TCM Schedule for Friday, March 17, 2017 -- What's On Tonight - St. Patrick's Day

It's the luck of the Irish all day long - sláinte and enjoy!


6:00 AM -- IRENE (1940)
An Irish shop girl falls in love with a high-society boy.
Dir: Herbert Wilcox
Cast: Anna Neagle, Ray Milland, Roland Young
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Score -- Anthony Collins

About twenty-five minutes of this film are in color, from the moment that Irene (Anna Neagle) enters the ballroom dressed in her blue gown, up through the moment when she returns home and sings the song "Alice Blue Gown". During the Techicolor sequence, virtually everything aside from the blue gown is black or white. The wall decoration is a black and white mural and all of the other women wear grey, black, or white. This makes the blue gown jump out of the scene.


7:45 AM -- THE DAUGHTER OF ROSIE O'GRADY (1950)
Against her widowed father's wishes, a vaudeville star's daughter takes to the stage.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: June Haver, Gordon MacRae, James Barton
C-105 mins, CC,

Speaking debut of Debbie Reynolds; she had been in June Bride (1948) previously, but without dialogue.


9:45 AM -- 3 CHEERS FOR THE IRISH (1940)
A Scottish lad and Irish lass risk their families' wrath by marrying.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Priscilla Lane, Thomas Mitchell, Dennis Morgan
BW-99 mins, CC,

In the film, Peter works at the 12th Precinct by the number on his uniform lapel. That precinct was closed on December 1, 1916. It was located at 205 Mulberry St., between Spring and Kenmare Streets in the Nolita section of Lower Manhattan. The precinct building still stands and has been converted into eight condominiums, each priced in the millions, with retail/office space on the first floor.


11:30 AM -- FINIAN'S RAINBOW (1968)
A leprechaun follows the Irishman who stole his pot of gold to the U.S. South.
Dir: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, Tommy Steele
C-145 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, and Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation) -- Ray Heindorf

Because of its satire on racism, this popular 1947 Broadway musical was considered such a hot potato in Hollywood that studios would not touch it unless they were allowed to change the story. Its original creators, E.Y. Harburg, Burton Lane and Fred Saidy, held out and by 1968 it was able to be filmed with very few changes.


2:15 PM -- ODD MAN OUT (1947)
A wounded IRA man faces betrayal on all sides when the British put a price on his head.
Dir: Carol Reed
Cast: James Mason, Robert Newton, Kathleen Ryan
BW-116 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Fergus McDonell

James Mason called this his best performance of his career, and his favourite Carol Reed film.


4:15 PM -- YOUNG CASSIDY (1965)
True story of playwright Sean O'Casey's involvement with the Irish rebellion of 1910.
Dir: Jack Cardiff
Cast: Rod Taylor, Julie Christie, Maggie Smith
C-110 mins, CC,

Director John Ford fell ill during production and was replaced by Jack Cardiff. In an interview Cardiff said that only four minutes and five seconds of the footage shot by John Ford ended up in the finished film. The riot scene was cited by critics as the obvious work of Ford, yet it was completely done by Cardiff who admitted that he found inspiration from Battleship Potemkin (1925).


6:15 PM -- THE INFORMER (1935)
An Irish rebel turns in his best friend to earn passage money to America, then has to dodge the suspicions of his cohorts.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, Preston Foster
BW-92 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Victor McLaglen, Best Director -- John Ford, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Dudley Nichols (Refused to accept his award because of the antagonism between several industry guilds and the academy over union matters. This marked the first time an Academy Award had been declined. Academy records show that Dudley was in possession of an Oscar statuette by 1949.), and Best Music, Score -- Max Steiner

Nominated for Oscars for Best Film Editing -- George Hively, and Best Picture

John Ford kept Victor McLaglen continually off-balance (and thus in character) by getting him drunk, changing his schedules, verbally abusing him on and off the set and filming scenes when he'd told McLaglen that they were only rehearsing. For the crucial rebel court scene, the story goes that Ford reduced the actor to a trembling wreck by promising him the day off only to bring him into the studio early and extremely hung over, insisting that he spit out his lines. McLaglen was so furious with Ford over this that he threatened to quit acting and kill the director.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: ST. PATRICK'S DAY



8:00 PM -- THE RISING OF THE MOON (1957)
Three stories examine the lives of the Irish living under British oppression.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Tyrone Power, Denis O'Dea, Eileen Crowe
BW-81 mins, CC,

Film debut of Donal Donnelly.


9:30 PM -- THE QUIET MAN (1952)
An Irish ex-boxer retires to Ireland and searches for the proper wife.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald
C-129 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Director -- John Ford, and Best Cinematography, Color -- Winton C. Hoch and Archie Stout

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Victor McLaglen, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Frank S. Nugent, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Frank Hotaling, John McCarthy Jr. and Charles S. Thompson, Best Sound, Recording -- Daniel J. Bloomberg (Republic Sound Department), and Best Picture

When John Ford screened his final cut for the studio's top brass they liked it, but it was 129 minutes. They reminded him they would not release a film over 120 minutes, citing the audiences could not/would not sit in a theater for over two hours. Ford staunchly objected claiming he already cut out 'all the fat' and there was nothing left to cut. They stood their ground & sent him back to cut nine minutes. Ford did his level best to contain his ire as he collected his film and fumed out the door. As the story goes, a few days later he called the brass and informed them 'the final print' was ready for the screening. When the last man took his seat Ford signaled the projectionist to dim the lights and run it. Then, at exactly 120 minutes, right in the middle of the climactic fight, the screen goes white and the house lights came up. There followed by a deafening silence. Ford said something like, 'As you can plainly see, there is nothing left to cut out. So, I give you 'The Quiet Man' at exactly 120 minutes! Now, you're begging me for the last nine minutes! Do you honestly think the audience will be any different?' Naturally, the studio relented and the rest, as they say, is history.


12:00 AM -- GIRL WITH GREEN EYES (1964)
A young innocent gets involved with an older, married man.
Dir: Desmond Davis
Cast: Peter Finch, Rita Tushingham, Lynn Redgrave
BW-92 mins, Letterbox Format

In the montage of the girls getting ready for their dates near the movie's beginning, the 45 r.p.m. record is "Fell In Love On Monday" by Fats Domino, who is also the topic of the magazine article near the record.


1:45 AM -- RYAN'S DAUGHTER (1970)
An Irish lass is branded a traitor when she falls for a British soldier.
Dir: David Lean
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, Sarah Miles
C-196 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Mills, and Best Cinematography -- Freddie Young

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Sarah Miles, and Best Sound -- Gordon K. McCallum and John Bramall

During the filming of the movie on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland's County Kerry, Robert Mitchum planted marijuana trees in the back garden of the hotel used by the production cast and crew, and gave many of the people connected with the production - including Sarah Miles' mother, and the local constabulary - their first experiences with the drug.


5:15 AM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #27 (1955)
Walter Pidgeon introduces Part One of "Captains Courageous" and introduces a clip from "Forbidden Planet."
BW-29 mins, CC,