TCM Saturday 3/2/24 - 31 Days of Oscar - Leading Actor: Yankee Doodle Dandy, Lincoln, The Thin Man, Sergeant York

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TCM, Saturday 3/2/24 - 31 Days of Oscar - Leading Actor: Yankee Doodle Dandy, Sergeant York, The Thin Man, The Great Dictator, Lincoln





Saturday, March 2 -- At a Glance
31 DAYS OF OSCAR - DAY 22 - DIRECTOR
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Letter to Three Wives, A (1949)
Marty (1955)
Awful Truth, The (1937)
- TCM DAYTIME
31 DAYS OF OSCAR - DAY 23 - LEADING ACTOR
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) (4 am ET)
Great Dictator, The (1940)
Thin Man, The (1934)
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Elmer Gantry (1960)
East of Eden (1955) - TCM PRIMETIME
31 DAYS OF OSCAR - DAY 23 - LEADING ACTOR
(P) Lincoln (2012)
Man for All Seasons, A (1966)
Sergeant York (1941)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Saturday, March 2 -- Full Day Listings
10:15 PM A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
A small-town seductress notifies her three best friends that she has run off with one of their husbands.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz Cast: Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern
Runtime: 103 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: N


12:15 AM Marty (1955)

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A lonely butcher finds love despite the opposition of his friends and family.
Dir: Delbert Mann Cast: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Esther Minciotti
Runtime: 94 mins Genre: Romance Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
(*WINNER*) ACTOR -- Ernest Borgnine {"Marty Pilletti"}
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Joe Mantell {"Angie"}
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Betsy Blair {"Clara Snyder"}
ART DIRECTION (Black-and-White) -- Art Direction: Edward S. Haworth, Walter Simonds; Set Decoration: Robert Priestley
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Black-and-White) -- Joseph LaShelle
(*WINNER*) DIRECTING -- Delbert Mann
(*WINNER*) BEST MOTION PICTURE -- Harold Hecht, Producer
(*WINNER*) WRITING (Screenplay) -- Paddy Chayefsky

Trivia: Delbert Mann had no idea who to cast in the lead role, so asked his friend Robert Aldrich. Aldrich immediately suggested Ernest Borgnine. Mann was skeptical, as Borgnine was only known for playing heavies, but Aldrich convinced him. Borgnine regularly said that he owed his career to Robert Aldrich.

Trivia: Betsy Blair, who played Clara, was almost not permitted to do the film by Hecht-Lancaster Productions and United Artists due to the 1950s Hollywood Blacklist. However, Gene Kelly, her husband at the time, basically blackmailed United Artists and Hecht-Lancaster into casting her, at the last minute, by threatening not to direct or star in any of UA's or Hecht Lancaster's productions if she was not cast in the role.

2:00 AM The Awful Truth (1937)

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A divorced couple keeps getting mixed up in each other's love lives.
Dir: Leo Mccarey Cast: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy
Runtime: 91 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: N

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Ralph Bellamy {"Daniel Leeson"}
ACTRESS -- Irene Dunne {"Lucy Warriner"}
(*WINNER) DIRECTING -- Leo McCarey
FILM EDITING -- Al Clark
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Columbia
WRITING (Screenplay) -- Vina Delmar

Trivia: Ralph Bellamy got a good taste of Leo McCarey's working style very early on. He simply was told to show up on the set the following Monday for filming, with no script, no dialogue, or even a hint about his upcoming scene. So he went to see the director but received no help at all from the perpetually upbeat McCarey. "He just joshed and said not to worry, we'd have lots of fun but there wasn't any script", Bellamy wrote years later. The actor showed up on set for the first day of production to find Irene Dunne at a piano. (McCarey almost always kept a piano on his sets, and he often would sit playing while he thought up a new scene or piece of business he wanted his actors to try.) Dunne was pecking away at the melody to "Home on the Range", and McCarey asked Bellamy if he could sing. "Can't get from one note to the other", the actor replied. "Great!", McCarey said and ordered the cameras to roll while Dunne played and Bellamy sang for all he was worth. When they finished the song, they heard no "Cut". Looking over, they found McCarey by the camera, doubled over with laughter. Finally he said, "Print it!" The scene ended up in the finished picture. That was the way McCarey worked, and Bellamy had to get used to it quickly.

