TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 5, 2016 -- What's On Tonight - TCM Spotlight: American International

In the daylight hours, we've got a lovely selection of films, starring some of the greatest comedy teams in the movies. Martin & Lewis, Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, and The Marx Brothers. And in prime time, it's a salute to American International Pictures. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- At War With The Army (1950)
A song-and-dance team have trouble adjusting to Army life.
Dir: Hal Walker
Cast: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Mike Kellin
BW-92 mins,

When Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin signed with Paramount Pictures, it was with the proviso that they could make one film outside the studio every year for their own company, York Productions. At War with the Army (1950) was the first fruit of that negotiation, with the stars exchanging their usual salary for a 90% cut of the profits. However, on the film's release, the two found themselves in the midst of a protracted legal battle over their contract and the profits. After several years, they relinquished all financial interest in the film in exchange for dropping their stipulation that they make films outside of Paramount. All the legal battles over the film are probably one of the main reasons why its copyright was not renewed in 1977 with the film ending up in the public domain.


7:45 AM -- Abbott And Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952)
Two waiters stumble on a treasure map and land in hot water with pirates.
Dir: Charles Lamont
Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Charles Laughton
BW-71 mins, CC,

Charles Laughton had wanted to do a knockabout physical comedy for some time, but could never find anything appropriate. He had long been an admirer of Lou Costello's abilities as a slapstick comedian, and--as he remarked some time later--he decided "If you want to learn something, learn it from the best" so he let Costello and Bud Abbott know that he was interested in doing something with them. This picture is the result.


9:00 AM -- Lost In A Harem (1944)
Two entertainers touring the Middle East are kidnapped by an evil sultan.
Dir: Charles Riesner
Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marilyn Maxwell
BW-89 mins, CC,

First Abbott & Costello production after Lou Costello recovered from rheumatic fever; he had been bedridden for many months.


10:30 AM -- Block-Heads (1938)
Chaos erupts when a man tries to help an old war buddy.
Dir: John G. Blystone
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Patricia Ellis
BW-57 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Score -- Marvin Hatley

This was the last of Hal Roach's Laurel & Hardy features to be released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.


11:30 AM -- The Big Parade of Comedy (1964)
Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.
Cast: Les Tremayne,
BW-90 mins, CC,

Features clips from The Sporting Venus (1925), Pretty Ladies (1925), The Mystic (1925), The Boob (1926), The Red Mill (1927), Detectives (1928), The Cameraman (1928), China Bound (1929), Reducing (1931), Hold Your Man (1933), Tugboat Annie (1933), Dinner at Eight (1933), Bombshell (1933), Queen Christina (1933), Hollywood Party (1934), The Thin Man (1934), The Girl from Missouri (1934), The Gay Bride (1934), David Copperfield (1935), Bonnie Scotland (1935), Suzy (1936), Libeled Lady (1936), After the Thin Man (1936), Personal Property (1937), A Night at the Movies (1937), Too Hot to Handle (1938), Ninotchka (1939), That Inferior Feeling (1940), Go West (1940), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Love Crazy (1941), Two-Faced Woman (1941), Rio Rita (1942), Meet the People (1944), Movie Pests (1944), A Southern Yankee (1948), and Wrong Way Butch (1950).


1:00 PM -- A Night at the Opera (1935)
Three zanies turn an operatic performance into chaos in their efforts to promote their protege's romance with the leading lady.
Dir: Sam Wood
Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx
BW-91 mins, CC,

Producer Irving Thalberg would often call people in for meetings, and then keep them waiting in his office for hours while he attended other meetings on the MGM lot. One day, during pre-production for this picture, Thalberg kept The Marx Brothers waiting for several hours in his secretary's office while he was in his own office making phone calls. When Thalberg's secretary went home for the day, the brothers decided they'd had enough. They pushed the office file cabinets against Thalberg's door, trapping the producer in his office. Afterwards, Thalberg kept his appointments with the Marx Brothers, but would often interrupt his meetings with them and step out to attend other meetings--again keeping the brothers waiting for hours. One day Thalberg came back from another meeting to find Groucho Marx, Chico Marx and Harpo Marx sitting in his office completely naked, and roasting potatoes on sticks in his office fireplace. Thalberg sat down with them, had a potato and never missed or interrupted another meeting with the Marx Brothers.


2:45 PM -- Blotto (1930)
In this comedic short, Laurel steals his wife's secret bottle of liquor so he can have a wild night out with Hardy.
Dir: James Parrott
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Anita Garvin
BW-26 mins, CC,

This film was simultaneously produced in a Spanish language version, La vida nocturna (1930) and a French language version, Une nuit extravagante (1930) with the actors speaking their own lines. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy read their lines from cue cards on which the appropriate language was printed phonetically. At the time of early talkies, dubbing was not yet practical.


