TCM Schedule for Friday, April 3 -- British New Wave

[Staph]

Happy birthday, Doris Day and Marlon Brando! Can you believe that Doris is actually two years older than Brando! We get a selection of films from both actors today. And tonight, TCM has films from the British New Wave of the 1960s. Enjoy!


6:00am -- The Fugitive Kind (1960)
A drifter ignites passions among the women of a Mississippi town.
Cast: Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Joanne Woodward, Maureen Stapleton
Dir: Sidney Lumet
BW-121 mins, TV-14

Anna Magnani was hot to sleep with co-star Marlon Brando, but he did not find her attactive. The tension that was created between the two co-stars did not help the film but subtracted from it, as her failure at conquest made Magnani unhappy. Tennessee Williams was angry with Brando, convinced that he was deliberately slurring his dialogue to punish Magnani, who did not speak English. Magnani was playing the role phonetically and had trouble picking up her cues from Brando.


8:30am -- Brando (2007)
The two-part original documentary on the larger-than-life actor's life on-screen and off. Features interviews with Robert Duvall, James Caan, Jane Fonda, Al Pacino and Martin Scorsese.
Cast: Marlon Brando, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ed Begley Jr., Andrew Bergman
BW-162 mins, TV-MA

Nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Nonfiction Special -- Tom Brown (executive producer), Leslie Greif (producer), Mimi Freedman (producer), Joanne Rubino (producer) and Melissa Roller (supervising producer)

Brando's mother was of Irish-English descent; his father of Dutch-German descent whose ancestral name was spelled either "Brandau" or "Brandeis". Brando himself was somewhat confused about his own heritage, attributing the name "Brando" to a French paternal ancestor with the spelling "Brandeau". His French ancestry was on his father's side through his 2nd great-grandmother, who was a 5th generation descendant of Louis DuBois, a French Huguenot refugee who, with 11 others, founded the town of New Paltz, New York.


11:30am -- On The Waterfront (1954)
A young stevedore takes on the mobster who rules the docks.
Cast: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger
Dir: Elia Kazan
BW-108 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Marlon Brando, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Eva Marie Saint, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Richard Day, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Boris Kaufman, Best Director -- Elia Kazan, Best Film Editing -- Gene Milford, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Budd Schulberg, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Lee J. Cobb, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Karl Malden, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Rod Steiger, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Leonard Bernstein

"On the Waterfront" is widely known to be an act of expiation on the part of Elia Kazan for naming names to HUAC during the McCarthy witch-hunts of the 50s. What is less widely reported is that Kazan intended it as a direct attack at his former close friend Arthur Miller who had been openly critical of Kazan's actions. Specifically, it was a direct response to Miller's "The Crucible".


1:30pm -- Sayonara (1957)
American soldiers in post-war Japan defy convention when they fall in love with local women.
Cast: Marlon Brando, Patricia Owens, Red Buttons, Miiko Taka
Dir: Joshua Logan
C-147 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Red Buttons, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Miyoshi Umeki, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Ted Haworth and Robert Priestley, and Best Sound, Recording -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Marlon Brando, Best Cinematography -- Ellsworth Fredericks, Best Director -- Joshua Logan, Best Film Editing -- Arthur P. Schmidt and Philip W. Anderson, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Paul Osborn, and Best Picture

In 1956, more than 10,000 American servicemen had defied regulations and married Japanese women, as indeed had the novel's author, James Michener.


4:00pm -- The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
International spies kidnap a doctor's son when he stumbles on their assassination plot.
Cast: James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
C-120 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for the song "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)".

The film was unavailable for decades because its rights (together with four other pictures of the same period) were bought back by Alfred Hitchcock and left as part of his legacy to his daughter. They've been known for long as the infamous "Five lost Hitchcocks" amongst film buffs, and were re-released in theatres around 1984 after a 30-year absence. The others are Rear Window (1954), Rope (1948), The Trouble with Harry (1955), and Vertigo (1958).


6:15pm -- It Happened To Jane (1959)
A small-town businesswoman takes on a railroad magnate in court.
Cast: Doris Day, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Steve Forrest
Dir: Richard Quine
C-98 mins, TV-G

Jack Lemmon wrote that he thought this was a good, funny movie that didn't do well because of its "terrible title". He thought he and Doris Day had very good chemistry together, and he regretted that they never did another film.