Trivia: The dog playing Mr. Smith, originally named Skippy, was most popular for its role in The Thin Man (1934) and its sequels as Asta. On those movie sets, he was notorious for trying to bite the actors. Even in this film, there's a scene where Cary Grant is trying to play with the dog, and the dog very obviously snaps and growls at him.


4:00 AM Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931/32)

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Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of a scientist who unleashes the beast within.
Dir: Rouben Mamoulian Cast: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart
Runtime: 90 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
(*WINNER) ACTOR -- Fredric March {"Dr. Henry Jekyll/Mr. Hyde"}
[NOTE: A tie. Wallace Beery (The Champ) had one vote less than Mr. March, and rules at the time stated that if any achievement came within three votes of the First Award, it would be considered a tie.]
CINEMATOGRAPHY -- Karl Struss
WRITING (Adaptation) -- Percy Heath, Samuel Hoffenstein

Trivia: The first horror movie ever to win an Academy Award.

Trivia: When MGM decided to produce its own version of "Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde" in 1941 ( Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) ) with Spencer Tracy, it acquired the rights to this film. In order to avoid any competition or unfavorable comparison, MGM essentially suppressed the 1931 version and made it unavailable for viewing for many years.

6:00 AM The Great Dictator (1940)

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A Jewish barber takes the place of a war-hungry dictator.
Dir: Charles Chaplin Cast: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie
Runtime: 129 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations: ACTOR -- Charles Chaplin {"Hynkel, Dictator of Tomania"}
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Jack Oakie {"Napaloni, Dictator of Bacteria"}
MUSIC (Original Score) -- Meredith Willson
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Charles Chaplin Productions
WRITING (Original Screenplay) -- Charles Chaplin

Trivia: Adolf Hitler banned the film in Germany and in all countries occupied by the Nazis. Curiosity however got the best of him and he had a print brought in through Portugal. History records that he screened it twice, in private, but not his reaction to the film. Sir Charles Chaplin said, "I'd give anything to know what he thought of it." For political reasons in Germany, the ban stayed after the end of WWII until 1958. But although it was banned in all Nazi-occupied countries, it was screened once to a German audience. In the occupied Balkans, members of a resistance group switched the reels in a military cinema from a comedic opera to this film, which they had smuggled in from Greece. So a group of German soldiers enjoyed a screening of this film until they realized what it was. Some left the cinema, and some were reported to have fired shots at the screen.

8:15 AM The Thin Man (1934)

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In New York, a detective, his wife and their dog solve the murder case of an eccentric inventor.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan
Runtime: 80 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR -- William Powell {"Nick Charles"} [came in 3rd]
DIRECTING -- W. S. Van Dyke [came in 2nd]
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
WRITING (Adaptation) -- Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett [came in 2nd]

Trivia: William Powell spoke of how much he loved working with Myrna Loy because of her naturalness, her professionalism, and her lack of any kind of "diva" temperament. "When we did a scene together, we forgot about technique, camera angles, and microphones. We weren't acting. We were just two people in perfect harmony," he said. "Myrna, unlike some actresses who think only of themselves, has the happy faculty of being able to listen while the other fellow says his lines. She has the give and take of acting that brings out the best."

Trivia: Director W.S. Van Dyke, aware of William Powell and Myrna Loy's easy banter between takes and their obvious enjoyment of each other's company, worked both into the movie. Van Dyke often encouraged and incorporated improvisation and off-the-cuff details into the picture.

Trivia: According to Myrna Loy, the actors were not allowed to interact between takes with the highly trained Skippy (the real name of Asta), who performed his feats on the promise of a squeaky mouse and a biscuit.

Trivia: MGM was advised that some dialogue was "censorable," such as William Powell's line "He didn't come anywhere near my tabloids," and Myrna Loy's line "What's that man doing in my drawers?" However, the picture was approved for exhibition in 1934 and granted a PCA certificate in August 1935. After the film's release, some territories did censor some lines of dialogue, and at least one theater owner from the South wrote to the PCA to complain of excessive drinking in the picture, which his patrons found offensive.

