TCM Schedule for Friday, June 21, 2019 -- What's On Tonight: Billy Wilder in Paris

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is all about love. Then in primetime, TCM is featuring movies written and directed by Billy Wilder, specifically those that take place in the city of love. Enjoy!


6:45 AM -- MARCH ON AMERICA! (1942)
This short film was aimed at boosting American morale during WWII by providing an overview of American history.
Dir: Richard Whorf
C-21 mins,


7:15 AM -- LOVE FINDS ANDY HARDY (1938)
A small-town boy tries to juggle two girlfriends at once.
Dir: George B. Seitz
Cast: Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker
BW-91 mins, CC,

The fourth of sixteen Hardy family films starring Mickey Rooney. Due to Rooney's rising star status and the increasing focus on his character in the films, this is the first one with "Andy Hardy" in the title. The first of three Hardy films featuring Judy Garland as Betsy Booth. Just the second film pairing Mickey and Judy, they would eventually appear in ten films together.


9:00 AM -- ANDY HARDY MEETS DEBUTANTE (1940)
A teenage boy goes into debt to court a Manhattan socialite.
Dir: George B. Seitz
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Cecilia Parker
BW-88 mins, CC,

The picture on "last year's" high school magazine that is shown is that of Lana Turner, who was in the Hardy Family series movie, Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938). The character she played, Cynthia Potter, is also mentioned.


10:45 AM -- THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE (1958)
British parents try to prepare their Americanized daughter for her social debut.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, John Saxon
C-96 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

For years, John Saxon said he had been bothered by something about Sandra Dee during filming that he just couldn't put his finger on. Decades later he figured out what it was: Sandra's mother had lied about her age to get her more adult roles, Sandra who was only 14 years old at the time of filming.


12:30 PM -- PALM SPRINGS WEEKEND (1963)
College students on spring break turn Palm Springs into a disaster area.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Ty Hardin
C-100 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The doorman who silently watches as a parked jalopy falls apart before his eyes was played by former Los Angeles Ram Mike Henry. Following this uncredited part, Henry played the title role in three Tarzan movies, and famously played Junior Justice in the Smokey and the Bandit film franchise.


2:15 PM -- VACATION FROM MARRIAGE (1945)
After World War II service changes them, a married couple dread their postwar reunion.
Dir: Alexander Korda
Cast: Robert Donat, Deborah Kerr, Glynis Johns
BW-93 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Clemence Dane

Uniforms worn by the characters are one hundred percent correct. Cathy's W.R.E.N. uniform, when she joins, has the pre-1942 soft cap. Towards the end of the movie, it is updated to the correct later style cap. When working with her boat crew, she wears the correct men's bell bottoms and white top, and the lanyard with knife. Elena, the nurse, wears a correct tropical dress white uniform of Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service, with white tippet (short cape).


4:00 PM -- DREAM WIFE (1953)
For state reasons, a diplomat fakes an engagement to a Middle Eastern princess.
Dir: Sidney Sheldon
Cast: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Walter Pidgeon
BW-99 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose and Herschel McCoy

After making this film Cary Grant announced his retirement from acting in February 1953. However, 18 months later he agreed to return to acting in To Catch a Thief (1955).


5:50 PM -- A WIFE'S LIFE (1950)
A comedic short in which a housewife let's her husband know what she has "done with her day."
Dir: Dave O'Brien
Cast: Dave O'Brien, Dorothy Short,
BW-8 mins,

Dorothy Short was married to Dave O'Brien (AKA David Barclay) from 1936 - 1954 and appeared with him in the notorious Reefer Madness (1936) (aka "Reefer Madness&quot as well as other Pete Smith shorts.


6:00 PM -- MARRIAGE ON THE ROCKS (1965)
A couple divorces by mistake during a madcap Mexican vacation.
Dir: Jack Donohue
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr, Dean Martin
C-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nancy Sinatra was nervous acting opposite father Frank for the very first time. But worse than that, she was in the midst of a devastating divorce from first husband Tommy Sands while shooting the picture, later saying that it was a good time for all the fellas on the set but she herself was extremely troubled.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: BILLY WILDER IN PARIS



8:00 PM -- IRMA LA DOUCE (1963)
A Parisian policeman gives up everything for the love of a free-living prostitute.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi
BW-143 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- André Previn

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Shirley MacLaine, and Best Cinematography, Color -- Joseph LaShelle

The pimps' union is called the "Mecs (Guys or Blokes) Paris Protective Association" (MPPA), which also stands for "Motion Picture Producers Association", an organization which had given Director Billy Wilder some trouble.


10:30 PM -- SABRINA (1954)
Two wealthy brothers fall for the chauffeur's daughter.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden
BW-114 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Edith Head

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Audrey Hepburn, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Billy Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor and Ernest Lehman, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Charles Lang, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Hal Pereira, Walter H. Tyler, Sam Comer and Ray Moyer

During production Billy Wilder was continuously working on the script. One day he asked Audrey Hepburn to feign illness so he would have enough time to finish the scene to be shot.


12:30 AM -- LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON (1957)
An aging American tycoon overcomes his inhibitions to court a young Parisian.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier
BW-130 mins, CC,

The original ending of the film just showed the two lovers departing together on a train, which threatened to land the film on the Catholic Legion of Decency's "Condemned List." As a result, Maurice Chevalier was called back to do the voice-over heard at the close of the film, in which he reports that the couple are "now married and serving a life sentence in New York City."


2:45 AM -- BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER (1981)
An orphaned teenager finds himself being dominated by his aunt who's hell-bent on keeping him with her...at all costs.
Dir: William Asher
Cast: Susan Tyrrell, Bill Paxton, Jimmy Mcnichol
BW-93 mins, CC,

Though no one involved in the film's creative process has ever given an on-record interview about the genesis for the movie, it apparently began as a novel. A book released around the same time as the movie under the title "Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker" is far more complex than a simple novelization. It includes vivid physical descriptions of the characters that often differ greatly from the actors' onscreen appearance, as well as in-depth backstories for several characters, including secondary characters who receive little screen time. The book also leaves it a mystery until far later in the narrative as to what happened to Billy's parents, and also continues on past the movie's ending, wrapping up the stories of several characters whose fates are not addressed in the film's epilogue.


4:30 AM -- FAST-WALKING (1982)
A corrupt prison guard is hired first to help a black revolutionary escape, then to kill him.
Dir: James B. Harris
Cast: Timothy Carey, M. Emmet Walsh, Kay Lenz
C-116 mins, CC,

The book the film was based on was showcased many different characters - none of which were the "focus" of the story. Writer/Director James B. Harris originally wrote his first draft of the screenplay around the book, but soon discovered that the character of Frank "Fast-Walking" Minniver was the most interesting and unique and decided to make him the central role.