TCM Schedule for Thursday, November 18 -- Star of the Month -- Ava Gardner

[Staph]

It's an interesting day, full of adventure films from the mid-1930s, with English stars and English themes. If you have never seen The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935) or Fire Over England (1937) or The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), fire up the DVR. And tonight there are four more of the films of Ava Gardner. Enjoy!


5:20am -- One Reel Wonders: 1925 Mgm Studio Tour (1925)
A tour of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio in 1925 is given to meet the people who make the movies there and see how movies are made.
Cast: Mrs. M.F. Lee, Carey Wilson, Howard Hawks
BW-32 mins

Although this film has no titles for cast and crew at the beginning of the film, the intertitles identify many of the MGM employees shown, including Joan Crawford as Lucille LeSueur, "a recent MGM discovery".


6:00am -- Fool's Luck (1926)
In this silent short, an eviction notice sends a young man on a series of perilous adventures.
Cast: Lupino Lane, George Davis, Virginia Vance, Jack Lloyd
Dir: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
BW-15 mins

Arbuckle directed under the name of William Goodrich, after the scandal of a starlet who fell sick and died after attending a party at Arbuckle's hotel suite in 1921. He was tried and acquited three times for manslaughter, but his career was ruined.


6:30am -- The Mask Of Fu Manchu (1932)
A Chinese warlord threatens explorers in search of the key to global power.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Lewis Stone, Karen Morley, Charles Starrett
Dir: Charles Brabin
BW-68 mins, TV-PG

It took Boris Karloff 2.5 hours every morning to apply makeup for this role.


7:45am -- Devil Dogs Of The Air (1935)
Two Marine pilots vie for romance and glory.
Cast: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Margaret Lindsay, Frank McHugh
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
BW-85 mins, TV-PG

Filmed on location at Naval Air Station North Island, at the north end of the Coronado Peninsula in San Diego Bay.


9:15am -- The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935)
A British aristocrat's effete facade masks a swashbuckling hero rescuing victims of the French revolution.
Cast: Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey, Nigel Bruce
Dir: Harold Young
BW-98 mins, TV-G

Percy Blakeney refers to one of the boxers as "Mendoza", a reference to Daniel Mendoza, the 17th-century British Jew who revolutionized boxing. Mendoza was the heavyweight champion of England from 1792-5, despite being a middleweight.


11:00am -- The Charge Of The Light Brigade (1936)
Two brothers love the same woman at a perilous Indian outpost.
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Patric Knowles, Henry Stephenson
Dir: Michael Curtiz
BW-116 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Assistant Director -- Jack Sullivan

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

During filming, director Michael Curtiz exclaimed "Bring on the empty horses!", meaning "riderless horses". David Niven would later use this phrase as the title of his autobiography. See also Casablanca (1942).


1:00pm -- Fire Over England (1937)
A British spy infiltrates the Spanish court to thwart their planned invasion of England.
Cast: Flora Robson, Raymond Massey, Leslie Banks, Laurence Olivier
Dir: William K. Howard
BW-89 mins, TV-G

It was while screening 'Fire Over England' that agent Myron Selznick saw Vivien Leigh and decided that she was Scarlett O'Hara. Coincidently she was in Hollywood to accompany her lover and future husband, Laurence Olivier who was making Wuthering Heights (1939) and Myron brought her down to the Gone with the Wind (1939) set, the Burning of Atlanta and introduced her to his brother David as his new Scarlett O'Hara.


2:45pm -- The Prisoner Of Zenda (1937)
An Englishman who resembles the king of a small European nation gets mixed up in palace intrigue when his look-alike is kidnapped.
Cast: Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey
Dir: John Cromwell
BW-101 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Lyle R. Wheeler, and Best Music, Score -- Alfred Newman (musical director of Selznick International Pictures Music Department with score by Alfred Newman.


