TCM Schedule for Friday, December 13, 2019 -- What's On Tonight: Gone With The Wind 80th Anniversary

In the daylight hours, TCM has stories about conmen and conwomen, too! Then in prime time, TCM is going back to Ted Turner's favorite film, celebrating its eightieth anniversary. Enjoy!


7:30 AM -- BEG, BORROW OR STEAL (1937)
Con men on the Riviera live by their wits.
Dir: William Thiele
Cast: Frank Morgan, Florence Rice, John Beal
BW-72 mins, CC,

Based on a short story by William C. White.


8:45 AM -- THE WILD MAN OF BORNEO (1941)
A braggart masquerades as a primitive throwback.
Dir: Robert B. Sinclair
Cast: Frank Morgan, Mary Howard, Billie Burke
BW-78 mins,

This film was announced in 1928 by Paramount Pictures as a vehicle for W.C. Fields, but that version was never made.


10:15 AM -- THE CUCKOOS (1930)
Two tramps-turned-fortune-tellers try to solve a kidnapping.
Dir: Paul Sloane
Cast: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, June Clyde
BW-97 mins, CC,

Fans of this film have wondered as to the identity of the two women who are dining at the casino early in the film. They enjoy a lengthy sequence when Wheeler & Woolsey sit at their table and flirt with them as the two women feed them straight-lines so Wheeler & Woolsey can give the comedic rejoinder. The girl playing straight for Bert Wheeler is Audree Henderson. (Though the trade papers of the day would occasionally misspell her first name as Audrey.) She was a contract player at R.K.O. at the time The Cuckoos was filmed. Audree later became the fourth wife of film director A. Edward Sutherland from 8 January 1933, until they were divorced on 11 December 1935. The actress playing straight for Robert Woolsey is Betty Recklaw. She appeared in small roles in a number of films made for different studios during the late twenties and early thirties.


12:00 PM -- YOLANDA AND THE THIEF (1945)
A con man poses as a Latin American heiress' guardian angel.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Fred Astaire, Lucille Bremer, Frank Morgan
C-108 mins, CC,

According to the introduction by Robert Osborne on a TCM broadcast, Lucille Ball was going to play the Frank Morgan role of the fellow con-artist to Fred Astaire.


2:00 PM -- WHEN IN ROME (1952)
A con artist disguises himself as a priest, then begins to believe the role.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Van Johnson, Paul Douglas, Joseph Calleia
BW-78 mins, CC,

Paul Douglas comments that St. Peter's is bigger than Yankee Stadium. In fact, the Yankee Stadium of 1952 could fit into just the central aisle of St. Peter's.


3:30 PM -- SYLVIA SCARLETT (1935)
A female con artist masquerades as a boy to escape the police.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Brian Aherne
BW-95 mins, CC,

The first of four movies pairing Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. The other three films are Bringing Up Baby (1938), Holiday (1938) and The Philadelphia Story (1940).


5:15 PM -- THE MUSIC MAN (1962)
A con artist hawks musical instruments and band uniforms to small-town America.
Dir: Morton DaCosta
Cast: Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett
C-151 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Ray Heindorf

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Paul Groesse and George James Hopkins, Best Costume Design, Color -- Dorothy Jeakins, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Film Editing -- William H. Ziegler, and Best Picture

In an episode of the TV series Happy Days (1974), Howard and Marion Cunningham are coming out of a movie theater; they pause in the lobby and look at the poster for "The Music Man". Marion comments how much the little boy in the movie (Winthrop) "looks so much like Richie did when he was little". Both Winthrop and Richie were played by Ron Howard.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: GONE WITH THE WIND 80TH ANNIVERSARY



8:00 PM -- GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
Classic tale of Scarlett O'Hara's battle to save her beloved Tara and find love during the Civil War.
Dir: Victor Fleming
Cast: Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil, Vivien Leigh
C-233 mins, CC,

Winner of an Honorary Oscar Award for William Cameron Menzies for outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood in the production of Gone with the Wind (plaque).

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Vivien Leigh, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Hattie McDaniel (Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to be nominated for and win an Oscar.), Best Director -- Victor Fleming, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Sidney Howard (Posthumously. Sidney Howard became the first posthumous Oscar nominee and winner.), Best Cinematography, Color -- Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan, Best Art Direction -- Lyle R. Wheeler, Best Film Editing -- Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom, and Best Picture

Winner of an Oscar Technical Achievement Award for R.D. Musgrave for pioneering in the use of coordinated equipment in the production Gone with the Wind.

Nominee for Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Clark Gable, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Olivia de Havilland, Best Sound, Recording -- Thomas T. Moulton (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), Best Effects, Special Effects -- Jack Cosgrove (photographic), Fred Albin (sound) and Arthur Johns (sound), and Best Music, Original Score -- Max Steiner

The fact that Hattie McDaniel would be unable to attend the premiere in racially segregated Atlanta outraged Clark Gable so much that he threatened to boycott the premiere unless she could attend. He later relented when she convinced him to go.


12:00 AM -- THE MAKING OF A LEGEND: GONE WITH THE WIND (1988)
Christopher Plummer hosts this documentary tracing producer David O. Selznick's battle to make the most popular movie of all time.
Dir: David Hinton
Cast: Arthur E. Arling, Silvia Schulman Lardner, Evelyn Keyes
C-122 mins, CC,

Olivia de Havilland did not take part in this documentary due to her reportedly not wishing to be involved in any of the 50th anniversary celebrations of Gone with the Wind (1939). Although she did appear at The 15th Annual People's Choice Awards (1989) in August of 1989, to accept the award for 'All Time Favorite Motion Picture' on behalf of the film.


2:15 AM -- THE HARDER THEY COME (1972)
An aspiring Reggae singer gets mixed up with big-city drug dealers.
Dir: Perry Henzell
Cast: Basil Keane, Bobby Charlton, Janet Bartley
C-103 mins, CC,

First feature film produced in Jamaica. The movie is in Jamaican Patois, a creole language which can be understood to some extent by English speakers. There are subtitles in English for much of the movie on the original theatrical print.


4:15 AM -- COUNTRYMAN (1982)
A young American couple crash-lands their plane in Jamaica, and are mistaken for smugglers.
Dir: Dickie Jobson
Cast: Carl Bradshaw, Oliver Samuels, Honey Fernandez
BW-102 mins,

Final film of model/actor Hiram Keller.