TCM Schedule for Friday, October 1, 2021 -- What's On Tonight: Cinematography by John Alonzo

In the daylight hours, we get horror films from the Pre-Code Era. Oh, right, it is the beginning of October, so we're going to get a lot of horror films for the next 31 days. Then in prime time, TCM is featuring the work of cinematographer John Alonzo, who is probably best remembered for his Oscar-nominated cinematography in Chinatown (1974). Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- King Kong (1933)
1h 40m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
A film crew discovers the "eighth wonder of the world," a giant prehistoric ape.
Director: Merian C. Cooper
Cast: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot

Merian C. Cooper's first vision for the film was of a giant ape on top of the world's tallest building, fighting airplanes. He worked backward from there to develop the rest of the story.


8:00 AM -- The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
1h 3m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
A big game hunter decides to stalk human prey.
Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack
Cast: Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong

This film was released before the Hays Code was used on American movies. This being the case, both Joel McCrea and Fay Wray were able to get away with wearing relatively little clothing in comparison to other films of the era. Within a few years, however, some people of the era considered films like this one indecent and too revealing. Due to this, this film was barred from re-release and was not shown publicly for several decades when the Hays Code had finally evaporated.


9:15 AM -- The Vampire Bat (1933)
1h 3m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
Villagers suspect the town simpleton of being a vampire.
Director: Frank Strayer
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Melvyn Douglas

To keep production costs down, low-budget studio Majestic Pictures filmed at night on Universal's European village set, which was used for Frankenstein (1931). The interior of Lionel Atwill's house is the set from The Old Dark House (1932).


10:30 AM -- The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
2h | Crime | TV-PG
A crime wave grips the city and all clues seem to lead to the nefarious Dr. Mabuse.
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Otto Wernicke, Oskar Beregi Sr.

Banned by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels in 1933 for its subversive nature and the possibility that it might "incite people to anti-social behavior and terrorism against the State".


12:45 PM -- White Zombie (1932)
1h 13m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
A zombie master menaces newlyweds on a Haitian plantation.
Director: Victor Halperin
Cast: Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, Joseph Cawthorn

The film was thought lost until its rediscovery in the 1960s. A court battle was fought between film distributor Frank Storace and the estate of Stanley Krellberg, the copyright owner of the film. Storace had wished to produce a restored version but the estate refused him access to original footage in their possession. Storace gave up the court battle and did not win his access to his original footage.


2:00 PM -- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
1h 30m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of a scientist who unleashes the beast within.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Cast: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Fredric March (Tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ (1931).)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Adaptation -- Percy Heath and Samuel Hoffenstein, and Best Cinematography -- Karl Struss

The remarkable Jekyll-to-Hyde transition scenes in this film were accomplished by manipulating a series of variously colored filters in front of the camera lens. Fredric March's Hyde makeup was in various colors, and the way his appearance registered on the film depended on which color filter was being shot through. Only in the late 1960's did Mamoulian reveal how this was done.


3:45 PM -- Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
1h 12m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
A disfigured sculptor turns murder victims into wax statues.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell

This film was produced before the Production Code. When it was remade 20 years later, as House of Wax (1953), all references to drug use were removed, and a character was changed from a junkie to an alcoholic.


5:15 PM -- Doctor X (1932)
1h 16m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
A reporter investigates a series of cannibalistic murders at a medical college.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy

Contrary to Technicolor's edict, Warner Brothers also shot a black-and-white version of the film. The Technicolor version was shot by Ray Rennahan and the B&W version by Richard Towers. The camera angles of the the two versions are considerably different, with the Technicolor camera given priority for the best compositions. Two of these, for example, are Lee Tracy and Mae Busch in the house of prostitution scene and the sequence with Tracy in the skeleton room.


6:45 PM -- Freaks (1932)
1h 30m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
A lady trapeze artist violates the code of the side show when she plots to murder her midget husband.
Director: Tod Browning
Cast: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova

Although production chief Irving Thalberg decided to re-cut the picture immediately after the disastrous test screening, he could not cancel the world premiere on January 28, 1932 at the 3,000-seat Fox Theatre in San Diego. This is the only venue at which the uncut version of "Freaks" is known to have played. Ironically, the unexpurgated "Freaks" was a major box-office success. Crowds lined up around the block to see the picture, which broke the theatre's house record. By the end of the run, word had spread that "Freaks" was about to be butchered, and the theatre advertised, "Your last opportunity to see 'Freaks' in its uncensored form!"



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- CINEMATOGRAPHY BY JOHN ALONZO



8:00 PM -- The Bad News Bears (1976)
1h 42m | Comedy | TV-MA
The coach of a losing little league team brings in a female pitcher.
Director: Michael Ritchie
Cast: Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, Jackie Earle Haley

In the film, neither of the Aguilar brothers could speak any English. In reality, according to an interview in a 2001 Sports Illustrated "Where Are They Now" issue, Jaime Escobedo (Jose) and George Gonzales (Miguel) were in fact fluent in English, and didn't know how to speak in Spanish. They had to learn their entire dialogue strictly in Spanish before filming began.


10:00 PM -- Harold and Maude (1971)
1h 30m | Comedy | TV-14
A suicidal young man gets a new lease on life when he falls for an 80-year-old woman.
Director: Hal Ashby
Cast: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles

In all shots of Ruth Gordon (Maude) driving the hearse it is being towed because she never learned how to drive a car.


11:45 PM -- Black Sunday (1977)
2h 23m | Drama | TV-14
Terrorists threaten to unleash a deadly plague at the Superbowl.
Director: Marc Monnet
Cast: Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, Marthe Keller

The actual game that was being played in the film was Superbowl X between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys at Miami. Respective scores: 21 to 17.


2:15 AM -- Dolemite (1975)
1h 28m | Crime | TV-MA
When he's framed for drug dealing, a pimp enlists his call girls to bust him out.
Director: D'urville Martin
Cast: Rudy Ray Moore, D'urville Martin, Jerry Jones

The script called for a "penny hustler," but Rudy Ray Moore and Jerry Jones were unable to find a suitable actor through Moore's acquaintances or among Jones' acting class students. After filming began, Moore and Jones were traveling down Western Avenue in Los Angeles when they spotted the exact type of character they were looking for hustling on the street. They pulled over, Jones got out and talked to the man, and Vanius Rackstraw was hired as "The Creeper / Hamburger Pimp" on the spot.


4:00 AM -- Truck Turner (1974)
1h 31m | Action
Blaxploitation film about a former professional football player who becomes a bounty hunter in Los Angeles.
Director: Jonathan Kaplan
Cast: Yaphet Kotto, Isaac Hayes, Alan Weeks

This film was Nichelle Nichols only entry into the blaxploitation genre. She declined all offers for other blaxploitation films only to concentrate on the science-fiction convention appearances--especially "Star Trek" conventions--and later as a recruiter for NASA.


5:45 AM -- The Distant Drummer: A Movable Scene (1970)
22m | Short | TV-14
Drug use and drug culture is exposed.
Director: William Templeton
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Samuel Gershon, C. Mason Harvey

Robert Mitchum states the federal penalty for possession of marijuana is 2 years, while selling it carries a maximum of 40 years.