TCM Schedule for Thursday, September 21, 2017 -- What's On Tonight: Counter Culture Classics

In the daylight hours, we're visiting India! And in prime time, it's more Counter Culture Classics, specifically "Tune in (Music/Concert Films) features the TCM premieres of two documentaries by D.A. Pennebaker: Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back (1967), about Dylan's 1965 tour of England and Monterey Pop (1968), covering the 1967 California concert featuring Janis Joplin, the Mamas & the Papas and other outstanding acts of the day." Enjoy!

(And my apologies for the late posting. I've been in the hospital again and just got out this afternoon. Feeling better!)


6:00 AM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #1 (1955)
Judy Garland sings "You Made Me Love You" in a clip from "Broadway Melody of 1938"; Cyd Charisse introduces a clip from "It's Always Fair Weather." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-26 mins,


6:30 AM -- INDIA ON PARADE (1937)
This short film focuses on the landmarks, people and customs of India.
C-9 mins,


6:45 AM -- ANCIENT INDIA (1952)
This short film provides a look into the ancient world of India.
C-9 mins,


7:00 AM -- SON OF INDIA (1931)
A rajah's son falls for an American girl touring India.
Dir: Jacques Feyder
Cast: Ramon Novarro, Conrad Nagel, Marjorie Rambeau
BW-73 mins,

Ray Milland is in studio records/casting call lists for the role of "Captain," but he is not identifiable in the movie. The reason is that he was fired by director Jacques Feyder who judged him incompetent to play the part of a young Indian army officer.


8:30 AM -- BONNIE SCOTLAND (1935)
Two Americans in search of a Scottish inheritance wind up serving with the British in India.
Dir: James W. Horne
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, June Lang
BW-80 mins, CC,

Barry Norton was the original juvenile lead, but according to William Janney, who replaced him, Norton's professionalism was his undoing. He knew his lines and cues perfectly, but when Laurel & Hardy began ad-libbing, Norton fell apart and couldn't keep up. Janney was brought in, and most of the scenes were re-written to keep Janney from falling into the same trap as Norton. Janney and "the boys" ultimately shared very few scenes.


10:00 AM -- THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1936)
Two brothers love the same woman at a perilous Indian outpost.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Patric Knowles
BW-115 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Assistant Director -- Jack Sullivan

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD) , and Best Music, Score -- Leo F. Forbstein (head of department) with score by Max Steiner

The original script used the real-life siege of a British fort at Cawnpore (and subsequent massacre of its survivors) during the Sepoy Rebellion - a nationwide mutiny of Indian soldiers in the British army - as the reason for the famous Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava during the Crimean War. However, shortly before the film was started, someone pointed out that the Sepoy Rebellion took place three years AFTER the Crimean War. The fort's name was hurriedly changed to Chukoti, and instead of mutinous Indian soldiers, the besiegers were changed to tribesmen of a fictitious warlord called Surat Khan.


11:57 AM -- COLORFUL BOMBAY (1937)
This short film focuses on the history, people, and landscapes of Bombay.
C-8 mins,


12:15 PM -- GUNGA DIN (1939)
Three British soldiers seek treasure during an uprising in India.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks
BW-117 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph H. August

Sabu was first choice to play Gunga Din; when it became clear he was unavailable, Sam Jaffe was hired in his place. In an interview years later, Jaffe (a Jewish Russian-American) was asked how he so convincingly played an Indian Muslim. Jaffe replied he kept telling himself to "Think Sabu."


2:30 PM -- KIM (1951)
Rudyard Kipling's classic tale of an orphaned boy who helps the British Army against Indian rebels.
Dir: Victor Saville
Cast: Errol Flynn, Dean Stockwell, Paul Lukas
C-113 mins, CC,

MGM originally announced the film in 1938 as a vehicle for Freddie Bartholomew and Robert Taylor, but World War II saw this put on hold. In 1942 it was reactivated to star Mickey Rooney, Conrad Veidt (as Red Lama) and Basil Rathbone. However this was postponed out of fear of offending Indians, and also war-time allies the Soviets. In 1948 the Indian government approved the film and the Cold War meant it was permissible to have Russian villains.


4:30 PM -- THE RIVER (1951)
Members of an English settlement cope with the exotic lure of life in India.
Dir: Jean Renoir
Cast: Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight, Arthur Shields
C-99 mins,

Esmond Knight, who plays the one-eyed Father, did actually lose his eye in the war, during the battle to sink the Bismark. He served on the Prince of Wales, and later starred as the Captain of the Prince of Wales in the film Sink the Bismarck! (1960).


