TCM Schedule for Thursday, October 29, 2020 -- Celebrating 30 Years of the Film Foundation

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is subjecting us to more October-adjacent films - more scary, ghostly stuff. Ugh! Then in prime time, TCM completes their celebration of 30 years of the Film Foundation. Enjoy!


12:15 AM -- The Great McGinty (1940)
1h 21m | Comedy | TV-PG
A bum is transformed into a political kingpin by a corrupt hoodlum, only to be destroyed by a crooked political boss.
Dir: Preston Sturges
Cast: Brian Donlevy, Muriel Angelus, Akim Tamiroff

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Preston Sturges

This is the first movie to show the credit "Written and Directed by...." followed by just one name: Preston Sturges.


2:00 AM -- The Candidate (1972)
1h 49m | Drama | TV-14
A senate candidate's ideals weaken as his position in the polls gets stronger.
Dir: Michael Ritchie
Cast: Robert Redford, Peter Boyle, Melvyn Douglas

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced -- Jeremy Larner

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Sound -- Richard Portman and Gene S. Cantamessa

The Candidate (1972) was released a month prior to the 1972 California Presidential primary. Promotional sheets were put up in southern California resembling political posters. They had simply a photo of Robert Redford, with the slogan, "McKay: The Better Way!" - "McKay" got write-in votes in the June election.


4:00 AM -- All the King's Men (1949)
1h 49m | Drama | TV-PG
A backwoods politician rises to the top only to become corrupted.
Dir: Robert Rossen
Cast: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Broderick Crawford, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Mercedes McCambridge, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Ireland, Best Director -- Robert Rossen, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Robert Rossen, and Best Film Editing -- Robert Parrish and Al Clark

Producer-director Robert Rossen offered the role of Willie Stark to John Wayne. Rossen sent a copy of the script to Wayne's agent, Charles K. Feldman, who forwarded it to Wayne. After reading the script, Wayne sent it back with an angry letter attached. In it, he told Feldman that before he sent the script to any of his other clients, he should ask them if they wanted to star in a film that "smears the machinery of government for no purpose of humor or enlightenment," that "degrades all relationships," and that is populated by "drunken mothers; conniving fathers; double-crossing sweethearts; bad, bad, rich people; and bad, bad poor people if they want to get ahead." He accused Rossen of wanting to make a movie that threw acid on "the American way of life." If Feldman had such clients, Wayne wrote that the agent should "rush this script... to them." Wayne, however, said to the agent that "You can take this script and shove it up Robert Rossen's derrière . . . " Wayne later remarked that "To make Huey Long a wonderful, rough pirate was great . . . but, according to this picture, everybody was shit--except for this weakling intern doctor who was trying to find a place in the world." Broderick Crawford, who had played a supporting role in Wayne's Seven Sinners (1940), eventually received the part of Stark. In a bit of irony, Crawford was Oscar-nominated for the part of Stark and found himself competing against Wayne, who was nominated the same year for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). Crawford won the Best Actor Oscar, giving Rossen the last laugh.


6:00 AM -- Haunted Gold (1932)
58m | Western | TV-G
A cowboy and his girl fight bandits and a ghost over an abandoned mine.
Dir: Mack V. Wright
Cast: John Wayne, Duke, Sheila Terry

The statuette of the Maltese Falcon, previously used in the original version of The Maltese Falcon (1931) can be seen in the background inside the house several times and very prominently in the scene where the film's heroine, Sheila Terry, is playing the organ.


7:00 AM -- The Devil-Doll (1936)
1h 19m | Horror | TV-PG
A Devil's Island escapee shrinks murderous slaves and sells them to his victims as dolls.
Dir: Tod Browning
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'sullivan, Frank Lawton

Madame Mandilip's special dolls are costumed as members of vicious street gangs known as the Apache (pronounced ah-PAHSH), who were involved in theft, prostitution, and the occasional murder in pre-World War I Paris. The dolls even perform the Apache dance popularized by the gangs, in which extremely close steps alternate with seemingly brutal punches, kicks, hair-pulling, spins, and throws; it was usually danced to the Valse des rayons (aka Valse chaloupée) composed by Jacques Offenbach. In the 1930s and 1940s, this dance was still performed by professional dancers and can be seen in several films and even cartoons of the period.


8:30 AM -- Before Dawn (1933)
1h | Mystery | TV-G
Detectives compete to solve the murders at a mysterious mansion.
Dir: Irving Pichel
Cast: Stuart Erwin, Dorothy Wilson, Warner Oland

Working title: "Death Watch"


9:45 AM -- Man Alive (1946)
1h 10m | Comedy | TV-G
A man thought dead returns as a ghost to scare off his wife's suitors.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Pat O'brien, Adolphe Menjou, Ellen Drew

According to a contemporary article in The Hollywood Reporter, the riverboat set was specifically built for this film and was the first permanent set of its kind.


11:00 AM -- Tormented (1960)
1h 15m | Drama | TV-PG
A composer is haunted by the ghost of the former lover he let die.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: Richard Carlson, Susan Gordon, Lugene Sanders

A portion of the score actually came from William Castle's House on Haunted Hill (1959) which Allied Artists had distributed the previous year.


