TCM Schedule for Thursday, January 2, 2014 -- Star of the Month - Joan Crawford

Happy New Year! In the daylight hours, TCM is showing films of Charles Brabin, director of The Mask Of Fu Manchu (1932) and husband of screen vamp Theda Bara. And in primetime and through out the day tomorrow, we've got the films of Star of the Month Joan Crawford. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Now Playing January (2014)
26 min, TV-PG


6:30 AM -- The Ship From Shanghai (1929)
Raging storms and a crazed steward threaten the passengers on a South Pacific ship.
Dir: Charles Brabin
Cast: Conrad Nagel, Kay Johnson, Carmel Myers
67 min, TV-G

Based on the novel Ordeal by Dale Collins.


7:45 AM -- Call Of The Flesh (1930)
A Latin lover fights for the heart of a beautiful convent girl.
Dir: Charles Brabin
Cast: Ramón Novarro, Dorothy Jordan, Ernest Torrence
100 min, TV-G

Renée Adorée was ill with tuberculosis during filming, and the strenuous nature of filming aggravated her condition so much that she suffered hemorrhaging on set twice on set, almost shutting the production.


9:30 AM -- The Great Meadow (1931)
Early American frontiersmen brave the mountains to settle Kentucky.
Dir: Charles Brabin
Cast: John Mack Brown, Eleanor Boardman, Lucille LaVerne
79 min, TV-PG

Based on the novel by Elizabeth Madox Roberts.


11:00 AM -- Sporting Blood (1931)
A horse passes through a series of owners on the road to the Kentucky Derby.
Dir: Charles Brabin
Cast: Clark Gable, Ernest Torrence, Madge Evans
82 min, TV-G

Sporting Blood (1931) was inspired by a true-life story wherein Arnold Rothstein, the gambler racketeer infamous for the 1919 Black Sox Scandal (see Eight Men Out (1988)), entered his horse Sporting Blood in the 1921 Travers Stakes at Saratoga. Sporting Blood was initially the second favorite at 5-2 behind the filly Prudery, the 1-4 favorite. Then legendary trainer Sam Hildreth entered his best runner Grey Lag, who became the immediate favorite with Prudery the second favorite and Sporting Blood the third favorite at 3-1. Thirty minutes before the race Hildreth scratched Grey Lag with no explanation. The favorite money then switched to Prudery while Sporting Blood remained at 3-1. Sure enough, Sporting Blood won and Rothstein collected $500,000 in both prize money and, mostly, from the $150,000 he'd bet here and there. It seems that Rothstein had heard just before the race that Prudery was having "female problems." Both Rothstein and Hildreth were accused of colluding but nothing could be proved. In any event, Rothstein soon sold his horses and never owned another horse again. He was later shot dead in 1928 over a crooked poker game in which he'd lost $320,000 but refused to pay.


12:30 PM -- New Morals For Old (1932)
The generation gap almost tears apart a New York society family.
Dir: Charles Brabin
Cast: Robert Young, Margaret Perry, Lewis Stone
75 min, TV-G

The play opened in London, England on 2 February 1930 with Madeleine Carroll in the role of Phyl. The play opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 3 November 1931, but had only 20 performances. Margaret Perry originated her movie role as Phyl in the opening night cast of that production, which also included Humphrey Bogart as Duff Wilson and Walter Kingsford as Mr. Thomas.


2:00 PM -- Washington Masquerade (1932)
A widowed U.S. Senator finds himself embroiled in scandal when he remarries.
Dir: Charles Brabin
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Karen Morley, Diane Sinclair
88 min, TV-G

Henri Bernstein's play, "La griffe," opened in Paris, France, on 18 April 1906. It's translation and adaptation, "The Claw," by Edward Delaney Dunn and Louis Wolheim, opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 17 October 1921 and had 105 performances. Lionel Barrymore created his movie role in the play, which also included Ian Wolfe in the opening night cast.


3:30 PM -- Day Of Reckoning (1933)
A man's nagging wife drives him to crime.
Dir: Charles Brabin
Cast: Richard Dix, Madge Evans, Conway Tearle
69 min, TV-PG

Althought the onscreen credits specify the source material as "from the novel by Morris Lavine," no such novel has been found. It is likely the novel was never published.


4:45 PM -- The Secret Of Madame Blanche (1933)
A murder brings together a woman and the son she was forced to give up years earlier.
Dir: Charles Brabin
Cast: Irene Dunne, Lionel Atwill, Phillips Holmes
84 min, TV-G

The play The Lady, by Martin Brown, originally opened in New York City, New York, USA on 4 December 1923 and ran for 85 performances.


