TCM Schedule for Friday, August 3, 2018 -- Summer Under The Stars -- Lionel Atwill

[Staph]

Day Three of Summer Under the Stars, with Lionel Atwill. Who is Lionel Atwill? TCM will tell us!

Prolific British stage actor who came to America in 1916 and starred as a romantic lead on Broadway. Although Atwill made his screen debut in 1916, he is best known as the suavely menacing villain (most often a sinister mad doctor) of countless Hollywood horror films of the 1930s and 40s, most notably "Doctor X" (1932), "The Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933, an especially superb performance), "Murders in the Zoo" (1933) and "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1939). He was also memorable as the stolid, one-armed police chief doggedly searching for the monster in the horror sequel, "Son of Frankenstein" (1939). Rather stocky in middle age, with an incisive manner and a rich voice beautifully suited to the delivery of ruefully ironic dialogue, Atwill also gave a fine account of himself as one of several men dangerously obsessed with Concha (Marlene Dietrich) in Josef von Sternberg's memorable "The Devil Is a Woman" (1935).

Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- THE FIREBIRD (1934)
A young girl's secret romance is exposed when her lover is murdered.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Verree Teasdale, Ricardo Cortez, Lionel Atwill
BW-74 mins,

In 1936 Igor Stravinsky sued Warner Bros. over the 'misuse' of his themes from the ballet "The Firebird". In 1938 a French court awarded him one franc in damages, instead of the 300,000 francs he was claiming.


7:30 AM -- RENDEZVOUS (1935)
A decoding expert tangles with enemy spies.
Dir: William K. Howard
Cast: William Powell, Rosalind Russell, Binnie Barnes
BW-94 mins, CC,

Originally intended to be a vehicle for William Powell and Myrna Loy, Russell was brought in as Loy was "on strike" for better pay after the huge success of The Thin Man (1934).


9:15 AM -- THE SOLITAIRE MAN (1933)
Crooks double cross each other during a tense flight from Paris to London.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Herbert Marshall, Mary Boland, Lionel Atwill
BW-67 mins,

The £5,000 Mr. Peabody pays for the necklace would be worth $21,186 at the time or approximately $390,000 in 2016.


10:30 AM -- THE SECRET OF DR. KILDARE (1939)
A young doctor tries to help a woman suffering from psychosomatic blindness.
Dir: Harold S. Bucquet
Cast: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Lionel Atwill
BW-84 mins, CC,

Her appearance here gives Sarah Haden the distinction of having had roles in both of MGM'S logest-running and most popular film franchises. She also played the recurring character of "Aunt Milly" in the Andy Hardy movies. Interestingly, Haden's final screen appearance was a guest shot on the 1960s TV version of...Dr. Kildare.


12:00 PM -- THE MURDER MAN (1935)
A hard-drinking reporter specializes in murder cases, until he becomes a suspect in one himself.
Dir: Tim Whelan
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Virginia Bruce, Lionel Atwill
BW-69 mins, CC,

James Stewart spoke his first movie line in this film: "Hi, Joe." This film also marks the first for Spencer Tracy under MGM contract. He would remain at MGM for the next 20 years.


1:15 PM -- THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (1934)
A young attorney risks his career for love of a glamorous divorcee.
Dir: Philip Moeller
Cast: Irene Dunne, John Boles, Lionel Atwill
BW-81 mins, CC,

The original Broadway production starred Katherine Cornell as Ellen Olenska, and Franchot Tone as Newland Archer.


2:45 PM -- THE SECRET OF MADAME BLANCHE (1933)
A murder brings together a woman and the son she was forced to give up years earlier.
Dir: Charles Brabin
Cast: Irene Dunne, Lionel Atwill, Phillips Holmes
BW-84 mins, CC,

The play, titled The Lady and written by Martin Brown, originally opened in New York City, New York, USA on 4 December 1923 and ran for 85 performances.


