TCM Schedule for Friday, October 14 -- What's On Tonight: Nine Musketeers

[Staph]

It must be Indian Summer Under The Stars, because TCM is showing a day full of Oscar-winning and -nominated films today. And in primetime, to celebrate the upcoming steampunk version of The Three Musketeers movie with three of the classic versions, from 1935, 1948 (with Gene Kelly!), and the hilarious 1973 version from director Richard Lester. Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- The Heiress (1949)
A plain young woman's money makes her prey to fortune hunters.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson.
115 min, TV-PG , CC

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Olivia de Havilland, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- John Meehan, Harry Horner and Emile Kuri, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Edith Head and Gile Steele, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Aaron Copland

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Ralph Richardson, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Leo Tover, Best Director -- William Wyler, and Best Picture

Olivia de Havilland wisely chose William Wyler as her director, considering that such a meticulous director would be able to coax a strong performance from her. As it turned out, Wyler became a staunch supporter of his leading actress, particularly in regard to the sneering attitude that Montgomery Clift displayed toward her (he didn't value her talents as an actress) and Ralph Richardson taking every opportunity to steal scenes from under her nose with his improvisations.


8:30 AM -- The Third Man (1949)
A man's investigation of a friend's death uncovers corruption in post-World War II Vienna.
Dir: Carol Reed
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles.
104 min, TV-14 , CC

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Krasker

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Carol Reed, and Best Film Editing -- Oswald Hafenrichter

Somewhat apocryphal stories are abound about Carol Reed discovering musician Anton Karas while scouring Vienna bars and nightclubs. Reed actually heard Karas playing at a production party and insisted the Austrian zither player come to Reed's hotel room and record songs to use for the contract. Later in production, Reed realized he wanted to use Karas' music for the whole film and flew Karas out to London to record the score. Karas became a top-selling musician thanks to the film and opened a nightclub called "The Third Man" in Vienna, which he ran to the end of his days.


10:30 AM -- Some Like It Hot (1959)
Two musicians on the run from gangsters masquerade as members of an all-girl band.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon.
121 min, TV-PG , CC

Won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Orry-Kelly

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Jack Lemmon, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Ted Haworth and Edward G. Boyle, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Charles Lang, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond

Supposedly when Orry-Kelly was measuring all three stars for dresses, he half-jokingly told Marilyn Monroe, "Tony Curtis has a nicer butt than you," at which point Monroe pulled open her blouse and said, "Yeah, but he doesn't have tits like these!"


12:45 PM -- The Apartment (1960)
An aspiring executive lets his bosses use his apartment for assignations, only to fall for the big chief's mistress.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray.
125 min, TV-PG , CC

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Alexandre Trauner and Edward G. Boyle, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Film Editing -- Daniel Mandell, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Jack Lemmon, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Kruschen, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Shirley MacLaine, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph LaShelle, and Best Sound -- Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

Billy Wilder originally thought of the idea for the film after seeing Brief Encounter and wondering about the plight of a character unseen in that film. Shirley MacLaine was only given forty pages of the script because Wilder didn't want her to know how the story would turn out. She thought it was because the script wasn't finished.


3:00 PM -- The Goodbye Girl (1977)
A dancer discovers her runaway boyfriend has sublet her apartment to an aspiring actor.
Dir: Herbert Ross
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings.
C-111 min, TV-MA , CC

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Richard Dreyfuss

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Marsha Mason, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Quinn Cummings, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Neil Simon, and Best Picture

The disastrous production of Shakespeare's 'Richard III', in which Elliot Garfield (Richard Dreyfuss) portrays the title character as gay, was based on an actual production that Marsha Mason attended and told her husband, Neil Simon, about. Like the production in the film, it took place at Joseph Papp's Public Theater in New York, in 1974, and starred Michael Moriarty.


5:00 PM -- Far From The Madding Crowd (1967)
A romantic English lass can't choose among three very different suitors.
Dir: John Schlesinger
Cast: Julie Christie, Terence Stamp, Peter Finch.
C-171 min, TV-14 , CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Music Score -- Richard Rodney Bennett

Future Fairport Convention band member David Swarbrick can be seen playing a fiddle during the barn dance scene.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 9 MUSKETEERS



8:00 PM -- The Three Musketeers (1974)
A country boy joins the famed musketeers and fights to protect the queen's name.
Dir: Richard Lester
Cast: Michael York, Richard Chamberlain, Oliver Reed.
C-107 min, TV-PG , CC

Shot at the same time as The Four Musketeers. As a result of the producers splitting the film into two parts, Screen Actors' Guild contracts now often feature what is called a "Salkind Clause," which requires producers to state up front how many films are being shot, and that the actors involved must be paid for each. The latter clause applies even, or even especially, when producers make that decision during or after production.


10:00 PM -- The Three Musketeers (1948)
Athletic adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic adventure about the king's musketeers and their mission to protect France.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, June Allyson.
C-126 min, TV-G , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert H. Planck

Fearing pressure from church groups, MGM had the script refer to Richelieu as Prime Minister rather than Cardinal and almost all traces of him being a cardinal or a man of the church at all have been removed, even though other versions of this story kept Richelieu explicitly a cardinal without any repercussions.


12:15 AM -- The Three Musketeers (1935)
Alexandre Dumas's classic swashbuckler about a young guardsman fighting for the queen's honor.
Dir: Rowland V. Lee
Cast: Walter Abel, Paul Lukas, Margot Grahame.
96 min, TV-G , CC

Ian Keith, who plays Rochefort in this film, also portrayed the character in the 1948 version of The Three Musketeers.


2:00 AM -- Stunt Rock (1980)
A pair of stuntment perform magic tricks and feats of daring for a heavy metal act called Sorcery.
Dir: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Cast: Grant Page, Monique Van De Ven, Margaret Gerard.
C-91 min,

This film is considered an Ozploitation picture, an Australian exploitation movie.


3:45 AM -- Heavy Metal (1981)
In this five-part animated feature, an evil glowing green orb travels through space and time, spreading violence and discord in its wake
Dir: Gerald Potterton
Cast: Susan Roman,
C-90 min, TV-MA

The film was inspired by a long-running science fiction magazine of the same name, which began in Europe as Metal Hurlant. Most of the story segments are based on stories or characters featured in the magazine.


5:30 AM -- When I Am Old Enough, Goodbye (1962)
Discusses the problems faced by a young boy who drops out of high school.
Dir: Jean Yarbrough
Cast: William Boyett, Pat Cardi, Pam Ferden.

[CBHagman]

1. As always, I love those background notes.

I had no idea the misbegotten production of Richard III in The Goodbye Girl was based on a real-life production -- and by Joseph Papp, of sacred memory. Oh, well, I guess Babe Ruth struck out sometimes too.