TCM Schedule for Friday, October 16 -- TCM Primetime Feature -- Crime Thrillers

[Staph]

Happy birthday, Angela Lansbury! She celebrates her 84th birthday today, and we've got a full day of her films, including her first, Gaslight (1944), for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Then this evening, we continue the month of thrillers, with a trio of crime thrillers. Enjoy!


6:00am -- Private Screenings: Angela Lansbury (2006)
Angela Lansbury discusses her life and career with TCM host Robert Osborne.
Cast: Robert Osborne, Angela Lansbury
BW-56 mins, TV-PG

Angela Lansbury has four Tony awards (for Best Actress in a Musical for Mame (1966), for Dear World (1969), for Gypsy (1975), and for Sweeney Todd (1979)), three Oscar nominations (for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Gaslight (1944), for The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), and for The Manchurian Candidate (1962)), and 18 Emmy nominations, with twelve of them for Best Actress in Murder She Wrote.


7:00am -- Gaslight (1944)
A newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.
Cast: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Dame May Whitty
Dir: George Cukor
BW-114 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ingrid Bergman, and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, William Ferrari, Edwin B. Willis and Paul Huldschinsky

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Charles Boyer, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Angela Lansbury, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, Best Writing, Screenplay -- John L. Balderston, Walter Reisch and John Van Druten, and Best Picture

Angela Lansbury was only 17 when she made this, her film debut. She had been working at Bullocks Department Store in Los Angeles and when she told her boss that she was leaving, he offered to match the pay at her new job. Expecting it to be in the region of her Bullocks salary of the equivalent of $27 a week, he was somewhat taken aback when she told him she would be earning $500 a week.


9:00am -- The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
A man remains young and handsome while his portrait shows the ravages of age and sin.
Cast: George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury
Dir: Albert Lewin
BW-110 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harry Stradling Sr.

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Angela Lansbury, and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters, Edwin B. Willis, John Bonar and Hugh Hunt

Already established as a cabaret singer, Angela Lansbury plaintively intoned "Good-bye, Little Yellow Bird" (music and lyrics by C.W. Murphy and William Hargreaves) in this movie. Yet strangely, in her two subsequent MGM films, Miss Lansbury's singing would be dubbed by two phantom voices: 'Virginia Reese' in The Harvey Girls (1946), a full-throttle Technicolor musical; and Doreen Tryden in The Hoodlum Saint (1946), a moody drama containing a couple of standards. In the Dorian Gray feature, Doreen Tryden, ironically, supplied the off-screen voice for Donna Reed's reprise of "Good-bye, Little Yellow Bird."


11:00am -- The Harvey Girls (1946)
Straitlaced waitresses battle saloon girls to win the West for domesticity.
Cast: Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Ray Bolger, Angela Lansbury
Dir: George Sidney
C-101 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Harry Warren (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) for the song "On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe".

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Lennie Hayton

Byron Harvey Jr., who plays the uncredited role of a train conductor who keeps good time, was the grandson of Fred Harvey and President of the Fred Harvey Company at the time of the filming.


12:45pm -- The Hoodlum Saint (1946)
After finding religion, a cynical newspaperman tries to help young hoods.
Cast: William Powell, Esther Williams, Angela Lansbury, James Gleason
Dir: Norman Taurog
BW-92 mins, TV-PG

Esther Williams was unhappy about the casting of William Powell as her love interest. She was 25 and he was 54.


2:30pm -- The Three Musketeers (1948)
Athletic adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic adventure about the king's musketeers and their mission to protect France.
Cast: Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, June Allyson, Van Heflin
Dir: George Sidney
C-126 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert H. Planck

Robert Taylor, Ricardo Montalban, and Sydney Greenstreet were originally cast as Athos, Aramis and Richelieu. The roles were taken by Van Heflin, Robert Coote, and Vincent Price, respectively.


4:45pm -- In the Cool of the Day (1963)
A man's efforts to save his friend's marriage lead to infidelity.
Cast: Jane Fonda, Peter Finch, Angela Lansbury, Arthur Hill
Dir: Robert Stevens
BW-84 mins, TV-PG

Flimsy soap opera, with Peter Finch deserting wife Angela Lansbury, and Jane Fonda deserting husband Arthur Hill to run off to Greece.


6:15pm -- Mister Buddwing (1966)
A man suffering from amnesia confronts a series of women in his search for his memory.
Cast: James Garner, Jean Simmons, Suzanne Pleshette, Katharine Ross
Dir: Delbert Mann
BW-99 mins, TV-14

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- George W. Davis, Paul Groesse, Henry Grace and Hugh Hunt, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

Based on the novel Buddwing by Evan Hunter. One of the last "major" films to be filmed in black and white.


What's On Tonight: TCM PRIME TIME FEATURE: CRIME THRILLERS


8:00pm -- The Narrow Margin (1952)
A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's moll on a tense train ride.
Cast: Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor, Jacqueline White, Gordon Gebert
Dir: Richard Fleischer
BW-72 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard

Filmed in 1950, not released until 1952. According to director Richard Fleischer, when the film was finished RKO Pictures owner Howard Hughes heard good things about it and ordered that a copy of it be delivered to him so he could screen it in his private projection room. The film stayed in the projection room for more than a year, apparently because the eccentric Hughes forgot about it.


