TCM Schedule for Friday, January 3, 2020 -- What's On Tonight: Planet of the Apes

Last edited Mon Mar 23, 2020, 06:49 PM - Edit history (1)

In the daylight hours, TCM is showing films associated with William Cameron Menzies, director/producer/set decorator/writer. Then in prime time, TCM has a pair of the original Planet of the Apes films. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Hollywood Without Make-Up (1966)
In this special, Ken Murray hosts his own behind-the-scenes home movies of some of Hollywood's greatest stars.
BW-50 mins, CC

San Simeon's architect, the noted Julia Morgan is mis-identified as Hearst's secretary. This makes architects the world over cringe.


7:00 AM -- Badman's Territory (1946)
A sheriff and a newspaperwoman take on a band of outlaws invading the Oklahoma panhandle.
Dir: Tim Whelan
Cast: Randolph Scott, George "Gabby" Hayes, Ann Richards
BW-98 mins, CC

Ben Johnson appears uncredited as a member of Marshal Hampton's posse. He even has a line or two of dialogue. He and the marshal and another deputy dismount and enter a building on location. In the next shot, the studio interior, Hampton and the deputy come through the door, but not Ben. He has disappeared and is seen no more.


8:45 AM -- The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
A young thief faces amazing monsters to return Bagdad's deposed king to the throne.
Dir: Ludwig Berger
Cast: Conrad Veidt, Sabu, June Duprez
C-107 mins, CC

Winner of Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Georges Périnal, Best Art Direction, Color -- Vincent Korda, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- Lawrence W. Butler (photographic) and Jack Whitney (sound)

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Score -- Miklós Rózsa

Producer Alexander Korda was so demanding that he went through six directors during the production of this film, including his brother Zoltan Korda and leading art director William Cameron Menzies.


10:45 AM -- Coquette (1929)
A Southern belle's flirtation with a working man leads to tragedy.
Dir: Sam Taylor
Cast: Mary Pickford, John Mack Brown, Matt Moore
BW-76 mins, CC

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford's first sound film. Mary Pickford was initially horrified to hear her recorded voice for the first time in Coquette: 'That's not me. That's a pip squeak voice. It's impossible! I sound like I'm 12 or 13!'.


12:15 PM -- Conquest Of The Air (1936)
Documentary footage traces humanity's efforts to fly.
Dir: Zoltan Korda
Cast: Henry Victor, Hay Petrie, John Turnbull
BW-66 mins, CC

Based on stories by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.


1:30 PM -- The Black Book (1949)
Opponents plot to bring down Robespierre during the French Revolution.
Dir: Anthony Mann
Cast: Robert Cummings, Richard Basehart, Richard Hart
BW-89 mins, CC

In two scenes the background music is the popular Revolutionary song, Ca ira. The music director clearly knew his stuff.


3:15 PM -- Address Unknown (1944)
A German-born art dealer finds himself falling for Nazi propaganda.
Dir: William Cameron Menzies
Cast: Paul Lukas, Carl Esmond, Peter Van Eyck
BW-72 mins, CC

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Lionel Banks, Walter Holscher and Joseph Kish, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Morris Stoloff and Ernst Toch

K.T. Stevens (real name: Gloria Wood) is the daughter of the film's producer, Sam Wood.


4:45 PM -- The Whip Hand (1951)
A small-town reporter investigates a mysterious group holed up in a country lodge.
Dir: William Cameron Menzies
Cast: Carla Balenda, Elliott Reid, Edgar Barrier
BW-82 mins, CC

Writer George Bricker was a big fan of William Cameron Menzies, and originally thought with Menzies as set designer and director, RKO might have a modest hit. After Howard Hughes ordered massive re-shooting and rewrites, Bricker was fit to be tied.


6:15 PM -- Things To Come (1936)
Two generations of philosophers try to bring an end to war.
Dir: William Cameron Menzies
Cast: Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson
BW-97 mins, CC

Despite H.G. Wells' dislike of Fritz Lang and his landmark movie, Metropolis (1927), and Wells' request that William Cameron Menzies avoid patterning his movie after Metropolis (1927), Menzies nonetheless drew a great deal of inspiration from the movie. Menzies admitted that the lengthy montage depicting the transition of the war-torn nineteenth century Everytown to the progressive and rational futuristic city, in particular, owed a huge debt to Metropolis (1927).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PLANET OF THE APES



8:00 PM -- Planet of the Apes (1968)
An astronaut crew crash lands on a planet in the distant future where intelligent talking apes are the dominant species.
Dir: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter
C-112 mins, CC, Letterbox

Winner of an Honorary Oscar Award for John Chambers for his outstanding make-up achievement in the movie

Nominee for Oscars for Best Costume Design -- Morton Haack, and Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- Jerry Goldsmith

John Chambers' outstanding make-up effects pioneered in the film were based on a technique he had used during World War II to give disfigured veterans a normal appearance. Chambers spent many hours watching the apes at Los Angeles Zoo, studying their facial expressions. Several other productions were delayed due to the fact that many of Hollywood's top make-up artists were working on this film. Leftover make-up supplies were later used on Michael Conrad, playing an ape-like alien, in Lost in Space: Fugitives in Space (1968). The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave Chambers an Honorary Award for make-up (which was not an Oscar category until 1981) for this achievement, the second time that a make-up artist received an Academy Award--William Tuttle was the first, for 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964). Chambers' award was presented by Walter Matthau and a chimpanzee in a tuxedo.


10:00 PM -- Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
The sole survivor of an interplanetary rescue mission discovers a planet ruled by apes and an underground city run by telekinetic humans.
Dir: Ted Post
Cast: James Franciscus, Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter
C-95 mins, CC, Letterbox

James Franciscus, who had spent most of his career playing doctors and lawyers, so welcomed the opportunity to wear a costume that could best be described as minimal. Franciscus was a natural athlete and keen tennis player, so was in great shape for the shoot.


3:30 AM -- Keep Off The Grass (1969)
The dangers of marijuana are outlined in this educational short film.
Dir: Ib Melchior
Cast: J. Edward McKinley,
C-21 mins

Al Pacino's film debut.


3:30 AM -- Drug Stories (2019)
A Compilation of educational anti-drug and anti-alcohol short films from the 1960s and the 1970s.
BW-80 mins, CC

Features clips from LSD-25 (1967), LSD: Insight or Insanity? (1967), The Bottle and the Throttle (1968), and The Trip Back (1970).


3:30 AM -- Narcotics Pit of Despair Part 1 (1967)
In this short film, a drug dealer seduces a high-school student into drug addiction.
Dir: Mel Marshall
Cast: Kevin Tighe, Gerald LeRoy, Julie Conners
C-29 mins

Film debut of Kevin Tighe.