TCM Schedule for Thursday, November 4 -- Star of the Month -- Ava Gardner

[Staph]

Tonight is our first look at Star of the Month Ava Gardner. Enjoy!


4:30am -- Show People (1928)
In this silent film, a small-town girl tries to make it in Hollywood.
Cast: Marion Davies, William Haines, Dell Henderson, Paul Ralli
Dir: King Vidor
BW-79 mins, TV-G

The musicians who play "mood music" for Peggy Pepper during filming did the same thing in real life for actress Marion Davies.


5:50am -- One Reel Wonders: Movie Memories #2 (1934)
A short history of Hollywood's humble beginnings and early stars.
BW-8 mins

This film contains excerpts from for Paramount silent films: Blood and Sand (1922), The Covered Wagon (1923), The Miracle Man (1919), and Beau Geste (1926). The Miracle Man is a lost film starring Lon Chaney, Sr. and these scenes may be the only that survive.


6:00am -- Under Cover Of Night (1937)
A police detective and his wife try to solve a string of murders.
Cast: Edmund Lowe, Florence Rice, Nat Pendleton, Henry Daniell
Dir: George B. Seitz
BW-71 mins, TV-G

Actress Florence Rice was the daughter of sportswriter and radio commentator Grantland Rice.


7:19am -- One Reel Wonders: Life On The Thames (1950)
In this "Traveltalk," we learn about the history and contribution of London's Thames River.
Cast: James A. FitzPatrick
C-9 mins

This short follows the Thames River downstream from the Tower of London.


7:30am -- Brighton Rock (1947)
A small-time hood tries to cover up his murder of a rival.
Cast: Richard Attenborough, Carol Marsh, Hermione Baddeley, William Hartnell
Dir: John Boulting
BW-92 mins, TV-PG

Brighton Borough Council refused permission for use of the race course because of the damage association with gang crime would do to the town's image (see the on-screen disclaimer at the start of the film).


9:15am -- Fanny (1961)
An old waterfront character tries to help his daughter when her lover leaves her pregnant.
Cast: Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Boyer, Horst Buchholz
Dir: Joshua Logan
C-134 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Charles Boyer, Best Cinematography, Color -- Jack Cardiff, Best Film Editing -- William Reynolds, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Morris Stoloff and Harry Sukman, and Best Picture

This production of "Fanny" began as a hit Broadway musical in 1954, with the libretto co-authored by Joshua Logan, who also directed the show, which starred Ezio Pinza, in his last stage role before his death, as Cesar (played by Charles Boyer in the film), Walter Slezak as Panisse (Maurice Chevalier), and Florence Henderson as Fanny (Leslie Caron). When the musical was filmed, Logan stayed on as director, and the film was faithful to the show, except for the fact that Logan dropped all of the songs and simply used them as background scoring.


11:30am -- Alfie (1966)
A British womanizer refuses to grow up until tragedy strikes.
Cast: Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin, Julia Foster
Dir: Lewis Gilbert
C-114 mins, TV-14

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Michael Caine, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Vivien Merchant, Best Music, Original Song -- Burt Bacharach (music) and Hal David (lyrics) for the song "Alfie", Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Bill Naughton, and Best Picture

Several well-known actors (including Richard Harris, Laurence Harvey, James Booth and Anthony Newley) turned down the title role due to the then taboo subject matter of abortion. Despite having played "Alfie" on Broadway, Terence Stamp categorically declined to reprise the role on film, thus giving his good friend and then roommate Michael Caine the breakthrough role of his career.


1:30pm -- Downhill Racer (1969)
An ambitious skier sacrifices love and family to win.
Cast: Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Camilla Sparv, Joe Jay Jalbert
Dir: Michael Ritchie
C-102 mins, TV-PG

Natalie Wood worked as an assistant behind the scenes of this movie. She typed script revisions, shopped for wardrobe and props, and also appeared, well-disguised, as an extra in some crowd scenes.


