TCM Schedule for Thursday, March 7, 2013 -- What's On Tonight -- Musical Paris

[Staph]

Most of the daylight hours today are devoted to the films of Charles Bickford, gruff-voiced character actor who started in films in 1929, and ended his career on television in The Virginian. In the late afternoon, we get to see a trio of films starring Dana Andrews. Totally useless fact of the day -- Charles Bickford was born on January 1, 1891; Dana Andrews on January 1, 1909! In prime time, TCM is celebrating the musical side of the City of Lights, Paris, with five films, three starring the quintessential Parisian, Maurice Chevalier. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Anna Christie (1930)
Eugene O'Neill's classic about a romantic prostitute trying to run away from her past.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion
BW-90 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greta Garbo, Best Cinematography -- William H. Daniels, and Best Director -- Clarence Brown

Greta Garbo's first sound film.


7:45 AM -- Passion Flower (1930)
A society woman courts heartache when she falls in love with her chauffeur.
Dir: William de Mille
Cast: Kay Francis, Kay Johnson, Charles Bickford
BW-79 mins, TV-G,

Based on poet/author Kathleen Norris' Passion Flower.


9:15 AM -- The Sea Bat (1930)
Mexican fishermen enter a deadly competition to kill a sting ray.
Dir: Wesley Ruggles
Cast: Raquel Torres, Charles Bickford, Nils Asther
BW-69 mins, TV-G,

Based on a story by Dorothy Yost.


10:30 AM -- Panama Flo (1932)
An engineer makes a thieving entertainer work off her debts as a housekeeper at his jungle mining camp.
Dir: Ralph Murray
Cast: Helen Twelvetrees, Robert Armstrong, Charles Bickford
BW-73 mins, TV-G,

A print of this film survives in the UCLA Film and Television Archives.


12:00 PM -- A Wicked Woman (1934)
A woman kills her drunken husband to defend her children.
Dir: Charles Brabin
Cast: Mady Christians, Jean Parker, Charles Bickford
BW-73 mins, TV-PG,

Based on a novel by Anne Austin.


1:15 PM -- Valley Of The Giants (1938)
A lumberman takes on pirates out to plunder the forest.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Wayne Morris, Claire Trevor, Frank McHugh
BW-79 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nitrate and safety prints of this film survive in the UCLA Film and Television Archives.


2:45 PM -- Night Song (1948)
A socialite pretends to be blind to win the love of a blind concert pianist.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Dana Andrews, Merle Oberon, Ethel Barrymore
BW-102 mins, TV-G, CC,

"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on December 2, 1948 with Merle Oberon and Hoagy Carmichael reprising their film roles.


4:30 PM -- Sealed Cargo (1951)
A fisherman tangles with Nazi smugglers off the Canadian coast.
Dir: Alfred Werker
Cast: Dana Andrews, Carla Balenda, Claude Rains
BW-89 mins, TV-G, CC,

Opening Credits: When war engulfs the world giant forces are marshaled for conflict. Smashing victories are won and heroes are heralded far and wide. Often forgotten are the small victories, the acts of great personal courage by little people. This is the story of one small victory in World War II.


6:15 PM -- Spring Reunion (1956)
An alumni reunion spells romance for former college lovers.
Dir: Robert Pirosh
Cast: Dana Andrews, Betty Hutton, Jean Hagen
BW-79 mins, TV-G,

Betty Hutton's last film.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: MUSICAL PARIS



8:00 PM -- Can-Can (1960)
An ambitious judge tries to put a stop to the "forbidden dance" at a nightclub despite the protest of its owner.
Dir: Walter Lang
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Maurice Chevalier
C-131 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene Sharaff, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Nelson Riddle

During filming on 19th September 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev visited the set on Sound Stage 8 with his wife Nina. He reportedly was shocked by the open sexuality on display, condemning the film as pornographic and depraved: "The face of mankind is prettier than its backside... The thing is immoral. We do not want that sort of thing for the Russians."


