TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 24 -- What's On Tonight: True Crime

[Staph]

TCM is saluting the ladies today, with Funny Lady (1975), The Lady Eve (1941), DuBarry Was A Lady (1943) and many more. In primetime, TCM continues the theme of True Crime. Enjoy!


7:00 AM -- Gambling Lady (1934)
66 min, TV-G
Two gamblers fall in love but one is already married to a possible murderer.
Dir: Archie Mayo
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Pat O'Brien

Referenced in Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008), on a printed list of films condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency.


8:15 AM -- The Sport Parade (1932)
65 min, TV-G
College team mates follow different paths after they graduate.
Dir: Dudley Murphy
Cast: Joel McCrea, Marian Marsh, William Gargan

At the six-day bike race, Irene (Marian Marsh) stops at the refreshment stand before going to find Sandy (Joel McCrea). She gets a box of sandwiches and a large cardboard cup of coffee. (We actually see the coffee going into the cup.) When she finds Sandy, however, the coffee has been transubstantiated into soup - according to Irene, anyhow.


9:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #11 (1955)
26 min, TV-G
Judy Garland and Gene Kelly perform in a clip from "For Me and My Gal"; Susan Hayward introduces a clip from "I'll Cry Tomorrow."
Hosted by George Murphy.


10:00 AM -- Du Barry Was A Lady (1943)
C-101 min, TV-G
A night club employee dreams he's Louis XV, and the star he idolizes is his lady love.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly

MGM hairstylist Sydney Guilaroff dyed Lucille Ball's hair flame red for this film, the color that she kept for the rest of her life and became her trademark.


11:48 AM -- The Seesaw And The Shoes (1945)
This short shows how two everyday objects led to important discoveries.
Dir: Douglas Foster
Narrator: John Nesbitt
11 min

One of the "John Nesbitt's Passing Parade" series from MGM.


12:00 PM -- Lady in the Lake (1947)
103 min, TV-PG
Philip Marlowe searches for a missing woman in this mystery shot entirely from the detective's viewpoint.
Dir: Robert Montgomery
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan

The entire movie plot unfolds from lead Robert Montgomery's point of view, thus creating a rarity in film: the principal character is only seen on-screen as a reflection in mirrors and windows, and as the narrator speaking directly to the audience.

For the benefit of those who are new to the Classic Films group, Robert Montgomery has long been considered our Patron Saint . . .




1:45 PM -- Where Is Jane Doe? (1956)
8 min
New York City police detectives investigate the case of a missing girl -- was it suicide, murder or hoax?
Dir: Larry O'Reilly
Narrator: Bob Hite

Filmed on location in New York City.


2:00 PM -- The Lady From Shanghai (1948)
87 min, TV-PG
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
Dir: Orson Welles
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane

The yacht on which much of the action takes place belonged in real life as the "Zaca" to Errol Flynn. Flynn skippered the Zaca between takes, and he can be spotted in the background in a scene outside a cantina. After distinguished service during WWII in coastal patrol off California, the Zaca was sold out of Errol Flynn's estate and went through years of neglect and disputes in ownership. Rescued from certain destruction and restored by a wealthy Italian businessman, it sails now out of Monte Carlo, and is recognized as one of the finest yachts in the world.


3:34 PM -- Don't You Believe It (1943)
10 min
This Passing Parade entry looks at several historical "truths" that just aren't so.
Dir: Edward L. Cahn
Narrator: John Nesbitt

Among the subjects of the historical "truths" are Nero, Lady Godiva, and Mrs. O'Leary and her cow. It sounds like a 1940s version of Tea Party "truths"!


3:45 PM -- The Lady Eve (1941)
94 min, TV-PG
A lady cardsharp tries to con an eccentric scientist only to fall for him.
Dir: Preston Sturges
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn

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

At the beginning Henry Fonda makes references to the help of a "Professor Marsdit". Raymond L. Ditmars of the AMNH at the time was the best-known reptile expert in the country, the kind of popularizer that Carl Sagan later became.


