TCM Schedule for Saturday, February 28, 2015 -- 31 Days of Oscar - 1991-1996

The daylight theme today is thrillers. The prime time schedule includes the Oscar winning and nominated films of 1991 through 1996, excluding 1991's The Silence of the Lambs, and nominees Beauty and the Beast, Bugsy, JFK, and The Prince of Tides; 1992's winner Unforgiven, and nominees The Crying Game, Howards End, and Scent of a Woman; 1993's winner Schindler's List, and nominees The Fugitive, In the Name of the Father, The Piano, and The Remains of the Day; 1994's winner Forrest Gump, and nominees Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, and The Shawshank Redemption; 1995's winner Braveheart, and nominees Apollo 13, Babe, Il Postino: The Postman, and Sense and Sensibility; and 1996's winner The English Patient, and nominees Fargo, Jerry Maguire, Secrets & Lies, and Shine. (Though between yesterday and today, we seem to have skipped 1990 and its winner Dances with Wolves, and nominees Awakenings, Ghost, The Godfather: Part III, and Goodfellas!) Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- The Window (1949)
A boy who always lies witnesses a murder but can't get anyone but the killer to believe him.
Dir: Ted Tetzlaff
Cast: Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart
BW-73 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Frederic Knudtson

This film was shot in the latter part of 1947 but shelved by RKO boss Howard Hughes and released in 1949. When Bobby Driscoll got his juvenile Oscar in 1950 he was 13 years old.


7:15 AM -- Night Must Fall (1937)
A charming young man worms his way into a wealthy woman's household, then reveals a deadly secret.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Merle Tottenham, Kathleen Harrison, Dame May Whitty
BW-116 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Robert Montgomery, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Dame May Whitty

MGM didn't want Montgomery to do the film, and at its premiere at Grauman's Chinese screened a trailer disclaiming the film and warning the audience about the film's "spurious content." Despite this, the film was well-received by audiences and critics.


9:15 AM -- Kind Lady (1951)
A con artist and his criminal cohorts hold an old lady hostage in her own home.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Ethel Barrymore, Maurice Evans, Angela Lansbury
BW-78 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Walter Plunkett and Gile Steele

Moyna MacGill (Mrs. Harkley) is Angela Lansbury's mother in real life.


10:45 AM -- Wait Until Dark (1967)
A blind woman fights against drug smugglers who've invaded her home.
Dir: Terence Young
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna
C-108 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Audrey Hepburn

In order to create a sense of unease, the film's composer Henry Mancini had his two pianists, Pearl Kaufman and Jimmy Rowles, playing instruments tuned a quarter tone apart. Initially uncertain as to whether this novel approach would achieve the desired end, Mancini was reassured in short order, when, after just a few takes of the main title, Kaufman turned to him and said, 'Hank, can we please take a break? This is making me ill!' 'She made my day,' the composer recalled fondly. 'The device was working.'


12:45 PM -- The Narrow Margin (1952)
A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's moll on a tense train ride.
Dir: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor, Jacqueline White
BW-72 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard

Filmed in 1950, not released until 1952. According to director Richard Fleischer, when the film was finished RKO Pictures owner Howard Hughes heard good things about it and ordered that a copy of it be delivered to him so he could screen it in his private projection room. The film stayed in the projection room for more than a year, apparently because the eccentric Hughes forgot about it.


2:00 PM -- Strangers On A Train (1951)
A man's joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Burks

This was the last full feature for Robert Walker who died eight months after filming finished from an allergic reaction to a drug.


3:45 PM -- Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
A young girl fears her favorite uncle may be a killer.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, MacDonald Carey
BW-108 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Gordon McDonell

Alfred Hitchcock often said that this was his favorite film.


