TCM Schedule for Thursday, June 12, 2014 -- Star of the Month - Rock Hudson

In the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating Ida Lupino. It's not her birthday, but they are showing films that she starred in and films that she directed (she was the second woman to be admitted to the Director's Guild). In prime time, we have a selection of films featuring Star of the Month, Rock Hudson, including three of his films directed by Douglas Sirk. Enjoy!


7:00 AM -- They Drive by Night (1940)
Truck driving brothers are framed for murder by a lady psycho.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino
BW-95 mins, CC,

The wife of producer Mark Hellinger, Gladys Glad, a former showgirl for Broadway producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., was responsible for getting this film made. Hellinger had brought home a large stack of scripts that he was to read for filming consideration. Hellinger had leafed through the script and read the summary, but felt that "nobody would pay money to see a bunch of truck drivers". His wife read this script, liked it, and pressured Hellinger to read it. Reluctantly, he did, the film eventually got made and became the sleeper hit of the year for Warners. It was made for an estimated $400,000 and grossed more than $4,000,000. (Source: Book "The Mark Hellinger Story" by Jim Bishop, New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1952)


9:00 AM -- High Sierra (1941)
An aging ex-con sets out to pull one more big heist.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis
BW-100 mins, CC,

This was the last movie Humphrey Bogart made where he did not receive top billing. The studio thought that Ida Lupino should have top billing given the fact that she had been such a big hit in They Drive by Night (1940) and so her name ended up above Bogart's on the title card. Bogart was reportedly unhappy about receiving second billing but never complained.


10:45 AM -- Out Of The Fog (1941)
A racketeer terrorizes a small fishing community until he falls in love with a fisherman's daughter.
Dir: Anatole Litvak
Cast: John Garfield, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell
BW-85 mins, CC,

Humphrey Bogart was originally chosen to play Harold Goff. However, Ida Lupino had just finished shooting They Drive by Night (1940) and High Sierra (1941) with Bogart, and they had not gotten along. Lupino protested, and because she'd had a bigger name than Bogart at the time, she got her way, forcing an angry Bogart to shoot off a telegram to Jack L. Warner asking, "When did Ida Lupino start casting films at your studio?"


12:15 PM -- The Hard Way (1942)
An ambitious woman doesn't care who she hurts in her drive to make her sister a star.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, Joan Leslie
BW-109 mins, CC,

Per director Vincent Sherman, the film was actually based on dancer-actress Ginger Rogers' relationship with her quintessential stage-mother, Lelee.


2:15 PM -- Outrage (1950)
A rape victim runs away to escape her horrible memories.
Dir: Ida Lupino
Cast: Mala Powers, Tod Andrews, Robert Clarke
BW-75 mins,

Lupino's third film as director. She also has a small, uncredited role at the country dance.


3:45 PM -- Beware, My Lovely (1952)
A widow discovers her handyman is an escaped mental patient.
Dir: Harry Horner
Cast: Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Taylor Holmes
BW-77 mins, CC,

This story was originally done on the CBS radio show Suspense as "To Find Help" on 18 January 1945 with Frank Sinatra as Howard and Agnes Moorehead as Mrs. Gillis (Mrs. Gordon in the film). This was Sinatra's "dramatic debut" on radio. It was done again on Suspense (1949) with Gene Kelly and Ethel Barrymore on 6 January 1949.


5:15 PM -- On Dangerous Ground (1952)
A tough cop sent to help in a mountain manhunt falls for the quarry's blind sister.
Dir: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Ward Bond
BW-82 mins, CC,

Ida Lupino directed the film for several days when Nicholas Ray fell ill.


6:45 PM -- The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
A dangerous madman kidnaps two businessmen on a hunting trip.
Dir: Ida Lupino
Cast: Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman
BW-71 mins,

In an interview William Talman recalled an incident that happened shortly after the release of The Hitch-Hiker (1953), in which he gave a chilling portrayal of escaped murderer and serial killer Emmett Meyers. He was driving his convertible in Los Angeles with the top down, and he stopped at a red light. Another driver in a convertible who was stopped next to him stared at him for a few seconds, then said, "You're the hitchhiker, right?" Talman nodded, indicating that he was. The other driver got out of his car, went over to Talman's car and slapped him across the face, then got back in his car and drove off. In recalling the story, Talman said, "You know, I never won an Academy Award but I guess that was about as close as I ever will come to one."



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: ROCK HUDSON



8:00 PM -- Magnificent Obsession (1954)
A playboy becomes a doctor to right the wrong he's done to a sightless widow.
Dir: Douglas Sirk
Cast: Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Agnes Moorehead
C-108 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jane Wyman

Jeff Chandler turned down the role of Bob Merrick because he thought the story was too "soppy".


10:00 PM -- All That Heaven Allows (1955)
A lonely widow defies small-town gossip when she falls for a younger man.
Dir: Douglas Sirk
Cast: Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Agnes Moorehead
C-89 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The house Jane Wyman's character lives in (on Universal's "Colonial Street" backlot) was built by on rented Universal property by Paramount Pictures for 1955's "Desperate Hours"; Universal left it standing after filming, altering its appearance for "All That Heaven Allows." Four years later, it was altered again, for use as the house of the Cleaver family in TV's "Leave it to Beaver," beginning with the show's move from CBS to ABC for the 1959 season. The house continued as the Cleaver house until the end of the series in 1962, but was known at Universal as the "Paramount House," not the "Cleaver House."


11:45 PM -- Giant (1956)
A Texas ranching family fights to survive changing times.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean
BW-201 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Director -- George Stevens

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Dean (This was James Dean's second consecutive posthumous nomination.), Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Rock Hudson, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Mercedes McCambridge, Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Boris Leven and Ralph S. Hurst, Best Costume Design, Color -- Moss Mabry and Marjorie Best, Best Film Editing -- William Hornbeck, Philip W. Anderson and Fred Bohanan, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Dimitri Tiomkin, and Best Picture

Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor went for get-to-know-you drinks one night at the very start of the production. They both got exceedingly drunk, finishing the evening at 3:00 am. Their call-time was 5:30 am. Fortunately the scene being shot that morning was a wedding scene with no dialog, so instead of talking, all they had to do was look lovingly at each other. The two actors were concentrating so hard on not being sick that they were quite surprised when some of the people on-set started to cry, so convinced were they of their supposed looks of adoration at each other.


3:15 AM -- Something Of Value (1957)
Childhood friends end up on opposite sides of a bloody African uprising.
Dir: Richard Brooks
Cast: Rock Hudson, Dana Wynter, Wendy Hiller
BW-113 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Rock Hudson himself drove the film crew round the Nairobi National Park, with the stand-in for his co-star next to him. The crew and game warden were in the back of the semi-open Land Rover. Although all the animals in the park were wild they were used to vehicles. Many shots of various animals were taken, including baboons. For the latter Hudson threw peanuts onto the front of the vehicle. One half-grown male, seeing the actual source of this food, jumped through the half-door onto Hudson's lap, stole some extra peanuts and even snatched a lipstick from the hand of the stand-in. Hudson grabbed the baboon by the scruff of the neck, calmly took back the lipstick and threw the animal out.


5:15 AM -- A Farewell to Arms (1957)
The story of an affair between an English nurse and an American soldier on the Italian front during World War I.
Dir: Charles Vidor
Cast: Rock Hudson, Jennifer Jones, Vittorio De Sica
C-152 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Vittorio De Sica

Rock Hudson turned down Sayonara (1957) and Ben-Hur (1959) in order to make this film. He later said this was the biggest mistake of his career.