TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 7 -- Race and Hollywood

[Staph]

Happy Birthday, Anne Baxter (1923) and Gary Cooper (1901). In prime time, we've got a return to the occasional series Race And Hollywood, this time looking at the role of Latinos (especially Ricardo Montalban). Enjoy!


4:30am -- Western Union (1941)
An outlaw goes straight to work for the telegraph company, which puts him in conflict with his lawless brother.
Cast: Robert Young, Randolph Scott, Dean Jagger, Virginia Gilmore
Dir: Fritz Lang
C-95 mins, TV-PG

Studio publicity noted that Fox contract star Henry Fonda had served as technical adviser on the film, due to his experience as a young man working as a lineman. Fonda's "technical advisory" capacity was most certainly a publicity fiction, and in any event Fonda was not credited on the film itself.


6:15am -- Twenty Mule Team (1940)
A miner fights his way across Death Valley to beat out the competition.
Cast: Wallace Beery, Leo Carrillo, Marjorie Rambeau, Anne Baxter
Dir: Richard Thorpe
BW-84 mins

Anne Baxter's first movie.


7:45am -- Angel On My Shoulder (1946)
The Devil sends a murdered gangster to Earth as a respected judge.
Cast: Paul Muni, Anne Baxter, Claude Rains, Onslow Stevens
Dir: Archie Mayo
BW-101 mins, TV-PG

It's Scarface meets Here Comes Mr. Jordan.


9:30am -- The Blue Gardenia (1953)
A telephone operator kills in self-defense but can't remember the details of the encounter.
Cast: Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern, Raymond Burr
Dir: Fritz Lang
BW-88 mins, TV-PG

Based on a story by Vera Caspary, who also wrote the novel Laura (on which the haunting 1944 movie is based).


11:00am -- Carnival Story (1954)
A trapeze act is torn apart by jealousy when the partners take in a starving girl.
Cast: Anne Baxter, Steve Cochran, Lyle Bettger, George Nader
Dir: Kurt Neumann
C-94 mins, TV-PG

The cast of the German version can be seen in uncredited cameo appearances in the English language version, and vice versa.


12:45pm -- A Farewell To Arms (1932)
An American serving in World War I falls for a spirited nurse.
Cast: Helen Hayes, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou, Mary Philips
Dir: Frank Borzage
BW-89 mins, TV-G

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Charles Lang, and Best Sound, Recording -- Franklin Hansen (sound director)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson, and Best Picture

Censorship problems arose from early versions of the script, which included phases of Catherine's actual childbirth and references to labor pains, gas, her groaning and hemorrhaging. After these were removed, the MPPDA approved the script, and even issued a certificate for re-release in 1938 when the censorship rules were more strictly enforced. Still, the film was rejected in British Columbia and in Australia, where Hemingway's book was also banned.


2:15pm -- One Sunday Afternoon (1933)
A small-town dentist longs to avenge an old friend who stole his love, but discovers there's no need.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Fay Wray, Neil Hamilton, Roscoe Karns
Dir: Stephen Roberts
BW-69 mins, TV-G

After Fredric March read the play by James Hagan, he told Gary Cooper about it, and Cooper urged Paramount to buy the film rights to it. It was made twice more as a theatrical film (starring James Cagney in 1941 and Dennis Morgan in 1948) and three times as a television film (with Richard Carlson in 1951, and Peter Lind Hayes in 1957 (the cast for 1952 is unlisted)).


3:25pm -- Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Sunday Round-Up (1937)
The pastor of small Western church competes with the local saloon for Sunday morning attendance.
Cast: Dick Foran, Linda Perry, Jane Wyman, Edmund Cobb
Dir: William Clemens
C-19 mins

In the original 1936 credits, Linda Perry was billed second, and Jane Wyman third. For the 1948-1949 re-release, seen today on Turner Classic Movies, new title credits were designed, Jane Wyman was moved up to second place, and a 1948 copyright was displayed.


