TCM Schedule for Friday, July 8, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: Star of the Month: Olivia De Havilland

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is showing a pair of Preston Sturges' best, a D.W. Griffith silent film, and a trio of Charles Chaplin's acting/directing/writing accomplishments from the sound era. Then in prime time, it's more of 100 year old Olivia de Havilland, including four of her eight films with Errol Flynn. Enjoy!


6:45 AM -- THE LADY EVE (1941)
A lady cardsharp tries to con an eccentric scientist only to fall for him.
Dir: Preston Sturges
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn
BW-94 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Monckton Hoffe

Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda rarely retired to their dressing rooms between takes. Instead, they hung out with Preston Sturges, listening to his stories and reviewing - and often re-writing - their lines.


8:30 AM -- SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS (1942)
A filmmaker masquerades as a hobo to get in touch with the little people.
Dir: Preston Sturges
Cast: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick
BW-91 mins, CC,

Cinematographer John Seitz admired Preston Sturges unconventional approach to his work. The opening scene comprised ten pages of dialogue to cover about four and a half minutes of screen time. It was scheduled for two complete days of shooting. On the morning of the first day, Seitz found Sturges inspecting the set with a viewfinder, looking for where he could cut the scene and change camera set-ups. Seitz dared him to do it all in one take. Never one to refuse a dare, Sturges took him up on it, although the nervous Seitz had never attempted to complete a two-day work schedule in one day. With the endorsement of McCrea and the rest of the actors, Sturges pressed on, determined to set a record. The first take was fine, but the camera wobbled a little in the tracking shot following the men from screening room to office, so they tried again. They did two or three takes at the most and that was it - two full days work by 11 a.m. on the first day, a feat that had the entire studio buzzing.


10:15 AM -- BROKEN BLOSSOMS (1919)
In this silent film, an Asian man in London falls in love with an abused child.
Dir: D. W. Griffith
Cast: Lillian Gish, Donald Crisp, Arthur Howard
BW-89 mins,

The film was produced by D.W. Griffith for Adolph Zukor's Artcraft company, a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. But when Griffith delivered the final print of the film to Zukor, the producer was outraged. "How dare you deliver such a terrible film to me!" Zukor raged. "Everybody in the picture dies!" Infuriated, Griffith left Zukor's office and returned the next day with $250,000 in cash, which he threw on Zukor's desk. "Here," Griffith shouted, "If you don't want the picture, I'll buy it back from you." Zukor accepted the offer, thus making this the first film released by United Artists, the production company formed in 1919 by Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Griffith. It was a remarkably successful film, both critically and at the box office.


12:00 PM -- MODERN TIMES (1936)
The Tramp struggles to live in a modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
Dir: Charlie Chaplin
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman
BW-87 mins, CC,

Another inspiration for the film was a conversation that Charles Chaplin had with Mohandas K. Gandhi, who complained about how machines were taking over. Chaplin told Gandhi, "I grant that machinery with only the consideration of profit has thrown men out of work and created a great deal of misery, but to use it as a service to humanity ... should be a help and benefit to mankind." But as they discussed it, Chaplin came to realize it was the first part of his statement-machinery that only considers profits has created a great deal of misery-that mattered most. Gandhi had convinced him without even trying.


1:30 PM -- CITY LIGHTS (1931)
In this silent film Little Tramp tries to help a blind flower seller to see again.
Dir: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee
BW-87 mins,

Charles Chaplin's first film made during the sound era. He faced extreme pressure to make the film as a talkie, but such was his popularity and power in Hollywood that he was able to complete and release the film as a silent (albeit with recorded music) at a time when the rest of the American motion picture industry had converted to sound.


3:00 PM -- LIMELIGHT (1952)
A broken-down comic sacrifices everything to give a young dancer a shot at the big time.
Dir: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Claire Bloom, Nigel Bruce
BW-138 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Charles Chaplin, Ray Rasch and Larry Russell (The film was not released in Los Angeles until 1972. Under the Academy rules at the time being, this permitted it to be eligible despite of being 20 years old.)

Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton had an interesting relationship. Long considered rivals but always having avoided commenting about each other in the press, Chaplin hired Keaton for a part in Limelight (1952). Keaton, who was flat broke at the time, went into a career decline after having been signed by MGM in 1928, as the studio would not let him improvise in any of his films nor allow him any writing or directorial input, and he was eventually reduced to writing gags - often uncredited - for other comedians' films. Chaplin, at this point, felt sorry for Keaton due to his hard luck, but Keaton recognized that, despite Charlie's better fortune and far greater wealth, Chaplin was (strangely) the more depressed of the two. In one scene in Limelight, Chaplin's character was dying. While the camera was fading away, Keaton was muttering to Chaplin without moving his lips, "That's it, good, wait, don't move, wait, good, we're through." In his autobiography Keaton called Chaplin "the greatest silent comedian of all time."