6:15 PM -- SOLDIERS THREE (1951)
Three British officers look for adventure in 19th-century India.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Stewart Granger, Walter Pidgeon, David Niven
BW-92 mins, CC,

Robert Newton plays Private Bill Sykes. He memorably played the Charles Dickens villain Bill Sykes in the David Lean adaptation of Oliver Twist (1948). The characters Sykes, Malloy, and Ackroyd are loosely adapted from characters named Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris in the Rudyard Kipling stories.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPECIAL THEME: COUNTER CULTURE CLASSICS



8:00 PM -- MONTEREY POP (1969)
Concert film about the pre-Woodstock music festival.
Dir: D. A. Pennebaker
C-79 mins, CC,

According to John Phillips, Janis Joplin was a nervous wreck before her first performance at the festival and was drinking Southern Comfort and literally shaking with fear backstage. When she came off stage, she was crying because she couldn't believe she had gone over so well.


9:30 PM -- DON'T LOOK BACK (1967)
D.A. Pennebaker follows Bob Dylan on his 1965 tour of England.
Dir: D. A. Pennebaker
Cast: Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Alan Price
BW-96 mins, CC,

Several scenes in this film were parodied, shot for shot, in the Tim Robbins film Bob Roberts (1992). These include the "Wife of the Sheriff of Nottingham" scene, and the segment in which Joan Baez is singing "Percy's Song" while Dylan composes on a typewriter in the background. In Bob Roberts (1992), Tim Robbins is updating his investment portfolio on his computer while his lover sings about "Marching For Ourselves". Other unmistakable references include the "Subterranean Homesick Blues" parody and the motorcycle 'accident'.


11:28 PM -- THE SKY DIVERS (1969)
This promotional short film offers a behind-the-scenes look at "The Gypsy Moths" (1969), focusing exclusively on skydiving.
Dir: Dale Mackey
C-15 mins,


11:45 PM -- GIMME SHELTER (1970)
A harrowing documentary of the Stones' 1969 tour, with much of the focus on the tragic concert at Altamont.
Dir: David Maysles
Cast: Mick Jagger, Keith Richard, Mick Taylor
C-92 mins, CC,

According to Albert Maysles (in 1999 while he visited UCLA), George Lucas was one of the cameramen for this shoot. Unfortunately his camera jammed after shooting about 100 feet of film that night. All of his footage was deemed unacceptable and wasn't used in any version of the final product.


1:30 AM -- WOODSTOCK: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT (1970)
Dir: Michael Wadleigh
Cast: Joan Baez,, Canned Heat
BW-224 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Documentary, Features -- Bob Maurice

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound -- Dan Wallin and L.A. Johnson, and Best Film Editing -- Thelma Schoonmaker

The two- and three-panel screen presentations seen throughout much of the movie were innovations born of necessity on the part of its creators and a film editor named Martin Scorsese. With so much footage shot, and the studio's unwillingness to expand the length of the released film's running time, it was decided that a way must be found to maximize the amount of footage that could be used. Because of the wide-screen aspect of the release, it was realized that the multi-panel format could be used most effectively to not only include as much film footage as possible, but to also have concert footage and crowd reaction shots together on the same screen. The filmmakers believed it was important to show the viewing public just what a monumental event the Woodstock festival had unintentionally become. This method also allowed them to show many behind-the-scene activities that showed all the hard work put in by the production staff and crew, another important detail that the concert's producers thought was very important for the public to see as they had always contended that without the efforts of the entire production staff, this event could have easily degenerated into a disaster.


5:30 AM -- JIMI HENDRIX (1973)
A documentary about the life and musical career of Jimi Hendrix.
Dir: John Head
Cast: Jimi Hendrix, Peter Townshend, Eric Clapton
C-102 mins, CC,

This documentary was made three years after Jimi Hendrix's untimely death. At the time it was an example of how a visual biography should be done, but some of the information in it needs revising in the light of new information uncovered over the years. The film contains concert footage spanning the Marquee in 1967 to his last UK performance at the third Isle of Wight festival in 1970; along the way we see classic performances at Monterey (1967), Woodstock (1969), Fillmore East (1969/70), and Berkeley (1970). A double album was released to tie-in with the film, containing the complete performances in the film, along with interviews with people in the film (not necessarily the same interviews). The film is worth seeing for Jimi's performances, and to hear what his contemporaries have to say about him (Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, Lou Reed, Mick Jagger, Pete Townsend, and others).