TCM Schedule for Saturday, February 18, 2017 -- 31 Days of Oscar: Oscar A to Z Day 18

Day eighteen of 31 Days of Oscar takes us from 1953's The Moon Is Blue (banned in Boston for using the word "virgin"!) to 1939's Ninotchka ("Garbo laughs!&quot . Enjoy!


7:30 AM -- THE MOON IS BLUE (1953)
Two womanizers fall for a woman determined to keep her virginity.
Dir: Otto Preminger
Cast: William Holden, David Niven, Maggie McNamara
BW-99 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Maggie McNamara, Best Film Editing -- Otto Ludwig, and Best Music, Original Song -- Herschel Burke Gilbert (music) and Sylvia Fine (lyrics) for the song "The Moon Is Blue"

This movie was used as a part of a plot line in the "The Moon is Not Blue" episode of "M*A*S*H." The plot line focuses on Hawkeye Pierce and B.J. Hunnicutt trying to obtain a copy of the movie for the 4077th after hearing it has been banned in Boston. They think it must be a dirty movie, but are disappointed when they finally get to see it. (Hawkeye: "I'm outraged! I've never seen a cleaner movie!" Father Mulcahy: "Well, one of the characters *did* say the word, 'virgin.'" Hawkeye: "That's because everyone *was*!&quot


9:30 AM -- MORNING GLORY (1933)
A stage struck girl travels to New York determined to make it on Broadway.
Dir: Lowell Sherman
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Douglas Fairbanks, Adolphe Menjou
BW-74 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn (Katharine Hepburn was not present at the awards ceremony.)

The four portraits that Eva sees in the theatre are of Maude Adams, Ethel Barrymore, Sarah Bernhardt and John Drew. Bernhardt is well-known in her own right even now. The portrait of John Drew is likely to be of John Drew Jr. (1853-1927) rather than John Drew Sr. (1827-1862) (an American actor of the early 1800s). John Drew Jr. was a renowned American actor of the late 1800s, the leading matinée idol of his time. Maude Adams (1872-1953) was one of the most popular American actresses of the 1890s and early 1900s, achieving great fame in J.M. Barrie's plays. Drew Jr. and Adams worked together for five years from 1892, achieving great success and making Adams a star. Ethel Barrymore (1879-1959), with brothers Lionel Barrymore and John Barrymore, was one of the Barrymore siblings who achieved greatness on the American stage and in films. The Barrymore siblings were the niece and nephews of John Drew Jr.


11:00 AM -- MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA (1947)
Repressed passions and shameful secrets destroy a New England family.
Dir: Dudley Nichols
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Michael Redgrave, Raymond Massey
BW-159 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Michael Redgrave, and Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Rosalind Russell

Eugene O'Neill liked Dudley Nichols adaptation of "The Long Voyage Home" so much that he allowed the writer to film "Mourning Becomes Electra." Both O'Neill and The Theater Guild agreed to defer payment until the film made a profit.


2:00 PM -- MRS. MINIVER (1942)
A British family struggles to survive the first days of World War II.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright
BW-134 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Teresa Wright, Best Director -- William Wyler (William Wyler was not present at the awards ceremony because he was overseas shooting for the Army Air Force. His wife Margaret Tallichet on his behalf.), Best Writing, Screenplay -- George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West and Arthur Wimperis, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Walter Pidgeon, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Henry Travers, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Dame May Whitty, Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD), Best Film Editing -- Harold F. Kress, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic), Warren Newcombe (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound)

William Wyler openly admitted that he made the film for propaganda reasons. Wyler - who was born in Germany - strongly believed that the US should join the war against Nazism, and was concerned that America's policy of isolationism would prove damaging, so he made a film that showed ordinary Americans what their British equivalents were undergoing at the time. The film's subsequent success had a profound effect on American sympathy towards the plight of the British.