What's On Tonight: TCM PRIME TIME FEATURE: BRITISH NEW WAVE


8:00pm -- Billy Liar (1963)
An emotionally stunted clerk retreats into his fantasies.
Cast: Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie, Wilfred Pickles, Mona Washbourne
Dir: John Schlesinger
BW-99 mins, TV-PG

Considering the film's uses of 'pissed', 'bastard' and numerous 'bloody's it was passed with an 'A' (now PG) cinema certificate by the BBFC after the removal of one line of dialogue. This was "What you wanted me to do that night" and is said by Liz to Billy during their walk in the park. The line was later restored in all video and DVD releases.


9:45pm -- Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1961)
A factory worker lives for the chance to have fun on the weekends.
Cast: Albert Finney, Shirley Field, Rachel Roberts, Hylda Baker
Dir: Karel Reisz
BW-89 mins, TV-14

The film had to go through some dialogue changes before release, mainly owing to the swear words in the original script. Although 'bastards', 'bloody', and 'bleedin' were allowed the censors refused to pass 'sod', 'christ' and 'bogger' (the latter being a script substitution for 'bugger').


11:30pm -- This Sporting Life (1963)
A rugby player finds the violence in his professional life tainting his personal relationships.
Cast: Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel, William Hartnell
Dir: Lindsay Anderson
BW-134 mins, TV-MA

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Richard Harris, and Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Rachel Roberts

It was William Hartnell's appearance in this film that brought him to the attention of Verity Lambert, producer of "Doctor Who" (1963).


2:00am -- All Night Long (1962)
A jazz band's leader thinks his wife is unfaithful.
Cast: Patrick McGoohan, Marti Stevens, Betsy Blair, Keith Michell
Dir: Basil Dearden
BW-91 mins, TV-14

The film, based on Shakespeare's Othello, is neatly positioned as a vehicle to showcase some of the best Jazz musicians of the period - including Dave Brubeck and Charlie Mingus.


3:45am -- Let's Rock (1958)
A singer's girlfriend helps him make the transition to rock 'n' roll.
Cast: Julius LaRosa, Phyllis Newman, Conrad Janis, Joy Harman
Dir: Harry Foster
BW-79 mins, TV-G

This was the only screen appearance of Danny and the Juniors, who performed "At The Hop", and The Royal Teens (with Bob Gaudio), who performed "Short Shorts". They were two big rock groups of the late 1950s.


5:15am -- Short Film: Booked For Safekeeping (1960)
Documentary made to train police officers in the assistance and management of mentally ill and confused persons.
Producer: George C. Stoney
BW-32 mins, TV-14

Made in New Orleans, using New Orleans police officers as actors.

[Staph]

1. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Arthur Seaton is a hard-working factory worker in Nottingham whose belligerent attitude toward authority - "Don't let the bastards grind you down" - and anger at his co-workers's sheep-like acceptance of their fate in life nags at him constantly, even when he's off work with his mates and carousing at bars. Yet, despite his rebellious nature, Arthur is not a political animal or even able to formulate a plan to escape the crushing conformity that faces him. "What I want is a good time. The remainder is all propaganda," he professes and he pours his aggression into drinking contests at the local pub and a deceitful affair with Brenda, his best friend's wife. Arthur's arrogant disregard for the consequences of his actions, however, catch up with him when Brenda becomes pregnant and he tries to arrange an abortion for her. At the same time, he finds himself smitten with Doreen, a seemingly indifferent young woman whose alluring beauty masks her essential shallowness and desire for bourgeois respectability.

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) arrived at the midpoint of the "Angry Young Man" trend in British cinema, which originally began as a literary movement with the publication of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger in 1956. The film was based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Alan Sillitoe who grew up in the working class suburb of Nottingham and whose main character, Arthur Seaton, worked in the Raleigh factory just like his father did. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was preceded by film adaptations of Look Back in Anger (1958) and John Braine's Room at the Top (1959) and followed by movie versions of Stan Barstow's A Kind of Loving (1962), Sillitoe's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), and David Storey's This Sporting Life (1963), among many others. Like most of the films in the "Angry Young Man" canon, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was a reaction to the grim realities of post-war Britain where most working class families grew up in row house developments in industrial city suburbs and mill towns, the only places that offered employment opportunities for many. The film, which marked the feature film debut of Karel Reisz, was also a natural outgrowth of the "Free Cinema" movement which flourished between 1956-59 and was an attempt to escape the confines of commercial cinema and to engage the viewer in realistic, documentary-like depictions of life that addressed social issues filtered through artistic personal expression.

