TCM Schedule for Thursday, December 8 -- Star of the Month: William Powell

[Staph]

Today we're celebrating screenwriter Ernest Lehman, born on December 8, 1915, in New York City. We've got six of his films, including two for whom he received Oscar nominations. And in the evening, TCM is continuing the films of Star of the Month, William Powell. If you've never seen My Man Godfrey (1936), you're in for a real treat! Enjoy!

Cross posted to DU3. Just because.



6:30 AM -- Now Playing December (2011)
Features highlights of the month's programming on TCM, including festivals and stars.
C-18 min, TV-PG , CC


7:00 AM -- Executive Suite (1954)
When a business magnate dies, his board of directors fights over who should run the company.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck.
105 min, TV-PG , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Nina Foch, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Edward C. Carfagno, Edwin B. Willis and Emile Kuri, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- George J. Folsey, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

The entire story takes place during the 24 hour period from Friday afternoon, June 19 1953 to Saturday afternoon, June 20 1953.


9:00 AM -- Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
True story of boxer Rocky Graziano's rise from juvenile delinquent to world champ.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Joseph Buloff, Sal Mineo, Everett Sloane.
114 min, TV-PG , CC

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Malcolm Brown, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg

Nominated for Oscars for Best Film Editing -- Albert Akst

Film debuts of Steve McQueen, Dean Jones, Frank Campanella, Robert Loggia, and Angela Cartwright.


11:00 AM -- Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
A crooked press agent stoops to new depths to help an egotistical columnist break up his sister's romance.
Dir: Alexander Mackendrick
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison.
96 min, TV-PG , CC

The movie's line "I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic" was voted as the #99 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007. In 2000, on their self-titled album, rock band Kitty Kat Stew released a song called "Cookie Full Of Arsenic". The song's lyrics relate to the movie and incorporates a snippet of its actual dialogue, featuring the famous line.


12:45 PM -- North By Northwest (1959)
An advertising man is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason.
C-136 min, TV-PG , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- William A. Horning, Robert F. Boyle, Merrill Pye, Henry Grace and Frank R. McKelvy, Best Film Editing -- George Tomasini, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Ernest Lehman

Ernest Lehman became the film's scriptwriter following a lunchtime meeting with Alfred Hitchcock, arranged by their mutual friend, composer Bernard Herrmann. Hitchcock originally wanted him to work on his new project The Wreck of the Mary Deare (which was eventually made instead by Michael Anderson), but Lehman refused. Hitchcock was so keen to work with him that he suggested they work together on a different film using Mary Deare's budget (without MGM's approval) even though he had only three ideas to set Lehman on his way: mistaken identity, the United Nations building, and a chase scene across the faces of Mt. Rushmore.


3:15 PM -- The Prize (1963)
An American Nobel Prize-winner mixes it up with spies when he travels to Stockholm to collect his award.
Dir: Mark Robson
Cast: Paul Newman, Edward G. Robinson, Elke Sommer.
C-135 min, TV-PG , CC

Bears many plot similarities, similar scenes, and actors in common with North by Northwest due to both being written byErnest Lehman.


5:45 PM -- Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
An academic couple reveal their deepest secret to a pair of newcomers during an all-night booze fest.
Dir: Mike Nichols
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal.
131 min, TV-MA , CC

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Elizabeth Taylor (Elizabeth Taylor was not present at the awards ceremony. Anne Bancroft accepted the award on her behalf.), Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Sandy Dennis (Sandy Dennis was unable to attend the Academy Awards presentations, because she was working on a new film, Sweet November (1968), being shot in New York.), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Richard Sylbert and George James Hopkins, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Haskell Wexler, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Irene Sharaff

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Richard Burton, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George Segal, Best Director -- Mike Nichols, Best Film Editing -- Sam O'Steen, Best Music, Original Music Score -- Alex North, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Ernest Lehman, and Best Picture

Early candidates for the role of Martha included Bette Davis, Ingrid Bergman, Rosalind Russell and Patricia Neal. Early candidates for the role of George included James Mason, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, Arthur Hill, Jack Lemmon and Peter O'Toole.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: WILLIAM POWELL



8:00 PM -- The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937)
A chic jewel thief in England falls in love with one of her marks.
Dir: Richard Boleslawski
Cast: Joan Crawford, William Powell, Robert Montgomery.
98 min, TV-G , CC

Myrna Loy was originally cast as Fay Cheyney, while Joan Crawford was cast in Parnell. Because Crawford did not like her role in that film, she switched roles and films with Loy.


