TCM Schedule for Saturday, December 28, 2019 -- The Essentials: Diahann Carroll

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts, along with a pair of original films and their remakes (Five Came Back (1939) and Back From Eternity (1956); The Champ (1931 and 1979). Then in primetime, The Essentials is back! (or should that be The Essentials are back?), with trailblazing producer, director and screenwriter Ava DuVernay, who will join primetime host Ben Mankiewicz to discuss the films she has chosen. Tonight's theme remembers Diahann Carroll, who passed away in October of this year. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- EDWARD, MY SON (1949)
A possessive father destroys anyone who threatens his plans for his son.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Deborah Kerr, Ian Hunter
BW-113 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Deborah Kerr

Much of the film's failure has fallen on the shoulders of Spencer Tracy, whose performance is distinctly out of step with his co-stars. Like most leading men of his day, Tracy refused to attempt dialects. In many cases, this did not negatively impact a film -- i.e. Clark Gable and Leslie Howard's home-grown tones tend to go unnoticed in Gone With the Wind (1939) -- but in the case of Edward, My Son (1949), Tracy's resistance to effecting an English accent resulted in his being a distractingly incongruous American presence in an otherwise all-British cast, with the drama taking place in and around London. Robert Morley, who wrote the play on which the film is based, originated Tracy's role on stage.


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: SLAP-HAPPY LION (1947)
The king of the jungle, after a well-spent day terrorising the rest of the animals, is petrified by a mouse.
Dir: Tex Avery (Fred)
Cast: Frank Graham
BW-7 mins, CC,


8:09 AM -- HOW TO SUB-LET (1939)
In this short film, Robert Benchley tries to demonstrate the proper method of sub-letting an apartment.
Dir: Roy Rowland
Cast: Esther Dale, Hal K. Dawson, Hobart Cavanaugh
BW-8 mins,


8:17 AM -- RAINBOW CANYONS (1935)
This short film highlights the changing colors of the Grand Canyon.
Dir: Ruth Fitzpatrick
C-8 mins,


8:26 AM -- FOLLOW ME QUIETLY (1949)
Police track a mysterious killer nicknamed "The Judge."
Dir: Richard O. Fleischer
Cast: William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, Jeff Corey
BW-60 mins, CC,

The voice in The Judge's apartment building yelling downstairs is Marjorie Main.


9:30 AM -- THE MYSTERIOUS MR. M: DANGER DOWNWARD (1946)
An evil scientist known as "Mr. M." uses a drug he has developed called "hypnotreme" to help steal submarine equipment.
Dir: Lewis D. Collins, Vernon Keays
Cast: Dennis Moore, Pamela Blake, Richard Martin
BW-18 mins, CC,

Second of thirteen episodes.


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: ONION PACIFIC (1933)
The race is on for the state railroad franchise. It's the Sudden Pacific (Bluto) against the Onion Pacific (Popeye).
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Willard Bowsky (uncredited)
Cast: Pinto Colvig, Margie Hines, Jack Mercer
BW-7 mins, CC,


10:07 AM -- MASTER MINDS (1949)
The Bowery Boys takes on a mad scientist when one of them develops the ability to predict the future.
Dir: Jean Yarbrough
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell
BW-64 mins, CC,

Sometimes the censors are asleep at the switch. Near the end of the movie during a scene with a lot of hubbub, Gabe says to Sach, the monster, "Hey, don't you remember me? I'm your pal. We used to write our names in the snow." This a reference to a feat practiced by boys in snowy climes.


11:16 AM -- WHITE PERIL (1956)
This short film shows members of a "snow patrol" at work in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state.
Dir: Don Horter
BW-8 mins,


11:30 AM -- SNOW GETS IN YOUR EYES (1938)
In an attempt to win the girl of his dreams, a sausage salesman enters a department store ski jump contest in this short film.
Dir: Will Jason
Cast: Charles Judels, Chester Clute, Virginia Grey
BW-20 mins,


12:00 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.


1:30 PM -- BACK FROM ETERNITY (1956)
When an airliner crashes in the jungle, the repaired plane can only hold five of the survivors.
Dir: John Farrow
Cast: Robert Ryan, Anita Ekberg, Rod Steiger
BW-97 mins, CC,

Barbara Eden's movie debut.


