TCM Schedule for Thursday, July 17, 2014 -- What's On Tonight - Crime Remakes

In the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating the birth of one of the greatest actors of all time (in my opinion!), James Cagney, born James Francis Cagney on July 17, 1899, in New York City. The celebration features his films of 1932 and 1933, featuring his broad range as a gangster, a prize fighter, a navel cadet, a detective and an aspiring actor. In prime time, we've got a pair of 1930s crime films, and their much later remakes. Enjoy!

FYI -- I'm sending this out early, as I will be beyond the range of the Interwebs for most of this week.


6:00 AM -- Taxi! (1932)
A feisty independent cab driver fights off a crooked syndicate.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: James Cagney, Loretta Young, George E. Stone
BW-69 mins, CC,

This movie is the source of James Cagney's most famous misquoted line, "You dirty rat!" In the film, Cagney actually says, "Come out and take it, you dirty, yellow-bellied rat, or I'll give it to you through the door!"


7:15 AM -- Winner Take All (1932)
A prize fighter tries to help an invalid and her baby.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: James Cagney, Marian Nixon, Guy Kibbee
BW-66 mins, CC,

Clips from this film were used in James Cagney's final film, the 1984 TV Movie "Terrible Joe Moran".


8:30 AM -- Footlight Parade (1933)
A producer fights labor problems, financiers and his greedy ex-wife to put on a show.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler
BW-104 mins, CC,

John Garfield is often credited as being an extra in this film, five years before signing a Hollywood contract with Warner Brothers, but researchers are in dispute over whether it is actually Garfield in the shot, which lasts 5/6 of one second onscreen.


10:30 AM -- Hard To Handle (1933)
A hustling public relations man promotes a series of fads.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: James Cagney, Mary Brian, Allen Jenkins
BW-78 mins, CC,

There is no accounting for nicknames, but "Lefty" Merrill writes and drinks with his right hand.


12:00 PM -- Lady Killer (1933)
A criminal on the run becomes a Hollywood movie star.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay
BW-76 mins, CC,

For the scene where Dan Quigley hauls Myra Gale across the apartment floor by her hair, and throws her out the door, James Cagney taught his co-star Mae Clarke an old stage trick. When Cagney grabbed hold of Clarke's hair (holding her by the top of her head), Clarke reached up and grabbed Cagney's wrist with both hands. This put her weight on Cagney's wrist, instead of on her hair. Clarke then held on to Cagney's wrist, screaming as he dragged her across the room.


1:30 PM -- The Mayor Of Hell (1933)
A racketeer goes straight to run a reform school.
Dir: Archie Mayo
Cast: James Cagney, Madge Evans, Arthur Byron
BW-90 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Islin Auster.


3:15 PM -- Picture Snatcher (1933)
An ex-con brings his crooked ways to a job as a news photographer.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: James Cagney, Ralph Bellamy, Patricia Ellis
BW-77 mins, CC,

The scene of Danny photographing an execution is based an actual incident in which Chicago-based crime photographer Tom Howard (who was the grandfather of 'George Wendt') surreptitiously snapped the famous photo of convicted murderess Ruth Snyder's January 12, 1928 execution in the electric chair at Sing Sing for the New York Daily News.


4:45 PM -- Here Comes the Navy (1934)
A cocky naval cadet clashes with an old friend serving with him.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Gloria Stuart
BW-87 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

The movie was filmed in the spring of 1934 on the U.S.S. Arizona, which was sunk on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. The airship in the movie, the USS Macon, would crash into the Pacific Ocean the year after the film (February 12, 1935) off Big Sur, California. Only 2 of the 76 crew members would be lost in the accident.


6:15 PM -- Jimmy The Gent (1934)
An unscrupulous detective makes a killing locating missing heirs.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: James Cagney, Bette Davis, Allen Jenkins
BW-68 mins, CC,

Based on the story The Heir Chaser by Laird Doyle and Ray Nazarro.