12:30 PM -- Angel on My Shoulder (1946)
1h 41m | Comedy | TV-PG
The Devil sends a murdered gangster to Earth as a respected judge.
Dir: Archie Mayo
Cast: Paul Muni, Anne Baxter, Claude Rains

After his definitive performance in Scarface (1932), Paul Muni vowed never to play a gangster again. This tactic worked well for a couple of years, with an Academy Award for The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) and an Oscar nomination for The Life of Emile Zola (1937), but eventually the good parts started to dwindle. By 1946, Muni was keen to play a major role again, so took the part of a gangster in this film.


2:15 PM -- Night of Dark Shadows (1971)
1h 37m | Drama | TV-14
Newlyweds try to survive life at a haunted family estate.
Dir: Dan Curtis
Cast: David Selby, Grayson Hall, Kate Jackson

It is reported that MGM forced Dan Curtis to cut over 35 minutes from the completed film, and gave him only 24 hours to do the job. So the film, which was meant to be approximately 129 minutes, was shortened about 94 minutes, which according to some caused the film to lose its coherence. Much of the excised footage was recovered in 1999, but unfortunately, without sound.


4:00 PM -- Indestructible Man (1956)
1h 10m | Horror | TV-PG
Scientific experiments accidentally revive an executed criminal and make him impervious to harm, prompting him to seek revenge on his former partners.
Dir: Jack Pollexfen
Cast: Lon Chaney [jr.], Casey Adams, Marian Carr

Although Joe Flynn played a serious role in this film, audiences laughed at him. This convinced him that comedy was his forte, and he later specialized in comedic roles, most memorably as the irascible Captain Binghamton on TV's McHale's Navy (1962).


5:15 PM -- From Hell It Came (1957)
1h 11m | Horror | TV-PG
After he's framed for murder and executed, a South Seas prince returns as a vengeful tree spirit.
Dir: Dan Milner
Cast: Tod Andrews, Tina Carver, Linda Watkins

Supposedly inspired one of the most infamous movie reviews of all time: "And to hell it can go!" Actually, that critique was, "Send it back."


6:30 PM -- Death Curse of Tartu (1966)
Horror | TV-14
After a group of archaeology students disturb the grave of a Seminole witch-doctor, they are haunted by an apparition that takes form as an alligator, snake, shark, or zombie.
Dir: William Grefé
Cast: Fred Pinero, Babette Sherrill, Mayra Cristine

In the last reel, actor Doug Hobart, who plays Tartu who has come back to life, wears full length suntan pantyhose underneath his loincloth.


8:00 PM -- Winchester '73 (1950)
1h 32m | Western | TV-PG
A man combs the West in search of his stolen rifle.
Dir: Anthony Mann
Cast: James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea

At the time of filming, James Stewart was anxious to appear in more challenging roles, as he was worried that the general perception was of him as a limited actor. He found director Anthony Mann very helpful in breaking that perception.


10:00 PM -- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
1h 43m | Drama | TV-PG
An aging Cavalry officer tries to prevent an Indian war in the last days before his retirement.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar

Winner of an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Winton C. Hoch

John Ford initially was uncertain who to cast in the lead role. However, he knew that he did not want John Wayne for the part, taking into account that, among other factors, Wayne would be playing a character over 20 years older than he was at the time. Reportedly, Wayne's performance in Red River (1948) changed Ford's mind, causing him to exclaim, "I didn't know the big son of a bitch could act!" Ford realized Wayne had grown considerably as an actor, and was now capable of playing the character he envisaged for this film. When shooting was completed, Ford presented Wayne with a cake with the message, "You're an actor now."


12:00 AM -- Primary (1960)
1h | Documentary | TV-G
The Wisconsin Primary of 1960 sets John Kennedy on the road to the White House.
Dir: Robert Drew
Cast: John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Hubert H Humphrey

In the beginning when Kennedy is smoking a cigar and the poll results are told to him, the audio picks up Kennedy uttering "well, fuck". The only reason this was captured on audio is because Robert Drew hid a microphone in Kennedy's ashtray.


1:15 AM -- Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)
58m | Documentary | TV-PG
After years of segregation, the University of Alabama becomes the last U.S. college to open its doors to black students.
Dir: Robert Drew
Cast: John Fitzgerald Kennedy, George Wallace, Robert F. Kennedy

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22 1963, one month after the release of this film.


2:15 AM -- Dos Monjes (1934)
Drama | TV-PG
In a Gothic-styled monastery, a monk named Javier sees the face of another monk, Juan, and???
Dir: Juan Bustillo Oro
Cast: Víctor Urruchúa, Carlos Villatoro, Magda Haller

Precedes Rashomon (1950) by 16 years in presenting the "different point of view" narrative technique.


4:00 AM -- Of Mice and Men (1939)
1h 47m | Drama | TV-14
A drifter and his slow-witted pal try to make their way in the West.
Dir: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, Lon Chaney Jr.

Nominee for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Elmer Raguse (Hal Roach SSD), Best Music, Scoring -- Aaron Copland, Best Music, Original Score -- Aaron Copland, and Best Picture

Lon Chaney Jr. had played the role of "Lennie" in the Los Angeles stage production of "Of Mice and Men," and asked director Lewis Milestone for a screen test. Milestone was planning on casting Broderick Crawford in the role, but agreed to let Chaney feed lines to actresses testing for the part of "Mae." By the end of all the tests, Milestone had changed his mind, and cast Chaney in the part without a test of his own.