TCM Schedule for Saturday, March 4, 2017 -- What's On Tonight - Starring Barbara Harris

[Staph]

Tonight's not-really-the-Essentials are a trio of films starring Barbara Harris. As IMDB says, "Along with Elaine May, she is generally acknowledged to be one of the pioneering women in the field of improvisational theatre. Scenes she created with Alan Arkin, Severn Darden, Paul Sand and other celebrated members of the Second City and Compass companies are studied as masterpieces of the form." Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- Madame Curie (1943)
The famed female scientist fights to keep her marriage together while conducting early experiments with radioactivity.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Henry Travers
BW-124 mins,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Walter Pidgeon, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt, Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD), Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Herbert Stothart, and Best Picture

The film makes no mention of the rather ironic fact that Maria Sklodowska-Curie died of aplastic anemia at the age of 66, most likely because of her handling of radium in her lifetime. Her lab books are kept under lock and key, as they are still irradiated more than 100 years after use. Her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie and son-in-law Frédéric Joliot-Curie, who continued her research, also died of radiation-based illnesses.


8:30 AM -- Edison, The Man (1940)
Thomas Edison fights to turn his dreams into reality.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Rita Johnson, Lynne Overman
BW-107 mins, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Hugo Butler and Dore Schary

This was one of the films that Spencer Tracy really believed in and actively supported not because he starred in it, but because he was a great admirer of Thomas A. Edison. This was unusual as Tracy was known throughout most of his career to disparage his own gifts as well as the importance of motion pictures. Also, prior to this film Spencer Tracy had been a very active member of the "Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". He even hosted the awards show on at least one occasion. However when the nominations came out for the best films of 1940, Tracy was appalled that "Edison the Man" was so overlooked in the nominations. It was only nominated for best writing. Tracy swore he would never attend another academy award ceremony again. He never did. Not without irony is that although he was nominated another 6 times over the next 28 years, Tracy never won another Oscar after that after winning two in a row in the previous two years.


10:30 AM -- Maisie (1939)
A Brooklyn showgirl tries to clear a ranch foreman of murder charges.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: Robert Young, Ann Sothern, Ruth Hussey
BW-75 mins, CC

This story was originally purchased for Jean Harlow.


12:00 PM -- Raintree County (1957)
In this sumptuous Civil War story, a willful southern belle goes mad out of fear that she may be part black.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Marie Saint
C-173 mins, Letterbox, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Elizabeth Taylor, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- William A. Horning, Urie McCleary, Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt, Best Costume Design -- Walter Plunkett, and Best Music, Scoring -- Johnny Green

On May 12, 1956, during the shooting of this film, Montgomery Clift was involved in a serious car accident on his way back home from a party at the house of Elizabeth Taylor. His friend Kevin McCarthy witnessed the accident from his car, drove back and informed Taylor and her then husband Michael Wilding, who immediately drove to the location together with Rock Hudson. Taylor entered the car through the back door, crawled to the front seat and removed the two front teeth from Clift's throat that threatened to choke him. Hudson finally managed to pull him out of the wreck and together they protected him from being photographed until the ambulance arrived. This was necessary because soon after the emergency call had come in to the local police station, reporters were already on their way and arrived at the scene when Clift was still in the car. The accident was well publicized. After nine weeks of recovery and with plastic surgery, Clift returned to the movie set and finished the film, but with considerable difficulties. His dashing looks, though, were gone forever. If you notice in some scenes, his nose and chin look different, and the left side of his face is more or less immobile.


3:00 PM -- A Summer Place (1959)
An adulterous couple discovers that their children are sexually involved.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Richard Egan, Dorothy McGuire, Sandra Dee
C-130 mins, Letterbox, CC

The house where Ken (Richard Egan) and Sylvia (Dorothy McGuire) lived toward the end of the film is an actual private residence that was built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1948. It still stands today on Scenic Road in Carmel-by-the-Sea and is a prime feature in local tours.


5:30 PM -- Ocean's 11 (1960)
A group of friends plot to rob a Las Vegas casino.
Dir: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.
C-127 mins, Letterbox, CC

According to Frank Sinatra Jr. on the DVD Commentary, Sammy Davis Jr. was forced to stay at a "colored only" hotel during the filming because Las Vegas would not allow blacks to stay at the major hotels despite his appearing with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the others at the Sands Hotel. He was only allowed to stay at the major hotels after Frank Sinatra confronted the casino owners on his behalf, therefore breaking Vegas' unofficial color barrier.




TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STARRING BARBARA HARRIS



8:00 PM -- A Thousand Clowns (1965)
A free-living New Yorker fights to maintain custody of his nephew.
Dir: Fred Coe
Cast: Jason Robards Jr., Barbara Harris, Martin Balsam
BW-118 mins, Letterbox, CC

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Martin Balsam

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Herb Gardner, Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Don Walker, and Best Picture

Film debut of Barbara Harris.


10:15 PM -- Family Plot (1976)
A phony psychic takes on a pair of kidnappers.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris
C-120 mins, Letterbox, CC

This is Alfred Hitchcock's final film and its final shot was of a woman breaking the fourth wall by looking straight into the camera and winking at the audience. This was arguably a fitting coda to his career exemplifying the black humor that was prevalent in his movies.


12:30 AM -- Second-hand Hearts (1981)
After getting married, a waitress and a drifter take off for a better life in California.
Dir: Hal Ashby
Cast: Robert Blake, Barbara Harris, Sondra Blake
BW-98 mins, CC

Originally titled "The Hamster of Happiness".


2:15 AM -- Belladonna of Sadness (1973)
A woman sells her soul to the devil to lead a rebellion against a corrupt baron.
Dir: Eiichi Yamamoto
Cast: Katsuyuki It(, Tatsuya Nakadai, Aiko Nagayama
C-87 mins, CC

Third film in Osamu Tezuka and Eiichi Yamamato's Animerama trilogy, following A Thousand and One Nights (1969) and Cleopatra (1970). It is the only one of the trilogy not to be co-directed by Tezuka, who left Mushi Production shortly after the initial story treatment was written. Tezuka is uncredited on the film.


4:00 AM -- Fantastic Planet (1973)
A runaway slave uses alien technology to lead a revolt against his masters.
Dir: Rene Laloux
Cast: Barry Bostwick, Jennifer Drake, Eric Baugin
C-72 mins,

The animation was started in Prague but had to be moved to Paris to avoid interference by the Communist authorities who were in power at the time.


5:15 AM -- One Got Fat (1963)
Children wearing monkey masks pay the price for bad bicycle safety habits in this instructional short.
Dir: Dale Jennings
Cast: Diane Chambers, Charles Hagens, Dick Hutto
C-15 mins,


5:15 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,


5:15 AM -- Holiday From Rules? (1959)
In this educational short film, a group of young children understand why rules are important.
Dir: William H. Murray
C-11 mins,