TCM Schedule for Thursday, April 29 -- World War II Biopics

[Staph]

A day of Debbie Reynolds and an evening of WWII bio-pictures. I guess TCM is now a media representation of Godwin's Law. Enjoy!


5:30am -- MGM Parade Show #23 (1955)
Gene Kelly and Jerry the Mouse perform in a clip from "Anchors Aweigh"; George Murphy, Dore Schary and Richard Brooks show a short film about the making of "The Last Hunt."
Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-26 mins, TV-G

This epicosde also features a clip from the 1937 short A King Without A Crown.


6:00am -- The Affairs Of Dobie Gillis (1953)
A lovesick teenager searches for romance at college.
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Bobby Van, Barbara Ruick, Bob Fosse
Dir: Don Weis
BW-73 mins, TV-G

This modest (by MGM standards) black-and-white musical failed to be noted by a contemporary New York Times review. In addition, this was the only monochrome song-and-dance picture in which Debbie Reynolds and Bob Fosse appeared.


7:14am -- One Reel Wonders: Decade For Decision (1957)
In the wake of the USSR's launching of Sputnik I in 1957, this short emphasizes the necessity of increasing education in the sciences.
Narrator: Dwight Weist
BW-15 mins

Filmed on site at the University of Buffalo, Boston University and the University of Miami (Florida).


7:30am -- I Love Melvin (1953)
A photographer's assistant promises to turn a chorus girl into a cover girl.
Cast: Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Una Merkel, Richard Anderson
Dir: Don Weis
C-77 mins, TV-G

During the "I Wanna Wander" around-the-world sequence, the color of Melvin's roller skate wheels change throughout the "Ups and Downs" number, indicating special "locked" wheels that allowed him to perform the tap number with the skates.


9:00am -- Athena (1954)
A society lawyer falls in love with the daughter of a family of fitness fanatics.
Cast: Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Virginia Gibson, Nancy Kilgas
Dir: Richard Thorpe
C-96 mins, TV-G

When the daughter of Italian director Pietro Francisci saw this film, she suggested bodybuilder-turned-actor Steve Reeves for the title role in her father's upcoming production Le fatiche di Ercole (1958) (US title: "Hercules").


10:45am -- The Gazebo (1959)
A suburban couple tries to cope with a murder victim whose body refuses to stay put.
Cast: Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Carl Reiner, John McGiver
Dir: George Marshall
BW-102 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

Remade in 1971 in France as Jo.


12:30pm -- The Tender Trap (1955)
A swinging bachelor finds love when he meets a girl immune to his line.
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, David Wayne, Celeste Holm
Dir: Charles Walters
C-111 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "(Love Is) The Tender Trap"

The original Broadway production of "The Tender Trap" by Max Shulman and Robert Paul Smith opened at the Longacre Theater on October 13, 1954 and ran for 102 performances. The original cast included Robert Preston and Kim Hunter.


2:30pm -- High Society (1956)
In this musical version of The Philadelphia Story, tabloid reporters invade a society wedding.
Cast: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm
Dir: Charles Walters
C-107 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Cole Porter for the song "True Love", and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin

The song True Love, written by Cole Porter especially for the movie, was a million seller and both Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby were awarded platinum records for the song. This is the only platinum record ever given to sitting royalty as Grace Kelly had become Princess Grace by the time it was awarded.


4:18pm -- One Reel Wonders: Jimmy Fund - Bing Crosby (1957)
Bing Crosby urges the audience to donate to the Jimmy Fund to end childhood cancer.
Cast: Bing Crosby
BW-3 mins

Harry Lillis Crosby was nicknamed "Bing" after a character named "Bingo" in a comic strip titled "Bingville Bugle."


4:30pm -- Doctor, You've Got To Be Kidding! (1967)
Four suitors pursue a pregnant singer to the maternity ward.
Cast: Sandra Dee, George Hamilton, Celeste Holm, Bill Bixby
Dir: Peter Tewksbury
C-95 mins, TV-PG

Working titles were "Three For A Wedding" and "This Way Out, Please."