4:15 PM -- THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN (1935)
A member of the Spanish guard falls for a temptress who once ruined his commanding officer's life.
Dir: Josef von Sternberg
Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Lionel Atwill, Edward Everett Horton
BW-80 mins, CC,

The Spanish government threatened to bar all Paramount films from Spain and its territories unless the film was withdrawn from worldwide circulation. They protested the unfavorable portrayal of the Spanish police. Paramount destroyed the original print after its initial run, and it remained out of circulation until 1959. Marlene Dietrich herself kept a print of the film in a bank vault for safe keeping, as it was her favorite film. She feared the film would otherwise be lost. New prints were struck from her private copy in the 1980's for art house release. The superb quality of the prints in circulation now , and on DVD are because of this fact.


5:45 PM -- CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935)
After being unjustly sentenced to prison, a doctor escapes and becomes a notorious pirate.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Lionel Atwill
BW-119 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Michael Curtiz (This was a write-in candidate, who came in second on the final ballots. It was not an official nomination.), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Casey Robinson (This was a write-in candidate, who came in third on the final ballots. It was not an official nomination.), Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (sound director), Best Music, Score -- Leo F. Forbstein (head of department) with score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (This was a write-in candidate, who came in third on the final ballots. It was not an official nomination.), and Best Picture

The first screen duel between Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone, to be replayed three years later and to grander effect in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: LIONEL ATWILL



8:00 PM -- THE MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933)
A disfigured sculptor turns murder victims into wax statues.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell
C-77 mins, CC,

The wax figures look like real people because they ARE real people. The original plan was to use actual wax figures, but they melted under the heat of the lights used at the time to film two-strip Technicolor.


9:30 PM -- SECRET OF THE BLUE ROOM (1933)
Twenty years after 3 murders occur in a castle's "blue room", three men who each want to marry a beautiful girl decide to spend a night in the room to prove their bravery to her.
Dir: Kurt Neumann
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stuart, Paul Lukas
BW-66 mins,

Exterior shots and Heinz Letton's song were borrowed from the 1932 German film Geheimnis des blauen Zimmers (1932) for this American version by Universal. Although Letton receives screen credit as composer, only his song (with new English lyrics) was used - there is no dramatic background score.


11:00 PM -- DOCTOR X (1932)
A reporter investigates a series of cannibalistic murders at a medical college.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy
C-76 mins, CC,

Contrary to Technicolor's edict, Warner Brothers also shot a black-and-white version of the film. The Technicolor version was shot by Ray Rennahan and the B&W version by Richard Towers. The camera angles of the the two versions are considerably different, with the Technicolor camera given priority for the best compositions. Two of these, for example, are Lee Tracy and Mae Busch in the house of prostitution scene and the sequence with Tracy in the skeleton room.


12:30 AM -- ABSOLUTE QUIET (1936)
Murder follows when a plane filled with shady characters is forced to land on a tycoon's ranch.
Dir: George B. Seitz
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Irene Hervey, Raymond Walburn
BW-70 mins,

From the story by George F. Worts.


2:00 AM -- THE VAMPIRE BAT (1933)
Villagers suspect the town simpleton of being a vampire.
Dir: Frank Strayer
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Melvyn Douglas
BW-63 mins,

Majestic Pictures cashed in on the success of Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray, who had been a sensation in the Technicolor thriller Doctor X (1932) and had already completed Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), which was also being heavily promoted at the time. Majestic was able to get this film into theaters over a month before the release of the latter one.


3:15 AM -- MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935)
Vampires seem to be connected to an unsolved murder.
Dir: Tod Browning
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allen, Lionel Atwill
BW-60 mins, CC,

Throughout the film, Count Mora (Bela Lugosi) has an unexplained bullet wound on his temple. In the original script Mora was supposed to have had an incestuous relationship with his daughter Luna, and to have committed suicide. After filming began, however, MGM deleted references to the crime (and any remaining references may have been deleted when 20 minutes of footage was removed after the film's preview). Because director Tod Browning's previous film, Freaks (1932), had been a box-office disaster, he was unable to object to any changes made by the studio.


4:30 AM -- THE GORILLA (1939)
Three screwball detectives try to protect a lawyer from a murderous gorilla.
Dir: Allan Dwan
Cast: Jimmy Ritz, Harry Ritz, Al Ritz
BW-66 mins,

This was the last The Ritz Brothers film directed by Allan Dwan, and their last for 20th Century-Fox (they would move on to Universal).