TCM Schedule for Thursday, April 3: Star of the Month -- Hedy Lamarr

[Staph]

A day of contrasts -- during the day, TCM features the movies of "professional virgin" Doris Day, and this evening's Star of the Month is Hedy Lamarr, the first woman to appear nude on-screen in a non-porn production. Enjoy!



4:00am -- How the West Was Won (1962)
Three generations of pioneers take part in the forging of the American West.
Cast: James Stewart, Henry Fonda, John Wayne.
Dir: John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall.
C-165 mins, TV-G

Won Oscars for Best Film Editing -- Harold F. Kress, Best Sound -- Franklin Milton (M-G-M SSD), and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- James R. Webb

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- George W. Davis, William Ferrari, Addison Hehr, Henry Grace, Don Greenwood Jr. and Jack Mills, Best Cinematography, Color -- William H. Daniels, Milton R. Krasner, Charles Lang and Joseph LaShelle, Best Costume Design, Color -- Walter Plunkett, Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Alfred Newman and Ken Darby, and Best Picture


7:00am -- Brando (2007)
The two-part original documentary on the larger-than-life actor's life on-screen and off. Features interviews with Robert Duvall, James Caan, Jane Fonda, Al Pacino and Martin Scorsese.
Dir: Mimi Freedman, Leslie Greif.
BW-162 mins, TV-MA

Nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Nonfiction Special.


9:43am -- Short Film: From The Vaults: Operation Teahouse (1956)
A promotional short for the film The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956).
Cast: Eddie Albert, Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford.
C-4 mins

On Okinawa, the village of Tobiki where the story is supposed to take place, does not really exist. However, on southern part of the island near Okinawa's capital city, Naha, there really is a Teahouse of the August Moon, which is now a popular restaurant that features local cuisine and Ryukyuan folk dancing.


10:00am -- It's A Great Feeling (1949)
When nobody at Warner Bros. will work with him, movie star Jack Carson decides to turn an unknown into his co-star.
Cast: Jack Carson, Doris Day, Dennis Morgan.
Dir: David Butler.
C-85 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jule Styne (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "It's a Great Feeling".

Joan Crawford does a cameo and directs a short speech to Jack Carson before slapping his face. It's the same one she gives to 'Ann Blythe' in Mildred Pierce (1945) before slapping her face. Jack Carson was also a star in that film with Joan.


11:30am -- Lover Come Back (1961)
An ad exec in disguise courts his pretty female competitor.
Cast: Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall.
Dir: Delbert Mann.
C-107 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning

Jack Oakie's final movie appearance.


1:30pm -- The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
International spies kidnap a doctor's son when he stumbles on their assassination plot.
Cast: James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda De Banzie.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock.
C-120 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for the song "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)", later known as Doris Day's theme song.


3:45pm -- Teacher's Pet (1958)
A tough city editor assumes a fake identity to study journalism with a lady professor who's criticized his work.
Cast: Clark Gable, Doris Day, Gig Young.
Dir: George Seaton.
BW-120 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Gig Young, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Fay Kanin and Michael Kanin

Cary Grant and James Stewart both turned down the role of James Gannon, the Clark Gable role. It is interesting to think how differently this movie would have played with a different actor in the lead role.


5:50pm -- Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Pop Goes Your Heart (1934)
Another Warner Bros. animated short built around a title song.
Dir: Friz Freleng.
C-7 mins

The title song, Pop Goes Your Heart, has music by Allie Wrubel and lyrics by Mort Dixon. Wruble and Dixon were inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 1970.


6:00pm -- Young At Heart (1954)
A cynical songwriter upsets the lives of three musical sisters.
Cast: Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Gig Young.
Dir: Gordon Douglas.
C-117 mins, TV-G

While making this film, Frank Sinatra took an almost immediate dislike to Doris Day's husband, Martin Melcher, thought that Melcher was "using" her to get ahead in the movie business and tried to convince Day of that fact. When Day refused to listen to Sinatra's advice, he had Melcher banned from the set. After Melcher's death in 1968, it was discovered that he had squandered all the money Day had earned during her 20-year film career.


What's On Tonight: STAR OF THE MONTH: HEDY LAMARR


8:00pm -- Boom Town (1940)
Friends become rivals when they strike-it-rich in oil.
Cast: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert.
Dir: Jack Conway.
BW-119 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harold Rosson, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound)

Rita Hayworth did a screen test for Hedy Lamarr's role of Karen Vanmeer.


10:15pm -- Comrade X (1940)
An American warms up an icy Russian streetcar conductor.
Cast: Clark Gable, Hedy Lamarr, Eve Arden.
Dir: King Vidor.
BW-90 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Walter Reisch

The script makes reference to the Soviet law that a person could divorce his or her spouse simply by sending them a postcard announcing that the marriage was over - but in 1936, four years before this film was made, Stalin had repealed that law when he rewrote the Russian constitution and made divorces considerably harder to get.


