TCM Schedule for Friday, November 13 -- TCM Primetime Feature -- Good as Gold

[Staph]

I can usually figure out the theme that TCM has used to choose their daytime films, but today had me stumped. Stumped until I realized that the theme today is Staph's favorite stars in Staph's favorite movies -- Bette Davis in Now, Voyager (1942), Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief (1955), Leslie Caron in Gigi (1958), and Tracy and Hepburn in Woman of the Year (1942). Tonight's theme is Good as Gold, with films about the treasured metal and those who hunt for it and those who try to take it away. Enjoy!


6:00am -- Now, Voyager (1942)
A repressed spinster is transformed by psychiatry and her love for a married man.
Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper
Dir: Irving Rapper
BW-118 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Max Steiner

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Bette Davis, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gladys Cooper

"Now Voyager" was actually the third book in a four-part saga of the Vales, a high-class Boston family, written by Olive Higgins Prouty over a 12-year period from 1936 to 1947. When Warner Brothers bought the film rights to the novel, Prouty wrote a lengthy letter to her literary agent, setting out how she felt the production should be mounted. She felt strongly that the best way to dramatize the flashbacks would be to feature short silent segments woven into the main sound narrative. Her letter made its way to producer Hal B. Wallis at Warners, who subsequently ignored her suggestions.


8:00am -- To Catch a Thief (1955)
A retired cat burglar fights to clear himself of a series of Riviera robberies committed in his style.
Cast: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis, John Williams
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
C-106 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert Burks

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Hal Pereira, J. McMillan Johnson, Sam Comer and Arthur Krams, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Edith Head

Cary Grant had announced his retirement from acting in February 1953, stating that since the rise of Method actors like Marlon Brando, most people were no longer interested in seeing him. He was also angry at the way Charles Chaplin had been treated by the HUAAC. He was lured out of his retirement to make this film, and thereafter continued acting for a further 11 years.


10:00am -- Candleshoe (1977)
A street urchin infiltrates a noblewoman's impoverished household in search of hidden treasure.
Cast: David Niven, Helen Hayes, Jodie Foster, Leo McKern
Dir: Norman Tokar
C-101 mins, TV-PG

One of England's greatest actors, Lord Laurence Olivier, was originally considered for the role of Priory. However, David Niven ended up with the role.


12:00pm -- Gigi (1958)
A Parisian girl is raised to be a kept woman but dreams of love and marriage.
Cast: Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, Hermione Gingold
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
C-116 mins, TV-G

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White or Color -- William A. Horning, E. Preston Ames, Henry Grace and F. Keogh Gleason, Best Cinematography, Color -- Joseph Ruttenberg, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White or Color -- Cecil Beaton, Best Director -- Vincente Minnelli, Best Film Editing -- Adrienne Fazan, Best Music, Original Song -- Frederick Loewe (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics) for the song "Gigi", Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- André Previn, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Alan Jay Lerner, and Best Picture

Gaston's walk through Paris while singing "Gigi" uses camera magic to make parts of Paris which are miles apart seem adjacent to each other. This technique, called "creative geography", was created and named by French filmmaker Jean Cocteau.


2:00pm -- Sunday In New York (1963)
A philandering pilot gets real moral, real fast when his sister contemplates a premarital fling.
Cast: Rod Taylor, Jane Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Robert Culp
Dir: Peter Tewksbury
C-105 mins, TV-PG

The New York production of the musical "Sunday in New York" by Norman Krasna opened at the Cort Theater in New York on November 27, 1971 and ran for 188 performances. The original Broadway cast included a young Robert Redford.


4:00pm -- Where The Boys Are (1960)
College coeds go looking for love during spring break in Fort Lauderdale.
Cast: Dolores Hart, Yvette Mimieux, Barbara Nichols, Paula Prentiss
Dir: Henry Levin
C-99 mins, TV-PG

Paula Prentiss' film debut


6:00pm -- Woman Of The Year (1942)
Opposites distract when a sophisticated political columnist falls for a sportswriter.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Fay Bainter, Reginald Owen
Dir: George Stevens
BW-114 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner Jr.

