TCM Schedule for Thursday, March 10, 2015 -- TCM Spotlight: Condemned

In prime time, TCM is continuing this month's theme of films that were in some way condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency. Enjoy, you decadent film fans!



6:45 AM -- Snowed Under (1936)
A playwright in search of solitude is besieged by three women.
Dir: Raymond Enright
Cast: George Brent, Genevieve Tobin, Glenda Farrell
BW-64 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Lawrence Saunders.


7:58 AM -- Bon Voyage (1944)
A downed British flyer is used by Nazi agents in World War II France.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: John Blythe,
BW-26 mins,

Apart from John Blythe all the other actors in this film were French, and were simply credited as "The Molière Players" in order to protect their families from the Nazis.


8:30 AM -- The Sun Comes Up (1949)
Lassie helps an embittered woman find happiness with an orphaned boy.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Lloyd Nolan, Claude Jarman Jr.
C-93 mins, CC,

Jeanette MacDonald's final film.


10:15 AM -- Fog Over Frisco (1934)
A San Francisco heiress discovers her sister is hanging out with gangsters.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Bette Davis, Donald Woods, Margaret Lindsay
BW-68 mins, CC,

Bette Davis remarked that she looked back at this film with fondness, making it one of the few from the early part of her career that she would look at that way.


11:30 AM -- Rain (1932)
A missionary tries to reform a streetwalker trapped on a Pacific island.
Dir: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Frederic Howard, Ben Hendricks, William Gargan
BW-94 mins,

Costumer Milo Anderson bought Crawford's checkered dress at a department store, and later recalled that the dress required extensive alteration, being far too large for Crawford everywhere except in the shoulders. Still new to the business, Anderson did not realize that multiple copies would be needed of a costume worn so extensively throughout the film. When it came time for a second copy, Anderson discovered that the dress had sold out and was now not available anywhere. Nor could the checkered fabric be located. Since the dress had already been seen in numerous scenes, the only solution was to have the design laboriously painted onto cloth and then have the dress duplicated. The dress had originally been store-bought to save money--and ultimately, with all the work, it added considerably to the film's budget.


1:15 PM -- Lightning Strikes Twice (1935)
A jewel heist leads to murder.
Dir: Ben Holmes
Cast: Ben Lyon, Thelma Todd, Pert Kelton
BW-63 mins,

Based on a story by Marion Dix and Ben Holmes.


2:20 PM -- Strange Glory (1938)
This short film looks at the debate revolving around who should get credit for the "Tennessee Plan," which proved to be a vital action for the North in its push south during the American Civil War.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: Cedric Stevens, Selmer Jackson, Roger Moore
BW-11 mins,


2:45 PM -- Wind Across The Everglades (1958)
A game warden takes on a band of bird poachers in the Florida Everglades.
Dir: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Burt Ives, Christopher Plummer, Gypsy Rose Lee
C-93 mins, CC,

Film debut of Peter Falk. As you wish!


4:30 PM -- Clouds Over Europe (1939)
When enemy agents steal plans for an experimental plane test pilot fights to clear his name.
Dir: Tim Whelan
Cast: Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Valerie Hobson
BW-79 mins,

Patrick Macnee admitted that his famous performance as John Steed in the long-running 1960s TV series, "The Avengers", was, in many details, borrowed from Ralph Richardson's performance in this film.


6:00 PM -- A Thunder Of Drums (1961)
A green Cavalry lieutenant learns the ropes fast when he's shipped out West.
Dir: Joseph M. Newman
Cast: Richard Boone, George Hamilton, Luana Patten
C-97 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The film recorded a loss of $42,000, according to MGM records.


7:48 PM -- Spotlight No. 3 (1951)
This short film provides a quartet of feature stories about Canada and its people, from a "magnetic hill" to radio broadcaster Foster Hewitt.
BW-11 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: CONDEMNED



8:00 PM -- M (1951)
When the police hunt for a child killer cramps their style criminal underworld tries to track him down.
Dir: Joseph Losey
Cast: David Wayne, Howard Da Silva, Luther Adler
BW-88 mins,

Before signing Joseph Losey as director, producer Seymour Nebenzal approached fellow German expatriate Douglas Sirk and offered him the job. Sirk said he would do the film only if he could scrap the original story and write a new one about a psychopathic murderer of children. When Nebenzal approached Losey, he too wanted to scrap the original story and do a new one about a child-murderer, and Nebenzal told him that the Production Code Administration (PCA) had agreed to allow him to make the film only if the original story and script were kept. The PCA had approved "M" as a remake of an acknowledged classic, but if the story were changed, their approval would be withdrawn.


9:45 PM -- The French Line (1954)
A Texas heiress masquerades as a model in hopes of finding true love.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Jane Russell, Gilbert Roland, Arthur Hunnicutt
C-102 mins, CC,

Initially, Jane Russell was to have performed her "Lookin' for Trouble" number in a bikini, a bathing suit that was quite racy for 1954. She wore the skimpy outfit for a production still (later reproduced in her autobiography) but complained that she felt "very naked" in front of the movie's crew. Eventually a compromise was reached, and she appeared in the one-piece outfit shown in the movie.


11:45 PM -- And God Created Woman (1956)
A young woman loves one brother but marries the other.
Dir: Roger Vadim
Cast: Brigitte Bardot, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Curt Jurgens
C-91 mins, Letterbox Format

Was condemned by the Catholic Church's Legion of Decency within months after the Baby Doll (1956) boycott and caused a huge uproar in the United States for its sexual content.


1:30 AM -- Untamed Youth (1957)
When they're put in a small-town jail, two sisters fight to expose prison corruption.
Dir: Howard W. Koch
Cast: Mamie Van Doren, Lori Nelson, John Russell
BW-80 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The film was originally condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, but that only served to enhance the curiosity factor, resulting in it being a big moneymaker for the studio.


3:00 AM -- Breathless (1960)
A small-time hood hides out from the cops with his American girlfriend.
Dir: Jean-Luc Godard
Cast: Jean Seberg, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Liliane David
BW-90 mins,

According to Jean-Pierre Melville, Godard asked him for consultation during the post-production stage because the first edit was too long for distribution. Melville suggested Godard remove all scenes that slowed down the action (his own turn as novelist Parvulesco included). But instead of excluding entire scenes, Godard cut little bits from here and there. This led to the "jump cut" technique this movie introduced. Melville declared the result to be excellent.


4:40 AM -- 2010 The Odyssey Continues (1984)
This promotional short for "2010" (1984) shows moviegoers how some of the film's visual effects were created.
Dir: Les Mayfield
C-20 mins,


5:00 AM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: Joan Allen (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


5:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #19 (1955)
Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly perform in a clip from "Ziegfeld Follies"; George Murphy introduces a clip from "Ransom." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-25 mins,