TCM Schedule for Saturday, June 7 --- LESLIE CARON

[lavenderdiva]

7 Saturday



6:00 AM The Outriders (1950)
Rebel soldiers try to hijack a Union gold shipment. Cast: Joel McCrea, Arlene Dahl, Barry Sullivan. Dir: Roy Rowland. C-93 mins, TV-PG, CC

7:45 AM Short Film: Polar Outpost (1957)
BW-15 mins,

8:00 AM Track of the Cat (1954)
A murderous panther haunts a dysfunctional pioneer family. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Tab Hunter, Teresa Wright. Dir: William A. Wellman. C-103 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

10:00 AM Sons of the Desert (1933)
Two friends hatch a harebrained scheme to attend a lodge convention over their wives' objections. Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase. Dir: William A. Seiter. BW-65 mins, TV-G

11:15 AM Our Relations (1936)
Two sailors get caught in a mountain of mix-ups when they meet their long-lost twins. Cast: Laurel & Hardy, Alan Hale, Sidney Toler. Dir: Harry Lachman. BW-73 mins, TV-G

12:30 PM Trooper Hook (1957)
A woman returns from Indian captivity to find herself an outcast. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Earl Holliman. Dir: Charles Marquis Warren. BW-82 mins, TV-PG

2:00 PM On the Beach (1959)
After a nuclear war, U.S. sailors stationed in Australia deal with the end of civilization. Cast: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire. Dir: Stanley Kramer. BW-134 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

4:30 PM Darling Lili (1970)
A World War I flyer falls for a beautiful enemy spy. Cast: Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, Jeremy Kemp. Dir: Blake Edwards. C-143 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

7:00 PM Private Screenings: Leslie Caron (1999)
Robert Osborne hosts this TCM original series featuring an intimate interview with the exquisite actress Leslie Caron. C-47 mins, TV-G, CC

What's On Tonight: THE ESSENTIALS: LESLIE CARON

8:00 PM Fanny (1961)
An old waterfront character tries to help his daughter when her lover leaves her pregnant. Cast: Charles Boyer, Maurice Chevalier, Leslie Caron. Dir: Joshua Logan. C-134 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

10:30 PM Father Goose (1964)
A WWII drifter finds himself protecting schoolgirls and their beautiful teacher. Cast: Cary Grant, Leslie Caron, Trevor Howard. Dir: Ralph Nelson. C-116 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

12:30 AM The L-Shaped Room (1962)
A single mother-to-be tries to build a new life in a low-rent London apartment house. Cast: Leslie Caron, Tom Bell, Brock Peters. Dir: Bryan Forbes. BW-126 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

2:45 AM An American in Paris (1951)
An American artist finds love in Paris but almost loses it to conflicting loyalties. Cast: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant. Dir: Vincente Minnelli. C-114 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

4:40 AM Short Film: Paris On Parade (1938)
C-9 mins,

4:58 AM Short Film: American And British War Heroes To Visit La. (1946)
BW-2 mins,

5:00 AM Flying With Music (1942)
A man on the run from alimony payments gets a job as a South American tour guide. Cast: Marjorie Woodworth, George Givot, William Marshall. Dir: George Archainbaud. BW-46 mins, TV-G

[lavenderdiva]

1. An American In Paris

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=67241&category=Articles

An American in Paris
The prelude and aftermath of the mammoth An American in Paris (1951) shoot made for many a sweaty palm: controversy, fear, uncertainty - curious emotions for one of cinema's most charming and delightful all-time classics. The core of the movie's exuberance in taste and style is the winning combination of director Vincente Minnelli, star/choreographer Gene Kelly, the music of George and Ira Gershwin, the lilting Alan Jay Lerner script, the brilliant black and white in color camera of John Alton (called in specifically to lens the final ballet sequence) and, perhaps most importantly, the man who pulled it all together: producer Arthur Freed.

Freed had long ago purchased the title from Ira Gershwin, as he correctly deemed that An American in Paris was a great moniker for a musical. Vincente Minnelli, who hadn't worked in the genre since The Pirate (1948), felt the studio was punishing him for the movie's less than outstanding grosses. Nothing could be further than the truth; Freed was simply waiting for the proper project to utilize the master director's extraordinary talent.