10:00 AM Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

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A cold-hearted teacher becomes the school favorite when he's thawed by a beautiful young woman.
Dir: Sam Wood Cast: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn
Runtime: 114 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
(*WINNER) ACTOR -- Robert Donat {"Mr. Chips"}
ACTRESS -- Greer Garson {"Katherine Chipping"}
DIRECTING -- Sam Wood
FILM EDITING -- Charles Frend
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
SOUND RECORDING -- Denham Studio Sound Department, A. W. Watkins, Sound Director
WRITING (Screenplay) -- R. C. Sherriff, Claudine West, Eric Maschwitz

Trivia: 34-year-old Robert Donat ages 63 years (1870-1933) over the course of this movie. He remarked: "As soon as I put the mustache on, I felt the part, even if I did look like a great Airedale come out of a puddle."

Trivia: Greer Garson's performance runs a little under 25 minutes, yet she received an Oscar nomination in the Best Actress category, one of the shortest performances to have been so nominated.

12:00 PM Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

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A defense lawyer takes on a case of a man accused of murdering a bartender who apparently raped his wife.
Dir: Otto Preminger Cast: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara
Runtime: 160 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations: ACTOR -- James Stewart {"Paul Biegler"}
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Arthur O'Connell {"Parnell McCarthy"}
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- George C. Scott {"Claude Dancer"}
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Black-and-White) -- Sam Leavitt
FILM EDITING -- Louis R. Loeffler
BEST MOTION PICTURE -- Otto Preminger, Producer
WRITING (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) -- Wendell Mayes

Trivia: Otto Preminger sued "Columbia Pictures" and its TV subsidiary "Screen Gems" when it sold this film in a package of 60 films to television for $10 million. In New York, ABC interrupted the 160-minute film 13 times with 36 commercials. Preminger was furious that his film was being mutilated and took them to court in a highly publicized case. He lost.


3:00 PM Elmer Gantry (1960)

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A young drifter finds success as a traveling preacher until his past catches up with him.
Dir: Richard Brooks Cast: Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Arthur Kennedy
Runtime: 146 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: N

Oscar nominations: )
(*WINNER) ACTOR -- Burt Lancaster {"Elmer Gantry"}
(*WINNER) ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Shirley Jones {"Lulu Bains"}
MUSIC (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) -- Andre Previn
BEST MOTION PICTURE -- Bernard Smith, Producer
(*WINNER) WRITING (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) -- Richard Brooks

Trivia: When he first learned that Richard Brooks was interested in adapting his novel, Sinclair Lewis told him that he should change it significantly, advising him to read all the criticisms of the book and use them as a way to improve on it.

Trivia: Burt Lancaster intended the film as an attack on Billy Graham.

5:45 PM East of Eden (1955)

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Film adaptation of Steinbeck's classic about a 1917 California farm family and the two brothers who struggle to maintain their strict, Bible-toting father's favor.
Dir: Elia Kazan Cast: Julie Harris, James Dean, Raymond Massey
Runtime: 115 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations: ACTOR -- James Dean {"Cal Trask"}
(*WINNER) ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Jo Van Fleet {"Kate"}
DIRECTING -- Elia Kazan
WRITING (Screenplay) -- Paul Osborn

Trivia: In the scene where Adam refuses to accept Cal's money, the script called for Cal to turn away in anger from his father. It was James Dean's instinct to embrace him instead. This came as a surprise to Raymond Massey, who could think of nothing to do but say, "Cal! Cal!" in response.

