TCM Schedule for Thursday, February 6, 2020 -- 31 Days of Oscar: 360 Degrees of Oscar

Last edited Mon Mar 23, 2020, 06:44 PM - Edit history (1)

More of 31 Days of Oscar, with the actors or actresses that connect the films added after a break at the end, in case you want to guess. Enjoy!



7:15 AM -- THE CARETAKERS (1963)
A progressive psychiatrist clashes with the conservative head nurse at a state institution.
Dir: Hall Bartlett
Cast: Robert Stack, Polly Bergen, Joan Crawford
BW-98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Lucien Ballard

Joan Crawford went out of her way to help an aging Herbert Marshall with his lines. She also arranged to have his scenes filmed first so he could leave the set early in the day as he was an old friend and in ill health.


8:56 AM -- STAIRWAY TO LIGHT (1945)
This short film focuses on Dr. Phillipe Pinel, who initiated humane treatment of the mentally ill in the 18th century.
Dir: Sammy Lee
Cast: Dewey Robinson, Gene Roth, Lotte Palfi
BW-10 mins,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel -- Herbert Moulton


9:15 AM -- CAGED (1950)
A young innocent fights to survive the harsh life in a women's prison.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby
BW-97 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Eleanor Parker, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Hope Emerson, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Virginia Kellogg and Bernard C. Schoenfeld

Eleanor Parker actually allowed her head to be shaved for the sake of reality in the scene where the two prison matrons, played brilliantly by Hope Emerson and Frances Morris, tie her up and shave her head.


11:00 AM -- ABOVE AND BEYOND (1952)
The pilot who helped drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima struggles with the demands of the dangerous mission.
Dir: Melvin Frank
Cast: Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, James Whitmore
BW-122 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Beirne Lay Jr., and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Hugo Friedhofer

The B-29 was the only WWII bomber that was capable of flying at 30,000 feet. It was also the first plane with a fully pressurized and heated passenger compartment (like a modern day jet) which allowed the crew to function without oxygen masks and heavy flight suits. The pressurization caused many early problems such as the windows popping out as shown in the movie.


1:15 PM -- ALL THE BROTHERS WERE VALIANT (1953)
Brothers on a whaling schooner become romantic rivals.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Ann Blyth
C-95 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- George J. Folsey

Elizabeth Taylor was initially cast as Priscilla, but was forty pounds overweight, as a result of her recent pregnancy, and so was replaced by Ann Blyth.


3:00 PM -- KING SOLOMON'S MINES (1950)
A spirited widow hires a daredevil jungle scout to find a lost treasure in diamonds.
Dir: Compton Bennett
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger, Richard Carlson
C-102 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert Surtees, and Best Film Editing -- Ralph E. Winters and Conrad A. Nervig

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Picture

The movie has no music score whatever. The only thing at all musical in the film is some African chanting and drums. (Almost... an African "Thumb Piano" was shown and heard in a very short scene.)


4:45 PM -- BACK STREET (1941)
A woman accepts life in the shadows as the price for her affair with a married man.
Dir: Robert Stevenson
Cast: Charles Boyer, Margaret Sullavan, Richard Carlson
BW-89 mins,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Frank Skinner

Joan Fontaine was originally cast in the female lead, but was replaced by Margaret Sullavan before shooting began.


6:15 PM -- THREE COMRADES (1938)
Three life-long friends share their love for a dying woman against the turbulent backdrop of Germany between the wars.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Robert Taylor, Margaret Sullavan, Franchot Tone
BW-98 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Margaret Sullavan

The film featured two of Joan Crawford's husbands: Franchot Tone in the co-starring role of Otto Koster, and Phillip Terry in the unaccredited role of the Young Soldier (who has the distinction of speaking the film's first line).



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



8:00 PM -- THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER (1935)
Three British soldiers in India fight invaders when not fighting each other.
Dir: Henry Hathaway
Cast: Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone, Richard Cromwell
BW-109 mins,

Winner of Oscars for Best Assistant Director -- Clem Beauchamp, and Best Assistant Director -- Paul Wing

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Henry Hathaway, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Achmed Abdullah, John L. Balderston, Grover Jones, William Slavens McNutt and Waldemar Young, Best Art Direction -- Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson, Best Sound, Recording -- Franklin Hansen (sound director), Best Film Editing -- Ellsworth Hoagland, and Best Picture

Paramount hired hundreds of Paiute Native Americans from nearby reservations and Indian (mostly Hindu) fruit and olive pickers from California's Napa and Imperial Valleys to play the Afridi tribesmen in the battle sequences. The studio also hired ranchers from nearby Inyo County, most likely to play British soldiers.


10:00 PM -- A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1932)
An American serving in World War I falls for a spirited nurse.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Helen Hayes, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou
BW-89 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Charles Lang, and Best Sound, Recording -- Franklin Hansen (sound director)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson, and Best Picture

Cinematically, 1932 was a very traumatic year for Helen Hayes. Not only did she die at the end of this film but she met a similarly tragic fate in Arrowsmith (1931) as well. Both films were nominated for the Best Film Academy Award.


11:45 PM -- THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET (1931)
A woman takes to the streets to provide for her illegitimate son.
Dir: Edgar Selwyn
Cast: Helen Hayes, Lewis Stone, Neil Hamilton
BW-75 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Helen Hayes

This film marked Robert Young's MGM debut.


1:15 AM -- CROSSFIRE (1947)
A crusading district attorney investigates the murder of a Jewish man.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan
BW-86 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Robert Ryan, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gloria Grahame, Best Director -- Edward Dmytryk, Best Writing, Screenplay -- John Paxton, and Best Picture

Robert Mitchum hated making the film, later claiming that any American actor could have played Keeley.


3:00 AM -- THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO (1944)
General Jimmy Doolittle trains American troops for the first airborne attacks on Japan.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Van Johnson, Robert Walker, Tim Murdock
BW-138 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic), Donald Jahraus (photographic), Warren Newcombe (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound)

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Surtees and Harold Rosson

When Lawson's plane arrives in "Tokyo" and sees the fire and smoke from the previous bomber, Davy Jones, we are not looking at a special effect. During the making of the film, there was a fuel-oil fire in Oakland, near the filming location. The quick-thinking filmmakers scrambled to fly their camera plane and B-25 through the area, capturing some very real footage for the movie.


5:30 AM -- NONE SHALL ESCAPE (1944)
A Nazi officer on trial for war crimes thinks back on his past.
Dir: Andre DeToth
Cast: Marsha Hunt, Alexander Knox, Henry Travers
BW-86 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Alfred Neumann and Joseph Than

Marsha Hunt was borrowed from MGM for this film.



















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




















The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Robert Vaughn
The Caretakers (1963)
Ellen Corby
Caged (1950)
Eleanor Parker
Above and Beyond (1953)
James Whitmore
All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953)
Stewart Granger
King Solomon's Mines (1950)
Richard Carlson
Back Street (1941)
Margaret Sullivan
Three Comrades (1938)
Franchot Tone
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
Gary Cooper
A Farewell to Arms (1932)
Helen Hayes
The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)
Robert Young
Crossfire (1947)
Robert Mitchum
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
Dorothy Morris
None Shall Escape (1944)
Marsha Hunt
Blossoms in the Dust (1941)