TCM Schedule for Friday, February 21, 2020 -- 31 Days of Oscar: 360 Degrees of Oscar

[Staph]

Last edited Mon Mar 23, 2020, 06:40 PM - Edit history (1)

More of 31 Days of Oscar, with the actors or actresses that connect the films added after a break at the end, in case you want to guess. Enjoy and have a happy Valentine's day!


6:00 AM -- GRAND HOTEL (1932)
Guests at a posh Berlin hotel struggle through scandal and heartache.
Dir: Edmund Goulding
Cast: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford
BW-113 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Picture

Greta Garbo was very particular as to how her love scenes with John Barrymore were shot. She requested red front-lighting and required curtains to be placed between the camera and film crew to help set the mood and create the illusion that she and Barrymore were alone. During one take, Garbo got so carried away with the scene that she continued kissing Barrymore for three full minutes after director Edmund Goulding had yelled cut. The bonus smooching footage survives, but was not used in the final cut.


8:00 AM -- SUZY (1936)
A French air ace discovers that his showgirl wife's first husband is still alive.
Dir: Geo. Fitzmaurice
Cast: Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, Cary Grant
BW-93 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Walter Donaldson (music) and Harold Adamson (lyrics) f or the song "Did I Remember"

The flying scenes for this movie were not shot by MGM. They were outtakes from Hell's Angels (1930) filmed by Howard Hughes. Three former WW I flying aces were killed and producer Howard Hughes was injured during aerial scenes shot for Hell's Angels (1930) and producer Howard Hughes was injured when he crashed flying in one of the scenes (it's not known if that footage was among the scenes used from that film for this one). Since only one out of every 249 feet of film shot was used in "Hell's Angels", there was more than enough left over to lease to other films like this one. It also helped offset the tremendous cost to Hughes of filming his movie.


10:00 AM -- LIBELED LADY (1936)
When an heiress sues a newspaper, the editor hires a reporter to compromise her.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy
BW-98 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Picture

Myrna Loy recalled in her 1987 autobiography that a good time was had by all during the shoot - "Libeled Lady was one of the best of the so-called screwball comedies, with a great cast, and Jack Conway directing us at breakneck speed." She praised her co-stars and also expressed her love for working with Walter Connolly, whom she described as "darling."


12:00 PM -- IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
A newspaperman tracks a runaway heiress on a madcap cross-country tour.
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly
BW-105 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Clark Gable (In 1996, Steven Spielberg anonymously purchased Clark Gable's Oscar to protect it from further commercial exploitation, gave it back to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, commenting that he could think of "no better sanctuary for Gable's only Oscar than the Motion Picture Academy".), Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Claudette Colbert (Claudette Colbert was so convinced that she would lose the Oscar to write-in nominee Bette Davis that she didn't attended the ceremony originally. She was summoned from a train station to pick up her Academy Award.), Best Director -- Frank Capra, Best Writing, Adaptation -- Robert Riskin, and Best Picture

Claudette Colbert, under contract to Paramount, had four weeks free, but she was also a hard sell. She'd made her first film, For the Love of Mike (1927), with Frank Capra directing, and it had been a disaster, so she was not excited about repeating the experience. What did excite her, however, was the prospect of making $50,000 for four weeks of work, since her Paramount salary was $25,000 per film. So she willingly agreed to do it, but, at the same time, she gave Capra a hard time.


2:00 PM -- DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK (1939)
A young couple fights off Indian attacks to start a farm in the Mohawk Valley.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Henry Fonda, Edna May Oliver
C-104 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Edna May Oliver, and Best Cinematography, Color -- Ray Rennahan and Bert Glennon

Henry Fonda is a direct descendant of the Fondas that settled in the Mohawk Valley in the mid 17th Century. Henry's 5th Great Great Grandfather, Douw Jellis Fonda, who was too old to fight in the Revolutionary War, was killed and scalped in 1780 by an Indian that supported General Sir John Johnson and the Tories. At the same time, Henry's 4th Great Grand Father Adam Douw Fonda and his brother John Fonda were taken as prisoners and held in Canada for two years.


4:00 PM -- JEZEBEL (1938)
A tempestuous Southern belle's willfulness threatens to destroy all who care for her.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent
BW-104 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Bette Davis (On 19 July 2001 Steven Spielberg purchased Davis' Oscar statuette at a Christie's auction and returned it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This was the second time in five years Spielberg did so to protect an Oscar from further commercial exploitation.), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Fay Bainter

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Ernest Haller, Best Music, Scoring -- Max Steiner, and Best Picture

Fay Bainter became the first actor to receive nominations in the Lead and Supporting acting categories in the same year, being nominated for Best Actress for White Banners (1938) and for Best Supporting Actress for Jezebel (1938).