With the selection of Gene Kelly over Fred Astaire, the On the Town (1949) star, as full of energy off screen as on, immediately set about designing the lavish numbers working in close and harmonious collaboration with Minnelli. One of Kelly's first requests was the casting of teenager Leslie Caron as the female lead, whom he had seen dance two years earlier. Freed agreed. The casting of Georges Guetary, in what would be the French entertainer's only American motion picture appearance, proved a bit more difficult.

Originally the part of Caron's benefactor had been slotted for Maurice Chevalier, who was unavailable. This sparked the interesting possibility of Yves Montand - a decision squelched when Louis B. Mayer made a pro-HUAC speech on the embryonic An American in Paris sets during pre-production. Montand's politics threw him out before he was in. More astonishing was the East coast office's demand to axe the final ballet - the culmination of the picture's entire sequence of events. Freed, who knew that the word "ballet" was poison to a Hollywood production, and, that at a cost of a half a million dollars, would be one of the most expensive numbers ever filmed, wisely kept his cool and went directly to the source - Mayer himself. L.B., on his way out (PARIS would be his last production), and in constant in-house battles with newly appointed liberal-minded executive Dore Schary (fresh from his profitable track record at RKO), had faith in Freed's abilities and okayed the budget. Concurrently, the New York boys worked on Schary to intercede, but Mayer's successor threw them for a loop and also pronounced the excising of the ballet as preposterous, vowing to assure its inclusion even at the exorbitant cost. In the movie, Kelly plays a struggling painter living in France. The ballet represents his fantasies as depicted by the great French artists (Renoir, Rousseau, Lautrec, Dufy) he admires. Cognizant of France's love affair with American films, both Kelly and Freed were likewise aware of their contempt of any foreign depiction of their country. Arranging a screening for the then ailing Raoul Dufy, the actor and producer ducked out until the end credits. There, relieved, they found the artist, moved to tears, requesting a second helping of the sumptuous finale.

Oscar multiplied the nervous jitters when An American in Paris aced Best Picture against such heavyweights as A Place in the Sun and A Streetcar Named Desire. Confident of its win in the color, art direction and music departments (a total of seven nominations in all), MGM was pleasantly shocked at this coup - a rarity for a musical (only twice before had this happened: 1929's The Broadway Melody and in 1936 for The Great Ziegfeld, both for Metro!) The shock turned to outrage in critical circles when the less than insightful Bosley Crowther, reviewer for The New York Times, vented his wrath upon voters "so insensitive to the excellencies of motion picture art that they would vote for a frivolous musical over a powerful and pregnant tragedy." Contemporary Sidney Skolky simply skulked demanding a recount. MGM, by now 100% Schary-run, responded with good humor - placing an ad in the trades featuring a cartoon Leo, holding an Oscar with the caption: "Honestly, I was just standing IN THE SUN waiting for A STREETCAR."

Trivia for An American in Paris (1951)
- Gene Kelly screened Red Shoes, The (1948) for the MGM executives to persuade them to back a dance film.
- Cyd Charisse discovered that she was pregnant during pre-production and was replaced by Leslie Caron.
- This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1993.
- After Arthur Freed and Ira Gershwin reached an agreement during their weekly pool game, film rights to George Gershwin's "An American in Paris - A Tone Poem for Orchestra" were purchased for $158,750, and Ira received $56,250 as a consultant to write any necessary new lyrics for songs used.
- Alan Jay Lerner began writing the screenplay in December 1949, and finished it in a 12-hour stretch in March 1949 on the night before his wedding.

[CBHagman]

2. Lovely Leslie.

I haven't seen either Fanny or The L-Shaped Room, so thanks for the heads-up.



Her IMDB credits -- but first, a note to IMDB: Lose the Latest Crap Adam Sandler Movie pop-ups or cram-ins or whatever they're called.

Anyway, you have been warned.

Her IMDB credits:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001989/

I didn't know she was half-American!

[lavenderdiva]

3. wow! those are amazing pictures of her, CBH!!

thank you for sharing them! Like you, I didn't realize that she was half-American either. That's interesting. Thanks for the imdb link--- good info there... :hi:

[Longhorn]

4. I wish they had shown Daddy Longlegs.

That's one of my favorites! Leslie Caron was and still is such a beautiful, graceful lady!

[CBHagman]

5. I haven't seen "Daddy Long-Legs" either.

In fact, I can't recall the last time it was on the TCM schedule. Gigi and An American in Paris turn up regularly, though.