TCM Schedule for Saturday, September 4, 2021 -- Mitzi Gaynor's 90th Birthday

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in primetime, TCM is celebrating birthday girl Mitzi Gaynor, born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber on September 4, 1931, in Chicago. From her TCM biography:

This blonde dancer and light actress appeared in Hollywood musicals beginning in the early 1950s. Among her more notable efforts were "There's No Business Like Show Business" (1954), the 1956 remake of "Anything Goes," with Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor, and "Les Girls" (1957), opposite Gene Kelly. Gaynor had two outstanding screen roles: as a girlfriend of nightclub comedian Joe E Lewis (played by Frank Sinatra) in "The Joker Is Wild" (1957) and as Nellie Forbush in the screen version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" (1958).

Beginning in the late 1950s, Gaynor began to appear on various variety series, eventually headlining her own NBC special in 1968, "Mitzi." Between 1973 and 1978, she appeared annually on CBS in a series of high-concept, entertaining variety specials.

Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Stratton Story (1949)
1h 46m | Drama | TV-G
True story of Monty Stratton, the baseball star who fought to continue his career after losing a leg
Director: Sam Wood
Cast: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Douglas Morrow

After the events of the movie, the real Monty Stratton went on to be a coach for the Chicago White Sox for a couple of years before going back to his home town of Greenville


8:00 AM -- Bad Luck Blackie (1949)
7m | Animation | TV-PG
A kitten being tortured by a bulldog needs Bad Luck Blackie, a black cat that brings bad luck.
Director: Tex Avery (fred)
Cast: William Hanna, Harry Lang, Pat McGeehan

Some censored versions of the short cut out when the bulldog crashes into an outdoor fireplace and comes up through the covered chimney, because, when he appears, he looks like a stereotypical Chinese person. This scene has been restored in a more recent Blu-ray release (as of 2020).


8:09 AM -- Free and Easy (1931)
7m | Comedy | TV-G
In this short film, a hobo and his "son" attempt a search for money in an abandoned house.
Director: Roy Mack
Cast: Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, Christine Graver


8:17 AM -- Glimpses of Austria (1938)
9m | Short | TV-G
This short film focuses on the landmarks, people and customs of Austria.
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick


8:27 AM -- Alcatraz Island (1937)
1h 1m | Crime | TV-G
A prison inmate is framed for killing a con who once tried to kidnap his daughter.
Director: William McGann
Cast: Ann Sheridan, John Litel, Mary Maguire

As the film was produced by Cosmopolitan Productions, headed by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, much was made in the press at the time about the Production Code Office's numerous objections to many aspects of this film - so much so that it was speculated that Hearst greatly exaggerated the controversy so stir up public interest in the picture.


9:30 AM -- Batman: A Nipponese Trap (1943)
15m | Adventure | TV-PG
The Caped Crusader battles a Japanese scientist turning people into zombies.
Director: Lambert Hillyer
Cast: Lewis Wilson, Douglas Croft, J. Carrol Naish

Linda Page first appeared in Batman comics in 1941. A privileged socialite who volunteered her time as a nurse, she was one of many girlfriends that Bruce Wayne has had. Due to his devotion to the Batman mission, his romances rarely lasted long. Linda Page was never as well-known as Vicki Vale, Selina Kyle, Silver St. Cloud, or Vesper Fairchild, and is regarded as a charming piece of trivia which the comics revive every now and then for fun. Her uncle Martin Warren appears to be unique to this film.


10:00 AM -- A Wolf in Sheik's Clothing (1948)
7m | Animation | TV-PG
Popeye and Olive find themselves with an over-romantic desert lover; the sheik abducts Olive.
Director: Izzy Sparber
Cast: Jack Mercer, Jackson Beck, Mae Questel

References the reknowned Valentino film The Skeik (1921).


10:08 AM -- The Falcon's Adventure (1946)
1h 1m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
A society sleuth rescues a kidnapped woman, then is framed for murder.
Director: William Berke
Cast: Tom Conway, Madge Meredith, Edward S. Brophy

This was the 13th and final film in RKO's long-running Falcon franchise. After this, the rights to the name and character of the Falcon were licensed to a low end company called Film Classics, which produced three additional Falcon films before abandoning the series.


11:30 AM -- Buried Loot (1935)
18m | Short | TV-G
A man confesses to embezzlement only after burying the money he stole.
Director: George B. Seitz
Cast: Robert Livingston, Shirley Ross, Brooks Benedict

The first in a series of fifty "Crime Does Not Pay" shorts from MGM released between 1935 and 1947, and the first lead role in a picture at MGM for Robert Taylor.