6:00 PM -- THE CHILDREN'S HOUR (1961)
A malicious student tries to destroy the teachers at a girls' school.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner
BW-108 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Fay Bainter, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Franz Planer, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Fernando Carrere and Edward G. Boyle, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Dorothy Jeakins, and Best Sound -- Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

Veronica Cartwright (Rosalie) said in an interview that her and the other children were told not to hang around with Shirley MacLaine on set because she "cursed a lot". They all did, however, because they thought she was "cool" and "very generous". She also became Cartwright's mentor throughout the making of the film.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: 360 DEGREES OF OSCAR



8:00 PM -- TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1983)
A mother-daughter relationship survives years of rivalry and romantic problems.
Dir: James L. Brooks
Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Debra Winger
C-132 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Shirley MacLaine, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Nicholson, Best Director -- James L. Brooks, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- James L. Brooks, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Debra Winger, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Lithgow, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Polly Platt, Harold Michelson, Tom Pedigo and Anthony Mondell, Best Sound -- Donald O. Mitchell, Rick Kline, Kevin O'Connell and James R. Alexander (as Jim Alexander), Best Film Editing -- Richard Marks, and Best Music, Original Score -- Michael Gore

James L. Brooks received a special gift at the end of production, to congratulate him for completing his first movie. This was a book of "Life in Hell" cartoons, drawn by Matt Groening. Brooks was so impressed with the comics that he asked Groening to create cartoon shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show (1987). This gave rise to The Simpsons (1989).


10:30 PM -- THE HOURS (2002)
The story of how the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" affects three generations of women, all of whom, in one way or another, have had to deal with suicide in their lives.
Dir: Stephen Daldry
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep
BW-114 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Nicole Kidman

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Ed Harris, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Julianne Moore, Best Director -- Stephen Daldry, Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay -- David Hare, Best Costume Design -- Ann Roth, Best Film Editing -- Peter Boyle, Best Music, Original Score -- Philip Glass, and Best Picture

Meryl Streep decided not to re-read "Mrs. Dalloway" in preparation for the film, as she felt that her character Clarissa would have read it in college and not particularly have understood it then, much as Streep herself had done when she was at college.


12:45 AM -- MANHATTAN (1979)
A TV comedy writer falls for his best friend's girl.
Dir: Woody Allen
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway
BW-96 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Mariel Hemingway, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman

The film features the music of George Gershwin including his famous piece, 'Rhapsody in Blue', which has been said to have inspired the movie. In a discussion with 'Silvio Bizio', Woody Allen said that the picture "evolved from the music. I was listening to a record album of overtures from famous George Gershwin shows, and I thought 'This would be a beautiful thing to make a movie in black-and-white, you know, and make a romantic movie".


2:30 AM -- MY FAVORITE YEAR (1982)
A flamboyant star throws a TV comedy show into chaos.
Dir: Richard Benjamin
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper
C-92 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter O'Toole

The part of Lil, the wardrobe lady, was played by Selma Diamond. She herself was a writer for Your Show of Shows (1950), the television program on which the film was based.


4:15 AM -- PENNIES FROM HEAVEN (1981)
A traveling salesman's music-inspired dreams lead to tragedy.
Dir: Herbert Ross
Cast: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Christopher Walken
C-108 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Dennis Potter, Best Costume Design -- Bob Mackie, and Best Sound -- Michael J. Kohut, Jay M. Harding, Richard Tyler and Al Overton Jr.

The "pennies" that are seen raining down from heaven were penny sized sequins. After filming, they blew out the stage door, and could be found in the corners in the streets at MGM studios for almost a year.





















Don't scroll any farther if you don't want to know who the connecting actors and actresses are!



















Joan Crawford
Grand Hotel (1932)
Lewis Stone
Suzy (1936)
Jean Harlow
Libeled Lady (1936)
Walter Connolly
It Happened One Night (1934)
Claudette Colbert
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
Henry Fonda
Jezebel (1938)
Fay Bainter
The Children's Hour (1961)
Shirley MacLaine
Terms Of Endearment (1983)
Jeff Daniels
The Hours (2002)
Meryl Streep
Manhattan (1979)
Mark Linn-Baker
My Favorite Year (1982)
Jessica Harper
Pennies From Heaven (1981)
Tommy Rall