TCM Schedule for Friday, July 24 -- 1980s Teen Classics

[Staph]

After finishing up five more great films of 1939, we get an evening of 1980s teen classics. Enjoy!


5:51am -- Short Film: From The Vaults: Present With A Future: Bette Davis Christmas War Bonds Trailer (1943)
BW-2 mins


6:00am -- They Made Me A Criminal (1939)
A young boxer flees to farming country when he thinks he's killed an opponent in the ring.
Cast: John Garfield, Claude Rains, Gloria Dickson, May Robson
Dir: Busby Berkeley
BW-92 mins, TV-PG


7:33am -- Short Film: A Criminal Is Born (1938)
BW-20 mins


8:00am -- On Borrowed Time (1939)
An old man and his grandson trap Death in a tree.
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Beulah Bondi, Una Merkel
Dir: Harold S. Bucquet
BW-99 mins, TV-G


9:45am -- Juarez (1939)
True story of Mexico's Abraham Lincoln and his fight against Napoleon's empire.
Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Muni, Brian Aherne, Claude Rains
Dir: William Dieterle
BW-121 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Brian Aherne, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Tony Gaudio


11:51am -- Short Film: Paris On Parade (1938)
C-9 mins


12:00pm -- The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939)
A deformed bell ringer rescues a gypsy girl falsely accused of witchcraft and murder.
Cast: Charles Laughton, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell, Maureen O'Hara
Dir: William Dieterle
BW-117 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Scoring -- Alfred Newman, and Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio SSD)


2:00pm -- Hollywood My Hometown (1965)
In this special, Ken Murray hosts his own behind-the-scenes home movies of some of Hollywood's greatest stars.
Cast: Ken Murray
BW-52 mins, TV-G


3:00pm -- Remember? (1939)
A bickering couple takes an amnesia potion so they can re-discover each other.
Cast: Robert Taylor, Greer Garson, Lew Ayres, Billie Burke
Dir: Norman Z. McLeod
BW-83 mins, TV-G


4:30pm -- A Night to Remember (1942)
A mystery writer and his wife stumble on a murder in their new apartment.
Cast: Loretta Young, Brian Aherne, Jeff Donnell, William Wright
Dir: Richard Wallace
BW-92 mins, TV-G


6:15pm -- Remember the Night (1940)
An assistant D.A. takes a shoplifter home with him for Christmas.
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson
Dir: Mitchell Leisen
BW-94 mins, TV-G


What's On Tonight: TCM PRIME TIME FEATURE: 80'S TEEN CLASSICS


8:00pm -- The Karate Kid (1984)
A boy learns karate from a retired master to deal with school bullies.
Cast: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue, Martin Kove
Dir: John G. Avildsen
C-127 mins, TV-MA

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Pat Morita


10:15pm -- WarGames (1983)
In search of the ultimate game, a young man accidentally hacks into the government's top military computer.
Cast: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, Dabney Coleman, John Wood
Dir: John Badham
C-113 mins, TV-MA

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- William A. Fraker, Best Sound -- Michael J. Kohut, Carlos Delarios, Aaron Rochin and Willie D. Burton, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes


12:15am -- Stand by Me (1986)
Four friends share a rite of passage on a long walk to view a dead body.
Cast: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell
Dir: Rob Reiner
C-89 mins, TV-MA

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans


2:00am -- The Terror of Tiny Town (1938)
A cast of little people helps a beautiful ranch owner fight off an evil rustler.
Cast: Billy Curtis, Yvonne Moray, Little Billy, Bill Platt
Dir: Sam Newfield
BW-60 mins, TV-G


3:15am -- The Unholy Three (1930)
A ventriloquist, a strong man and a midget form a criminal alliance.
Cast: Lon Chaney, Lila Lee, Elliott Nugent, Harry Earles
Dir: Jack Conway
BW-72 mins, TV-G


