TCM Schedule for Saturday, October 13, 2018 -- 100th Birthday Tribute - Jack McGowran

Tonight's non-Essentials Essentials features a pair of films of actor Jack McGowran. Who is McGowran? You know his work; you just don't know that you know it! He played Ignatius Feeney, the Squire's right-hand man in The Quiet Man (1952). He was Albert Finney's father, Partridge, in Tom Jones (1963). And he played The Fool to Paul Scofield's King Lear (1971). His best work was in the theatre, especially with the Abbey Players in Dublin, Ireland. Enjoy!



6:15 AM -- THEY MET IN BOMBAY (1941)
Rival jewel thieves on the run find love in the Far East.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell, Peter Lorre
BW-92 mins, CC,

The opening scene shows a friend of Gerald Meldrick making an imitation of the so-called Star of Asia. The film doesn't say what kind of gem it is. But, there is a real Star of Asia. It's a 330-carat star sapphire. It is in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. The deep blue gem was mined in Burma (modern Myanmar), and is said to have belonged to the Maharajah of Jodhpur at one time. An even larger blue sapphire is the Star of India. The 563-carat gem is one of the largest of its kind in the world. It has a colorful history that includes being heisted in 1964 from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The unusual stone, with stars on both sides, was recovered the following year. It was mined in Sri Lanka around the year 1600, but much of its past before the 20th century is clouded.


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: SCREWBALL SQUIRREL (1944)
A screwy squirrel provokes a pedigreed birddog to chase him.
Dir: Tex Avery
Cast: Wally Maher, Dick Nelson
BW-7 mins, CC,

First appearance of Screwball/Screwy Squirrel.


8:09 AM -- HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED? (1947)
This short film tries to find the answers to some questions that have plagued mankind!
Dir: Dave O'Brien
Cast: George McDonald, Dave O'Brien,
BW-10 mins, CC,


8:19 AM -- VOICES OF VENICE (1951)
This short film captures the unique architectural essence and various personal experiences of the city of Venice.
Dir: James A. FitzPatrick
C-8 mins,

Part of the James A. FitzPatrick's "People On Parade" series, this is a travelogue like his popular "Traveltalks" shorts that he had produced for a couple of decades. With the new series title came a slight change in the formula. Instead of FitzPatrick providing a narration that objectively describes the places visited, this features the voices of "ordinary citizens" describing their feelings for their country and their family roots as they introduce the city's monuments. However, the speakers are likely professional actors reading from a script and affecting Italian accents, intermixed with bits of authentic audio recorded on location.


8:27 AM -- OKLAHOMA BLUES (1948)
A state official tries to clean up a town being considered for the county seat.
Dir: Lambert Hillyer
Cast: Jimmy Wakely, "Cannonball" Taylor, Virginia Belmont
BW-56 mins,

Remake of The Pocatello Kid (1931), starring Ken Maynard and Marceline Day.


9:30 AM -- MANDRAKE, THE MAGICIAN: TRAP OF THE WASP (1939)
A 12-episode serial, with Mandrake the Magician taking on the masked crime lord known as the Wasp.
Dir: Norman Deming, Sam Nelson
Cast: Warren Hull, Doris Weston, Al Kikume
BW-18 mins,


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: ADVENTURES OF POPEYE (1935)
In live action, a big kid is attacking a little kid for his "Adventures of Popeye" comic book, so Popeye gives the little kid pointers, in the form of clips from four of his earlier pictures.
Dir: Dave Fleischer
Cast: Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Gus Wickie
BW-8 mins, CC,

The clips are from Popeye the Sailor (1933), I Eats My Spinach (1933), Wild Elephinks (1933), and Axe Me Another (1934).


10:09 AM -- THE SAINT IN LONDON (1939)
The Saint's investigation of a counterfeiting ring uncovers a nest of spies.
Dir: John Paddy Carstairs
Cast: George Sanders, Sally Gray, David Burns
BW-72 mins, CC,

Based on Leslie Charteris' novella "The Thousand Pound Day."


11:30 AM -- 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, James Ellison, Monte Vandergrift
BW-18 mins,

The first in a series of fifty "Crime Does Not Pay" shorts from MGM released between 1935 and 1947. First lead role in a picture at MGM for Robert Taylor.


12:00 PM -- GUNGA DIN (1939)
Three British soldiers seek treasure during an uprising in India.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks
BW-117 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph H. August

Kelly Reilly had long wanted to make "Gunga Din," and in 1936 brought in Howard Hawks to develop the project. Hawks felt Robert Donat or Ronald Colman were the best choices for the lead with Spencer Tracy as second lead, and early in 1937 he considered Ray Milland and Franchot Tone. However when Hawks took too much time on Bringing Up Baby (1938) he was taken off the project. It's also been said that Hawks was dropped from the film because "Baby" ended up as a box-office bomb, even though it has survived as a comedy classic.


