TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 13, 2021 -- Dream State - California in the Movies Part I

The COVID-19 related theme for the daylight hours is I Miss ... Travel, with trips across the country and around the world. The in prime time, it's the start of a series called Dream State, with two episodes about California in the movies. Tonight is part one; part two is next Thursday. Enjoy!


7:30 AM -- Dodsworth (1936)
1h 41m | Romance | TV-PG
A husband whose wife left him looks for new love in Europe.
Director: William Wyler
Cast: Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas

Winner of an Oscar for Best Art Direction -- Richard Day

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Walter Huston, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Maria Ouspenskaya, Best Director -- William Wyler, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Sidney Howard, Best Sound, Recording -- Oscar Lagerstrom (United Artists SSD), and Best Picture

William Wyler and Ruth Chatterton fought bitterly almost daily on the interpretation of Fran. Chatterton felt she should be played entirely as a villainess, whereas Wyler found reasons to sympathize with the character. According to Mary Astor, the tension was increased by Chatterton's own desperation at her advancing age. At 43 she was far from an old woman but well past the age when actresses typically enjoyed continued audience appeal and their choice of roles. Once a big star on stage, and briefly one in films a few years earlier, her success was waning and, according to Wyler, she exhibited very "haughty" behavior on the set. She was self-conscious about her figure and her looks, insisting on daily facials to maintain a youthful glow. Her insecurities manifested themselves as hatred and fear toward Wyler and his multiple-take working method. At one point she reportedly slapped the director's face and locked herself in her dressing room.


9:15 AM -- Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
2h 50m | Adventure | TV-G
The fantastic adventures of Englishman Phileas Fogg who, to win a bet, journeyed around the world in 80 days
Director: Michael Anderson
Cast: David Niven, Cantinflas, Finlay Currie, Robert Morley

Winner of Oscars for Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- James Poe, John Farrow and S.J. Perelman, Best Cinematography, Color -- Lionel Lindon, Best Film Editing -- Gene Ruggiero and Paul Weatherwax, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Victor Young (Posthumously.), and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Michael Anderson, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- James W. Sullivan, Ken Adam and Ross Dowd, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Miles White

One might be puzzled by Cantinflas' oddly-shaped mustache. It is in the shape of a bull's horns because Cantinflas actually had been a bullfighter. He shot all of his bullfighting scenes without using a double, risking injury or even death, and the production having to be delayed if he were injured, but he insisted on doing the bullfighting.


12:30 PM -- Where the Boys Are (1960)
1h 39m | Comedy | TV-PG
Four college coeds go looking for love during spring break in Fort Lauderdale.
Director: Henry Levin
Cast: Dolores Hart, Yvette Mimieux, Barbara Nichols

Paula Prentiss signed a seven-year contract with MGM in 1960 when she was cast in this movie. She was living with boyfriend actor Richard Benjamin at the time, which was taboo in those days, and the studio didn't want her traveling on promotion junkets with a man who wasn't her spouse. So they asked the two to wed, though not before milking the wedding for publicity: Prentiss had to make long-distance calls to gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons just before the ceremony, according to People. They were married by a New York judge on Oct. 26, 1961. They are still together as of 2021.


2:15 PM -- Travels with My Aunt (1972)
1h 49m | Comedy | TV-14
A stodgy young man gets caught up in his free-living aunt's shady schemes.
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Maggie Smith, Alec Mccowen, Lou Gossett

Winner of an Oscar for Best Costume Design -- Anthony Powell (Anthony Powell couldn't attend the awards ceremony, as he was working on Papillon (1973) in London, England. George Cukor, the film's director, accepted the award on his behalf.)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Maggie Smith, Best Cinematography -- Douglas Slocombe, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- John Box, Gil Parrondo and Robert W. Laing

Louis Gossett, Jr., on working with Director George Cukor on this movie: "The consummate director and a filmmaking genius. He kept shooting until he got it right. He knew when to say something to you, and he knew when to leave you alone. He was always one step ahead of everyone."