7:30 PM -- MGM Parade Show #30 (1955)
Walter Pidgeon discusses Greta Garbo's early career; Irene Papas introduces behind-the-scenes footage from "Tribute to a Badman."
BW-25 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: CRIME REMAKES



8:00 PM -- The Criminal Code (1931)
A convict trying to reform is torn between conflicting loyalties when he witnesses a murder behind bars.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Constance Cummings
BW-96 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Adaptation -- Seton I. Miller and Fred Niblo Jr.

After drugging Katie the housekeeper with tea to insure his alibi, Galloway pours out the contents of the cup in the sink, presumably to preclude any analysis of it, but he leaves the teapot to be discovered.


9:42 PM -- Believe It Or Not #12 (1932)
This short film, part of the "Believe It or Not" series, features such odd sights as a moving house and chickens with tail feathers measuring up to twenty-five feet. Vitaphone Release 1427.
BW-8 mins,


10:00 PM -- Convicted (1950)
A prison warden fights to prove one of his inmates was wrongly convicted.
Dir: Henry Levin
Cast: Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, Millard Mitchell
BW-91 mins, CC,

A remake of The Criminal Code (1931), as well as of Penitentiary (1938).


11:50 PM -- Believe It Or Not #4 (1932)
In this short film, Robert L. Ripley takes a dreaming boy on a tour of Believe-It-or-Not land to see many oddities. Vitaphone Release 1320.
Cast: Billy Hayes,
BW-9 mins,


12:00 AM -- Scarface (1932)
A murderous thug shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley
BW-94 mins, CC,

Screenwriter Ben Hecht was a former Chicago journalist familiar with the city's Prohibition-era gangsters, including Al Capone. During the filming Hecht returned to his Los Angeles hotel room one night to find two Capone torpedoes waiting for him. The gangsters demanded to know if the movie was about Capone. Hecht assured them it wasn't, saying that the character Tony Camonte was based on gangsters like "Big" Jim Colosimo and Charles Dion O'Bannion. "Then why is the movie called Scarface?" one of the hoods demanded. "Everyone will think it's about Capone!" "That's the reason," said Hecht. "If you call the movie Scarface (1932), people will think it's about Capone and come to see it. It's part of the racket we call show business." The Capone hoods, who appreciated the value of a scam, left the hotel placated.


1:45 AM -- The Making Of Cannery Row (1982)
This promotional short offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Cannery Row" (1982).
Dir: Robert Ward
C-9 mins,


2:00 AM -- Scarface (1983)
A determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel while succumbing to greed in this adaptation of "Scarface" (1932).
Dir: Brian De Palma
Cast: Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer
C-170 mins, Letterbox Format

When director Brian De Palma submitted the film to the MPAA, they gave it an "X rating". He then made some cuts and resubmitted it a second time; again the film was given an "X rating" (one of the reasons apparently being that Octavio the clown was shot too many times). He yet again made some further cuts and submitted it a third time; yet again it was given an "X". De Palma refused to cut the film any further to qualify it for an R. He and producer Martin Bregman arranged a hearing with the MPAA. They brought in a panel of experts, including real narcotics officers, who stated that the film was an accurate portrayal of real life in the drug underworld and should be widely seen. This convinced the 20 members of the ratings board to give the third submitted cut of the film an "R rating" by a vote of 18-2. However, De Palma surmised that if the third cut of the film was judged an "R" than the very first cut should have been an "R" as well. He asked the studio if he could release the first cut but was told that he couldn't. However since the Studio execs really didn't know the differences between the different cuts that had been submitted, De Palma released the first cut of the film to theaters anyway. It wasn't until the film had been released on videocassette months later that he confessed that he had released his first unedited and intended version of the film.


5:00 AM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: John Leguizamo (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-28 mins, CC, Letterbox Format


5:30 AM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: Laurence Fishburne (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-27 mins, CC, Letterbox Format