4:30 PM -- THE MUSIC BOX (1932)
Two men running a moving company have to get a large piano up a daunting flight of stairs in this comedic short film.
Dir: James Parrott
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Billy Gilbert
BW-29 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Comedy -- Hal Roach

The monumental staircase in the film still exists, in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles, between 923 and 935 Vendome Street. There are 131 steps.


5:15 PM -- THE MUSIC MAN (1962)
A con artist hawks musical instruments and band uniforms to small-town America.
Dir: Morton DaCosta
Cast: Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett
C-151 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Ray Heindorf

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Paul Groesse and George James Hopkins, Best Costume Design, Color -- Dorothy Jeakins, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Film Editing -- William H. Ziegler, and Best Picture

Despite Robert Preston's Tony-award winning performance in the Broadway production, Warner Bros. executives wanted a bankable star in the lead role of Professor Harold Hill for the movie. Frank Sinatra was offered the part, but turned it down. Cary Grant was also approached, but told the Warner Bros. executives, "Not only will I not star in it, if Robert Preston doesn't star in it, I will not see it." Preston finally got the part, and the movie was a big success, despite Warner Bros' misgivings.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: DAY 18



8:00 PM -- MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
Classic adventure about the sadistic Captain Bligh, who drove his men to revolt during a South Seas expedition.
Dir: Frank Lloyd
Cast: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone
BW-133 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Clark Gable, Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Charles Laughton, Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Franchot Tone, Best Director -- Frank Lloyd, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Jules Furthman, Talbot Jennings and Carey Wilson, Best Film Editing -- Margaret Booth, and Best Music, Score -- Nat W. Finston (head of departmment) with score by Herbert Stothart

Irving Thalberg cast Clark Gable and Charles Laughton together in the hope that they would hate each other, making their on-screen sparring more lifelike. He knew that Gable, a notorious homophobe, would not care for Laughton's overt homosexuality and would feel inferior to the RADA-trained Shakespearean actor. Relations between the two stars broke down completely after Laughton brought his muscular boyfriend to the island as his personal masseur. They were an obviously devoted couple and would go everywhere together, while Gable would turn away in disgust. In addition, Laughton felt that he should have won the Best Actor Oscar for The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934). In any event, he was not even nominated and the award went to Gable for It Happened One Night (1934).


10:30 PM -- NETWORK (1976)
Television programmers turn a deranged news anchor into 'the mad prophet of the airwaves.'
Dir: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch
BW-121 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter Finch (Nomination and award were posthumous. Finch became the first posthumous winner in an acting category. His widow Eletha Finch and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Faye Dunaway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Beatrice Straight, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Paddy Chayefsky

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Holden, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Ned Beatty, Best Director -- Sidney Lumet, Best Cinematography -- Owen Roizman, and Best Film Editing -- Alan Heim, and Best Picture

In 2005, in preparation for what would eventually be a scrapped project for a live television adaptation of this film, George Clooney screened the film for a group of teens and young adults in order to determine their reactions to it. He found, much to his surprise, that none of the young people recognized the film as satire. "I couldn't understand it," Clooney told the Associated Press. Then he "realized that everything Paddy Chayefsky wrote about had happened."


12:45 AM -- THE NEW LAND (1973)
Swedish immigrants fight to turn the American frontier into their new home.
Dir: Jan Troell
Cast: Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Eddie Axberg
C-204 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film -- Sweden

The movie and its prequel The Emigrants (1971) were Oscar nominated on the same year (1972), though in different categories. This is the first and only occurrence of such event.


4:30 AM -- NINOTCHKA (1939)
A coldhearted Soviet agent is warmed up by a trip to Paris and a night of love.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire
BW-110 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greta Garbo, Best Writing, Original Story -- Melchior Lengyel, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch and Billy Wilder, and Best Picture

Studio publicity information indicates that for the first time in her career as an actress, Garbo attended the preview screenings of the film, one of which took place in Long Beach, where Garbo reportedly stood in line to buy tickets for fifteen minutes before anyone recognized her.