TCM Schedule for Friday, September 7 -- What's On Tonight -- Prison Biopics

Mea culpa! I'm blaming Obama for this recap showing up late -- I was so buzzed by the last day of the Democratic National Convention that I completely forgot to post this.

At any rate, the prime time topic is Prison Biopics, but the real subject for the day is director Elia Kazan, the brilliant but controversial director born Elias Kazanjoglou on September 7, 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). His selection for an Honorary Oscar angered many in the filmmaking community, as Kazan was among the first to cooperate with the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in 1952. That led to the blacklisting that ruined many careers in Hollywood because of their political beliefs, and Kazan had publicly stated that he had no regrets for that action. In response, there were loud protests against his selection for the award and some attendees of the awards ceremony - such as Nick Nolte, Ed Harris - stayed in their seats and refused to applaud when he received the award. However, others both stood and applauded Kazan, such as Warren Beatty, Meryl Streep, Helen Hunt, Karl Malden, Kurt Russell, and Kathy Baker. Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese presented the honorary Oscar to Kazan.

Regardless of his politics, he was an excellent director, with two Oscar wins and five more nominations. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
A girl in the slums tries to find her way with the help of her devoted mother and alcoholic father.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, James Dunn
BW-129 mins, TV-G,

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- James Dunn

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Frank Davis and Tess Slesinger

Nicholas Ray came out from New York with Elia Kazan for Kazan's directorial debut. Besides his brief appearance in the cast as a bakery clerk, various sources have Ray working as assistant director and assisting Alfred Newman with the score, but studio records officially list him as dialogue director.


8:15 AM -- Boomerang (1947)
A prosecutor fights to prove the defendant in a scandalous murder case is innocent.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Dana Andrews, Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb
BW-88 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Richard Murphy

The film is based on a true incident, which took place on Feb. 4, 1924. Father Hubert Dahme, a popular Catholic priest, was shot to death at the intersection of High and Main Street in Bridgeport Connecticut. After an intense police search, homeless veteran Harold Israel was arrested. He was identified by witnesses and linked to the crime by other evidence, and eventually confessed to the murder but later recanted. At the arraignment, prosecutor Homer Stille Cummings dropped all charges and discredited the police case against Israel, insisting the evidence was largely circumstantial and that the confession was coerced from the mentally impaired Israel. Cummings told the court that "it is just as important for a state's attorney to use the great powers of his office to protect the innocent as it is to convict the guilty." Cummings was appointed Attorney General by President Franklin Roosevelt. The murder of Father Dahme was never solved.


9:45 AM -- Pinky (1949)
A light-skinned black woman returns home after passing for white in nursing school.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters
BW-102 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jeanne Crain, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ethel Barrymore, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ethel Waters

Lena Horne initially campaigned to play the title role in this movie (she was light enough to photograph "white&quot , but in the end, the movie studio felt white American audiences would feel more comfortable with a white actress, especially since love scenes with a white actor were involved.


11:30 AM -- A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
A fading southern belle tries to build a new life with her sister in New Orleans.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter
BW-125 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Karl Malden, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Vivien Leigh (Vivien Leigh was not present at the awards ceremony. Greer Garson accepted on her behalf.), Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Kim Hunter (Kim Hunter was not present at the awards ceremony. Bette Davis accepted on her behalf.), and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Richard Day and George James Hopkins

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Marlon Brando, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Lucinda Ballard, Best Director -- Elia Kazan, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Alex North, Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros.), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Tennessee Williams, and Best Picture

Vivien Leigh initially felt completely at sea when she joined the tight New York cast in rehearsals. Director Elia Kazan was able to exploit her feelings of alienation and disorientation to enrich her performance.


1:45 PM -- East Of Eden (1955)
Two brothers compete for their father's approval and a woman's love.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Julie Harris, James Dean, Raymond Massey
C-118 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jo Van Fleet

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Dean (This was the first posthumous acting nomination in Academy Awards history.), Best Director -- Elia Kazan, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Paul Osborn

Elia Kazan, in his autobiography "A Life" (1988), said that Raymond Massey came to despise James Dean. Kazan did nothing to dispel the tension between the two, as it was so right for their characters in the film.


3:45 PM -- Baby Doll (1956)
A child bride holds her husband at bay while flirting with a sexy Italian farmer.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Karl Malden, Carroll Baker, Eli Wallach
BW-115 mins, TV-14, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Carroll Baker, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Mildred Dunnock, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Boris Kaufman, and Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams's first choice for the title role of Baby Doll was Marilyn Monroe, (who was straining to improve herself as an actress at the time and wanted the role badly), although Elia Kazan preferred newcomer Carroll Baker, whose work he was familiar with from the Actors' Studio in New York.


5:45 PM -- A Face In The Crowd (1957)
A female television executive turns a folk-singing drifter into a powerful media star.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa
BW-126 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

The Vitajex tablets that Lonesome Rhodes hawks have 6 grains of dextrose, 5 grains of inert material, 2.5 grains of caffeine, and 3.5 grains of aspirin. That's roughly equivalent to a 16 oz café latte and two baby aspirin tablets.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRISON BIOPICS



8:00 PM -- Birdman Of Alcatraz (1962)
True story of Robert Stroud, the prison lifer who became an expert on birds.
Dir: John Frankenheimer
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter
BW-149 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Burt Lancaster, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Telly Savalas, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Thelma Ritter, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Burnett Guffey

Robert Stroud was actually imprisoned in cell #42 located in the D Block. According to Frank Heaney, a former prison guard (1948-51), Stroud was anything but the sympathetic character as portrayed by Burt Lancaster. He was an extremely difficult and demented inmate who, though highly intelligent, was a vicious killer and a psychopath.


10:45 PM -- Cell 2455, Death Row (1955)
A Death Row inmate uses his prison law studies to fight for his life.
Dir: Fred F. Sears
Cast: William Campbell, Robert Campbell, Marian Carr
BW-77 mins, TV-PG,

Despite being promoted as the true story of Caryl Chessman, on whose book it was based, 'Cell 2455 Death Row' names its lead character 'Whit Whittier' and carries the usual disclaimer during the title credits: "The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the name, character or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional".


12:15 AM -- Convicts 4 (1962)
A convicted killer discovers a talent for art while behind bars.
Dir: Millard Kaufman
Cast: Ben Gazzara, Stuart Whitman, Ray Walston
BW-106 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

After filming was completed, Sammy Davis Jr. asked for and received permission to put on a show for the inmates. The warden set two conditions: no racial jokes (which could start a riot) and no sex jokes (for obvious reasons). Four thousand inmates attended the show, Davis told no racial or sex jokes, and the show went off with no trouble.


2:15 AM -- The Legend of Hell House (1973)
Scientists and psychics team to crack the secrets of a murderously haunted house.
Dir: John Hough
Cast: Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill
C-94 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

The original novel, by Richard Matheson, was set in New England, with an American team of psychic investigators. The storyline was changed, to fit the movie's production in England, with British actors playing the investigators.


4:00 AM -- House On Haunted Hill (1959)
A millionaire offers total strangers a fortune to spend the night in a haunted house.
Dir: William Castle
Cast: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long
BW-75 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

The large grosses for this film were noticed by Alfred Hitchcock. This led him to create his own low-budget horror film - Psycho.


5:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #14 (1955)
Clark Gable and Charles Laughton perform in a clip from "Mutiny on the Bounty"; Howard Keel introduces a clip from "Kismet." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-25 mins, TV-G,