4:30pm -- King Solomon's Mines (1937)
African explorers enlist an exiled native chief to help them find a legendary treasure.
Cast: Paul Robeson, Cedric Hardwicke, Roland Young, John Loder
Dir: Robert Stevenson
BW-80 mins, TV-G

Based on the novel by H. Rider Haggard.


6:00pm -- Knight Without Armour (1937)
A British spy tries to get a countess out of the new Soviet Union.
Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Robert Donat, Irene Van Brugh, Herbert Lomas
Dir: Jacques Feyder
BW-107 mins, TV-G

During the bath tub scene, Marlene Dietrich slipped on a bar of soap falling naked and spreadeagled before cast and crew. Ever the professional, she picked herself up, laughed and continued shooting.


What's On Tonight: STAR OF THE MONTH: AVA GARDNER


8:00pm -- The Naked Maja (1959)
Romantic biography of the Spanish painter Goya and his relationship with the Duchess of Alba.
Cast: Ava Gardner, Anthony Franciosa, Amedeo Nazzari, Gino Cervi
Dir: Henry Koster
C-113 mins, TV-PG

Majo (masc.) or Maja (fem.) were terms for people from the lower classes of Spanish society, especially in Madrid, who distinguished themselves by their elaborate outfits and sense of style in dress and manners; the English term dandy carries a similar, but not identical meaning. They flourished from the late 18th to early 19th century, and to some extent later. Majos of both sexes were a favourite subject of the painter Francisco Goya. -- Wikipedia


10:00pm -- On the Beach (1959)
After a nuclear war, U.S. sailors stationed in Australia deal with the end of civilization.
Cast: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins
Dir: Stanley Kramer
BW-134 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Film Editing -- Frederic Knudtson, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Ernest Gold

It is rumored that guards at each end of the Golden Gate Bridge were paid $500 each to stop cars for a minute to get footage of an empty bridge.


12:30am -- The Angel Wore Red (1960)
A priest and a prostitute fall in love during the Spanish Civil War.
Cast: Ava Gardner, Dirk Bogarde, Joseph Cotten, Vittorio De Sica
Dir: Nunnally Johnson
BW-99 mins, TV-PG

Filmed on location in Catania and Rome, Italy.


2:15am -- 55 Days At Peking (1963)
An American major leads the defense against Chinese revolutionaries in 1900 Peking.
Cast: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, David Niven, Flora Robson
Dir: Nicholas Ray
C-162 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Dimitri Tiomkin (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) for the song "So Little Time", and Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Dimitri Tiomkin

Due to mainland China's hostility and isolation from the Western world, a full-scale 60-acre replication of Peking 1900 (sewers and all) was built in the plains outside Madrid, and Chinese/Asian extras were flown in from all over Europe to provide the local Peking (the old name of Beijing) citizenry. A number of costumes for the Royal Chinese Court (the Empress, Prince Tuan's, etc.) were authentic ones from Tzu Hsi's actual court. They were loaned by an illustrious Florentine family (which wished to stay anonymous) but was able to rescue them from the collapse of the dynasty right after the Boxer rebellion.

[Staph]

1. The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

By 1937, The Prisoner of Zenda was already an old warhorse of a property. The 1894 novel by Anthony Hope was adapted for the Broadway stage by playwright Edward Rose in 1895, and that was quickly followed by a West End production. Over the next 15 years, it was revived on stage at least four times. The first film version, a 4-reeler, was produced in 1913; Metro remade it with Lewis Stone in 1922. More stage revivals, including a musical version, followed, until producer David O. Selznick decided in the 1930s that the time was right for a sound version. It was a smart move for this was the version that became an instant classic and has remained the definitive adaptation. A 1952 shot-for-shot, word-for-word remake starring Stewart Granger bombed, and a 1979 Peter Sellers spoof is better left unmentioned.

The story is set in a fictional Balkan nation, in the province of Zenda. When the country's King Rudolf V is drugged and kidnapped by his jealous brother, Rudolf's English cousin - who happens to be vacationing in Zenda and also happens to be an exact double of the King - is found and substituted for the real thing. But when he learns what's really going on, he fights to restore the proper King to the throne.