The "Free Cinema" group was spearheaded by Tony Richardson, Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz and Lorenza Mazzetti who first presented a series of short films at the National Film Theatre in 1956 which eventually led to the beginnings of the British 'New Wave' of the late fifties. Reisz had first collaborated with Tony Richardson on the short Momma Don't Allow (1955) about a North London jazz club but his solo effort, We Are the Lambeth Boys (1958), more accurately expressed the spirit of the whole movement in its candid depiction of a South London youth club.

After Tony Richardson made his successful feature debut with the film version of Look Back in Anger, he was offered Saturday Night and Sunday Morning but chose instead to serve as the producer and offered the film to Reisz. In preparation for the movie, Reisz took a small film crew to the highly industrial area of Nottingham to get a feel for the people and the region and ended up shooting a documentary about a welfare center for miners. It proved to be an excellent trial run for his film debut and is the main reason Saturday Night and Sunday Morning has such an authentic feel for its locale and residents. The film shoot lasted six weeks and benefited from the evocative black and white cinematography of Freddie Francis (Oscar®-winner for Best Cinematography on Sons and Lovers, 1960).

In an interview, Francis recalled, "On Saturday Night and Sunday Morning I know I was being forced onto Karel. I met Karel and we got on pretty well together. And I said, "Karel, now I know what you're worried about. You think I'm going to make this look like an M-G-M musical. But you don't have to worry at all - I'll do it just as you wish. And once we started shooting and Karel saw that I was not interfering, that I was only prepared to help and to make life easier for him, we became great friends. And whenever I've been available, I've done Karel's movies since then . Karel involved me the same way as Jack Clayton does; they involve me on the movie."

It was Albert Finney, in his first major film role, however, that made the strongest impression on critics and viewers when Saturday Night and Sunday Morning went into release. His restless, testosterone-fueled performance brilliantly captured Arthur Seaton's "rebel without a cause" factory worker and won him the BAFTA Film Award for "Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles" in England. It immediately led to his casting as Tom Jones in Tony Richardson's 1963 film adaptation which subsequently garnered a Best Actor Oscar® nomination for him, the first of five, though he has yet to win an Academy Award.

Matching Finney in dramatic range and power is Rachel Roberts as the hapless Brenda. Going from naive romantic infatuation to fear and anger at her abandonment by Arthur and eventually pity for her emotionally immature lover, she is never less than superb and won the BAFTA Film Award for "Best British Actress." She would go on to further critical acclaim for her performances in This Sporting Life, Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Yanks (1979). In the less demanding role of Doreen, Shirley Anne Field is impressive as the superficial beauty who ensnares the cocky Arthur and supporting players Hylda Baker and Norman Rossington stand out, respectively, as Arthur's world-weary Aunt Ada and Bert, Arthur's mild-mannered factory pal and husband of Brenda. In addition to the cast, film editor and director-to-be Seth Holt (Station Six-Sahara, 1962) gives the film a tense, driving rhythm and John Dankworth's music score provides the appropriate downbeat mood.

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is still often regarded as one of the most important British films of the early sixties, one that captured the mood of the times and displayed a new frankness toward sex on the screen (certain theatres in England refused to exhibit the film when it was first released). Some film scholars, however, feel that the film is outdated and, as noted by David Thomson, "could now pass as parody." Pauline Kael also complained that it was "overdirected...Everything is held in check; every punch is called and then pulled." Still, the general consensus, expressed by The Oxford Companion to Film, is that Saturday Night and Sunday Morning "brought a freshness of approach to the British cinema" and "Reisz's sympathetic direction finely evoked the industrial setting and its effect on human relations."

Reisz, unfortunately, never quite lived up to the promise of his early career or enjoyed a critical success equal to Saturday Night and Sunday Morning but his filmography is a varied and eclectic offering with some hits (Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment <1966>, The French Lieutenant's Woman <1981>), some failures (Night Must Fall <1964>, Everybody Wins <1990>) and some overlooked gems (Who'll Stop the Rain <1978>, Sweet Dreams <1985>).

Producer: Tony Richardson, Harry Saltzman
Director: Karel Reisz
Screenplay: Alan Sillitoe
Cinematography: Freddie Francis
Film Editing: Seth Holt
Art Direction: Ted Marshall
Music: John Dankworth
Cast: Albert Finney (Arthur Seaton), Shirley Anne Field (Doreen), Rachel Roberts (Brenda), Hylda Baker (Aunt Ada), Norman Rossington (Bert), Bryan Pringle (Jack).
BW-89m. Letterboxed. Closed captioning.

by Jeff Stafford