TCM Schedule for Saturday, February 7, 2015 -- 31 Days of Oscar - 1940-42

[Staph]

The daylight theme today is westerns. Tonight's Best Picture nominees are from 1940, 1941 and 1942. We will miss these films from 1940 - winner Rebecca, and nominees All This, and Heaven Too, Foreign Correspondent, The Grapes of Wrath, Kitty Foyle, The Letter, The Long Voyage Home, and Our Town. The missing films from 1941 are winner How Green Was My Valley, and nominees Blossoms in the Dust, Hold Back the Dawn, The Little Foxes, The Maltese Falcon (watch it on Sunday, February 15), One Foot in Heaven, and Sergeant York (watch it on Thursday, February 12), and Suspicion (watch it on Tuesday, February 10). The unshown films of 1942 are nominees 49th Parallel, Kings Row, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Pied Piper, The Pride of the Yankees (it was shown on Wednesday, February 3), Random Harvest (it was shown on Monday, February 2), The Talk of the Town, Wake Island, and Yankee Doodle Dandy. Enjoy!

And if I may be allowed to celebrate, February 7, today, is my tenth anniversary at DU. I'm not the most active of posters, but I've found a home here. Thanks to you all for making it so!



6:00 AM -- How the West Was Won (1962)
Three generations of pioneers take part in the forging of the American West.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb
C-169 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- James R. Webb, Best Sound -- Franklin Milton (M-G-M SSD), and Best Film Editing -- Harold F. Kress

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- William H. Daniels, Milton R. Krasner, Charles Lang and Joseph LaShelle, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- George W. Davis, William Ferrari, Addison Hehr, Henry Grace, Don Greenwood Jr. and Jack Mills, Best Costume Design, Color -- Walter Plunkett, Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Alfred Newman and Ken Darby, and Best Picture

James Stewart offered to play his own dead body in the Civil War story but was refused by John Ford who instead used a double who bore no resemblance to Stewart. When George Peppard imitates Stewart's voice during the grizzly bear reminiscence story he was reprimanded by Ford but yelled back that he wanted the audience to remember that Stewart played his father.


9:00 AM -- 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.


10:33 AM -- Overture To The Merry Wives Of Windsor (1953)
The MGM Symphony Orchestra performs the Overture to the Merry Wives of Windsor in this musical short.
C-9 mins, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel -- Johnny Green

The Merry Wives of Windsor Overture is by Otto Nicolai.


11:00 AM -- And the Oscar Goes To... (2014)
A documentary tracing the history of the Academy Awards.
Dir: Robert Epstein
C-95 mins, CC,


12:36 PM -- Calgary Stampede (1949)
This short film shows how the city of Calgary celebrates the annual festival of Stampede Week. Vitaphone Release 1686A.
Dir: Saul Elkins
C-18 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Two-reel -- Gordon Hollingshead

The event's roots are traced to 1886 when the Calgary and District Agricultural Society held its first fair. In 1912, American promoter Guy Weadick organized his first rodeo and festival, known as the Stampede. He returned to Calgary in 1919 to organize the Victory Stampede in honour of soldiers returning from World War I. Weadick's festival became an annual event in 1923 when it merged with the Calgary Industrial Exhibition to create the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede.


1:00 PM -- She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949)
An aging Cavalry officer tries to prevent an Indian war in the last days before his retirement.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar
C-104 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Winton C. Hoch

The horse that Ben Johnson rode in this film was a famous movie horse used by many stars in many 1940s and 1950s westerns. It was a big sorrel stallion called Steel and was owned by Johnson's father-in-law, Clarence "Fat" Jones, who ran one of the most successful horse-renting stables in Hollywood. The horse, which was known for being very quiet but flashy, was ridden by John Wayne in Tall in the Saddle (1944) and The Conqueror (1956), Gregory Peck in Yellow Sky (1948) and Randolph Scott in The Tall T (1957). The horse made stars look like good riders and Fat Jones always that insisted if Steel was used in a movie, the company hire every other horse used in the movie from his stable, so Steel was worth a fortune to him. Steel had his own double and the horse that Johnson rides in the galloping scenes was not Steel but a spectacular galloper called Bingo. Steel was no movie prima donna, however. Johnson also rode him when he won his world champion calf roping title. He also rode both Steel and Bingo in Wagon Master (1950).


3:00 PM -- Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
A reluctant calvary Captain must track a defiant tribe of migrating Cheyennes.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, Karl Malden
C-155 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- William H. Clothier

Years earlier Richard Widmark had the historical subject matter (the Northern Cheyenne Exodus of 1877-1879) researched at Yale. He brought the material to John Ford, who didn't want to make it. Years later Ford, who had kept the research, changed his mind and asked Widmark to star.


