TCM schedule Saturday Jan. 26: Jim Thorpe, All-American; Evergreen; The Kid; Woman On the Run; The Big Sky

Saturday January 26 At a Glance

TCM SPOTLIGHT: IT WAS ALL A DREAM?
Cabin in the Sky (1943)
Horn Blows at Midnight, The (1945)
Kid, The (1921)
I Married an Angel (1942)
Turn Back the Clock (1933)
- TCM DAYTIME WEEKEND FEATURES
Oregon Passage (1958) (6:30 am ET)
MGM Cartoons: Slap Happy Lion (1947)
Chili and Chills (1932) (short)
Believe It or Not #11 (1932) (short)
Paris Playboys (1954)
Galloping Ghost Ch. 4: House of Secrets (1931) (TCM Premiere)
Popeye: Wotta Nitemare (1939)
Golden Idol, The (1954)
Flame Song, The (1934) (short)
Evergreen (1934) (Musical Matinee)
Big Sky, The (1952)
Jim Thorpe--All American (1951)
Split, The (1968)
- TCM PRIMETIME - TALES OF THE MOUNTIES
Wild North, The (1952)
Rose Marie (1954)
- NOIR ALLEY
Woman on the Run (1950)
- TCM LATE NIGHT
If Winter Comes (1948)

January 26 - Full Day's Schedule

10:30 PM Cabin in the Sky (1943)







Cabin in the Sky is a 1943 American musical film based on the 1940 Broadway musical of the same name. The plot revolves around God and Satan battling for the soul of a wounded gambler. The first feature film directed by Vincente Minnelli, Cabin in the Sky features an all-black cast and stars Ethel Waters, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Lena Horne. Waters and Rex Ingram reprise their roles from the Broadway production as Petunia and Lucifer Junior, respectively. The film was Horne's first and only leading role in an MGM musical. Louis Armstrong is also featured in the film as one of Lucifer Junior's minions, and Duke Ellington and his Orchestra have a showcase musical number in the film.

Dir: Vincente Minnelli Cast: Ethel Waters, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Lena Horne
Runtime: 98 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
MUSIC (Song) -- "Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe," Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by E. Y. Harburg

Trivia: This film is generally credited with the first appearance of the "moon walk" dance step. It is performed by Bill Bailey, brother of Pearl Bailey.

Trivia: During filming, the movie's black stars were told by the studio manager that they were not allowed to eat at the MGM commissary. When studio head Louis B. Mayer heard about this, he invited the black performers to join him instead in his private dining room. All the performers were allowed to eat in the commissary the following day.

Trivia: MGM recycled some of its tornado footage from The Wizard of Oz (1939) for a key scene.

Trivia: Included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the 400 movies nominated for the Top 100 Greatest American Movies. In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

12:30 AM The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945)





The Horn Blows at Midnight is a 1945 comedy fantasy film directed by Raoul Walsh, and starring Jack Benny. Following its poor box-office, Benny often exploited the film's failure for laughs over the next 20 years in his radio and television comedy series The Jack Benny Program, making the film a known entity to his audience, even if they had never seen it. The Horn Blows at Midnight was Benny's last feature film as a lead, although he would continue to do cameo appearances in films for many years.

The Horn Blows At Midnight was released eight days after the death of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The film also was negatively reviewed by movie critics. In contrast, the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, also dealing with the afterlife, opened on Broadway at roughly the same time and became a hit.

Dir: Raoul Walsh Cast: Jack Benny, Alexis Smith, Dolores Moran
Runtime: 80 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The sequence toward the end, where the cast is at the side of the building and Benny battles the Paradise Coffee moving ad, was scored by Warners cartoon composer Carl W. Stalling, using his trademark violin string up-slide twang sound and his paraphrasing of the work of Raymond Scott. Stalling was used to give the scene a Warner Brothers cartoon feel.

2:00 AM The Kid (1921)









The Kid is a 1921 American silent comedy-drama film written, produced, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, and features Jackie Coogan as his foundling baby, adopted son and sidekick. This was Chaplin's first full-length film as a director. It was a huge success and was the second-highest-grossing film in 1921. Now considered one of the greatest films of the silent era, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2011.