5:30 PM -- THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950)
A gang of small time crooks plots an elaborate jewel heist.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen
BW-112 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sam Jaffe, Best Director -- John Huston, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Ben Maddow and John Huston, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harold Rosson

John Huston first met Sterling Hayden in Washington, DC, during a protest against the House Un-American Activities Committee investigation of "subversives" in the film industry. When the pair met to discuss the project, Huston said to Hayden, "I've admired you for a long time, Sterling. They don't know what to make of a guy like you in this business." Huston was honest with Hayden about his chance for the lead role. Hayden recounts in his autobiography Huston's pitch: "Now, Sterling, I want you to do this part. The studio does not. They want a top name star. They say you mean nothing when it comes to box-office draw--I told them there aren't five names in this town [that] mean a damn thing at the box office. Fortunately, they're not making this picture. I am. Now let me tell you about Dix Handley . . . Dix is you and me and every other man who can't fit into the groove." Rumored to be fighting severe alcohol and psychiatric problems, Hayden landed the role of Handley, his first major starring role, over the objection of MGM chief Dore Schary. Hayden's gritty performance proved many Hollywood naysayers flat wrong. For instance, Hayden himself was nervous about the climactic scene in the picture, when Dix breaks down in tears in front of Jean Hagen. According to the director, though, Hayden did not have anything to worry about. After the actor delivered the scene beautifully, Huston took Hayden aside and said, "The next time somebody says you can't act, tell them to call Huston."


7:30 PM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #23 (1955)
Gene Kelly and Jerry the Mouse perform in a clip from "Anchors Aweigh"; George Murphy, Dore Schary and Richard Brooks show a short film about the making of "The Last Hunt." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-26 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: OLIVIA De HAVILLAND



8:00 PM -- IN THIS OUR LIFE (1942)
A neurotic southerner steals her sister's husband then vies with her for another man.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Bette Davis, Olivia De Havilland, George Brent
BW-97 mins, CC,

Both Bette Davis' and Olivia de Havilland's characters have masculine given names - "Stanley" and "Roy," respectively. The film never hints that there is anything unusual about their names, nor does it offer any explanation. In David Maraniss's 2012 biography of President Barack Obama, titled Barack Obama: The Story, Maraniss reports that Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham Obama Soetoro, was named "Stanley" not after her own father, Stanley Dunham, but after the Bette Davis character in the movie In This Our Life. Maraniss says that President Obama's maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, saw the movie while pregnant with Obama's mother, and she thought the name sounded sophisticated for a girl.


9:45 PM -- THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (1941)
Romanticized biography of General George Armstrong Custer and his last stand.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Arthur Kennedy
BW-140 mins, CC,

Jim Thorpe, who was an extra, had an off camera fight with Errol Flynn. With one punch Thorpe knocked out Flynn, who was in his Custer uniform.


12:15 AM -- SANTA FE TRAIL (1940)
Romantic rivals get caught in the battle to stop abolitionist John Brown.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Raymond Massey
BW-110 mins, CC,

Aptly enough, the movie made its world premiere in Santa Fe, New Mexico.


2:15 AM -- DODGE CITY (1939)
A soldier of fortune takes on the corrupt boss of a Western town.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Ann Sheridan
C-104 mins, CC,

Warner Bros. chartered a special sixteen-car train which transported at least thirty-six reporters to Dodge City for the film's premiere. Along the way, an unscheduled stop was made in Pasadena so that Olivia de Havilland could leave the train and report for work on Gone with the Wind (1939). The studio also sent a Technicolor crew to film the premiere, which was attended by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. and over 70,000 visitors that had come to the city to celebrate the premiere.


4:15 AM -- THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1936)
Two brothers love the same woman at a perilous Indian outpost.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Patric Knowles
BW-115 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Assistant Director -- Jack Sullivan

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD), and Best Music, Score -- Leo F. Forbstein (head of department) with score by Max Steiner

During filming, director Michael Curtiz--a Hungarian whose command of the English language left a lot to be desired--exclaimed, "Bring on the empty horses!", meaning "riderless horses". David Niven would later use this phrase as the title of his autobiography.