TCM Schedule for Saturday, December 21, 2019 -- The Essentials: Artistic Affairs

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts, along with a pair of original films and their remakes. Then in primetime, The Essentials is back! (or should that be The Essentials are back?), with trailblazing producer, director and screenwriter Ava DuVernay, who will join primetime host Ben Mankiewicz to discuss the films she has chosen. Tonight's theme is films about extramarital affairs involving those of an artistic temperament. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- THE PIRATE (1948)
An actor poses as a notorious pirate to court a romantic Caribbean girl.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Walter Slezak
C-102 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Lennie Hayton

After their remarkable on screen chemistry in The Harvey Girls (1946), John Hodiak was briefly considered for the role of Serafin (Judy Garland's love interest for the film). When the film required more advanced and skilled dancing and singing, Hodiak was dropped from the production and replaced by Gene Kelly.


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: SEAL SKINNERS (1939)
A trained seal has escaped from the Jingling Brothers circus; there's a $100,000 reward.
Dir: I. Freleng
Cast: Mel Blanc, Billy Bletcher
BW-8 mins, CC,


8:10 AM -- HOW TO FIGURE INCOME TAX (1938)
In this comedic short, Robert Benchley explains how those income tax papers work... or tries to.
Dir: Roy Rowland
Cast: Robert Benchley,
BW-8 mins,


8:18 AM -- JASPER NATIONAL PARK (1952)
This short film takes the viewer to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies.
Narrator: James A. FitzPatrick
C-8 mins,


8:27 AM -- THE LAST RIDE (1944)
A detective suspects foul play in a series of accidental deaths.
Dir: D. Ross Lederman
Cast: Richard Travis, Charles Lang, Eleanor Parker
BW-57 mins,

Produced in 1942 but not released until 1944.


9:30 AM -- THE MYSTERIOUS MR. M: WHEN CLOCKS CHIME DEATH (1946)
An evil scientist known as "Mr. M." uses a drug he has developed called "hypnotreme" to help steal submarine equipment.
Dir: Lewis D. Collins, Vernon Keays
Cast: Dennis Moore, Pamela Blake, Richard Martin
BW-20 mins, CC,

Episode one of thirteen.


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: ME FEELINS IS HURT (1940)
Olive writes a letter to Popeye: she's through with sailors; it's cowboys for her.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Orestes Calpini (uncredited)
Cast: Pinto Colvig, Margie Hines, Jack Mercer
BW-6 mins, CC,


10:07 AM -- LUCKY LOSERS (1950)
The Bowery Boys almost strike it rich when they break into the stock market.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Hillary Brooke
BW-70 mins, CC,

The 18th of 48 Bowery Boys movies.


11:30 AM -- MEMORIES AND MELODIES (1935)
This musical short presents the festivities at a Kentucky plantation.
Dir: James A. FitzPatrick
Cast: Jean Chatburn, Jesse Graves, Nora Cecil
C-16 mins,


12:00 PM -- THE FRONT PAGE (1931)
A crusading newspaper editor tricks his retiring star reporter into covering one last case.
Dir: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Adolph Menjou, Pat O'Brien, Mary Brian
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Adolphe Menjou, Best Director -- Lewis Milestone, and Best Picture

This is an interesting film to view in the so-called era of "fake news" as many of the reporters are clearly making up stories as they go along. Both Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur had been journalists so one can only assume that there is an element of truth to this depiction of reporters.


2:00 PM -- HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940)
An unscrupulous editor plots to keep his star reporter-and ex-wife-from re-marrying.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
BW-92 mins, CC,

During the 1930s, Howard Hawks was hosting a dinner party when the topic of dialogue was brought up. He pulled out a copy of "The Front Page" to demonstrate the snappy exchanges between characters, taking the role of Burns. A female guest took the role of Hildy. While reading, Hawks realized the dialogue sounded much better with a woman reading, and quickly secured the rights for the film from Howard Hughes. Ben Hecht (the author of "The Front Page&quot approved the gender change and the screenplay was put into production.


4:00 PM -- FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1950)
A doting father faces mountains of bills and endless trials when his daughter marries.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor
BW-93 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, and Best Picture

In the film, one of the gifts Kay gets as a present is a Venus de Milo statue with a clock in the stomach, which Spencer Tracy refers to as a "stinker". This same gift makes its way into the 1991 re-make (Father of the Bride (1991)) among the presents, and is still not received well.


6:00 PM -- FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1991)
A proud father faces wedding planners, florists and caterers as he prepares for his daughter's wedding.
Dir: Charles Shyer
Cast: Steve Martin, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Diane Keaton
C-103 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Tom Irish made his film debut in the 1950 version, Father of the Bride (1950); in this version he made his last film appearance.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: ARTISTIC AFFAIRS



8:00 PM -- LOSING GROUND (1982)
A philosophy professor responds to her husband's philandering by pursuing fulfillment on her own.
Dir: Kathleen Collins
Cast: Seret Scott, Bill Gunn, Duane Jones
C-86 mins, CC,

The film never received distribution outside of festival screenings in director Kathleen Collins's lifetime. It was only decades after she died, that her daughter, who had inherited the negatives of the film, approached Milestone Films, and asked them to help restore and release the film.


9:45 PM -- THE SANDPIPER (1965)
An Episcopal priest falls for a free-living artist.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Eva Marie Saint
C-117 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Johnny Mandel (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) for the song "The Shadow of Your Smile"

Then unknown Raquel Welch doubled (uncredited) for Elizabeth Taylor in some of Taylor's beach scenes on location at Big Sur, California.


12:00 AM -- CASH ON DEMAND (1961)
A charming but ruthless criminal holds the family of a bank manager hostage as part of a cold-blooded plan to steal money.
Dir: Quentin Lawrence
Cast: Peter Cushing, Andre Morell, Richard Vernon
BW-80 mins, CC,

This is a remake of Theatre 70: The Gold Inside (1960). Both André Morell (as Andre Morell) (Colonel Gore-Hepburn) and Richard Vernon (Mr. Pearson) reprised their roles in the film version. Additionally Hans Müller directed both versions.


2:00 AM -- AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE (1990)
An account of the dramatic childhood and early adulthood of New Zealand writer Janet Frame.
Dir: Jane Campion
Cast: Kerry Fox, Alexia Keogh, Karen Fergusson
C-158 mins, CC,

Kerry Fox gained two stones (12.7kg) for her role as Janet Frame. She managed this by drinking liters of Coca-Cola, eating packets of chocolate biscuits and going on the pill.


4:45 AM -- MY BRILLIANT CAREER (1979)
A proud young woman in early 20th century Australia must choose between marriage and independence.
Dir: Gillian Armstrong
Cast: Judy Davis, Sam Neill, Wendy Hughes
C-100 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Costume Design -- Anna Senior

Because of the literary controversy that surrounded the publication of the novel 'My Brilliant Career', and the degree to which it upset her family, author Miles Franklin would not allow the book to be republished until ten years after her death. Franklin died on 19 September 1954, and in 1965 the book became available again to a new generation. This is when producer Margaret Fink, who was a designer in Sydney at the time, first saw it.