TCM Schedule for Thursday, June 13, 2019 -- What's On Tonight: TCM Spotlight: Allied Powers

Throughout the day and evening, TCM continues their salute to the Allied Forces during World War II. Take it away, Roger!

WWII IN THE MOVIES: ALLIED POWERS - THURSDAYS IN JUNE

D-Day (June 6, 1944) marked the date on which more than 156,000 Allied troops of World War II invaded northern France to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, signaling the beginning of the end of Hitler's grip on Europe. TCM continues to pay respect to the armed forces of WWII and the 75th anniversary of D-Day with Never Surrender: WWII in the Movies, this month looking at the Allied Powers and some of the numerous movies made about their struggles and victories.

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War in the Pacific:

Cry 'Havoc' (1943) is set in a besieged Bataan bomb shelter at the height of the Pacific campaign and focuses on the struggles of Army nurses and volunteers in harrowing circumstances. The primarily female cast features touching and entertaining performances from Margaret Sullavan, Ann Sothern, Joan Blondell, Fay Bainter, Marsha Hunt, Ella Raines, Diana Lewis and others.

The British production The Purple Plain (1955) stars Gregory Peck as a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot serving in the Burma campaign in the closing months of the war and battling depression due to the loss of his wife. The movie earned four nominations at the British Academy Awards, including Best British Picture and Best Actor (costar Maurice Denham).

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by Roger Fristoe

Enjoy!



7:15 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,

Nominee 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

The movie was pulled from release in the UK after just one week. It was banned there after heated protest from British veterans groups and the military establishment. As the Burma campaign was a predominantly British and Australian operation, the picture was taken as a national insult due to the movie's Americanization of the Burma operation. The resentment that many felt was seen as yet another example of Americans believing they had won the war single-handedly. It was not shown in Britain again until 1952/1953, and only with an apologetic disclaimer. Incidentally, writer Lester Cole, who co-wrote the somewhat overly patriotic flag-waving script, would be branded an "Un-American" Communist, becoming one of the Hollywood Ten just a few years later. Cole's screenplay was based on a story by Alvah Bessie, who was also a member of the Hollywood Ten.


9:45 AM -- AIR FORCE (1943)
A bomber crew sees World War II action over the Pacific.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: John Ridgely, Gig Young, Arthur Kennedy
BW-124 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- George Amy

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Dudley Nichols, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- James Wong Howe, Elmer Dyer and Charles A. Marshall, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- Hans F. Koenekamp (photographic), Rex Wimpy (photographic) and Nathan Levinson (sound)

The sabotage by Japanese-Americans in Hawaii, as shown in the movie, never actually happened. Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor there were rumors that the attack was preceded and / or followed by acts of sabotage by Japanese-Americans who were actually Japanese agents, but subsequent investigations showed that the rumors were all false.


12:00 PM -- BATAAN (1943)
Thirteen U.S. soldiers risk their lives to hold a bridge against the Japanese.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Thomas Mitchell
BW-115 mins, CC,

The NAACP gave MGM two awards for presenting an African-American in an intelligent and sympathetic manner. Dore Schary deliberately did not tell writer Robert Hardy Andrews he was planning to cast an African-American as one of the soldiers, in order to avoid any racial speeches in the script.


2:00 PM -- BACK TO BATAAN (1945)
An Army colonel leads a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese in the Philippines.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: John Wayne, Anthony Quinn, Beulah Bondi
BW-95 mins, CC,

The state of the war in World War II was an ever-changing dynamic and two thirds of the way through production, the American invasion of the Philippines took place. As such, script changes and re-writes needed to be made to keep up to date with the current status of the war.


3:40 PM -- WINNING YOUR WINGS (1942)
Starring James Stewart, this short film is designed to encourage recruits for the American Army Air Forces. Vitaphone Release 960-961A.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Leah Baird, Jack Mower, Bill Kennedy
BW-18 mins,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Documentary

Only time John Huston directed James Stewart.


4:00 PM -- FLYING LEATHERNECKS (1951)
A World War II Marine officer drives his men mercilessly during the battle for Guadalcanal.
Dir: Nicholas Ray
Cast: John Wayne, Robert Ryan, Don Taylor
C-102 mins, CC,

John Wayne and Robert Ryan managed to put aside their vast political differences while making this film, although Ryan was appalled by Wayne's support for blacklisting, extending the Korean War by launching nuclear strikes on Chinese cities, and using military force to drive the Soviets out of eastern Europe. However they later did not get along at all while filming The Longest Day (1962).


