TCM Schedule for Friday, October 14, 2022 -- What's On Tonight: Guest Programmer Ralph Macchio

[Staph]

In the daylight hours today, TCM is celebrating John Dall and Farley Granger. Dall, whose career started out so promisingly in the 1940s, getting an Oscar nod for his movie debut in The Corn Is Green (1945), never gained any traction. He appeared in only eight movies from 1945 to 1961, though he did many TV acting gigs. He died in 1971, reportedly of a heart attack but possibly from complications from a punctured lung.

Farley Granger was one of the last of Samuel Goldwyn's contract players and went on to work with Nicholas Ray and with Alfred Hitchcock in two of his best known roles, in Rope (1948) and Strangers on a Train (1951).

Then in prime time, TCM has brought in the original Karate Kid Ralph Macchio as a Guest Programmer. Don't be like me -- my first reaction was "how dare TCM feature that slime-bucket Trump-lover" . . . and then I realized I was thinking about Scott Baio.

And in the very late night, we've got six short films directed by David Lynch. Very appropriate for the scary season! Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Atlantis, the Lost Continent (1960)
1h 30m | Adventure | TV-G
A Greek fisherman gets caught up in court intrigue in a land of scientific wonders.
Director: George Pal
Cast: Anthony Hall, Joyce Taylor, John Dall

Final theatrical film of John Dall.


7:45 AM -- The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950)
1h 21m | Crime | TV-PG
A woman in the process of divorce shoots her husband and gets her police lieutenant boyfriend to help hide the body.
Director: Felix E. Feist
Cast: Lee J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt, John Dall

Jack Warner Jr. believed Lee J. Cobb would be able to carry off the romantic leading man role, as he was just coming off one of the most celebrated runs on Broadway, as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman". Warner believed this was a casting coup that would translate into "big box office". It didn't. According to TCM, Warner casting Jane Wyatt, one of Hollywood's most wholesome actresses, as a homicidal socialite was unexpected: "To say this role fit her like a glove, I'd have to be talking about a big old catchers mitt, or a boxing glove."


9:15 AM -- The Corn Is Green (1945)
1h 54m | Drama | TV-G
A dedicated teacher sacrifices everything to send a young miner to Oxford.
Director: Irving Rapper
Cast: Bette Davis, Nigel Bruce, John Dall

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Dall, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Joan Lorring

Richard Waring, who created the role of Morgan on stage in America was signed by Warner Bros. but he was drafted before shooting began and had to be replaced by John Dall. Veteran actor Gareth Hughes was then living in a monastery. An agreement was found with his religious superior so that he could serve as the Welsh dialect coach.


11:30 AM -- Gun Crazy (1950)
1h 27m | Crime | TV-PG
Two disturbed young people release their fascination with guns through a crime spree.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Cast: Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger

The bank heist sequence was done entirely in one take, with no one outside the principal actors and people inside the bank aware that a movie was being filmed. When John Dall as Bart Tare says, "I hope we find a parking space," he really meant it, as there was no guarantee that there would be one. In addition, at the end of the sequence someone in the background screams that there's been a bank robbery - this was actually a bystander who saw the filming and assumed the worst.


1:15 PM -- Strangers on a Train (1951)
1h 36m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A man's joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Burks

According to Farley Granger, Sir Alfred Hitchcock treated Ruth Roman harshly, often criticizing her in front of everyone. "He had to have one person in each film he could harass," Granger noted. Even Roman knew Hitchcock did not want her for the part and used her only because she was under contract and the studio insisted upon her participation.


3:15 PM -- Side Street (1950)
1h 23m | Crime | TV-PG
A New York City mailman is chased by both cops and crooks when he steals a shipment of dirty money.
Director: Anthony Mann
Cast: Farley Granger, Cathy O'Donnell, James Craig

Director Anthony Mann's final film noir. After this he would mostly make westerns.


4:45 PM -- Behave Yourself! (1951)
1h 21m | Comedy | TV-PG
A young couple's dog gets them mixed up in a string of murders.
Director: George Beck
Cast: Farley Granger, Shelley Winters, William Demarest

The firm of Cannell & Chaffin, Inc. listed in the opening credits as supplying furniture for the film was a high-end furniture and interior design business founded in 1917 in Los Angeles. It was located at 3000 Wilshire Blvd., and was hired by William Randolph Hearst to furnish his estate now known as Hearst Castle. Joseph Cannell, one of the founders of the firm, was the father of Stephen J. Cannell, television writer and creator of such shows as The A Team and The Rockford Files. Evidently the firm filed for bankruptcy and went out of business in the late 1980s.


6:15 PM -- Small Town Girl (1953)
1h 33m | Musical | TV-G
A sheriff's daughter falls for a playboy arrested for speeding.
Director: Leslie Kardos
Cast: Jane Powell, Farley Granger, Ann Miller

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Nicholas Brodszky (music) and Leo Robin (lyrics) for the song "My Flaming Heart"

For the reprise of "Take Me to Broadway", Bobby Van performs an extended dance sequence in which he jumps continuously for nearly five minutes. At first glance, it appears that he accomplishes the entire routine in one take. However, the dance was so tiring that it was cut into five segments, so that he could rest. The cuts are covered by changes in camera angles and placement.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- GUEST PROGRAMMER RALPH MACCHIO



8:00 PM -- Network (1976)
2h 1m | Drama | TV-MA
Television programmers turn a deranged news anchor into the mad prophet of the airwaves.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter Finch (Nomination and award were posthumous. Finch became the first posthumous winner in an acting category. His widow Eletha Finch and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Faye Dunaway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Beatrice Straight, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Paddy Chayefsky

