TCM Schedule for Saturday, November 25, 2017 -- The Essentials - Henry Fonda

Tonight's Essentials feature a trio of films starring Henry Fonda, that nicely show the range of his acting skills -- The Lady Eve (1941), Spencer's Mountain (1963), and The Best Man (1964). Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- LIVING ON LOVE (1937)
A man and woman working different shifts share the same apartment without realizing it.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: James Dunn, Whitney Bourne, Joan Woodbury
BW-61 mins, CC,

One of the six "lost" RKO films (another is the first version of the story, Rafter Romance (1933)) unseen for many years and not released to television. In 2006, Turner Classic Movies acquired the rights and showed all six in April 2007.


7:30 AM -- OBJECTIVE, BURMA! (1945)
An American platoon parachutes into Burma to take out a strategic Japanese outpost.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Errol Flynn, James Brown, William Prince
BW-142 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Original Story -- Alvah Bessie, Best Film Editing -- George Amy, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Franz Waxman

Errol Flynn was criticized for playing heroes in World War II movies. Tony Thomas in his book "Errol Flynn: The Spy Who Never Was" states that Flynn had tried to enlist in every branch of any armed services he could but was rejected as unfit for service on the grounds of his health--he had a heart condition, tuberculosis, malaria and a back problem. Flynn felt he could contribute to America's war effort by appearing in war films, and subsequently made such pictures as Edge of Darkness (1943); Northern Pursuit (1943); Dive Bomber (1941) and Uncertain Glory (1944). Reportedly, Flynn was at his most professional and co-operative he ever was whilst working on Second World War movies. The studios apparently did not diffuse the criticism of Flynn's state-of-health as they wished to keep it quiet for fear of his box-office draw waning.


10:00 AM -- THE BAD SEED (1956)
A woman suspects that her perfect little girl is a ruthless killer.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Gage Clarke, Jesse White, Joan Croyden
C-129 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Nancy Kelly, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Eileen Heckart, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Patty McCormack, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harold Rosson

According to Patty McCormack, the "curtain call" of actors at the end of the movie was a holdover from the Broadway production. The original ending of the play, in which Christine dies and Rhoda lives to kill again, so angered Broadway audiences that when the performance was over, "they were almost literally ready to kill someone." The "curtain call," where Christine turns Rhoda over her knee and spanks her, was a way of breaking the tension and sending the audience off with a laugh, by having Rhoda get her comeuppance.


12:30 PM -- BHOWANI JUNCTION (1956)
An Anglo-Indian beauty falls for a British officer as her country fights for independence.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger, Bill Travers
C-110 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

MGM originally planned to film Bhowani Junction, on location, in India. That is, until the Indian government started making demands seeking script approval and a big tax payment. MGM changed their plans and decided to film instead in Pakistan - whose government was more accommodating and less demanding of the studio.


2:30 PM -- AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (1956)
A Victorian gentleman bets that he can beat the world's record for circling the globe.
Dir: Michael Anderson
Cast: Cantinflas, Finlay Currie, Robert Morley
C-182 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- James Poe, John Farrow and S.J. Perelman, Best Cinematography, Color -- Lionel Lindon, Best Film Editing -- Gene Ruggiero and Paul Weatherwax, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Victor Young (Posthumously.), and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Michael Anderson, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- James W. Sullivan, Ken Adam and Ross Dowd, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Miles White

The role of Passepartout was greatly expanded from the novel to accommodate Mexican star Cantinflas. In the mid-1950s he was the wealthiest movie star in the world, and got top billing in Latin countries.


5:45 PM -- HUSH. . . HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE (1964)
A wealthy southern spinster fights to keep her family's secrets hidden.
Dir: Robert Aldrich
Cast: Bette Davis, Olivia De Havilland, Joseph Cotten
BW-133 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Agnes Moorehead, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph F. Biroc, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- William Glasgow and Raphael Bretton, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Norma Koch, Best Film Editing -- Michael Luciano, Best Music, Original Song -- Frank De Vol (music) and Mack David (lyrics) for the song "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte", and Best Music, Substantially Original Score -- Frank De Vol

When Joan Crawford was replaced by Olivia de Havilland in the role of Miriam and production resumed on Wednesday, September 9, 1964, Davis and de Havilland pulled a "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" routine by toasting one another with Coca-Cola - a catty observation of the fact that Crawford's husband had been an executive of Pepsi-Cola and that she was now on the board of directors. Joining in on the toast were Joseph Cotten and director Robert Aldrich.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: HENRY FONDA



8:00 PM -- THE LADY EVE (1941)
A lady cardsharp tries to con an eccentric scientist only to fall for him.
Dir: Preston Sturges
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn
BW-94 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Monckton Hoffe

Edith Head's first in a long line of costume designing for Barbara Stanwyck. The wedding gown caused a fashion sensation. So much so that it was copied for brides and called, "the Lady Eve dress."


10:00 PM -- SPENCER'S MOUNTAIN (1963)
A Wyoming farmer fights to build a better life for his oldest son.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara, James MacArthur
C-118 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In their book "How Underdog Was Born...", W. Watts Biggers and Chad Strover reveal that seeing Wally Cox's performance in this movie inspired them to ask him to voice their newly created character, Underdog.


12:15 AM -- THE BEST MAN (1964)
Two presidential hopefuls get caught up in the dirty side of politics.
Dir: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Edie Adams
BW-102 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Lee Tracy

Ronald Reagan, who was a Hollywood B-movie actor at the time, was rejected for a role in this film, because a studio executive at United Artists didn't think he had "that presidential look".


2:15 AM -- WILD SEED (1965)
A young drifter forms an alliance with a runaway girl.
Dir: Brian G. Hutton
Cast: Michael Parks, Celia Kaye, Ross Elliott
BW-99 mins,

Film debut of Michael Parks.


4:00 AM -- BUS RILEY'S BACK IN TOWN (1965)
A young sailor returns home to discover his girl has married an older, wealthy man.
Dir: Harvey Hart
Cast: Ann-Margret, Michael Parks, Janet Margolin
C-93 mins, CC,

The New York Times reported in its review of the film that writer William Inge requested his name be removed from the credits due to changes made by the films producer to "glorify Ann-Margret." The screenplay was credited to "Walter Gage" in the finished film. In a interview for "Films and Filming," from January 1976, Ann-Margret explained the real story: "You should have seen the film we originally shot. After the alterations were made William Inge had his name taken off of it. His screenplay had been wonderful. So brutally honest. And the woman Laurel, as he wrote her, was mean...and he made that very sad. But the studio at that time didn't want me to have that kind of an image for the young people of America. They thought it was too brutal a portrayal. It had been filmed entirely, using William Inge's script, but a year after it was completed they got another writer in, and another director. They wanted me to re-do five key scenes. And those scenes changed the story. That's when Inge took his name off. There were two of those scenes that I just refused to do. The other three...I did, but I was upset and angry. They'd altered the whole life of the story and made the character I played another person altogether. To put it mildly, they'd softened the blow that Inge had delivered. If only everyone could have seen that film the way he wrote it."


5:45 AM -- DON'T GET ANGRY (1953)
This short social guidance film offers advice covering anger management.
BW-11 mins,