TCM Schedule for Sunday, July 27 -- GARY COOPER

[Longhorn]

3:30am Citizen Kane (1941)
The investigation of a publishing tycoon's dying words reveals conflicting stories about his scandalous life.
Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead. Dir: Orson Welles. BW-120 mins, TV-PG

5:31am Short Film: From The Vaults: Cairo Theatre Opening: Mgm Big Parade Hits For '40 (1940)
Cairo's first MGM theatre opening, with introduction from Mr. Lewis Stone followed by samples of upcoming pictures.
Cast: Lewis Stone BW-23 mins

6:00am Larceny, Inc. (1942)
An ex-convict and his gang try to use a luggage store to front a bank robbery, but business keeps getting in the way.
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. BW-95 mins, TV-PG

7:36am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: That Mothers Might Live (1938)
BW-10 mins

8:00am Dark Passage (1947)
A man falsely accused of his wife's murder escapes to search for the real killer.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Agnes Moorehead. Dir: Delmer Daves. BW-106 mins, TV-PG

10:00am High Sierra (1941)
An aging ex-con sets out to pull one more big heist.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino, Arthur Kennedy. Dir: Raoul Walsh. BW-100 mins, TV-G

11:50am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Floral Japan (1937)
This "Traveltalk" explores the importance of gardens, hairstyles, and clothing in traditional Japanese culture.
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick C-43 mins

12:00pm Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
General Jimmy Doolittle trains American troops for the first airborne attacks on Japan.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, Robert Walker. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. BW-138 mins, TV-PG

2:30pm Wackiest Ship In The Army, The (1961)
The captain of a broken-down ship has to sneak an Australian spy into enemy waters during World War II.
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Ricky Nelson, Patricia Driscoll. Dir: Richard Murphy. C-99 mins, TV-G

4:30pm Muscle Beach Party (1964)
The beach gang goes head-to-head with the bodybuilders of a new gym that's interfering with their strip on the sand.
Cast: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Luciana Paluzzi. Dir: William Asher. C-95 mins, TV-PG

6:15pm Gidget (1959)
A young girl dreams of winning acceptance from a gang of surfers.
Cast: Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson, James Darren. Dir: Paul Wendkos. C-95 mins, TV-G

What's On Tonight: TCM PRIME TIME FEATURE: GARY COOPER

8:00pm Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
When he inherits a fortune, a small-town poet has to deal with the corruption of city life.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, Lionel Stander. Dir: Frank Capra. BW-116 mins, TV-G

10:00pm Westerner, The (1940)
A drifter accused of horse stealing faces off against the notorious Judge Roy Bean.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Doris Davenport. Dir: William Wyler. BW-100 mins, TV-PG

12:00am Wings (1927)
In this silent film, romantic rivals fly against the enemy in World War I.
Cast: Richard Arlen, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Clara Bow. Dir: William A. Wellman. BW-139 mins, TV-PG

2:30am Shop on Main Street, The (1965)
A Christian forges an unlikely bond with an elderly Jewish shopkeeper during World War II.
Cast: Jozef Kroner, Ida Kaminska, Hana Slivkova. Dir: Jan Kadar, Elmar Klos. BW-126 mins, TV-PG

4:45am Woman in Green, The (1945)
Sherlock Holmes investigates a series of seemingly unrelated murders.
Cast: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Hillary Brooke. Dir: Roy William Neill. BW-67 mins, TV-G

[Longhorn]

1. Larceny, Inc. (1942)

In the waning years of his tenure as a contract player for Warner Brothers, Edward G. Robinson found himself frequently spoofing the gangster persona that the studio had successfully exploited for a decade since his star-making bow in Little Caesar (1931). Weary of being typed as a tough guy, Robinson relished his opportunities to turn the familiar characterization on its ear, like A Slight Case of Murder (1938) and Brother Orchid (1940). Both of those comic classics were directed by Lloyd Bacon, and it was appropriate that Robinson should wind up his Warners contract working with the same director on Larceny, Inc. (1942).

Adapted from the Laura and S.J Perelman Broadway farce The Night Before Christmas, the story casts Robinson as "Pressure" Maxwell, a convict days away from his release from Sing Sing, who has vowed to go straight. His fairly dense fellow parolee Jug Martin (Broderick Crawford) is ready to go straight as well, and the two make plans to open a dog track. Determined to make a go of it, they pass on the invitation of fellow inmate Leo Dexter (Anthony Quinn) to lay the groundwork for a bank job that he's anxious to pull upon release.

Once back in the real world, however, the two ex-cons receive a shock, as their partner Weepy (Edward Brophy) has sold off the slot machines necessary for their new enterprise. Desperate for cash, they decide to co-opt Dexter's plan without his involvement. First, they purchase the small luggage store adjacent to the targeted bank, maintaining the business's facade while covertly attempting to tunnel into the adjoining basement.

However, the unanticipated amount of traffic and success that the bogus storefront generates prompts Pressure to ask his unsuspecting niece Denny (Jane Wyman) to manage the store. Delighted that her uncle seems genuinely determined to go legit, she accepts, and before long she's being charmed by fast-talking valise vendor Jeff Randolph (Jack Carson). Matters come to a head when news of the scheme gets back to Dexter, and he breaks jail in pursuit of his cut.

Larceny, Inc. is bolstered by Warner's usual array of distinguished character players, including Harry Davenport, John Qualen and Grant Mitchell; Jackie Gleason can also be seen in an early role. In terms of critical reception at the time of its release, Larceny, Inc. did not enjoy as favorable a reception as the other Robinson/Bacon crime comedies, but it has its admirers. Woody Allen paid it affectionate homage, lifting the film's basic premise for Small Time Crooks (2000).

Producer: Jack Saper, Jerry Wald, Hal B. Wallis
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Screenplay: Everett Freeman, Edwin Gilbert, Laura Perelman (play), S.J. Perelman (play)
Cinematography: Tony Gaudio
Film Editing: Ralph Dawson
Art Direction: John Hughes
Music: Adolph Duetsch, Howard Jackson, William Lava, Heinz Roemheld, Max Steiner
Cast: Edward G. Robinson (J. Chalmers Maxwell), Jane Wyman (Denny Costello), Broderick Crawford (Jug Martin), Jack Carson (Jeff Randolph), Anthony Quinn (Leo Dexter), Edward Brophy (Weepy Davis).
BW-96m. Closed captioning.

by Jay S. Steinberg