9:51 PM -- One Reel Wonder: Little Journeys To Great Masters (1931)
8 min,

Filmed in Caserta, Florence, Milan, Rome, and Siena, Italy.


10:00 PM -- High Pressure (1932)
A scheming promoter tries to get rich selling artificial rubber.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: William Powell, Evelyn Brent, George Sidney.
73 min, TV-G , CC

In 1932 Warners re-shot this same comedy with French-speaking actors (replacing the original performers), delivering all their dialog in French, at the same Hollywood studio, in the same sets, and using the same script (translated into French), under the French title "Le bluffeur" (The Bluffer). Subtitles weren't yet in vogue, so Warners gave French-speaking audiences a parallel version they could understand, played mostly by French actors. Powell's star part was played by Andre Luguet, Brent's by Lucienne Radisse, Sidney's by Torben Meyer, Kibbee's by Andre Cheron, McHugh's by Jacques Jou-Jerville, Middleton's by Georges Renavent, Beresford's by Christian Rub, and Littlefield's by Emile Chautard. Meyer, Renavent, Rub, and Chautard were already permanently ensconced in Hollywood, while most of the other French-speaking actors were imported from Paris just for these parallel French-language versions in the early 1930s. When subtitles and dubbing were soon "perfected", the US studios ceased making parallel versions like "Le bluffeur".


11:30 PM -- My Man Godfrey (1936)
A zany heiress tries to help a tramp by making him the family butler.
Dir: Gregory La Cava
Cast: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady.
94 min, TV-G , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Powell, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Mischa Auer, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Carole Lombard, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Alice Brady, Best Director -- Gregory La Cava, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Eric Hatch and Morrie Ryskind

When William Powell and director Gregory La Cava had a disagreement over how Godfrey should be played, they talked it out over a bottle of Scotch in Powell's dressing room. The next day, LaCava returned to the movie set with a major headache, but Powell was not there. The director received a telegram from his star: "WE MAY HAVE FOUND GODFREY LAST NIGHT BUT WE LOST POWELL. SEE YOU TOMORROW."


1:15 AM -- Double Harness (1933)
After tricking a playboy into marriage, a woman sets out to win his love honestly.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Ann Harding, William Powell, Lucile Browne.
69 min, TV-PG , CC

This film hadn't been shown for decades and was found in a Merian C. Cooper collection which had been used for television. A two-and-half minute sequence that had been cut from the print was located in a French negative discovered in the National Center for Cinematography in France and restored to the print. The brief segment had been cut for television because it indicated that the characters of "Joan Colby" and "John Fletcher" were having pre-marital sex.


2:30 AM -- Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
Legendary showman Flo Ziegfeld imagines the kind of Follies he could produce with MGM's musical stars.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer.
C-110 min, TV-G , CC

The horse ridden by Lucille Ball is the Lone Ranger's Silver.


4:30 AM -- The Youngest Profession (1943)
Teenage autograph seekers cause trouble at MGM.
Dir: Edward Buzzell
Cast: Virginia Weidler, Edward Arnold, John Carroll.
82 min, TV-G , CC

"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on December 20, 1943 with Virginia Weidler and Edward Arnold reprising their film roles.

[CBHagman]

1. I've probably said it before, but...

...I love your sig line.

[Staph]

2. I first saw that quote 20 years ago (or so!).

I printed it out and hung it up in my cubicle, to remind me not to become the same boring, stuffy adult that I saw around me.

Or maybe I just never grew up!

[CBHagman]

3. As it happens, I have a friend who uses it as an unofficial motto.

She's said she's known quite a few people who, towards the end of their lives, said their biggest regrets where what they did not do. It's changed her attitude about taking chances.