TCM Schedule for Friday, December 3 -- TCM Prime Time Feature: Christmas Classics

[Staph]

Today starts a new feature for the month -- Christmas Classics. Later in the month, we have the chance to watch A Christmas Carol (1938), Scrooge (1970), The Man Who Came To Dinner (1941), Holiday Affair (1949), In the Good Old Summertime (1949 -- yes, it really has a Christmas scene!), Little Women (1949), The Bishop's Wife (1947), Make Way for Tomorrow (1937), Remember the Night (1940), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), and Bell, Book and Candle (1958). Enjoy!


6:00am -- Man Hunt (1941)
An Englishman goes behind enemy lines to assassinate Hitler.
Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders, John Carradine
Dir: Fritz Lang
BW-102 mins, TV-PG

When Thorndike (Pidgeon) is captured, the George Sanders character inspects his belongings including his rifle, which bears the maker's name of "Hammond and Hammond, Bond Street". There was no such gunsmith in the UK and it seems likely they name is borrowed from a very famous gunsmith called Holland and Holland of Bruton Street, which is situated nearby.


8:00am -- Foreign Correspondent (1940)
An American reporter covering the war in Europe gets mixed up in the assassination of a Dutch diplomat.
Cast: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
BW-120 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Albert Bassermann, Best Art Direction, Black-and-White -- Alexander Golitzen, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Rudolph Maté, Best Effects, Special Effects -- Paul Eagler (photographic) and Thomas T. Moulton (sound), Best Picture, Best Writing, and Original Screenplay -- Charles Bennett and Joan Harrison

Shooting was completed on May 29, 1940, after which Alfred Hitchcock made a visit to England. He returned on July 3 with the word that the Germans were expected to start bombing at any time. Ben Hecht was hurriedly called in and wrote the tacked-on final scene set at a London radio station. It was filmed on July 5, and the real-life bombing started on July 10, 1940.


10:15am -- The Blue Dahlia (1946)
A veteran fights to prove he didn't kill his cheating wife.
Cast: Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva
Dir: George Marshall
BW-99 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Raymond Chandler

Just after the fight scene between Alan Ladd and the two thugs that kidnapped him, one of the thugs is seen soaking his broken leg in a round tub. That wasn't in the script; the actor had actually broken his leg filming the fight and, without consulting screenwriter Raymond Chandler, director George Marshall rewrote the script to have the character break his leg as well.


12:00pm -- The Big Clock (1948)
A corrupt publisher tries to frame a career-driven editor for murder.
Cast: Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan, George Macready
Dir: John Farrow
BW-95 mins, TV-PG

When producer Richard Maibaum first came on the set, director John Farrow who liked to intimidate people who worked with him, kept him at a distance by using a walking stick. Maibaum turned around, went to the props department and returned with a baseball bat. As if a spell were broken, the situation immediately improved and Maibaum and Farrow would go on to have an excellent working relationship.


1:45pm -- Knock On Any Door (1949)
A crusading lawyer fights to save a juvenile delinquent charged with murder.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, George Macready, Allene Roberts, Susan Perry
Dir: Nicholas Ray
BW-100 mins, TV-PG

When Humphrey Bogart was told that director Nicholas Ray wanted to film the entire 'sentencing statement for the defense' sequence in a single take, Bogart was concerned because he had never delivered such a long speech without cuts and feared he couldn't do it. Ray calmed Bogart down, suggested several rehearsals, and much to Bogart's surprise, Ray rolled during the rehearsals filming most of what has become the famous and well played sentencing sequence.


3:30pm -- A Place in the Sun (1951)
An ambitious young man wins an heiress's heart but has to cope with his former girlfriend's pregnancy.
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere
Dir: George Stevens
BW-122 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- William C. Mellor, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Edith Head, Best Director -- George Stevens, Best Film Editing -- William Hornbeck, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Franz Waxman, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Michael Wilson and Harry Brown

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Montgomery Clift, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Shelley Winters, and Best Picture

Shelley Winters was determined to be tested for the part of Alice. At the time she was being cultivated as a sex symbol, so the night before she was due to see George Stevens, she dyed her hair brown and bought some especially dowdy clothes, the kind she had seen when she had visited a factory to see how the girls who worked there dressed. She deliberately arrived at the meeting place early and sat in a corner. When Stevens came in, he didn't even notice her until he was about to leave, when he suddenly realized that the mousy girl in the corner was actually Shelley Winters.