5:45 PM -- The Professionals (1966)
A corrupt rancher hires four soldiers of fortune to rescue his wife from kidnappers.
Dir: Richard Brooks
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan
C-117 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Richard Brooks, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Richard Brooks, and Best Cinematography, Color -- Conrad L. Hall

Lee Marvin was drunk throughout a lot of the filming, and was in fact so drunk during a scene atop a giant rock that assistant director Tom Shaw intervened out of fear that Burt Lancaster would "take Lee Marvin by the ass and throw him off that mountain".


7:50 PM -- London Can Take It! (1940)
Despite the nightly Nazi air raids, London's citizens are shown to be courageous and determined in this short film. Vitaphone Release B275.
Dir: Hunphrey Jennings, Harry Watt
Cast: Quentin Reynolds, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
BW-9 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel -- Vitaphone Varieties



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR - 1940-42



8:00 PM -- The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Tabloid reporters crash a society marriage.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart
BW-112 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Stewart, and Best Writing, Screenplay --- Donald Ogden Stewart

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ruth Hussey, Best Director -- George Cukor, and Best Picture

The film was shot in eight weeks, and required no retakes. During the scene where James Stewart hiccups when drunk, you can see Cary Grant looking down and grinning. Since the hiccup wasn't scripted, Grant was on the verge of breaking out laughing and had to compose himself quickly. James Stewart thought of hiccuping in the drunk scene himself, without telling Cary Grant. When he began hiccuping, Grant turned to Stewart saying, "Excuse me." The scene required only one take.


10:00 PM -- Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
A prizefighter who died before his time is reincarnated as a tycoon with a murderous wife.
Dir: Alexander Hall
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Evelyn Keyes, Claude Rains
BW-94 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Writing, Original Story -- Harry Segall, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Robert Montgomery, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- James Gleason, Best Director -- Alexander Hall, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Walker, and Best Picture

James Gleason was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the role of Max Corkle. This is the first time in Academy Awards history for a person to be nominated for a supporting Oscar for a role for which a different person would later also be nominated for a supporting Oscar: Jack Warden was nominated for Best Supporting Actor as Max Corkle in Heaven Can Wait (1978).


11:45 PM -- Citizen Kane (1941)
The investigation of a publishing tycoon's dying words reveals conflicting stories about his scandalous life.
Dir: Orson Welles
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead
BW-119 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles (On Friday, July 19th, 2003, Orson Welles' Oscar statuette went on sale at an auction at Christie's, New York, but was voluntarily withdrawn so the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences could buy it back for just 1 dollar. The statuette, included in a large selection of Welles-related material, was going to be sold by Beatrice Welles, the youngest of the filmmaker's three daughters and the sole heir of his estate and was expected to sell at over 300,000 dollars.)

Nominated for Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Orson Welles, Best Director -- Orson Welles, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Gregg Toland, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Perry Ferguson, Van Nest Polglase, A. Roland Fields and Darrell Silvera, Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio SSD), Best Film Editing -- Robert Wise, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Bernard Herrmann, and Best Picture

On the night the movie opened in San Francisco, Orson Welles found himself alone with William Randolph Hearst in an elevator at the city's Fairmont Hotel. Aware that his father and Hearst were friends, Welles extended an invitation to the magnate to attend the film's premiere. Hearst turned down the offer and, as he was about to exit the elevator at his floor, Welles remarked, "Charles Foster Kane would have accepted."


2:00 AM -- Mrs. Miniver (1942)
A British family struggles to survive the first days of World War II.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright
BW-134 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Teresa Wright, Best Director -- William Wyler (William Wyler was not present at the awards ceremony because he was overseas shooting for the Army Air Force. His wife Margaret Tallichet on his behalf.), Best Writing, Screenplay -- George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West and Arthur Wimperis, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Walter Pidgeon, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Henry Travers, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Dame May Whitty, Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD), Best Film Editing -- Harold F. Kress, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic), Warren Newcombe (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound)

William Wyler openly admitted that he made the film for propaganda reasons. Wyler - who was born in Germany - strongly believed that the US should join the war against Nazism, and was concerned that America's policy of isolationism would prove damaging, so he made a film that showed ordinary Americans what their British equivalents were undergoing at the time. The film's subsequent success had a profound effect on American sympathy towards the plight of the British. Winston Churchill once said that this film had done more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers.


4:15 AM -- The Great Dictator (1940)
A Jewish barber takes the place of a war-hungry dictator.
Dir: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie
BW-125 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Charles Chaplin, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Oakie, Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Charles Chaplin, Best Music, Original Score -- Meredith Willson, and Best Picture

Charles Chaplin got the idea when a friend, Alexander Korda, noted that his screen persona and Adolf Hitler looked somewhat similar. Chaplin later learned they were both born within a week of each other (Chaplin 4/16/1889, Hitler 4/20/1889), were roughly the same height and weight and both struggled in poverty until they reached great success in their respective fields. When Chaplin learned of Hitler's policies of racial oppression and nationalist aggression, he used their similarities as an inspiration to attack Hitler on film.