TCM Schedule for Thursday, September 27 -- TCM Spotlight: Mack Sennett

It's a day of murder and one last night with Mack Sennett. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- MGM Parade Show #14 (1955)
Clark Gable and Charles Laughton perform in a clip from "Mutiny on the Bounty"; Howard Keel introduces a clip from "Kismet." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-25 mins, TV-G,


6:30 AM -- Crime School (1938)
A crusading warden sets out to improve conditions at a reform school.
Dir: Lewis Seiler
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Billy Halop
BW-85 mins, TV-G, CC,

The second of seven movies featuring The Dead End Kids.


8:00 AM -- Suspicion (1941)
A wealthy wallflower suspects her penniless playboy husband of murder.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Sir Cedric Hardwicke
BW-100 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Joan Fontaine

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Franz Waxman, and Best Picture

In an interview with Dick Cavett, Alfred Hitchcock explained how he managed to call attention to the glass of milk containing the fatal dose of poison. He wanted it stand out so he had a glass made that contained a small battery operated light so the glass would show up in the long down the hallway shot.


9:45 AM -- Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Detective Philip Marlowe's search for a two-timing woman leads him to blackmail and murder.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley
BW-95 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Audiences initially stayed away, thinking that "Farewell My Lovely", its original title, was yet another Dick Powell musical. When the studio changed the title to "Murder My Sweet", box office receipts picked up considerably.


11:30 AM -- The Secret Fury (1950)
A mysterious figure tries to stop a woman's marriage by driving her mad.
Dir: Mel Ferrer
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Robert Ryan, Jane Cowl
BW-86 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Vivian "Ethel Mertz" Vance's film debut.


1:00 PM -- Dangerous Mission (1954)
A woman flees westward after witnessing a mob killing.
Dir: Louis King
Cast: Victor Mature, Piper Laurie, William Bendix
C-75 mins, TV-G, CC,

Filmed on location in Glacier National Park in Montana.


2:30 PM -- The Unholy Wife (1957)
An ambitious beauty marries a vintner, then falls for one of his workers.
Dir: John Farrow
Cast: Diana Dors, Rod Steiger, Tom Tryon
C-94 mins, TV-PG,

Also known as The Lady and the Prowler.


4:15 PM -- The Bat (1959)
A female mystery novelist turns detective to unmask a demented killer.
Dir: Crane Wilbur
Cast: Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead, Gavin Gordon
BW-80 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Her role as Judy became the final on-screen feature film role for former child star Darla Hood of Our Gang/Little Rascals fame.


5:45 PM -- The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1959)
Sherlock Holmes investigates the haunting of an isolated British estate by a murderous canine.
Dir: Terence Fisher
Cast: Peter Cushing, Andre Morell, Christopher Lee
C-87 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

For his role as Sherlock Holmes he of course had to have a pipe but as Peter Cushing didn't like the taste of the pipe, he kept a glass of milk always to hand to remove the taste.


7:15 PM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: Sydney Pollack (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-28 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format


7:48 PM -- San Sebastian 1746 In 1968 (1968)
A behind-the-scenes view of the filming of Guns Of San Sebastian.
C-10 mins,

Based on the novel A Wall For San Sebastian by Father William Barby Faherty.



TCM PRIMETIME - TCM SPOTLIGHT: MACK SENNETT



8:00 PM -- Hoboken to Hollywood (1926)
Dir: Del Lord
Cast: Billy Bevan, Vernon Dent, Thelma Hill
BW-20 mins, TV-G,

8:00 PM -- A Harem Knight (1926)
BW-10 mins, TV-G,

8:00 PM -- Saturday Afternoon (1926)
BW-27 mins, TV-G,

8:00 PM -- Sea Dog's Tale (1926)
Dir: Del Lord
Cast: Andy Clyde, Vernon Dent, Madeline Hurlock
BW-11 mins, TV-G,

9:30 PM -- Broke in China (1927)
BW-20 mins, TV-G,

9:30 PM -- The Golf Nut (1927)
Dir: Harry Edwards
Cast: Vernon Dent, Alma Bennett, Billy Bevan
BW-11 mins, TV-G,

9:30 PM -- The Pride Of Pikeville (1927)
Dir: Alfred J. Goulding
Cast: Ben Turpin,
BW-21 mins, TV-G,

9:30 PM -- Catalina, Here I Come (1927)
Dir: Earle Rodney
Cast: Andy Clyde, Madeline Hurlock, Eddie Quillan
BW-18 mins, TV-G,

11:00 PM -- Run, Girl, Run (1928)
Dir: Alfred J. Goulding
Cast: Lionel Belmore, Carole Lombard, Daphne Pollard
BW-20 mins, TV-G,

11:00 PM -- The Best Man (1928)
Dir: Harry Edwards
Cast: Billy Bevan, Alma Bennett, Vernon Dent
BW-21 mins, TV-G,

11:00 PM -- Fiddlesticks (1927)
BW-21 mins, TV-G,

11:00 PM -- Smith's Pony (1927)
BW-23 mins, TV-G,

12:30 AM -- Match Play (1930)
Dir: Mack Sennett
Cast: Andy Clyde, Walter Hagen, Bud Jamison
BW-10 mins, TV-G,

12:30 AM -- Matchmaking Mama (1929)
BW-10 mins, TV-G,

12:30 AM -- Taxi for Two (1928)
Dir: Del Lord
Cast: Andy Clyde, Jack Cooper, Virginia Vance
BW-17 mins, TV-G,

12:30 AM -- His Unlucky Night (1928)
BW-20 mins, TV-G,

2:00 AM -- Don't Play Bridge with Your Wife (1933)
Dir: A. Leslie Pearce
Cast: Cornelius Keefe, Nora Lane, Ruthelma Stevens
BW-18 mins, TV-G,

2:00 AM -- The Dentist (1932)
A dentist deals with a variety of eccentric and difficult patients.
Dir: A. Leslie Pearce
Cast: Billy Bletcher, Joe Bordeaux, Harry Bowen
BW-22 mins, TV-G,

2:00 AM -- Speed in the Gay Nineties (1932)
Dir: Del Lord
Cast: Andy Clyde, Helen Mann, Roger Moore
BW-10 mins,

2:00 AM -- Too Many Highballs (1933)
Dir: Clyde Bruckman
Cast: Marjorie Beebe, Lloyd Hamilton,
BW-10 mins,

2:00 AM -- The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933)
BW-19 mins, TV-G,

4:00 AM -- Sons of the Desert (1933)
Two friends hatch a harebrained scheme to attend a lodge convention over their wives' objections.
Dir: William A. Seiter
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase
BW-65 mins, TV-G, CC,

The movie's line "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into." was voted as the #60 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).


5:15 AM -- The Music Box (1932)
Two men running a moving company have to get a large piano up a daunting flight of stairs.
Dir: James Parrott
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Billy Gilbert
BW-29 mins, TV-G, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Comedy -- Hal Roach

According to a 1960s interview with Billy Gilbert for the Blackhawk Films catalog, the object Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy had to carry up the stairs was changed from a washing machine (in the earlier silent version, Hats Off) to a piano because a piano, while heavy and massive, is also delicate. Gilbert also said that several dummy pianos were made up for the film, and a number of them were completely destroyed. He used a German accent in the film to avoid confusion with James Finlayson and Edgar Kennedy, who also played comic villains in Laurel and Hardy movies.