5:30 PM -- Funny Lady (1975)
C-138 min, TV-PG
Musical biography of Fanny Brice and her tempestuous marriage to showman Billy Rose.
Dir: Herbert Ross
Cast: Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- James Wong Howe, Best Costume Design -- Ray Aghayan and Bob Mackie, Best Music, Original Song -- Fred Ebb and John Kander for the song "How Lucky Can You Get", Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation -- Peter Matz, and Best Sound -- Richard Portman,
Don MacDougall, Curly Thirlwell, and Jack Solomon

Producer Ray Stark was forced to sue Barbra Streisand to make this movie after she refused; Streisand had only one film left on her contract with him. Reportedly, upon completion of filming, she presented him with a mirror on which she'd written in lipstick, "Paid in full".


7:50 PM -- Seventh Column (1943)
9 min
The war effort is being harmed by carelessness and safety hazards and Mr. Pratt (Dave O'Brien), a walking disaster, isn't helping.
Dir: Will Jason
Cast: Dave O'Brien,

Based on a story by Joe Ansen.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: TRUE CRIME


8:00 PM -- Dillinger (1945)
70 min, TV-PG
The legendary gunman plots a series of daring heists.
Dir: Max Nosseck
Cast: Lawrence Tierney, Edmund Lowe, Anne Jeffreys

J. Edgar Hoover protested this film being made and demanded that changes be made to the script to depict the FBI in a better light. Shortly before his death he recorded a disclaimer to the film; it can be heard (spoken by an imitation voice) after the closing credits. The film depicts John Dillinger being shot outside the Biograph after he pulls his gun; in fact, Dillinger never pulled a gun that night. The FBI decided they were going to kill Dillinger rather than attempt to take him alive; they announced their presence, he turned to run, and was shot six times in the back.


9:18 PM -- The Million Dollar Nickel (1952)
The title of this short refers to the 5-cent stamp required to send a letter overseas from the USA.
9 min
Cast: Pier Angeli, John Nesbitt, Ricardo Montalban

Opening lines: "Here in Philadelphia since 1793, they make money. Silver dollars, and half dollars, quarters and dimes, and pennies and nickels. And of all the coins minted in this building the nickel was once the most important to the average American. Yes, for a nickel any of us could buy most of the little things we needed. Remember when for a five cent piece we could get this..."


9:30 PM -- Al Capone (1959)
104 min, TV-PG
Chicago's most notorious gangster rules the city ruthlessly.
Dir: Richard Wilson
Cast: Rod Steiger, Fay Spain, James Gregory

The real Al Capone died of advanced syphilis which had become neurosyphilis. Due to the production code in effect at the time, the narrator (James Gregory) attributes Capone's death to an "incurable disease".


11:30 PM -- Mad Dog Coll (1961)
87 min, TV-PG
A young hood kills his way to the top of the mob.
Dir: Burt Balaban
Cast: John Davis Chandler, Kay Doubleday, Brooke Hayward

Feature film debut of Gene Hackman, Telly Savalas, and John Davis Chandler.


1:02 AM -- King And Queen Meet The Stars (1954)
3 min


1:11 AM -- Gangster Film Festival (Lbx) (2000)
C-2 min


1:15 AM -- The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960)
101 min, TV-PG
A small-time thief kills his way to the top of the New York rackets.
Dir: Budd Boetticher
Cast: Ray Danton, Karen Steele, Elaine Stewart

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Howard Shoup

In an interview about the making of this film, cinematographer Lucien Ballard recalled, "We wanted to go for an authentic atmosphere for the 1920s where the film was showing. So after seeing some of the rushes, the producer went to Boetticher and said, 'I thought you said Ballard was a great cameraman - this looks like it was shot in 1920!' And Budd said, 'It's SUPPOSED to look like it was shot in 1920!'


3:00 AM -- The Valachi Papers (1972)
C-125 min, TV-MA
A criminal who gets on the bad side of a mob boss must take desperate steps to protect himself in prison.
Dir: Terence Young
Cast: Charles Bronson, Lino Ventura, Jill Ireland

Based on the best-selling novel by Peter Maas.


5:15 AM -- King of the Roaring 20s: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961)


106 min, TV-14
A gangster rises to the top of the gambling racket.
Dir: Joseph M. Newman
Cast: David Janssen, Dianne Foster, Mickey Rooney

Final film of Jack Carson.

[CBHagman]

1. Love that factoid about "The Lady Eve."

That's something I'd never catch.

The movie is highly recommended -- Stanwyck carries it all off brilliantly, of course, but it's fun to watch Coburn and Fonda too.