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TCM Schedule for Friday, December 9, 2022 -- What's On Tonight: RKO Musical Sleepers
In the daylight hours today, TCM's theme is Heists, though we'll still watching Star of the Month Ava Gardner for most of the morning.Then in prime time, Leonard Maltin is showing us a collection of RKO Musicals. Tell us more, Jack!
RKO MUSICAL SLEEPERS
By Jack Fields
November 28, 2022
Friday, December 9th | 3 Movies
In the 1930s and 40s, the musical was perhaps the most popular genre in all of film.
All the major Hollywood studios of the day developed their own singular style of musical picture, from the froth and glamour of MGM to the backstage spunk of Warner Bros.
One exception to this however was RKO Pictures. Known then (and now) as one of the smallest of the major studios, RKO’s movies were often made on smaller budgets and not always with the biggest stars.
Apart from the now iconic Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing pictures, RKO’s musicals never quite developed their own singular style. Instead, the studio made musicals with a wide variety of music and performers. The result was an especially diverse library of musical films. Alas, not all of these films were especially successful upon their initial release and are not as well remembered today.
This month, TCM’s dear friend Leonard Maltin shows us three of these RKO Musical Sleepers.
1933’s Melody Cruise marked the sound feature film debut of writer/director Mark Sandrich. In his only role as a romantic leading man, famed band leader and voice actor Phil Harris plays Alan, a wealthy playboy who dabbles in several love affairs while aboard a long ocean voyage. The always hilarious Charles Ruggles is Alan’s loyal friend who tries (mostly unsuccessfully) to keep him out of trouble. If not a musical, this plot would be perfect material for any of the pre-code sex comedies of the early 30s. However, the creative music and filming techniques elevate it to its own special creation. The camera work by Sandrich and cinematographer Bert Glennon includes early use of lap dissolves and split screens. Also, much of the dialogue and action are done rhythmically, with generic noises like footsteps and wheels spinning making music with their sound. All of this leads to a famous ballet sequence done entirely on ice. These innovative techniques are reminiscent of another, better remembered musical from one year prior, Rouben Mamoulian’s Love Me Tonight. This film also marked one of the only times that the famed film composer Max Steiner (pre-Warner Bros) created music for an original film musical. The film was a modest hit for RKO and the studio made Sandrich its top musical director. His greatest successes, his five films made with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, would soon follow.
In the 1930s, Warner Bros and their secret weapon, musical director and choreographer Busby Berkeley, monopolized the sub-genre of the backstage musical. Films like 42nd Street (1933) and Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) all told stories of a performer, or performers, who fight against unlikely odds to hit it big on the Great White Way. Probably the closest RKO ever came to emulating these popular films was with Walter Lang’s Hooray for Love in 1935. Based on an unpublished short story by Marc Lachmann titled The Show Must Go On, the film stars Gene Raymond as Doug, a young man fresh out of college who dreams of becoming a Broadway producer. Ann Sothern is the beautiful chorus girl whose father (Thurston Hall) might be able to give Doug his big break, but who also happens to be a major con artist. The chemistry between Sothern and Raymond proved strong enough for RKO to pair them in four more romantic comedies (some also with music) over the next two years. However, their partnership never quite achieved the success of other musical teams like Astaire and Rogers or Jeanette MacDonald (Raymond’s future wife) and Nelson Eddy. Perhaps the film’s biggest highlight is the musical number “Living in a Great Big Way,” featuring spectacular tap dancing from Jeni Le Gon and Bill Robinson and with the one and only Thomas “Fats” Waller on piano. This was one of the first numbers from a studio musical to feature all African American performers. Not to be missed.
