TCM Schedule for Friday, March 27, 2020 -- What's On Tonight: A Mankiewicz Family Weekend

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, it's a psychic crime spree! Then in prime time, TCM begins a three-day celebration of the Mankiewicz clan and their contributions to the film industry.

The Mankiewicz family is one of Hollywood's most distinguished and accomplished. It includes our own Ben Mankiewicz as well as the Oscar-winning screenwriter/producer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909-1993) and screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (1897-1953, brother of Joseph, grandfather of Ben). Both brothers had children and grandchildren who continued the tradition of excellence in filmmaking or the fields of journalism, politics, fiction writing, acting and art.

TCM offers a three-night celebration of the Mankiewicz family's Hollywood legacy with Ben hosting alongside Alex Mankiewicz, the daughter of Joseph, and Sydney Ladensohn Stern, author of the 2019 book The Brothers Mankiewicz: Hope, Heartbreak, and Hollywood Classics.

Our Mankiewicz family weekend starts on March 27, which is devoted to early work by the two pioneering brothers during the 1930s. Joseph L. Mankiewicz is credited for the story of Million Dollar Legs (1932), on which Herman served as producer (although uncredited). W.C. Fields and Jack Oakie star in this pre-Code comedy about a small country on the verge of bankruptcy that enters the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Critic Pauline Kael named this film as one of her favorites, describing it as "a lunatic musical satire."

Dinner at Eight (1933), the celebrated MGM comedy produced by David O. Selznick from the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, had a screenplay by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Frances Marion, with additional dialogue by Donald Ogden Stewart. The all-star ensemble--headed by Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery and Jean Harlow--was directed by George Cukor. The film was a commercial hit and a critical success with Variety calling it a "fascinating mosaic."

Manhattan Melodrama (1934) is a MGM crime drama with a screenplay credited to Joseph and Oliver H.P. Garrett. The film stars Clark Gable and, in the first of their screen pairings, William Powell and Myrna Loy. David O. Selznick produced and W.S. Van Dyke directed. The movie was a surprise hit at the box office and gained notoriety as the one watched by John Dillinger right before he was shot to death by federal agents.

March 28 is devoted to two Joseph L. Mankiewicz films of the late 1940s and early '50s, a period of enormous success for him at 20th Century-Fox. He won Oscars for both his screenplay and direction of A Letter to Three Wives (1949), a romantic drama starring Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell and Ann Sothern; the film earned another nomination as Best Picture. (Joseph would repeat the same feat the following year with a double nomination for 1950's All About Eve; in this case the movie was also named Best Picture.)

People Will Talk (1951) is a comedy/drama with screenplay and direction by Joseph, starring Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain. No Oscar nominations this time, although Joseph was nominated for the Best Written American Comedy award by the Writers Guild of America. According to The New York Times, his script (derived from a German play called Dr. Praetorious) is "as sharp as a scalpel."

In addition to Joseph's four Oscars, he was also nominated for Skippy (1931, Adapted Screenplay), No Way Out (1950, Story and Screenplay), 5 Fingers (1952, Director), The Barefoot Contessa (1954, Story and Screenplay) and Sleuth (1972, Director).

On March 29, we turn our attention to Herman J. Mankiewicz and two of his triumphs from the early 1940s. Citizen Kane (1941), considered by many to be the greatest American film ever made, brought Oscars to Herman and director/writer/star Orson Welles for their screenplay. It was the only win out of a total of nine Oscar nominations including Best Picture.

Herman was nominated again for Best Screenplay for The Pride of the Yankees (1942), a movie about baseball player Lou Gehrig as played by Gary Cooper. That film earned a total of 11 nominations, including those for Best Picture and Actor, but only won in the category of Film Editing.

by Roger Fristoe

Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- CRASHING LAS VEGAS (1956)
When an electric shock turns one of them into a psychic, the Bowery Boys invade Las Vegas.
Dir: Jean Yarbrough
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Mary Castle
BW-62 mins, CC,

Leo Gorcey was fired on the set during the making of this film. He was drunk. Many film fans say that this is obvious. Hall met with Gorcey after filming was completed trying to convince him to return sober: or "you'll end the franchise!" Due to his father's death (remember, Bernard Gorcey played Louie in this films), Leo was an emotional mess. Hall's later interviews and Gorcey's sons book cover this incident in more detail. The ending of the film uses Hall alone. It doesn't make much sense; their star was gone, the script had to be changed, the budget was low as usual, and they were running out of time. Fans regard this as the last of the true Bowery Boys movies.


7:15 AM -- THE THIRTEENTH CHAIR (1937)
A phony psychic tries to solve a murder that took place during her seance.
Dir: George B. Seitz
Cast: Dame May Whitty, Madge Evans, Lewis Stone
BW-66 mins, CC,

This was the first film to be given a H certificate by the British Board of Film Censors. The certificate was introduced in 1937 to denote "horrific" content and children under sixteen would not be admitted. Not all films passed H were horror films, but the certificate was replaced in 1951 with the X, as a general rating for adults-only films.


8:30 AM -- SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON (1964)
A medium kidnaps a child so she can help the police solve the crime.
Dir: Bryan Forbes
Cast: Kim Stanley, Richard Attenborough, Mark Eden
BW-117 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Kim Stanley

Director Bryan Forbes looked for the house with the turret as a film location. When he went to the owner for permission, she asked who was in the movie. When told that an American actress named Kim Stanley, the woman blanched, stepped back, and said that Stanley was one of her oldest friends whom she had not seen in seventeen years.


