TCM Schedule for Friday, October 5 -- What's On Tonight: American Politics on Film

A day of the supernatural and an evening of politics -- something of a weird but reasonable juxtaposition! Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: Bill Murray (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-29 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format


6:30 AM -- Mummy's Boys (1936)
Two ditch-digging fools sign on to help excavate a cursed Egyptian tomb.
Dir: Fred Guiol
Cast: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Barbara Pepper
BW-68 mins, TV-G,

One of the last of the films featuring the comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey, who got their start together in 1927, in Florenz Ziegfeld's Broadway show Rio Rita.


7:45 AM -- Singapore Woman (1941)
A woman who believes she's cursed, takes refuge on a rubber plantation.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
Cast: Brenda Marshall, David Bruce, Virginia Field
BW-65 mins, TV-PG,

Warner Bros. suspended Jeffrey Lynn for refusing to play a part in this film.


9:00 AM -- The Reptile (1966)
Indian snake worshippers turn an explorer's daughter into a hideous monster.
Dir: John Gilling
Cast: Noel Willman, Jennifer Daniel, Ray Barrett
C-90 mins, TV-PG,

Roy Ashton's makeup for the creature included appliances created from a mold taken of real snakeskin.


10:30 AM -- The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
A lonely child creates an imaginary playmate with surprisingly dangerous results.
Dir: Gunther V. Fritsch
Cast: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph
BW-70 mins, TV-PG, CC,

According to the screenwriter DeWitt Bodeen, Val Lewton wanted to call this film "Amy and Her Friend". However, RKO executives insisted on using the "Cat People" name to attract fans of Cat People, which had been an enormous box office success made with a very low budget.


11:45 AM -- The Four Skulls Of Jonathan Drake (1959)
A family fights against a voodoo curse that marks each member for death.
Dir: Edward L. Cahn
Cast: Eduard Franz, Valerie French, Grant Richards
BW-70 mins, TV-14,

The script is based in part on the Amazonian Indian practice of removing the skulls from decapitated heads, padding them with hot sand and shrinking them to an extremely small size.


1:15 PM -- I Married A Witch (1942)
A 300-year-old witch wreaks havoc when she falls in love with a young politician.
Dir: René Clair
Cast: Fredric March, Veronica Lake, Robert Benchley
BW-77 mins, TV-G,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Roy Webb

Sol Sacks, creator of Bewitched, stated in an interview for "True Hollywood Story: Bewitched" that he drew inspiration both from "I Married a Witch" and "Bell, Book and Candle" (1958) in creating the iconic TV series. Columbia Pictures owned the rights to both of those movies. As it also owned the television studio that was to produce "Bewitched," Sacks didn't worry about getting sued.


2:45 PM -- Curse of the Demon (1958)
An anthropologist investigates a devil worshipper who commands a deadly demon.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis
BW-82 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

This film was mentioned in the opening song from The Rocky Horror Picture Show ("Science Fiction Double Feature"): "Dana Andrews said prunes gave him the runes, but passing them used lots of skill".


4:30 PM -- The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964)
An unearthed mummy returns to life to claim the reincarnation of his lost love.
Dir: Michael Carreras
Cast: Ronald Howard, Terence Morgan, Fred Clark
C-80 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Michael Carreras' screen-writing pseudonym "Henry Younger" was a play on fellow Hammer producer Anthony Hinds' nom-de-plume "John Elder."


6:00 PM -- Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger (1977)
When a witch turns a young prince into a baboon, Sinbad fights to save him.
Dir: Sam Wanamaker
Cast: Patrick Wayne, Taryn Power, Jane Seymour
C-113 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

This is the second Sinbad film to have an actor who's played Doctor Who. But while Patrick Troughton was the Doctor before his appearance in this film, Tom Baker appeared in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad right before becoming the Doctor.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: AMERICAN POLITICS ON FILM



8:00 PM -- A Night at the Movies: Hollywood Goes to Washington (2012)
BW-59 mins, TV-PG, CC,


9:00 PM -- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
An idealistic Senate replacement takes on political corruption.
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains
BW-130 mins, TV-G, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Lewis R. Foster

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Stewart, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Harry Carey, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Claude Rains, Best Art Direction -- Lionel Banks, Best Director -- Frank Capra, Best Film Editing -- Gene Havlick and Al Clark, Best Music, Scoring -- Dimitri Tiomkin, Best Sound, Recording -- John P. Livadary (Columbia SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Sidney Buchman, and Best Picture

James Stewart knew this was the role of a lifetime, one that could place him near the top of the Hollywood heap. Jean Arthur later remembered his mood at the time: "He was so serious when he was working on that picture, he used to get up at five o'clock in the morning and drive himself to the studio. He was so terrified something was going to happen to him, he wouldn't go faster."


11:15 PM -- A Night at the Movies: Hollywood Goes to Washington (2012)
BW-59 mins, TV-PG, CC,


12:15 AM -- Meet John Doe (1941)
A reporter's fraudulent story turns a tramp into a national hero and makes him a pawn of big business.
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold
BW-122 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Richard Connell and Robert Presnell Sr.

Frank Capra didn't want anyone to play John Doe except Gary Cooper, who agreed to the part (without reading a script) for two reasons: he had enjoyed working with Capra on Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and he wanted to work with Barbara Stanwyck.


2:30 AM -- Road Games (1981)
A truck driver's attempt to find a vanished hitchhiker leads police to suspect him of her murder.
Dir: Richard Franklin
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Marion Edward, Stacy Keach Sr.
C-101 mins, TV-14,

This film has frequently been compared to Hitchcock's Rear Window, which isn't just coincidence. Director Richard Franklin gave writer Everett De Roche a copy of the 'Rear Window' script while working on their previous film Patrick. After reading the script De Roche suggested to Franklin that the open highways of the Australian outback would be an ideal place for a similar suspense story. He then proceeded to write Roadgames.


4:15 AM -- Hot Rods to Hell (1967)
A family traveling through the desert is set up by a teen gang.
Dir: John Brahm
Cast: Dana Andrews, Jeanne Crain, Mimsy Farmer
C-100 mins, TV-PG,

Originally made for television in 1966, but released first in theaters and drive-ins instead.