TCM Schedule for Friday, July 30, 2021 -- Primetime Theme: Friday Night Neo Noir

In the daylight hours, the theme is Spies Like Us. Then in prime time, TCM has the final week of Friday Night Neo Noir. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- British Agent (1934)
1h 21m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
An Englishman falls in love with a Russian spy.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Leslie Howard, Kay Francis, William Gargan

The story is based on and inspired by the experiences of Moura Budberg (February 1893 – November 1, 1974), also known as Countess Benckendorff and Baroness Budberg, who was a Russian adventuress and suspected double agent of OGPU and British Intelligence Service.


7:30 AM -- After Tonight (1933)
1h 11m | Drama | TV-PG
A female Russian spy falls for the enemy during WWI.
Director: George Archainbaud
Cast: Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, Edward Ellis

This film failed at the box office, resulting in a loss to RKO of $100,000 (nearly $2M in 2019) according to studio records.


9:00 AM -- I Was an American Spy (1951)
1h 25m | War | TV-PG
A war widow spies for the U.S. in Japanese-occupied Manila.
Director: Lesley Selander
Cast: Ann Dvorak, Gene Evans, Douglas Kennedy

It would seem evident that the woman decorated at the end of the movie was the real Claire Phillips. There could be no other reason for director Lesley Selander to use a woman other than Ann Dvorak, who played Claire, in this scene.

Claire Maybelle Snyder (December 2, 1907 – May 22, 1960), also known as Clara Fuentes, Clara Phillips, Dorothy Fuentes as well as High Pockets, was an American spy, entertainer, club owner, and author most noted for her exploits in the Japanese-occupied Philippines. She was the author of Manila Espionage, a book about her wartime experiences. In 1951, she was awarded the Medal of Freedom. Many of Phillips' statements and claims about spying were later determined to be "without foundation," although in 1957 she was awarded $1,349.21 by the United States Court of Claims in compensation for assistance she had provided to American prisoners of war and Filipino resistance movements.


10:30 AM -- Rendezvous (1935)
1h 31m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A decoding expert tangles with enemy spies.
Director: William K. Howard
Cast: William Powell, Rosalind Russell, Binnie Barnes

Apparently, in a less than courageous move, the sound track has the references to the spies being German are edited out, to not offend Hitler's Germany, It would seem. It is done in a primitive, ham-handed way, such as the word "German" scratched out of sentences, with a noise that sounds like damage to the film itself, and a patch of Powell's dialogue is replaced with a bizarre voice over that sounds nothing like him, as if he were "possessed" for a few seconds.


12:15 PM -- The Spy in the Green Hat (1966)
1h 32m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
Secret agents fight to keep a criminal mastermind from altering the course of the Gulf Stream.
Director: Joseph Sargent
Cast: Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Jack Palance

Edited from the television series The Man From U.N.C.L.E, episodes The Concrete Overcoat, Parts I and II (1967).


2:00 PM -- The Conspirators (1944)
1h 41m | Adventure | TV-PG
A guerilla leader falls in love with a mysterious woman in World War II Lisbon.
Director: Jean Negulesco
Cast: Hedy Lamarr, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet

This film has many tangential connections to Casablanca (1942) besides its plot line of anti-Nazi intrigue. It features Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, who all appeared in Casablanca. Behind the scenes, the film features music by Max Steiner and cinematography by Arthur Edeson, who both worked on Casablanca. Like Casablanca, it was produced by Warner Bros. It also features Hedy Lamarr, who was originally considered for the role of "Ilsa", which was eventually played by Ingrid Bergman. Lamar had also previously appeared in Algiers (1938), which also had a plot line similar to Casablanca.


3:45 PM -- Confidential Agent (1945)
1h 58m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A Spanish spy and an American heiress battle fascists in England.
Director: Herman Shumlin
Cast: Charles Boyer, Lauren Bacall, Katina Paxinou

The "Entrenationo" language school may be a reference to Esperanto, a "constructed" language invented in the 1870s-'80s to foster communication and harmony between people of different nationalities. Esperanto speakers came under suspicion in such right-wing or Fascist countries as Nazi Germany (because the inventor was Jewish), Imperial Japan and Francisco Franco's Spain.


5:45 PM -- Virginia City (1940)
2h 1m | Western | TV-G
A rebel spy poses as a wild West dance hall girl.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins, Randolph Scott

The name of the villain John Murrell was taken from the leader of a bandit gang that operated along the Mississippi River in the 1820s-40s. Murrell was a small time outlaw who attained legendary status due to a sensationalized account of his life and crimes published by Virgil Stewart. The largely fictional pamphlet even influenced Mark Twain, who considered Murrell to be as large a figure as Jesse James, and wrote of Injun Joe discovering Murrell's lost treasure in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The real life Murrell never traveled west of Arkansas, where various geographical features are named for him. He died of tuberculosis in 1844 - 19 years before Virginia City takes place. Oddly, in the film Humphrey Bogart played John Murrell with an on-again, off-again Mexican accent (it is not at all in evidence when Murrell first appears in the stagecoach scene, but seems to grow more pronounced as the film goes on).



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- FRIDAY NIGHT NEO NOIR



8:00 PM -- Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982)
1h 57m | Action
A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space, and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Lawrence G. Paull, David L. Snyder and Linda DeScenna, and Best Effects, Visual Effects -- Douglas Trumbull, Richard Yuricich and David Dryer

In Philip K. Dick's original novel, animals were virtually extinct, something that this movie only addresses in very subtle ways. The most obvious reference to this animal extinction is when Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) asks Zhora (Joanna Cassidy) if her snake is real, and she replies, "Do you think I'd be working in a place like this if I could afford one?" Another reference occurs in the scene where Rick Deckard first visits Dr. Elden Tyrell (Joe Turkel), and he asks Rachael (Sean Young) if their owl is replicated. She responds with "Of course it is". In Dick's novel, the owls were the first creatures to die out.


10:15 PM -- Mona Lisa (1986)
1h 44m | Crime | TV-MA
A man recently released from prison manages to get a job driving a call girl from customer to customer.
Director: Neil Jordan
Cast: Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Michael Caine

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Bob Hoskins

Anthony Hopkins was offered the part of Mortwell, but turned it down because he was not right for the part. In 2007, while on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992), he mentioned that he told writer and director Neil Jordan to hire Michael Caine, because he would be the perfect choice for the role.


12:15 AM -- Tequila Sunrise (1988)
1h 56m | Action | TV-14
A beautiful restauranteur becomes involved in a romantic triangle with two old friends.
Director: Robert Towne
Cast: Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography -- Conrad L. Hall

When the film went into production, the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers at the time, Pat Riley, was offered the role of Nick. When he turned it down, it went to Kurt Russell. Russell's look for the role was influenced by Riley. Russell was quoted as saying that "Riley's look was right for this film, because he was arrogantly confident, but not offensive." Russell also used the look and hairstyle of Riley again for Furious 7 (2015) and again in The Fate of the Furious (2017).


2:30 AM -- Piranha (1978)
1h 32m | Horror | TV-14
When flesh-eating piranhas are accidently released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.
Director: Joe Dante
Cast: Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy

Universal Studios attempted to sue New World for spoofing Jaws (1975). However, Steven Spielberg saw the movie in advance and loved it. After that, Universal dropped the lawsuit.


4:15 AM -- The Swarm (1978)
1h 56m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-14
Killer bees that attack without reason descend on Texas.
Director: Irwin Allen
Cast: Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Costume Design -- Paul Zastupnevich

This was Fred MacMurray's final film before his death on November 5, 1991 at the age of 83.