11:56pm -- Short Film: From The Vaults: Robert Taylor Bio (1962)
BW-4 mins

I can't find any information about this short, but I did discover that Robert Taylor is actually Spangler Arlington Brugh of Filley, Nebraska. I am not making this up!


12:00am -- Lady Of The Tropics (1939)
An American playboy in Saigon has to fight to get his Eurasian wife out of the country.
Cast: Robert Taylor, Hedy Lamarr, Joseph Schildkraut.
Dir: Jack Conway.
BW-92 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Norbert Brodine


1:45am -- Algiers (1938)
A thief on the run from the law risks his life for love.
Cast: Charles Boyer, Sigrid Gurie, Hedy Lamarr.
Dir: John Cromwell.
BW-98 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Charles Boyer, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Gene Lockhart, Best Art Direction -- Alexander Toluboff, and Best Cinematography -- James Wong Howe

Animator Chuck Jones based the Warner Brothers cartoon character "Pepe le Pew" on the "Pepe le Moko" character played by Charles Boyer in this film.


3:30am -- Ecstasy (1933)
A frustrated young wife escapes her passionless marriage through an affair with a young engineer.
Cast: Hedy Lamarr, Aribert Mog, Zvonimir Rogoz.
Dir: Gustav Machaty.
BW-87 mins, TV-MA

Hedy Lamarr is credited as being the first nude woman in a movie, because of shots from this film. The erotic close-ups of her face in the throes of passion were aided, she says, by the director unexpectedly jabbing her in the derriere with a pin in order to get the desired expressions on her face.


5:00am -- Complicated Women (2003)
Documentary that looks at the phenomenon of "pre-code women" during the years 1929-1934.
Cast: Narrated by Jane Fonda.
Dir: Hugh Munro Neely.
BW-55 mins, TV-PG

Jane Fonda narrates the story of the years between the ascent of talkies until late in 1934, when the Hays Office cracked down on what it perceived as immorality in Hollywood movies. The emphasis is on how women were portrayed, and focuses on how they were much more liberated and equal (or superior) to men, until 1935 when they once again took subservient roles to their male co-stars.

[Staph]

1. Hedy Lamarr Profile

"Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid."
-- Hedy Lamarr

Always glamorous and far from stupid, Hedy Lamarr is the only actress to date to turn stardom in an adult film into a major film career. Though rarely praised for her acting, she created an indelible allure that would make even the strongest Samson putty in her hands.

Hedwig Kiesler was destined for a simple, middle-class existence when she took matters into her own hands and dropped out of school to become an actress. She made her movie debut as "Young Girl at Night Club Table" in the 1930 German film Geld Auf der Strasse ("Money on the Street"). After two more small roles in German films, she made the picture that would make her an international sensation, even though many people couldn't see it, Ecstasy (1933). As a woman saddled in a loveless marriage whose passions are awakened by a young architect she not only appeared nude, but simulated orgasm. The film was a hot item among private collectors but banned in many countries.

What she might have done as an actress with her newfound notoriety is anybody's guess. Rather than capitalize on Ecstasy, however, she chose to retire from the screen to marry munitions manufacturer Fritz Mandl. Obsessed with his wife's beauty, Mandl tried to buy up all existing prints of her famous film, only to discover that fans like Benito Mussolini couldn't be bought off. Instead he made his wife a virtual prisoner in their home. Faced with his growing possessiveness and his Nazi sympathies (Kiesler was Jewish), his wife snuck out one night, taking her jewels and a few of his most valuable designs with her.

Determined to renew her acting career, Hedy arranged a meeting with Louis B. Mayer in London, but when his offer of $150 a week for only a six month contract wasn't enough, she arranged to sail to the U.S. on the same boat as he. By the time they had landed she had a seven year contract for $500 a week and a new name, Hedy Lamarr, taken from the woman Mayer considered the screen's most beautiful star, silent siren Barbara La Marr.

Once he got her to Hollywood, however, Mayer didn't know what to do with Lamarr. With no assignments at MGM, she approached independent producer Walter Wanger about a role in his re-make of the French classic Pepe Le Moko (1937). Starring opposite Charles Boyer, she made her U.S. film debut in Algiers (1938), an international hit that made her a star with her clothes on.

Mayer was still unsure of how to package Lamarr for MGM's more family oriented image. After casting her as a Polynesian temptress in Lady of the Tropics (1939), Mayer decided to personally supervise her next film. He even hired Joseph von Sternberg, who had made Marlene Dietrich a star, to helm the picture, I Take This Woman (1940). Then Mayer decided he didn't like von Sternberg's work so he fired him and ordered the script re-written. By the time he got the film back into production, he had a new director (the much faster W.S. Van Dyke) and even a new leading man. Lamarr's original
co-star, William Powell, was no longer available, so they had to re-shoot his scenes with Spencer Tracy. By the time the film finally made it to theatres -- where it died a slow, painful death -- studio insiders had dubbed it "I Re-Take This Woman."