6:15pm -- Tom Sawyer (1973)
The classic American bad boy sails the Mississippi with his friend Huck Finn after their supposed deaths.
Cast: Celeste Holm, Jodie Foster, Johnnie Whitaker, Warren Oates
Dir: Don Taylor
C-99 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Philip M. Jeffries and Robert De Vestel, Best Costume Design -- Donfeld, and Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation -- Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman and John Williams

Cinematic Tom Sawyers over the years have included Jack Pickford (1917 -- Mary Pickford's brother), Gordon Griffith (1920), Jackie Coogan (1930), Tommy Kelly (1938), Billy Cook (1938), Michael Miller (1944), David José (1958 -- Brazil), Chui Han (1958 -- South Korea), Roland Demongeot (1968 -- Romania), Patrick Creadon (1982), Simon Hinton (1986), Chris Ritchie (1986), Jonathan Taylor Thomas (1995), Philip Van Dyke (1998), and Shane West (2003).


What's On Tonight: TCM PRIME TIME FEATURE: WORLD WAR II BIOPICS


8:00pm -- PT 109 (1963)
Future president John Kennedy fights to save his crew when their PT boat sinks in the Pacific.
Cast: Cliff Robertson, Ty Hardin, James Gregory, Robert Culp
Dir: Leslie H. Martinson
C-140 mins, TV-PG

Peter Fonda, who resembled the young JFK in build and looks, was also considered for the role of PT 109's last skipper as were both Roger Smith and Ed "Kookie" Byrnes from the popular TV series "77 Sunset Strip" (1958). President John F. Kennedy's personal choice to portray him was Cliff Robertson. Mrs Kennedy's preference to play President John F. Kennedy' was Warren Beatty.


10:30pm -- The Desert Fox (1951)
Following his work with the Afrika Korps, Field Marshall Rommell joins in a plot to assassinate Hitler.
Cast: James Mason, Cedric Hardwicke, Jessica Tandy, Luther Adler
Dir: Henry Hathaway
BW-88 mins, TV-PG

According to Halliwell's Film Video & DVD Guide, this movie " . . . was probably the first film to use an action sequence to arrest attention before the credit titles."


12:15am -- Hitler (1962)
Impotence and an Oedipus complex haunt the dictator as he sets out to conquer the world.
Cast: Richard Basehart, Cordula Trantow, Maria Emo, Martin Kosleck
Dir: Stuart Heisler
BW-103 mins, TV-PG

In small parts you can spot John Banner (Sgt. Schultz from Hogan's Heroes) and Ted Knight (Ted Baxter from The Mary Tyler Moore Show).


2:15am -- The Gallant Hours (1959)
Admiral William F. Halsey fights to turn the tide against the Japanese during World War II.
Cast: James Cagney, Dennis Weaver, Ward Costello, Vaughn Taylor
Dir: Robert Montgomery
BW-116 mins, TV-PG

The only production of the Cagney-Montgomery Production company.

[Staph]

1. PT 109 (1963)

The exploits of Lt. John F. Kennedy in the South Pacific during World War II are turned into big screen entertainment in PT 109 (1963). There had been many films about the lives of American Presidents but this was the first Hollywood drama ever made about a currently-serving President, begun barely a year after his inauguration and released in June 1963; this was two years into his term as the thirty-fifth President of the United States and five months before he was assassinated.

Based on the book PT 109: John F. Kennedy in WWII by Robert J. Donovan, a war correspondent and political reporter who covered the 1960 campaign, and adapted to the screen by Navy veteran turned screenwriter Richard L. Breen, the film is a profile in courage in miniature. Cliff Robertson plays Jack Kennedy, a young officer who pulled strings to get a command in the South Pacific theater at a time when the Japanese were still dominant. He's offered a run-down wreck by his crusty new commander (James Gregory) and given a week to make it seaworthy. Much of the film hits the familiar notes of the classic platoon film with a stiff reverence (young leader pulls together a makeshift crew into a tight and loyal unit, proves his mettle under fire and makes rousing speeches to rally their flagging spirits). It also delivers a personable portrait of an inspiring leader. He successfully leads his crew through what could have been a suicide rescue mission and risks his own life to save his men from the burning wreckage when the ship is destroyed and then swims through open water to await search and rescue craft without attracting the enemy's attention. While dramatic license is taken with some details (the real PT 109 wasn't a wreck, merely a ship that had seen hard action) and the timeline is rearranged for dramatic effect, the exploits portrayed on screen are more or less accurate to the historical record. Even the coconut, on which the marooned Kennedy carved a message to be carried to the American forces, was true. (The real coconut shell was preserved and is now on display at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts.)

