TCM Schedule for Friday, January 11, 2019 -- What's On Tonight: Early Year Biopics

Last edited Wed Jan 30, 2019, 09:13 PM - Edit history (1)

In the daylight hours, TCM is giving us a lesson in simple arithmetic. Then in prime time, TCM is showing the youth and early adulthood of some of great figures in history. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- ONE WAY PASSAGE (1932)
An ocean voyage leads to romance for a dying heiress and a condemned criminal.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: William Powell, Kay Francis, Aline MacMahon
BW-68 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Robert Lord

Although the character's name would change, Frank McHugh plays the same part in the remake titled 'Til We Meet Again (1940). The remake runs 32 minutes longer!


7:15 AM -- TWO ON A GUILLOTINE (1965)
A magician's estranged daughter must stay in his mansion for seven nights alone to inherit his fortune.
Dir: William Conrad
Cast: Connie Stevens, Dean Jones, Cesar Romero
BW-107 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The amusement park where Stevens and Jones spend an afternoon was Pacific Ocean Park, elements of which still exist today as part of Southern California's Santa Monica Pier.


9:15 AM -- THREE DARING DAUGHTERS (1948)
Three young girls try to help their widowed mother find the right husband.
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox
Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, José Iturbi, Jane Powell
C-115 mins, CC,

This musical was declared "morally objectionable" by the Catholic Church's National Legion of Decency for portraying divorce as respectable.


11:15 AM -- FOUR'S A CROWD (1938)
A publicist falls for his most difficult client's daughter.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Rosalind Russell
BW-92 mins, CC,

Supposedly based on the career of Ivy Ledbetter Lee (1877-1934), often called "the father of public relations", who worked for the Rockefeller family.


1:00 PM -- FIVE CAME BACK (1939)
Survivors of a jungle plane crash realize that their repaired airplane can only carry five passengers.
Dir: John Farrow
Cast: Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Wendy Barrie
BW-75 mins, CC,

According to Lucille Ball's biographer, Charles Higham, Ball spent much of her time during production fending off the unwanted advances of co-star Chester Morris. The crude advances of the soon-to-be-divorced Morris, production delays, daily feuds with director John Farrow and closer-than-desired encounters with wildlife that had stowed away in some of the trees that had been brought on set as props made this an unpleasant shoot for Ball.


2:30 PM -- SIX-GUN GOLD (1941)
Three cowboys find that a U.S. Marshal relative is an impostor.
Dir: David Howard
Cast: Tim Holt, Ray Whitley, Jan Clayton
BW-57 mins, CC,

Based on a story by writer/director/actor Tom Gibson.


3:30 PM -- SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954)
When their older brother marries, six lumberjacks decide it's time to go courting for themselves.
Dir: Stanley Donen
Cast: Howard Keel, Jeff Richards, Russ Tamblyn
C-102 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Adolph Deutsch and Saul Chaplin

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich and Dorothy Kingsley, Best Cinematography, Color -- George J. Folsey, Best Film Editing -- Ralph E. Winters, and Best Picture

For the famous barn raising dance sequence, the cast rehearsed for three weeks in order to get the intricate choreography down. It was during one of these rehearsals that Russ Tamblyn wandered over to the set along with Jeff Richards to see how the scene was coming along. "Michael Kidd called me over and said, 'Rusty, somebody told me that you're a good tumbler, that you can do some flips'," said Tamblyn in a 2004 interview. "So I did a back flip for him. 'Fantastic!' he said. 'We'll put it in a number.' I told him I really wasn't a dancer, except for some tap dancing. But he said, 'Listen, this is just like square dancing. All you have to do is lift your legs high. You can do a lot of acrobatic stuff. It's perfect.' That's how I became a dancer in Seven Brides."


5:30 PM -- 8 1/2 (1963)
A world-famous film director juggles his romantic relationships while trying to come up with an idea for his next picture.
Dir: Federico Fellini
Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée
BW-139 mins, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Piero Gherardi, and Best Foreign Language Film -- Italy

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Federico Fellini, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli and Brunello Rondi, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Piero Gherardi

The title refers to the number of movies Federico Fellini had directed up until that point - six features, two shorts (films #7 and #8) and a co-directed film with Alberto Lattuada, for a total of 8 1/2 films. So why was the remake from 2009 called Nine? When it was decided to make a play out of Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963), the rights were easy to obtain from Fellini; his only condition was that neither his name nor the title 8 1/2 should be connected to it.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: EARLY YEARS BIOPICS



8:00 PM -- YOUNG MR. LINCOLN (1939)
The future president considers a political career while practicing law.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver
BW-100 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Lamar Trotti

Henry Fonda originally turned down the role of Lincoln, saying he didn't think he could play such a great man. He changed his mind after John Ford asked him to do a screen test in full makeup. After viewing himself as Lincoln in the test footage, Fonda liked what he saw, and accepted the part. He later told an interviewer, "I felt as if I were portraying Christ himself on film."


10:00 PM -- YOUNG WINSTON (1972)
The young Winston Churchill overcomes a bad family life and early military mistakes to launch his political career.
Dir: Richard Attenborough
Cast: Simon Ward, Peter Cellier, Ronald Hines
C-148 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced -- Carl Foreman, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Donald M. Ashton, Geoffrey Drake, John Graysmark, William Hutchinson and Peter James, and Best Costume Design -- Anthony Mendleson

Three actors portrayed Sir Winston Churchill: Russell Lewis at the age of seven, Michael Audreson at the age of thirteen, and Simon Ward as a young man. However, Audreson was dubbed by Ward in all of his scenes.


12:45 AM -- YOUNG TOM EDISON (1940)
As a precocious child, Tom Edison defies authority to develop his first inventions.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Fay Bainter, George Bancroft
BW-86 mins, CC,

"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on December 23, 1940 with Mickey Rooney and Virginia Weidler reprising their film roles.


2:15 AM -- THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY (1958)
A mad scientist creates a murderous robot to steal an ancient Aztec treasure.
Dir: Rafael Portillo
Cast: Ramón Gay, Rosita Arenas, Crox Alvarado
BW-64 mins,

The first half of the film is a recap of The Aztec Mummy (1957) and The Curse of the Aztec Mummy (1957).


3:30 AM -- THE MUMMY'S SHROUD (1967)
The words on an Egyptian prince's burial shroud revive a vengeful mummy.
Dir: John Gilling
Cast: Andre Morell, John Phillips, David Buck
C-90 mins, CC,

The design for the mummy's mask was taken directly from a real one on display at London's British Museum.


5:15 AM -- CHANGING (1971)
A young family tries to cope with shifting social values in this short film.
Dir: Hubert Smith
C-28 mins,