TCM Schedule for Saturday, May 31, 2014 -- The Essentials - Pygmalion Stories

Today's Essentials is Pygmalion stories, including the big daddy of them all, My Fair Lady (1964). I wish they had decided to include the 1938 version of Pygmalion, starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller. The contrast would have been fascinating. However, I'm looking forward to Princess Tam Tam, starring Josephine Baker. I'm not sure that I have ever seen one of her films in its entirety. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Hotel (1967)
A New Orleans hotel owner fights off a corporate raider while his guests struggle through a variety of personal problems.
Dir: Richard Quine
Cast: Rod Taylor, Catherine Spaak, Karl Malden
C-125 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In an odd twist of fate that could not be appreciated for at a decade, Karl Malden plays a hotel thief who breaks into guest rooms and steals wallets; following one lowly heist that nets him him only a few dollars in actual cash, he bemoans that his livelihood is being snuffed out by rampant popularity of credit cards - which ironically later became his real-life late-career claim to fame as spokesman for American Express credit cards: "Don't leave home without it!"


8:07 AM -- Hotel Anchovy (1934)
In this short film, the Ritz Brothers cause chaos in a bankrupt hotel.
Dir: Al Christie
Cast: Harry Short, Robert Middlemass, Jimmy Ritz
BW-18 mins,


8:30 AM -- Berlin Express (1948)
Allied agents fight an underground Nazi group in post-war Europe.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: Merle Oberon, Robert Ryan, Charles Korvin
BW-87 mins, CC,

The first Hollywood production in Germany after World War II.


10:15 AM -- Carson on TCM: Susan Sarandon (5/9/74) (2013)
TCM presents an interview from The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, with Susan Sarandon from 5/9/74.
C-9 mins, CC,


10:30 AM -- Doctor in the House (1955)
A medical student tries to balance partying with healing the sick.
Dir: Ralph Thomas
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Muriel Pavlow, Kenneth More
C-92 mins,

The medical school in the film was the old St. Georges Hospital Medical School which used to be on Hyde Park Corner (now a plush hotel). St. Georges was later moved to Tooting, in South West London.


12:03 PM -- Emergency Doctor (1956)
This short film pays tribute to all the doctors who put their lives on hold to save the lives of others.
Dir: Harry W. Smith
BW-8 mins,


12:15 PM -- High Plains Drifter (1973)
A mysterious gunman signs on to protect a small town from bandits.
Dir: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill
C-105 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The town of Lago was built 300 miles away from Hollywood. A 46-man crew of technicians and 10 laborers worked 10-hours a day for 18 days constructing 14 houses and a two-story hotel. They were burned down at the film's completion.


2:15 PM -- Helen of Troy (1956)
A shipwrecked prince's love for a married queen triggers war between Greece and Troy.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Rossana Podestà, Jack Sernas, Sir Cedric Hardwicke
C-121 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

On kissing Helen, Paris tells her "make me immortal with a kiss." He is echoing the famous lines from Christopher Marlow's play Faust, in which Faust, on seeing a vision of Helen of Troy, says "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships, And burnt the topless towers of Ilium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss."


4:30 PM -- World Without End (1955)
Astronauts returning from a voyage are caught in a time warp and are propelled into a post-Apocalyptic Earth populated by mutants.
Dir: Edward Bernds
Cast: Hugh Marlowe, Nancy Gates, Nelson Leigh
C-81 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Just four years later, one of the stars of this, Rod Taylor, would star in George Pal's The Time Machine (1960). Based on the novel by H.G. Wells, this would be Rod's second foray through time in his storied career.


6:00 PM -- From The Earth To The Moon (1958)
Lifelong rivals collaborate on a 19th-century moon rocket.
Dir: Byron Haskin
Cast: Joseph Cotten, George Sanders, Debra Paget
C-100 mins, CC,

This was one of the last films produced for RKO. By the time it was completed, RKO had ceased production and distribution. It was released through Warner Brothers.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: PYGMALION STORIES



8:00 PM -- My Fair Lady (1964)
A phonetics instructor bets that he can pass a street urchin off as a lady.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway
C-173 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Rex Harrison (Rex Harrison dedicated his Oscar to "two fair ladies": Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn.), Best Director -- George Cukor, Best Cinematography, Color -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton and George James Hopkins, Best Costume Design, Color -- Cecil Beaton, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- André Previn, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Stanley Holloway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gladys Cooper, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Alan Jay Lerner, and Best Film Editing -- William H. Ziegler

One of only four productions to win the Best Play Tony (1957) and the Best Picture Oscar (1964). The other three are The Sound of Music (Tony - 1960/ Oscar - 1965), A Man for All Seasons (Tony - 1962/Oscar - 1966) and Amadeus (Tony - 1981/Oscar - 1984).


11:00 PM -- Princess Tam Tam (1935)
A French novelist passes off a Tunisian shepherdess as royalty to get back at his cheating wife.
Dir: Max Montagu
Cast: Albert Prejean, Josephine Baker, Germaine Aussey
BW-77 mins,

An advertising poster for this film is pictured on one stamp of a set of five 42¢ USA commemorative postage stamps honoring Vintage Black Cinema, issued 16 July 2008. Other films honored in this set are Black and Tan (1929), The Sport of the Gods (1921), Caldonia (1945), and Hallelujah (1929).


12:30 AM -- Born Yesterday (1950)
A newspaper reporter takes on the task of educating a crooked businessman's girlfriend.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford, William Holden
BW-102 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Judy Holliday (Judy Holliday was not present at the awards ceremony. Ethel Barrymore accepted on her behalf.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- George Cukor, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Albert Mannheimer, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Jean Louis, and Best Picture

To help facilitate shooting, George Cukor decided to rehearse Born Yesterday (1950) as if it were still a stage play. For two weeks, the cast worked on their lines while a construction crew built a 300-seat mini-theater within one of the studio's sound-stages. It was there that Judy Holliday, William Holden and Broderick Crawford gave six performances in front of a live audience so that Cukor could precision-time the pacing of the film's jokes.


2:17 AM -- The Capital City Washington, D.C. (1940)
This short film focuses on Washington, D.C.'s famous buildings and monuments.
C-9 mins,


2:30 AM -- Massacre Mafia Style (1978)
A Don's disgraced son returns to the U.S. to rebuild his family's reputation.
Dir: Duke Mitchell
C-83 mins, Letterbox Format

In order to get extras for the wedding scene, Mitchell sent out real wedding invitations. Most of the people there thought they were going to a real wedding. He sold the wedding presents brought by the guest in order to have more funding for the film.


4:00 AM -- Al Capone (1959)
Chicago's most notorious gangster rules the city ruthlessly.
Dir: Richard Wilson
Cast: Rod Steiger, Fay Spain, James Gregory
BW-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The real Al Capone died of advanced syphilis which had become neurosyphilis. Due to the production code in effect at the time, the narrator (James Gregory) attributes Capone's death to an "incurable disease".


5:50 AM -- Duck and Cover (1951)
In this short film, a monkey's prank on a turtle demonstrates how to survive a nuclear attack.
Dir: Anthony Rizzo
Cast: Leo M. Langlois III, Ray J. Mauer,
BW-9 mins,