5:45pm -- Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Detective Mike Hammer fights to solve the murder of a beautiful hitchhiker with a mysterious connection to the Mob.
Cast: Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez
Dir: Robert Aldrich
BW-106 mins, TV-PG

The Kefauver Commission, a federal unit dedicated to investigating corrupting influences in the 1950s, singled this out as 1955's number one menace to American youth. Because of this, Robert Aldrich felt compelled to conduct a writing campaign for the free speech rights of independent film-makers.


7:48pm -- One Reel Wonders: The Man Who Makes The Difference (1968)
A behind the cameras featurette showcasing the action film "Ice Station Zebra" (1968) and the talents of John Stevens, renowned second unit/stunt photographer, who filmed the racing sequences in "Grand Prix" (1966).
C-7 mins

John M. Stephens was recipient, Technical Achievement Award Development of first remote camera head (MGM's, Grand Prix) (1966), presented by the Society of Operating Cameramen (1995).


What's On Tonight: TCM Prime Time Feature: Christmas Classics


8:00pm -- Fitzwilly (1967)
When an aging philanthropist goes broke, her butler robs from the rich so she can give to the poor.
Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Feldon, Edith Evans, John McGiver
Dir: Delbert Mann
C-103 mins, TV-PG

Fitzwilly's thrift store is named for St. Dismas, the "good thief," in Christian tradition.


10:00pm -- It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
Two homeless men move into a mansion while its owners are wintering in the South.
Cast: Don DeFore, Ann Harding, Charlie Ruggles, Victor Moore
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
BW-115 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani

The story was originally optioned by Frank Capra's Liberty Films in 1945, and announced as the company's first production. Later that year, producer-director Roy Del Ruth acquired the story.


12:00am -- Susan Slept Here (1954)
A Hollywood screenwriter takes in a runaway girl who's more woman than he can handle.
Cast: Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis, Glenda Farrell
Dir: Frank Tashlin
C-98 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Jack Lawrence and Richard Myers for the song "Hold My Hand", and Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio)

Susan Slept Here (1954) was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency primarily for its' suggestive title. In a male dominated society George Washington Slept Here (1942) sounded no similar moral alarms. The ban hurt the movies receipts but did greater harm to the Legion who were taken less seriously after The Moon Is Blue (1953) ban a year earlier in shocked response to the word 'virgin' used outside the church!


1:43am -- One Reel Wonders: The Cinematographer (1951)
A behind-the-scenes look at the responsibilities of the cinematographer.
Cast: Bing Crosby, Melvyn Douglas, Hurd Hatfield
BW-9 mins

Features clips from The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).


2:00am -- The Beyond (1983)
A young woman inherits an old hotel and learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell.
Cast: David Warbeck, Catriona McColl, Cinzia Monreale, Antoine Saint John
Dir: Lucio Fulci
C-87 mins, TV-MA

This film was never seen in America in its uncut form until 1998, when Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures, in association with Grindhouse Releasing, tracked down the original master and restored the film, playing it at midnight shows at selected cities. Bob Murawski of Grindhouse Releasing is a film editor, and used a shot from this film in the spider-bite dream sequence in Spider-Man (2002).


3:30am -- Night of the Living Dead (1968)
A space probe unleashes microbes that turn the dead into flesh-eating zombies.
Cast: Judith O'Dea, Russell Streiner, Duane Jones, Karl Hardman
Dir: George A. Romero
BW-96 mins, TV-MA

When the zombies are eating the bodies in the burnt-out truck they were actually eating roast ham covered in chocolate sauce. The filmmakers joked that it was so nausea inducing that it was almost a waste of time putting the makeup on the zombies, as they ended up looking pale and sick anyway.


5:15am -- Short Film: Good Eating Habits (1951)
In this educational short film, tips on proper nourishment are given.
BW-10 mins


5:30am -- Short Film: Keep Off The Grass (1969)
In this educational short film made by Sid Davis, the dangers of marijuana are outlined.
Dir: Sid Davis.
C-21 mins, TV-14