Determined to salvage her career, Lamarr fought for a supporting role opposite Tracy, Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in Boom Town (also 1940). Mayer didn't like the idea, but couldn't think of anything else, and she scored a hit in the comic action film. That should have set her on a course similar to Dietrich's after the German star scored a comeback as the saloon singer in Destry Rides Again (1939), but it didn't. Mayer kept coming up with ludicrous roles for Lamarr like the South Seas nymphomaniac in White Cargo (1942). But she also got some decent roles, earning her best notices as a beautiful businesswoman who lures Robert Young from his staid Boston ways in H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941).

Few actors at MGM suffered as much at the hands of studio management. For each good role like the Portuguese cannery worker in Tortilla Flat (1942), Lamarr had to suffer through misconceived roles like the violinist turned showgirl in Ziegfeld Girl (1941), in which co-stars Lana Turner and Judy Garland left her in the dust. Little wonder she made some major career blunders, turning down the leads in Casablanca (1942), Gaslight (1944) and Laura (1944). At least she got a chance to work with Casablanca co-stars Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre on loan to Warner Bros. for the World War II espionage thriller The Conspirators (1944), but critics were so unimpressed that the film quickly picked up the unfortunate nickname "The Constipators." A better choice was a loan to RKO for the Gaslight-like thriller Experiment Perilous (1944), which many historians often cite as her best performance.

At the same time, however, Lamarr was making a major contribution to the war effort. In addition to selling bonds and touring military camps, as other stars were doing, she joined forces with composer George Antheil to patent the technology she had liberated from her first husband. The result was a radio guiding system for torpedoes that used frequency hopping to make it harder to detect or jam transmissions. The system is still used today in cell phone technology.

When Mayer cast Lamarr opposite Robert Walker in the title roles in Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945) only to use the film to showcase girl-next-door June Allyson, Lamarr decided it was time to take off on her own. That left her free to respond to Cecil B. DeMille's call to star opposite Victor Mature as the biblical temptress in Samson and Delilah (1949), her biggest hit and the top box office film of its year. By this point, however, Lamarr was building a reputation for temperamental behavior. The film's costume designer, Edith Head, would later say she was one of the few stars she didn't like working with, while crews took to calling her "Headache" Lamarr behind her back. She wasn't happy working on Samson and Delilah either, and when DeMille offered her the role of the elephant girl in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), she turned it down.

That decision practically ended her career. Although she was still beautiful and demonstrated a considerable comic flair opposite Bob Hope in My Favorite Spy (1951), Lamarr had a hard time finding other suitable roles. When she turned up as Joan of Arc in Irwin Allen's all-star disaster The Story of Mankind (1957), it almost seemed as if Mayer had come back to sabotage her career. In her last film, The Female Animal (1958), she played an aging star caught in a romantic rivalry with her daughter, former MGM star Jane Powell.

Lamarr's notoriety continued into retirement. Her 1965 autobiography, Ecstasy and Me, put her back into the limelight and brought her the chance to join other aging stars by switching to horror films. But when she was arrested for shoplifting, despite the fact that she was well off, she lost the leading role in Picture Mommy Dead (1966) to Martha Hyer.

In later years, Lamarr was always good for a quote (when given an award for her frequency scrambling device in 1992, all she could say was "It's about time!"), but she attracted more attention through her lawsuits. She decided the ghostwriters on her autobiography had made up salacious stories about her past and sued them. Then she sued Mel Brooks for naming Harvey Korman's character in Blazing Saddles (1974) "Hedley Lamarr." When the Corel Corporation used a sketch of her as cover art for their CorelDRAW software, she sued them for unauthorized use of her image. Even in death she made headlines, with her January 19, 2000 passing often called the first major star death of the 21st century.

by Frank Miller

(* Bolded Titles are featured in the festival)

[CBHagman]

2. Pre-code women are BACK.

Note the 5:00 a.m. screening of Complicated Women, the documentary on American films prior to the enforcement of the Production Code.

I would be interested in hearing DUers' opinions on how characters are presented in screenplays from the classic film era and beyond. For example, despite the adherence to the Production Code in '30s and '40s, great screenwriters came up with some terrific and engaging parts for women, though sometimes the films paid lip service to strong women and then more or less came down heavily on the side of convention (Woman of the Year or The Lady from Cheyenne, anybody?).

Of course, in any era, you're dependent on the quality of the screenplay, direction, and acting. Nowadays there's a lot of good work being done, and also a huge supply of -- it must be said -- crap. Now that we don't have a Production Code (but do have a ratings system), a lot of filmmakers really don't use their freedom very well. A lot of that is probably down to the financial argument -- i.e., you're going to make more money with a stupid comedy or a flashy action picture than with a tense little drama.

Thoughts?