TCM Schedule for Friday, February 4 -- 31 Days of Oscar -- An All-Knighter

This morning TCM is showing three of Deborah Kerr's six Oscar-nominated films. In the afternoon, four films feature actors who tied for Oscars, including Wallace Beery / Frederic March, and Katharine Hepburn / Barbara Streisand. And the evening highlights films starring various Oscar-winning and -nominated knights, including Sir Ralph Richardson (knighted in 1947), Sir Alec Guinness (knighted in 1959), Sir John Mills (knighted in 1976), and Sir Michael Redgrave (knighted in 1959). Enjoy!



5:00am -- Edward, My Son (1949)
A possessive father destroys anyone who threatens his plans for his son.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Deborah Kerr, Ian Hunter, James Donald
Dir: George Cukor
BW-113 mins, TV-G

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

Ian Hunter and Leueen MacGrath repeat their stage roles from the Broadway production, although their characters' surnames have been changed.


7:00am -- Separate Tables (1958)
The boarders at an English resort struggle with emotional problems.
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Rita Hayworth, David Niven, Wendy Hiller
Dir: Delbert Mann
BW-100 mins, TV-G

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- David Niven, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Wendy Hiller (Wendy Hiller was not present at the awards ceremony. Harold Hecht, the film's producer, accepted on her behalf.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Deborah Kerr, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Charles Lang, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- David Raksin, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Terence Rattigan and John Gay, and Best Picture


9:00am -- The Sundowners (1960)
An Australian sheepherder and his wife clash over their nomadic existence and their son's future.
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov, Glynis Johns
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
C-133 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Deborah Kerr, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Glynis Johns, Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Isobel Lennart, and Best Picture

The man who offers to buy the horse at the end of the film is played by Jon Cleary, the author of the book.


11:30am -- The Champ (1931)
A broken-down prizefighter battles to keep custody of his son.
Cast: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Rosco Ates
Dir: King Vidor
BW-86 mins, TV-G

Won 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

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

Wallace Beery actually got one less vote than Fredric March in the 1931/1932 Academy Awards voting for best actor, but the rules at the time considered anyone with one or two votes less than the leader as being in a tie, so both got Academy Awards.


1:00pm -- Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1932)
Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of a scientist who unleashes the beast within.
Cast: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart, Holmes Herbert
Dir: Rouben Mamoulian
BW-96 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Fredric March (Tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ (1931/I))

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Karl Struss, and Best Writing, Adaptation -- Percy Heath and Samuel Hoffenstein

The remarkable Jekyll-to-Hyde transition scenes in this film were accomplished by manipulating a series of variously colored filters in front of the camera lens. Fredric March's Hyde makeup was in various colors, and the way his appearance registered on the film depended on which color filter was being shot through. During the first transformation scene, the accompanying noises on the soundtrack included portions of Bach, a gong being played backwards, and, reportedly, a recording of director Rouben Mamoulian's own heart. Only in the late 1960's did Mamoulian reveal how they were done.


2:45pm -- The Lion In Winter (1968)
England's Henry II and his estranged queen battle over the choice of an heir.
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Jane Merrow, John Castle
Dir: Anthony Harvey
C-134 mins, TV-14

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn (Tied with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl (1968). Hepburn became the third performer to win consecutive awards, and the first to win three awards for lead roles.), Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- John Barry, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- James Goldman

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter O'Toole, Best Costume Design -- Margaret Furse, Best Director -- Anthony Harvey, and Best Picture

Although Peter O'Toole plays the father of Anthony Hopkins, John Castle and Nigel Terry, he is only five, seven and thirteen years older than them respectively. Moreover, O'Toole is twenty-five years Katharine Hepburn's junior but plays her husband. It should be noted, however, that there was quite a substantial age gap between Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine - she was approximately eleven years his senior. At the time frame set for this film, Christmas 1183, Eleanor of Aquitaine, born 1122, would have been 61 years old, as played by Katherine Hepburn, who was born May 12, 1907, also 61 years old at the time of production (1968). Henry II, born March 5, 1133 was 50 years old during Christmas 1183, as played by Peter O'Toole, born August 2, 1932, only 35-36 at the time of production, approximately 15 years younger than the character he was playing.


