TCM Schedule for Friday, September 25, 2015 -- What's On Tonight: James Dean's Television Legacy

In the daylight hours, it's the end of Star of the Month Susan Hayward, and a short celebration of writer/director Robert Bresson, born September 25, 1901 in Bromont-Lamothe, Puy-de-Dôme, France. In prime time, we have an interesting selection of James Dean's television roles, before his short but meteroric career in films. It's really fascinating to look at his costars in the gems of the early era of television. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Where Love Has Gone (1964)
Family secrets come to light when a teen-ager murders her mother's lover.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Susan Hayward, Bette Davis, Michael Connors
C-114 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song for Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "Where Love Has Gone"

Although repeatedly denied at the time, this film (and the novel on which it was based) were widely believed to be about the infamous Lana Turner / Johnny Stompanato case of 1958. Stompanato, a violent gangster, was Turner's boyfriend and her daughter Cheryl Crane stabbed Stompanato to death as he was beating Turner. Her defense at her murder trial was that she was afraid that Stompanato, who had beaten Turner many times before, was going to kill her this time. She was acquitted.


8:00 AM -- I Thank A Fool (1962)
A woman once convicted of euthanasia gets a job caring for her prosecutor's wife.
Dir: Robert Stevens
Cast: Susan Hayward, Peter Finch, Diane Cilento
C-100 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

A rejected score was composed by Gail Kubik. The final score was composed by Ron Goodwin.


9:45 AM -- Ada (1961)
A call girl weds an easygoing politician and helps him against corrupt state officials.
Dir: Daniel Mann
Cast: Susan Hayward, Dean Martin, Wilfrid Hyde-White
C-108 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Based on the novel Ada Dallas by Wirt Williams.


11:45 AM -- Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
A young priest taking over a parish tries to fulfill his duties even as he fights a mysterious stomach ailment.
Dir: Robert Bresson
Cast: Claude Laydu, Nicole Maurey, Andre Guibert
BW-115 mins,

The main character's bizarre, unhealthy eating habits, not to mention his obsessive isolation and loneliness, were reportedly an influence on the character of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976).


1:45 PM -- A Man Escaped (1956)
An activist is imprisoned by the Nazis, and devotes his waking hours to planning an elaborate escape.
Dir: Robert Bresson
Cast: Francois Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock
BW-101 mins,

This forms the first of a loose trilogy by Robert Bresson of prison pictures, with the other films being "Pickpocket" and "The Trial of Joan of Arc".


3:30 PM -- Pickpocket (1959)
A man released from jail after serving a sentence for thievery resorts to pickpocketing as a means of survival after his mother dies.
Dir: Robert Bresson
Cast: Martin Lasalle, Marika Green, Jean Pelegri
BW-76 mins,

Banned in Finland until 1965 because of its depiction of authentic pickpocketing techniques.


5:00 PM -- Le Proces de Jeanne d'Arc (1962)
Joan of Arc's trial and execution are re-created from the original court records.
Dir: Robert Bresson
Cast: Florence Carrez, Jean-Claude Fourneau, Marc Jacquier
BW-64 mins, Letterbox Format

An almost completely verbatim piece of cinema, this film is reconstructed from the transcripts of the trial of Joan of Arc.


6:15 PM -- Au Hasard, Balthazar (1966)
The lives of a donkey and the girl who named him intertwine.
Dir: Robert Bresson
Cast: Anne Wiazemsky, François Lafarge, Philippe Asselin
BW-95 mins,

Balthazar was an untrained donkey during most of the filming, which made Bressons's work a real challenge. The only scene for which the donkey was trained was the circus math trick.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: JAMES DEAN'S TELEVISION LEGACY



8:00 PM -- Campbell Summer Soundstage: Something for an Empty Briefcase (1953)
A crime victim falls in love with the man who mugged her.
Dir: Don Medford
Cast: Susan Douglas Rubes, James Dean, Don Hanmer
BW-27 mins,


8:30 PM -- Studio One in Hollywood: Sentence of Death (1948)
A cocky teen is falsely convicted of murder.
Dir: Matt Harlib
Gene Lyons, Betsy Palmer, Ralph Dunn
BW-53 mins,


9:30 PM -- Kraft Theatre: A Long Time Till Dawn (1953)
After paying for his crimes, an ex-convict struggles to go straight.
Dir: Richard Dunlap
Cast: Robert Cass, James Dean, Pud Flanagan
BW-55 mins,


10:30 PM -- Robert Montgomery Presents: Harvest (1953)
A farmwoman tries to use Thanksgiving dinner to keep her sons at home on the farm.
Dir: James Sheldon
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Dorothy Gish, Ed Begley
BW-54 mins,


11:30 PM -- The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse: Run Like a Thief (1954)
When he gives his wife a bracelet he had found, a young waiter lands in trouble with the law.
Dir: Jeffrey Hayden
Cast: Ward Costello, James Dean, Gusti Huber
BW-52 mins,


12:30 AM -- General Electric Theater: I'm a Fool (1954)
A teenager grows up fast when he's caught in a lie.
Dir: Don Medford
Cast: Eddie Albert, James Dean, Natalie Wood
BW-24 mins,


1:00 AM -- General Electric Theater: The Dark, Dark Hours (1954)
A delinquent breaks into a doctor's home to get treatment for an injured friend.
Dir: Don Medford
Cast: Ronald Reagan, James Dean, Constance Ford
BW-25 mins,


1:30 AM -- The United States Steel Hour: The Thief (1955)
The son of a wealthy family steals from his parents to help a married friend.
Dir: Vincent J. Donehue
Cast: Mary Astor, James Dean, Patric Knowles
C-51 mins,


2:30 AM -- East Of Eden (1955)
Two brothers compete for their father's approval and a woman's love.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Julie Harris, James Dean, Raymond Massey
C-118 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jo Van Fleet

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Dean (This was the first posthumous acting nomination in Academy Awards history.), Best Director -- Elia Kazan, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Paul Osborn

This is the only one of the "big three" James Dean films to be released before his death.


4:30 AM -- Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
An alienated teenager tries to handle life's troubles and an apron-wearing dad.
Dir: Nicholas Ray
Cast: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sal Mineo, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Natalie Wood, and Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Nicholas Ray

In his article "Dangerous Talents," published in Vanity Fair Magazine in March 2005, Sam Kashner writes that director Nicholas Ray, screenwriter Stewart Stern, costar James Dean, and Sal Mineo himself all intended for Mineo's character Plato to be subtly but definitely understood as gay. Kashner says that although the Production Code was still very much in force and forbade any mention of homosexuality, Ray, Dean, Mineo, and Stern all worked together to insert restrained references to Plato's homosexuality and attraction to Jim, including the pinup photo of Alan Ladd on Plato's locker door, Plato's adoring looks at Jim, his loaded talk with Jim in the old mansion, and even the name "Plato," which is a reference to the Classical Greek philosopher. For that mansion scene, Dean suggested to Mineo that Plato should "look at me the way I look at Natalie."