TCM Schedule for Friday, April 5, 2019 -- What's On Tonight: Star of the Month Greta Garbo

During the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating Spencer Tracy, born Spencer Bonaventure Tracy, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 5, 1900. The films are mostly from his early years, and include his Oscar winning role as Father Flanagan in Boys Town (1938). Then in prime time, TCM completes their salute to Greta Garbo, with her last three films, including a rare and wonderful comedy, Ninotchka (1939). Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- THE SHOW-OFF (1934)
A man's loud-mouthed bumbling almost ruins his new wife's family.
Dir: Charles F. Riesner
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Madge Evans, Henry Wadsworth
BW-77 mins,

The part of J. Aubrey Piper was originally to be played by Lee Tracy, but his contract was terminated by MGM when, during the production in Mexico of Viva Villa! (1934), he got drunk, urinated off a balcony onto a passing patrol of Mexican soldiers (who almost shot him) and was deported from Mexico. Spencer Tracy got the part with the help of Frank Morgan, and afterwards signed a long-term contract with MGM.


7:45 AM -- BIG CITY (1937)
An honest cab driver fights against corruption.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Luise Rainer, Spencer Tracy, Charley Grapewin
BW-80 mins,

George B. Seitz directed, uncredited, the sequence featuring Jack Dempsey.


9:15 AM -- THEY GAVE HIM A GUN (1937)
With no other prospects, a World War I veteran turns to crime.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke II
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Gladys George, Franchot Tone
BW-95 mins, CC,

During the movie, the rifle range scene was for real. The studio probably had help from the U.S. Government.


11:00 AM -- BOYS TOWN (1938)
True story of Father Flanagan's fight to build a home for orphaned boys.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull
BW-93 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy (Spencer Tracy was not present at the awards ceremony. His wife Louise Treadwell accepted the award on his behalf.), and Best Writing, Original Story -- Eleanore Griffin and Dore Schary

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Norman Taurog, Best Writing, Screenplay -- John Meehan and Dore Schary, and Best Picture

When shooting began on the movie Mickey Rooney repeatedly tried to steal scenes by fumbling with a handkerchief, pulling faces and other bits of business. This so annoyed Spencer Tracy that he threatened to have Rooney thrown off the movie unless he behaved.


12:45 PM -- MEN OF BOYS TOWN (1941)
Father Flanagan continues to fight for his pioneering orphanage.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Bobs Watson
BW-106 mins, CC,

Spencer Tracy disliked this sequel to Boys Town and called it "dull and unbelievable".


2:45 PM -- BOOM TOWN (1940)
Friends become rivals when they strike-it-rich in oil.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert
BW-119 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harold Rosson, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound)

This was the last of three films (after San Francisco (1936) and Test Pilot (1938)) that Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy did together. After this film, Tracy insisted on a clause in his MGM contract that he would receive equal billing with Gable in all future films. While the two remained lifelong friends, they were never again paired together in a movie because MGM wasn't sure how to handle the equal billing.


5:00 PM -- THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO (1944)
General Jimmy Doolittle trains American troops for the first airborne attacks on Japan.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Van Johnson, Robert Walker, Tim Murdock
BW-138 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic), Donald Jahraus (photographic), Warren Newcombe (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound)

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Surtees and Harold Rosson

When Lawson's plane arrives in "Tokyo" and sees the fire and smoke from the previous bomber, Davy Jones, we are not looking at a special effect. During the making of the film, there was a fuel-oil fire in Oakland, near the filming location. The quick-thinking filmmakers scrambled to fly their camera plane and B-25 through the area, capturing some very real footage for the movie.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: GRETA GARBO



8:00 PM -- CONQUEST (1937)
A Polish countess sacrifices her virtue to Napoleon to save her homeland.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Greta Garbo, Charles Boyer, Reginald Owen
BW-112 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Charles Boyer, and Best Art Direction -- Cedric Gibbons and William A. Horning

The lavish ballroom set where Napoleon dances with Marie Walewska is actually identical to that used in Maytime (1937) - the Jeanette McDonald /Nelson Eddy operetta. It has simply been redressed and given a different floor covering and shot from a different angle.


10:00 PM -- NINOTCHKA (1939)
A coldhearted Soviet agent is warmed up by a trip to Paris and a night of love.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire
BW-110 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greta Garbo, Best Writing, Original Story -- Melchior Lengyel, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch and Billy Wilder, and Best Picture

Despite the size of the Russian contingent, only Gregory Gaye was actually born in Russia. Garbo was Swedish, Claire was American, Ruman and Bressart were German, and Lugosi and Granach were Hungarian. The look of the three Soviets is not random. They are clearly reminiscent of Soviet revolutionaries, including Leon Trotsky and Felix Dzerzhinsky, with Sig Ruman's beard bearing the same distinctive point as that of Vladimir Lenin (which was also the object of jokes by Groucho Marx during Ruman's appearances in various Marx Brothers films).


12:00 AM -- TWO-FACED WOMAN (1941)
A woman pretends to be her own twin sister to win back her straying husband.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett
BW-90 mins, CC,

The movie was originally condemned by the National Legion of Decency for its immoral attitude towards marriage, and impudent suggestive scenes, dialogue and situations, and costumes. After the original print was revised, it was removed from the condemned list. The initial problem arose when the character played by Melvyn Douglas supposedly thought he was romancing his wife's twin sister, who he did not realize, in actual fact, was his wife herself simply impersonating her. In the revised version, Douglas receives a phone call advising him of the deception, so that now he knows it's really his own wife he's dallying with, which in the narrow minds of the dictators of the Catholic Legion of Decency, now made it OK.


2:00 AM -- THE LAWNMOWER MAN (1992)
A sceintist obsessed with virtual reality experiments on a gardener's assistant.
Dir: Brett Leonard
Cast: Jeff Fahey, Pierce Brosnan, Jenny Wright
C-108 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

New Line Cinema had obtained the rights to the Stephen King short story "The Lawnmower Man", and the producers also had an unrelated script called "Cyber God". They simply placed King's title on the production of "Cyber God". King was furious at this abuse of his name, and he sued the studio to have his name and title removed from the film and promotion. They refused, until the studio was ordered to pay ten thousand dollars and full profits.


4:00 AM -- THE TERMINAL MAN (1974)
To end his violent seizures, a computer whiz has a microcomputer implanted in his brain.
Dir: Mike Hodges
Cast: George Segal, Joan Hackett, Richard Dysart
C-104 mins, CC,

Michael Crichton was fired from writing the screenplay due to the fact that his script did not follow the novel (which he had written) closely enough.