TCM Schedule for Thursday, April 22 -- 20 Years of the Film Foundation

104 years ago today Eddie Albert was born. His television career is the earliest of any other performer. It began years before electronic television was introduced to the public. In June of 1936 Eddie appeared in RCA/NBC's first private live performance for their radio licensees in New York City. His first film role came in 1938, and he continued to perform in both movies and television until 1997. He died of pneumonia in 2005.

Tonight we celebrate the work of Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation, with four of the films that the Foundation has restored. Enjoy!


4:50am -- One Reel Wonders: Vienna: The Years Remembered (1968)
This promotional, short documentary provides a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Mayerling" (1968), as well as the actual history that inspired the film.
Narrated by Karl Weber.
C-9 mins

Mayerling (1968) was originally planned as a starring vehicle for the husband-and-wife team of Mel Ferrer and Audrey Hepburn, who had performed Mayerling for TV in 1957.


5:00am -- Sette donne per i MacGregor (1967)
Seven brothers team up to rescue their gold and their women from a ruthless bandit.
Cast: David Bailey, Agatha Flory, Leo Anchoriz, Roberto Camardiel
Dir: Frank Grafield
C-94 mins, TV-PG

In English the title is 7 Women for the MacGregors.


5:35am -- One Reel Wonders: The Comedians In Africa (1967)
This promotional short shows the hardships faced by the cast and crew of The Comedians (1967), when they filmed the movie in the African nation of Dahomey.
Narrated by Karl Weber.
C-11 mins

Set in the Haiti of "Papa Doc" Duvalier, The Comedians tells the story of a sardonic white hotel owner and his encroaching fatalism as he watches Haiti sink into barbarism. Complications include a friendship with a rebel leader, politically "charged" hotel guests, an affair with the wife of a European ambassador, and the manipulations of a conniving British arms dealer.


7:00am -- Now Playing May (2010)
Features highlights of the month's programming on TCM, including festivals and stars.
BW-26 mins, TV-PG


7:30am -- On Your Toes (1939)
A hoofer gets mixed up with a ballet dancer, triggering backstage jealousy.
Cast: Zorina, Eddie Albert, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh
Dir: Ray Enright
BW-94 mins, TV-G

"On Your Toes" was adapted from a Broadway musical that opened at the Imperial Theater in New York on April 11, 1936 and ran for 315 performances. Ray Bolger starred in the original stage production. The musical was revived on Broadway in 1954 and 1983.


9:15am -- The Great Mr. Nobody (1941)
An accident-prone reporter stumbles into love and a big story.
Cast: Eddie Albert, Joan Leslie, Alan Hale, William Lundigan
Dir: Ben Stoloff
BW-71 mins, TV-G

Originally made as How Baxter Butted In (1925), starring Matt Moore and Virginia Marshall.


10:30am -- Thieves Fall Out (1941)
A young man tries to rescue his grandmother from kidnappers.
Cast: Eddie Albert, Joan Leslie, Jane Darwell, Alan Hale
Dir: Ray Enright
BW-72 mins, TV-PG

The original play opened in New York on 30 September 1938, with Alison Skipworth in the role of Grandma (played in the movie by Jane Darwell). It closed after 16 performances.


11:45am -- The Gun Runners (1958)
A charter boat captain runs guns during the Cuban revolution.
Cast: Audie Murphy, Eddie Albert, Patricia Owens, Everett Sloane
Dir: Donald Siegel
BW-82 mins, TV-PG

Remake of To Have and Have Not (1944), based on Hemingway short story.


1:15pm -- Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947)
A singer's wife turns to the bottle when she fears she's lost her husband to success.
Cast: Susan Hayward, Lee Bowman, Marsha Hunt, Eddie Albert
Dir: Stuart Heisler
BW-103 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Susan Hayward, and Best Writing, Original Story -- Dorothy Parker and Frank Cavett

Reportedly suggested by the life and career of Bing Crosby and songstress wife Dixie Lee; when his popularity as an entertainer eclipsed that of Lee, she drifted into extreme alcoholism, just as Susan Hayward's character does in film.


3:15pm -- Ladies' Day (1943)
To save their team, baseball players try to get their star pitcher married to the right woman.
Cast: Lupe Velez, Eddie Albert, Patsy Kelly.
Dir: Leslie Goodwins
BW-62 mins, TV-G

An avid environmentalist, Eddie Albert shared his concerns on TV on the "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962) and "Today" (1952) shows and lectured everywhere from high schools and industrial conventions. He produced films to aid in campaigns against pollution. He also helped to launch the very first "Earth Day" on April 22, 1970, his birthday.


4:30pm -- The Fuller Brush Girl (1950)
A daffy door-to-door saleswoman blunders into a murder investigation.
Cast: Lucille Ball, Eddie Albert, Carl Benton Reid, Gale Robbins
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
BW-84 mins, TV-G

The only film pairing of the two future television stars, Lucy Ricardo and Oliver Wendell Douglas.