9:30pm -- TCM's Night at the Movies: Thrillers (2009)
A look at thrillers from all sides, including different types of thrillers and the stylistic tools filmmakers use to give their audiences a shot of adrenaline.
Cast: Robert Osborne, Ken Follett, Bryan Singer, Kenneth Branaugh
Dir: Laurent Bouzereau

Turner Classic Movies is launching a new series of one-hour specials that will provide a Film Studies 101 look at top cinematic genres. Future installments of A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES will include a look at other genres, including a December special on epic cinema. The specials come to TCM from DreamWorks Television, with Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey (Las Vegas, TNT’s Into the West) serving as executive producers.


10:30pm -- Lured (1947)
A woman helps the police catch the serial killer who murdered her best friend.
Cast: George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn, Boris Karloff
Dir: Douglas Sirk
BW-103 mins, TV-G

The title was changed to "Personal Column" midway through the original U.S. theatrical release because staff at the Production Code Administration thought the word "lured" sounded too much like "lurid". Director Douglas Sirk felt the title change confused potential audiences and led to the film's box-office failure.


12:30am -- The Lodger (1944)
The inhabitants of a boarding house fear the new lodger is Jack the Ripper.
Cast: Merle Oberon, George Sanders, Laird Cregar, Sir Cedric Hardwicke
Dir: John Brahm
BW-84 mins, TV-14

Merle Oberon fell in love with the film's cinematographer, Lucien Ballard, and they married the following year. Because of facial scars Oberon sustained in a car accident, Ballard developed a unique light for her that washed out any signs of her blemishes. The device is known to this day as the Obie (not to be confused with the Off-Broadway award).


2:00am -- Videodrome (1982)
A sleazy TV programmer begins to see his life and the future of media spin out of control when he acquires a new kind of programming for his station.
Cast: James Woods, Sonja Smits, Deborah Harry, Peter Dvorsky
Dir: David Cronenberg
C-87 mins

David Tsubôchi, who appears here briefly as a Japanese porn dealer, later became a Minister in the Ontario provincial government. His appearance in this controversial film as a pornographer was exploited by the opposition.


3:45am -- TerrorVision (1986)
A family's satellite television becomes a gateway to an alien invasion.
Cast: Diane Franklin, Gerritt Graham, Mary Woronov, Chad Allen
Dir: Ted Nicolaou
C-85 mins, TV-MA

When Suzy introduces the monster to music, her arm is resting on top of Sanyo's first CD player model, the DAD-8. It was made between 1983-84 and is sought out by collectors for its rarity and quality sound.

[Staph]

1. Gaslight (1944)

At the 1945 Academy Awards® ceremony, when Ingrid Bergman accepted her first Oscar® for Gaslight, Bing Crosby and Leo McCarey had just won awards as, respectively, Best Actor and Director for Going My Way (1944). "Tomorrow I go to work in a picture with Bing and Mr. McCarey," said Bergman, referring to the upcoming The Bells of St. Mary's (1945). "And I'm afraid that, if I didn't have an Oscar® too, they wouldn't speak to me." Bergman's Best Actress Oscar® was presented by best friend and fellow David O. Selznick contractee Jennifer Jones, who had emerged the winner the year before when both actresses were nominated - Bergman for For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) and Jones for The Song of Bernadette (1943).

"Your artistry has won our vote and your graciousness has won our hearts," Jones said as she handed the statuette to Bergman. An even more generous compliment came from fellow nominee Barbara Stanwyck, who many felt should have won the Best Actress Oscar® that year for Double Indemnity (1944). Declaring herself "a member of the Ingrid Bergman Fan Club," Stanwyck told the press, "I don't feel at all bad about the Award because my favorite actress won it and has earned it by all her performances."

Bergman, who had long coveted the role of the tormented wife being driven insane by her husband in Gaslight, went after the role at MGM after resident star Hedy Lamarr turned it down. Bergman almost missed her chance when Selznick initially refused to loan her to MGM unless she was given first billing over costar Charles Boyer. When Boyer refused to budge on the matter, Bergman went to Selznick in tears begging him to reconsider - which he finally did. Because the statuesque Bergman was taller than her co-star, Boyer stood on a box during certain scenes - a ploy that would be repeated when the two stars worked together again in Arch of Triumph (1948). Boyer reportedly was distracted throughout the filming of Gaslight because the production coincided with the birth of his son, Michael. When the blessed event occurred, the proud papa treated the cast and crew to champagne.

Gaslight also won an Oscar® for Best Interior Decoration and was nominated in the categories of Best Picture, Actor (Boyer), Supporting Actress (Angela Lansbury), Screenplay and Black and White Cinematography. The film marked the movie and acting debut of Lansbury, who had been working in a Los Angeles department store before being cast as Nancy, the maid. Director George Cukor was instantly impressed by the fledgling actress' talent and professionalism, and prevailed when the studio resisted hiring her because she wasn't "sexy enough." Lansbury turned 18 on the set - and had to wait for that day to legally light a cigarette, a defiant gesture made by her saucy character. She, too, had to contend with Bergman's height, wearing high platform shoes to give the impression that Nancy towered over her timid mistress.

Director: George Cukor
Producer: Arthur Hornblow, Jr.
Screenwriter: John L. Balderston, Walter Reisch, John van Druten
Cinematographer: Joseph Ruttenberg
Composer: Bronislau Kaper
Editor: Arthur Williams, Ralph Winters
Art Director: William Ferrari, Cedric Gibbons
Costume Designer: Marion Herwood Keyes, Irene Sharaff
Cast: Charles Boyer (Gregory Anton), Ingrid Bergman (Paula Alquist), Joseph Cotton (Brian Cameron), Dame May Whitty (Miss Thwaites), Angela Lansbury (Nancy Oliver)
BW-114m. Closed captioning. Descriptive video.

by Roger Fristoe