TCM Schedule for Friday, July 17, 2020 -- TCM Special Theme: Directed by John Ford

[Staph]

Before noon, TCM is showing a selection of films directed by Tod Browning. Throughout the rest of the day, TCM continues the celebration the works of director John Ford. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER 1925 STUDIO TOUR (1925)
This short film provides a silent tour of MGM studios in 1925.
BW-32 mins,


6:47 AM -- THE MAGIC ALPHABET (1942)
This short film focuses on the work of Dutch physician Christiaan Eijkman.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur Cast: Emmett Vogan, Stephen McNally, Dorothy Morris
BW-11 mins,


7:00 AM -- WEST OF ZANZIBAR (1928)
In this silent film, a mad African dictator plots revenge on the trader who stole his wife.
Dir: Tod Browning Cast: Lon Chaney, Lionel Barrymore, Mary Nolan
BW-65 mins, CC,

In the ceremonial tribal dances the local extras had difficulty dancing to the drums.To remedy the situation a radio was brought to the set and played Jazz tunes by a local station.


8:15 AM -- THE THIRTEENTH CHAIR (1929)
A phony medium tries to prove her protege innocent of murder.
Dir: Tod Browning Cast: Conrad Nagel, Leila Hyams, Margaret Wycherly
BW-73 mins,

Completed July 16 1929, the first sound feature in which Bela Lugosi's famous Hungarian tones were heard.


9:30 AM -- FREAKS (1932)
A lady trapeze artist violates the code of the side show when she plots to murder her midget husband.
Dir: Tod Browning Cast: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova
BW-62 mins, CC,

Director Tod Browning worked at a circus in his youth, both as a clown and a contortionist. His familiarity with circus folk inspired him to create this film.


10:45 AM -- MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935)
Vampires seem to be connected to an unsolved murder.
Dir: Tod Browning Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allen, Lionel Atwill
BW-60 mins, CC,

Throughout the film, Count Mora (Bela Lugosi) has an unexplained bullet wound on his temple. In the original script Mora was supposed to have had an incestuous relationship with his daughter Luna, and to have committed suicide. After filming began, however, MGM deleted references to the crime (and any remaining references may have been deleted when 20 minutes of footage was removed after the film's preview). Because director Tod Browning's previous film, Freaks (1932), had been a box-office disaster, he was unable to object to any changes made by the studio.


11:47 AM -- BRING ON THE GIRLS (1937)
In this comedic short, Edgar Bergen and his ventriloquist dummy partner Charlie McCarthy introduce the acts of a vaudeville show.
BW-11 mins,


12:00 PM -- GIDEON OF SCOTLAND YARD (1959)
A Scotland Yard inspector struggles to get through a typical day on the job.
Dir: John Ford Cast: Jack Hawkins, Dianne Foster, Cyril Cusack
C-91 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

John Ford was allowed to visit Scotland Yard building during the shooting of the movie. The policemen asked him not to show the cups and saucers which were on officers's desks. And Ford finally filmed policemen's desks with cups and saucers on them.


1:45 PM -- THE RISING OF THE MOON (1957)
Three stories examine the lives of the Irish living under British oppression.
Dir: John Ford Cast: Tyrone Power, Denis O Dea, Eileen Crowe
BW-81 mins, CC,

The cottage in the first segment appears to be the same one owned by John Wayne's character in The Quiet Man (1952).


3:15 PM -- THE LAST HURRAH (1958)
A political boss faces changing times as he runs for re-election.
Dir: John Ford Cast: Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Dianne Foster
BW-121 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In "Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford" by Scott Eyman, Pat O'Brien recalled that Ford "would never talk the part you were playing, he'd just tell you what he wanted. 'I hope you can get it,' he'd say, chewing on that handkerchief he always had. When you failed, he'd say, 'That wasn't what I wanted. Try to get what I wanted. We're going to take another whack at it and it better be good.' And after you finally got it he'd come over and put his arms around you. 'Why the hell didn't you get it in the first place?' he'd say. Ford was the genius of them all. He was an artist drawing a portrait in oil."


5:30 PM -- THE LONG GRAY LINE (1955)
An Irish immigrant becomes one of West Point's most beloved officers.
Dir: John Ford Cast: Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, Robert Francis
C-137 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

John Ford cast Jack Lemmon as Ens. Frank Pulver in Mister Roberts (1955) after having seen him test for this film.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPECIAL THEME: DIRECTED BY JOHN FORD



8:00 PM -- HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941)
A Welsh mining family faces the struggles of life together.
Dir: John Ford Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee
BW-119 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Donald Crisp, Best Director -- John Ford, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Arthur C. Miller, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Richard Day, Nathan Juran and Thomas Little, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Sara Allgood, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Philip Dunne, Best Sound, Recording -- Edmund H. Hansen (20th Century-Fox SSD), Best Film Editing -- James B. Clark, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Alfred Newman

John Ford became the second director to win three Academy Awards for Best Director, having previously won for The Informer (1935) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940). 11 years later, he would win his fourth for The Quiet Man (1952) (which also starred Maureen O'Hara), a record unmatched by any other director.


10:15 PM -- THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
Oklahoma farmers dispossessed during the Depression fight for better lives in California.
Dir: John Ford Cast: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine
BW-129 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jane Darwell, and Best Director -- John Ford

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Henry Fonda, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Nunnally Johnson, Best Sound, Recording -- Edmund H. Hansen (20th Century-Fox SSD), Best Film Editing -- Robert L. Simpson, and Best Picture

According to Henry Fonda, John Ford preferred only one take and little or no rehearsal to catch the most spontaneous moment. For the key climactic final scene between Tom and Ma, Ford didn't even watch the rehearsal. When the time came to shoot, Ford led Fonda and Jane Darwell through the silent action of the scene, preventing them from starting their lines until the two actors were completely in the moment. It was done in a single take and Fonda said on screen it was "brilliant."


12:30 AM -- THE LONG VOYAGE HOME (1940)
A merchant ship's crew tries to survive the loneliness of the sea and the coming of war.
Dir: John Ford Cast: John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Ian Hunter
BW-106 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Dudley Nichols, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Gregg Toland, Best Film Editing -- Sherman Todd, Best Effects, Special Effects -- R.T. Layton (photographic), Ray Binger (photographic) and Thomas T. Moulton (sound), Best Music, Original Score -- Richard Hageman, and Best Picture

John Wayne was asked by director John Ford to play the part of Ole Olson, who was Swedish. Wayne wasn't sure he could pull off the Swedish accent and was worried that the audience would laugh. Ford persuaded him to take the role. Wayne was instructed in the Swedish accent by Danish actress Osa Massen.


4:15 AM -- BREWSTER MCCLOUD (1970)
A mysterious boy living in the Houston Astrodome dreams of building himself a pair of wings.
Dir: Robert Altman Cast: Bud Cort, Sally Kellerman, Michael Murphy
C-105 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Robert Altman hated the script so much, he tossed it out and actors were coached on lines as they shot scenes.

[rusty quoin]

1. I saw The Grapes of Wrath in the early eighties on the big screen at Washington University.

I was in my early twenties, and maybe had seen it as a kid, but what affected me as an adult, was Fonda’s plain speak and the whole message, that regular people were trapped in a system which kept them down.

It’s a powerful movie.