TCM Schedule for Thursday, March 14, 2019 -- TCM Spotlight - Journalism in the Movies

This evening TCM continues their month-long look at the news in the movies with Newspaper Noir.

JOURNALISM IN THE MOVIES - THURSDAYS IN MARCH

Stop the presses! This month's Spotlight on TCM examines the role played by journalism in the world of cinema, with perspectives ranging from screwball comedies of the 1930s to hard-hitting dramas of the 1970s and '80s. The power of journalism and freedom of the press have been important topics over the decades and is gaining new urgency in recent times.

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Newspaper Noir is an intriguing genre combining journalism with the shadowy crime melodramas known as film noir. Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (1951) is the compelling account of a cynical reporter (Kirk Douglas) who exploits the plight of a young man (Richard Benedict) trapped in a collapsed cave. Alexander Mackendrick's Sweet Smell of Success (1957) tells of a powerful, Walter Winchell-like newspaper columnist who manipulates the lives around him with the aid of a scheming press agent (Tony Curtis). The Blue Gardenia (1953), While The City Sleeps (1956) and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) rounds out the night.

by Roger Fristoe

Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- TOP SPEED (1930)
A humble clerk pretends to be a millionaire and gets mixed up in a yachting race.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Bernice Claire, Jack Whiting
BW-71 mins, CC,

Stage Play: Top Speed. Musical comedy. Book by Guy Bolton. Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Lyrics by Bert Kalmar. Music by Harry Ruby. Musical Direction by Ivan Rudisill. Choreographed by John Boyle and Leroy Prinz. Directed by John Harwood. Chanin's 46th Street Theatre (moved to The Royale Theatre from 10 Mar 1930- close): 25 Dec 1929- 22 Mar 1930 (104 performances).


7:15 AM -- DOWN TO THEIR LAST YACHT (1934)
A society family gone bust uses their yacht for charter tours.
Dir: Paul Sloane
Cast: Mary Boland, Polly Moran, Ned Sparks
BW-64 mins,

Sidney Fox's last film role.


8:30 AM -- SHE HAD TO SAY YES (1933)
A secretary pads her salary by dating prospective buyers for her company.
Dir: Busby Berkeley
Cast: Loretta Young, Winnie Lightner, Lyle Talbot
BW-66 mins, CC,

Directorial debut of Busby Berkeley.


9:45 AM -- CROONER (1932)
A saxophone player rises to fame as a singing star.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: David Manners, Ann Dvorak, Ken Murray
BW-67 mins,

Based on a story by Rian James.


11:00 AM -- WE'RE IN THE MONEY (1935)
Gold-digging process servers set their sights on a breach of promise defendant.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Joan Blondell, Glenda Farrell, Hugh Herbert
BW-66 mins, CC,

Fourth of five films pairing Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell released by Warner Brothers from 1933-35. The others being Havana Widows (1933), Kansas City Princess (1934), Traveling Saleslady (1935), and Miss Pacific Fleet (1935).


12:15 PM -- SALLY (1930)
A waitress dreams of becoming a Broadway star.
Dir: John Francis Dillon
Cast: Marilyn Miller, Alexander Gray, Joe E. Brown
C-102 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Art Direction -- Jack Okey

Originally presented in 100% two-color Technicolor, at present the complete film survives only in black and white, with a singular musical number, "Wild Rose," in color.


2:00 PM -- BROADWAY HOSTESS (1935)
A small-town girl rises to night-club stardom.
Dir: Frank McDonald
Cast: Winifred Shaw, Genevieve Tobin, Lyle Talbot
BW-68 mins,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Dance Direction -- Bobby Connolly for "Playboy of Paree"


3:15 PM -- THE FLORODORA GIRL (1930)
A turn-of-the-century chorus girl searches for romance.
Dir: Harry Beaumont
Cast: Marion Davies, Lawrence Gray, Walter Catlett
BW-79 mins, CC,

Marion Davies performs "Tell Me, Pretty Maiden" as a member of the Florodora Sextette. This was the show-stopping number from the hit musical of the 1890s and 1900s. The number was filmed in two-strip Technicolor, which survives.