Some movie musicals of the thirties became slightly more highbrow when they featured performers from the world of grand opera. Films like Columbia’s 1934 Best Picture nominee One Night of Love with Metropolitan Opera star Grace Moore and the MacDonald and Eddy operettas at MGM were surprisingly popular with mass audiences. RKO contributed to this trend by bringing Italian tenor Nino Martini to the screen for 1937’s Music for Madame. Nino Martini plays Nino Maretti (what a stretch), an Italian singer in pursuit of a career in Hollywood (an even bigger stretch) who gets himself entangled with jewel thieves. Joan Fontaine plays a young aspiring composer whose latest work can only be brought to life with the golden voice of Nino. Only 19-years old during filming, this was one of a string of generic ingénue roles for future Oscar winner Fontaine. The film is mostly a showcase for the impressive singing of Martini, who delivers memorable interpretations of the songs of Rudolph Friml. A veteran of both New York’s Metropolitan Opera and the Opera Comique in Paris, Nino was already a star of both the stage and recording worlds. However, he never found success in Hollywood, due in part to his thick Italian accent. This expensive film was a box office failure and would ultimately be Martini’s last in Hollywood. His final screen appearance came a decade later in the British film One Night with You (1948).
All of these films, and many more, demonstrate the versatility of both the musical genre and of RKO Pictures. We adore the singular style of musical films as only MGM or Warner Bros could create them. Yet, when a studio like RKO didn’t have as fully developed and polished a formula, musicals and the people who made them could perhaps be their most creative. Hopefully these RKO Musical Sleepers will be awakened to a whole new classic movie audience.
By Jack Fields
November 28, 2022
Friday, December 9th | 3 Movies
In the 1930s and 40s, the musical was perhaps the most popular genre in all of film.
All the major Hollywood studios of the day developed their own singular style of musical picture, from the froth and glamour of MGM to the backstage spunk of Warner Bros.
One exception to this however was RKO Pictures. Known then (and now) as one of the smallest of the major studios, RKO’s movies were often made on smaller budgets and not always with the biggest stars.
Apart from the now iconic Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing pictures, RKO’s musicals never quite developed their own singular style. Instead, the studio made musicals with a wide variety of music and performers. The result was an especially diverse library of musical films. Alas, not all of these films were especially successful upon their initial release and are not as well remembered today.
This month, TCM’s dear friend Leonard Maltin shows us three of these RKO Musical Sleepers.
1933’s Melody Cruise marked the sound feature film debut of writer/director Mark Sandrich. In his only role as a romantic leading man, famed band leader and voice actor Phil Harris plays Alan, a wealthy playboy who dabbles in several love affairs while aboard a long ocean voyage. The always hilarious Charles Ruggles is Alan’s loyal friend who tries (mostly unsuccessfully) to keep him out of trouble. If not a musical, this plot would be perfect material for any of the pre-code sex comedies of the early 30s. However, the creative music and filming techniques elevate it to its own special creation. The camera work by Sandrich and cinematographer Bert Glennon includes early use of lap dissolves and split screens. Also, much of the dialogue and action are done rhythmically, with generic noises like footsteps and wheels spinning making music with their sound. All of this leads to a famous ballet sequence done entirely on ice. These innovative techniques are reminiscent of another, better remembered musical from one year prior, Rouben Mamoulian’s Love Me Tonight. This film also marked one of the only times that the famed film composer Max Steiner (pre-Warner Bros) created music for an original film musical. The film was a modest hit for RKO and the studio made Sandrich its top musical director. His greatest successes, his five films made with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, would soon follow.
In the 1930s, Warner Bros and their secret weapon, musical director and choreographer Busby Berkeley, monopolized the sub-genre of the backstage musical. Films like 42nd Street (1933) and Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) all told stories of a performer, or performers, who fight against unlikely odds to hit it big on the Great White Way. Probably the closest RKO ever came to emulating these popular films was with Walter Lang’s Hooray for Love in 1935. Based on an unpublished short story by Marc Lachmann titled The Show Must Go On, the film stars Gene Raymond as Doug, a young man fresh out of college who dreams of becoming a Broadway producer. Ann Sothern is the beautiful chorus girl whose father (Thurston Hall) might be able to give Doug his big break, but who also happens to be a major con artist. The chemistry between Sothern and Raymond proved strong enough for RKO to pair them in four more romantic comedies (some also with music) over the next two years. However, their partnership never quite achieved the success of other musical teams like Astaire and Rogers or Jeanette MacDonald (Raymond’s future wife) and Nelson Eddy. Perhaps the film’s biggest highlight is the musical number “Living in a Great Big Way,” featuring spectacular tap dancing from Jeni Le Gon and Bill Robinson and with the one and only Thomas “Fats” Waller on piano. This was one of the first numbers from a studio musical to feature all African American performers. Not to be missed.
