TCM Schedule for Thursday, October 2, 2014 -- What's On Tonight - Ghost Stories

[Staph]

During the day, TCM is celebrating the birth of Julius Henry Marx, born on October 2, 1890, in New York City. He is, of course, much better known as Groucho. And in the evening, we have an interesting selection of ghost stories. Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- That Forsyte Woman (1949)
An unhappily married woman falls in love with her niece's fiance.
Dir: Compton Bennett
Cast: Errol Flynn, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon
C-113 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Color -- Walter Plunkett and Valles

Originally Pidgeon was cast as Soames and Flynn as young Jolyon, but the actors felt they wanted to go against type and agreed to switch roles.


8:15 AM -- The Doctor and the Girl (1949)
A doctor leaves his wealthy family to work in the slums.
Dir: Curtis Bernhardt
Cast: Glenn Ford, Charles Coburn, Gloria De Haven
BW-98 mins, CC,

Based on the story Bodies and Souls by Maxence van der Meetsch.


10:00 AM -- MGM Parade Show #32 (1955)
Walter Pidgeon introduces clips from "The Swan" and Part One of "The Pirate" featuring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly.
BW-26 mins,


10:30 AM -- Room Service (1938)
Three zany producers try to extend their hotel credit until they can get a play mounted.
Dir: William A. Seiter
Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx
BW-79 mins, CC,

The only film The Marx Brothers made with R-K-O. During salary negotiations with R-K-O, erstwhile member Zeppo Marx represented The Marx Brothers, threatening to rejoin the group if their demands weren't met!


12:00 PM -- Go West (1940)
Three zanies tackle outlaws and Indians when they head westward.
Dir: Edward Buzzell
Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx
BW-80 mins, CC,

The name of Groucho Marx's character, "S. Quentin Quayle", caused a stir when the film was first released due to the subtle but clear joke: the use of the term "San Quentin quail", which means "jail bait".


1:30 PM -- The Big Store (1941)
A detective and his zany pals take over a failing department store.
Dir: Charles Riesner
Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx
BW-83 mins, CC,

The Marx Brothers announced that this would be their last film, but they actually went on to make two more. This was the final teaming of The Marx Brothers with Margaret Dumont.


3:00 PM -- Double Dynamite (1951)
A bank teller reaps the rewards of saving a gangster's life, but can't reveal where he got the money.
Dir: Irving Cummings
Cast: Jane Russell, Groucho Marx, Frank Sinatra
BW-81 mins, CC,

The title "Double Dynamite" is a reference to Jane Russell's breasts, which are actually well covered throughout the movie.


4:30 PM -- A Girl In Every Port (1952)
Two sailors invest in a racehorse.
Dir: Chester Erskine
Cast: Groucho Marx, Marie Wilson, William Bendix
BW-87 mins, CC,

In the 1950s Groucho was invited to take a tour of the New York Stock Exchange. While in the observation booth, he grabbed the public address system handset and began singing "Lydia the Tattooed Lady". Upon hearing silence coming from the trading floor, he walked into view, was given a loud cheer by the traders, and shouted, "Gentlemen, in 1929 I lost eight hundred thousand dollars on this floor, and I intend to get my money's worth!" For fifteen minutes, he sang, danced, told jokes, and all this time, the Wall Street stock ticker was running blank.


6:00 PM -- One Sunday Afternoon (1948)
A dentist in turn-of-the-century New York thinks he may have married the wrong girl.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Dennis Morgan, Janis Paige, Don DeFore
C-91 mins,

Previously filmed as One Sunday Afternoon (1933) with Gary Cooper and Fay Wray, and as The Strawberry Blonde (1941) with James Cagney and Olivia de Havilland.


7:30 PM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: Bill Murray (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-29 mins, CC, Letterbox Format



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPECIAL THEME: GHOST STORIES



8:00 PM -- Topper (1937)
A fun-loving couple returns from the dead to help a henpecked husband.
Dir: Norman Z. McLeod
Cast: Constance Bennett, Cary Grant, Roland Young
BW-98 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Roland Young, and Best Sound, Recording -- Elmer Raguse (Hal Roach SSD)

The commercial and critical success of this film led director Norman Z. McLeod to include much of the principle cast in his next film, Merrily We Live (1938). Constance Bennett, Alan Mowbray, and Billie Burke all received major parts in McLeod's next work, with Mowbray reprising his role as a stuffy butler and with Burke again playing the matriarchal head of a household.


9:41 PM -- That's The Spirit (1933)
In this musical short film, two night watchmen hear music performed in a haunted pawn shop. Vitaphone Release 1491.
Dir: Roy Mack
Cast: F. E. Miller, Cora La Redd, Mantan Moreland
BW-11 mins,


10:00 PM -- The Time Of Their Lives (1946)
Two ghosts from the Revolutionary War haunt a house until they can clear their names of treason charges.
Dir: Charles Barton
Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marjorie Reynolds
BW-82 mins,

When this film was scheduled to be shot, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were in the midst of one of their feuds, and were not speaking to each other. Consequently, the two have very few scenes where they appear together. They were also feuding when they began shooting Little Giant (1946), which is why they also have few scenes together in that picture.


11:30 PM -- The Canterville Ghost (1944)
A ghost who died a coward tries to inspire U.S. GIs to become heroes.
Dir: Jules Dassin
Cast: Charles Laughton, Robert Young, Margaret O'Brien
BW-96 mins, CC,

The bomb that Cuffy and the ghost want to dispose of was known as a "blockbuster". So-called because it was so powerful it could demolish more than a dozen buildings i.e. a city block.


1:15 AM -- A Place of One's Own (1945)
An elderly woman's caregiver becomes possessed by a murdered girl's spirit.
Dir: Bernard Knowles
Cast: Margaret Lockwood, James Mason, Barbara Mullen
BW-93 mins,

Based on the novel by Osbert Sitwell (born Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell).


3:00 AM -- The Cockeyed Miracle (1946)
Father and son ghosts sort out their family's problems.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon
Cast: Frank Morgan, Keenan Wynn, Cecil Kellaway
BW-82 mins,

Based on the play But Not Goodbye by George Seaton.


4:30 AM -- Beyond Tomorrow (1940)
A ghost tries to smooth the way for two young lovers he knew during his lifetime.
Dir: A. Edward Sutherland
Cast: Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Winninger
BW-84 mins,

This was the most famous of the handful of films produced by Lee Garmes. Garmes was better known as one of the industry's leading Directors of Photography.

[CBHagman]

1. Groucho and ghosts!

I'm glad TCM opted to retain the comic theme for the latter.