TCM Schedule for Sunday, November 25 -- GUEST PROGRAMMER: THELMA SCHOONMAKER

[Longhorn]

4:00am Spielberg on Spielberg (2007)
A TCM original documentary featuring exclusive interviews with Steven Spielberg, arguably the most popular and influential director of his time.
Dir: Richard Schickel. BW-86 mins, TV-MA

5:29am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Chickens Come Home (1931)
Ollie is the head of a prestigious firm and wants to run for Mayor. An exgirlfriend needs money and attempts to blackmail Ollie with an old photograph. Stanley tries to foil her plans and ends up incurring the wrath of both his wife and Ollie's wife.
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Thelma Todd Dir: James W. Horne BW-30 mins

6:00am Mystery Street (1950)
Criminal pathologists try to crack a case with nothing but the victim's bones to go on.
Cast: Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest, Elsa Lanchester. Dir: John Sturges. BW-93 mins, TV-PG

7:34am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Out Of Darkness (1941)
BW-11 mins

8:00am Latin Lovers (1953)
An heiress searches for true love while vacationing in Brazil.
Cast: Lana Turner, Ricardo Montalban, Jean Hagen. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. C-104 mins, TV-PG

9:53am Short Film: From The Vaults: Action On The Beach (1964)
BW-6 mins

10:00am Americanization of Emily, The (1964)
A British war widow falls for an opportunistic American sailor during World War II.
Cast: James Garner, Julie Andrews, Melvyn Douglas. Dir: Arthur Hiller. BW-115 mins, TV-14

12:00pm To Sir, With Love (1967)
A substitute teacher changes the lives of the slum children in his class.
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Christian Roberts, Judy Geeson. Dir: James Clavell. C-105 mins, TV-PG

2:00pm Patch Of Blue, A (1965)
A blind white girl falls in love with a black man.
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Hartman. Dir: Guy Green. BW-105 mins, TV-PG

3:49pm Short Film: From The Vaults: Cinderella Named Elizabeth, A (1965)
BW-7 mins

4:00pm How To Murder Your Wife (1965)
After marrying while drunk, a cartoonist puts his murderous fantasies into his work.
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Virna Lisi, Terry-Thomas. Dir: Richard Quine. C-118 mins, TV-G

6:00pm That Touch of Mink (1962)
Attraction develops between a suave businessman and a young woman determined to protect her innocence.
Cast: Cary Grant, Doris Day, Gig Young. Dir: Delbert Mann. C-99 mins, TV-G

What's On Tonight: TCM GUEST PROGRAMMER: THELMA SCHOONMAKER

8:00pm Green For Danger (1946)
A police inspector investigates an operating room death that may be murder.
Cast: Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Alastair Sim. Dir: Sidney Gilliat. BW-91 mins

9:37pm Short Film: One Reel Wonders: So You Think You'Re A Nervous Wreck (1946)
Joe McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) fights his phobias and fears...and his boss.
Cast: George O'Hanlon, Clifton Young, Fred Kelsey Dir: Richard L. Bare BW-11 mins

10:00pm Edge of the World, The (1937)
A fisherman fights to prevent changing times from destroying his family.
Cast: John Laurie, Belle Chrystall, Eric Berry. Dir: Michael Powell. BW-72 mins, TV-PG

11:30pm Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The (1943)
An aging military man looks back on the loves and friends who shaped his life.
Cast: Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook. Dir: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger. C-163 mins, TV-G

2:30am Age Of Consent (1969)
An artist runs off to the South Pacific and falls for a young girl there.
Cast: James Mason, Helen Mirren, Jack McGowran. Dir: Michael Powell. C-107 mins

4:15am Seventh Veil, The (1945)
A concert pianist with amnesia fights to regain her memory.
Cast: James Mason, Ann Todd, Herbert Lom. Dir: Compton Bennett. BW-94 mins, TV-PG

[Longhorn]

1. Americanization of Emily, The (1964)

A WWII "dog robber" stationed in London, whose job entails procuring steaks, liquor and women for his Navy superiors, Charles Madison (James Garner) is a self-proclaimed coward opposed to the feigned bravery and self-sacrifice of war. A combination personal assistant and black marketeer, Charlie attends to the every whim of an increasingly scatterbrained Admiral William Jessep (Melvyn Douglas, who based his character on his own military experience), from stocked bars to shoulder massages... while his countrymen wage war in Europe.

In this black comedy scripted by Paddy Chayefsky (Marty (1955), Network, 1976) Charlie is just as cynical when it comes to women, greeting female soldiers with a friendly pat on the rump until his palm meets the wrong woman, Emily Barham (Julie Andrews).

Released between the blockbuster films Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965), The Americanization of Emily (1964) proved that Andrews's talents were hardly limited to her singing voice and that her charms were just as engaging in a modest comedy as in a lavish musical.

A proper, repressed war widow who refuses to take part in the atmosphere of frivolity that infects her countrywomen in uniform, Emily nonetheless falls for the cavalier Charlie, whose cowardice turns out to be his best selling point for a woman who has lost a husband, father and brother in the war. "It is your most important asset, being a coward," she tells him, "Every man I ever loved was a hero and all he got was death,"

But Charlie's taste for absurdity is trumped when he and his love 'em and leave 'em roommate "Bus" Cummings (James Coburn) are given a sobering assignment: to film the landing on Omaha Beach and record the first death of a Navy man. Suddenly two men enjoying the high life far from the front lines are forced to confront the ridiculousness of war firsthand, risking their lives to valorize the certain death of another, all in the name of public relations and patriotism.

A cynical soldier who sees the war as an opportunity for profit rather than for noble self-sacrifice, Charlie is the precursor to all the irreverent, pleasure-seeking soldiers of war films to come, such as MASH (1970), Catch-22 (1970) and Apocalypse Now (1979).

Controversial upon its original release, The Americanization of Emily was a vanguard anti-war film, poking fun at mindless patriotism years before such films were fashionable or popularly accepted. Yet the film proved a commercial success, and earned Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Musical Score.

Director: Arthur Hiller
Producer: Martin Ransohoff
Screenplay: Paddy Chayefsky
Based on the novel by William Bradford Huie
Cinematography: Philip Lathrop
Production Design: George W. Davis, Hans Peters, Elliot Scott, Henry Grace, Robert R. Benton
Music: Johnny Mandel
Cast: James Garner (Lt. Comdr. Charles E. Madison), Julie Andrews (Emily Barham), Melvyn Douglas (Adm. William Jessep), James Coburn (Lt. Comdr. "Bus" Cummings), Joyce Grenfell (Mrs. Barham), Keenan Wynn (Sailor).
BW-115m. Letterboxed. Closed captioning.

by Felicia Feaster

[Sparkly]

2. What's happened to Sunday Silents?

Anybody know if they've been discontinued or just suspended awhile? I miss them!

[CBHagman]

3. If you check TCM's December schedule...

...you'll see that the silent movies are back in place on Sunday nights.

For December 2nd: The Smart Set

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/title.jsp?stid=1720

[CBHagman]

4. Double helpings of James Mason.

Age of Consent, which features a dewy young Helen Mirren, is rarely seen. It's a genuinely odd film at certain moments. I'll be sure to tape that one.

As for The Seventh Veil, one of the critics -- maybe it was Pauline Kael -- referred to it as a "sadomasochistic sundae." No, that doesn't mean they violated the Production Code; it's all psychological.

Therapy available after seeing both movies.

[eleny]

5. An evening of the editor's choice

I'll be watching and learning more about the movies tonight. I don't think I've seen Green or Edge.