in Hobson's Choice (1954). She pretty much stole every scene from her illustrious co-stars. Rather surprisingly, a BAFTA, eluded her. In 1958, Brenda landed the prize role of Phoebe Rice, the bitter, alcoholic wife of a second-rate music hall performer (played superbly by Olivier) in John Osborne's The Entertainer (1960). She recreated her performance for Broadway and for the film version in 1960 and received a Tony Award nomination. Sadly, little else came along which did much justice to Brenda's intelligence and acting skills. During the 1960's, she appeared primarily in matronly character roles and passed away during surgery for a non-malignant brain tumor in March 1981."

Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- MY LOVE CAME BACK (1940)
A millionaire helps a pretty lady violinist with her career.
Dir: Kurt Bernhardt
Cast: Olivia De Havilland, Jeffrey Lynn, Eddie Albert
BW-85 mins, CC,

Although Jane Wyman had no trouble faking the fingering of a dummy violin, Olivia de Havilland had to have someone do it for her. In all her close-ups, the arm doing the fingering belonged to a professional hidden from view, or the fingers were hidden from view. She controlled only the bow.


7:30 AM -- THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS (1943)
An Eddie Cantor look-alike organizes an all-star show to help the war effort.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Eddie Cantor, Bette Davis
BW-127 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Arthur Schwartz (music) and Frank Loesser (lyrics) for the song "They're Either Too Young or Too Old"

The last of nine movies made together by Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn, though they are not a couple in this film. They don't even appear in the same scene (actually not the same musical number).


9:45 AM -- FOUR'S A CROWD (1938)
A publicist falls for his most difficult client's daughter.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Rosalind Russell
BW-92 mins, CC,

The fourth of nine movies made together by Warner Brothers' romantic couple Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn.


11:30 AM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #23 (1955)
Gene Kelly and Jerry the Mouse perform in a clip from "Anchors Aweigh"; George Murphy, Dore Schary and Richard Brooks show a short film about the making of "The Last Hunt." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-26 mins,


12:00 PM -- THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL (1959)
One woman and two men are the only people left alive after a nuclear disaster.
Dir: Ranald MacDougall
Cast: Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens, Mel Ferrer
BW-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

When Ralph marks his route to New York City on the map, he starts at a point in the center of Pennsylvania. There is no real town of Chatsburg in PA, but there is a town near his starting point called "Bellefonte" (the character Ralph Burton in the movie is played by Harry Belafonte).


1:45 PM -- DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964)
A mad United States General orders an air strike against Russia.
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Peter Sellers, George C Scott, Sterling Hayden
BW-95 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter Sellers, Best Director -- Stanley Kubrick, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Stanley Kubrick, Peter George and Terry Southern, and Best Picture

The scene where Gen. Turgidson trips and falls in the War Room, and then gets back up and resumes talking as if nothing happened, really was an accident. Stanley Kubrick mistakenly thought that it was George C. Scott really in character, so he left it in the film.


3:30 PM -- TORA! TORA! TORA! (1970)
The Japanese take advantage of American blunders to launch a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
Dir: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Martin Balsam, So Yamamura, Jason Robards Jr.
C-149 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Visual Effects -- A.D. Flowers and L.B. Abbott

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Charles F. Wheeler, Osamu Furuya, Shinsaku Himeda and Masamichi Satoh, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Jack Martin Smith, Yoshirô Muraki, Richard Day, Taizô Kawashima, Walter M. Scott, Norman Rockett and Carl Biddiscombe, Best Sound -- Murray Spivack and Herman Lewis, and Best Film Editing -- James E. Newcom, Pembroke J. Herring and Shinya Inoue

The African-American mess attendant firing the machine gun on the West Virginia was Seaman First Class Doris 'Dorie' Miller, played by actor Elven Havard. He was the first African-American to be awarded the Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor in the U.S. Armed Forces Order of Precedence. Without any training he fired the unattended machine gun at the Japanese aircraft until it was out of ammunition. He was portrayed by Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. in Pearl Harbor (2001).


6:15 PM -- BACK TO BATAAN (1945)
An Army colonel leads a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese in the Philippines.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: John Wayne, Anthony Quinn, Beulah Bondi
BW-95 mins, CC,

As John Wayne refused to use a stunt-double in the movie, director Edward Dmytryk and screenwriter Ben Barzman wrote scenes for Wayne with dangerous stunts so that Wayne would want to use a stuntman. Not even this deterred Wayne who still did the stunts.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: BRENDA de BANZIE



8:00 PM -- HOBSON'S CHOICE (1954)
A widower father fights to control the lives of his three strong-willed daughters.
Dir: David Lean
Cast: Charles Laughton, John Mills, Brenda De Banzie
BW-108 mins, CC,

Although playing a 30-year-old, Brenda de Banzie was actually 45.


10:00 PM -- THE ENTERTAINER (1960)
A third-rate vaudevillian uses liquor and young women to escape the pressures of changing times.
Dir: Tony Richardson
Cast: Laurence Olivier, Brenda De Banzie, Joan Plowright
BW-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Laurence Olivier

The movie debuts of Albert Finney, Alan Bates, and Joan Plowright.


12:00 AM -- THE MARK (1961)
A reformed child abuser fights the stigma of his past when he falls for a single mother.
Dir: Guy Green
Cast: Maria Schell, Stuart Whitman, Rod Steiger, Brenda de Banzie
BW-127 mins, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Stuart Whitman

The lead role was originally intended for Richard Burton, who had to drop out because of a stage commitment.


2:15 AM -- THE STREET FIGHTER (1974)
A master of martial arts offers protection to the daughter of a business magnate when she is pursued by the Yakuza.
Dir: Walter Hill
Cast: Sonny Chiba, Charles Bronson, Goichi Yamada
C-91 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

According to TCM, they are planning to show director Walter Hill's 1974 film The Street Fighter. But the cast listing (aside from Charles Bronson) comes from another 1974 film, The Streetfighter, a Japanese-language film, starring Sonny Chiba and Goichi Yamada. I'm not sure which film will be shown!


3:52 AM -- THE PASSENGER (TRAILER) (1975)
This promotional short is a trailer for "Professione: reporter" (1975).
Dir: Michelangelo Antonioni
Cast: Charles Mulvehill, Steven Berkoff, Jenny Runacre
C-4 mins,


4:00 AM -- RETURN OF THE STREET FIGHTER (1975)
Takuma "Terry" Tsurugi returns and sets out to bust up a phony charity put together by the Yukuza.
Dir: Shigehiro Ozawa
Cast: Masashi Suzuki, Zulu Yachi, Claude Gannyon
BW-83 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This is a sequel to the Japanese film The Streetfighter, not the Charles Bronson film The Street Fighter.


5:30 AM -- THE CORVAIR IN ACTION! (1960)
Technicians herald the arrival of a new car that "delivers the goods as no other compact car can" in this short advertisement.
C-6 mins,


5:30 AM -- MATCH YOUR MOOD (1968)
Westinghouse shows women how to improve their lives by decorating their refrigerators in this short film.
C-6 mins,


5:30 AM -- WHEN YOU GROW UP (1973)
In this short film, children learn about the world of fun that awaits them when they grow up and go to work.
Dir: Jerry Kurtz
C-11 mins,