Some movie musicals of the thirties became slightly more highbrow when they featured performers from the world of grand opera. Films like Columbia’s 1934 Best Picture nominee One Night of Love with Metropolitan Opera star Grace Moore and the MacDonald and Eddy operettas at MGM were surprisingly popular with mass audiences. RKO contributed to this trend by bringing Italian tenor Nino Martini to the screen for 1937’s Music for Madame. Nino Martini plays Nino Maretti (what a stretch), an Italian singer in pursuit of a career in Hollywood (an even bigger stretch) who gets himself entangled with jewel thieves. Joan Fontaine plays a young aspiring composer whose latest work can only be brought to life with the golden voice of Nino. Only 19-years old during filming, this was one of a string of generic ingénue roles for future Oscar winner Fontaine. The film is mostly a showcase for the impressive singing of Martini, who delivers memorable interpretations of the songs of Rudolph Friml. A veteran of both New York’s Metropolitan Opera and the Opera Comique in Paris, Nino was already a star of both the stage and recording worlds. However, he never found success in Hollywood, due in part to his thick Italian accent. This expensive film was a box office failure and would ultimately be Martini’s last in Hollywood. His final screen appearance came a decade later in the British film One Night with You (1948).
All of these films, and many more, demonstrate the versatility of both the musical genre and of RKO Pictures. We adore the singular style of musical films as only MGM or Warner Bros could create them. Yet, when a studio like RKO didn’t have as fully developed and polished a formula, musicals and the people who made them could perhaps be their most creative. Hopefully these RKO Musical Sleepers will be awakened to a whole new classic movie audience.
Enjoy!
6:15 AM -- Show Boat (1951)
1h 48m | Musical | TV-G
Riverboat entertainers find love, laughs and hardships as they sail along "Old Man River."
Director: George Sidney
Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel
Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Charles Rosher, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Adolph Deutsch and Conrad Salinger
The original choice for the role of Julie was Judy Garland, but since she had ended her contract with MGM, the idea of casting Garland was dropped. Dinah Shore was next in line until the role finally went to Ava Gardner. It is a myth that Lena Horne was ever seriously considered for Julie, as she was no longer under contract to MGM and, by 1951, was not a big enough box office draw.
8:15 AM -- Lone Star (1952)
1h 34m | Western | TV-PG
A frontiersman helps out with Texas's fight for independence from Mexico.
Director: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Broderick Crawford
Lionel Barrymore had previously played US President Andrew Jackson in The Gorgeous Hussy (1936). Beulah Bondi, who play
10:00 AM -- Ride, Vaquero! (1953)
1h 30m | Western | TV-PG
Ranchers in New Mexico have to face Indians and bandits.
Director: John Farrow
Cast: Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel
According to Mia Farrow's book, "What Falls Away", her father John Farrow and Ava Gardner were having an affair during filming in 1953. Mia married Gardner's ex-husband Frank Sinatra in 1966.
11:45 AM -- The Little Hut (1957)
1h 18m | Comedy | TV-14
A neglected wife is shipwrecked on a desert island with her husband and her would-be lover.
Director: Mark Robson
Cast: Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger, David Niven
Ava Gardner says in her biography that she did not like the film. But she had to play in it because of her contract with MGM.
1:15 PM -- MGM Parade Show #1 (1955) 25m | Documentary | TV-G
Judy Garland sings "You Made Me Love You" in a clip from "Broadway Melody of 1938".