3:45pm -- It's A Big Country (1951)
Seven (or is it eight?) stories celebrate the glorious diversity of American life.
Cast: Ethel Barrymore, Keefe Brasselle, Gary Cooper, Nancy Davis
Dir: Richard Thorpe, Don Weis, John Sturges, Don Hartman, William A. Wellman,
BW-89 mins, TV-PG

Episode titles are: 1) Interruptions, Interruptions; 2) Census Taker; 3) Negro Story; 4) Rosika, the Rose; 5) Letter from Korea; 6) Lone Star; (7) Minister in Washington; and 8) Four Eyes.


5:15pm -- Man Of The West (1958)
A reformed outlaw is among the hostages when his former colleagues rob a train.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Julie London, Lee J. Cobb, Arthur O'Connell
Dir: Anthony Mann
C-99 mins, TV-PG

Gary Cooper was, at 56, a decade older than Lee J. Cobb who played his "Uncle" Dock Tobin.


7:00pm -- Gary Cooper: American Life, American Legend (1991)
Clint Eastwood takes viewers behind-the-scenes to learn how one of Hollywood's most American stars, Gary Cooper, was born.
Host: Clint Eastwood
Dir: Richard Schickel
C-46 mins, TV-G

In the early 1930s, his doctor told him he had been working too hard. Cooper went to Europe and stayed a lot longer than planned. When he returned, he was told there was now a "new" Gary Cooper - an unknown actor needed a better name for films, so the studio had reversed Gary Cooper's initials and created a name that sounded similar - Cary Grant.


What's On Tonight: TCM SPOTLIGHT: RACE AND HOLLYWOOD


8:00pm -- Bordertown (1935)
An ambitious Mexican-American gets mixed up with his boss's neurotic wife.
Cast: Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Margaret Lindsay, Eugene Pallette
Dir: Archie Mayo
BW-91 mins, TV-PG

Paul Muni hired a Mexican man as chauffeur to study his accent and mannerisms in preparation for this role.


9:45pm -- Border Incident (1949)
Police try to crack down on the illegal immigration racket.
Cast: Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Howard Da Silva, James Mitchell
Dir: Anthony Mann
BW-96 mins, TV-PG

(In honor of the movie opening this weekend) Ricardo Montalban agreed to reprise his role of Khan in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982) for only $100,000 because he loved the role so much.


11:30pm -- Right Cross (1950)
A boxer's ego battles his love for his manager's daughter.
Cast: June Allyson, Dick Powell, Ricardo Montalban, Lionel Barrymore
Dir: John Sturges
BW-90 mins, TV-G

Watch for Marilyn Monroe in a bit part as a nightclub singer.


1:15am -- Requiem For A Heavyweight (1962)
A washed-up prizefighter tries to free himself from his ruthless promoters to build a new life.
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Julie Harris
Dir: Ralph Nelson
BW-85 mins, TV-PG

First filmed on Playhouse 90 in 1956 with Jack Palance as Mountain; then made by the BBC in 1957 with Sean Connery as Mountain (the Anthony Quinn role).


3:00am -- Knockout (1941)
A prizefighter's swelled head endangers his marriage.
Cast: Arthur Kennedy, Olympe Bradna, Virginia Field, Anthony Quinn
Dir: William Clemens
BW-73 mins, TV-G

Film debut of David Clarke. While playing opposite Katharine Hepburn in summer stock in Ivoryton, CT in a comedy called "Jonesy", Clarke was stung in the face by a bee, early in the first act. He gamely kept the bitten side of his face turned upstage for the rest of the act, continuing in the spirit of the romantic play, while Hepburn, who hadn't seen the bee, tried to conceal her amazement at the sight of her leading man's face as it continued to swell.


4:20am -- Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Glimpses Of California (1946)
This Traveltalk look at California begins with the diverse types of flowers found in the state.
Narrator: James A. FitzPatrick
C-9 mins

After a look at some popular Hollywood landmarks, there is a long section devoted to Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park, a famous cemetery.

