TCM Schedule for Thursday, October 26, 2017 -- What's On Tonight: 70s Future Shock

In the daylight hours, TCM is featuring films that take place in Russia / the Soviet Union, or at least tell Russian stories. I'm sure that Trump would love today's theme, though I doubt that he has the attention span to make it through any of these. And in prime time, we get an interesting selection of films about the future from the standpoint of the 1970s. Enjoy!


7:11 AM -- HEROES AT LEISURE (1939)
This short film focuses on a group of lifeguards from a Southern California beach during the off season.
Dir: Charles T. Trego
BW-10 mins,


7:30 AM -- STRIKE (1925)
Russia's Czarist rulers go all out to thwart a factory workers' strike.
Dir: Sergei M. Eisenstein
Cast: Grigory Alexandrov, Maxim Shtraukh, Mikhail Gomorov
BW-82 mins,

First feature film directed by Sergei M. Eisenstein.


9:00 AM -- THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925)
In this silent classic, a Russian mutiny triggers revolutionary sentiments around the nation.
Dir: Sergei M. Eisenstein
Cast: Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Grigori Aleksandrov
BW-74 mins, Letterbox Format

The famous Odessa massacre on the steps never happened. It was presumably inserted by director Sergei M. Eisenstein for dramatic effect and to demonize the Imperial regime. This sequence was inspired by the Bloody Sunday massacre on January 22, 1905, almost five months before the mutiny on the Potemkin. The Imperial Russian Army opened fire on peaceful demonstrators outside the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. Approximately 1,000 people were killed or injured. This event was the catalyst of the failed Russian Revolution of 1905.


10:30 AM -- MOCKERY (1927)
A peasant saves a countess during the Russian Revolution.
Dir: Benjamin Christensen
Cast: Lon Chaney, Ricardo Cortez, Barbara Bedford
BW-70 mins,

Referenced in Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), a film biography of Lon Chaney.


11:50 AM -- BELIEVE IT OR NOT #14 (1931)
In this short film, Robert L. Ripley gets arrested and brought to court to testify that what he says is actually true. Vitaphone Release 1038.
BW-9 mins,


12:00 PM -- SCARLET DAWN (1932)
A Russian nobleman and his fiancee elope to live as peasants in Turkey.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Nancy Carroll, Lilyan Tashman
BW-57 mins,

Although the onscreen credits list the writing source as a novel, no record of its publication has been found.


1:13 PM -- GASOLOONS (1935)
In this short film, a family on vacation decides to buy a filling station... with comedic results.
Dir: Arthur Ripley
Cast: Jack Rice, Charles Withers, Edgar Kennedy
BW-15 mins,


1:30 PM -- KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOUR (1937)
A British spy tries to get a countess out of the new Soviet Union.
Dir: Jacques Feyder
Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Robert Donat, Irene Van Brugh
BW-108 mins, CC,

During the shooting, Robert Donat had a severe attack of asthma and the film was delayed for almost a month. The producers wanted to replace him, but Marlene Dietrich refused. According to Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies, Marlene Dietrich waived her salary during Robert Donat's illness and nursed him until he was well enough to return to filming.


3:30 PM -- BRITISH AGENT (1934)
An Englishman falls in love with a Russian spy.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Leslie Howard, Kay Francis, William Gargan
BW-80 mins, CC,

You cannot tell, but during the filming of this film Kay Francis had an accident where she cut an artery in her wrist. Later biographers speculated that it was an actual suicide attempt, but there is no proof of this. Francis claimed that she accidentally locked herself out of her home and broke a window with her hand and so cut herself.


5:05 PM -- NIGHT MAIL (1936)
Shows the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland overnight.
Dir: Basil Wright
Cast: Arthur Clark, John Grierson, Stuart Legg
BW-24 mins,

The shots of the interior of the carriage where the mail is sorted were filmed in a studio. An impression of movement was given by gently swinging the string that was hanging down from the top of the sorting boxes before each shot was filmed and telling the postal workers to walk with a rolling gait.