1:45 PM -- I Died a Thousand Times (1955)
1h 49m | Crime | TV-PG
An ex-con dreaming of one last heist faces dissension within his gang.
Director: Stuart Heisler
Cast: Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, Lori Nelson
Dennis Hopper makes an early, uncredited, appearance as the boy that Shelley Winters dances with at the house party in Los Angeles, and a very young Nick Adams makes an early uncredited appearance as a bell boy in the hotel during the robbery.
3:45 PM -- Ocean's Eleven (1960)
2h 7m | Comedy | TV-14
A group of friends plot to rob a Las Vegas casino.
Director: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.
According to Frank Sinatra Jr. on the DVD commentary, Sammy Davis Jr. was forced to stay at a "colored only" hotel during the filming because Las Vegas would not allow blacks to stay at the major hotels despite his appearing with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the others at the Sands Hotel. He was only allowed to stay at the major hotels after Frank Sinatra confronted the casino owners on his behalf, therefore breaking Vegas' unofficial color barrier. That hotel was Mrs. Harrison's Boarding House, located in the historic Westside district. The establishment hosted a stellar array of African American entertainers in its day and is now a listed historic building.
6:00 PM -- The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
1h 42m | Romance | TV-14
A bored tycoon turns to bank robbery and courts the insurance investigator assigned to bring him in.
Director: Norman Jewison
Cast: Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Burke
Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Michel Legrand (music), Alan Bergman (lyrics) and Marilyn Bergman (lyrics) for the song "The Windmills of Your Mind"
Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- Michel Legrand
According to Norman Jewison, the initial bank robbery was filmed at the downtown branch of the National Shawmut Bank, and that although the guards and bank officials knew what was going on, the customers did not because the filmmakers were using a concealed camera. Although they apparently thought that a real robbery was occurring, none of the customers or pedestrians interfered in any way.
WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- RKO MUSICAL SLEEPERS
8:00 PM -- Melody Cruise (1933)
1h 16m | Musical | TV-G
A playboy finds true love during an ocean cruise.
Director: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Charles Ruggles, Phil Harris, Helen Mack
Phil Harris' first starring film role.
9:30 PM -- Hooray for Love (1935)
1h 10m | Musical | TV-G
A playboy student backs a musical show.
Director: Walter Lang
Cast: Ann Sothern, Gene Raymond, Bill Robinson
Film debut of Jeni Le Gon. Also the same about Maria Gambarelli.
11:00 PM -- Music for Madame (1937)
1h 21m | Musical | TV-G
An opera star trying to make it big in Hollywood gets mixed up with jewel thieves.
Director: John Blystone
Cast: Nino Martini, Joan Fontaine, Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray's character and performance was a take-off on famed conductor Leopold Stokowski.
12:30 AM -- For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism (2009)
1h 21m | Documentary | TV-PG
About the rich history of American film criticism, while providing an insider's view of the critic's profession.
Director: Gerald Peary
Cast: Scott Weinberg, Penelope Spheeris, Andrew Sarris
Both renowned film critics, husband and wife Andrew Sarris and Molly Haskell each, at one time, was the film critic at The Village Voice.
2:00 AM -- Heavenly Bodies (1985)
1h 29m | Drama | TV-MA
A small dance studio fights for its existence against the unscrupulous owner of a rival club.
Director: Lawrence Dane
Cast: Cynthia Dale, Richard Rebiere, Walter George Alton
When Samantha (Cynthia Dale) is outside the movie theater handing out fliers, the three movie posters behind her are Never Cry Wolf (1983), Star 80 (1983), and Flashdance (1983).
4:00 AM -- Gymkata (1985)
1h 30m | Adventure | TV-14
A champion gymnast competes to win the U.S. a strategic missile site.
Director: Robert Clouse
Cast: Kurt Thomas, Tetchie Agbayani, Richard Norton
The film's source material ("The Terrible Game" by Dan Tyler Moore) was originally published in 1957. A film version of the book was originally planned in the early-1960s as a Rock Hudson vehicle, but never got off the ground.