TCM Schedule for Friday, April 29, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: Star of the Month - Judy Garland

On April 29, 1770, Captain James Cook arrived in Botany Bay, Australia, as the first European to visit the Land Down Under. So, in the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating Australia. In prime time, April's Star of the Month is Judy Garland. Tonight's films are among her last. If you were unsure about the lady's acting ability, tonight will convince you of her dramatic capabilities. I am gutted by her work in Judgement at Nuremberg (1961). Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- The Man From Down Under (1943)
A World War I veteran sneaks two orphans back to his native Australia.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Charles Laughton, Binnie Barnes, Richard Carlson
BW-103 mins, CC,

Film debut of American sisters Judy and Carol Nugent. No relation to Ted!


8:15 AM -- The Shiralee (1957)
An Australian wanderer leaves his cheating wife and tries to raise their daughter on the road.
Dir: Leslie Norman
Cast: Peter Finch, Elizabeth Sellars, Dana Wilson
BW-98 mins, Letterbox Format

Based on the novel by D'Arcy Niland. It was also made into a mini-series for Australian television in 1988, starring Bryan Brown.


10:00 AM -- The Sundowners (1960)
An Australian sheepherder and his wife clash over their nomadic existence and their son's future.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov
C-133 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Deborah Kerr, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Glynis Johns, Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Isobel Lennart, and Best Picture

Gary Cooper was originally cast in the lead role of Paddy Carmondy, but had to back out due to poor health. Errol Flynn replaced him, but he suddenly passed away before production began. Robert Mitchum stepped into the role for the chance to act with his good friend Deborah Kerr, whom he had previously co-starred with in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957). Mitchum agreed to give Kerr top billing, joking to the production team, "You can design a twenty-four foot sign of me bowing to her if you like."


12:15 PM -- Season of Passion (1961)
Two men continue a traditional summer rendezvous only to discover that life has changed for them all.
Dir: Leslie Norman
Cast: Ernest Borgnine, Anne Baxter, John Mills
BW-94 mins, Letterbox Format

According to the book the "Australian Film & TV Companion" by Tony Harrison, "Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth and James Cagney were originally to have starred".


2:00 PM -- The Last Wave (1977)
A Sydney lawyer defends five Aborigines in a ritualized murder and in the process learns disquieting things about himself.
Dir: Peter Weir
Cast: Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett, David Gulpilil
C-106 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Prior to the casting of Richard Chamberlain in the lead role, two Australian actors were considered. One was rejected and the other wasn't available. A short-list was made of six actors who had international recognition. Chamberlain was sent the script which he thought interesting but was at first cautious about making a film in a foreign country and with a director he was unfamiliar with. Peter Weir visited Chamberlain at the Broadway Theatre where he was starring in 'Night of the Iguana' and the two clicked. Chamberlain was then screened Weir's previous film Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) where the film had yet to be shown at all in the USA. Chamberlain liked this film and at some time soon after this, Chamberlain was signed.

Chamberlain came back to Australia for two US-Australian produced mini-series -- The Thorn Birds (1983) and The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years (1996).


4:00 PM -- Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975)
When a group of schoolgirls mysteriously disappear survivors find their lives changed forever.
Dir: Peter Weir
Cast: Martin Vaughan, Rachel Roberts, Vivean Gray
C-107 mins, CC,

Executive producer Patricia Lovell admits to being genuinely afraid of Hanging Rock. In an interview she explained that she has only gone back to Hanging Rock once since the shooting. It was ten years later in 1985 and Lovell said she got so frightened at the location she left almost immediately. She refuses to go back to this day.


6:00 PM -- ABBA: The Movie (1977)
A disc jockey tries to land an in-depth interview with the Swedish rock group during their hit Australian tour.
Dir: Lasse Hallström
Cast: Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus
C-97 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Around the time of this film's theatrical release, Stig Anderson once said of ABBAs enormous popularity in Australia, where this concert movie was filmed: "Australia is still the biggest market in the world for ABBA. People in the music industry all over the world have been stunned with what has happened here."



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: JUDY GARLAND



8:00 PM -- A Star Is Born (1954)
A falling star marries the newcomer he's helping reach the top.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson
C-176 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Mason, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Judy Garland (Judy Garland couldn't attend the ceremony because she was giving birth to her third child and only son, Joey Luft. Even though she did not win the Academy Award she always stated that Joey was the best "Academy Award" she ever received that night.), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Malcolm C. Bert, Gene Allen, Irene Sharaff and George James Hopkins, Best Costume Design, Color -- Jean Louis, Mary Ann Nyberg and Irene Sharaff, Best Music, Original Song -- Harold Arlen (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics) for the song "The Man that Got Away", and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Ray Heindorf

Groucho Marx called Judy Garland not winning an Oscar for A Star Is Born (1954), "the biggest robbery since Brink's." Hedda Hopper later reported that her loss to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl (1954) was the result of the closest Oscar vote up till that time that didn't end in a tie, with just six votes separating the two. In any event, it was a heartbreak from which she never really recovered and which has remained a matter of some controversy ever since.


11:15 PM -- A Child Is Waiting (1962)
An emotionally fragile woman takes a job teaching mentally handicapped children.
Dir: John Cassavetes
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland, Gena Rowlands
BW-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Director John Cassavetes (for whom this was his first major studio production) and Producer Stanley Kramer had many creative / economic differences and during the editing phase, Cassavetes was fired.


1:15 AM -- Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
An aging American judge presides over the trial of Nazi war criminals.
Dir: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark
BW-179 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Maximilian Schell, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Abby Mann

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Montgomery Clift, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Judy Garland, Best Director -- Stanley Kramer, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Ernest Laszlo, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Rudolph Sternad and George Milo, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Jean Louis, Best Film Editing -- Frederic Knudtson, and Best Picture

On Judy Garland's first day on the set, cast and crew greeted her with warm and lasting applause. It was a welcome return to films for her, and her mood was further elevated by the lower pressure of acting in a cameo, rather than carrying a picture as she had done in almost every film she made since childhood. Still her joyful attitude made it difficult for her to perform her dark emotional scenes. "Damn it, Stanley, I can't do it. I've dried up. I'm too happy to cry," she said. He gave her a ten-minute break before continuing to great effect. "There's nobody in the entertainment world today, actor or singer, who can run the complete range of emotions, from utter pathos to power...the way she can," Kramer said.


4:30 AM -- Gay Purr-ee (1962)
Animated musical in which a French country cat becomes entranced with Parisian city life.
Dir: Abe Levitow
Cast: Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, Red Buttons
C-85 mins, CC,

When Judy Garland was approached about doing this film, it was she who reportedly suggested that her two good friends (and The Wizard of Oz (1939) collaborators) Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg provide the music and lyrics, respectively. It was to be both men's last full-length score for any medium.