10:45 AM -- BEWITCHED (1945)
A girl enlists a psychic to get rid of her murderous alternate personality.
Dir: Arch Oboler
Cast: Edmund Gwenn, Phyllis Thaxter, Harry H. Daniels Jr.
BW-65 mins, CC,

Audrey Totter dubbed Phyllis Thaxter's evil personality's voice.


12:00 PM -- THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE (1962)
A scientist keeps his wife's severed head alive until he can find a new body for her.
Dir: Joseph Green
Cast: Virginia Leith, Herb Evers, Adele Lamont
BW-82 mins, Letterbox Format

This was the first Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988) movie watched by Michael J. Nelson after Joel Hodgson left.


1:30 PM -- JULIET OF THE SPIRITS (1965)
An aging housewife seeks direction when she catches her husband in an affair.
Dir: Federico Fellini
Cast: Giulietta Masina, Alba Cancellieri, Mario Pisu
C-138 mins, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Piero Gherardi, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Piero Gherardi

Director Federico Fellini claimed he took LSD in preparation for making this film.


4:00 PM -- THE POWER (1968)
A scientist tries to unmask a murderous genius with psychic powers.
Dir: Byron Haskin
Cast: George Hamilton, Suzanne Pleshette, Richard Carlson
C-108 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Miklos Rozsa's score is one of the few movie scores to make extensive use of the cimbalom (a snazzed up concert version of a hammered dulcimer).


6:00 PM -- THE HAUNTING (1963)
A team of psychic investigators moves into a haunted house that destroys all who live there.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson
BW-112 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Claire Bloom was intrigued to the play the role of a woman who was attracted to another woman. She said she got along with everyone on the set, except for Julie Harris, who tried everything to avoid her and not talk to her. At the end of the shoot, Harris went over to Bloom's house with a present and explained that the reason she had kept to herself was to stay in character, because Harris' role in the film was that of an outsider that none of the others understand or will listen to. Bloom was happy to hear the real reason behind Harris' behavior, since Bloom stated that she really liked Harris and could not understand what she herself had done wrong to be treated like that by her co-star.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: A MANKIEWICZ FAMILY WEEKEND



8:00 PM -- MILLION DOLLAR LEGS (1932)
A small country decides to enter the Olympic Games to raise money for their soon to be bankrupt home.
Dir: Edward Cline
Cast: Jack Oakie, W. C. Fields, Andy Clyde
BW-62 mins,

Writer Joseph L. Mankiewicz was inspired to write this film by the wild events of the 1928 Olympic games held in Amsterdam, particularly by an Albanian pole-vaulter who took to the field wearing a pair of goatskin shorts. He originally developed the story as a vehicle for the Marx Brothers, but they turned it down.


9:15 PM -- DINNER AT EIGHT (1933)
A high-society dinner party masks a hotbed of scandal and intrigue.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery
BW-111 mins, CC,

Marie Dressler was impressed with Jean Harlow. She realled in her autobiography, "It was whispered behind more than one hand that Jean Harlow, Metro's much-advertised platinum menace, was picked for parts that called for more allure than art. And in Dinner at Eight, she had to throw a bomb in the works by proving that she is a first-rate actress! Her performance as the wife of the hard-boiled, self-made politician played by Wallace Beery belongs in that limited category of things which may with reason be called rare. The plain truth is, she all but ran off with the show!"


11:15 PM -- MANHATTAN MELODRAMA (1934)
Boyhood friends grow up on opposite sides of the law.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke
Cast: Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy
BW-90 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Arthur Caesar

This was the movie that bank robber John Dillinger had just seen before he was gunned down in front of Chicago's Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934. He had been set up by Anna Sage, the madam of a brothel, who knew Dillinger's girlfriend, Polly Hamilton. Sage was facing deportation and thought the tip might get her off. She told FBI agent Melvin Purvis that she would be wearing orange which appeared red, leading her to be dubbed "The Woman in Red". Dillinger was shot three times when he tried to escape, and Sage wound up being sent back to Romania.


1:00 AM -- AFTER OFFICE HOURS (1935)
A society newspaperwoman tries to prove to her editor that she can crack a murder case.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Constance Bennett, Clark Gable, Stuart Erwin
BW-72 mins, CC,

Only screen pairing of MGM stars Constance Bennett and Clark Gable - although Gable had a supporting role in Bennett's The Easiest Way (1931).


2:30 AM -- THE NEW GLADIATORS (1983)
In 2072 Rome, Italy, the ruthless CEO of a TV network plots to stage a modern series of gladiator games for ratings.
Dir: Lucio Fulci
Cast: Jared Martin, Fred Williamson, Howard Ross
BW-90 mins, Letterbox Format

The year 2072 isn't gratuitous (but is always misspelled in different countries releases), the Roman Coliseum was built in the year 72 A.D. therefore the main event is part of the bi-millennial celebrations.


4:15 AM -- LAND OF DOOM (1985)
Earth has been ravaged by a nuclear war, and a feminist warrior is forced to join up with a soldier of fortune.
Dir: Peter Maris
Cast: Deborah Rennard, Garrick Dowhen, Daniel Radell
BW-87 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Based on a novel by Peter Kotis.