TCM Schedule for Saturday, April 25, 2020 -- What's On Tonight: Peter Bogdanovich

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in primetime, TCM continues with the films of director/writer/producer Peter Bogdanovich. The Essentials are promised to be back in May, though I wonder if social distancing will make that problematic. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- A DATE WITH JUDY (1948)
A teenager thinks her grandfather is involved with a fiery Latin singer.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Wallace Beery, Jane Powell, Elizabeth Taylor
C-113 mins,CC,

Carmen Miranda (Rosita Conchellas) enjoyed her biggest movie-song hit with the jaunty travel tune, "Cuanto la Gusta" (music by Gabriel Ruiz, lyrics by Ray Gilbert). Carmen's Decca single, blending her with The Andrews Sisters, peaked at number twelve in "Billboard", where the song had a fourteen-week stay. In this movie, Miss Miranda's song and samba had the backing of Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra. On Columbia Records, Cugat without Miranda scored a "Billboard"-charting success.


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: COCK-A-DOODLE DOG (1950)
Collection of classic Tex Avery visual gags, set up as a battle between a sleep-deprived bulldog who just wants some shut-eye, and a rooster driven by his natural instincts to crow all night long.
Dir: Tex Avery (Fred)
Cast: Bill Thompson
BW-7 mins,

The rooster crowed 38 times, all of them deeply bothered sleepy Spike. As the rooster yawned & went to try to sleep. Spike then quickly crowed 6 times, for revenge as the rooster tried going to sleep. 44 "cock-a-doodle-doos", total.


8:09 AM -- STRIPER TIME (1956)
This short film presents two sportsmen fishing for striped bass.
Dir: Van Campen
Heilner Cast: Coot Hall, Harry A. Watkins,
BW-8 mins,


8:18 AM -- MONUMENTAL UTAH (1944)
This short film explores the history and culture of Utah and the Mormons.
C-9 mins,


8:28 AM -- MAN HUNT (1936)
A bored small-town teacher gets mixed up with an escaped bank robber.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: Ricardo Cortez, Marguerite Churchill, Chas. "Chic" Sale
BW-61 mins,CC,

Based on a story by Earl Felton.


9:30 AM -- THE MYSTERIOUS MR. M: THE REAL MR. M (1946)
An evil scientist known as "Mr. M." uses a drug he has developed called "hypnotreme" to help steal submarine equipment.
Dir: Lewis D. Collins,Vernon Keays
Cast: Dennis Moore,Pamela Blake,Richard Martin
BW-19 mins,CC,

The final episode.


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: PROBLEM PAPPY (1941)
Popeye's Pappy takes a flagpole sitting job atop a tall building without telling Popeye.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Myron Waldman (uncredited)
Cast: Jack Mercer
BW-6 mins,CC,

One of a number of Popeye shorts which were sent off to Asia in the 80's to undergo the infamous redraw and colorization process.


10:08 AM -- IN THE MONEY (1958)
The Bowery Boys escort a diamond concealing poodle on a cruise.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements, Patricia Donahue
BW-61 mins,CC,

The last of 48 Bowery Boys movies.


11:30 AM -- JACK POT (1940)
This short film focuses on illegal gambling and bookmaking.
Dir: Roy Rowland
Cast: Nestor Paiva, Donald Barry, Paul Phillips
BW-20 mins,

First screen appearance by Hugh Beaumont, the one and only Ward Cleaver - father of The Beaver!


12:00 PM -- WATCH ON THE RHINE (1943)
Nazi agents pursue a German freedom-fighter and his family to Washington.
Dir: Herman Shumlin
Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Geraldine Fitzgerald
BW-112 mins,CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Lukas

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lucile Watson, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Dashiell Hammett, and Best Picture

Bette Davis didn't get on with her co-star Lucile Watson who played her mother in the film. In real life, Watson was a staunch Republican and held many opposite views to Davis.


2:00 PM -- THE RARE BREED (1966)
A brave woman tries to breed her English bull with western cattle.
Dir: Andrew V. McLaglen
Cast: James Stewart, Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith
C-97 mins,CC,Letterbox Format

The accident involving the wagon carrying Martha (Maureen O'Hara) and Hilary (Juliet Mills) ahead of the stampede was real. The women were supposed to be thrown clear, but instead, the wagon rolled over them. Fortunately, there was a pit underneath the wagon allowing the stuntwomen, Stephanie Epper and Patty Elder, enough space to be kept from being crushed. They survived with slight injuries and shock. Director Andrew V. McLaglen kept the scene in the film.


