TCM Schedule for Friday, October 11, 2013 -- Friday Night Spooklight

[Staph]

The daylight theme is the films of director/producer Stanley Kramer and the evening's theme is scary stuff. Enjoy!


7:00 AM -- Not As a Stranger (1955)
A medical student will stop at nothing to become a top surgeon.
Dir: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra
BW-136 mins, TV-PG,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Watson Jones (RCA Sound Dept.)

The first film directed by Stanley Kramer and one of the first films where an actual human heart is seen beating during open-heat surgery.


9:20 AM -- Her Honor, The Nurse (1956)
This short film looks at the duties of the modern nurse.
Dir: Harry W. Smith
Narrator: Peter Roberts
BW-8 mins,


9:30 AM -- The Pride And The Passion (1957)
A British naval officer helps Spanish peasants haul a large cannon cross-country to battle Napoleon.
Dir: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren
C-132 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

By all accounts, Frank Sinatra was at his most obstreperous throughout the making of this film. Among other things, he refused to use the car supplied him by the studio, insisting upon having his Ford Thunderbird flown all the way to Spain at the studio's expense. In addition, he almost caused an international incident when he hung a banner from his hotel room window reading "Franco is a Fink", referring to Spain's dictator, Francisco Franco. In hindsight, Sinatra referred to the whole experience as "underwhelming".


11:45 AM -- The Defiant Ones (1958)
Two convicts, a white racist and an angry black, escape while chained to each other.
Dir: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel
BW-96 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Sam Leavitt, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith (Nedrick Young had been blacklisted at the time and the Oscar went to his pseudonym 'Nathan E. Douglas'. In 1993 AMPAS restored Young's credit upon the request of his widow and recommendation of the Academy's writers branch.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Tony Curtis, Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Sidney Poitier, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Theodore Bikel, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Cara Williams, Best Director -- Stanley Kramer, Best Film Editing -- Frederic Knudtson, and Best Picture

Robert Mitchum turned down the Tony Curtis' role. Mitchum, a real-life veteran of a Southern chain gang, said that he didn't believe the premise that a black and white man would be chained together, as such a thing would never happen in the very strictly segregated South. Over the years, this reason was corrupted to the point where many people now believe Mitchum turned down the role because he didn't want to be chained to a black man, an absolute falsehood. Curtis repeated the inaccurate story in his autobiography, but since has recanted after it was explained to him.


1:30 PM -- Inherit The Wind (1960)
In the twenties, a schoolteacher creates a national furor when he breaks the law against teaching evolution.
Dir: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly
BW-128 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Ernest Laszlo, Best Film Editing -- Frederic Knudtson, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith

The title of the movie comes from the Book of Proverbs, 11:29: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind."


3:45 PM -- Ship of Fools (1965)
Passengers on a steam ship in the '30s struggle with their tangled relations and the rise of Nazism.
Dir: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Vivien Leigh, Simone Signoret, Jose Ferrer
BW-150 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Robert Clatworthy and Joseph Kish, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Ernest Laszlo

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Oskar Werner, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Michael Dunn, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Simone Signoret, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Bill Thomas and Jean Louis, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Abby Mann, and Best Picture

Katharine Hepburn was first choice for the aging Southern belle, but because of Spencer Tracy's bad health she opted to continue to care for him, and she was replaced by Vivien Leigh. This was Leigh's last film.


6:15 PM -- R.P.M. (1970)
A liberal professor takes over as college president in the midst of a student uprising.
Dir: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Ann-Margret, Gary Lockwood
C-92 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

Stanley Kramer always referred to this film in interviews as his least favorite and least successful of the films he has directed.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOOKLIGHT



8:00 PM -- Horror of Dracula (1958)
The legendary count tries to turn his enemies' women into his bloodthirsty brides.
Dir: Terence Fisher
Cast: Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling
C-81 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

On several occasions, Christopher Lee complained about the contact lenses he had to wear for the shock scenes. Not only they were quite painful, but he could not see a thing. While running towards the vampire woman for instance, he even ran too far past the camera on the first take.


9:30 PM -- Isle Of The Dead (1945)
The inhabitants of a Balkans island under quarantine fear that one of their number is a vampire.
Dir: Mark Robson
Cast: Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Marc Cramer
BW-72 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Filming began in July 1944, but was suspended when Boris Karloff required back surgery. It was completed in December 1944. After Karloff had recovered from surgery, but before the cast of Isle of the Dead could be reassembled, Val Lewton and Karloff made The Body Snatcher, which was released first.


10:45 PM -- Where Time Stands Still (1945)
This short film provides the viewer with a tour of Guatemala.
Narrator: James A. FitzPatrick
C-9 mins,


11:00 PM -- Dead of Night (1945)
Guests at a country estate share stories of the supernatural.
Dir: Alberto Cavalcanti
Cast: Mervyn Johns, Hartley Power, Roland Culver
BW-103 mins, TV-14, CC,

Cosmolgists Fred Hoyle, Thomas Gold and Hermann Bondi, developed the Steady State theory of the universe, an alternative to the Big Bang, after seeing "Dead of Night". They said that the circular nature of the plot inspired the theory.


12:50 AM -- The Cinematographer (1951)
This short film provides a behind-the-scenes look at the responsibilities of the cinematographer.
Dir: Jerry Hopper
Cast: Warner Anderson, Bing Crosby, Melvyn Douglas
BW-9 mins,

Features clips from Sullivan's Travels (1941) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).


1:00 AM -- The Haunting (1963)
A team of psychic investigators moves into a haunted house that destroys all who live there.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson
BW-112 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Director Robert Wise read a review of Shirley Jackson's novel "The Haunting of Hill House" in Time Magazine and decided to get the rights to the novel. He later met the writer herself to talk about ideas for the film. He asked her if she had thought of other titles for the novel, because the title would not work for the film. She told him that the only other title she had considered was simply "The Haunting", so Wise decided to use it for the film.


3:00 AM -- The House of Seven Corpses (1974)
A director courts disaster by filming his horror movie in a real haunted house.
Dir: Paul Harrison
Cast: John Ireland, Faith Domergue, John Carradine
C-88 mins, TV-14,

Some of the soundtrack is from the 1960s Outer Limits television show. Example: As John Carradine approaches the cemetery, just before his death scene, music is from Outer Limits.


4:30 AM -- Horror Castle (1963)
A Holocaust survivor tortures women in the dungeons of an ancient castle.
Dir: Anthony Dawson
Cast: Rossana Podestà, Georges Rivière, Christopher Lee
C-84 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

The film was originally recorded in Italian. Christopher Lee's voice was dubbed by another actor for the English-language version. Isn't that just the stupidest decision that you've ever heard of for a film?

[marble falls]

1. Been wanting to see Ship of Fools for a long time, thanks.

[Graybeard]

2. Thanks for the Bob Mitchum correction.

I'm one who heard the reason Mitchum refused The Defiant Ones was racist. It didn't fit the image I had of him and I'm glad it turned out to be not true.