6:00 PM -- OPERATION PACIFIC (1951)
A dedicated submarine commander sacrifices everything to defeat the enemy.
Dir: George Waggner
Cast: John Wayne, Patricia O'Neal, Ward Bond
BW-109 mins, CC,

John Wayne and Patricia Neal did not get along during filming. She was particularly annoyed by his treatment of a gay publicity man. Nearly fourteen years later, however, they worked together on In Harm's Way (1965) where she noted that he had mellowed a lot, possibly because he was seriously ill with lung cancer at the time.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: ALLIED POWERS



8:00 PM -- SANDS OF IWO JIMA (1950)
During World War II, a marine sergeant must turn his recruits into fighting men.
Dir: Allan Dwan
Cast: John Wayne, John Agar, Adele Mara
BW-110 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- John Wayne, Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Harry Brown, Best Film Editing -- Richard L. Van Enger, and Best Sound, Recording -- Daniel J. Bloomberg

Apparently this movie has the first ever recorded use of the phrase "lock and load", said by John Wayne. "Lock and load" is a military command meaning to apply a weapon's safety catch, and then load it with ammunition. The expression was used once in this film for this meaning and once as a metaphor to get drunk, as in "get loaded".


10:03 PM -- UNITED STATES COAST GUARD BAND (1944)
A patriotic wartime short showcasing the U.S. Coast Guard Band and saluting the Naval branches of the military.
Dir: Bobby Connolly
Cast: 11th Naval District United States Coast Guard Band, Rudy Vallee
BW-10 mins,


10:15 PM -- TORA! TORA! TORA! (1970)
The Japanese take advantage of American blunders to launch a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
Dir: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Martin Balsam, So Yamamura, Jason Robards Jr.
C-149 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Visual Effects -- A.D. Flowers and L.B. Abbott

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Charles F. Wheeler, Osamu Furuya, Shinsaku Himeda and Masamichi Satoh, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Jack Martin Smith, Yoshirô Muraki, Richard Day, Taizô Kawashimam, Walter M. Scott, Norman Rockett and Carl Biddiscombe, Best Sound -- Murray Spivack and Herman Lewis, and Best Film Editing -- James E. Newcom, Pembroke J. Herring and Shinya Inoue

The African-American mess attendant firing the machine gun on the West Virginia was Seaman First Class Doris "Dorie" Miller. He was the first African-American to be awarded the Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor in the U.S. Armed Forces Order of Precedence. Without any training, he fired the unattended machine gun at the Japanese aircraft until it was out of ammunition. Cuba Gooding, Jr. portrayed him in Pearl Harbor (2001).


1:00 AM -- 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.


3:30 AM -- DESTINATION TOKYO (1943)
A U.S. sub braves enemy waters during World War II.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Cary Grant, John Garfield, Alan Hale
BW-135 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Steve Fisher

The appendectomy operation conducted by the character Pills (William Prince) was inspired by an actual appendix operation performed aboard the submarine "Seadragon" in 1942. The real-life appendectomy was performed by 22-year-old pharmacist's mate Wheeler B. Lipes with the help of an assistant. The two were able to extract the appendix of Seaman Darrell Dean Rector under very trying conditions with limited resources and skills. They used kitchen utensils and equipment including a strainer and bent spoons as retractors; alcohol taken from torpedoes, and sterilized pajamas as surgical gowns. The sub's crew had believed that Lipes was the most qualified person to perform such a life-or-death operation, as he had apparently observed appendectomies before. Lipes was persuaded to do the operation by his fellow crewmen. The operation took place 120 feet below the surface of the South China Sea. Afterwards, Lipes' actions were criticized by US Navy doctors, and the US Surgeon General even considered court-martialling him. Over 60 years later, in April 2005, Lipes finally received the US Navy Commendation Medal, two months before his death. According to the 19 April 2005 Los Angeles Times obituary of Lipes, this operation was the first ever performed in a submerged submarine.


5:48 AM -- THE UNITED STATES MARINE BAND (1942)
A patriotic wartime short showcasing the U.S. Marine Corps Band performing famous songs of the Marine Corps. Vitaphone Release 1030A.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
BW-9 mins,