3:15 PM -- The Devil's Brother (1933)
Two wannabe bandits are hired as servants by the real thing.
Dir: Hal Roach
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Dennis King
BW-90 mins, CC,

In this movie, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are named respectively "Stanlio" and "Ollio". These are the names by which they are still known in Italy.


5:00 PM -- Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood (1945)
A pair of wacky lackeys try to take Tinseltown by storm.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon
Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Frances Rafferty
BW-83 mins, CC,

The film, made by MGM under the studio's loanout deal with Universal for the team's services, is set on the MGM lot, but the studio's major stars - Clark Gable, Lana Turner and Judy Garland - are only mentioned by name and not seen. The actual cameos were confined to second-tier stars Rags Ragland, Preston Foster, Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins and Lucille Ball.


6:30 PM -- At The Circus (1939)
The Marx Bros. team up to keep a circus from going bankrupt.
Dir: Edward Buzzell
Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx
BW-87 mins, CC,

For Groucho Marx's performance of "'Lydia, the Tattooed Lady", additional lyrics were written by lyricist E.Y. Harburg exclusively for screenings of the film for Allied servicemen in European war zones. The special lyrics included the line "When she stands the world grows littler; When she sits, she sits on Hitler.' The version of the song featuring the special lyrics was filmed, and included in prints of the film distributed in Great Britain and France. The version of the song containing the special lyrics was greeted with marked enthusiasm during screenings in those countries.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL



8:00 PM -- The Fast and the Furious (1954)
A wrongly convicted man takes a young woman hostage while fighting to clear his name.
Dir: Edwards Sampson
Cast: John Ireland, Dorothy Malone, Bruce Carlisle
BW-74 mins, CC,

The first film released by the American Releasing Corporation which would later become American International Pictures. The title rights, not the story rights, to this film were purchased so that the title could be used on The Fast and the Furious (2001), another film about racing.


9:30 PM -- The Beast With A Million Eyes (1955)
An alien lands in a desert town bent on controlling humans through mind control and making docile animals into attacking beasts.
Dir: David Kramarsky
Cast: Paul Birch, Lorna Thayer, Dona Cole
BW-78 mins,

According to American International Pictures head Samuel Z. Arkoff, Roger Corman's contract called for four films at a budget of $100,000 each. By the time it came to "The Beast with a Million Eyes," the fourth film in the series, there was only $29,000 to $30,000 left, so Arkoff signed off on shooting the picture non-union in Palm Springs.


11:00 PM -- A Bucket of Blood (1959)
A jealous Bohemian wannabe resorts to murder to perpetuate his new-found success as a sculptor.
Dir: Roger Corman
Cast: Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Antony Carbone
BW-65 mins, CC,

The films origin came about when American International Pictures approached Roger Corman to direct a horror film for them but only alloted a small budget and an extremely limited schedule. Corman took the challenge, but wasn't interested in directing a traditional horror film, so he and screenwriter Charles B. Griffith came up with the concept of creating a black comedy instead.


12:15 AM -- High School Hellcats (1958)
A new student befriends an all-female gang bent on bucking authority and terrorizing their school.
Dir: Edward L. Bernds
Cast: Yvonne Lime, Brett Halsey, Jana Lund
BW-69 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Mark Lowell and Jan Lowell.


1:45 AM -- The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959)
A group of drag-racing fanatics move into an old deserted mansion.
Dir: William Hole
Cast: Jody Fair, Russ Bender, Henry McCann
BW-65 mins, CC,

In Jan. 1960, this film was widely shown in drive-in theaters on a double bill with The Diary of a High School Bride (1959).


3:00 AM -- Attack of the Puppet People (1958)
A scientist shrinks humans so they can be his puppet friends.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: John Agar, John Hoyt, June Kenny
BW-79 mins, CC,

On the evening of June 16, 1972, if Alfred C. Baldwin III (in a nearby hotel as a lookout for the Watergate burglars) had not been so engrossed in a broadcast of this film, he might have sooner warned his colleagues of the two plainclothes detectives who made the historic arrests.


4:30 AM -- Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966)
The jungle king fights to protect a lost city of gold from an international criminal.
Dir: Robert Day
Cast: Mike Henry, Nancy Kovack, David Opatoshu
C-90 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Sharon Tate was the original casting pick for the female lead. There are photographs in existence from 1965 of her with Mike Henry along with a lion at a press conference that was held to promote the two newcomers. Martin Ransohoff who had the starlet under exclusive contract changed his mind about having this being her first film and the role was recast with Nancy Kovack.