8:00 PM Lincoln (2012)

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As the American Civil War continues to rage, America's president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves.
Dir: Steven Spielberg Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn
Runtime: 150 mins Genre: Biography Rating: TV-14 CC:

Oscar nominations: ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE -- Daniel Day-Lewis {"Abraham Lincoln"}
(*WINNER) ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Tommy Lee Jones {"Thaddeus Stevens"}
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Sally Field {"Mary Todd Lincoln"}
CINEMATOGRAPHY -- Janusz Kaminski
COSTUME DESIGN -- Joanna Johnston
DIRECTING -- Steven Spielberg
FILM EDITING -- Michael Kahn
MUSIC (Original Score) -- John Williams
BEST PICTURE -- Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
(*WINNER) PRODUCTION DESIGN -- Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson
SOUND MIXING -- Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
WRITING (Adapted Screenplay) -- Screenplay by Tony Kushner

Trivia: Steven Spielberg spent 12 years researching the film. He recreated Abraham Lincoln's Executive Mansion office precisely, with the same wallpaper and books Lincoln used. The ticking of Lincoln's watch in the film is the sound of Lincoln's actual pocket watch. Lincoln's watch is housed in the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort, Kentucky (not the Lincoln Presidential Library). It is the watch he carried the day of his assassination.

10:45 PM A Man for All Seasons (1966)

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Sir Thomas Moore opposes Henry VIII's divorce, and events lead inexorably to his execution.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann Cast: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo Mckern
Runtime: 120 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations: (*WINNER) ACTOR -- Paul Scofield {"Sir Thomas More"}
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Robert Shaw {"King Henry VIII"}
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Wendy Hiller {"Alice More"}
(*WINNER) CINEMATOGRAPHY (Color) -- Ted Moore
(*WINNER) COSTUME DESIGN (Color) -- Elizabeth Haffenden, Joan Bridge
(*WINNER) DIRECTING -- Fred Zinnemann
(*WINNER) BEST PICTURE -- Fred Zinnemann, Producer
(*WINNER) WRITING (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) -- Robert Bolt

Trivia: Playwright and screenwriter Robert Bolt borrowed the title from Robert Whittington, a contemporary of Sir Thomas More, who in 1520 wrote of him: "More is a man of an angel's wit and singular learning; I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness, and affability? And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity: a man for all seasons."

Trivia: Paul Scofield did not attend the Oscar ceremony, believing Richard Burton would win the Best Actor award for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). When he won, the statuette had to be mailed to him, and was broken in transit.

1:00 AM Sergeant York (1941)

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True story of the farm boy who made the transition from religious pacifist to World War I hero.
Dir: Howard Hawks Cast: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie
Runtime: 134 mins Genre: War Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
(*WINNER) ACTOR -- Gary Cooper {"Alvin C. York"}
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Walter Brennan {"Pastor Posier Pile"}
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Margaret Wycherly {"Mother York"}
ART DIRECTION (Black-and-White) -- Art Direction: John Hughes; Interior Decoration: Fred MacLean
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Black-and-White) -- Sol Polito
DIRECTING -- Howard Hawks
(*WINNER) FILM EDITING -- William Holmes
MUSIC (Music Score of a Dramatic Picture) -- Max Steiner
OUTSTANDING MOTION PICTURE -- Warner Bros.
SOUND RECORDING -- Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, Nathan Levinson, Sound Director
WRITING (Original Screenplay) -- Abem Finkel, Harry Chandlee, Howard Koch, John Huston

Trivia: Alvin C. York himself was on the set for a few days during filming. When one of the crew members tactlessly asked him how many "Jerries" he had killed, York started sobbing so vehemently he threw up. The crew member was nearly fired, but the next day, York demanded that he keep his job.

3:30 AM Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

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The life story of dancing vaudevillian George M. Cohan.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston
Runtime: 126 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
(*WINNER) ACTOR -- James Cagney {"George M. Cohan"}
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Walter Huston {"Jerry Cohan"}
DIRECTING -- Michael Curtiz
FILM EDITING -- George Amy
(*WINNER) MUSIC (Scoring of a Musical Picture) -- Ray Heindorf, Heinz Roemheld
OUTSTANDING MOTION PICTURE -- Warner Bros.
(*WINNER) SOUND RECORDING -- Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, Nathan Levinson, Sound Director
WRITING (Original Motion Picture Story) -- Robert Buckner

Trivia: Many facts were changed or ignored to add to the feel of the movie. For example, the real George M. Cohan was married twice, and although his second wife's middle name was Mary, she went by her first name, Agnes. In fact, the movie deviated from the truth to such a degree that Cohan's daughter Georgette commented, "That's the kind of life Daddy would have liked to have lived."

Trivia: The movie's line "My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you." was voted as the #97 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).