TCM Schedule for Friday, July 16, 2021 -- Primetime Theme: Friday Night Neo Noir

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating the amazing Barbara Stanwyck, born Ruby Catherine Stevens on July 16, 1907, in Brooklyn, New York. According to IMDB, her stage name was inspired by a theatrical poster that read "Jane Stanwyck in Barbara Frietchie". Then in prime time, TCM has the third week of Friday Night Neo Noir. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Secret Bride (1935)
1h 16m | Drama | TV-PG
A district attorney secretly marries the daughter of a man he's trying to convict.
Director: William Dieterle
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Warren William, Glenda Farrell

The $10,000 in supposed bribe money would equate to about $186,000 in 2018.


7:15 AM -- His Brother's Wife (1936)
1h 30m | Romance | TV-PG
A man helps his brother skip town, then steals his girlfriend.
Director: W. S. Van Dyke
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor, Jean Hersholt

This film did very well at the box office, earning MGM a profit of $755,000 ($13.2M in 2017) according to studio records.


8:45 AM -- Gambling Lady (1934)
1h 6m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
Two gamblers fall in love but one is already married to a possible murderer.
Director: Archie Mayo
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Pat O'Brien

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.


10:00 AM -- The Woman in Red (1935)
1h 8m | Romance | TV-PG
A professional horsewoman fights prejudice when she marries into society.
Director: Robert Florey
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Gene Raymond, Genevieve Tobin

Based on the novel North Shore by Wallace Irwin.


11:15 AM -- Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
1h 41m | Comedy | TV-G
A homemaking specialist who can't boil water is forced to provide a family holiday for a war hero.
Director: Peter Godfrey
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet

Just before this film, Barbara Stanwyck had starred in Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944), in which she played a seductress who lures a man into helping murder her husband. The clothes for that film were created by Paramount's resident designer Edith Head, and Stanwyck was so impressed with how attractive Head's outfits made her look in that film that she insisted Warners hire Head to design her gowns for this film as well.


1:00 PM -- Clash by Night (1952)
1h 44m | Romance | TV-PG
An embittered woman seeks escape in marriage, only to fall for her husband's best friend.
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan

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."


3:00 PM -- Executive Suite (1954)
1h 44m | Drama | TV-PG
When a business magnate dies, his board of directors fights over who should run the company.
Director: Robert Wise
Cast: William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Nina Foch, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- George J. Folsey, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Edward C. Carfagno, Edwin B. Willis and Emile Kuri, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

While the practice of including a large, all-star cast had been popular in the 1930s, particularly with films such as Grand Hotel (1932) and Dinner at Eight (1933), it was a relatively rare occurrence in the 1950s. Producer John Houseman admitted many years after the film's production that the decision to cast so many recognizable stars was part of an effort by MGM to compete with the soaring popularity of television.


5:00 PM -- Illicit (1931)
1h 21m | Drama | TV-G
Young free-thinkers turn conventionally jealous when they marry.
Director: Archie Mayo
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, James Rennie, Charles Butterworth

On the phone, Dick (James Rennie) and Anne (Barbara Stanwyck) tease Duckie (Joan Blondell) that they can't agree on which vacuum cleaner to buy, a Peerless or a General Electric. The joke here appears to be that Peerless was an old maker of hand-pump vacuums, never electric ones.


6:30 PM -- Baby Face (1933)
1h 16m | Drama | TV-PG
A beautiful schemer sleeps her way to the top of a banking empire.
Director: Alfred E. Green
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Donald Cook

In 2004, when Michael Mashon, a curator of the motion picture division at the Library of Congress, received a request for a print of this film, he discovered two negatives of the film: the original camera negative and a "duplicate negative" that was longer. The duplicate negative was the pre-release (uncensored) version of the film that was submitted to the New York State censorship board in 1933 for approval. The uncensored version received its public premiere at the London Film Festival in November 2004, more than 70 years after it was made. The existence of these negatives allows pristine quality prints to be made as compared to other surviving films of that era. I don't know which version TCM will be showing.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- FRIDAY NIGHT NEO NOIR



8:00 PM -- Pulp (1972)
1h 32m | Crime | TV-PG
A pulp fiction novelist fights to survive an assignment to ghost write a controversial star's memoirs.
Director: Mike Hodges
Cast: Michael Caine, Mickey Rooney, Lionel Stander

A device used throughout the film are sudden extra-loud noises, and not just bullets but pretty much anything from pool cues striking balls to cars crashing to falling glasses. This accentuates the feeling that anything can happen at any time, and often does.


9:45 PM -- Body Heat (1981)
1h 53m | Crime
A femme fatale seduces a Florida lawyer and convinces him to kill her husband.
Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Cast: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna

Directorial debut of Lawrence Kasdan. Prior to this film, Kasdan had written Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) for George Lucas, and was in the process of writing Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). Lucas returned the favor by serving as Kasdan's sponsor for the Ladd Company studio as well as acting as an uncredited executive producer on this film.


12:00 AM -- To Live And Die In L.A. (1985)
1h 56m | Action | TV-14
A Secret Service agent becomes obsessed with tracking down a notorious and dangerous Los Angeles counterfeitor.
Director: William Friedkin
Cast: William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Turturro

William Friedkin, in his memoir "The Friedkin Connection," says that the fake money they made was so good that, after some of it left the set, he eventually heard from the Secret Service and a US Attorney. After he avoided a confrontation with them, Friedkin states "When the film came out, there were news stories about people trying to make counterfeit money after seeing the step-by-step process in our film. I took some of the twenties, those printed on both sides of course, put them in my wallet, and spent them in restaurants, shoe-shine parlors, and elsewhere. The money was that good."


2:15 AM -- Bobbie Jo And The Outlaw (1976)
1h 28m | Action | TV-MA
Bobbie Jo Baker is an aspiring country singer who takes off with an aspiring Billy the Kid.
Director: Mark L. Lester
Cast: Marjoe Gortner, Lynda Carter, Jesse Vint

It is the film debut of Lynda Carter. It premiered a month prior to the beginning of Lynda's career as the titular Amazonian superheroine in television series Wonder Woman (1975), which only lasted for three seasons.


3:45 AM -- Stunts (1977)
1h 30m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A stuntman is killed on set, so his brother takes over the job to investigate.
Director: Mark L. Lester
Cast: Robert Forster, Fiona Lewis, Joanna Cassidy

During the "burning house" stunt scene for the movie-within-the-movie, there is a close-up of a crew member's hand, holding a stopwatch, resting on the script. The script is actually the script for the movie Stunts.


5:30 AM -- Shake Hands With Danger (1970)
23m | Short | TV-PG
Short safety film about the dangers associated with earthmoving equipment operations.
Director: Herk Harvey
Cast: Charles Oldfather, Cliff Bemis