5:45 PM -- The China Syndrome (1979)
A television newswoman stumbles onto deadly secrets at a nuclear power plant.
Dir: James Bridges
Cast: Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas
C-122 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Jack Lemmon, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jane Fonda, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Mike Gray, T.S. Cook and James Bridges, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- George Jenkins and Arthur Jeph Parker

When the film was first released on 16 March 1979, nuclear power executives soon lambasted the picture as being "sheer fiction" and a "character assassination of an entire industry". Then twelve days after its launch, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident occurred in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. It was commented how the events had left nuclear executives embarrassed with egg on their faces.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: 1991-1996



8:00 PM -- A River Runs Through It (1992)
A preacher's sons, one serious, one wild, look out for each other while growing up in rural Montana.
Dir: Robert Redford
Cast: Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt, Tom Skerritt
C-124 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography -- Philippe Rousselot

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published -- Richard Friedenberg, and Best Music, Original Score -- Mark Isham

George Coonenbergs was a retired railroad engineer. He taught Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer and Tom Skerritt how to fly-fish for this movie. He also taught fly-fishing and fly-tying to his fellow residents, and staff members, of his retirement community. He grew up near the Maclean family in Missoula, MT. His family's cabin was built next door to the Maclean family cabin in Seeley Lake, Montana. He learned to fly fish and tie flies from Rev. John Maclean, and was considered Paul Maclean to be his best friend. The friendship between the Maclean and Coonenbergs families continues to this day, into its fourth generation.


10:07 PM -- Service With The Colors (1940)
This short film focuses on new army recruits prior to the U.S. entry into World War II. Vitaphone Release 9933-9934.
Dir: B. Reeves Eason
Cast: Herbert Anderson, John Ridgely, Edwin Stanley
C-21 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Two-reel -- From the National Defense Series

Filmed on location at the Presidio and on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay.


10:30 PM -- A Few Good Men (1992)
When a Marine dies on a US Navy base, two fellow Marines stand trial for murder.
Dir: Rob Reiner
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore
C-138 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Nicholson, Best Sound -- Kevin O'Connell, Rick Kline and Robert Eber, and Best Film Editing -- Robert Leighton, and Best Picture

The original play was inspired by an actual Code Red at Guantanamo Bay. Lance Corporal David Cox and 9 other enlisted men tied up a fellow Marine and severely beat him, for snitching to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Cox was acquitted and later Honorably Discharged. In 1994, David Cox mysteriously vanished, and his bullet-riddled body was found three months later. His murder remains unsolved. Writer Aaron Sorkin got the story idea from his sister, who in real life experienced that incident at Guantanamo from the perspective of the female JAG attorney. Sorkin initially turned the idea into a play, and then this screenplay, which was his very first.


1:00 AM -- The English Patient (1996)
A man dying from third-degree burns remembers a tragic wartime romance.
Dir: Anthony Minghella
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Juliette Binoche
C-162 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Juliette Binoche, Best Director -- Anthony Minghella, Best Cinematography -- John Seale, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Stuart Craig and Stephenie McMillan, Best Costume Design -- Ann Roth, Best Sound -- Walter Murch, Mark Berger, David Parker and Christopher Newman, Best Film Editing -- Walter Murch, Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Gabriel Yared, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Ralph Fiennes, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Kristin Scott Thomas, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published -- Anthony Minghella

In 2005, Juliette Binoche had her Oscar touched up by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her three-year-old son was fond of playing with it and it had subsequently become tarnished and peeling. One of the perks of being an Oscar-winner is that you can have your Oscar repaired for free by the Academy.


3:46 AM -- 100 Years At The Movies (1994)
This short documentary celebrates the centennial of American filmmaking through a montage of clips of influential motion pictures.
Dir: Chuck Workman
C-9 mins,


4:00 AM -- The Fisher King (1991)
A DJ tries to help a homeless madman whose life he had unwittingly ruined.
Dir: Terry Gilliam
Cast: Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Mercedes Ruehl
C-138 mins,

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Mercedes Ruehl

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Robin Williams, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Richard LaGravenese, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Mel Bourne and Cindy Carr, and Best Music, Original Score -- George Fenton

For the "waltzing commuter" scene in Grand Central station, the main hall of the terminal was shut down for the shoot from 8pm until the first commuter trains arrived at 5:30 am the next morning. Lighting effects outside of the large terminal windows made it seem to be 5:00 in the evening the entire night, and over 400 extras waltzed around the mirror-ball topped Information Booth again and again throughout the night. Now, on New Year's, an orchestra plays there and people waltz for real.