TCM Schedule for Thursday, February 17 -- 31 Days of Oscar -- Auspicious Debuts

[Staph]

It's a day full of hookers with hearts' of gold, and an evening of directors who were nominated or won for their first full-length theatrical films. Enjoy!



4:15am -- The Ruling Class (1972)
When a deranged nobleman inherits a fortune, his relatives onspire to seize power.
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Alastair Sim, Arthur Lowe, Harry Andrews
Dir: Peter Medak
C-153 mins, TV-MA

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter O'Toole

Alastair Sim cast himself in the role as the Bishop, according to the commentary on the DVD. He called up his friend Peter O'Toole and told him, out of the blue, of course he'd help him by taking the part. No one was about to turn down the offer of such a great character actor, no matter how eccentric.


7:00am -- Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
In this musical remake, a conservative boys' school teacher falls in love with an actress.
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Petula Clark, Michael Redgrave, George Baker
Dir: Herbert Ross
C-155 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter O'Toole, and Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation) -- Leslie Bricusse and John Williams

Originally cast in the lead roles were Rex Harrison and Samantha Eggar, who were replaced by Richard Burton and Lee Remick. When MGM opted to replace Remick with Petula Clark, based on her reviews and Golden Globe nomination for Finian's Rainbow (1968), Burton balked at playing opposite a "singer" rather than an "actress", so Peter O'Toole was cast instead.


10:00am -- Never On Sunday (1960)
An American scholar in Greece tries to reform a local prostitute.
Cast: Melina Mercouri, Jules Dassin, George Foundas, Titos Vandis
Dir: Jules Dassin
BW-93 mins, TV-14

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Manos Hatzidakis for the song "Ta paidia tou Peiraia" ("Never on Sunday")

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Melina Mercouri, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Theoni V. Aldredge, Best Director -- Jules Dassin, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Jules Dassin

"Never On Sunday" was the first song from a foreign-made movie to win an Oscar.


12:00pm -- Butterfield 8 (1960)
A party girl ruins her life when she falls for a married man.
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Eddie Fisher, Dina Merrill
Dir: Daniel Mann
C-109 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Elizabeth Taylor

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Joseph Ruttenberg and Charles Harten

Elizabeth Taylor has stated many times over the years that BUtterfield 8 is not one of her favorite films and feels she won the Oscar because of her recent illness rather than her performance.


2:00pm -- Street Angel (1928)
A pretty escaped convict hides out in a circus and finds love.
Cast: Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Alberto Rabagliati, Gino Conti
Dir: Frank Borzage
BW-101 mins

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Janet Gaynor (She won this role as well as for her roles in 7th Heaven (1927) and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927).)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Harry Oliver (No official nominees had been announced this year.), and Best Cinematography -- Ernest Palmer (No official nominees had been announced this year.)

This film received Oscar nominations at "both" the first and second Academy Awards -- the win for Gaynor was at the 1929 Oscars and the two nominations were from the 1930 Oscars.


4:00pm -- Anna Christie (1930)
Eugene O'Neill's classic about a romantic prostitute trying to run away from her past.
Cast: Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, Marie Dressler
Dir: Clarence Brown
BW-90 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greta Garbo, Best Cinematography -- William H. Daniels, and Best Director -- Clarence Brown

Garbo's first sound film -- her first words: "Gif me a visky, ginger ale on the side, and don' be stingy, baby."


5:30pm -- Irma La Douce (1963)
A Parisian policeman gives up everything for the love of a free-living prostitute.
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi, Bruce Yarnell
Dir: Billy Wilder
BW-143 mins, TV-14

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- André Previn

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Shirley MacLaine, and Best Cinematography, Color -- Joseph LaShelle

The pimps' union is called the "Mec's' (tough guy's) Paris Protective Association" (MPPA), which also stands for "Motion Picture Producers Association", an organization which had given director Billy Wilder some trouble.


8:00pm -- 12 Angry Men (1957)
A jury holdout tries to convince his colleagues to vote not guilty.
Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, E. G. Marshall
Dir: Sidney Lumet
BW-96 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Sidney Lumet, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Reginald Rose, and Best Picture

Sidney Lumet's first theatrical film.

As shooting of the film went on, director Sidney Lumet gradually changed to lenses of longer focal lengths, so that the backgrounds seemed to close in on the characters, creating a greater feeling of claustrophobia.


10:00pm -- Chariots Of Fire (1981)
Committed long-distance runners strive for the 1924 Olympics.
Cast: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Alice Krige, Nigel Havers
Dir: Hugh Hudson
C-124 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Costume Design -- Milena Canonero, Best Music, Original Score -- Vangelis (Vangelis was not present at the awards ceremony. Co-presenter William Hurt accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Colin Welland, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Ian Holm, Best Director -- Hugh Hudson, and Best Film Editing -- Terry Rawlings

Hugh Hudson's theatrical debut.

Director Hugh Hudson originally wanted Vangelis' 1977 tune "L'Enfant", from his 1979 'Opera Sauvage' album, to be the title theme of the film, and the beach running sequence was actually filmed with "L'Enfant" playing in the background for the runners to listen and pace to. Vangelis, however, finally convinced Hudson he could create a new and better piece for the film's main theme - and when he played the new and now-familiar "Chariots of Fire" theme for Hudson, it was agreed the new tune was unquestionably better. But the "L'Enfant" tune still made it into the film: When the athletes reach Paris and enter the stadium, a brass band marches through the field, and first plays a modified, acoustic performance of "L'Enfant". Vangelis's electronic "L'Enfant" track eventually was used prominently in the film The Year of Living Dangerously (1982).


12:15am -- Room at the Top (1959)
A young accountant claws his way to the top in the boardroom and the bedroom.
Cast: Laurence Harvey, Simone Signoret, Heather Sears, Donald Wolfit
Dir: Jack Clayton
BW-117 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Simone Signoret, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Neil Paterson

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Laurence Harvey, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Hermione Baddeley, Best Director -- Jack Clayton, and Best Picture

Jack Clayton's first full-length film.

With her Oscar win, Simone Signoret became the second French actress to win the Academy Award (Claudette Colbert was the first in 1934).


2:15am -- American Beauty (1999)
An unemployed ad man falls for his daughter's best friend.
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley
Dir: Sam Mendes
C-122 mins, TV-MA

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Kevin Spacey, Best Cinematography -- Conrad L. Hall, Best Director -- Sam Mendes, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Alan Ball, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Annette Bening, Best Editing -- Tariq Anwar and Christopher Greenbury, and Best Music, Original Score -- Thomas Newman

Sam Mendes's first theatrical film.

In one of many references to Lolita (1962), "Lester Burnham" is an anagram for "Humbert learns".