TCM Schedule for Saturday, May 16, 2015 -- The Essentials: Ballet Classics

[Staph]

Fasten your toe shoes -- tonight's Essentials features a trio of films about ballet, including two starring the incomparable Moira Shearer. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Confessions Of A Nazi Spy (1939)
An FBI agent risks his life to infiltrate Nazi sympathizers in the U.S.
Dir: Anatole Litvak
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer, George Sanders
BW-104 mins, CC,

According to the book "The Films of World War II" by Joe Morella, Edward Z. Epstein and John Griggs, "While this Warner Bros. film was not as sensational as its advance publicity led audiences of the day to expect, it was, nevertheless, the first out-and-out anti-Nazi film from a major American studio . . . made its point by sticking closely to the facts of a real-life spy trial which had involved high officials in the (German Third) Reich as well as their American operatives . . . This film was instrumental in bringing about the 'Hollywood war-mongering' charges. Actors and producers received murder threats. American-based German officials screamed 'conspiracy!' and the film was subsequently banned by countries who feared offending Germany. In the United States, however, it was a popular success, prompting other studios to hurry production of more anti-Hitler films."


7:49 AM -- Chile "Land Of Charm" (1937)
Chile's history, culture, and customs are the star in this short film.
C-9 mins,


8:00 AM -- Things To Come (1936)
Two generations of philosophers try to bring an end to war.
Dir: William Cameron Menzies
Cast: Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson
BW-97 mins,

The date on the newspaper in the scene in 1966 when the war ends is 21st September 1966 - which would have been the 100th birthday of H.G. Wells.


9:48 AM -- Good Bad Boys (1940)
Deciding that a life of crime suits them, a gang of children gets mixed up with a real burglar in this comedic short.
Dir: Edward L. Cahn
Cast: Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Bedford, Margaret Bert
BW-11 mins,


10:00 AM -- Batman: A Nipponese Trap (1943)
The Caped Crusader battles a Japanese scientist turning people into zombies.
BW-16 mins,


10:30 AM -- The Hidden City (1950)
Bomba comes to the rescue of a princess.
Dir: Ford Beebe
Cast: Johnny Sheffield, Sue England, Paul Guilfoyle
BW-71 mins,

Fourth of the twelve Bomba films, starring Tarzen's son boy, Johnny Sheffield.


12:00 PM -- Flipper (1963)
A fisherman in the Florida Keys opposes his son's friendship with a dolphin.
Dir: James B. Clark
Cast: Chuck Connors, Luke Halpin, Kathleen Maguire
C-90 mins, CC,

In an interview in 2012 Flipper writer and associate producer Ricou Browning said in 1961 he used his last $100 to write a book telling the boy and dolphin story and persuaded movie producer Ivan Tors to read the book. Tors like it so much he made the Flipper movie.


1:45 PM -- Mighty Joe Young (1949)
Showmen try to exploit a giant ape raised by an orphan.
Dir: Ernest B. Schoedsack
Cast: Terry Moore, Ben Johnson, Robert Armstrong
C-94 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects

Even though the language spoken by the natives at the beginning is generally thought to be Swahili, screenwriter Ruth Rose just made it up. However, the censorship board still required her to produce a translation so they could be assured there was no offensive "language" in the film. She had had to do the same for the native speeches in King Kong (1933) sixteen years earlier.


3:30 PM -- The Sundowners (1960)
An Australian sheepherder and his wife clash over their nomadic existence and their son's future.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov
C-133 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Deborah Kerr, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Glynis Johns, Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Isobel Lennart, and Best Picture

Gary Cooper was originally cast in the lead role of Paddy Carmondy, but had to back out due to poor health. Robert Mitchum stepped into the role for the chance to act with his good friend Deborah Kerr, whom he had previously co-starred with in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957). Mitchum agreed to give Kerr top billing, joking to the production team, "You can design a twenty-four foot sign of me bowing to her if you like."


