TCM Schedule for Saturday, August 1, 2020 -- Summer Under The Stars: Barbara Stanwyck

[Staph]

It's once again that wonderful time of the year - Summer Under The Stars. From the TCM website:

Once again TCM presents its popular Summer Under the Stars festival, where each day of August is devoted to 24 hours of movies featuring one celebrated movie star. This year, our returning favorites include Barbara Stanwyck, Rock Hudson, Rita Hayworth, Burt Lancaster, Charlie Chaplin, Lana Turner, John Barrymore, Steve McQueen, Cary Grant, John Wayne, Bette Davis, Laurence Olivier, Claudette Colbert and Maureen O'Hara (in a 100th birthday tribute).

Today's star is Barbara Stanwyck. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Gambling Lady (1934)
Two gamblers fall in love but one is already married to a possible murderer.
Dir: Archie Mayo
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Pat O'Brien
BW-66 mins, CC

Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrae became close friends in set and established the start of a career-long working relationship with them. Stanwyck, however, gave McCrae a dressing down and lesson in professionalism when he failed to show for a photoshoot of production stills (in McCrae's defense he was told it was not necessary). Stanwyck accused McCrae of taking his position as a Hollywood local and "golden boy" for granted and recounted to him the hard work and hard living on the vaudeville and burlesque stage that Stanwyck had experienced to get where she was. McCrae appreciated Stanwyck's frank speech and noted that he admired her professionalism.


7:15 AM -- Annie Oakley (1935)
The famed female sharpshooter learns that you can't get a man with a gun when she falls for a rival marksman.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, Melvyn Douglas
BW-90 mins, CC

Barbara Stanwyck had become increasingly frustrated with the type of roles her studio, Warner Brothers, were providing for her and so had started freelancing. This was her first film for RKO.


9:00 AM -- B.F.'s Daughter (1948)
A professor doesn't know his wife is an heiress.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Charles Coburn
BW-108 mins, CC

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Irene

In the scene where Barbara Stanwyck, playing the new bride, was supposed to be carried across the threshold by her husband, she and director Robert Z. Leonard cooked up a practical joke and draped her body with heavy chains under the mink coat she wore, making it impossible for Van Heflin to pick her up.


11:00 AM -- Crime Of Passion (1957)
An executive's wife barters sex for her husband's business success.
Dir: Gerd Oswald
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr
BW-86 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The last film noir roles of both Barbara Stanwyck and Raymond Burr. It also comes towards the ends of their film careers in general. Both would soon transition to working primarily in television and appearing only occasionally in movies. Burr notably moved from the villainous characters he often portrayed in films to long-running success as the heroic defense attorney in Perry Mason (1957).


12:30 PM -- The Moonlighter (1953)
A former jailbird makes good after the wrong man is accused for his crime.
Dir: Roy Rowland
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Ward Bond
BW-78 mins, CC

According to Ben Mankiewicz on TCM, Barbara Stanwyck did her own stunts during the waterfall scene, and despite becoming black and blue, never held up the production.


2:00 PM -- East Side, West Side (1949)
A chic New York couple is torn apart by a seductive model.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, James Mason, Van Heflin
BW-108 mins, CC

Gale Sondergaard, who plays Barbara Stanwyck's mother in this film, was 50 years old when it was produced. Stanwyck was 42.


4:00 PM -- The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
A woman slowly discovers that her artist husband is a deranged killer.
Dir: Peter Godfrey
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith
BW-99 mins, CC

Bogart and Stanwyck had a friendly relationship on set. Producer Mark Hellinger, whom Bogart liked very much, announced that Bogart would not be seen in any painter's wardrobe which would appear less than the tough guy image he had cultivated. When a painter's smock and beret with a tassel showed up on his wardrobe clothes rack one day, the actor was furious. The smock and beret were a joke perpetrated by Stanwyck, and the two performers had a good laugh afterward.


6:00 PM -- Clash by Night (1952)
An embittered woman seeks escape in marriage, only to fall for her husband's best friend.
Dir: Fritz Lang
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan
BW-105 mins, CC

This movie was shot while Barbara Stanwyck was in the process of divorcing Robert Taylor. The movie also featured the rising young star Marilyn Monroe. Barbara gave a good performance in one of her most memorable films. Despite her emotional devastation, the crew noted Barbara's lack of a diva tantrum, Fritz Lang later said, "She's fantastic, unbelievable, and I liked her tremendously. When Marilyn missed her lines---which she did constantly---Barbara never said a word."



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: BARBARA STANWYCK



8:00 PM -- Ball of Fire (1941)
A group of professors takes in a nightclub singer hiding from the law to protect her gangster boyfriend.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Homolka
BW-112 mins, CC

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Barbara Stanwyck, Best Writing, Original Story -- Thomas Monroe and Billy Wilder, Best Sound, Recording -- Thomas T. Moulton (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Alfred Newman

Howard Hawks recalled that for the scene in which Bertram reveals his feelings about Sugarpuss in the darkened bungalow, cinematographer Gregg Toland coated Barbara Stanwyck's face with black grease paint so that her eyes would stand out.


10:00 PM -- Double Indemnity (1944)
An insurance salesman gets seduced into plotting a client's death.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
BW-108 mins, CC

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Barbara Stanwyck, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- John F. Seitz, Best Sound, Recording -- Loren L. Ryder (Paramount SSD), Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Miklós Rózsa, and Best Picture

Barbara Stanwyck was the first choice to play Phyllis, but she was unnerved when seeing the role was of a ruthless killer. When she expressed her concern to Billy Wilder, he asked her, "Are you a mouse or an actress?"


12:00 AM -- Meet John Doe (1941)
A reporter's fraudulent story turns a tramp into a national hero and makes him a pawn of big business.
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold
BW-123 mins, CC

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Richard Connell and Robert Presnell Sr.

Frank Capra didn't want anyone to play John Doe except Gary Cooper, who agreed to the part (without reading a script) for two reasons: he had enjoyed working with Capra on Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and he wanted to work with Barbara Stanwyck.


2:15 AM -- The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
A daffy socialite gets her friends mixed up in a murder investigation.
Dir: Leigh Jason
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Sam Levene
BW-80 mins, CC

The first of three screen pairings of Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck. All were comedies. The other films being The Lady Eve (1941) and You Belong to Me (1941).


4:00 AM -- Lady of Burlesque (1943)
A star dancer and comedian team to investigate murders.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Michael O'Shea, Iris Adrian
BW-90 mins, CC

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Arthur Lange

According to October 15, 1941 news item in Hollywood Reporter, producer David O. Selznick had taken out an option on Gypsy Rose Lee's novel for $1,000 against a $25,000 purchase price and that he was to test Lee for the starring role in the film. Other Hollywood Reporter news item indicate that Selznick was planning to loan producer John Houseman to Unitied Artists for production, that the book option was later picked up by United Artists for $25,000 asking price ($400,000 in 2018), and that Joseph Cotten was considered for a lead role in the film.