TCM 11-25-23 -- Going My Way, Double Indemnity, Night of the Living Dead, Mighty Joe Young, John Cleese

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Last edited Mon Nov 20, 2023, 02:20 PM - Edit history (2)

SPOTLIGHT: AFTER DARK
- BUMP IN THE NIGHT
Midnight Lace (1960)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
House on Haunted Hill (1958)
MGM Parade Show #11 (1955)
- TCM DAYTIME
WEEKEND FEATURES
Tab Hunter Confidential (2015)
MGM Cartoons: Tom Turkey and His Harmonica
Humdingers (1940)
Tiny Troubles (1939) (short)
Jasper National Park (1952) (short)
Smartest Girl in Town (1936)
Buck Rogers Ch. 4: The Sky Patrol (1939)
Popeye: Beware of Barnacle Bill (1935)
Trouble Makers (1948)
Regular Trouper, A (1932) (short)
Going My Way (1944) (Musical Matinee)
Mighty Joe Young (1949)
High Sierra (1941)
Double Indemnity (1944)
- TCM PRIMETIME
SPECIAL THEME: BRUCE LEE
(P) Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)
(P) Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story (1976) - NOIR ALLEY
Storm Fear (1956)
- TCM LATE NIGHT: THE BIG HEIST
Fish Called Wanda, A (1988)
Biggest Bundle of Them All, The (1968)

12:00 AM Midnight Lace (1960)

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A young woman can't get anyone to believe she's being stalked.
Dir: David Miller Cast: Doris Day, Rex Harrison, John Gavin
Runtime: 108 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
COSTUME DESIGN (Color) -- Irene

Trivia: Doris Day vowed to never make another thriller after this movie, claiming it emotionally drained her. She stayed true to her word; until her retirement eight years later, the only movies she made were comedies.

2:00 AM Night of the Living Dead (1968)

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An army of dead bodies comes to life and terrorizes a group of friends trapped inside a rural farmhouse.
Dir: George A. Romero Cast: Judith O'Dea, Russell Streiner, Duane Jones
Runtime: 96 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

Trivia: This is one of the most profitable independent movies ever made. Made for $114,000 (equivalent to $941,800 in 2022), it grossed approximately $30 million (equivalent to $247.8 million in 2022) - over 263 times its budget.


4:00 AM House on Haunted Hill (1958)

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The owner of a supposedly haunted mansion offers $10,000 to anyone dumb enough to attempt to spend the night there.
Dir: William Castle Cast: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long
Runtime: 75 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-14 CC: Y

Trivia: Exterior shots of the haunted house, primarily during the opening sequence, were filmed at The Ennis Brown House, located in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1924, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


5:30 AM Short: MGM Parade Show #11 (1955)
Judy Garland and Gene Kelly perform in a clip from For Me and My Gal. Susan Hayward introduces a clip from I'll Cry Tomorrow.
Dir: null Cast: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Susan Hayward
Runtime: 25 mins Genre: Documentary Rating: TV-G CC: N


6:00 AM Tab Hunter Confidential (2015)

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Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter discusses his life as a secretly gay matinee idol in the 1950s.
Dir: Jeffrey Schwarz Cast: Tab Hunter, Robert Wagner, Clint Eastwood
Runtime: 90 mins Genre: Biography Rating: TV-PG CC: Y


8:00 AM Cartoon: Tom Turkey and His Harmonica Humdingers (1940)
Tom Turkey and His Harmonica Humdingers wreck a general store playing their instruments to the dismay of the owner.
Dir: Hugh Harman Cast: Mel Blanc
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-G CC: Y


8:09 AM Short: Tiny Troubles (1939)
In this comedic short, a boy "trades in" his whining baby brother for another baby... who turns out to be a midget criminal.
Dir: George Sidney Cast: Emory Parnell, George McFarland, Darla Hood
Runtime: 10 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: N