4:15 PM -- If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)
1h 38m | Comedy | TV-14
American tourists wreak havoc while traveling through Europe.
Director: Mel Stuart
Cast: Suzanne Pleshette, Ian McShane, Mildred Natwick

One of the subplots involves Fred (Murray Hamilton) and Edna Ferguson who take their nineteen-year-old daughter Shelly (Hilarie Thompson) on the tour to get her away from her boyfriend in the U.S. On the trip, she falls for an intriguing student radical named Bo who organizes protests across Europe. Edna was played by Peggy Cass, who was also a regular panelist on various television shows in from the 1960s to the 1980s, including the popular To Tell the Truth (1956) in its heyday. Bo was played by Luke Halpin, who became famous in the early to mid 1960s as the star of two movies and the television series Flipper (1964), playing Sandy Ricks. Luke's rising fame saw him appear as a 'contestant' on To Tell the Truth (1956) in March 1964 just before he turned seventeen. Peggy Cass was one of the four panelists who quizzed Luke (and the two other impostors) in an attempt to determine the real Luke Halpin. She was the only one of the four to make a wrong choice.


6:00 PM -- Rome Adventure (1962)
1h 59m | Romance | TV-PG
A man falls in love with two women.
Director: Delmer Daves
Cast: Troy Donahue, Angie Dickinson, Rossano Brazzi

The book that Prudence is disciplined for giving to her student is "Lovers Must Learn" by Irving Fineman, the novel this film is based upon. This was also the title used during filming.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- DREAM STATE - CALIFORNIA IN THE MOVIES, PART I



8:00 PM -- Gidget (1959)
1h 35m | Comedy | TV-G
A young girl dreams of winning acceptance from a gang of surfers.
Director: Paul Wendkos
Cast: Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson

The title character was based on the author's daughter, Kathy Kohner-Zuckerman, and her adventures growing up in the surf culture at the beach in Malibu during the 1950's. She is still petite, healthy and attractive and lives in Pacific Palisades with her husband. And yes, there was a "Moondoggie", who lives in California and is an artist.


10:00 PM -- Shampoo (1975)
1h 49m | Comedy | TV-MA
A hairdresser expresses his fear of commitment by seducing his female clients.
Director: Hal Ashby
Cast: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Lee Grant

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lee Grant

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Warden, Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Robert Towne and Warren Beatty, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Richard Sylbert, W. Stewart Campbell and George Gaines

Loosely based on "The Country Wife," a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley, whose protagonist Horner feigns impotence in order to be allowed into the company of married women, whom he then seduces. George in "Shampoo" would be considered non-threatening due to the stereotype that hair-dressers are gay, such as the scene in Jackie's bathroom when Lester walks in and the bistro sequence when George is fluffing Lester's hair. "Shampoo" only retains a distant reflection of the Horner character, but reportedly, the screenplay was inspired by the 1969 Chichester Festival production, according to a 2003 edition of the play edited by James Ogden.


12:00 AM -- What Price Hollywood? (1932)
1h 28m | Drama | TV-G
A drunken director whose career is fading helps a waitress become a Hollywood star.
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Constance Bennett, Lowell Sherman, Neil Hamilton

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Adela Rogers St. Johns and Jane Murfin

George Cukor, who directed this film, was offered the chance to direct its "partial remake," A Star Is Born (1937), but turned it down, claiming the two films were too similar. Interestingly, Cukor would later direct the 1954 Judy Garland/James Mason musical remake of that film, often cited as the best version of this material.


1:45 AM -- The Big Picture (1989)
1h 39m | Comedy | TV-14
A comedy about an up-and-coming filmmaker.
Director: Christopher Guest
Cast: Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emily Longstreth

During filming, they rented Wink Martindale's house for three days to shoot a party scene, not knowing that Charles Bronson had just purchased a house across the street. Before the three days were up, the crew had managed to accidentally kill Bronson's cat. The story is related in the book "I Killed Charles Bronson's Cat", written by the movies Location Manager Barry Gremillion. Guest and Bacon also recount this story on the DVD commentary track.


3:45 AM -- The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
1h 51m | Drama | TV-PG
A frustrated wife seduces a drifter into murdering her husband.
Director: Tay Garnett
Cast: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway

The Breen Office made several impassioned pleas to MGM to drop their planned film, warning of the dangers of filming a novel that it called "unwholesome and thoroughly objectionable" in its general theme. Breen later elaborated on his objections, stating that many of the story's elements, including "numerous sexual irregularities," the explicit treatment of criminal acts, and the "emphasis upon the dishonesty of the lawyers and representatives of the insurance companies," would prevent the film from gaining the PCA's approval. By April 1934, MGM agreed to abandon the property, and it was shelved for six years.