TCM Schedule for Saturday, February 1, 2020 -- 31 Days of Oscar: 360 Degrees of Oscar

Last edited Mon Mar 23, 2020, 06:45 PM - Edit history (1)

TCM's annual 31 Days of Oscar programming returns for its 25th year, kicking off today with a month-long showcase celebrating 360 Degrees of Oscar. Each of the featured films recongnized by the Academy are connected to the following film by an actor or actress starring n both pictures, allowing for a span of movies across genres and generations. The final film on March 2 completes the circle. Try to guess the connections all month and watch the Oscars on February 9 at 8pm ET. Enjoy!

P.S. I'll include the connecting actors and actresses at the end of this post. If you don't want to know until you have a chance to guess, scroll gently!


6:00 AM -- The Entertainer (1960)
A third-rate vaudevillian uses liquor and young women to escape the pressures of changing times.
Dir: Tony Richardson
Cast: Laurence Olivier, Brenda De Banzie, Joan Plowright
BW-104 mins, CC

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Laurence Olivier

John Osborne wrote his play "The Entertainer" specifically at the request of Sir Laurence Olivier, who wanted the "Angry Young Man" of the British theater to create a vehicle for him, one of the figures of the British Establishment, against whom Osborne was rebelling. Olivier hoped that appearing in the Osborne play would make him relevant to a new generation of theatergoers. It proved to be one of Olivier's greatest stage successes (the Colonial Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, has a plaque on the outside wall commemorating Olivier's appearance there during the U.S. tour of the play), while this movie won him the sixth of his ten acting Academy Award nominations. His performance as Archie Rice, as well as his marriage to his young co-star Dame Joan Plowright, one of the leading actresses of the new wave of British thespians, did keep Olivier contemporary with the new leaders of the British theater. Conversely, his generational contemporaries, including Sir John Gielgud, Sir Ralph Richardson, and playwright Terence Rattigan, started to seem stout and old-fashioned, as they failed to keep up with the theatrical evolution (Gielgud countered with the role of Julian in Edward Albee's obscure "Tiny Alice" on Broadway in 1962, but outside of the classical repertoire, he and Richardson did not recover their cachet as actors in contemporary plays until the mid 1970s, in Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land".) Olivier helped shepherd the new generation of actors, actresses, directors, and playwrights as the head of the National Theatre in the 1960s and early 1970s.


7:45 AM -- Wuthering Heights (1939)
A married noblewoman fights her lifelong attraction to a charismatic gypsy.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven
BW-104 mins, CC

Winner of an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Gregg Toland

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Laurence Olivier, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Geraldine Fitzgerald, Best Director -- William Wyler, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, Best Art Direction -- James Basevi, Best Music, Original Score -- Alfred Newman, and Best Picture

Sir Laurence Olivier found himself becoming increasingly annoyed with director William Wyler's exhausting style of filmmaking. After yet another take, he is said to have exclaimed, "For God's sake, I did it sitting down. I did it with a smile. I did it with a smirk. I did it scratching my ear. I did it with my back to the camera. How do you want me to do it?" Wyler's retort was, "I want it better." However, Olivier later said these multiple takes helped him learn to succeed as a movie actor.


9:30 AM -- Caesar And Cleopatra (1945)
Julius Caesar gives the famed Egyptian queen lessons in government.
Dir: Gabriel Pascal
Cast: Claude Rains, Vivien Leigh, Flora Robson
C-128 mins, CC

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- John Bryan

Flora Robson played "Ftatateeta", a servant of Queen Cleopatra, played by Vivien Leigh. In Fire Over England (1937), Leigh played "Cynthia", a servant of Queen Elizabeth I, played by Robson.


11:45 AM -- Quo Vadis (1951)
A Roman commander falls for a Christian slave girl as Nero intensifies persecution of the new religion.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn
C-174 mins, CC

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Leo Genn, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Peter Ustinov, Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert Surtees and William V. Skall, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- William A. Horning, Cedric Gibbons, Edward C. Carfagno and Hugh Hunt, Best Costume Design, Color -- Herschel McCoy, Best Film Editing -- Ralph E. Winters, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Miklós Rózsa, and Best Picture

In his memoirs, "Dear Me" (1981), Peter Ustinov recalled that MGM had sought him for the role of Nero, but dithered for months, refusing to commit. During this time, he received numerous telegrams from the studio, one of which stated that they were concerned that he might be too young to play the notorious Roman emperor. Ustinov replied that Nero died when he was thirty, and that if they waited much longer, he'd be too old. The studio cabled back: "Historical research has proved you correct. You have the part." Coincidentally (or not), Ustinov was 30 years old with the movie was released.


