TCM Schedule for Thursday, August 7, 2014 -- Summer Under The Stars - James Stewart

[Staph]

Today's Star under whom we are celebrating summer is Jimmy Stewart, born James Maitland Stewart on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Stewart was the first movie star to enter the service for World War II, joining a year before Pearl Harbor was bombed. At 33, he was ten years older than the maximum required age limit, and was initially refused entry into the Air Force because he weighed 5 pounds less than the required 148 pounds, but he talked the recruitment officer into ignoring the test. He eventually became a colonel (active duty) and then a brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He had earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, the French Croix de Guerre, and other decorations. He served in the Air Force Reserve before retiring as a brigadier general. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
A secretary becomes so valuable to her boss that it jeopardizes his marriage.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy
BW-88 mins, CC,

The name of one of the screenwriters, Alice Duer Miller, is seen as the author of an article in a magazine, and Clark Gable remarks, "Hey, Alice has written a very nice article here."


7:45 AM -- Navy Blue and Gold (1937)
Three buddies fight to survive the rigorous training at Annapolis.
Dir: Sam Wood
Cast: Robert Young, James Stewart, Florence Rice
BW-94 mins, CC,

Gil Kuhn, captain of the 1936 U.S.C. football team, was "technical expert for gridiron sequences."


9:30 AM -- Vivacious Lady (1938)
After a whirlwind courtship, a nightclub singer has to adjust to her professor husband's conservative family.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Ginger Rogers, James Stewart, James Ellison
BW-90 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Robert De Grasse, and Best Sound, Recording -- James Wilkinson (RKO Radio SSD)

Since Ginger's legs were insured for $500,000 they were strapped with boards and padded for protection during the fight scene. Filming on The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) started soon after this film wrapped, and RKO could not afford to have an injured musical star.


11:15 AM -- No Time for Comedy (1940)
A wealthy culture vulture tries to steal a playwright from his actress wife.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: James Stewart, Rosalind Russell, Charles Ruggles
BW-93 mins, CC,

The original play by S.N. Behrman opened in Indianapolis, Indiana, on 31 March 1939.


1:00 PM -- Come Live with Me (1941)
A Viennese refugee weds a struggling author platonically so she can stay in the U.S.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: James Stewart, Hedy Lamarr, Ian Hunter
BW-87 mins, CC,

The title came from Christopher Marlowe's poem "The Passionate Shepherd". It begins, "Come Live With me, and be my love..."


2:30 PM -- Malaya (1949)
Two men join forces to smuggle rubber out of occupied Malaya during World War II.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Valentina Cortesa
BW-95 mins, CC,

Sydney Greenstreet's final film.


4:15 PM -- Carbine Williams (1952)
True story of the convicted bootlegger who fought for his freedom by inventing a new rifle.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: James Stewart, Jean Hagen, Wendell Corey
BW-93 mins, CC,

In the film, all of the men working on the still with Williams were white. But in reality, it was five African-American men, all of whom testified against Williams at trial.


6:00 PM -- Firecreek (1968)
A pacifist sheriff must use tougher means when his town is threatened by a band of outlaws.
Dir: Vincent McEveety
Cast: James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens
C-104 mins, Letterbox Format

Four of the actors have links to Star Trek. Gary Lockwood, BarBara Luna, and Morgan Woodward all starred in episodes of the original Star Trek (1966). Brooke Bundy appeared in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: JAMES STEWART



8:00 PM -- The Naked Spur (1953)
A captive outlaw uses psychological tactics to prey on a bounty hunter.
Dir: Anthony Mann
Cast: James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan
C-92 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom

When this film was released in Spain, its title was changed to "Colorado Jim" and the name of James Stewart's character was also changed from "Howard Kemp" to "Colorado Jim", for unknown reasons.


10:00 PM -- The Mortal Storm (1940)
The Third Reich's rise tears apart a German family.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young
BW-100 mins, CC,

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler banned this film from release in Germany because of its strong anti-Nazi sentiments. In addition, all MGM films from that point until the end of the war were also banned in Germany because of the fact that the studio made this one.


12:00 AM -- The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Feuding co-workers don't realize they're secret romantic pen pals.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan
BW-99 mins, CC,

To make sure his film was stripped of the glamor usually associated with him, Lubitsch went to such lengths as ordering that a dress Sullavan had purchased off the rack for $1.98 be left in the sun to bleach and altered to fit poorly.


2:00 AM -- Of Human Hearts (1938)
A rebellious son neglects his parents after enlisting in the Civil War.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Walter Huston, James Stewart, Gene Reynolds
BW-104 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Beulah Bondi

Beulah Bondi portrayed James Stewart's mother five times: In It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Of Human Hearts (1938) and Vivacious Lady (1938), and once on his television series, The Jimmy Stewart Show (1971).


4:00 AM -- The Stratton Story (1949)
True story of Monty Stratton, the baseball star who fought to continue his career after losing a leg.
Dir: Sam Wood
Cast: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan
BW-107 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Douglas Morrow

After the events of the movie, the real Monty Stratton went on to be a coach for the Chicago White Sox for a couple of years before going back to his home town of Greenville, TX to start his own farm team. In 1946 he shocked the world when he took the mound once again, this time in the minor leagues, and he posted an 18-8 record for that season.