TCM Schedule for Friday, June 10, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: TCM Special Theme: Billy Wilder

[Staph]

In most of the daylight hours, TCM seems to be continuing this month's theme of Stage to Screen, with a potload more of musicals filmed in the 1950s. And in prime time, TCM continues its month-long look at superb writer/director Billy Wilder, with a selection of his films from the 1950s. Enjoy!



7:36 AM -- M-G-M Jubilee Overture (1954)
This short film celebrates Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 30th anniversary with The MGM Symphony Orchestra performing numbers from the studio's best-known musicals.
Dir: George Sidney
C-10 mins, Letterbox Format


8:00 AM -- The Student Prince (1954)
A prince falls in love with a barmaid during his last fling before assuming the crown.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, John Ericson
C-107 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In August 1952 Mario Lanza recorded the soundtrack. The whole recording was done in single takes. Every phrase in it was Lanza magic at its best. However, on the film set things were not to go well at all. The first scene to be shot was the song "Beloved" on the terrace. Director Curtis Bernhardt did not like the way the song was sung and corrected Lanza, telling him that he was putting too much emotion in his singing instead of sounding more stuffy and rigid like a Prussian prince. Lanza informed Bernhardt that he was to direct only his acting, and that Lanza's singing was strictly Lanza's department. Bernhardt would not accept this, and Lanza would not be told how to sing by a movie director. The end result was that Lanza walked off the set and vowed not to return as long as Bernhardt was the director. The studio took an injunction against Lanza for damages and losses. He could not perform in public, on radio, or in the recording studio for the remaining time of his contract with MGM (which was then 15 months). A solution was reached in May 1953: the studio would remove the embargo on Lanza if he would allow his voice to be used while another actor played the part of the prince. This was agreed to and the filming got under way with Edmund Purdom lip-synching Lanza, which he did marvelously. The irony is that when the film was finally made, the director was no longer Bernhardt, but Richard Thorpe, who had worked harmoniously with Lanza on The Great Caruso (1951).


10:00 AM -- Kismet (1955)
In this Arabian Nights musical "king of the beggars" infiltrates high society when his daughter is wooed by a handsome prince.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray
C-113 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The orange seller (the man who Hajj (Howard Keel) holds down and calls the "father of none and son of many&quot is played by Jamie Farr best known for his role as Corporal Klinger in the TV show "M.A.S.H".


12:00 PM -- Pal Joey (1957)
An opportunistic singer woos a wealthy widow to boost his career.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak
C-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Walter Holscher, William Kiernan and Louis Diage, Best Costume Design -- Jean Louis, Best Sound, Recording -- John P. Livadary (Columbia SSD), and Best Film Editing -- Viola Lawrence and Jerome Thoms

This is one of Frank Sinatra's few post-From Here to Eternity (1953) movies in which he did not receive top billing, which surprisingly went to Rita Hayworth. Sinatra was, by that time, a bigger star, and his title role was predominant. When asked about the billing, Sinatra replied, "Ladies first." He was also quoted as saying that, as it was a Columbia film, Hayworth should have top billing because, "For years, she WAS Columbia Pictures", and that with regard to being billed "between" Hayworth and Kim Novak, "That's a sandwich I don't mind being stuck in the middle of." As Columbia's biggest star, Hayworth had been top billed in every film since Cover Girl (1944), but her tenure was soon to end with They Came to Cordura (1959).


2:00 PM -- The Black Scorpion (1957)
Giant prehistoric scorpions terrorize the Mexican countryside.
Dir: Edward Ludwig
Cast: Richard Denning, Mara Corday, Carlos Rivas
BW-88 mins, CC,

The trapdoor spider that attacks Juanito in the scorpions' underground home is one of the original models left over from the famous deleted spider sequence in King Kong (1933)


3:36 PM -- Dirt Track Racing (1957)
A short film about Viennese dirt bike racing, following a young racer from technical training to learning how to ride to his first race in Vienna.
Dir: Heinz Scheiderbauer
BW-8 mins,


3:45 PM -- The Killer Shrews (1959)
A maniacal scientist creates a formula that turns your average shrew into a giant, man-killing beast.
Dir: Ray Kellogg
Cast: James Best, Ingrid Goude, Ken Curtis
BW-68 mins,

Close-ups of the giant shrews were filmed using hand puppets. The wider shots used dogs made up as the shrews.


5:00 PM -- Beast From Haunted Cave (1959)
Gangsters on the run in South Dakota awaken a giant monster.
Dir: Monte Hellman
Cast: Michael Forest, Sheila Carol, Frank Wolff
BW-66 mins, CC,

Directorial debut of Monte Hellman.


6:15 PM -- 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,

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



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPECIAL THEME: BILLY WILDER



8:00 PM -- Sunset Boulevard (1950)
A failed screenwriter falls into a mercenary romance with a faded silent-film star.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim
BW-110 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman Jr., Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Hans Dreier, John Meehan, Sam Comer and Ray Moyer, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Franz Waxman

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Holden, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Gloria Swanson, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Erich von Stroheim, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Nancy Olson, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- John F. Seitz, Best Film Editing -- Arthur P. Schmidt and Doane Harrison, and Best Picture

The photos of the young Norma Desmond that decorate the house are all genuine publicity photos from Gloria Swanson's heyday.


10:00 PM -- Ace in the Hole (1951)
A small-town reporter milks a local disaster to get back into the big time.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Bob Arthur
BW-111 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman

When the film was released, it got bad reviews and lost money. The studio, without Billy Wilder's permission, changed the title to "The Big Carnival" to increase the box office take of the film. It didn't work. On top of that, Wilder's next picture, Stalag 17 (1953), was a hit and he expected a share of the picture's profits. Paramount accountants told him that since this picture lost money, the money it lost would be subtracted from the profits of "Stalag 17".


12:00 AM -- Stalag 17 (1953)
A cynical serviceman in a World War II POW camp has to prove he's not an informer.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger
BW-120 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Holden

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Robert Strauss, and Best Director -- Billy Wilder

The movie was shot in sequence (i.e., the scenes were filmed in the same order they're shown). Many of the actors were surprised by the final plot twist.


2:15 AM -- The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
Charles Lindbergh risks his life to complete his historic flight from New York to Paris.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: James Stewart, Murray Hamilton, Patricia Smith
C-135 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Louis Lichtenfield

James Stewart was given the role of Charles A. Lindbergh after John Kerr had turned it down, owing to his disapproval of Lindbergh's pro-Nazi sympathies and his racist and anti-Semitic views. This was despite the fears of the producers that Stewart was too old for the part.


4:45 AM -- Paris Interlude (1934)
Expatriates and foreign correspondents mix in a Paris bistro.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: Madge Evans, Otto Kruger, Robert Young
BW-72 mins,

The play by S. J. Perelman and Laura Perelman originally opened in New York on 3 December 1933.