TCM Schedule for Friday, December 23 -- What's On Tonight: Christmas Noir

[Staph]

It's a day of movies that happen to take place during the Christmas season, and an evening of Christmas Noir. Enjoy!

(And have the merriest of Christmases, the happiest of Hanukkahs, and the most yearned for of Yuletides!)



6:45 AM -- Alias Boston Blackie (1942)
A reformed thief tracks down an escaped convict so he can prove the man is innocent.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: Chester Morris, Adele Mara, Richard Lane.
67 min, TV-PG

The eleventh of 23 productions about Boston Blackie, the safecracker turned dectective. The character, created by Jack Boyle and first published in The American Magazine in 1914, appeared in eight silent films, 14 sound films -- all starring Chester Morris, and one television series (1951-1953) starring Kent Taylor.


8:00 AM -- Beyond Tomorrow (1940)
A ghost tries to smooth the way for two young lovers he knew during his lifetime.
Dir: A. Edward Sutherland
Cast: Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Winninger.
84 min, TV-G

This was the most famous of the handful of films produced by Lee Garmes. Garmes was better known as one of the industry's leading Directors of Photography. Also known as Beyond Christmas.


9:30 AM -- Cover-Up (1949)
An insurance investigator smells something wrong when he looks into a small-town suicide.
Dir: Alfred E. Green
Cast: William Bendix, Dennis O'Keefe, Barbara Britton.
82 min, TV-14

Re-issued as The Intruder.


11:00 AM -- A Christmas Carol (1938)
In this adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale, an elderly miser learns the error of his ways on Christmas Eve.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart.
69 min, TV-G , CC

Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge McDuck was probably based physically on this version of Ebenezer Scrooge, with the fringe of hair and the small tuft of hair on the top of his head.


12:15 PM -- 3 Godfathers (1948)
Three outlaws on the run risk their freedom and their lives to return a newborn to civilization.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz, Harry Carey Jr..
C-106 min, TV-G , CC

This is a remake of the silent film The Three Godfathers, which starred Ford's long-time friend Harry Carey. When Carey died in 1947, Ford decided to remake the story in Technicolor and dedicate the film to his memory. Carey's son, Harry Carey Jr., plays one of the three, "The Abilene Kid".


2:15 PM -- Susan Slept Here (1954)
A Hollywood screenwriter takes in a runaway girl who's more woman than he can handle.
Dir: Frank Tashlin
Cast: Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis.
C-98 min, TV-PG , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Jack Lawrence and Richard Myers for the song "Hold My Hand", and Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio)

Susan Slept Here was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency primarily for its' suggestive title. In a male dominated society George Washington Slept Here sounded no similar moral alarms. The ban hurt the movies receipts but did greater harm to the Legion who were taken less seriously after The Moon Is Blue ban a year earlier in shocked response to the word 'virgin' used outside the church!


4:00 PM -- The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
An acerbic critic wreaks havoc when a hip injury forces him to move in with a midwestern family.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Monty Woolley.
113 min, TV-G , CC

Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, authors of the play from which this film was adapted, were good friends with Alexander Woollcott, a famous critic, radio personality, and lecturer at the time. Woollcott requested that they write a play FOR him, but they never came up with a plot. One day Woollcott came to visit Hart unexpectedly and turned his house upside down, taking over the master bedroom, ordering Hart's staff around and making a general nuisance of himself. When Moss Hart told George S. Kaufman of the visit, he asked, "Imagine what would have happened if he broken his leg and had to stay?" They looked at each other and knew they had a play.


6:00 PM -- Scrooge (1970)
A miser faces the ghosts of his past on Christmas Eve.
Dir: Ronald Neame
Cast: Albert Finney, Alec Guinness, Edith Evans.
C-113 min, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Terence Marsh, Robert Cartwright and Pamela Cornell, Best Costume Design -- Margaret Furse, Best Music, Original Song -- Leslie Bricusse for the song "Thank You Very Much", and Best Music, Original Song Score -- Leslie Bricusse, Ian Fraser and Herbert W. Spencer

Scrooge (played by then 34-year old Albert Finney) is actually younger than his nephew Fred (played by then 46-year old Michael Medwin).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: CHRISTMAS NOIR



8:00 PM -- Backfire (1950)
A veteran tries to clear an old friend of a murder charge.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Viveca Lindfors, Dane Clark, Virginia Mayo.
91 min, TV-PG , CC

Gambler Solly Blayne (Richard Rober) is shot from outside the living room window as he relaxes in his Los Angeles home, which is exactly the same way that Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was killed in Beverly Hills a year earlier (in 1947).


10:00 PM -- Lady in the Lake (1947)
Philip Marlowe searches for a missing woman in this mystery shot entirely from the detective's viewpoint.
Dir: Robert Montgomery
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan.
103 min, TV-PG , CC

The entire movie plot unfolds from lead Robert Montgomery's point of view, thus creating a rarity in film: the principal character is only seen on-screen as a reflection in mirrors and windows, and as the narrator speaking directly to the audience.



(For the newcomers in the group, Robert Montgomery was long ago declared the Patron Saint of the Classic Films Forum, by the late and long-lamented Longhorn.)


12:00 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.
95 min, TV-PG , CC

RKO was on the verge of bankruptcy when it signed up aging matinée idol Dick Powell to make a series of musicals. Powell only signed under the proviso that he could play a straight dramatic role first, so he was cast as Philip Marlowe. Attached director Edward Dmytryk was initially horrified at this casting decision. Dick Powell's portrayal of Philip Marlowe earned the approval of Raymond Chandler himself.


2:00 AM -- You Better Watch Out (1980)
A psycho in a Santa suit gets to decide who's been naughty and who's been nice.
Dir: Lewis Jackson
Cast: Brandon Maggart, Dianne Hull, Scott McKay.
C-94 min, TV-MA

When Harry slips on the street running from the mob, he really did slip, and Lewis Jackson left it in the film.


3:45 AM -- New Year's Evil (1981)
During a rocking New Year's celebration, a man threatens to kill a series of women, including the show's host.
Dir: Emmett Alston
Cast: Michelle Waxman, Roz Kelly, Kip Niven.
C-86 min, TV-MA

Based on a story by Leonard Neubauer.


5:30 AM -- Visit to Santa (1963)
Two children dreaming of Christmas visit Santa at the North Pole.
12 min, TV-G

Filmed in Pittsburgh, PA.


5:45 AM -- Holiday From Rules (1959)
In this educational film, a group of young children understand why rules are important.
11 min, TV-G

[CBHagman]

1. Glad to see the reference to Longhorn...

...and her designation of Robert Montgomery as our patron saint.

The schedule today is certainly a strange one, but there are some real holiday treats, notably The Man Who Came to Dinner. The 1970 Scrooge is something of an oddity, but just the other day I found myself singing "Thank You Very Much," so something seems to have slipped into the popular consciousness (Didn't they use that song in a commercia?).