The glowing big screen portrait of the then-current President was in part initiated by his father, Joseph Kennedy, who had been a Hollywood producer and studio chief in the 1920s and 30s and used his connections to negotiate the movie rights to Donovan's book. He surely saw the film as a great political tool, a feature-length advertisement for his son released in advance of the 1964 election. Jack Warner, the head of production at Warner Bros., "personally supervised" the film, which was budgeted at a generous $4 million. Shooting began in 1962 in the Florida Keys, which doubled for the Solomon Islands. Preparations for the production, which included building military shacks and docks and bringing World War II-era sea crafts to Munson Island, led to rumors about another invasion of Cuba. The biggest challenge was securing a small fleet of actual PT Boats. The small boats, used to "harass the enemy and buy time for a navy that was still on the drawing boards" (in the words of the film's opening narration), were built for speed and maneuverability, not durability, and very few of the boats were still around by 1962. Air Sea Rescue Boats were modified to fill out of the screen fleet and American AT-6 training planes substituted for Japanese Zeroes.

While Kennedy's exploits commanding a PT Boat in the South Pacific in 1943 were minor compared to more famous figures, PT 109 shows the future commander-in-chief as both a war hero and a strong yet personable leader whose resolve and bravery saves the lives of his men. Cliff Robertson, who had served in the Merchant Marines in World War II, was President Kennedy's choice to portray him in the film, picked out from screen tests sent from Hollywood to the White House (Jackie Kennedy, apparently, wanted to see Warren Beatty in the role). Robertson plays him as a plainspoken, easy-going, all-American guy who works side-by-side with the enlisted crewman, a charismatic leader of modest authority and unflagging commitment, and the role gave his career a major boost. Robert Culp stands out in the supporting cast for his genial turn as Ensign George 'Barney' Ross, a wisecracking buddy who becomes part of Kennedy's crew, Ty Hardin plays Kennedy's second in command and Robert Blake and Norman Fell are among the members of his crew.

Lewis Milestone, veteran director of such war movie classics as All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), A Walk in the Sun (1945) and Pork Chop Hill (1959), was brought in to direct the prestige project but parted ways with the production. While the studio claimed it was due to cost overruns under Milestone's direction, the latter maintained that it was over disagreements with the script, which the director felt was inadequate. Leslie H. Martinson, a TV director with limited feature film experience, was brought in to replace Milestone. He apparently had no problems with the often corny and arch dialogue or the roll call of clichés through much of the first half, elements that would seem to substantiate Milestone's version of events. Not surprisingly, PT 109 was released to lukewarm reviews. Robertson, however received good notices for his performance. He carries the meandering film with his understated strength, giving a genial nobility to the heroism of the PT Boat commander that his friends simply called Jack.

Producer: Bryan Foy
Director: Leslie H. Martinson
Screenplay: Richard L. Breen; Vincent Flaherty (adaptation), Howard Sheehan (adaptation); Robert J. Donovan (book "PT 109: John F. Kennedy in WWII")
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Art Direction: Leo K. Kuter
Music: David Buttolph, Howard Jackson, William Lava
Film Editing: Folmar Blangsted
Cast: Cliff Robertson (Lt. John F. Kennedy), Ty Hardin (Ens. Leonard J. Thom), James Gregory (Cmdr. C.R. Ritchie), Robert Culp (Ens. George 'Barney' Ross), Grant Williams (Lt., Alvin Cluster), Lew Gallo (Yeoman Rogers), Errol John (Benjamin Kevu), Michael Pate (Lt. Reginald Evans), Robert Blake (Charles 'Bucky' Harris), William Douglas (Gerald Zinser), Biff Elliot (Edgar E. Mauer), Norman Fell (Edmund Drewitch), Sam Gilman (Raymond Starkey), Clyde Howdy (Leon Drawdy), Buzz Martin (Maurice Kowal).
C-141m. Letterboxed.

by Sean Axmaker