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Holden, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Ned Beatty, Best Director -- Sidney Lumet, Best Cinematography -- Owen Roizman, Best Film Editing -- Alan Heim, and Best Picture

Writer Paddy Chayefsky was eerily prescient in his screenplay in three significant ways. First, the screenplay pertains to the goings-on at UBS, the fictional fourth network existing alongside the non-fictional ABC, CBS, and NBC. In 1987 Fox became the real fourth network. Second, in her speech to her employees about her goals for UBS, Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) says, "I don't want conventional programming on this network. I want counterculture, I want anti-establishment", the type of programming delivered by FOX with its two debut series, Married... with Children (1987) and The Tracey Ullman Show (1987). Third, Diana Christensen's creation of the show about the Ecumenical Liberation Army and its criminal activities is prescient of "reality TV" in that, as a result of the writers' strike of 1988 (which lasted twenty-two weeks), FOX started to run low on new content. To replace it, the network bought the show Cops (1989) (which featured police officers trying to thwart criminal activity). Despite very noteworthy predecessors, such as An American Family (1973), which depicted the experiences of the Loud family, and Scared Straight! (1978), some consider Cops (1989) the true progenitor of the long-running trend of "reality TV".


10:15 PM -- Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
1h 51m | Drama | TV-PG
An alienated teenager tries to handle life's troubles and an apron-wearing dad.
Director: Nicholas Ray
Cast: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sal Mineo, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Natalie Wood, and Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Nicholas Ray

When the scenes were shot for the chickie run aftermath as the teenagers ran to the edge of the cliff to look down, they witnessed what looked like the sun rising and exploding. Steffi Sidney, who played Mil, would later comment that it looked like an atomic bomb went off, and it was. What they witnessed was Zucchini, the 14th and final fission bomb (weighing 28 kilotons) launched for Operation Teapot.


12:15 AM -- Singin' in the Rain (1952)
1h 43m | Musical | TV-G
A silent-screen swashbuckler finds love while trying to adjust to the coming of sound.
Director: Gene Kelly
Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'connor, Debbie Reynolds

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jean Hagen, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Lennie Hayton

In the looping sequence, Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) is seen dubbing the dialogue for Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) because Lina's voice is shrill and screechy. However, it's not Reynolds who is speaking, it's Jean Hagen herself, who actually had a beautiful deep, rich voice. So you have Jean Hagen dubbing Debbie Reynolds dubbing Jean Hagen. And when Debbie is supposedly dubbing Jean's singing of "Would You?" the voice you hear singing actually belongs to Betty Noyes, who had a much richer singing voice than Debbie.


2:15 AM -- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
2h 15m | Drama | TV-14
Laura Palmer's harrowing final days are chronicled one year after the murder of Teresa Banks, a resident of Twin Peaks' neighboring town.
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Kyle MacLachlan

In most versions of the film certain sequences are sub-titled - at the nightclub where the music drowns out the dialogue and when characters speak backwards - but not in the British version. Apparently, director David Lynch changed his mind so often as to whether they should be included or not, by the time he came to a final decision, the British distributors had already made all their prints (without subtitles) and couldn't afford to make any more.


4:45 AM -- The Amputee, Version 1 (1974)
5m | Short | TV-PG
A double amputee attempts to write a letter while her nurse gets in the way.
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Catherine E. Coulson, David Lynch

This short came about because the American Film Institute was testing two different kinds of black and white video and they hired cinematographer Frederick Elmes to shoot the test footage. David Lynch convinced Elmes to shoot a short film for the test, and stayed up all night writing the script. As a result, the short exists in two different versions, being shot once on each of the types of video being tested.


4:45 AM -- The Alphabet (1968)
3m | Short | TV-PG
This presents a sick woman's nightmare involving living representations of the alphabet.
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Peggy Lynch

Peggy Lynch was married to David Lynch from 1967-1974.


4:45 AM -- The Amputee, Version 2 (1974)
4m | Short | TV-PG
A double amputee attempts to write a letter while her nurse gets in the way.
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Catherine E. Coulson, David Lynch

The other version of The Amputee, using a different type of black-and-white video.


4:45 AM -- Six Men Getting Sick (1966)
4m | Short | TV-PG
Six cartoon figures vomit repeatedly.
Director: David Lynch

Lynch's directorial debut, as a sophmore at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.


4:45 AM -- The Grandmother (1970)
33m | Short | TV-14
A boy plants a seed that grows into a grandmother.
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Richard White, Dorothy McGinnis, Virginia Maitland

When hired by Mel Brooks and Stuart Cornfeld to direct The Elephant Man (1980), David Lynch showed this film to producer Jonathan Sanger; who had initially optioned the script; as he still wasn't convinced that Lynch was right for the job. This convinced him otherwise, as it showed that Lynch could make not only a surreal nightmare, but also an emotionally affecting film.


4:45 AM -- Premonitions Following an Evil Deed (1995)
1m | Short | TV-14
Police discover a naked dead body.
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Pam Pierrocish, Clyde Small, Stan Lothridge

Part of the film "Lumiere and Company". For the 100 year anniversary of the Lumiere camera, forty directors made one minute film segments using an original restored Lumiere camera. The ground rules were rigidly enforced: a continuous shot to be captured in a maximum of three attempts, no artificial light sources, no sync sound, and that this shot last a maximum of 55 seconds (the length of one reel of film for the camera). Lynch's short cost around $6000 to film and involved several different location changes. He skirted the rules by using his allowed three takes to close the shutter on the camera and move to a different set, thus creating the appearance of five different locations edited together.

[BigmanPigman]

1. Great! I am setting my DVR right now.

Thanks...