TCM Schedule for Thursday, September 17, 2015 -- Star of the Month - Susan Hayward

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating Anne Bancroft, born on September 17, 1931, in The Bronx. In prime time, there is more of Star of the Month Susan Hayward. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Velvet Touch (1948)
After accidentally killing her lecherous producer, a famous actress tries to hide her guilt.
Dir: John Gage
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Leo Genn, Claire Trevor
BW-97 mins, CC,

One of the first films to mention the 'New Look' that Dior had altered all of fashion with the year before. As Valerie leaves the theater, an extra is heard to say,'She's got the New Look, it sure suits her.'


7:45 AM -- 24 Hours To Kill (1965)
During a 24-hour layover in Beirut, a greedy airline purser transports a cache of stolen goods.
Dir: Peter Bezencenet
Cast: Lex Barker, Mickey Rooney, Michael Medwin
C-92 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Actually filmed in Lebanon, in Casio Du Liban, Beirut, Byblos and Baalbeck.


9:30 AM -- The Girl In Black Stockings (1957)
A young girl's murder leaves a hotel full of suspects.
Dir: Howard W. Koch
Cast: Lex Barker, Anne Bancroft, Mamie Van Doren
BW-75 mins,

This movie was filmed in and around Parry Lodge in Kanab, Utah. This lodge was opened in the early 1930s by the Parry brothers, as a place in which to lodge Hollywood film crews who came out to that area of Utah to film some of the early westerns. Over the years many famous movie stars have stayed at this lodge.


11:00 AM -- Nightfall (1957)
A man on a hunting trip gets mixed up with murderous bank robbers.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: Aldo Ray, Brian Keith, Anne Bancroft
BW-79 mins, CC,

From the novel by David Goodis.


12:30 PM -- The Pumpkin Eater (1964)
A woman drifts through multiple marriages in search of stability.
Dir: Jack Clayton
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Peter Finch, James Mason
BW-110 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Anne Bancroft

The film never explains its title, which refers to a traditional child's rhyme:
"Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater
Had a wife, but couldn't keep her;
So he put her in a shell
And there he kept her very well."
This serves as the epigraph of Penelope Mortimer's original novel.


2:30 PM -- Seven Women (1966)
The women staffing an isolated Chinese mission fight to survive a bandit attack.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Sue Lyon, Margaret Leighton
C-87 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In the last film that John Ford directed, he cast nearly only women, he who always made men's films.


4:15 PM -- The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1974)
A suddenly unemployed executive and his understanding wife must adapt to their new life.
Dir: Melvin Frank
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Elizabeth Wilson, Anne Bancroft
BW-98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

According to the Jack Lemmon's biography "Lemmon" by Don Widener, actress Anne Bancroft recounted this episode from the film's shooting: "[Jack was] nice to a point where he's crazy...We had a scene in 'Prisoner [of Second Avenue'] where he had to carry a shovel in - a very close two-shot favoring me. I played the scene with tears in my eyes because Jack had accidentally hit me in the shin with that shovel. The director saw something was wrong so he stopped everything. I had a big bump on my leg, but it was Friday and over the weekend I fixed it up. When we came back on Monday the first scene was a retake of the shovel thing. Well, Jack brought the shovel in and I anticipated getting hit again. He's so full of energy, you're sure he's not noticing; but he never touched me. The take was fine, but Jack limped away. To avoid hurting me, he had cut himself. He was bleeding and we had to bandage his leg; his wound was much worse than mine. He is so kind he hurt himself rather than injure someone else. That's a little crazy! It's the nicest crazy I know, and I know a lot of crazy people."


6:00 PM -- Garbo Talks (1984)
A young man risks everything to help his dying mother meet Greta Garbo.
Dir: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, Carrie Fisher
C-104 mins, CC,

Betty Comden was hired to play Garbo at the end of the film because the producers were sure that the real Garbo either could not be located or would flatly turn them down. They did try however, a known associate of Greta Garbo's. He was located and was asked to ask the great actress if she would appear in the film, but the associate never responded back. That is Comden we see in the film.


7:51 PM -- David Lean's Film Of Doctor Zhivago (1965)
This promotional short presents the making of "Dr. Zhivago" (1965), briefly exploring the life of the novel's author Boris Pasternak.
C-7 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: SUSAN HAYWARD



8:00 PM -- Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)
A Greek slave who keeps Christ's robe after the crucifixion is sentenced to be one Caligula's gladiators.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Victor Mature, Susan Hayward, Michael Rennie
C-101 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

According to Jay Robinson (Caligula), the break in principal photography between The Robe (1953) and this film was only three weeks. This would account for The Robe's opening shot of the gladiatorial arena, a scene lifted from its sequel. The scene features Victor Mature and Robinson, in addition to Ernest Borgnine, William Marshall, Richard Egan and Susan Hayward; these last four were not in The Robe.


9:50 PM -- White Peril (1956)
This short film shows members of a "snow patrol" at work in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state.
Dir: Don Horter
BW-8 mins,


10:00 PM -- The Conqueror (1956)
The great warlord Genghis Khan falls in love with the daughter of a conquered enemy.
Dir: Dick Powell
Cast: John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendariz
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The film is sometimes called "An RKO Radioactive Picture." It was filmed near a nuclear test site, and the set was contaminated by nuclear fallout. Photographs exist of John Wayne holding a Geiger counter. After location shooting, contaminated soil was transported back to Hollywood in order to match interior shooting done there. Over the next 20 years, many actors and crew members developed cancer. People Magazine researched the cast and crew's health for an article. By the time it was published, in November 1980, 91 of the 220 cast and crew members had developed cancer. Forty-six had died, including John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendáriz (who shot himself soon after learning he had terminal cancer), Agnes Moorehead, John Hoyt and director Dick Powell. The count did not include several hundred local Native Americans who played extras, or relatives of the cast and crew who visited the set, including John Wayne's son Michael Wayne. The article quoted the reaction of a scientist from the Pentagon's Defense Nuclear Agency to the news, "Please, God, don't let us have killed John Wayne".


12:00 AM -- I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)
True story of singer Lillian Roth's battle against alcoholism.
Dir: Daniel Mann
Cast: Susan Hayward, Richard Conte, Eddie Albert
BW-119 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Susan Hayward, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Arthur E. Arling, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Malcolm Brown, Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt

In its poster art for the film, MGM proclaimed that "Susan Hayward Sings" -- in a similar vein to the studio's earlier "Garbo Talks" slogan for Anna Christie (1930).


2:15 AM -- I Want To Live! (1958)
True story of the small-time lady crook who fought to escape the gas chamber.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent
BW-121 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Susan Hayward

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Robert Wise, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Nelson Gidding and Don Mankiewicz, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Lionel Lindon, Best Sound -- Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), and Best Film Editing -- William Hornbeck

Even though she portrayed Barbara Graham as a tragic victim of circumstance, Susan Hayward later admitted that after doing some extensive research on the real Graham, she was most likely guilty of the murder of Mabel Monohan.


4:30 AM -- Top Secret Affair (1957)
A female publishing magnate tries to keep a general she hates from securing a prestigious appointment.
Dir: H. C. Potter
Cast: Susan Hayward, Kirk Douglas, Paul Stewart
BW-100 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Under the title "Melville Goodwin, USA", the film was to star Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall - both of whom had already filmed costume and makeup tests - but Bogart's terminal illness forced his withdrawal from the project. He was replaced by Kirk Douglas. Bacall withdrew shortly afterward, opting instead to remain at home with her dying husband, and was replaced by Susan Hayward.