TCM Schedule for Friday, November 25, 2016 -- What's On Tonight - Star of the Month Natalie Wood

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has the perfect alternative to endless Black Friday shopping -- a day with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. You can see seven of the films -- all but the first, Flying Down To Rio (1933), and their last two, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) and The Barkleys of Broadway (1949). And this evening, TCM finishes their look at Star of the Month Natalie Wood, with her films from the mid 1960s, through her final film, Brainstorm (1983). Enjoy!


6:30 AM -- ROBERTA (1935)
A football player inherits a chic Paris fashion house.
Dir: William A. Seiter
Cast: Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers
BW-106 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jerome Kern (music), Dorothy Fields (lyrics) and Jimmy McHugh (lyrics) for the song "Lovely to Look at"

The floor in the "I'll Be Hard to Handle" dance was the only wooden floor in all of the Fred Astaire / Ginger Rogers musicals. They both loved working on it, as they could tap and actually make the sounds of the taps. In the other musicals their taps were dubbed over, as they were too quiet. Their enjoyment is clearly seen, as their giggles at each other are unscripted.


8:30 AM -- FOLLOW THE FLEET (1936)
Two sailors on leave romance a dance-hall hostess and her prim sister.
Dir: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Randolph Scott
BW-110 mins, CC,

This is the feature film debut of Harriet Nelson, under her maiden name of Harriet Hillard. A natural blond, she wears a brunette wig so as not to distract from fellow blond actress and, more importantly, the film's star Ginger Rogers. Ironically, Rogers was naturally dark-haired but had already established herself in movies as a blonde.


10:30 AM -- THE GAY DIVORCEE (1934)
An unhappily married woman mistakes a suitor for the gigolo hired to end her marriage.
Dir: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Alice Brady
BW-105 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Con Conrad (music) and Herb Magidson (lyrics) for the song "The Continental"

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Van Nest Polglase and Carroll Clark, Best Sound, Recording -- Carl Dreher (sound director), Best Music, Score -- Max Steiner (head of department) with the score by Kenneth S. Webb and Samuel Hoffenstein, and Best Picture

The musical number "The Continental" lasts 17 1/2 minutes, the longest number ever in a musical until Gene Kelly's 18 1/2-minute ballet at the end of An American in Paris (1951) 17 years later. It is also the longest musical number in all of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' films together.


12:30 PM -- SWING TIME (1936)
To prove himself worthy of his fiancee, a dancer tries to make it big, only to fall for his dancing partner.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore
BW-104 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jerome Kern (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics) for the song "The Way You Look Tonight"

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Dance Direction -- Hermes Pan for "Bojangles of Harlem"

In "The Way You Look Tonight", Ginger Rogers is seen to be washing her hair. The crew tried various soaps, shampoos, and even egg white, but it always ran down her face too quickly. They achieved success with whipped cream.


2:30 PM -- CAREFREE (1938)
A psychiatrist falls in love with the woman he's supposed to be nudging into marriage with someone else.
Dir: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Ralph Bellamy
BW-83 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Van Nest Polglase, Best Music, Original Song -- Irving Berlin for the song "Change Partners and Dance with Me", and Best Music, Scoring -- Victor Baravalle

In her 1991 autobiography, "Ginger: My Story," Miss Rogers related that the entire film originally was planned for Technicolor. However, other sources, including Arlene Croce's "The Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Book," a lauded study published in 1972, maintained that just one Irving Berlin song, "I Used to Be Color Blind," would have burst into Technicolor during the dance. Miss Croce explained that color tests were shot, but their quality was poor, so the scheme was dropped.


4:00 PM -- SHALL WE DANCE (1937)
A ballet dancer and a showgirl fake a marriage for publicity purposes, then fall in love.
Dir: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton
BW-109 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- George Gershwin (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics) for the song "They Can't Take That Away from Me"

At the end of the roller skate dance number in the park the stars flop onto the "lawn". In the film both Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appear uncomfortable as they get up. This is because both were bruised from more than fifteen earlier takes and were actually in pain.


