TCM Schedule for Friday, May 25 -- What's On Tonight: Frank Borzage

We're spending the day Way Out West, and the evening is dedicated to the films of Frank Borzage, who began his directorial career in 1913, and ended up with Best Director Oscars for 7th Heaven (1927) and Bad Girl (1931). And in the wee hours of Saturday morning, there's a film you shouldn't miss -- Fame (1980). Enjoy!



7:15 AM -- Way Out West (1937)
65 min, TV-G
A pair of tenderfeet try to get the deed to a gold mine to its rightful owner.
Dir: James W. Horne
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Sharon Lynne

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

In an interview on Turner Classic Movies, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening said that Homer's famous "Doh!" came about because Dan Castellaneta knew that James Finlayson sometimes said that in his movies, including this one. One example: when Finlayson's character, Mickey Finn, accidentally fires his rifle in bed.


8:30 AM -- Dodge City (1939)
C-104 min, TV-PG
A soldier of fortune takes on the corrupt boss of a Western town.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan

Country rock band Pure Prairie League, who had a mid '70s hit called "Amie" and later employed future country star Vince Gill as lead singer for hits like "Let Me Love You Tonight" and "I'm Almost Ready," took their name from a temperance union portrayed in this film.


10:20 AM -- Roaming Through Arizona (1944)
C-9 min
This "Traveltalk" explores about the history, land, people, and culture of Arizona.
Dir: James A. FitzPatrick
Narrator: James A. FitzPatrick

Filmed in Jerome, Oak Creek Canyon, Petrified Forest National Park, Phoenix, Prescott, San Xavier del Bac Mission, Tucson, and Wickenburg, Arizona.


10:30 AM -- Arizona Legion (1939)
58 min, TV-G
A federal agent infiltrates an outlaw band that's taken over a western town.
Dir: David Howard
Cast: George O'Brien, Laraine Johnson, Carlyle Moore Jr.

Based on a story by Bernard McConville


11:30 AM -- Wyoming (1940)
88 min, TV-G
Outlaw pals are tempted to go straight.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Wallace Beery, Leo Carrillo, Ann Rutherford

Since General George Custer was still alive in the movie, it was earlier than 1876. But two songs sung were composed in 1900 (A Bird In A Gilded Cage) and 1933 (There's a Home in Wyomin').


1:00 PM -- San Antonio (1945)
C-109 min, TV-PG
A reformed rustler tracks down a band of cattle thieves and tries to reform a crooked dance-hall girl.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Ted Smith and Jack McConaghy, and Best Music, Original Song -- Ray Heindorf (music), M.K. Jerome (music) and Ted Koehler (lyrics) for the song "Some Sunday Morning"

Bozic (S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall) in the film twice refers to riderless horses as 'empty horses'. This is likely to be a reference to director Michael Curtiz, with whom Errol Flynn had worked on 'The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)'. When wanting to see stray horses wandering through the battle, Curtiz directed the wranglers to "Bring on the empty horses." When David Niven and Flynn cracked up laughing, he responded with: 'You people, you think I know f*ck nothing; I tell you: I know f*ck all". Niven later made this "curtizism" immortal by titling a volume of his autobiography:"Bring on the empty horses."


3:00 PM -- Vengeance Valley (1951)
C-83 min, TV-PG
An honest rancher tries to block his evil brother's plots while keeping them from their father.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Robert Walker, Joanne Dru

This is one of a handful of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer productions of the 1950-1951 period whose original copyrights were never renewed and are now apparently in Public Domain; for this reason this title is now offered, often in very inferior copies, at bargain prices, by numerous VHS and DVD distributors who do not normally handle copyrighted or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer material.


4:30 PM -- The Wild North (1952)
C-97 min, TV-PG
A Mountie tracks an accused killer through the Canadian wilderness.
Dir: Andrew Marton
Cast: Stewart Granger, Wendell Corey, Cyd Charisse

First film made with Ansco color film.


