TCM Schedule for Sunday, June 1 -- ESSENTIALS, JR. : HORSING AROUND

[Longhorn]

4:00am Lady In The Lake (1947)
Philip Marlowe searches for a missing woman in this mystery shot entirely from the detective's viewpoint.
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan. Dir: Robert Montgomery. BW-103 mins, TV-PG

5:44am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Ontario "Land Of Lakes" (1949)
C-10 mins

6:00am Love Crazy (1941)
A businessman concocts a series of harebrained schemes to keep his wife from divorcing him.
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Jack Carson. Dir: Jack Conway. BW-99 mins, TV-PG

7:40am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Dream Of Love, A (1939)
BW-17 mins

8:00am Marrying Kind, The (1952)
A judge forces a divorcing couple to think back on the problems that drove them apart.
Cast: Judy Holliday, Aldo Ray, Madge Kennedy. Dir: George Cukor. BW-92 mins, TV-G

9:33am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: I Love My Husband, But! (1946)
BW-10 mins

9:50am Short Film: From The Vaults: History Brought To Life (1950)
BW-9 mins

10:00am Buccaneer, The (1958)
French pirate Jean Lafitte tries to redeem his name helping the U.S. in the War of 1812.
Cast: Yul Brynner, Charlton Heston, Claire Bloom. Dir: Anthony Quinn. C-120 mins, TV-PG

12:15pm Clock, The (1945)
A G.I. en route to Europe falls in love during a whirlwind two-day leave in New York City.
Cast: Judy Garland, Robert Walker, James Gleason. Dir: Vincente Minnelli. BW-90 mins, TV-PG

2:00pm 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

4:00pm My Fair Lady (1964)
A phonetics instructor bets that he can pass a street urchin off as a lady.
Cast: Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Stanley Holloway. Dir: George Cukor. C-172 mins, TV-G

7:00pm White Mane (1952)
A young boy becomes attached to a wild horse in the south of France.
Cast: Alain Emery, Pascal Lamorisse, Frank Silvera. Dir: Albert Lamorisse. BW-40 mins, TV-G

7:43pm Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Pretoria To Durban (1952)
This Travel Talks looks at various areas of the South Africa capital of Pretoria and another South Africa city of Durbin
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick C-9 mins

What's On Tonight: ESSENTIALS, JR. : HORSING AROUND

8:00pm National Velvet (1944)
A British farm girl fights to train a difficult horse for the Grand National Steeplechase.
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor, Donald Crisp. Dir: Clarence Brown. C-124 mins, TV-G

10:15pm Red Pony, The (1949)
A rancher's son learns a valuable lesson when he's given a pony.
Cast: Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, Louis Calhern. Dir: Lewis Milestone. C-89 mins, TV-G

12:00am Peach Girl, The (1931)
A peasant girl falls for the landlord's son, but they cannot marry even when she becomes pregnant.
Cast: Lingyu Ruan, Yan Jin, Lili Zhou. Dir: Wancang Bu. BW-95 mins, TV-PG

1:39am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Cherry Blossom Time In Japan (1936)
In this "Traveltalk," we learn about the customs and rituals related to Japan's cherry blossom festivals.
C-9 mins

2:00am Cruel Story of Youth (1960)
A high school student and her older lover support themselves through blackmail.
Cast: Yusuke Kawazu, Miyuki Kuwano, Yoshiko Kuga. Dir: Nagisa Oshima. C-97 mins, TV-14

3:45am Hair (1979)
A young man joins a hippie commune on the eve of reporting for military service.
Cast: John Savage, Treat Williams, Beverly D'Angelo. Dir: Milos Forman. C-121 mins, TV-MA

[Longhorn]

1. National Velvet (1944)

"There's something behind her eyes that you can't quite fathom -- something Greta Garbo had," director Clarence Brown said of Elizabeth Taylor, the 12-year-old star of his family classic National Velvet (1944). "I really hate to call her an actress. She's much too natural for that."

Despite Brown's eventual enthusiasm for his budding star, he had agreed with the early assessment of producer Pandro S. Berman and studio head Louis B. Mayer when National Velvet was being cast in late autumn of 1943 that Elizabeth was then too small, too short and too immature for the role of Velvet Brown. The heroine of the much-loved Enid Bagnold novel, who adores an unruly stallion and rides him to victory in England's Grand National, had to be tall and robust enough to pose as a male jockey, yet sufficiently developed to suggest that she is on the cusp of womanhood. As Lucille Ryman Carroll, then head of MGM's talent department, reportedly told then-11-year-old Elizabeth, "The part calls for a girl who is just beginning to blossom and she needs little bosoms, and you are -- well, like a little boy."

But no one at the studio realized the depth of the Taylor determination. Little Elizabeth, whose appearances in MGM films had been limited to bits in Lassie Come Home (1943) and The White Cliffs of Dover (1944), had fallen in love with the character of Velvet and embarked on a program to "grow into the role." Legend has it that between October and December of 1943 she added three inches to her height through a diet high in protein and carbohydrates and an exercise regimen that included swimming, horseback riding and hanging from a bar to stretch her spine. Also, as Elizabeth proudly announced to Carroll upon her return to the studio around Christmastime, "I now have boobs!"

Born in England, Taylor had the right accent, and certainly the fervor, to play Velvet convincingly. Under Brown's patient guidance, she gave a performance of great spirit and charm that set her on the path to international superstardom. National Velvet won a total of five Academy Award nominations, including one for Brown as Best Director; and two Oscars -- for Anne Revere as Best Supporting Actress as Velvet's understanding mother and Robert Kern for Film Editing. (Kern's work in the climactic race is still considered a classic of editing.) After the winners had been announced, an Academy spokesman said that Taylor had narrowly missed winning a special Oscar for best juvenile performance -- an award that went instead to Peggy Ann Garner for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1944).

Producer: Pandro S. Berman
Director: Clarence Brown
Screenplay: Helen Deutsch, Theodore Reeves, from novel by Enid Bagnold
Cinematography: Leonard Smith
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary
Original Music: Herbert Stothart
Editing: Robert J. Kern
Costume Supervision: Irene
Principal Cast: Mickey Rooney (Mi Taylor), Donald Crisp (Mr. Brown), Elizabeth Taylor (Velvet Brown), Anne Revere (Mrs. Brown), Angela Lansbury (Edwina Brown), Jackie "Butch" Jenkins (Donald Brown), Juanita Quigley (Malvolia Brown).
C-124m. Closed captioning. Descriptive Video.

by Roger Fristoe

[lavenderdiva]

2. This is such a wonderful film-

and I'm so glad that you highlighted the background for us! For me, Anne Revere's performance as Mrs. Brown is terrific. IMHO, she is the backbone of the film and holds it together. Elizabeth Taylor is charming, and her beauty quite fresh.