TCM Schedule for Saturday, January 26, 2019 -- What's On Tonight: SAG Lifetime Achievement Award

[Staph]

Last edited Wed Jan 30, 2019, 08:11 PM - Edit history (1)

Throughout the day and night, TCM continues their 48-hour celebration of the winners of the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award. Enjoy!




6:30 AM -- THE OMEGA MAN (1971)
The only human survivor of a biological war fights to end a plague that has turned everybody else into monsters.
Dir: Boris Sagal
Cast: Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash
C-98 mins, CC,

The production company wanted a locale that looked like an abandoned metropolitan area, but it was too costly to build. The producer drove through downtown Los Angeles one weekend and discovered there were no shoppers, so the majority of the film's exteriors were shot there on weekends.


8:30 AM -- HIGH SOCIETY (1956)
In this musical version of The Philadelphia Story, tabloid reporters invade a society wedding.
Dir: Charles Walters
Cast: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra
C-112 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Cole Porter for the song "True Love", and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin

The song True Love, written by Cole Porter especially for the movie, was a million seller and both Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby were awarded platinum records for the song. This is the only platinum record ever given to sitting royalty as Grace Kelly had become Princess Grace by the time it was awarded.


10:30 AM -- THE FEMININE TOUCH (1941)
An author writing a book on jealousy discovers his wife is an expert on the subject.
Dir: Major W. S. Van Dyke II
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Don Ameche, Kay Francis
BW-97 mins, CC,

Don Ameche's first film for MGM. He had made a screen test there in 1935 and was rejected, but was signed the following year by 20th Century-Fox.


12:30 PM -- WHITE HEAT (1949)
A government agent infiltrates a gang run by a mother-fixated psychotic.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien
BW-113 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Virginia Kellogg

If the surprise expressed by James Cagney's fellow inmates during "the telephone game" scene in the prison dining room appears real, it's because it is. Director Raoul Walsh didn't tell the rest of the cast what was about to happen, so Cagney's outburst caught them by surprise. In fact, Walsh himself didn't know what Cagney had planned; the scene as written wasn't working, and Cagney had an idea. He told Walsh to put the two biggest extras playing cons in the mess-hall next to him on the bench (he used their shoulders to boost himself onto the table) and to keep the cameras rolling no matter what.


2:30 PM -- HOLIDAY (1938)
An unhappy heiress falls in love with her stodgy sister's freethinking fiance.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Doris Nolan
BW-96 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Art Direction -- Stephen Goosson and Lionel Banks

Katharine Hepburn understudied the role of Linda Seton (played by Hope Williams) in the original Broadway play. She also performed a scene from Holiday for her first screen test, which led to her first film role.


4:15 PM -- RACHEL, RACHEL (1968)
A small town teacher tries to overcome her shyness.
Dir: Paul Newman
Cast: Joanne Woodward, James Olson, Kate Harrington
C-101 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Joanne Woodward, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Estelle Parsons, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Stewart Stern, and Best PIcture

Nell Potts, who plays Rachel as a young girl, is actually Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman's real daughter. The uncredited baby on the beach with Rachel at the end of the film is Claire Newman, then age 2, whose face is never shown because she was crying throughout most of the scene; the waves lapping against the shore scared her, as she didn't yet know how to swim.


6:15 PM -- THE YELLOW CAB MAN (1950)
An inventor's unbreakable glass attracts the attention of businessmen and gangsters.
Dir: Jack Donohue
Cast: Red Skelton, Gloria De Haven, Walter Slezak
BW-84 mins, CC,

This film marked Richard Goldstone's debut as an M-G-M producer. According to a Nov 1948 HR news item, Harry Ruskin was originally set to produce the film. The distortion effect sequence in the film was created by renowned press photographer Weegee (the adopted nickname of Arthur H. Fellig), who also appears in a bit role as a cab driver. According to an Apr 1949 HR news item, Jimmy Durante was set to play a veteran cab driver in the film. An Aug 1949 HR news item lists Jill Donohue in the cast, but her appearance in the released film has not been confirmed. The film marked the final screen appearance of stage and screen actress Polly Moran, who began her film career in the silent era and who co-starred in several M-G-M comedies with Marie Dressler. Moran died in 1952 (AFI).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SAG LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD



8:00 PM -- BRIGADOON (1954)
Two American hunters in Scotland discover a mystical village that only materializes once every century.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, Cyd Charisse
C-108 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, E. Preston Ames, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene Sharaff, and Best Sound, Recording -- Wesley C. Miller (M-G-M)

Howard Keel and Jane Powell were originally slated to play the leads. When commitments on other films left them unavailable, Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse were cast instead, and dancing subsequently emphasized over singing.


10:00 PM -- THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE (1974)
A suddenly unemployed executive and his understanding wife must adapt to their new life.
Dir: Melvin Frank
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Elizabeth Wilson, Anne Bancroft
BW-98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

According to the Jack Lemmon's biography "Lemmon" by Don Widener, actress Anne Bancroft recounted this episode from the film's shooting: "[Jack was] nice to a point where he's crazy...We had a scene in 'Prisoner [of Second Avenue'] where he had to carry a shovel in - a very close two-shot favoring me. I played the scene with tears in my eyes because Jack had accidentally hit me in the shin with that shovel. The director saw something was wrong so he stopped everything. I had a big bump on my leg, but it was Friday and over the weekend I fixed it up. When we came back on Monday the first scene was a retake of the shovel thing. Well, Jack brought the shovel in and I anticipated getting hit again. He's so full of energy, you're sure he's not noticing; but he never touched me. The take was fine, but Jack limped away. To avoid hurting me, he had cut himself. He was bleeding and we had to bandage his leg; his wound was much worse than mine. He is so kind he hurt himself rather than injure someone else. That's a little crazy! It's the nicest crazy I know, and I know a lot of crazy people."


12:00 AM -- THE L-SHAPED ROOM (1962)
A single mother-to-be tries to build a new life in a low-rent London apartment house.
Dir: Bryan Forbes
Cast: Leslie Caron, Anthony Booth, Avis Bunnage
BW-126 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Leslie Caron

The rent of forty-two shillings per week is the equivalent of forty pounds sterling (fifty-two dollars and fifty cents) in 2016.


2:15 AM -- WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967)
A blind woman fights against drug smugglers who've invaded her home.
Dir: Terence Young
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna
C-108 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Audrey Hepburn

During World War II, 16-year-old Audrey Hepburn was a volunteer nurse in a Dutch hospital. During the battle of Arnhem, Hepburn's hospital received many wounded Allied soldiers. One of the injured soldiers young Audrey helped nurse back to health was a young British paratrooper - and future director - named Terence Young who more than 20 years later directed Hepburn in Wait Until Dark (1967).


4:15 AM -- THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946)
Straitlaced waitresses battle saloon girls to win the West for domesticity.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Ray Bolger
C-101 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Harry Warren (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) for the song "On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe"

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Lennie Hayton

In the big production number "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", from Judy Garland's entrance until the tempo change is one take. Rumor has it they only shot it twice and she was dead-on both times.

[Dem2theMax]

1. I recorded The L-Shaped Room, and finally watched it last night.

I know it's too late for this viewing, but the next time it's on TCM, watch it if you haven't seen it before.

What a gem of a film. It's one of those movies that has you sitting and thinking long after you finished watching it. Leslie Caron was breathtaking in the role of Jane.