TCM Schedule for Thursday, November 19, 2015 -- What's On Tonight: Douglas Fairbanks

In the daylight hours, TCM is featuring films by director Roy Del Ruth, who started his career as a writer for Mack Sennett and later directed the first color film for Warner Bros., The Desert Song (1929). In prime time, TCM is showing films starring Douglas Fairbanks, Senior. I must admit, I'm not sure that I've ever seen any of Senior's movies, though I'm a big fan of Junior. This will be a great day to expand my cinematic knowledge. Enjoy!


7:30 AM -- Blonde Crazy (1931)
A con-man bellhop and his chambermaid girlfriend set out to fleece hotel guests.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Louis Calhern
BW-79 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Kubec Glasmon and John Bright.


9:00 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".


10:15 AM -- Bureau Of Missing Persons (1933)
A police chief helps a young bride find her missing husband or at least his corpse.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Lewis Stone, Pat O'Brien, Glenda Farrell
BW-73 mins,

Though Bette Davis is top-billed, she does not appear until the 32nd minute of this 73-minute movie.


11:30 AM -- Topper Returns (1941)
A beautiful ghost enlists a henpecked husband to track down her killer.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Joan Blondell, Roland Young, Carole Landis
BW-88 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Elmer Raguse (Hal Roach SSD), and Best Effects, Special Effects -- Roy Seawright (photographic) and Elmer Raguse (sound)

In the film, Eddie (played by Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson) says that he's going back to "Mr. Benny", an in-joke reference to the fact that Anderson played Rochester, the valet, on Jack Benny's radio program and later TV show.


1:00 PM -- The Babe Ruth Story (1948)
A childlike oaf becomes the greatest star in baseball.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: William Bendix, Claire Trevor, Charles Bickford
BW-106 mins, CC,

The film was rushed for release while Babe Ruth himself was still alive, which is why the movie ended the way it did. George Herman Ruth attended the movie's premiere on Monday, July 26th, 1948. He died 21 days later on Monday, August 16th, 1948, 3 weeks before the theatrical release date on Monday, September 6th, 1948.


3:00 PM -- Stop, You're Killing Me (1952)
The surprise appearance of four corpses interferes with a beer baron's plans to crash high society.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Broderick Crawford, Claire Trevor, Virginia Gibson
BW-86 mins, CC,

The film was originally designed as a vehicle for Danny Kaye, then under contract for Warner Brothers, but the comedian terminated his agreement with the studio.


4:30 PM -- About Face (1952)
Two military school cadets discover their best friend is married.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Gordon MacRae, Eddie Bracken, Dick Wesson
C-94 mins, CC,

Based on the play Brother Rat by John Monks Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe. It was also filmed in 1938 as Brother Rat, starring Eddie Albert, Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman.


6:15 PM -- Three Sailors and a Girl (1953)
Three sailors on leave back a Broadway hit.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Jane Powell, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson
C-95 mins, CC,

Powell's off-screen romance with Gene Nelson ended her marriage, but Nelson's wife refused to give him a divorce. In 1973 Nelson directed her to the made-for-TV movie "The Letters."



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS



8:00 PM -- The Good Bad Man (1916)
A Wild West Robin Hood goes after the man who killed his mother and abducted his girl.
Dir: Allan Dwan
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Sam De Grasse, Doc Cannon
BW-50 mins,

Restored May 2014 by San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Cinematheque Francaise, and the Film Preservation Society.


9:00 PM -- The Half-Breed (1916)
A Western outsider tries to help a woman on the run after killing her faithless lover
Dir: Allan Dwan
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Alma Reuben, Sam De Grasse
BW-72 mins,

New restoration by San Francisco Silent Film Festival and Cinémathèque française completed in June 2013. Combines all extant unique material from Cinémathèque française, Library of Congress, and Lobster Films; resulting in most complete version possible.


10:15 PM -- The Mark of Zorro (1920)
In this silent film, a Mexican Robin Hood harasses corrupt Spanish invaders.
Dir: Fred Niblo
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Noah Beery, Charles Hill Mailes
BW-107 mins,

In the Golden Age of Comic Books, this was the film to which Thomas and Martha Wayne took their young son Bruce on the night that they were murdered in front of him in Gotham City in 1920, the experience which led him to become Batman.


12:15 AM -- The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
An Arabian thief sets out on a magical adventure to win a beautiful princess.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Snitz Edwards, Charles Belcher
BW-149 mins,

For the early scene where the Thief leaps in and out of the giant clay pots in the marketplace, Douglas Fairbanks had small trampolines placed inside each pot, allowing him to bounce easily from pot to pot.


3:00 AM -- The Black Pirate (1926)
A young nobleman infiltrates the band of pirates that killed his father.
Dir: Albert Parker
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Billie Dove, Anders Randolf
C-95 mins,

Nino Cochise, grandson of the famous Apache chief Cochise, was an extra in this movie. It was his second extra job in Hollywood, his first one being in Douglas Fairbanks Robin Hood (1922). He would appear in three other Hollywood productions.


4:30 AM -- The Private Life of Don Juan (1934)
When a jealous husband kills a fake Don Juan real thing sees a way to retire with grace.
Dir: Alexander Korda
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Merle Oberon, Bruce Winston
BW-87 mins,

Don Juan was a real person named Miguel de Manara. In the movie, Douglas Fairbanks writes a note and signs it with that name. (This was also Fairbanks' last film. He retired after marrying his third wife, Edith Louise Sylvia Hawkes, in 1936, and died of a heart attack in 1939.)