6:00pm -- Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)
An unscrupulous millionaire tries to catch two mysterious children with super powers.
Cast: Eddie Albert, Ray Milland, Donald Pleasence, Kim Richards
Dir: John Hough
C-97 mins, TV-G

At one point during the fight scene between Tony and Truck, Dermott Downs punched the bat so hard, it hit Ike Eisenmann. In some scenes you can see a greenish bruise under his left eye.


What's On Tonight: TCM PRIME TIME FEATURE: 20 YEARS OF THE FILM FOUNDATION


8:00pm -- The Red Shoes (1948)
A young ballerina is torn between her art and her romance with a young composer.
Cast: Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann
Dir: Michael Powell
C-135 mins, TV-G

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Hein Heckroth and Arthur Lawson, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Brian Easdale

Nominated for Oscars for Best Film Editing -- Reginald Mills, Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Emeric Pressburger, and Best Picture

Much to his surprise, Michael Powell had great difficulty persuading Moira Shearer to be in the film. She held out for a year before giving in to him. Shearer herself, however, did not particularly care for Powell. In later years, she described the making of the film as being a terrible ordeal: Powell was distant and aloof and never really gave her much direction; and having to dance for hours on end on concrete floors also physically took its toll on all the dancers, making their legs swell up.


10:30pm -- Once Upon a Time in the West (1969)
A mail-order bride enlists an outlaw and a mystery man to help protect her land from a ruthless cattleman.
Cast: Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards Jr., Charles Bronson
Dir: Sergio Leone
C-165 mins, TV-14

Henry Fonda originally turned down a role in the picture. Director Sergio Leone flew to the United States and met with Fonda, who asked why he was wanted for the movie. Sergio replied, "Picture this: the camera shows a gunman from the waist down pulling his gun and shooting a running child. The camera pans up to the gunman's face and... it's Henry Fonda." (Until then, and with one exception, Fonda had only been cast in "good guy" roles. Leone wanted the audience to be shocked.)


1:30am -- The River (1951)
Members of an English settlement cope with the exotic lure of life in India.
Cast: Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight, Arthur Shields, Suprova Mukerjee
Dir: Jean Renoir
C-99 mins, TV-G

When Kenneth McEldowney, a successful florist and real estate agent in Los Angeles, complained to his wife, an MGM publicist, about one of her studio's films, she dared him to do better. So he sold their home and floral shops, and from 1947 to 1951 worked to produce this film. It opened in New York to a record 34-week run at reserved-seat prices and was on several ten-best movie lists in 1951. McEldowney then returned to real estate and never made another movie.


3:30am -- Bonjour Tristesse (1957)
A jealous teenage girl plots to end her father's engagement.
Cast: Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Jean Seberg, Mylene Demongeot
Dir: Otto Preminger
BW-94 mins, TV-PG

Otto Preminger always liked this film, although he felt the American critics did not do it justice. The film was a qualified success in France, yet American critics felt the film wasn't French enough, a detail that amused Preminger.

The Film Foundation, the leading non-profit organization devoted to film preservation, was founded in 1990 by Martin Scorsese and other distinguished filmmakers dedicated to protecting motion pictures and the rights of the artists who create them, and raising necessary funds to save endangered cinematic treasures. Through partnerships with the nation’s leading film archives, the Foundation has identified and funded the preservation and restoration work of more than 525 films that might otherwise have been lost.

The Foundation Board of Directors includes Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, George Lucas, Robert Redford, Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Curtis Hanson, Peter Jackson, Ang Lee, and Alexander Payne. Directors In Memorium include Robert Altman, Stanley Kubrick, and Sydney Pollack.

Some of the Film Foundation-restored films airing this month will also screen at the TCM Classic Film Festival. The archive responsible for the restoration work of each film is shown below, following the title and year. Here are the titles: The Red Shoes (1948, UCLA Film Archive), Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s stunning romantic tragedy about a young dancer; Once Upon a Time in the West (1969, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), Sergio Leone’s masterful revisionist Western; The River (1951, Academy Film Archive) – Jean Renoir’s meditation on life on the banks of a river in West Bengal, another tragic and gorgeous romance; and Bonjour Tristesse (1958, Museum of Modern Art), Otto Preminger’s film version of the bittersweet Francoise Sagan about romance on the French Riviera.

Films in bold shown on April 22

It's a tragedy that so many early films have been lost forever, but thank goodness that some people woke up in time
and many films are now saved. I'm always impressed when I see old films whose restoration has been made possible
by individual philanthropists as well. It's an American tradition that is, sadly, unknown in Australia. The very
wealthy here believe in keeping it all in the family. Bugger philanthropy.

I saw "The Red Shoes" only last weekend, on Fox Classics. I can never resist it, and it is a joy to see it in
beautiful clear colour, so very sharp and clear. The end is dated now, of course - you really want to slap Marius
Goring for his selfishness - but I'll always love it regardless.

I also saw "Libeled Lady" again, (Myrna Loy is our star of the month on TCM) and that's a film that's crying out
for restoration. It screens regularly, and has four great stars, but the picture is faded and it even jumps in
places towards the end. If somebody doesn't do something soon, it will be beyond repair. Very sad.