TCM Schedule for Friday, September 23 -- What's On Tonight -- In Search of Ancient Treasures

[Staph]

Today TCM is celebrating the birthday of Walter Davis Pidgeon, born on September 23, 1897, in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. In primetime, we're off in search of ancient treasures! Think of it as a visit with Indiana Jones' spiritual ancestors. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Journal Of A Crime (1934)
Before she can confess to shooting her husband's mistress, a woman succumbs to amnesia.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Ruth Chatterton, Adolphe Menjou, Claire Dodd.
65 min, TV-PG , CC

The source is credited to a play onscreen, but it is actually a remake of the French film "Une vie perdue (1933)", written by the same author. Perhaps "screen play" was meant, since "screenplay" in the 30's was two separate words.


7:15 AM -- Too Hot To Handle (1938)
Rival newsreel photographers vie for scoops and a beautiful lady flyer.
Dir: Jack Conroy
Cast: Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Walter Pidgeon.
107 min, TV-PG , CC

The opening sequence of a fake bombing raid was allegedly conceived by Buster Keaton, then a freelance MGM gagman.


9:15 AM -- Society Lawyer (1939)
A lawyer plays with fire when he gets mixed up with underworld types.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Virginia Bruce, Leo Carrillo.
78 min, TV-PG , CC

A plagiarism suit was filed by Robert Brister and Harry T. Bliven against the use of the title, but it was dismissed by the court.


10:45 AM -- Stronger Than Desire (1939)
A lawyer's wife keeps mum as her husband defends an innocent woman for the crime she committed.
Dir: Leslie Fenton
Cast: Virginia Bruce, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Bowman.
78 min, TV-G , CC

A remake/reimagining of Evelyn Prentice (1934), starring William Powell and Myrna Loy.


12:15 PM -- Phantom Raiders (1940)
Detective Nick Carter tries to stop enemy agents from sabotaging the Panama Canal.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Donald Meek, Joseph Schildkraut.
70 min, TV-PG

Pidgeon's second (and last) time at playing detective Nick Carter, a character first created in a dime novel entitled The Old Detective's Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square on 18 September 1886. This novel was written by John R. Coryell from a story by Ormond G. Smith, the son of one of the founders of Street & Smith.


1:30 PM -- The Miniver Story (1950)
A brave family comes together in the face of post-war problems.
Dir: H. C. Potter
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, John Hodiak.
104 min, TV-G , CC

Seventh of eight movies that paired Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, and the second time the two played Mr. and Mrs. Miniver. In Mrs. Miniver (1942), Greer Garson won a Best Actress Oscar, and Pidgeon was nominated for Best Actor.


3:30 PM -- Soldiers Three (1951)
Three British officers look for adventure in 19th-century India.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Stewart Granger, Walter Pidgeon, David Niven.
92 min, TV-PG

Bryce Canyon National Park stood in for India.


5:15 PM -- Scandal At Scourie (1953)
Controversy erupts in a small Canadian town when a Protestant couple tries to adopt a Catholic child.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Agnes Moorehead.
C-90 min, TV-G , CC

The last of the eight movies starring Garson and Pidgeon.


7:00 PM -- Some Of The Best: Twenty-Five Years of Motion Picture Leadership (1949)
Features highlights of MGM's productions from 1924 through 1948 in honor of the studio's 25th anniversary.
Hosted by Lionel Barrymore.
C-42 min, TV-G

Features clips from The Merry Widow (1925), The Big Parade (1925), Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), Flesh and the Devil (1926), Tell It to the Marines (1926), The Broadway Melody (1929), Min and Bill (1930), Trader Horn (1931), Grand Hotel (1932), Tugboat Annie (1933), Dinner at Eight (1933), David Copperfield (1935), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), San Francisco (1936), Romeo and Juliet (1936), The Good Earth (1937), Boys Town (1938), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Boom Town (1940), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941). Mrs. Miniver (1942), Random Harvest (1942), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), National Velvet (1944), The Green Years (1946), The Yearling (1946). Easter Parade (1948), Edward, My Son (1949), Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949), Little Women (1949), The Stratton Story (1949), The Secret Garden (1949), The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), Neptune's Daughter (1949), The Great Sinner (1949), Any Number Can Play (1949), Scene of the Crime (1949), In the Good Old Summertime (1949), Madame Bovary (1949), That Midnight Kiss (1949), The Red Danube (1949), Intruder in the Dust (1949), Border Incident (1949), Challenge to Lassie (1949), That Forsyte Woman (1949), Conspirator (1949) and Malaya (1949).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT TREASURES



8:00 PM -- King Solomon's Mines (1950)
A spirited widow hires a daredevil jungle scout to find a lost treasure in diamonds.
Dir: Compton Bennett
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger, Richard Carlson.
C-103 min, TV-PG , CC

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert Surtees, and Best Film Editing -- Ralph E. Winters and Conrad A. Nervig

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

The scene in which Deborah Kerr cuts her own hair and then cuts to her sunning with a perfectly coiffed hairstyle got such a big laugh at the initial screenings of the film that producers debated removing the scene. However, they couldn't figure out another way to explain Kerr's change of hairstyle, so they kept the improbable scenes intact.


10:00 PM -- Boy on a Dolphin (1957)
A sponge diver and an American anthropologist try to salvage a priceless statue from the Mediterranean floor.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
Cast: Alan Ladd, Clifton Webb, Sophia Loren.
C-111 min, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring -- Hugo Friedhofer

Originally, the film was to star Cary Grant. It was four days into shooting in Greece when Grant canceled. His wife, Betsy Drake, had survived the sinking of the Andrea Doria ocean liner and he went to be with her. Robert Mitchum was then considered, before Spyros Foucas signed Alan Ladd.


12:00 AM -- The Golden Mask (1954)
An archaeologist and a reporter fight crooks to find a lost tomb containing a legendary treasure.
Dir: Jack Lee
Cast: Van Heflin, Wanda Hendrix, Eric Portman.
C-90 min, TV-PG

Originally titled South of Algiers, and actually filmed in Algiers.


2:00 AM -- Five on the Black Hand Side (1973)
A barber's autocratic ways trigger a revolt by the rest of his family.
Dir: Oscar Williams
Cast: Clarice Taylor, Godfrey Cambridge, Leonard Jackson.
C-95 min, TV-14 , CC

Tagline: You've been coffy-tized, blacula-rized and super-flied - but now you're gonna be glorified, unified and filled-with-pride... when you see "Five on the Black Hand Side"!


3:45 AM -- Sweet Jesus, Preacher Man (1973)
A hitman hides out as a preacher in a ghetto church.
Dir: Henning Schellerup
Cast: Roger E. Mosley, William Smith, Michael Pataki.
C-99 min, TV-MA

You probably remember the star Roger E. Mosley from his years as Tom Selleck's best friend TC on Magnum, PI (1980-1988).


5:30 AM -- Gang Boy (1959)
A police officer tries to prevent a gang war by bringing the rival groups together over dinner.
C-27 min, TV-PG