2:15 PM -- THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943)
A girl's search for her missing sister puts her in conflict with a band of satanists.
Dir: Mark Robson
Cast: Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell
BW-71 mins, CC,

Notable cast members include Hugh Beaumont (Gregory Ward), who played the father, Ward Cleaver in the TV series Leave It to Beaver (1957); Barbara Hale (uncredited subway passenger), who played secretary Della Street in Perry Mason (1957) and the movies of the 1980's and 1990's, pioneering celebrity chef Joseph Chef Milani, who ran the famous Hollywood Canteen during WWII, and character actor Feodor Chaliapin Jr. (cult henchman), whose best-known roles were as the mad monk Jorge De Burgos in The Name of the Rose (1986) and as the Old Man (Cher's character's grandfather) in Moonstruck (1987).


3:45 PM -- RIO BRAVO (1959)
A sheriff enlists a drunk, a kid and an old man to help him fight off a ruthless cattle baron.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson
C-141 mins, CC,

The last movie in which John Wayne wore the hat he had worn since Stagecoach (1939).


6:15 PM -- THE NIGHT DIGGER (1971)
A drifter with a deadly secret ignites passions in two lonely women.
Dir: Alastair Reid
Cast: Patricia Neal, Pamela Brown, Nicholas Clay
C-96 mins, CC,

The original length of the film was 110 minutes. Bernard Herrmann composed his score for 110 minutes version. But about 13 minutes were cut right before the film's official release. So some of Bernard Herrmann's cues didn't end up in the film. In the released version (97 - 98 minutes), small portions of Herrmann's cue close to the end of the film was accidentally edited out. Some of Herrmann's cues that he composed for certain scenes in the released version didn't end up in the released cut. One of the unused cues was a cue for the scene where the nurse walks back and enters into her car.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 100TH BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE: JACK MACGOWRAN



8:00 PM -- THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (1966)
A bumbling professor tracks vampires in the wilds of Eastern Europe.
Dir: Roman Polanski
Cast: Jack MacGowran, Roman Polanski, Alfie Bass
C-107 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Originally Roman Polanski wanted to shoot his film on location in and around a castle in Switzerland which he saw during a vacation, but as this was impossible, other locations in the Alps were found, along with studio shoots in England. While on location, Polanski employed dozens of local artisans to make the large numbers of coffins needed in the film. Unfortunately tourists were rather unnerved by the sight of these, and hotels had to erect signs to assure their guests that the area hadn't been struck by plague.


10:00 PM -- KING LEAR (1971)
An aging king mistakenly exiles the one daughter who loves him and divides his kingdom between the other two.
Dir: Peter Brook
Cast: Paul Scofield, Irene Worth, Cyril Cusack
BW-138 mins,

The song sung by the fool at the end of Act III, Scene 2 is not present in Shakespeare's script. This song can be found sung by the fool in "Twelfth Night" in the closing scene of Shakespeare's script for the play.


12:30 AM -- THE DAMNED DON'T CRY (1950)
Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Joan Crawford, David Brian, Steve Cochran
BW-103 mins, CC,

Loosely based upon the life of sharp-tongued moll Virginia Hill and her secretive relationship with gangster Bugsy Siegel.


2:30 AM -- HAROLD AND LILLIAN: A HOLLYWOOD LOVE STORY (2015)
This documentary follows one couple responsible for some of the greatest films in Hollywood history.
Dir: Daniel Raim
C-94 mins, CC,

Movie fans know the work of Harold and Lillian Michelson, even if they don't recognize the names. Working largely uncredited in the Hollywood system, storyboard artist Harold and film researcher Lillian left an indelible mark on classics by Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Mel Brooks, Stanley Kubrick, Roman Polanski and many more. Through an engaging mix of love letters, film clips and candid conversations with Harold and Lillian, Danny DeVito, Mel Brooks, Francis Ford Coppola and others, this deeply engaging documentary from Academy Award®-nominated director Daniel Raim offers both a moving portrait of a marriage and a celebration of the unknown talents that help shape the films we love.


4:15 AM -- THE GRADUATE (1967)
A recent college graduate has an affair with his neighbor's wife, then falls for their daughter.
Dir: Mike Nichols
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross
C-106 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Director -- Mike Nichols

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Dustin Hoffman, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Anne Bancroft, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Katharine Ross, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, Best Cinematography -- Robert Surtees, and Best Picture

Two interesting camera techniques are used in the film. In the scene where Benjamin is running, he is shown at some distance running straight at the camera, an effect which makes him look as if he is getting nowhere as he's running. (This technique is accomplished with a very long telephoto lens, which foreshortens distances in relation to the camera.) In another scene, Benjamin is walking from the right side of the screen to the left, while everyone else in the scene is moving from left to right. In western culture, things that move left to right seem natural (think of the direction you read words on a page), those that move right to left seem to be going the wrong way. These two visual techniques echo the themes of the film, Benjamin is going the wrong way, and getting nowhere in life.