TCM Schedule for Thursday, June 16 -- TCM Spotlight: Drive-in Double Features

[Staph]

Tonight's double drive-in features are all about human monsters -- giants, Martian women and two-headed killers. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Miracle In The Rain (1956)
When a lonely woman's wartime lover dies, her loneliness threatens her life.
Dir: Rudolph Mate
Cast: Jane Wyman, Van Johnson, Peggie Castle.
107 min, TV-G, CC

Franz Waxman composed the score for this film. The theme he used when Jane Wyman's character first enters her New York office was used by George Lucas for his first feature film, THX 1138 (1971). The music was heard in the futuristic shopping mall sequence as "elevator music."


8:00 AM -- Rhapsody (1954)
A wealthy socialite is torn between the classical violinist who excites her and the pianist who needs her.
Dir: Charles Vidor
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Vittorio Gassman, John Ericson.
C-116 min, TV-PG, CC

Filmed on location in Switzerland.


10:00 AM -- Girl With Green Eyes (1964)
A young innocent gets involved with an older, married man.
Dir: Desmond Davis
Cast: Peter Finch, Rita Tushingham, Lynn Redgrave.
92 min, TV-PG

Filmed on location in Ireland.


12:00 PM -- Love Is A Ball (1962)
A Riviera matchmaker tries to groom a young woman for a wealthy marriage.
Dir: David Swift
Cast: Glenn Ford, Hope Lange, Charles Boyer.
C-113 min, TV-G

Filmed on location in the south of France.


2:00 PM -- Green Fire (1954)
An emerald prospector clashes with a beautiful plantation owner in South America.
Dir: Andrew Marton
Cast: Stewart Granger, Grace Kelly, Paul Douglas.
C-100 min, TV-PG, CC

Writers Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts were also responsible for creating the television series (and subsequent movies) Charlie's Angels.


4:00 PM -- You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
An Argentine heiress thinks a penniless American dancer is her secret admirer.
Dir: William A. Seiter
Cast: Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Adolphe Menjou.
97 min, TV-G, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Jerome Kern (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) for the song "Dearly Beloved", Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Leigh Harline, and Best Sound, Recording -- John P. Livadary (Columbia SSD)

The character played by Fred Astaire says he is from Omaha, Nebraska, Astaire's real-life birthplace.


5:45 PM -- The Sins of Rachel Cade (1960)
A female doctor in the Congo is torn between two loves.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Angie Dickinson, Peter Finch, Roger Moore.
C-123 min, TV-14

Based on the novel Rachel Cade, by Charles Mercer.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: DRIVE-IN DOUBLE FEATURES



8:00 PM -- Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
A space visitor's touch turns an unhappy heiress into a vengeful giant.
Dir: Nathan Hertz
Cast: Allison Hayes, William Hudson, Yvette Vickers.
66 min, TV-PG

This film was made right after the success of Sputnik. The alien spacecraft is called a "satellite" because the writer thought that meant any spherical shaped spacecraft.


9:30 PM -- Village of the Giants (1965)
Delinquent teens ingest a substance and grow to 30 feet tall, then proceed to take over a small town.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford, Beau Bridges.
C-81 min, TV-PG

Exteriors were shot on the Columbia Studios backlot (now part of the Warner Bros. Backlot), the same lot as the exteriors for the TV series "Bewitched" (1964) and "I Dream of Jeannie" (1965). Many scenes were shot on Courthouse Square at Universal Studios, which doubled as Hill Valley in Back to the Future (1985).


11:00 PM -- Queen of Outer Space (1958)
A space mission to Venus discovers a society of Amazons.
Dir: Edward Bernds
Cast: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, Lisa Davis.
C-80 min, TV-PG

Costumes worn by the ship's officers and Motiya are re-used or copied from Forbidden Planet (1956). Many of the models, sets, and special effects are taken from World Without End (1956).


12:30 AM -- Mars Needs Women (1968)
Mars invades the Earth in a search for female companionship.
Dir: Larry Buchanan
Cast: Tommy Kirk, Byron Lord, Yvonne Craig.
C-82 min, TV-PG

Filmed in Dallas and Houston, Texas. The "Space Center," which looks like a big white mushroom, is now the revolving restaurant at the Houston Airport Marriott at George Bush Intercontinental.


2:00 AM -- Cyclops (1957)
A scientific expedition discovers a 25-foot tall mutant.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: James Craig, Gloria Talbott, Lon Chaney .
65 min, TV-PG

Voice specialist Paul Frees is given credit for special voice effects. His contributions included the vocal sounds of the cyclops, the breathing sound of the giant lizard and the "Mexican" voice heard on the plane's radio.


3:30 AM -- The Manster (1962)
A mad scientist turns a reporter into a two-headed killer.
Dir: George P. Breakston
Cast: Peter Dyneley, Jane Hylton, Satoshi Nakamura.
73 min, TV-PG

Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness (1992) pays homage to this film. When Ash (Bruce Campbell) has swallowed one of his little dopplegangers, he grows an eye on his right shoulder, which results in him splitting into two beings; Good Ash and Evil Ash. In this film, the reporter is injected with a serum and later develops an eye, which grows into a head, resulting in him splitting into a good being and an evil one.


4:45 AM -- The Killer Shrews (1959)
A maniacal scientist creates a formula that turns your average shrew into a giant, man-killing beast.
Dir: Ray Kellogg
Cast: James Best, Ingrid Goude, Ken Curtis.
68 min, TV-PG

Close-ups of the giant shrews were filmed using hand puppets. The wider shots used dogs made up as the shrews.