6:15 PM -- Lone Star (1952)
95 min, TV-PG
A frontiersman helps out with Texas's fight for independence from Mexico.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Broderick Crawford

Lionel Barrymore's last movie.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRANK BORZAGE


8:00 PM -- Three Comrades (1938)
99 min, TV-G
Three life-long friends share their love for a dying woman against the turbulent backdrop of Germany between the wars.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Robert Taylor, Margaret Sullavan, Franchot Tone

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Margaret Sullavan

This was F. Scott Fitzgerald's only screenwriting credit.


9:50 PM -- Glimpses Of Western Germany (1954)
C-8 min
A tour of still war-ravaged Western Germany, visiting Hamburg, Bremen, Munich, and Heidelburg. This travel talk remains an interesting look at a recovering country less than a decade after WWII.
Dir: James A. FitzPatrick
Narrator: James A. FitzPatrick

The third of three different travelogues James A. FitzPatrick mined from Hone Glendinning's photography in late 1953 and early 1954. Lots of shots of the Berlin Zoo, churches and streets comparing old and new sections.


10:00 PM -- The Mortal Storm (1940)
100 min, TV-PG
The Third Reich's rise tears apart a German family.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young

This film was banned for release in Germany by Adolf Hitler for its direct Anti-Nazi sentiments. As a result, all MGM films from that point forward would also be banned in the country for simply being produced and distributed by the same studio as this film.


11:50 PM -- Early Sports Quiz (1947)
In this Pete Smith Specialty, the audience is asked multiple-choice questions about various sports.
Cast: Pete Smith, Dave O'Brien, Vyrl Jackson
9 min

Edited from Desert Regatta (1932), Dexterity (1937 - Clip with Vyrl Jackson shown as part of story narrative), and Decathlon Champion: The Story of Glenn Morris (1937).


12:00 AM -- Strange Cargo (1940)
113 min, TV-PG
A prostitute and some prisoners attempt to escape from a penal colony in French Guiana.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Ian Hunter

Director Frank Borzage said Joan Crawford was a trouper but did not mention a particular day in the jungle when Crawford, preceded by Clark Gable passed under a tree with an eight-foot python coiled on a branch overhead. "That son-of-a-b-h is alive!" screamed Crawford, looking upward. "Yes, but its jaws are shut tight with a rubber band," Borzage explained. "What happens if the f-king rubber band snaps?" Crawford asked, and refused to repeat the scene.


2:00 AM -- Heavenly Bodies (1985)
C-89 min, TV-MA
A small dance studio fights for its existence against the unscrupulous owner of a rival club.
Dir: Lawrence Dane
Cast: Cynthia Dale, Richard Rebiere, Laura Henry

Alternate takes of workout sequences at the Heavenly Bodies club are shown under the end credits.


3:30 AM -- Fame (1980)
C-134 min, TV-MA
Students at a performing arts high school struggle with personal problems.
Dir: Alan Parker
Cast: Irene Cara, Lee Curreri, Ed Barth

Won Oscars for Best Music, Original Score -- Michael Gore, and Best Music, Original Song -- Michael Gore (music) and Dean Pitchford (lyrics) for the song "Fame"

Nominated for Oscars for Best Film Editing -- Gerry Hambling, Best Music, Original Song -- Michael Gore (music) and Lesley Gore (lyrics) for the song "Out Here on My Own", Best Sound -- Michael J. Kohut, Aaron Rochin, Jay M. Harding and Christopher Newman, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Christopher Gore

Director Alan Parker wanted a scene that showed Doris overcoming her fear and becoming an actress. He heard of the audience participation at the local screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and went to check it out. He loved it so much that he not only decided to use it in the film, he had many of the "cast" from the local screenings appear in the film, as the people doing the time-warp on stage when Doris runs up and joins them.


5:45 AM -- Use Your Eyes (1970)
13 min, TV-14