TCM Schedule for Friday, January 6, 2023 -- What's On Tonight: Female Detectives

In the daylight hours, it's director Frank Borzage. Not his birthday -- just a tribute to a good director. Unfortunately, TCM is not showing the two films that won Borzage Best Director Oscars, Bad Girl (1931) and 7th Heaven (1927).

Then in prime time, TCM is starting a series on Female Detectives. Part One -- Is That You, Nancy Drew? Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Living on Velvet (1935)
1h 20m | Drama | TV-G
A guilt-ridden pilot finds a new outlook on life when he falls for a society girl.
Director: Frank Borzage
Cast: Kay Francis, Warren William, George Brent

The "wavishing Kay Fwancis" actually mocked herself in this film for her well-known trouble in pronouncing the letter "R." When George Brent's character notices that her "april" comes out sounding like "apwil," he forces her to repeat "around the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran," which comes out "awound the wugged wocks the wagged wascals wan."


7:30 AM -- Mannequin (1938)
1h 35m | Romance | TV-PG
A small-time crook's wife falls for a shipping magnate.
Director: Frank Borzage
Cast: Joan Crawford, Spencer Tracy, Alan Curtis

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Edward Ward (music), Chet Forrest (lyrics) and Bob Wright (lyrics) for the song "Always and Always"

The only film where Joan Crawford and Spencer Tracy, two of MGM's top stars of the era, appear together.


9:15 AM -- Strange Cargo (1940)
1h 45m | Drama | TV-PG
A prostitute and some prisoners attempt to escape from a penal colony in French Guiana.
Director: Frank Borzage
Cast: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Ian Hunter

Director Frank Borzage said Joan Crawford was a trouper but did not mention a particular day in the jungle when Crawford, preceded by Clark Gable, passed under a tree with an eight-foot python coiled on a branch overhead. "That son-of-a-b***h is alive!" screamed Crawford, looking upward. "Yes, but its jaws are shut tight with a rubber band," Borzage explained. "What happens if the f**king rubber band snaps?" Crawford asked and refused to repeat the scene.


11:15 AM -- Flight Command (1940)
1h 50m | Adventure | TV-PG
A cocky cadet tries to prove himself during flight training.
Director: Frank Borzage
Cast: Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, Walter Pidgeon

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound)

While Robert Taylor plays a rookie pilot in this film, in real life he was indeed a pilot and the only one in the cast. When the U.S. entered WWII he became a Navy pilot, served as a flight instructor, and appeared in instructional films.


1:15 PM -- The Shining Hour (1938)
1h 20m | Drama | TV-PG
A nightclub dancer marries into society and has to contend with her jealous sister-in-law.
Director: Frank Borzage
Cast: Joan Crawford, Margaret Sullavan, Robert Young

Joan Crawford specifically asked for Margaret Sullavan to play the role of Judy, despite Louis B. Mayer's warning that the accomplished stage actress could steal the picture from her. Joan replied "I'd rather be a supporting player in a good picture than the star of a bad one."


2:45 PM -- Smilin' Through (1941)
1h 40m | Romance | TV-G
An embittered man threatens the love life of his niece, who's a dead ringer for his lost fiancee.
Director: Frank Borzage
Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Brian Aherne, Gene Raymond

Jeanette MacDonald, playing Kathleen/Moonyean, and Gene Raymond, playing Kenneth/Jeremy, were married from 1937 until her death in 1965. Smilin' Through was their only film together. Every year after her death in 1965, he attended the Jeanette MacDonald International Fan Club convention in Los Angeles. He shared stories with her fans and friends, a thing he once said he would do "'till Jeanette and I are together again."


4:30 PM -- Three Comrades (1938)
1h 40m | Romance | TV-G
Three life-long friends share their love for a dying woman against the turbulent backdrop of Germany between the wars.
Director: Frank Borzage
Cast: Robert Taylor, Margaret Sullavan, Franchot Tone

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Margaret Sullavan

This was F. Scott Fitzgerald's only screenwriting credit. Fitzgerald's first draft of the screenplay was completed September 1, 1937. Prior to production, actress Margaret Sullavan declared that Fitzgerald's dialogue was impossible to recite. As a result, producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz and screenwriter Edward E. Paramore Jr. rewrote most of the screenplay's dialogue.


6:15 PM -- The Mortal Storm (1940)
1h 40m | Drama | TV-PG
The Third Reich's rise tears apart a German family.
Director: Frank Borzage
Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler banned this film from release in Germany because of its strong anti-Nazi sentiments. In addition, all MGM films from that point until the end of the war were also banned in Germany because the studio made this one.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- FEMALE DETECTIVES



8:00 PM -- Nancy Drew: Detective (1938)
1h | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
A teen-aged sleuth investigates a wealthy woman's disappearance.
Director: William Clemens
Cast: Bonita Granville, John Litel, James Stephenson

When Nancy says to her father, "I'll bet you $23.80..." -23.80 refers to the amount of the weekly paycheck amount given to WPA workers during the Depression. It became an amount often used when jokingly betting someone to emphasize a large amount.


9:15 PM -- Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939)
1h 8m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
A teen-aged sleuth sets out to prove a young girl innocent of murder charges.
Director: William Clemens
Cast: Bonita Granville, John Litel, Frank Thomas Jr.

The failure of the last copyright holder, United Artists Television (the successor to Associated Artists Productions), to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film. Warner Bros., having regained the library they had sold to a.a.p. in 1996 (exactly 40 years after the original sale), released a DVD version restored from the original negative in 2007.


10:30 PM -- Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter (1939)
1h 8m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
A teen-aged sleuth tries to clear one of her father's friends of a murder charge.
Director: William Clemens
Cast: Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, John Litel

This is the first film series from Warner Bros. specifically aimed at the youth market. The studio hoped it would compete with MGM's highly successful "Andy Hardy" series. But, after the fourth and last "Nancy Drew" film, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939), Bonita Granville would move to MGM where she would play "Kay Wilson", Andy Hardy's college girlfriend in two films of that series: Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble (1944) and Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946).


11:45 PM -- Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939)
1h | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
A teen-aged sleuth helps two old ladies deal with the "haunting" of their mansion.
Director: William Clemens
Cast: Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, John Litel

Three dollars in 1939 dollars is equivelant to $58.20 in November 2021 dollars. In 1939, the year this film was released, the minimum wage was $0.30 per hour. Ted charged Nancy Drew three dollars for the 500 pound block of ice she ordered.


1:00 AM -- Before Dawn (1933)
1h | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
Detectives compete to solve the murders at a mysterious mansion.
Director: Irving Pichel
Cast: Stuart Erwin, Dorothy Wilson, Warner Oland

Working title: "Death Watch"


2:15 AM -- Hackers (1995)
1h 45m | Teens | TV-MA
Hackers are blamed for making a virus that will capsize five oil tankers.
Director: Iain Softley
Cast: Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Jesse Bradford

Jonny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie were married shortly after the making of the film, and then were divorced four years later.


4:15 AM -- S.F.W. (1994)
1h 32m | Adaptation | TV-MA
For thirty-six days, three teenagers are held hostage in their local convenience store.
Director: Jefery Levy
Cast: Stephen Dorff, Reese Witherspoon, Jake Busey

The filmmakers described this movie as a "serio-comedy about terrorism, beer, and talk shows."