5:51 PM -- The Art Director (1949)
This short film offers a backstage look at the job of the motion picture art director.
Dir: Otto Lang
BW-7 mins,


6:00 PM -- 3 Godfathers (1948)
Three outlaws on the run risk their freedom and their lives to return a newborn to civilization.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz, Harry Carey Jr.
C-106 mins, CC,

This is a remake of the silent film The Three Godfathers (1916), which starred Ford's long-time friend Harry Carey. When Carey died in 1947, Ford decided to remake the story in Technicolor and dedicate the film to his memory. Carey's son, Harry Carey Jr., plays one of the three, "The Abilene Kid".



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: BALLET CLASSICS



8:00 PM -- The Red Shoes (1948)
A young ballerina is torn between her art and her romance with a young composer.
Dir: Michael Powell
Cast: Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer
C-135 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Hein Heckroth and Arthur Lawson, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Brian Easdale

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Emeric Pressburger, Best Film Editing -- Reginald Mills, and Best Picture

Technicolor founders Herbert T. Kalmus and Natalie Kalmus considered this film the best example of Three-Strip Technicolor. During the filming, however, Natalie Kalmus often complained that Jack Cardiff wasn't following the rules laid down for Technicolor films and demanded that they re-shoot various scenes. But Michael Powell always backed up Cardiff and they got the film they wanted.


10:30 PM -- The Tales of Hoffmann (1951)
A famous writer broods over his three lost loves.
Dir: Michael Powell
Cast: Robert Rounseville, Moira Shearer, Ludmilla Tcherina
C-125 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Hein Heckroth, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Hein Heckroth

A 4K digital restoration has been made of the film by Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation. This includes some scenes that were missing from recent prints and an unseen section introducing the actors and singers. Like the other restorations they have done of Powell & Pressburger films this isn't just a new print. They went back to the original material, digitised & cleaned up every frame & the optical soundtrack. Bear in mind that for a 3-strip Technicolor film that's 3 frames for every frame you see on screen. Then they put them all back together, checking the registration and restoring the old Technicolor look and feel. This restored version was premièred at the 2014 Venice Film Festival and has since been shown at the Lyons & London Film Festivals to be followed by other festivals and cinema screenings around the world. There will also be a DVD/Blu-ray release. I assume that this is the version that TCM will show tonight.


12:45 AM -- Invitation to the Dance (1956)
Three stories told in dance: a circus clown loves a trapeze artist; a bracelet passes from one lover to another; a sailor enters an animated Arabian Nights fantasy.
Dir: Gene Kelly
Cast: Gene Kelly, Igor Youskevitch, Claire Sombert
C-93 mins, CC,

Gene Kelly's original intention was to make a film that would educate mainstream audiences about professional dancing in the world. To this end, he wanted to cast the greatest dancers in Europe for the four segments in leading roles. He himself would only appear in one - the Popular Song sequence, which ended up being cut. But MGM refused to allow the picture unless he appeared in all of them. Many of the professionals who worked in the film agreed that this was one of the film's great weaknesses.


2:30 AM -- An American Hippie in Israel (1972)
A group of would be dropouts deal with hunger and nature when they're stranded on a remote island.
Dir: Amos Sefer
Cast: Asher Tzarfati, Shmuel Wolf, Lily Avidan
C-93 mins,

The film deliberately avoids specifying the locale, substituting "your country" and "you people" for Israel. The original title was Ha-Trempist.


4:15 AM -- I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968)
A henpecked L.A. lawyer escapes into the world of hippies and free love.
Dir: Hy Averback
Cast: Peter Sellers, Jo Van Fleet, Leigh Taylor-Young
C-94 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The film's title is a tribute to Gertrude Stein's lifelong partner, Alice B. Toklas, who published a cookbook in 1954 that contained the first printed recipe for hash fudge. In one of the movie's most famous scenes, Harold Fine unknowingly serves some marijuana-laced brownies baked by Nancy to his parents and fiancée.