3:12 PM -- WHISPERS (1941)
This short film shows how gossip can be used to spread propaganda or ruin a person's reputation.
Dir: Basil Wrangell
Cast: Jesse Graves, William Irving, Ken Christy
BW-10 mins,


3:30 PM -- THE CHAMP (1931)
A broken-down prizefighter battles to keep custody of his son.
Dir: King Vidor
Cast: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich
BW-86 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Wallace Beery (Tied with Fredric March for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931).), and Best Writing, Original Story -- Frances Marion

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- King Vidor, and Best Picture

Wallace Beery was violently jealous of the child stars he often had to work with. After Jackie Cooper nearly stole "The Champ" from him, Beery had a clause added to his MGM contract stipulating that no juvenile performer would be allowed a close-up in his films.


5:06 PM -- BASQUE SPORTS (1957)
This short film focuses on the sports played by ethnic Basques who live in the Pyrenees Mountains.
Dir: Van Campen Heilner
BW-8 mins,

This is one of several short subjects, already in the can, and slated for release by RKO Radio Pictures as part of their Sportscopes 1956-1957 season, but which received no theatrical distribution at the time, as a result of the demise of RKO. In 1994, they became part of the TCM library and, for the past 20+ years, finally saw the light of day through occasional airings on cable television.


5:30 PM -- THE CHAMP (1979)
A washed-up prizefighter fights to keep his son.
Dir: Franco Zeffirelli
Cast: Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway, Ricky Schroder
C-123 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Score -- Dave Grusin

After looking at over two thousand child actors, screentesting Ricky Schroder and putting him up in a hotel with his family, the producers finally offered him the role on the condition that his parents sign an exclusive, seven-year contract on his behalf. Schroeder's mother refused, saying she couldn't do that to a little boy, and prepared to return home with her family. The producers relented, and offered the role with no strings attached.


7:37 PM -- SPORTSMEN AT WORK (1957)
This short film focuses on how conservationists attempt to protect wildlife.
Dir: Larry O'Reilly
BW-8 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: DIAHANN CARROLL



8:00 PM -- CLAUDINE (1974)
A single mother falls for a garbage collector who's not sure he's ready to raise six children.
Dir: John Berry
Cast: Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs
C-92 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Diahann Carroll

The director felt that Diahann Carroll was too sophisticated to play the role of a welfare mother. However, Carroll was from the Bronx, knew women like Claudine and knew she could play that part as well as anyone else.


9:46 PM -- SOUL IN CINEMA FILMING SHAFT ON LOCATION (1971)
A short behind-the-scenes documentary of the making of "Shaft" (1971), focusing on Gordon Parks' directing and Isaac Hayes' score.
Dir: Hugh A Robertson
C-11 mins,


10:00 PM -- THE SPLIT (1968)
A gang of thieves plots to rob the Los Angeles Coliseum box office during a Rams game.
Dir: Gordon Flemyng
Cast: Jim Brown, Diahann Carroll, Ernest Borgnine
C-90 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This film was the very first theatrical release to receive an R rating from the then-new MPAA's film rating system.


11:37 PM -- BURIED LOOT (1935)
This short film covers the story of a man who confesses to embezzlement only after burying the money he stole.
Dir: George B. Seitz
Cast: Brooks Benedict, Frank O'Connor, Shirley Ross
BW-18 mins,


12:00 AM -- REPEAT PERFORMANCE (1947)
A woman who murdered her husband wishes that she could relive the past year again.
Dir: Alfred Werker
Cast: Louis Hayward, Joan Leslie, Virginia Field
BW-93 mins, CC,

Richard Basehart's first movie.


2:00 AM -- THE GUNFIGHTER (1950)
The fastest gun in the West tries to escape his reputation.
Dir: Henry King
Cast: Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell
BW-85 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- William Bowers and André De Toth

Based on the life and exploits of an actual western gunslinger named John Ringo, a distant cousin of the outlaw Younger family. The real Ringo was a ruthless murderer and survivor of the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral, against (Dr.) John Holliday, Wyatt Earp and the Earp brothers. Also unlike the movie's account, the actual John Ringo--his real name--suffered a severe bout of melancholy following a visit to his family in California in July of 1882 and went on a monumental ten-day alcoholic binge, which climaxed when he sat down under an oak tree, drew his gun and used it to commit suicide.


3:45 AM -- CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER (1951)
The famed 19th century hero defeats enemy fleets and courts an admiral's widow.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo, Robert Beatty
C-117 mins, CC,

The ship Lieutenant William Bush (Robert Beatty) and Captain Horatio Hornblower (Gregory Peck) board to meet the Admiral at the end of the movie is the actual H.M.S. Victory, currently dry-docked at Portsmouth, England. As Admiral Horatio Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, she is still commissioned to the present day as an official vessel of the Royal Navy, and the only surviving original ship of the line still in existence.


5:44 AM -- STUDIO VISIT (1946)
This comedic short film offers a behind-the-scenes look at studio lots.
Cast: William Norton Bailey,
BW-10 mins,