TCM Schedule for Thursday, January 20 -- Star of the Month -- Peter Sellers

[Staph]

Happy birthday to Patricia Neal, born on this day in 1926. We have a day of her films, followed by another evening with Star of the Month Peter Sellers. Enjoy!



4:45am -- Midway (1976)
Spectacular re-creation of the World War II battle that turned the tide for the U.S. in the Pacific.
Cast: Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum.
Dir: Jack Smight.
C-131 mins, TV-MA

This was the second film to be presented in "Sensurround", a special low-frequency bass speaker setup consisting of four huge speakers loaned by distributors to select theatres showing the film. This system was employed only during certain sequences of the film, and was so powerful that it actually cracked plaster at some movie theaters. "Sensurround" was employed in only three other films released by Universal: Earthquake (1974), Rollercoaster (1977), and the theatrical release of "Battlestar Galactica: Pilot (#1.0)" (1978).


7:00am -- The Fountainhead (1949)
An idealistic architect battles corrupt business interests and his love for a married woman.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Kent Smith
Dir: King Vidor
BW-113 mins, TV-PG

Ayn Rand was furious when she heard that Howard Roark's speech at the trial was being trimmed, chiefly because it was considered long, rambling and confusing, especially to Gary Cooper who didn't understand it. She got the studio to make sure that the speech was untouched and in its entirety in the finished product.


9:00am -- It's a Great Feeling (1949)
When nobody at Warner Bros. will work with him, movie star Jack Carson decides to turn an unknown into his co-star.
Cast: Dennis Morgan, Doris Day, Jack Carson, Bill Goodwin
Dir: David Butler
C-85 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jule Styne (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "It's a Great Feeling"

Joan Crawford does a cameo and directs a short speech to Jack Carson before slapping his face. It's the same one she gives to 'Ann Blythe' in Mildred Pierce (1945) before slapping her face. Jack Carson was also a star in that film with Joan.


10:30am -- John Loves Mary (1949)
A World War II veteran's marriage of convenience threatens his real wedding plans.
Cast: Ronald Reagan, Jack Carson, Wayne Morris, Edward Arnold
Dir: David Butler
BW-96 mins, TV-G

Patrica Neal's first film.


12:15pm -- Washington Story (1952)
A reporter in search of government corruption falls for a congressman.
Cast: Van Johnson, Patricia Neal, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer
Dir: Robert Pirosh
BW-82 mins, TV-G

"I've had a lovely time." - Patricia Neal's last words while on her deathbed


1:45pm -- Psyche 59 (1964)
After being blinded in a mysterious fall, a woman fears her husband is involved with her younger sister.
Cast: Patricia Neal, Curt Jurgens, Samantha Eggar, Ian Bannen
Dir: Alexander Singer
BW-94 mins, TV-PG

Originally announced as Dana Wynter vehicle (Patricia Neal role).


3:30pm -- The Subject Was Roses (1968)
A young veteran returns home to deal with family conflicts.
Cast: Patricia Neal, Jack Albertson, Martin Sheen, Don Saxon
Dir: Ulu Grosbard
C-108 mins, TV-14

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Albertson

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Patricia Neal

The Subject Was Roses (1968) was the first film Patricia Neal made after suffering three massive and near-fatal strokes, early in 1965. Neal was in a coma for two-and-a-half weeks and underwent emergency brain surgery. Paralyzed on her right side and unable to talk, she had to learn how to use her limbs again, how to speak again, and had to relearn the alphabet in order to spell the simplest of words. By early 1967, her recovery was so remarkable that it was difficult to tell that she'd suffered a stroke at all, although Neal admitted to still having memory problems. In April 1968, while shooting "The Subject Was Roses" in an old warehouse on Manhattan's West 26th Street, Neal reflected on her ordeal to critic Rex Reed: "I hated life for a year and a half, then I started learning how to be a person again and now I've loved life for a year and a half. And I love it a lot."


5:30pm -- The Road Builder (1971)
A drifter with a deadly secret ignites passions in two lonely women.
Cast: Patricia Neal, Pamela Brown, Nicholas Clay, Jean Anderson
Dir: Alastair Reid
C-96 mins, TV-PG

Originally known as The Night Digger


7:15pm -- Private Screenings: Patricia Neal (2004)
Patricia Neal discusses her career with TCM host Robert Osborne.
BW-40 mins, TV-PG

Neal began a relationship with Gary Cooper on the set of The Fountainhead (1949). He was forty-seven, she was twenty-two. In 1951, Cooper separated from his wife with the intention of marrying Neal; however, he never filed for divorce, and in 1954, they reconciled. Meanwhile, the affair with Neal had fizzled out, and she married Roald Dahl.


8:00pm -- The Pink Panther (1964)
In the first Inspector Clouseau film, the bumbling French police detective tries to stop a notorious jewel thief from nabbing a princess' diamond.
Cast: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Capucine, Robert Wagner
Dir: Blake Edwards
C-115 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Henry Mancini

The Pink Panther diamond is named not only for its color, but also for a tiny pink flaw shaped like a panther. The overall pink however would make the Panther a very rare Type-IIa diamond, in which some colors are absorbed not by impurities as in most other colored stones but by a misalignment of crystal structure at the molecular level caused by tectonic pressure during formation ('plastic deformation'). Though there are about a dozen large pink diamonds of name in the world, there has never been an actual "Pink Panther".


10:00pm -- A Shot In The Dark (1964)
Inspector Clouseau tries to clear a beautiful woman accused of shooting her husband.
Cast: Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, George Sanders, Herbert Lom
Dir: Blake Edwards
C-102 mins, TV-PG

This film was originally meant to have been an adaptation of the stage play by Harry Kurnitz. Walter Matthau and Peter Sellers were to have been the detectives, but Sellers did not like how things were going and wanted out. United Artists brought in Blake Edwards to keep Sellers on the project. Edwards looked at the script and thought that it might be better suited to the character of Inspector Jacques Clouseau, and rewrote the entire script with a young William Peter Blatty. It was released only three months after the original The Pink Panther (1963).


12:00am -- Murder by Death (1976)
A criminal madman invites the world's greatest detectives for a night of dinner and murder.
Cast: Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Truman Capote
Dir: Robert Moore
C-95 mins, TV-14

Orson Welles was originally considered for the role of Inspector Wang (Peter Sellers' role) but was unable to accept because he was appearing in a play in Italy.


1:45am -- Casino Royale (1967)
A retired James Bond goes back into action to infiltrate a nest of enemy spies.
Cast: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, Orson Welles
Dir: Joseph McGrath
C-131 mins, TV-14

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Burt Bacharach (music) and Hal David (lyrics) for the song "The Look of Love"

The rift between Orson Welles and Peter Sellers was partly caused by the arrival on set of Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II. Sellers knew her of old and greeted her in an ostentatious manner to ensure all cast and crew noticed. However, the Princess walked straight past him and made a big fuss over Welles. Nonplussed, Sellers stormed off the set and refused to film with Welles again.


4:00am -- The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
After driving his boss to insanity, Inspector Clouseau has to stop him from destroying the world.
Cast: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Colin Blakely, Leonard Rossiter
Dir: Blake Edwards
C-103 mins, TV-14

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Henry Mancini (music) and Don Black (lyrics) for the song "Come to Me"

The title of this film is misleading, as the "Pink Panther" - the large diamond featured in the first Clouseau Pink Panther movies, The Pink Panther (1963) and The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) - is not featured (or even mentioned) in this film. By the 1970s, the name "Pink Panther" had become so synonymous with Inspector Clouseau - and the animated panther featured in the opening credits - that all future Clouseau films would include "Pink Panther" in the title.