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Staph

(6,245 posts)
Thu Jun 19, 2014, 12:53 AM Jun 2014

TCM Schedule for Friday, June 20, 2014 -- Friday Night Spotlight - Pirate Pictures

In the daylight hours, we've got a slew of private dicks, from Sherlock Holmes to Sam Spade to Philip Marlowe to Harper. And in prime time, they are continuing this month's Friday Night Spotlight, Pirate Pictures, with a quartet of Errol Flynn films. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- The Thin Man (1934)
A husband-and-wife detective team takes on the search for a missing inventor and almost get killed for their efforts.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan
BW-91 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Powell, Best Director -- W.S. Van Dyke, Best Writing, Adaptation -- Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, and Best Picture

The title does not refer to Nick Charles (William Powell), but to the murder victim (Edward Ellis). Audiences and critics alike kept referring to Nick Charles as "the Thin Man", so subsequent films kept the name.



7:45 AM -- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Hard-boiled detective Sam Spade gets caught up in the murderous search for a priceless statue.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George
BW-100 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sydney Greenstreet, Best Writing, Screenplay -- John Huston, and Best Picture

The "Maltese Falcon" itself is said to have been inspired by the "Kniphausen Hawk," a ceremonial pouring vessel made in 1697 for George William von Kniphausen, Count of the Holy Roman Empire. It is modeled after a hawk perched on a rock and is encrusted with red garnets, amethysts, emeralds and blue sapphires. The vessel, as of 2012, is owned by the Duke of Devonshire (Peregrine Cavendish) and is part of the Chatsworth collection.



9:30 AM -- The Big Sleep (1946)
Private eye Philip Marlowe investigates a society girl's involvement in the murder of a pornographer.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely
BW-114 mins, CC,

The scene where Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall make suggestive talk about horses was added almost a year after filming was otherwise complete, in an attempt to inject the film with the kind of risqué innuendos that had made To Have and Have Not (1944), and Bacall, so popular a few years earlier.


11:30 AM -- Laura (1944)
A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.
Dir: Otto Preminger
Cast: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb
BW-88 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph LaShelle

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Clifton Webb, Best Director -- Otto Preminger, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhardt, and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Lyle R. Wheeler, Leland Fuller and Thomas Little

The portrait of Laura is, in fact, a photograph done over with oil paint.



1:00 PM -- Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Detective Philip Marlowe's search for a two-timing woman leads him to blackmail and murder.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley
BW-95 mins, CC,

Audiences initially stayed away, thinking that "Farewell My Lovely", its original title, was yet another Dick Powell musical. When the studio changed the title to "Murder My Sweet", box office receipts picked up considerably.


2:45 PM -- Harper (1966)
A broken-down private eye sets out to find a rich woman's missing husband.
Dir: Jack Smight
Cast: Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris
C-121 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The character Lew Harper is based on novelist Ross Macdonald's character Lew Archer. The name was changed for the film supposedly because Paul Newman had recently enjoyed success with Hud (1963) and The Hustler (1961) (two of his successful films beginning with the letter "H", a later one after Harper (1966) was 1967's Hombre (1967)) and the producers wanted the movie's title to begin with "H". Also, the Macdonald estate did not want the name "Archer" used in the movie. There may have been fear of legal complications because Macdonald got the name "Archer" in the first place from Miles Archer, Sam Spade's partner who is killed early on in Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon (1941).


4:48 PM -- Operation Dirty Dozen (1967)
This promotional short film provides a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "The Dirty Dozen" (1987).
C-9 mins,


5:00 PM -- The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
The legendary sleuth becomes involved with a mysterious French woman while investigating the Loch Ness monster.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Irene Handl
C-125 mins, Letterbox Format

Originally Peter O'Toole was going to play Sherlock Holmes with Peter Sellers playing Dr. Watson, but Billy Wilder decided to go with lesser known stars instead.


7:15 PM -- MGM Parade Show #29 (1955)
Walter Pidgeon introduces Part Three of "Captains Courageous" and a clip from "Tribute to a Badman."
BW-25 mins,


7:41 PM -- Nostradamus Says So! (1953)
This short film presents the life and several predictions made by Nostradamus.
Dir: Peter Ballbusch
BW-11 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: PIRATE PICTURES



8:00 PM -- Against All Flags (1952)
A British officer must face off against the pirates of Madagascar.
Dir: George Sherman
Cast: Errol Flynn, Maureen O'Hara, Anthony Quinn
C-84 mins, CC,

Though Errol Flynn did most of his own stunts, he balked at the one involving sliding down through a sail on a rapier blade, which was originated by Douglas Fairbanks in The Black Pirate (1926). The stunt was performed by a double.


9:30 PM -- Captain Blood (1935)
After being unjustly sentenced to prison, a doctor escapes and becomes a notorious pirate.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill
BW-119 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Michael Curtiz (This was a write-in candidate, who came in second on the final ballots. It was not an official nomination.), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Casey Robinson (This was a write-in candidate, who came in third on the final ballots. It was not an official nomination.), Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (sound director), Best Music, Score -- Leo F. Forbstein (head of department) and score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (This was a write-in candidate, who came in third on the final ballots. It was not an official nomination.), and Best Picture

In his first major starring role, Errol Flynn was so nervous during the initial shooting that director Michael Curtiz had to re-shoot his early scenes much later into the production, by which time Flynn had gained a level of confidence.



11:34 PM -- Night Descends On Treasure Island (1940)
This short film focuses on the nighttime festivities for the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition.
C-8 mins,


11:45 PM -- The Sea Hawk (1940)
A British buccaneer holds the Spanish fleet at bay with the covert approval of Elizabeth I.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains
BW-128 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White -- Anton Grot, Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Effects, Special Effects -- Byron Haskin (photographic) and Nathan Levinson (sound), and Best Music, Score -- Erich Wolfgang Korngold

The beautifully crafted costumes were made for an Errol Flynn film from the previous year, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939). Reusing them saved Warner Bros. a huge amount of money, since the costumes were heavily researched, meticulously created and very expensive.



2:00 AM -- The Master of Ballantrae (1953)
A Scottish lord rebels against the British by taking up piracy.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Errol Flynn, Roger Livesey, Anthony Steel
C-89 mins, CC,

For spectacular (but brief) scenes depicting the 1745 rebellion, this film used stock footage from the disastrously unsuccessful David Niven film, Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), released only a few years earlier; Niven can actually be seen for a moment in one shot, albeit with his back to the camera.


3:45 AM -- Fortunes of Captain Blood (1950)
A doctor exiled from England becomes a pirate of the Caribbean.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Louis Hayward, Patricia Medina, George Macready
BW-90 mins, CC,

Based, loosely, very loosely, on the novel Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini.


5:30 AM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: Bill Murray (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-29 mins, CC, Letterbox Format


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