6:00 PM -- TOP HAT (1935)
A woman thinks the man who loves her is her best friend's husband.
Dir: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton
BW-100 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Carroll Clark and Van Nest Polglase, Best Dance Direction -- Hermes Pan for "Piccolino" and "Top Hat", Best Music, Original Song -- Irving Berlin for the song "Cheek to Cheek", and Best Picture

For the "Cheek to Cheek" number, Ginger Rogers wanted to wear an elaborate blue dress heavily decked out with ostrich feathers. When director Mark Sandrich and Fred Astaire saw the dress, they knew it would be impractical for the dance. Sandrich suggested that Rogers wear the white gown she had worn performing "Night and Day" in The Gay Divorcee (1934). Rogers walked off the set, finally returning when Sandrich agreed to let her wear the offending blue dress. As there was no time for rehearsals, Ginger Rogers wore the blue feathered dress for the first time during filming, and as Astaire and Sandrich had feared, feathers started coming off the dress. Astaire later claimed it was like "a chicken being attacked by a coyote". In the final film, some stray feathers can be seen drifting off it. To patch up the rift between them, Astaire presented Rogers with a locket of a gold feather. This was the origin of Rogers' nickname "Feathers". The shedding feathers episode was recreated to hilarious results in a scene from Easter Parade (1948) in which Fred Astaire danced with a clumsy, comical dancer played by Judy Garland.


7:50 PM -- AN HOUR FOR LUNCH (1939)
A man attempts to shows how to budget one's time during lunch hour to get things done efficiently in this comedic short.
Dir: Roy Rowland
Cast: John Butler, Robert Benchley, Dick Wessel
BW-9 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: NATALIE WOOD



8:00 PM -- INSIDE DAISY CLOVER (1966)
A girl on the road to stardom fights the dehumanizing effects of Hollywood life.
Dir: Robert Mulligan
Cast: Natalie Wood, Christopher Plummer, Robert Redford
C-128 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ruth Gordon, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Robert Clatworthy and George James Hopkins, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Edith Head and Bill Thomas

Robert Redford's agent tried to dissuade him from appearing in the film. Redford accepted the role on the proviso that the script was altered to tone down his character's sexuality. To Redford's dismay, after his footage was completed, a new line was scripted and shot which left no question that his character was bisexual.


10:15 PM -- BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (1969)
A modern married couple attempts to lure their best friends into an exploration of the liberated lifestyles of the late 60s.
Dir: Paul Mazursky
Cast: Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, Elliott Gould
C-105 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Elliott Gould, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Dyan Cannon, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Material Not Previously Published or Produced -- Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker, and Best Cinematography -- Charles Lang

Natalie Wood decided to gamble her standard fee on a percentage of the gross, earning $3 million. She had earlier declined a similar offer with West Side Story (1961).


12:15 AM -- BRAINSTORM (1983)
A scientist battles the military for control of a machine that records sensory experiences-including death.
Dir: Douglas Trumbull
Cast: Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher
C-106 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

When actress Natalie Wood died near the end of principal photography, studio executives tried to kill the film and claim the insurance, saying that director Douglas Trumbull could not complete the film. However, Trumbull's contract gave that decision to him, and he insisted on completing the film, using a stand-in and changing camera angles for the few remaining shots of Wood's character. The resulting hostility between Trumbull and the studio executives meant that this would be Trumbull's last Hollywood film. He has since devoted his efforts to effects work for IMAX films, theme park rides and the like.


2:15 AM -- THE CANDIDATE (1972)
A senate candidate's ideals weaken as his position in the polls gets stronger.
Dir: Michael Ritchie
Cast: Robert Redford, Peter Boyle, Melvyn Douglas
C-110 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced -- Jeremy Larner

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound -- Richard Portman and Gene S. Cantamessa

Groucho Marx has an uncredited walk-on cameo in what would be his last screen appearance.


4:15 AM -- METEOR (1979)
A collision with a comet sends an asteroid speeding toward the Earth.
Dir: Ronald Neame
Cast: Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Natalie Wood
C-107 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound -- William L. McCaughey, Aaron Rochin, Michael J. Kohut and Jack Solomon

Natalie Wood (Tatiana Donskaya) could speak fluent Russian in real life. Wood's parents were Russian immigrants and her real name was Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko. Brian Keith was an American, as were both his parents. None of his family on either side knew Russian, or had any connection to Russia or Russians, so it is safe to presume that he could not have been a fluent Russian speaker.