8:20 AM Short: Jasper National Park (1952)
This short film takes the viewer to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies.
Dir: null Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick, James A. Fitzpatrick, Howard Nelson, Joseph Nussbaum
Runtime: 8 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: N


8:29 AM Smartest Girl in Town (1936)

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A girl in search of a rich husband mistakes a millionaire for a male model.
Dir: Joseph Santley Cast: Gene Raymond, Ann Sothern, Helen Broderick
Runtime: 58 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y


9:30 AM Serial: Buck Rogers, Chapter 4: The Sky Patrol (1939)
In Chapter Four of Buck Rogers, Wilma mistakenly calls for an attack on Buck's ship.
Dir: Ford Beebe, Ray Trampe Cast: Buster Crabbe, Constance Moore, Jackie Moran
Runtime: 21 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-G CC: N


10:00 AM Cartoon: Beware of Barnacle Bill (1935)
Popeye and Olive sing their way through this cartoon in operetta style. Popeye proposes but Olive says she loves another sailor and shows him Bluto's picture. Bluto rushes in and the fight starts.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Willard Bowsky Cast: William Costello, William Pennell, Mae Questel
Runtime: 6 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-PG CC: Y


10:08 AM Trouble Makers (1948)

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The Bowery Boys pose as bellhops to solve a murder.
Dir: Reginald Le Borg Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell
Runtime: 66 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y


11:30 AM A Regular Trouper (1932)
A singer must cope with her troupe manager falling in love with her sister.
Dir: Roy Mack Cast: Eddie Lang, Edward Leiter, Ruth Etting
Runtime: 18 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: N


12:00 PM Going My Way (1944)

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A young priest revitalizes a failing parish and brings new life to the elder priest.
Dir: Leo McCarey Cast: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Frank McHugh
Runtime: 130 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR -- Bing Crosby {"Father O'Malley"} (WINNER)
ACTOR -- Barry Fitzgerald {"Father Fitzgibbon"}
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Barry Fitzgerald {"Father Fitzgibbon"} (WINNER)
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Black-and-White) -- Lionel Lindon
DIRECTING -- Leo McCarey (WINNER)
FILM EDITING -- Leroy Stone

(Just happened to find this sheet music at a thrift store last week. Cost me $1.)
MUSIC (Song) -- "Swinging On A Star," Music by James Van Heusen; Lyrics by Johnny Burke (WINNER)
BEST MOTION PICTURE -- Paramount (WINNER)
WRITING (Original Motion Picture Story) -- Leo McCarey (WINNER)
WRITING (Screenplay) -- Frank Butler, Frank Cavett (WINNER)

Trivia: The film earned $16.3 million on its initial run, a huge amount for the time.

Trivia: Barry Fitzgerald was nominated by the Academy for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor awards for the same performance, for the same film, the only time this has happened. (Al Pacino received a Best Supporting Actor nomination and a Best Actor nomination for his role as Michael Corleone, but his nominations were for the first and second Godfather films, respectively.). Fitzgerald won the Oscar in the supporting category but lost in the lead category to co-star Bing Crosby. (This is no longer possible under Academy guidelines.) Due to wartime metal shortages, Fitzgerald received a plaster Oscar (instead of a gold-plated britannium one) for his performance. A few weeks after he won, he broke the head off his plaster Oscar while practicing his golf swing.

Trivia: Filmed in St. Monica Catholic Church near the beach in Santa Monica, California. Leo McCarey based the Barry Fitzgerald character in part on the church's real (irascible) pastor, Monsignor Nicholas Conneally.

Trivia: Although Barry Fitzgerald played a Catholic priest in this film--and several others--he was in real life not a Catholic but a Protestant. Several times during this film when he is "crossing" himself he does it wrong, going from right to left instead of from left to right.


