TCM Schedule for Thursday, October 19, 2017 -- What's On Tonight: TCM Guest Programmer Todd Haynes

In the daylight hours, TCM is featuring films that take place south of the equator - Africa, South America and Antarctica. And in prime time, we have the film choices of independent director/screenwriter/producer Todd Haynes. From the TCM website:

Haynes' programming picks are all movies he had studied in preparation for his current film, Wonderstruck (2017), which employs different time periods (the 1920s and 1970s) to tell the story of two children on quests in New York City. The first influence is The Crowd (1928), King Vidor's silent film about a young couple's struggle for survival in the city, described by Haynes as "a magnificent piece of engineering and filmmaking."

Haynes first saw Martin Ritt's Sounder (1972) as a child, and remembers it as "an intense emotional experience." He now finds certain parallels in Sounder's story of a boy's odyssey in 1930s Louisiana to find his father with the treks of the young protagonists in his own film. Similarly, Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955) has two children on a crucial journey - this one to flee an evil stepfather. Haynes' final choice, Nicholas Roeg's Walkabout (1971) is about survival in the Australian outback, where young aborigines endure a rite of passage into manhood by living off the land. Be sure to watch these films October 19 and see Wonderstruck when it hits theaters October 20.

Enjoy!


6:45 AM -- THE SECRET LAND (1948)
Documentary about Admiral Richard Byrd and his explorations of the Antarctic.
Cast: Comdr. Robert Montgomery U.S.N.R., Lt. Robert Taylor U.S.N.R., Lt. Van Heflin A.A.F.R.
C-71 mins,

Won an Oscar for Best Documentary, Features -- Orville O. Dull


8:00 AM -- WITH BYRD AT THE SOUTH POLE (1930)
Cameras follow the intrepid admiral's second expedition to the heart of Antarctica.
Cast: Persons:, Rear Adm. Richard E. Byrd, Clair D. Alexander
BW-82 mins,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography -- Joseph T. Rucker and Willard Van der Veer

The first documentary film to win an Academy Award and the only documentary film to win an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.


9:30 AM -- SAVAGE SPLENDOR (1949)
Documentary about an African expedition that uncovered secret tribal rituals.
Dir: Lewis Cotlow, Armand Denis
Cast: Lewis Cotlow, Armand Denis, Carr Hartley
C-60 mins,

This hour-long Technicolor documentary of the Denis-Cotlow African expedition netted more money for RKO in 1949 than John Ford's She Wore A Yellow Ribbon.


10:45 AM -- PICTURESQUE SOUTH AFRICA (1937)
This short film focuses on the history, people, and culture of South Africa.
C-9 mins,


11:00 AM -- BELOW THE SAHARA (1953)
A film producer and his wife trek through Africa in search of adventure.
Dir: Armand Denis
Cast: Armand Denis, Michaela Denis, Carr Hartley
C-65 mins,

Filmed in Nairobi, Kenya.


12:15 PM -- KING SOLOMON'S MINES (1937)
African explorers enlist an exiled native chief to help them find a legendary treasure.
Dir: Robert Stevenson
Cast: Paul Robeson, Cedric Hardwicke, Roland Young
BW-80 mins, CC,

The film was thought lost for years. It was believed the negative was ceded to MGM when the studio acquired remake rights in 1950. When MGM denied it, it was believed to have been assigned to Pinewood Lake on the studio's property, a watery grave that contains cans and reels of unstable nitrate films. When it did turn up, it was in Rank's Pinewood vaults.


1:45 PM -- WATUSI (1959)
In a remake of King Solomon's Mines, an African explorer leads a beautiful woman in search of a mythical treasure.
Dir: Kurt Neumann
Cast: George Montgomery, Taina Elg, David Farrar
C-85 mins, CC,

Much of the footage in this movie was previously seen in MGM's King Solomon's Mines (1950).


3:15 PM -- TRADER HORN (1973)
An experienced African explorer protects a young widow from wild beasts and hostile natives.
Dir: Raza Badiyi
Cast: Anne Heywood, Jean Sorel, Don Knight
C-106 mins,

Remake of Trader Horn (1931) and based on the novel of the same name by Ethelreda Lewis.


5:15 PM -- ADVENTURE GIRL (1934)
A female explorer and her aged father search the Guatemalan jungle for a lost city.
Dir: Herman Raymaker
Cast: Joan Lowell, Captain Nicholas Wagner, William Sawyer
BW-69 mins,

Filmed in Guatemala.


6:30 PM -- MANHUNT IN THE JUNGLE (1958)
An adventure film depicting the 1928 search for missing Col. P. H. Fawcett.
Dir: Tom McGowan
Cast: Robin Hughes, Luis Alvarez, James Wilson
C-79 mins, CC,

Remade as The Lost City of Z (2016) -- another movie about Fawcett's expedition, based on a different non-fiction book.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM GUEST PROGRAMMER: TODD HAYNES



8:00 PM -- THE CROWD (1928)
In this silent film, an office worker deals with the simple joys and tragedies of married life.
Dir: King Vidor
Cast: Eleanor Boardman, James Murray, Bert Roach
BW-93 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production, and Best Director, Dramatic Picture -- King Vidor

Several years after the film was made, alcoholism had taken its toll on lead actor James Murray, who was reduced to panhandling in the street. Ironically, one of the passers-by he solicited for money turned out to be King Vidor, who offered him a part in the film's semi-sequel, Our Daily Bread (1934). Murray declined the offer, thinking it was only made out of pity. He died in 1936 at the age of 35 in a drowning incident. Vidor was sufficiently compelled to write his life story as an unrealized screenplay, which he called "The Actor".


10:00 PM -- SOUNDER (1972)
Black sharecroppers during the Depression fight to get their children a decent education.
Dir: Martin Ritt
Cast: Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks
C-105 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Winfield, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Cicely Tyson, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Lonne Elder III, and Best Picture

Cicely Tyson commented in a TCM interview that director Martin Ritt's cinematographer (principal cameraman), while shooting the famous "homecoming sequence" with Tyson and co-star Paul Winfield, was so moved by their performances that he was certain he missed framing the action properly in the shots and respectfully asked them to do the difficult scene again. They obliged, but a later examination of daily rushes revealed that they got shot and acting perfect the first time, and take 1 was a print.


12:00 AM -- THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955)
A bogus preacher marries an outlaw's widow in search of the man's hidden loot.
Dir: Charles Laughton
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
BW-93 mins, CC,

At their initial meeting, Lillian Gish asked Charles Laughton why he wanted her for the part; he replied, "When I first went to the movies, they sat in their seats straight and leaned forward. Now they slump down, with their heads back, and eat candy and popcorn. I want them to sit up straight again."


2:00 AM -- WALKABOUT (1971)
Two children are stranded in the Australian outback and are forced to cope on their own.
Dir: Nicolas Roeg
Cast: Jenny Agutter, Lucien John, David Gumpilil
C-100 mins, CC,

Jenny Agutter was embarrassed when doing the scene of her swimming naked in the lake, so as many as possible of the crew were sent away. When shooting was done they returned, stripped naked, and went for a swim.


4:00 AM -- PERFORMANCE (1970)
A wounded mobster holes up in a reclusive rock star's decaying mansion.
Dir: Donald Cammell
Cast: James Fox, Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg
C-106 mins, CC,

Director Donald Cammell arranged for James Fox to spend time with real East London gangsters to help prepare his character. David Litvinoff (credited as "dialogue coach and technical advisor", but actually pretty much "mob liaison&quot made sure he didn't get into any real trouble.