TCM Schedule for Thursday, February 19, 2015 -- 31 Days of Oscar - 1964-1967

[Staph]

Today's theme is courtroom dramas. In primetime, TCM is featuring Oscar nominated and Oscar winning films from 1964 through 1967, though not 1964s winner My Fair Lady, and nominees Becket, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Mary Poppins, and Zorba the Greek; 1965s winner The Sound of Music, and nominees Darling, Doctor Zhivago (shown on Monday, February 16), Ship of Fools, and A Thousand Clowns; 1966s nominees Alfie, The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; and 1967s winner In the Heat of the Night, and nominees Bonnie and Clyde (shown on Thursday, February 5), Doctor Dolittle, and The Graduate. Enjoy!


7:49 AM -- Going To Blazes! (1947)
This short film emphasizes fire safety and fire prevention.
Dir: Gunther von Fritsch
BW-21 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Two-reel -- Herbert Morgan

Filmed in Los Angeles, with the cooperation of the LA Fire Department.


8:15 AM -- Twilight Of Honor (1963)
A struggling lawyer takes on a controversial murder case that could make or break him.
Dir: Boris Sagal
Cast: Richard Chamberlain, Joey Heatherton, Nick Adams
BW-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Nick Adams, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- George W. Davis, Paul Groesse, Henry Grace and Hugh Hunt

Robert Walker Jr. originally announced for Nick Adams' role.


10:15 AM -- Trial (1955)
A Mexican boy accused of rape and murder becomes a pawn for Communists and red-baiters.
Dir: Mark Robson
Cast: Glenn Ford, Dorothy McGuire, Arthur Kennedy
BW-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Arthur Kennedy

Based on a novel by Don M. Mankiewicz.


12:05 PM -- Drunk Driving (1939)
In this short film, an up and coming businessman mixes drinking and driving with tragic consequences.
Dir: David Miller
Cast: Jo Ann Sayers, Richard Lane, Sarah Edwards
BW-21 mins,

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

One of the entries in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series.


12:30 PM -- Witness For The Prosecution (1958)
A British lawyer gets caught up in a couple's tangled marital affairs when he defends the husband for murder.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton
BW-116 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Charles Laughton, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Elsa Lanchester, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Sound, Recording -- Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), Best Film Editing -- Daniel Mandell, and Best Picture

While it is generally supposed that Agatha Christie chose the name Vole after the ratlike rodent of the same name, in fact the word has several other meanings also relevant to this character. In cards, a "vole" means the winning by one player of all the tricks of a game. And the expression "go the vole" can mean either to venture everything on the chance of great rewards, or to try one thing after another, usually a variety of occupations - all perfect descriptions of Christie's ingeniously named "Leonard Vole". The word "voleur" in French translates in English to burglar, embezzler, housebreaker, intruder, peculator, robber, and thief -- many of which could apply to Power's character as well.


2:30 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, CC,

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

The actual Scopes Monkey Trial testimony was quite dull, until Clarence Darrow (Drummond) called William Jennings Bryan (Brady) as a defense witness. Firing questions about the earth's origins and Adam and Eve, Darrow quickly forced Bryan into raging contradictions, proving his point that the Bible, in light of scientific knowledge, cannot be interpreted literally.


4:45 PM -- Judgment At Nuremberg (1961)
An aging American judge presides over the trial of Nazi war criminals.
Dir: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark
BW-179 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Maximilian Schell, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Abby Mann

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Montgomery Clift, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Judy Garland, Best Director -- Stanley Kramer, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Ernest Laszlo, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Rudolph Sternad and George Milo, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Jean Louis, Best Film Editing -- Frederic Knudtson, and Best Picture

Marlene Dietrich had a great deal of trouble performing in the scene between Mrs. Bertholt and Judge Haywood when she claims German civilians did not know of the atrocities the Nazi government committed during the war. Dietrich, who during the war had worked for the Allies against the Nazis, found the sentiment so repulsive that she could not keep her concentration. Only after counseling by Spencer Tracy was she able to complete the scene. According to an interview with her grandson Peter Riva on the "Icons Radio Hour", Dietrich would get physically ill (to the point of vomiting) in the evenings over this part. In a conversation with her daughter Maria Riva, Maria told her to "simply play her mother". The fictional Mrs. Bertholt is a representation of the mother of Marlene Dietrich.

Personally, I am very much looking forward to watching this film. I've seen bits and pieces of it over the years, but never the whole film. Last fall, I took a Viking River cruise, and got to visit Courtroom 600, along with a lot of other Nazi sites, including rally fields and some stunningly ugly and unfinished massive buildings. In the last ten years or so, the German people are bringing their Nazi history to the forefront, recognizing what their nation had done under the control of madmen. One of our guides said that this could only be done as those who lived during that period are no longer in control of the government.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: 1964-1967



8:00 PM -- Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964)
A mad United States General orders an air strike against Russia.
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden
BW-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter Sellers, Best Director -- Stanley Kubrick, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Stanley Kubrick, Peter George and Terry Southern, and Best Picture

Dr. Strangelove apparently suffers from agonistic apraxia, also known as "alien hand syndrome". It's caused by damage to the corpus callosum, the nerve fibers that connect the brain's two hemispheres. Researchers at the University of Aberdeen who identified it named it Dr. Strangelove Syndrome. According to Professor Sergio Della Sala, the patients "slam their hand and shout 'My hand does things that I don't want it to do!'"