6:15 PM -- Stage Mother (1933)
A young actress's mother will sacrifice anything, even her daughter, for money.
Dir: Charles Brabin
Cast: Alice Brady, Maureen O'Sullivan, Franchot Tone
85 min, TV-G

This film contains Larry Fine's only solo screen appearance without his fellow Stooges. Costume and makeup test photos show that Moe Howard and Curly Howard were also to appear, probably in a musical dance sequence.


7:41 PM -- That Mothers Might Live (1938)
This short film focuses on the story of Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, a physician that realized the death of new mothers could be reduced through the washing of hands.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Beatrice Roberts, E. Alyn Warren, Leonard Penn
10 min,

Won an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: JOAN CRAWFORD



8:00 PM -- The Unknown (1927)
In this silent film, an escaped killer pretends to be a sideshow's armless wonder.
Dir: Tod Browning
Cast: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford
50 min, TV-PG

Joan Crawford always considered The Unknown (1927) a big turning point for her. She said it wasn't until working with Lon Chaney in this film that she learned the difference between standing in front of a camera and acting in front of a camera. She said that was all due to Lon Chaney and his intense concentration, and after that experience she said she worked much harder to become a better actress.


9:00 PM -- Our Dancing Daughters (1928)
A flapper sets her hat for a man with a hard-drinking wife.
Dir: Harry Beaumont
Cast: Joan Crawford, John Mack Brown, Nils Asther
84 min, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Achievement -- Josephine Lovett (No official nominees had been announced this year.), and Best Cinematography -- George Barnes (No official nominees had been announced this year.)

The film that made Joan Crawford a star, and the first film with Joan Crawford's name featured above the title.


10:30 PM -- Our Modern Maidens (1929)
In this silent film, a flapper offers herself to a diplomat to advance her fiance's career.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Joan Crawford, Rod La Rocque, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
76 min, TV-G

Joan Crawford married co-star Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in a well orchestrated publicity event for the film.


12:00 AM -- Our Blushing Brides (1930)
Three roommates try to land rich husbands.
Dir: Harry Beaumont
Cast: Joan Crawford, Anita Page, Dorothy Sebastian
101 min, TV-G

Co-starring the Patron Saint of the Classic Films Group, Robert Montgomery.




1:45 AM -- Lady of the Night (1924)
In this silent film, a young man must choose between a woman from the streets and a refined woman, both of whom are in love with him.
Dir: Monta Bell
Cast: Norma Shearer, Malcolm McGregor, George K. Arthur
61 min, TV-G

Crawford's first film -- Norma Shearer plays two character and Crawford is Norma Shearer's double.


3:00 AM -- The Boob (1926)
In this silent film, a naive farm boy sets out to prove himself by hunting down a band of bootleggers.
Dir: William Wellman
Cast: Gertrude Olmsted, George K. Arthur, Joan Crawford
61 min, TV-G

The Book Lover's clubhouse (the speakeasy) is actually the set for the interior of the Hur palace from Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), with some minor redressing.


4:03 AM -- Georgie Price In "Don't Get Nervous" (1929)
Georgie Price performs his musical routine in this short film.
Dir: Bryan Foy
9 min,

From Wikipedia -- "Georgie Price (George Edwards Price January 5, 1901 - May 10, 1964) was an American vaudeville singer and comic who performed in Vitaphone shorts in the 1920s and 1930s. Price began as a child performer in public places such as barrooms and streetcars, before winning amateur competitions. At six years old, he so impressed opera singer Enrico Caruso that he performed with Caruso in a benefit concert for a deceased police officers family. It was Price, as a vaudeville child star, who in 1909 introduced the famous Edwards-Madden song By the Light of the Silvery Moon in Gus Edwards' revue School Boys and Girls. As an adult professional he drew comparisons to Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor. A bitter dispute with Shubert theatre magnate, Jacob J. Shubert, caused Price by the late 1920s to give up show business to work as a Wall Street broker. Shubert had originally hired Price with the promise to turn him into a major headliner, but then reneged and in turn refused to fulfill the financial obligations on Price's contract."


4:15 AM -- Spring Fever (1927)
In this silent film, a shipping clerk pretends to be a champion golfer to win an heiress' heart.
Dir: Edward Sedgwick
Cast: William Haines, Joan Crawford, George K. Arthur
78 min, TV-G

Based on a play by Vincent Lawrence.


5:45 AM -- Across to Singapore (1928)
In this silent film, sailor brothers become romantic rivals.
Dir: William Nigh
Cast: Ramon Novarro, Joan Crawford, Ernest Torrence
85 min, TV-PG

Based on the book All The Brothers Were Valient by Ben Ames William, this was also filmed in 1923 and 1953 as All The Brothers Were Valient.