A bit farfetched? Sure, but in 1937 the story suddenly seemed topical, with its parallels to the real-life abdication of the Duke of Windsor and the approaching coronation of King George VI. Selznick liked these connections and assembled an all-star cast to bring the swashbuckling romance costume drama to life. In the lead dual roles he placed Ronald Colman, never more perfectly cast. Joining him were Madeleine Carroll, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Raymond Massey, Mary Astor, and young David Niven in a breakthrough part.

The memorable part of Rupert of Hentzau was something of a comeback for Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., but he was reluctant to take it because it wasn't a leading role. He went to his famous father for some advice, who told him he had to accept the part because "not only is The Prisoner of Zenda one of the best romances written in a hundred years and always a success, but Rupert of Hentzau is probably one of the best villains ever written. He is witty, irresistible, and as sly as Iago... Nobody has ever played Rupert and failed to steal the show, on either stage or screen. It is so actor-proof, in fact, that Rin Tin Tin could play the part and walk away with it!" That was all the convincing Fairbanks, Jr., needed and he did so well that he was indeed swamped with new offers after the film came out.

The picture also helped kick-start David Niven's career. He had recently come to California hoping to break into movies, but so far only a few small parts had materialized. His British expatriate friends introduced him to Selznick, who decided to take a chance with him for the role of Fritz. Years later, in his memoir, Niven recalled that he was desperate to enliven this part by playing it for laughs but that "humorless" director John Cromwell refused to let him. Finally, the day came when Niven asked: "Mr. Cromwell, would you let me do it again - my way?" This was unheard-of insubordination, and the set fell silent. "All right," said Cromwell, "Do it once more - your way." Niven did it. "Next scene," said Cromwell. Niven felt impending doom, and sure enough, that night Selznick called to say he was being replaced. But the next morning, Niven was summoned into Selznick's office. Cromwell was there. They had just seen the rushes and both thought Niven's "way" was superb. Cromwell said, "It's my fault entirely and and I are going to build up the part so that we can get much more fun out of it. You'll be great. Go get dressed."

As humble as he showed himself to be, Cromwell was having his own problems. He was angered by Selznick's constant script-tinkering which resulted in delays on the set. He was annoyed by his lead actors, whom he found "lazy and overindulged," and he complained that "Colman never knows his lines." Ultimately, Selznick fired him and replaced him with W.S. "Woody" Van Dyke, though Cromwell retained sole screen credit. (George Cukor also shot a few retakes.)

One amusing anecdote from the set, recounted in several books, involved Raymond Massey and the 60-film veteran British actor C. Aubrey Smith. Massey was worried about the interpretation of his part and went to Smith for some guidance. As Fairbanks recalled, Smith was reading a 2-week-old copy of his beloved London Times (he refused to read anything else) when Massey interrupted him:

"'Sorry to butt in, Aubrey, but I just can't get under the skin of my character, Black Michael. I thought you might advise me.' Aubrey had to turn up the power in his hearing aid first. Then he lowered his Times, took the monocle from his eye, and glaring at , said, 'My dear Ray, in my time I have played every part in The Prisoner of Zenda except Princess Flavia. And I ALWAYS had trouble with Black Michael.' With that, he replaced his monocle, turned off his hearing aid, and picked up his Times again."

Producer: David O. Selznick
Director: John Cromwell
Screenplay: Wells Root, John L. Balderston, Donald Ogden Stewart, Ben Hecht, Sidney Howard
Cinematography: James Wong Howe
Film Editing: James E. Newcom
Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler
Music: Alfred Newman
Cast: Ronald Colman (Major Rudolph Rassendyll), Madeleine Carroll (Princess Flavia), C. Aubrey Smith (Col. Zapt), Raymond Massey (Black Michael), Mary Astor (Antoinette de Mauban), David Niven (Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim).
BW-101m. Closed captioning.

by Jeremy Arnold