[Staph]

1. A Farewell to Arms (1932)

It's no secret that Ernest Hemingway could be an ornery cuss when he wanted to, and he had little use for people who made their living in the film industry. So it's hardly a shock that he openly despised Frank Borzage's entertaining but bowdlerized version of his war novel, A Farewell to Arms. It is surprising, though, that he developed a longtime allegiance to the film's broad-shouldered star, Gary Cooper. Hemingway was known for discarding, or, worse yet, alienating even his closest friends. But he and Cooper became buddies a few years after A Farewell to Arms (1932) was released, and they stayed that way for nearly 20 years.

Cooper stars as Lt. Frederick Henry, a World War I officer whose world is turned upside down when he falls for a British nurse named Catherine Barkley (Helen Hayes.) Henry and Catherine are made for each other, but Henry's friend, Major Rinaldi (Adolphe Menjou) grows jealous of them, and has Helen transferred to Milan. Then, as luck would have it, Henry is wounded and ends up in the very hospital where Catherine works. Henry quickly heals, and is sent back into battle, but not before Catherine is carrying their love child. Though Catherine tries to contact Henry to tell him the news, she can't reach him due to even more treacherous maneuvers by Rinaldi.

Eventually, there's a happy or ambiguous finale, depending on which print of the film you see. Paramount actually made both endings available to theater owners, telling them to use the one that they thought would work best for their particular audience. Hemingway was less than enchanted with the idea of projectionists randomly deciding how his hard-hitting story should end, and he was livid over several other instances in which the screenplay softened his hard-hitting vision. But the $24,000 he received for A Farewell to Arms' film rights encouraged him to sell several more properties to Hollywood in the ensuing years.

The movie's love scenes, by the way, were no problem at all for Hayes. Although she was happily married at the time, she harbored an intense crush on Cooper. She freely admitted as much in her autobiography, when, among other Cooper-related confessions, she wrote: "My leading man was Gary Cooper, and like half the women in the world, I was, in the words of the Noel Coward song, "Mad about the boy."

Hayes was right - pretty much everyone seemed to have a crush on Cooper, even Hemingway, in a testosterone-driven way. "Cooper is a fine man," Hemingway once wrote, "as honest and straight and friendly and unspoiled as he looks ... Cooper is a very fine rifle shot and a good wing shot. I can shoot a little better than he can with a shotgun but not nearly as good with a rifle, due I guess to drinking too much for too many years." Both men liked to compare the African safari adventures they experienced before meeting each other in 1940. For the record, Cooper had 60 kills in five months, including two lions. On a two-month safari, Hemingway bagged a buffalo, three lions, and 27 other unfortunate animals.

The two spent many competitive vacations together, hunting, fishing, and drinking in the resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho. Cooper, however, was no fool. No matter how much Hemingway insisted, he flatly refused to put on boxing gloves and climb into the ring. Cooper knew that his fine bone structure was a key element of his screen charisma, and he didn't intend to ruin it through pointless macho rough-housing. Hemingway, after all, didn't type with his cheekbones.

Director: Frank Borzage
Screenplay: Oliver H.P. Garrett, and Benjamin Glazer (Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway)
Cinematography: Charles Lang
Editing: Otho Lovering
Art Direction: Roland Anderson and Hans Dreier
Sound: Franklin Hansen and Harold Lewis Principal Cast: Helen Hayes (Catherine Barkley), Gary Cooper (Lt. Frederick Henry), Adolphe Menjou (Major Rinaldi), Mary Phillips (Helen Ferguson), Jack La Rue (The Priest), Blanche Friderici (Head Nurse), Mary Forbes (Miss Van Campen), Gilbert Emery (British Major).
B&W-89m.

by Paul Tatara

[lavenderdiva]

2. I didn't know that Vera Caspary wrote both 'Blue Gardenia'

and 'Laura'! I just watched 'Laura' this past weekend, and really enjoyed it once again. Its been awhile since I last saw 'The Blue Gardenia', but I've seen it several times, and really enjoyed it. Anne Baxter is great in it-