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn

As Katharine Hepburn's close friend and frequent director, George Cukor was a natural choice to direct, but for her first film with Spencer Tracy, Hepburn wanted Tracy to be as comfortable as possible, so as a quasi-producer, she hired George Stevens, who had directed her in Alice Adams (1935). As Hepburn said, "I just thought he (Tracy) should have a big, manly man on his team - someone who could talk about baseball." Cukor (who was openly gay and known for his friendships with actresses) would later become a good friend of Tracy and would direct both actors in Keeper of the Flame (1942), Adam's Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952).


What's On Tonight: TCM PRIME TIME FEATURE: GOOD AS GOLD


8:00pm -- Ride The High Country (1962)
Two aging gunslingers sign on to transport gold from a remote mining town.
Cast: Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Mariette Hartley, Ron Starr
Dir: Sam Peckinpah
C-94 mins, TV-PG

Final film of Randolph Scott. He retired from acting once he saw the finished film, saying he wanted to quit while he was ahead and that he would never be able to better his work here.


10:00pm -- Vera Cruz (1954)
During the Mexican Revolution, rival mercenaries team to steal a fortune in gold.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster, Denise Darcel, Cesar Romero
Dir: Robert Aldrich
C-94 mins, TV-14

Charles Bronson and Ernest Borgnine decided to go for cigarettes during filming. This meant saddling up in costume, side arms and all, and riding to the nearest town to their Mexican filming location. On the way, the pair was waylaid by a truck full of armed Federales who mistook them for bandits and held them at gunpoint.


12:00am -- Adios, Sabata (1971)
A gunslinger searching for a hidden treasure gets mixed up with Mexican revolutionaries.
Cast: Yul Brynner, Dean Reed, Gerard Herter, Pedro Sanchez
Dir: Frank Kramer.
C-105 mins, TV-14

Lee Van Cleef was unavailable to play Sabata, as he was committed to making The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972) where he played Chris Adams, a role made famous by Yul Brynner in The Magnificent Seven (1960). Instead, Brynner signed on for the role of Sabata, a role made famous by Van Cleef


2:00am -- Poor Pretty Eddie (1975)
When her car breaks down, a jazz singer is held hostage by a deranged Elvis impersonator.
Cast: Leslie Uggams, Shelley Winters, Michael Christian, Ted Cassidy
Dir: Richard Robinson
C-85 mins, TV-MA

Loosely based on Jean Genet's play "The Balcony" - the first film version of which also starred Shelley Winters in 1963.


3:30am -- The Night Of The Hunter (1955)
A bogus preacher marries an outlaw's widow in search of the man's hidden loot.
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, James Gleason
Dir: Charles Laughton
BW-93 mins, TV-PG

Charles Laughton was able to convince Lillian Gish to come out of semi-retirement for the film.


5:15am -- Short Film: Booked For Safekeeping (1960)
In this short documentary, police officers are trained in the assistance and management of mentally ill and confused persons.
BW-32 mins, TV-14

Fascinating documentary made to train police officers in the assistance and management of mentally ill and confused persons, produced in New Orleans by eminent filmmaker George C. Stoney using real New Orleans police officers as actors. A little-known ethnographic classic that is strongly rooted in the place where it was made.

[Staph]

1. Woman of the Year

Among the many film collaborations between Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Woman of the Year (1942) is especially significant because it was the first film in which they appeared together. In fact, during the filming of the movie, the two fell in love, sparking a relationship that would last more than 25 years, right up until Spencer Tracy's death in 1967.

Based on the life of renowned newspaper columnist Dorothy Thompson, Garson Kanin wrote the script with Hepburn in mind. Hepburn's character, Tess Harding, is an international affairs writer for the same paper that features articles by sports writer Sam Craig (played by Spencer Tracy). Craig, a very passionate and dedicated sports fanatic becomes incensed when he hears a radio address in which Tess declares that the game of baseball should be abolished until WWII comes to an end. Craig voices his displeasure in his weekly column and the battle begins - on the printed page. The two carry on their conflict within their respective columns, until finally they meet. Suddenly, the dynamics change dramatically as their mutual attraction becomes evident. Much to the surprise and consternation of their friends and coworkers, the pair begin an unlikely courtship that eventually leads to marriage. It is then that the fun really begins.

