TCM Schedule for Wednesday, April 16 -- RIDING THE RAILS

[Longhorn]

4:00am Blazing Saddles (1974)
A black sheriff takes on a corrupt town boss and a sultry saloon singer.
Cast: Cleavon Little, Madeline Kahn, Gene Wilder. Dir: Mel Brooks. C-93 mins, TV-MA

6:15am Festival of Shorts #20 (1999)
Animals in movies are the focus of these shorts, which include Famous Movie Dogs, Hollywood Scout and The Horse With the Human Mind.
BW-27 mins

6:45am Great Dictator, The (1940)
A Jewish barber takes the place of a war-hungry dictator.
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie. Dir: Charles Chaplin. BW-120 mins, TV-PG

8:51am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Mediterranean Ports Of Call (1941)
C-9 mins

9:00am Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
A man woos and murders rich widows to support his invalid wife.
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Martha Raye, Isobel Elsom. Dir: Charles Chaplin. BW-119 mins, TV-14

11:00am Dog's Life, A (1918)
In this silent film, the Little Tramp finds a stolen fortune with the help of his dog.
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Syd Chaplin. Dir: Charles Chaplin. BW-33 mins, TV-G

11:45am Limelight (1952)
A broken-down comic sacrifices everything to give a young dancer a shot at the big time.
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Claire Bloom, Buster Keaton. Dir: Charles Chaplin. BW-132 mins, TV-G

2:00pm King in New York, A (1957)
A European king loses his money while stranded in the U.S.
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Michael Chaplin, Dawn Addams. Dir: Charles Chaplin. BW-100 mins, TV-PG

3:45pm Short Film: Chaplin Revue, The (1959)
Features three Chaplin shorts A Dog's Life, Shoulder Arms and The Pilgrim.
BW-112 mins, TV-G

5:45pm Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (2003)
Documentary that takes a comprehensive look at the life and career of the greatest comic icon the world has ever known.
Cast: Narrated by Sydney Pollack. Dir: Richard Schickel. BW-132 mins, TV-PG

What's On Tonight: TCM SPOTLIGHT: RIDING THE RAILS

8:00pm Without Reservations (1946)
A woman writer falls for a war hero who's a perfect match for the hero of her latest novel.
Cast: Claudette Colbert, John Wayne, Don DeFore. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. BW-101 mins, TV-PG

9:45pm Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Who'S Superstitious? (1943)
BW-10 mins

10:00pm General, The (1927)
In this silent film, a Confederate engineer fights to save his train and his girlfriend from the Union army.
Cast: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender. Dir: Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman. BW-75 mins, TV-G

11:30pm Our Hospitality (1923)
In this silent film, a man returns home to the old South and gets caught between feuding families.
Cast: Buster Keaton, Natalie Talmadge, Joe Roberts. Dir: John G. Blystone, Buster Keaton. BW-73 mins, TV-G

1:00am Mrs. O'Malley And Mr. Malone (1950)
A lawyer and a widow encounter murder on a train ride.
Cast: Marjorie Main, James Whitmore, Ann Dvorak. Dir: Norman Taurog. BW-69 mins, TV-G

2:15am Closely Watched Trains (1967)
A bumbling railroad dispatcher joins the resistance in World War II to impress the girls.
Cast: Vaclav Neckar, Josef Somr, Jitka Bendova. Dir: Jiri Menzel. BW-93 mins, TV-14

4:00am Now or Never (1921)
In this silent film, a young man deals with escorting a child on a train trip.
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Anna Mae Bilson. Dir: Hal Roach BW-36 mins, TV-G

4:45am Danger Lights (1931)
A family railroad is threatened when the owner's girl falls for a conductor.
Cast: Louis Wolheim, Robert Armstrong, Jean Arthur. Dir: George B. Seitz. BW-74 mins, TV-G

[Longhorn]

1. Without Reservations (1946)

A little bit Romancing the Stone (1984), part It Happened One Night (1934), Without Reservations (1946) is about a best-selling novelist who meets a real life version of her fictitious hero. Claudette Colbert plays the writer, en route to Hollywood to oversee her novel's film adaptation. While on the train, she meets up with Marines John Wayne and Don DeFore, who unaware of her identity, point out the holes in her book. The trio is eventually kicked off the train, Colbert revisiting her It Happened One Night road trip shenanigans.

The film was directed by Mervyn LeRoy, who racked up such varied credits as the Busby Berkeley musical Gold Diggers of 1933, wartime drama Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) and epic Quo Vadis (1951), during his fifty years in Hollywood. Joining LeRoy on Without Reservations was his cousin, and one time brother-in-law of Samuel Goldwyn, producer Jesse Lasky. Lasky's Feature Play Company, formed in 1913 with friend Cecil B. DeMille, would merge with several companies, eventually evolving into Paramount.

LeRoy befriended John Wayne during the filming of Without Reservations and went on to assist the Duke in his first directorial effort The Green Berets (1968). Colbert also made an impact on Leroy while working on Without Reservations. He would later refer to her as an interesting lady to work with, recalling her habit of not watching where she was going and constantly bumping into things. He also recalls Colbert's belief that the left side of her face was her good side and how every shot in the film had to be arranged so the star's favored side was captured.

LeRoy's tinsel town connections made for a few interesting cameos in Without Reservations. Look for Jack Benny as an autograph seeker in the train station. Louella Parsons plays a Hollywood radio gossiper. Cary Grant also appears for a dance sequence. Apparently Grant walked by the set one day during filming and LeRoy asked him to come in. Even the director himself makes an on-screen appearance, dining with Colbert.

And be sure to listen for Colbert's famous line towards the end of the film, "Thanks, God, I'll take it from here." The line was actually a familiar prayer used by aviators after a particularly heated engagement. It was also the title of the book, by Jane Allen and Mae Livingston, on which Without Reservations was based.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Producer: Jesse L. Lasky, Walter MacEwen
Screenplay: Andrew Solt, based on the novel by Jane Allen and Mae Livingston
Cinematography: Milton R. Krasner
Editor: Jack Ruggiero
Art Direction: Ralph Berger, Albert S. D'Agostino
Music: Roy Webb
Cast: Claudette Colbert (Christopher 'Kit' Madden), John Wayne (Rusty Thomas), Don DeFore (Dink Watson), Anne Triola (Consuela 'Connie' Callahan), Phil Brown (Soldier), Frank Puglia (Ortega).
BW-101m. Closed captioning.

by Stephanie Thames

[lavenderdiva]

2. so--- does this mean that Colbert is filmed throughout her career

so that her left side is showing? I'm gonna have to go back and look at some of her work, and see if everything is from one side only!