5:15pm -- Funny Girl (1968)
Comedienne Fanny Brice fights to prove that she can be the greatest star and find romance even though she isn't pretty.
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford, Anne Francis
Dir: William Wyler
C-157 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Barbra Streisand (Tied with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter (1968).)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Kay Medford, Best Cinematography -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Film Editing -- Robert Swink, Maury Winetrobe and William Sands, Best Music, Original Song -- Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics) for the song "Funny Girl", Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation) -- Walter Scharf, Best Sound -- (Columbia SSD), and Best Picture

"The Swan" was written especially for this movie. The original number, "Rat-a-Tat-Tat", was deemed too dated (though appropriate for the setting of the show). Fanny Brice did a similar act dressed in a similar costume complete with a huntsman carrying a bow and arrow in the movie Be Yourself! (1930).


8:00pm -- The Heiress (1949)
A plain young woman's money makes her prey to fortune hunters.
Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins
Dir: William Wyler
BW-115 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Olivia de Havilland, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- John Meehan, Harry Horner and Emile Kuri, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Edith Head and Gile Steele, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Aaron Copland

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sir Ralph Richardson, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Leo Tover, Best Director -- William Wyler, and Best Picture

Olivia de Havilland wisely chose William Wyler as her director, considering that such a meticulous director would be able to coax a strong performance from her. As it turned out, Wyler became a staunch supporter of his leading actress, particularly in regard to the sneering attitude that Montgomery Clift displayed toward her (he didn't value her talents as an actress) and Ralph Richardson taking every opportunity to steal scenes from under her nose with his improvisations.


10:00pm -- The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
The Japanese Army forces World War II POWs to build a strategic bridge in Burma.
Cast: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa
Dir: David Lean
C-162 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Sir Alec Guinness (Alec Guinness was not present at the awards ceremony. Jean Simmons accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Cinematography -- Jack Hildyard, Best Director -- David Lean, Best Film Editing -- Peter Taylor, Best Music, Scoring -- Malcolm Arnold, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Pierre Boulle, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson (Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson were blacklisted at the time and received no screen credit. They were posthumously awarded Oscars in 1984. Pierre Boulle was not present at the awards ceremony. Kim Novak accepted the award on his behalf.), and Best Picture

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sessue Hayakawa

The film's story was loosely based on a true World War II incident, and the real-life character of Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey. One of a number of Allied POW's, Toosey was in charge of his men from late 1942 through May 1943 when they were ordered to build two Kwai River bridges in Burma (one of steel, one of wood), to help move Japanese supplies and troops from Bangkok to Rangoon. In reality, the actual bridge took 8 months to build (rather than two months), and they were actually used for two years, and were only destroyed two years after their construction - in late June 1945. The memoirs of the 'real' Colonel Nicholson were compiled into a 1991 book by Peter Davies entitled The Man Behind the Bridge.


1:00am -- Ryan's Daughter (1970)
An Irish lass is branded a traitor when she falls for a British soldier.
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, Sarah Miles, Christopher Jones, John Mills
Dir: David Lean
C-206 mins, TV-MA

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sir John Mills, and Best Cinematography -- Freddie Young

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Sarah Miles, and Best Sound -- Gordon K. McCallum and John Bramall

Ryan's Daughter is based on Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Although set in peasant-class Ireland as opposed to middle-class France, in addition to the basic plot of a bored young wife taking a lover, other characters such as the girl's father and the priest are derived from the original, along with the ride in the woods sequence.


4:30am -- Mourning Becomes Electra (1947)
Repressed passions and shameful secrets destroy a New England family.
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Michael Redgrave, Raymond Massey, Katina Paxinou
Dir: Dudley Nichols
BW-159 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Michael Redgrave, and Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Rosalind Russell

Rosalind Russell received an Academy Award nomination for her role in this film. Apparently, she was so sure she was going to win that, when the winner was about to be announced, she had risen from her seat to accept it... only to discover that the winner was Loretta Young for her performance in The Farmer's Daughter (1947).