3:13pm -- One Reel Wonders: Stop, Look And Listen (1967)
An Academy nominated stop-motion live-action short about driving safety and dealing with road rage.
Cast: Len Janson, Chuck Menville, Lea Richardson, Don Allen
Dir: Len Janson
C-10 mins

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects -- Len Janson and Chuck Menville

An incredible aspect of this work is that any southern California streets were ever empty enough to shoot films like this. Watch carefully - there's never even a single automobile in sight!


3:30pm -- Rome Adventure (1962)
A rebellious teacher moves to Rome and finds love.
Cast: Troy Donahue, Angie Dickinson, Rossano Brazzi, Suzanne Pleshette
Dir: Delmer Daves
C-119 mins, TV-PG

Natalie Wood was the first choice to play the female lead of Prudence Bell. She had a writer friend of hers read the script and once he confirmed her fear that it wasn't up to snuff she decided it was a good time to go ahead with a tonsillectomy that she'd been putting off; the part was then given to Suzanne Pleshette.


5:30pm -- The Sundowners (1960)
An Australian sheepherder and his wife clash over their nomadic existence and their son's future.
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov, Glynis Johns
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
C-133 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Deborah Kerr, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Glynis Johns, Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Isobel Lennart, and Best Picture

The man who offers to buy the horse at the end of the film is played by Jon Cleary, the author of the book.


7:44pm -- One Reel Wonders: Glimpses Of Australia (1939)
In the TravelTalk, we see the Great Downunder.
Narrator: James A. FitzPatrick
C-9 mins

On criticism that he only showed the positive aspects of the places he visited: "How would I have gained admittance to those countries if I had commented on their social problems? Aside from being very rude, it would have been counterproductive. I made my pictures at a time when travel was almost impossible for the average person. I believe I showed people what they would have wanted to see if they could have gone themselves. For years I had a travel agency, too. I don't recall anyone ever requesting a tour of slums and prisons." James A. FitzPatrick


What's On Tonight: STAR OF THE MONTH: AVA GARDNER


8:00pm -- The Killers (1946)
An insurance investigator uncovers a string of crimes when he tries to find a murdered boxer's beneficiary.
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Albert Dekker
Dir: Robert Siodmak
BW-102 mins, TV-14

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Robert Siodmak, Best Film Editing -- Arthur Hilton, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Miklós Rózsa, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Anthony Veiller

Author of the original short story Ernest Hemingway liked the film. Prior to its release, producer Mark Hellinger sent publicity man Al Horwits to Sun Valley, Idaho, to give Hemingway a private screening. Hemingway had a pint of gin in one pocket of his overcoat and a pint of water in the other so that he could sip from them if the film got bad. After the screening, Hemingway held up the full bottles, grinned and said "Didn't need 'em".


10:00pm -- Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)
A Spanish temptress falls for a haunted ship's captain.
Cast: James Mason, Ava Gardner, Nigel Patrick, Sheila Sim
Dir: Albert Lewin
C-124 mins

The tavern "Las Dos Tortugas" shares the same name (but in a different language) as the tavern "The Two Turtles" in Albert Lewin's earlier The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).


12:15am -- Show Boat (1951)
Riverboat entertainers find love, laughs and hardships as they sail along "Old Man River."
Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel, Joe E. Brown
Dir: George Sidney
C-108 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Charles Rosher, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Adolph Deutsch and Conrad Salinger

MGM vied for the rights to film "Show Boat" as early as 1938 (Universal Studios had owned the rights to the musical since 1929, and had made their own film version of it in 1936). MGM had hopes of starring the reigning operatic duo of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in the roles of Gaylord and Magnolia. but when that didn't happen, they showcased new stars Tony Martin and Kathryn Grayson - in a kind of screen test as Ravenal and Magnolia in the Kern film biography Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) (and Grayson did eventually appear in the 1951 "Show Boat"). The third lead in the film, the biracial Julie, was considered at various times for Judy Garland, Dinah Shore, and Lena Horne. Shore, although not a major film star, did have a somewhat exotic visage at the time - her hair and eyes were very dark, and she did almost as many blues and torch songs as a band singer in the 1940's as did Garland. Horne mentions in her biography that she wanted to do the role of Julie badly, but only got as far as performing a single number in the "Clouds" film in the opening "Show Boat" vignette. America, after all, was still a segregated nation in 1950. Interracial romance was still taboo on screen - and Julie kisses and romantically interacts with her white husband several times.