There is a great deal of editing and cutting away shots in the sequence where Dr. Strangelove gets carried away in the War Room when his out-of-control right hand makes Nazi salutes and tries to strangle him, mainly to cover up the cast around him cracking up with laughter. Despite this, Peter Bull, playing Soviet Ambassador de Sadesky, can be glimpsed trying to suppress his laughter.


9:45 PM -- The Sand Pebbles (1966)
A naval engineer stationed in 1926 China defies local authorities to rescue a group of missionaries.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna
C-179 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Steve McQueen, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Mako, Best Cinematography, Color --Joseph MacDonald, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Boris Leven, Walter M. Scott, John Sturtevant and William Kiernan, Best Sound -- James Corcoran (20th Century-Fox SSD), Best Film Editing -- William Reynolds, Best Music, Original Music Score -- Jerry Goldsmith, and Best Picture

The movie is often mistakenly described as being intended as an allegory for the Vietnam War, but Richard McKenna, the author of the best-selling novel on which the film was based, served on U.S. Navy gunboats in China during the 1930's and based the book on his own experiences. The Vietnam War allegory, perhaps inevitably, was ascribed to the film by the press on it's release in 1966, although not the original intention of the author, screenwriter, or director.


12:48 AM -- The Tanks Are Coming (1941)
This educational short, produced in cooperation with the United States Army, focuses on the status of battle tanks and training in the U.S. Army. Vitaphone Release 496-497A.
Dir: B. Reeves Eason
Cast: George Tobias, Richard Travis, Gig Young
C-20 mins,

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

The historical bits have been edited into this short from The Declaration of Independence (1938) (Short).


1:15 AM -- A Man for All Seasons (1966)
A devout scholar gets caught in the middle of Henry VIII's plans to break with the Catholic Church.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern
C-121 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Scofield (Paul Scofield was not present at the awards ceremony. His co-star Wendy Hiller accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Bolt, Best Cinematography, Color -- Ted Moore, Best Costume Design, Color -- Elizabeth Haffenden and Joan Bridge, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Robert Shaw, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Wendy Hiller

One of only 4 productions to win both the Best Play Tony (1962) and the Best Picture Oscar (1966). The other three are My Fair Lady (1957/1964), The Sound of Music (1960/1965) and Amadeus (1981/1984).


3:30 AM -- A Hard Day's Night (1964)
A typical day in the life of the Beatles.
Dir: Richard Lester
Cast: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
BW-87 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Alun Owen, and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- George Martin

United Artists executives didn't really care about the film itself, they were mainly interested in exploiting a legal loophole which would allow them to distribute the lucrative soundtrack album. In fact, they fully expected to lose money on the film. With a final cost of about $500,000 and a box office take of about $8,000,000 in the first week, "A Hard Day's Night" is among the most profitable (percentage-wise) films of all time.


5:00 AM -- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
An aging couple's liberal principles are tested when their daughter announces her engagement to a black doctor.
Dir: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn
C-108 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn (Katharine Hepburn was not present at the awards ceremony. George Cukor accepted the award on her behalf.), and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- William Rose

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy (Posthumously.), Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Cecil Kellaway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Beah Richards, Best Director -- Stanley Kramer, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Robert Clatworthy and Frank Tuttle, Best Film Editing -- Robert C. Jones, Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Frank De Vol, and Best Picture

In the scene near the end where Spencer Tracy gives his memorable soliloquy, Katharine Hepburn can be seen crying in the background. This was not acting: she knew how gravely ill her longtime lover was and was moved by his remarks about how true love endures through the years. Spencer Tracy died 17 days after filming was completed. Katharine Hepburn never saw the completed movie. She said the memories of Tracy were too painful.

[longship]

1. A Man for all Seasons!

A great Zinnemann flick. The cast is universally wonderful; the cinematography likewise.

A truly great flick. And yes, Orson Welles is, as always, Orson Welles even when wrapped in a Cardinal's robes. And a rather young John Hurt as a simpering turncoat. And, Leo McKern, too. Then, there's the always excellent Wendy Hiller. Oh, and Robert Shaw as Henry VIII ("Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish ladies...&quot .

If you've never seen this one, it is a must see.

[CBHagman]

2. Zinnemann is too often neglected.

He explored multiple genres in a long career.

To go to the Tudor angle of your post, I'll be interested to read your take on the TV adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, in which Damien Lewis (Homeland) plays Henry VIII opposite Mark Rylance's Thomas Cromwell.

The trailer below is from the BBC, but Masterpiece will be airing the series this spring. Check your local PBS stations.

[Staph]

3. I am presently reading Wolf Hall.

It's a bit confusing, but fascinating at the same time. I can't wait for the BBC/Masterpiece version.