2:30 PM Mighty Joe Young (1949)

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Showmen try to exploit a giant ape raised by an orphan.
Dir: Ernest B. Schoedsack Cast: Terry Moore, Ben Johnson, Robert Armstrong
Runtime: 94 mins Genre: Adventure Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations: SPECIAL EFFECTS -- ARKO Productions (WINNER)

Trivia: This was the first feature film to which Ray Harryhausen contributed stop-motion animation effects.


4:15 PM High Sierra (1941)

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An aging ex-con sets out to pull one more big heist.
Dir: Raoul Walsh Cast: Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis
Runtime: 100 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: This was the last movie Humphrey Bogart made where he did not receive top billing. The studio thought that Ida Lupino should have top billing because she had been such a big hit in They Drive by Night (1940) (which also featured Bogart), and so her name ended above Bogart's on the title card. Bogart was reportedly unhappy about receiving second billing.


6:00 PM Double Indemnity (1944)

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An insurance salesman gets seduced into plotting a client's death.
Dir: Billy Wilder Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
Runtime: 106 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTRESS -- Barbara Stanwyck {"Phyllis Dietrichson"}
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Black-and-White) -- John Seitz
DIRECTING -- Billy Wilder
MUSIC (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) -- Miklos Rozsa
BEST MOTION PICTURE -- Paramount
SOUND RECORDING -- Paramount Studio Sound Department, Loren L. Ryder, Sound Director
WRITING (Screenplay) -- Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler

Trivia: Edward G. Robinson's initial reluctance to sign on was largely because he had been demoted to third lead. Eventually, he realized that he was at a transitional phase of his career, and was getting paid the same as Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray for doing less work.


8:00 PM Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)

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Biopic on the late martial arts film star, Bruce Lee.
Dir: Rob Cohen Cast: Jason Scott Lee, Lauren Holly, Robert Wagner
Runtime: 114 mins Genre: Action Rating: TV-14 CC:


10:15 PM Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story (1976)
A pseudo biopic of martial arts instructor and actor Bruce Lee, which centers on his supposed affair with actress Betty Ting Pei.
Dir: Shih Ti Cast: Bruce Li, Cheng Fu-Hung, Chin Yung-Hsiang
Runtime: 91 mins Genre: Action Rating: TV-PG CC:


12:00 AM NOIR ALLEY: Storm Fear (1956)

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A wounded bank robber takes over his brother's home.
Dir: Cornel Wilde Cast: Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, Dan Duryea
Runtime: 88 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: N

Trivia: Cornel Wilde cast Lee Grant, who at that time had been blacklisted because of the Joseph McCarthy "red scare" that gripped Hollywood.


1:45 AM A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

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Four crooks pull off a daring heist, then plot to doublecross each other.
Dir: Charles Crichton Cast: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline
Runtime: 108 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

Oscar nominations: ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Kevin Kline {"Otto"} (WINNER)
DIRECTING -- Charles Crichton
WRITING (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen) -- Screenplay by John Cleese; Story by John Cleese, Charles Crichton

Trivia: Michael Palin's father stuttered, so Palin used a lot of his real-life experience when playing Ken Pile, including the fact that Ken's stutter is less pronounced around people he trusts (George Thomason and Wanda Gershwitz) and worse around people with whom he is uncomfortable (Otto West).


4:00 AM The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968)

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A kidnapped gangster turns his captors into a crack band of crooks.
Dir: Ken Annakin Cast: Vittorio De Sica, Raquel Welch, Robert Wagner
Runtime: 110 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Robert Wagner wrote in his autobiography that Raquel Welch was constantly late on the set, keeping the cast and crew waiting for hours while she had her hair and make-up done. Finally, Edward G. Robinson cracked, telling Welch off in an angry ten minute tirade which left Welch in tears and apologizing for her behavior. However, Wagner writes, the next day, she was late again. Director Ken Annakin also recalled, in a later interview, that not only was she constantly late, but that she "tended to wing her lines a little bit." He then told her if she didn't show up on time knowing her lines he would use as little of her as possible and not use her in any close-ups - just medium and long shots. "She was very co-operative after that", Annakin said.