2:45 PM -- Billy Budd (1962)
Adaptation of Herman Melville's classic tale of a ship's captain caught between an innocent young sailor and an evil officer.
Dir: Peter Ustinov
Cast: Terence Stamp, Peter Ustinov, Robert Ryan
BW-123 mins, Letterbox Format, CC

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Terence Stamp

Terence Stamp stated that he was disconcerted by Robert Ryan keeping him at a distance during filming. He later realized that this had been done deliberately to create the right tension between their characters.


5:00 PM -- Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
A romantic English lass can't choose among three very different suitors.
Dir: John Schlesinger
Cast: Julie Christie, Terence Stamp, Peter Finch
C-170 mins, Letterbox Format, CC

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Music Score -- Richard Rodney Bennett

George Cukor seriously considered adapting the novel for the screen during the 1940s with Vivien Leigh or Olivia de Havilland.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: 360 DEGREES OF OSCAR



8:00 PM -- Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Illicit lovers fight to stay together during the turbulent years of the Russian Revolution.
Dir: David Lean
Cast: Geraldine Chaplin, Julie Christie, Tom Courtenay
C-200 mins, Letterbox Format, CC

Winner of Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Bolt, Best Cinematography, Color -- Freddie Young, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- John Box, Terence Marsh and Dario Simoni, Best Costume Design, Color -- Phyllis Dalton, and Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Maurice Jarre

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Tom Courtenay, Best Director -- David Lean, Best Sound -- A.W. Watkins (M-G-M British SSD) and Franklin Milton (M-G-M SSD), Best Film Editing -- Norman Savage, and Best Picture

Omar Sharif (Dr. Yuri Zhivago) had to undergo the daily inconvenience of having his eyes taped back and his hair straightened to disguise his Egyptian looks. He also had his hairline shaved up about two to three inches and his skin waxed, a process which had to be repeated every three days.


11:30 PM -- 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.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford
C-155 mins, Letterbox Format, CC

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

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Kay Medford, Best Cinematography -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Sound, 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, and Best Picture

A publicity photo of Omar Sharif and Barbra Streisand kissing was released to the newspapers. With the emotions of the Six Day War still running high, the Egyptian press began a campaign to get Sharif's citizenship revoked over the kiss. The Egyptian headline read: "Omar Kisses Barbra, Egypt Angry." When asked to respond to the controversy, Streisand tried to make light of it. "Egypt angry!" she said. "You should hear what my Aunt Sarah said!"


2:15 AM -- The Way We Were (1973)
A fiery liberal fights to make her marriage to a successful writer work.
Dir: Sydney Pollack
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Lois Chiles
C-118 mins, Letterbox Format, CC

Winner of Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Marvin Hamlisch (music), Alan Bergman (lyrics) and Marilyn Bergman (lyrics) for the song "The Way We Were", and Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Marvin Hamlisch

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Barbra Streisand, Best Cinematography -- Harry Stradling Jr., Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Stephen B. Grimes and William Kiernan, and Best Costume Design -- Dorothy Jeakins and Moss Mabry

When Barbra Streisand heard the titular song for the first time, she loved it. However, she made two important suggestions that ended up transforming the song into something even better. She suggested a slight shift in the melody to send it soaring at a crucial point in the song, and she also suggested changing the first line of the song from "Daydreams light the corners of my mind" to "Memories light the corners of my mind."


4:30 AM -- The Candidate (1972)
A senate candidate's ideals weaken as his position in the polls gets stronger.
Dir: Michael Ritchie
Cast: Robert Redford, Peter Boyle, Melvyn Douglas
C-110 mins, CC

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced -- Jeremy Larner

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Sound -- Richard Portman and Gene S. Cantamessa

The Candidate was released a month prior to the 1972 California Presidential primary. Promotional sheets were put up in southern California resembling political posters. They had simply a photo of Robert Redford, with the slogan, "McKay: The Better Way!" - "McKay" got write-in votes in the June election.










Don't scroll any farther if you don't want to know who the connecting actors and actresses are!










The Entertainer (1960)
Laurence Olivier
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Flora Robson
Caesar And Cleopatra (1945)
Leo Genn
Quo Vadis (1951)
Peter Ustinov
Billy Budd (1962)
Terence Stamp
Far From the Madding Crowd (1967)
Julie Christie
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Omar Sharif
Funny Girl (1968)
Barbra Streisand
The Way We Were (1973)
Robert Redford
The Candidate (1972)
Melvyn Douglas
Ninotchka (1939)