TCM Schedule for Saturday, November 10, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: Battle of Bataan

Today TCM continues the remembrance of Veteran's Day, with a selection of WWII movies, and a evening learning the story of the Battle of Bataan. Enjoy!



8:00 AM -- BATTLE OF THE BULGE (1965)
A crack Nazi unit holds off the Allies during World War II.
Dir: Ken Annakin
Cast: Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan
C-170 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

An article dated December 2, 1965, and circulated by The Washington Post, said that Dwight D. Eisenhower was "outraged" by this Warner Brothers movie. It said that Columbia Pictures had long had an epic movie in the works about the battle that had the cooperation of the Defense Department, as well as many of the generals who had been involved, including Eisenhower and Bernard L. Montgomery. The working title of Columbia's movie was "16th of December:The Battle of the Bulge." Michael Anderson was slated to direct from a screenplay written by Byron Morgan and Tony Lazzarino, and the project was to be co-produced by Lazzorino and Kenneth T. Hoeck. The former president's son John S.D. Eisenhower was writing a companion history of the battle and serving as technical advisor. Anderson was quoted as hoping to have Van Heflin as Eisenhower, David Niven as Montgomery, John Wayne as Gen. George S. Patton and Laurence Olivier as Adolf Hitler. Shortly after Columbia announced that filming would begin during the winter of 1964, Warner Brothers registered the title "The Battle of the Bulge" and announced that it was going to make its own fictional movie, upsetting the plans for Columbia's epic. Columbia obtained an injunction against Warners, dropping it after Warners agreed that its picture would not use the names of any of the real-life figures that had contributed to Columbia's project, such as Eisenhower, Montgomery, Omar Bradley, Anthony McAuliffe, Patton and 10 other figures. The Defense Department had also urged a Federal Trade Commission action against the movie on the grounds that its title was misleading the public. When the article appeared it stated that Columbia's project would go forward, with filming to begin at Camp Drum near Watertown, NY, in the fall of 1966, but the project fell through and the film was never made.


11:00 AM -- WHERE EAGLES DARE (1968)
An Allied team sets out to free an American officer held by the Nazis in a mountaintop castle.
Dir: Brian G. Hutton
Cast: Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Mary Ure
C-155 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In the scenes where Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood climb the steep fortress walls, Burton moves with ease, while Eastwood is clearly working hard physically. This was due to the fact that Burton, who was a hard-drinker, a chain smoker and out-of-shape by that point, chose to ride a crane (made invisible by special effects) up the wall, whereas the health-conscious Eastwood was actually climbing the wall. Burton had already been diagnosed with bursitis - possibly aggravated by faulty treatment - arthritis and dermatitis.


1:45 PM -- THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963)
Thrown together by the Germans, a group of captive Allied troublemakers plot a daring escape.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Robert Graf, Nigel Stock, Angus Lennie
C-172 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Ferris Webster

During the climactic motorcycle chase, John Sturges allowed Steve McQueen to ride (in disguise) as one of the pursuing German soldiers, so that in the final sequence, through the magic of editing, he's actually chasing himself. McQueen played the German motorcyclist who hits the wire.


5:00 PM -- THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
The Japanese Army forces World War II POWs to build a strategic bridge in Burma.
Dir: David Lean
Cast: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins
C-162 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Alec Guinness (Alec Guinness was not present at the awards ceremony. Jean Simmons accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Director -- David Lean, 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.), Best Cinematography -- Jack Hildyard, Best Film Editing -- Peter Taylor (Peter Taylor was not present at the awards ceremony. William A. Lyon accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Music, Scoring -- Malcolm Arnold (Malcolm Arnold was not present at the ceremony. Morris Stoloff accepted the award on his behalf.), and Best Picture

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

During shooting, Alec Guinness continued to have doubts about his performance and the direction he was getting from David Lean. To put Guinness at ease, Lean decided to show the actor a rough cut of certain sequences. One night, Lean ran over an hour's worth of footage for Guinness, with the actor's wife and son also attending. During the screening nothing was said. At the end, the Guinness family thanked Lean and promptly walked out, leaving the director without a clue as to what to think of their reaction (or lack of). Later that night, Lean received a visit from Guinness, who told him that he and his family had decided that Nicholson was the best thing that Guinness had ever done.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: BATTLE OF BATAAN



8:00 PM -- BATAAN (1943)
Thirteen U.S. soldiers risk their lives to hold a bridge against the Japanese.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Thomas Mitchell
BW-115 mins, CC,

The NAACP gave MGM two awards for presenting an African-American in an intelligent and sympathetic manner. Dore Schary deliberately did not tell writer Robert Hardy Andrews he was planning to cast an African-American as one of the soldiers, in order to avoid any racial speeches in the script.


10:00 PM -- BACK TO BATAAN (1945)
An Army colonel leads a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese in the Philippines.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: John Wayne, Anthony Quinn, Beulah Bondi
BW-95 mins, CC,

The state of the war in World War II was an ever-changing dynamic and two thirds of the way through production, the American invasion of the Philippines took place. As such, script changes and re-writes needed to be made to keep up to date with the current status of the war.


12:00 AM -- THE THREAT (1949)
An escaped con kidnaps the people he thinks put him behind bars.
Dir: Felix Feist
Cast: Michael O'Shea, Virginia Grey, Charles McGraw
BW-66 mins,

Based on a story by Hugh King.


1:30 AM -- THE ILLUSTRATED MAN (1969)
A man's tattoos tell frightening tales of the future.
Dir: Jack Smight
Cast: Rod Steiger, Claire Bloom, Robert Drivas
C-103 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

When Jack Smight contacted Ray Bradbury about buying the rights to "The Illustrated Man", Bradbury informed him he would sell it if Smight hired Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman or Rod Steiger for the lead role.


3:30 AM -- WORLD WITHOUT END (1955)
Astronauts returning from a voyage are caught in a time warp and are propelled into a post-Apocalyptic Earth populated by mutants.
Dir: Edward Bernds
Cast: Hugh Marlowe, Nancy Gates, Nelson Leigh
C-80 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The title is derived from the modern Anglican version of a Catholic devotional doxology: "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen."


5:00 AM -- ACTION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC (1943)
A Merchant Marine crew fights off enemy attacks at the start of World War II.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Raymond Massey, Alan Hale
BW-127 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Guy Gilpatric

Very few early World War II films featured African-Americans in the US military. Humphrey Bogart was quoted in "The Pittsburgh Courier" on 26 September 1942 as saying that he wanted to have a black Merchant Marine captain in this film. He said, "In the world of the theatre or any other phase of American life, the color of a man's skin should have nothing to do with his rights in a land built upon the self-evident fact that all men are created equal."