The chemistry between Hepburn and Tracy in Woman of the Year is palpable. It has often been noted that the characters they play in the movie mirror their own very distinct personalities. Tracy, as the no-nonsense Irishman with a penchant for cocktails and the simple pleasures of life, and Hepburn, self-righteous and egotistical in her own right, but with a tender disposition. It was through her own tenacity that Hepburn was able to obtain the rights to Woman of the Year, pick the director of her choice, cast the leading man she preferred, and command the salary she wanted. Already an imposing figure at 5' 7, Hepburn made a point of donning high-heeled shoes for her meeting with MGM executive Louis B. Mayer to discuss Woman of the Year. Determined to convince the studio head to buy the script, Hepburn met with Mayer and recited her list of demands which included a salary of $100,000 for herself, plus an $11,000 commission for serving as a script agent. After the meeting, Hepburn assumed she had not swayed Mayer in the least. She was stunned to later learn he agreed with all of her demands, even her right to pick the director and the leading man.

To helm Woman of the Year, Hepburn requested George Stevens who had proven himself to be a first class director in the '30s and '40s with a mixture of romantic comedies and musicals such as Alice Adams (1935), the first picture he made with Hepburn, Swing Time (1936), Vivacious Lady (1938), Gunga Din (1939) and Penny Serenade (1941). He also happened to be romantically involved with Hepburn when they began work on Woman of the Year. However, shortly after filming began, their relationship ended.

As for her leading man in Woman of the Year, Hepburn thought the part was ideal for Spencer Tracy. The story of their first meeting has become legend. Joseph Mankiewicz, the producer of the movie, introduced Hepburn and Tracy in the MGM commissary where Hepburn quipped, "I'm afraid I'm a little tall for you, Mr. Tracy." To which Tracy replied, "Don't worry, Miss Hepburn, I'll cut you down to my size."

One interesting fact about Woman of the Year is that the original ending of the film was changed after an audience sneak preview. The reason for this is revealed in A Remarkable Woman: A Biography of Katharine Hepburn by Anne Edwards (William Morrow & Co.): "The original ending of the Lardner-Kanin script had Tess Harding take an honest interest in baseball (her husband's passion) and become more enthusiastic than he at the game, which implied not compromise but growth and love. But Mankiewicz and Stevens were concerned that "the average American housewife, seated next to her husband, staring for two hours at this paragon of beauty, intelligence, wit, accomplishment, and everything else, (could not) help but wonder if her husband (wasn't) comparing her very unfavorably with this goddess he sees on the screen." Stevens, who for all his charm was a dedicated male chauvinist, decided with Mankiewicz that Tess Harding had to have her comeuppance. Stevens recalled a kitchen routine he had done in a silent film in which a wife tried to fix a simple breakfast in order to prove her domesticity to her husband and "completely f*cked it up." (Ring Lardner) and Mike Kanin had already left for New York and so John Lee Mahin was assigned to write a new ending to specifications. When Lardner and Kanin found out they objected strenuously, but the only concession made to them was that they were permitted to rewrite some of the more objectionable lines. Kate termed the new breakfast-scene ending "the worst bunch of sh*t I've ever read," but Mankiewicz left it in after women at the next preview cheered, "not only with admiration," he said, "but relief."

Despite the compromised ending, the first collaboration between Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn proved to be quite an achievement. Woman of the Year succeeded with both the public and the critics. The film received two Academy Award nominations -for Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay - Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner, Jr., who took over the script from Garson Kanin, won the award for Best Screenplay.

Director: George Stevens
Producer: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Screenplay: Ring Lardner, Jr., Michael Kanin, John Lee Mahin (uncredited)
Cinematography: Joseph Ruttenberg
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Randall Duell
Music: Franz Waxman
Cast: Katharine Hepburn (Tess Harding), Spencer Tracy (Sam Craig), Fay Bainter (Ellen Whitcomb), Reginald Owen (Clayton), Minor Watson (William Harding), William Bendix ("Pinkie" Peters).
BW-115m. Closed captioning. Descriptive video.

by Mary Anne Melear