10:15 PM -- Love Me Tonight (1932)
A Parisian tailor falls in love with a princess.
Dir: Rouben Mamoulian
Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Charlie Ruggles
BW-89 mins, TV-G, CC,

According to her autobiography, Myrna Loy was originally going to wear white empire-style dress for the party sequence, but Jeanette MacDonald was jealous of how she looked insisted that she had to wear it herself instead. Loy surrendered the dress, but then went down the to the costume room and, with a friend's help, put together the black lace outfit she wears in the final film. She stole the scene.


12:00 AM -- Folies Bergère de Paris (1935)
An entertainer impersonates a look-alike banker, causing comic confusion for his girlfriend and his double's wife.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Merle Oberon, Ann Sothern
BW-80 mins, TV-G,

Won an Oscar for Best Dance Direction -- Dave Gould for "Straw Hat"

The movie was remade twice by Fox Studios, first as That Night in Rio starring Don Ameche and Carmen Miranda, and later as On the Riviera starring Danny Kaye. All three films were based on the play, "The Red Cat," and featured the leading man in a dual role.


1:30 AM -- Roberta (1935)
A football player inherits a chic Paris fashion house.
Dir: William A. Seiter
Cast: Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers
BW-106 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jerome Kern (music), Dorothy Fields (lyrics) and Jimmy McHugh (lyrics) for the song "Lovely to Look at"

During "I Won't Dance," Ginger Rogers sings to Fred Astaire: "But when you dance you're charming and you're gentle/ Especially when you do the Continental," referring to the dance in their previous film, The Gay Divorcee. The two then strike a pose from that number while the band plays a riff.


3:30 AM -- April in Paris (1952)
A bureaucrat's mistake sends a chorus girl to Paris representing American theatre in place of a star actress.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Doris Day, Ray Bolger, Claude Dauphin
C-100 mins, TV-G, CC,

Doris Day writes in her autobiography that she only encountered trouble or tension on two of her Warner Bros. films, "Young at Heart" and "April in Paris". On "Paris", she writes that leading man Ray Bolger and director David Butler clashed early on, with Butler accusing Bolger of trying to steal scenes away from Day. Doris says that, being a relative newcomer to films, she was unaware of Bolger's tricks and managed to stay out of the line of fire.


5:15 AM -- Now Playing March (2013)
BW-18 mins, CC,

[graham4anything]

1. Speaking of Doris Day

3:30 AM -- April in Paris (1952)
A bureaucrat's mistake sends a chorus girl to Paris representing American theatre in place of a star actress.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Doris Day, Ray Bolger, Claude Dauphin
C-100 mins, TV-G, CC,

Doris Day writes in her autobiography that she only encountered trouble or tension on two of her Warner Bros. films, "Young at Heart" and "April in Paris". On "Paris", she writes that leading man Ray Bolger and director David Butler clashed early on, with Butler accusing Bolger of trying to steal scenes away from Day. Doris says that, being a relative newcomer to films, she was unaware of Bolger's tricks and managed to stay out of the line of fire.

============================================
Have you seen at the checkout counters the Globes "Doris Day" magainze special?
A lifetime tribute (and they are pushing for Doris to receive an honorary oscar, whcih she would have gotten years ago, but won't go to the awards I think.

There is a major mistake near the back.
A picture in it (and I have to credit a friend for catching this faux pas) is Jean Seberg on the side of a pool. Not Doris.

[narnian60]

2. Please, Ms. Day, let the public see and honor you one more time.

We respect and love you so much.

[Graybeard]

3. Love Me Tonight - great opening number.

At the beginning of Love Me Tonight 10:15 PM is one of the most enjoyable musical numbers ever. Maurice Chevalier begins it by singing 'Isn't It Romantic?' in his tailor shop and he is overheard by other tradesmen in the neighborhood, (the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker) who all begin to hum and sing it too.

The tune spreads through the whole town via the taxi driver, street sweeper, tram conductor etc. Soon it is being sung all over the countryside by farmers, some soldiers marching by, etc.

Just magical.
.