4:45 PM -- DANCING LADY (1933)
A musical star is torn between a millionaire playboy and her stage manager.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone
BW-92 mins, CC,

Film debut of Fred Astaire. NOTE: (1) Though he was reported to have appeared years earlier in the silent film Fanchon, the Cricket (1915), he and his sister Adele Astaire only visited the set; they did not appear on camera. (2) This was the first time Fred Astaire wore his signature top hat and tails.


6:30 PM -- FASHIONS OF 1934 (1934)
A con artist and his beautiful assistant take on the fashion world.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: William Powell, Bette Davis, Frank McHugh
BW-78 mins, CC,

Preview copies of the film listed Gene Markey and Katharine Scola as writers, but it was announced later they had nothing to do with the film. The Screen Writers' Guild was asked to take action against Warner Bros. for this breach of rules.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: JOURNALISM IN THE MOVIES



8:00 PM -- ACE IN THE HOLE (1951)
A small-town reporter milks a local disaster to get back into the big time.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Bob Arthur
BW-111 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman

Indian copy boy in the newspaper office (uncredited) is Iron Eyes Cody...an American actor of Sicilian heritage who portrayed Native Americans in Hollywood films. He is perhaps best known as the Indian shedding a tear over litter in the "Keep America Beautiful" TV ad campaign of the early 70's.


10:15 PM -- SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957)
A crooked press agent stoops to new depths to help an egotistical columnist break up his sister's romance.
Dir: Alexander Mackendrick
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison
BW-97 mins, CC,

The movie's line "I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic" was voted as the #99 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.


12:00 AM -- SCANDAL SHEET (1952)
A tabloid editor assigns a young reporter to solve a murder the editor committed himself.
Dir: Phil Karlson
Cast: Broderick Crawford, Donna Reed, John Derek
BW-82 mins, CC,

The working title of the film was The Dark Page, same as the source novel by Samuel Fuller.


1:30 AM -- THE BLUE GARDENIA (1953)
A telephone operator kills in self-defense but can't remember the details of the encounter.
Dir: Fritz Lang
Cast: Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern
BW-88 mins, CC,

Director Fritz Lang and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca developed a revolutionary dolly for the camera that allowed for sustained tracking shots and intimate close-ups while shooting this film. Lang preferred the practice of tracking into a close-up shot of an actor as opposed to cutting to a close-up in editing. He believed the tracking close-up captured more of the actors' intimacy and emotions.


3:06 AM -- WE NEVER SLEEP (1956)
This short film highlights the work of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, the U.S.A.'s oldest private detective company.
Dir: Larry O'Reilly
Cast: Peter Roberts
BW-8 mins,

The Pinkerton National Detective Agency was founded in the United States in 1850, by Scotsman Allan Pinkerton. The company now operates as "Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations, Inc. d.b.a. Pinkerton Corporate Risk Management", a division of the Swedish security company Securitas AB. The former Government Services division, PGS, now operates as Securitas Critical Infrastructure Services, Inc.


3:15 AM -- WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS (1956)
Reporters compete to catch a serial killer.
Dir: Fritz Lang
Cast: Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders
BW-100 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The movie was based on a real murder case that took place in 1946. In that year William Heirens killed three women and left a message scrawled in lipstick on a bathroom mirror after the second murder. In the message he urged the police to catch him before he killed again. Because of this the press dubbed him The Lipstick Killler.


4:57 AM -- ALERT TODAY - ALIVE TOMORROW (1956)
This short film promotes the need for cooperation and neighborliness in the event of a nuclear disaster and associated civil defense procedures.
Dir: Larry O'Reilly
BW-15 mins,

The "Pogada Motorcycle Club" featured in this short was founded in 1945 and is still in existence in Birdsboro, PA.


5:15 AM -- BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (1956)
A novelist frames himself for murder to prove the fallibility of circumstantial evidence.
Dir: Fritz Lang
Cast: Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, Sidney Blackmer
BW-80 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The last film that Fritz Lang made in the USA before returning to Germany.