2:15am -- Knights Of The Round Table (1953)
Queen Guinevere is torn between love for her husband and Sir Lancelot.
Cast: Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer, Anne Crawford Dir: Richard Thorpe C-116 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Alfred Junge, Hans Peters and John Jarvis, and Best Sound, Recording -- A.W. Watkins (M-G-M Sound Department)

First MGM to be shot in CinemaScope.


4:15am -- We Were Dancing (1942)
A Polish princess gives up society for the love of a gigolo.
Cast: Norma Shearer, Melvyn Douglas, Gail Patrick, Lee Bowman
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
BW-95 mins, TV-G

The play consisted of 3 parts, each shown on a different evening. It opened in London on 9 January 1936; the Broadway openings for each part took place on 24 November 1936, 27 November 1936 and 30 November 1936 and starred Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence, running for a total of 118 performances for all three shows. There were 2 Broadway revivals.

[Staph]

1. Ava Gardner Profile

Stardates: Born December 24, 1922, in Grabtown, N.C.; died 1990.
Star Sign: Capricorn
Star Qualities: Feline beauty, earthiness, suggestion of wildness beneath the glamour.
Galaxy Of Characters: Jean Olgivie in The Hucksters (1947), Victoria Jones in Bhowani Junction (1956), Moira Davidson in On the Beach (1959), Maxine Faulk in The Night of the Iguana (1964).

An earthy brunette from Grabtown, N.C., Ava Gardner (1922-1990) was one of the screen's great beauties -- and anyone who has seen her color close-ups in Show Boat (1951) or Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) might argue she was the most gorgeous of them all. When challenged by interesting material and an imaginative director, she could also register strongly as an actress.

The daughter of an itinerant farmer, Gardner was preparing to become a secretary when a photograph of her inspired MGM's casting department to arrange a screen test. She made her film debut in a bit part in the Hedy Lamarr vehicle H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941), and served an apprenticeship in some 20 MGM films before landing leads in Whistle Stop (1946) and, on loan-out to Universal in an attention-getting role, The Killers (1946).

The Hucksters (1947) found Gardner as the second female lead, billed below Deborah Kerr. However, her scenes as a nightclub singer in love with advertising man Clark Gable offered early glimpses of the sexual sparks that the pair would later generate in such co-starring vehicles as the Western Lone Star (1952) and the African adventure Mogambo (1953). The latter film earned Gardner her only Oscar® nomination for her performance as a wisecracking adventuress who challenges Grace Kelly for Gable's love.

The other MGM leading man with whom Gardner shared a special chemistry was Robert Taylor, her co-star in the Western Ride, Vaquero! (1953) and the costume drama Knights of the Round Table (1953), in which she was a ravishing Guinevere to Taylor's Lancelot. One of her most striking performances of the 1950s was in The Barefoot Contessa (1954), in a rags-to-riches story that held parallels to her own life. But her best performance of the period came in George Cukor's Bhowani Junction (1956), in which she is a beautiful half-caste caught up in India's battle for independence from Britain.

After a time Gardner's taste for high living began to take a toll on her stunning features, although she still remained alluring in such film as The Naked Maja (1959) and The Angel Wore Red (1960). Her fading beauty was used to especially vivid effect in Stanley Kramer's On the Beach (1959), as a party girl facing the end of the world; and John Huston's The Night of the Iguana (1964), as a worldly wise survivor of tough times.

Gardner, who turned to television late in her career, made her final feature-film appearance in the German/Italian production Regina Roma (1982). She had three marriages that ended in divorce -- to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra.

by Roger Fristoe

* Films in Bold Type air in November