4:30am -- Freaks (1932)
A lady trapeze artist violates the code of the side show when she plots to murder her midget husband.
Cast: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Rosco Ates
Dir: Tod Browning
BW-62 mins, TV-PG


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

[Staph]

1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) was RKO Studio's last release of the 1930s. It was also one of the studio's biggest and best films of 1939, the studio's most successful year ever. A sensitive adaptation of Victor Hugo's epic novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame told the story of a deformed bell-ringer's love for a beautiful gypsy woman amidst the turmoil in France under King Louis XI. The film, made brilliant by massive production design, Alfred Newman's rousing score, beautiful camerawork, and performances to match, was a spectacular hit at the box office, despite being released the same year as Gone With the Wind (1939). The film's biggest asset, Charles Laughton's performance as Quasimodo, still stands today as the most moving interpretation of Hugo's tragic hero.

The daunting task of translating Hugo's literary masterpiece into a movie was entrusted to Sonya Levien, but she was able to make the story relevant to contemporary times, particularly in the way she drew an obvious parallel between the persecuted gypsies of Paris and the treatment of Jews in pre-World War II Germany. The Russian-born Levien grew up in the United States, and began her prolific career by becoming a magazine editor and then a writer. After several pieces of her fiction were adapted for the screen in the early 1920s, Levien became an active screenwriter. She wrote many screenplays during the thirties, culminating with a script for The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), based on an adaptation by Bruno Frank. Levien earned many accolades during her long screenwriting career, including an Academy Award® in 1955 for Interrupted Melody. But it was the Screen Writers Guild (now known as the Writers Guild of America) that bestowed perhaps her most distinguished award. In 1953, Levien was the first recipient of the Laurel Award of Achievement, given to that member of the Guild who, in the opinion of the current Board of Directors, has advanced the literature of the motion picture through the years, and who has made outstanding contributions to the profession of the screenwriter. This is an honorary award and is still the Guild's highest honor to give. Previous Laurel Award recipients include Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich (1956), Casey Robinson (1968), Carl Foreman (1969), Dalton Trumbo (1970), Ernest Lehman (1972), Frank Pierson (1992), Paul Schrader (1999), and many others.

For Levien's adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame more than $2 million was spent on the production. It marked the screen debut of Maureen O'Hara (as Esmeralda) and the recreation of Paris was built on a vast set in the San Fernando Valley. The famous Hunchback makeup, designed by Perc Westmore, took months to evolve due to Charles Laughton's sense of perfectionism. The actor also insisted that his hump have ample weight to which Westmore replied, 'Why doncha just act it?' This comment made the temperamental Laughton explode, shouting, 'Don't you ever speak to me like that again, you hired hand!' The meticulous attention to detail and the long hours filming under the hot summer sun eventually paid off for Laughton because his performance was universally praised. Regarding the powerful scene when the Hunchback is being punished on the wheel, his director, William Dieterle said, "when Laughton acted that scene, enduring the terrible torture, he was not the poor crippled creature expecting compassion from the mob, but rather oppressed and enslaved mankind, suffering the most awful injustice."

Director: William Dieterle
Producer: Pandro S. Berman
Screenplay: Bruno Frank, Victor Hugo (novel Notre-Dame de Paris)
Cinematography: Joseph H. August
Music: Alfred Newman
Principle Cast: Charles Laughton (Quasimodo, the bell ringer), Cedric Hardwicke (Jean Frollo, Chief Justice of Paris), Maureen O'Hara (Esmeralda, a gypsy), Edmond O'Brien (Pierre Gringoire, poet), Harry Davenport (Louis XI, King of France), Thomas Mitchell (Clopin, King of Beggars), Walter Hampden (Claude Frollo, Archbishop of Paris)
BW-117m. Closed captioning. Descriptive Video.

by Scott McGee

[CBHagman]

2. Oh, "The Terror of Tiny Town."

The world's first -- and, one suspects, last -- all-midget Western.