12:00 PM -- Gunga Din (1939)
1h 57m | Adventure | TV-PG
Three British soldiers seek treasure during an uprising in India.
Director: George Stevens
Cast: Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks

Kelly Reilly had long wanted to make "Gunga Din," and in 1936 brought in Howard Hawks to develop the project. Hawks felt either Robert Donat or Ronald Colman was the best choice for the lead with Spencer Tracy as second lead; early in 1937, he considered Ray Milland and Franchot Tone. However, when Hawks took too much time on Bringing Up Baby (1938), he was taken off the project. It's also been said that Hawks was dropped from the film because "Baby" ended up as a box-office bomb, even though it has survived as a comedy classic.


2:15 PM -- 12 Angry Men (1957)
1h 35m | Drama | TV-PG
A jury holdout tries to convince his colleagues to vote not guilty.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Sidney Lumet, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Reginald Rose, and Best Picture

At the beginning of the film, the cameras are all positioned above eye level and mounted with wide-angle lenses to give the appearance of greater distance between the subjects. As the film progresses the cameras slip down to eye level. By the end of the film, nearly all of it is shot below eye level, in close-up and with telephoto lenses to increase the encroaching sense of claustrophobia.


4:00 PM -- Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
3h 46m | Adventure | TV-14
A British military officer enlists the Arabs for desert warfare in World War I.
Director: David Lean
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn

Winner of Oscars for Best Director -- David Lean, Best Cinematography, Color -- Freddie Young, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- John Box, John Stoll and Dario Simoni, Best Sound -- John Cox (Shepperton SSD), Best Film Editing -- Anne V. Coates, Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Maurice Jarre, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter O'Toole, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Omar Sharif, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson (The nomination for Wilson was granted on 26 September 1995 by the Academy Board of Directors, after research at the WGA found that the then blacklisted writer shared the screenwriting credit with Bolt.)

This movie was banned in many Arab countries as they felt Arab historical figures and the Arab peoples were misrepresented. Omar Sharif arranged a viewing with President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt to show him that there was nothing wrong with the way they were portrayed. Nasser loved the movie and allowed it to be released in Egypt, where it went on to become a monster hit.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- MITZI GAYNOR'S 90th BIRTHDAY



8:00 PM -- Les Girls (1957)
1h 54m | Musical | TV-PG
Three showgirls recall different versions of their time together touring Europe.
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall

Winner of an Oscar for Best Costume Design -- Orry-Kelly

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- William A. Horning, Gene Allen, Edwin B. Willis and Richard Pefferle, and Best Sound, Recording -- Wesley C. Miller (M-G-M SSD)

Heard in the background between the stage performances is a snippet of "Be a Clown." Cole Porter wrote this for, "The Pirate," and he wrote the rest of "Les Girls" songs. People might think that they hear a snippet of, "Make 'em Laugh," from "Singing in the Rain." But that song was based on/stolen by Arthur Freed from Cole Porter. (But that's another story.)


10:15 PM -- The Joker Is Wild (1957)
2h 3m | Drama | TV-PG
Singer Joe E. Lewis fights to rebuild his life after gangsters slash his vocal cords.
Director: Charles Vidor
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Mitzi Gaynor, Jeanne Crain

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "All the Way"

The film's name was changed to All the Way when re-released. This, after the success and popularity of the Oscar-winning song from the movie, All the Way.


12:30 AM -- Cloudburst (1952)
1h 23m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
A WWII code breaker tracks down his wife's killers.
Director: Francis Searle
Cast: Robert Preston, Elizabeth Sellars, Colin Tapley

This was the first Hammer film to be made at Bray Studios.


2:15 AM -- Knights of the Round Table (1953)
1h 55m | Romance | TV-G
Queen Guinevere is torn between love for her husband and Sir Lancelot.
Director: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Alfred Junge, Hans Peters and John Jarvis, and Best Sound, Recording -- A.W. Watkins (M-G-M Sound Department)

Miklós Rózsa lifted liberally from his own work for this film when he later composed the score for El Cid (1961).


4:15 AM -- Moonfleet (1955)
1h 29m | Adventure | TV-PG
A British buccaneer is torn between three seductive women.
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Stewart Granger, George Sanders, Joan Greenwood

Stewart Granger wanted the film to be made in Cornwall. He was dismayed that it did not follow the book.