5:30 PM -- BALALAIKA (1939)
Refugees from the Russian Revolution build a new life in Paris.
Dir: Reinhold Schunzel
Cast: Nelson Eddy, Ilona Massey, Charles Ruggles
BW-102 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD)

Based on a play by Eric Maschwitz.


7:22 PM -- MGM IS ON THE MOVE! (1964)
This promotional short showcases MGM's upcoming movies of 1964.
C-36 mins, Letterbox Format



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 70'S FUTURE SHOCK



8:00 PM -- THE OMEGA MAN (1971)
The only human survivor of a biological war fights to end a plague that has turned everybody else into monsters.
Dir: Boris Sagal
Cast: Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash
C-98 mins, CC,

The production company wanted a locale that looked like an abandoned metropolitan area, but it was too costly to build. The producer drove through downtown Los Angeles one weekend and discovered there were no shoppers, so the majority of the film's exteriors were shot there on weekends.


10:00 PM -- LOGAN'S RUN (1975)
A future police officer uncovers the deadly secret behind a society that worships youth.
Dir: Michael Anderson
Cast: Michael York, Richard Jordan, Jenny Agutter
C-118 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar Special Achievement Award for L.B. Abbott, Glen Robinson and Matthew Yuricich for visual effects

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Ernest Laszlo, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Dale Hennesy and Robert De Vestel

The waterfalls and steps that Logan jumps into to get back into the dome are the "active pool" of the Water Gardens, located in Ft. Worth, Texas. The main pool used to be 9 feet deep, but the pool closed in 2004, after four people drowned near the spot where Logan and Jessica dove in. When it reopened in 2007, the depth had been reduced to 2 feet.


12:15 AM -- THX 1138 (1971)
Two residents of a mechanized future plot to escape to freedom.
Dir: George Lucas
Cast: Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Don Pedro Colley
C-88 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This film was made as a result of George Lucas's student film short project at USC, Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB (1967). Having won significant praise and attention for what was, at the time, an unconventional short, Lucas was given the opportunity to direct a feature-length version starring Robert Duvall, produced by his mentor Francis Ford Coppola under his newly formed production company American Zoetrope. Zoetrope was a financial failure, as was "THX-1138," but the attention was enough to win Lucas the opportunity to make American Graffiti (1973), the success of which paved the way for the opportunity to make Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).


1:48 AM -- 100 YEARS AT THE MOVIES (1994)
This short documentary celebrates the centennial of American filmmaking through a montage of clips of influential motion pictures.
Dir: Chuck Workman
C-9 mins,


2:00 AM -- A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
Scientists use mind-control experiments to turn a gang leader against violence.
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates
C-137 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Stanley Kubrick, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Stanley Kubrick, Best Film Editing -- Bill Butler, and Best Picture

Before filming the scene where he had to carry Patrick Magee's wheelchair up the stairs, professional bodybuilder David Prowse went up to Stanley Kubrick and asked if he could make sure that (due to the difficulty of the task) he got the scene in as few takes as possible, saying, "You're not exactly known as 'one-take-Kubrick', are you?" The rest of the crew was horrified at such a famous director being talked to like this, but Kubrick just laughed and promised to do his best. The scene was filmed in only six takes, an incredibly small amount for a perfectionist like Kubrick. Even so, Prowse was near exhaustion after the repeated takes of him carrying Frank and his wheelchair down the stairs.


4:20 AM -- A LOOK AT THE WORLD OF "SOYLENT GREEN" (1973)
This short film gives a behind-the-scenes look at the science fiction film "Soylent Green" (1973).
C-10 mins,


4:30 AM -- SOYLENT GREEN (1973)
A future cop uncovers the deadly secret behind a mysterious synthetic food.
Dir: Richard O. Fleischer
Cast: Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, Edward G. Robinson
C-97 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

When Thorn discovers he is too late to stop Sol's suicide, he begins to cry. According to a 1997 interview with Robert Osborne on Turner Classic Movies, Charlton Heston was really crying because he was so moved by Edward G. Robinson's performance. Robinson knew he was dying from cancer, and kept it from the cast and crew. He knew it would be his last film, and his death scene was the last scene he ever filmed. He died ten days after shooting wrapped.