3:45 PM -- THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946)
Illicit lovers plot to kill the woman's older husband.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway
BW-113 mins,CC,

This is the third version of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" novel. The first was French, The Last Turning (1939) whilst the second was Italian, Obsession (1943). The fourth was The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981). As such, this 1946 film was the first English language version but was the third version in black-and-white as both earlier versions were not in colour.


5:45 PM -- A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957)
A female television executive turns a folk-singing drifter into a powerful media star.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa
BW-126 mins,CC,

When it came to casting, Elia Kazan selected several "people from Nashville; Lonesome Rhodes' friend who twitches his toes, he's from the Grand Ole Opry, a regular comedian there. We went around a lot of clubs, picking up entertainers. I had heard Andy Griffith on record, then I saw him on TV . . . He was the real native American country boy and that comes over in the picture. I had him drunk all through the last big scene because it was the only way he could be violent. In life, he wants to be friends with everybody."



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PETER BOGDANOVICH



8:00 PM -- NICKELODEON (1976)
A bashful lawyer gets mixed up in the movies' turbulent early years.
Dir: Peter Bogdanovich
Cast: Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds, Vincent Milana
C-125 mins,CC,

The 1984 movie "Irreconcilable Differences" stars Ryan O'Neal playing a fictional version of Peter Bogdanovich. In that movie, O'Neal's character goes from a film historian college professor to a writer and filmmaker, closely mirroring Bogdanovich The same thing happens in this movie except O'Neal plays a lawyer (with the same type of naive and clumsy personality) who becomes a writer and filmmaker.


10:15 PM -- SAINT JACK (1979)
An American hustler in early 1970s Singapore dreams of building a fortune by running a brothel and returning to the States to lead a life of luxury.
Dir: Peter Bogdanovich
Cast: Ben Gazzara, Denholm Elliott, James Villiers
BW-115 mins,

Knowing the Singaporean government would never sanction a film that depicted the city as a hotbed of corruption and sleaze, the script that Peter Bogdanovich submitted had been rewritten with all the contentious elements removed. When the film was completed, the Singaporean government was horrified, and banned it.


12:15 AM -- WICKED WOMAN (1954)
A trashy blonde lures a saloon owner away from his wife.
Dir: Russell Rouse
Cast: Beverly Michaels, Richard Egan, Percy Helton
BW-76 mins,

Rejected by the British Board of Film Censors on 11 November 1953, the film waited some 18 months for a London press showing. It was finally screened (whilst still uncertified) at United Artists' Own Theatre in Wardour Street on 13 May 1955. Press reaction was unusually hostile, with Kinematograph Weekly commenting: "Having turned it down, the censor should have sent it to a desert island." And the Monthly Film Bulletin only reviewed it in July 1955 because "it has been shown in some districts by permission of the local authorities." After five years the distribution passed to New Realm Entertainments who re-submitted it to the BBFC on 30 May 1960 where it passed with an "X" certificate, after cuts. Unfortunately, it tended to be shown at struggling independents such as Derby's soon-to-be-demolished Coliseum in January 1961.


2:00 AM -- ZORBA THE GREEK (1964)
An amoral Greek peasant teaches a British student the meaning of life.
Dir: Michael Cacoyannis
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Irene Papas
BW-142 mins,CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lila Kedrova, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Walter Lassally, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Vassilis Photopoulos

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Anthony Quinn, Best Director -- Michael Cacoyannis, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Michael Cacoyannis, and Best Picture

Anthony Quinn (Alexis Zorba) had a broken foot during filming, and thus couldn't perform the dance on the beach as scripted, which called for much leaping around. The dance is called "syrtaki", and contains elements from various traditional Greek dances. It was created especially for this movie.


4:30 AM -- WHEN IN ROME (1952)
A con artist disguises himself as a priest, then begins to believe the role.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Van Johnson, Paul Douglas, Joseph Calleia
BW-78 mins,CC,

Paul Douglas comments that St. Peter's is bigger than Yankee Stadium. In fact, the Yankee Stadium of 1952 could fit into just the central aisle of St. Peter's.