Dir: Charles Chaplin Cast: Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance, Carl Miller
Runtime: 52 mins Genre: Silent Rating: TV-G CC: N

Trivia: The off-screen chemistry between Charles Chaplin and Jackie Coogan was just as strong as their onscreen relationship. Every Sunday, during the first few weeks of filming, Chaplin would take Jackie to amusement parks and pony rides and other activities. Some have seen Chaplin's relationship with Coogan as an attempt for Chaplin to reclaim his own unhappy childhood, while others have interpreted Chaplin's attention toward the boy as recasting Coogan into the child he had just lost. Chaplin and Coogan met for the last time in 1972, during Chaplin's brief return to America for an Honorary Academy Award.



3:30 AM I Married an Angel (1942)







A playboy drops his many girlfriends when he falls in love with a grounded angel.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke II Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Edward Everett Horton
Runtime: 84 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Originally planned as a vehicle for Jeanette MacDonald 10 years earlier, but the somewhat racy content put the musical on hold at MGM, until it was a hit on Broadway in 1938.

5:00 AM Turn Back the Clock (1933)





Turn Back the Clock is a 1933 American pre-Code MGM fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Edgar Selwyn, written by Selwyn and Ben Hecht, and starring Mae Clarke and Lee Tracy (while under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). The protagonist has 20 years of his life to live over.

The film depicts time travel. A middle-aged man from 1933 finds himself inhabiting the body of his younger self in 1910. He uses his knowledge of the future to change both the course off his own life, and a number of economic events.

Dir: Edgar Selwyn Cast: Lee Tracy, Mae Clark, Otto Kruger
Runtime: 79 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: First appearance of The Three Stooges in a full-length feature film. Ironically, it was not in a comedic role.

6:30 AM Oregon Passage (1958)







In the midst of an Indian uprising, John Ericson is accused of having an affair with his commanding officer's wife, Lola Albright.
Dir: Paul Landres Cast: John Ericson, Lola Albright, Toni Gerry
Runtime: 80 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-PG CC: Y


8:00 AM Cartoon: Slap Happy Lion (1947)



A tale about a lion's fall from king of the beasts to being tormented and driven crazy by a mouse, who narrates the story.
Dir: Tex Avery Cast: Tex Avery, Vonnie Beraner, Sara Berner
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-G CC: Y


8:10 AM Short: Chili and Chills (1932)
This short film shows a couple driving through several bizarre scenarios on their travels through Mexico.
Dir: Harold Austin Cast: Paul Gerard Smith
Runtime: 9 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: N


8:20 AM Short: Believe It or Not #11 (1932)
This short film, part of the "Believe It or Not" series, features such odd sights as a church service held on a river in boats. Vitaphone Release 1410.
Dir: null Cast: Leo Donnelly
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Documentary Rating: TV-G CC: N


8:30 AM Paris Playboys (1954)





When one of the Bowery Boys impersonates a missing French professor, the group ends up battling spies.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey
Runtime: 62 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: First film of the series to include Huntz Hall's name above the title alongside Leo Gorcey's.

9:35 AM Serial: The Galloping Ghost, Chapter 4: The House of Secrets (1931) (TCM Premiere)
A gambling ring is intent on fixing college football games. Football star Harold "Red" Grange is a target for the gamblers, who try to eliminate him from playing.
Dir: B. Reeves Eason Cast: Harold "Red" Grange, Dorothy Gulliver, Walter Miller
Runtime: 20 mins Genre: Adventure Rating: TV-G CC: N

10:05 AM Cartoon: Wotta Nitemare (1939)

Popeye has a nightmare in which he is unable to save Olive Oyl from Bluto. In his dreams he finally catches up with his adversary but for once his blows are ineffectual. He wakes up and then starts after Bluto, who this time is completely innocent!
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Willard Bowsky Cast: Pinto Colvig, Margie Hines, Jack Mercer
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

10:15 AM The Golden Idol (1954)



Bomba the Jungle Boy takes on an evil Arab who has stolen a tribe's golden idol.
Dir: Ford Beebe. Cast: Johnny Sheffield, Anne Kimbell, Paul Guilfoyle
Runtime: 71 mins Genre: Adventure Rating: TV-14 CC: Y

Trivia: In the main titles of the previous entry in the Bomba series (Safari Drums) the billing for star Sheffield was changed from "Johnny Sheffield" to "John," a tacit admission that the former child star was getting a bit long-in-the-tooth to continue to be billed with a juvenile name. In this film's titles, his billing reverts to "Johnny Sheffield."

11:30 AM Short: The Flame Song (1934)
A prince is such a playboy that his subjects revolt and place his cousin (who is worse) on the throne, forcing the former prince to find a way to overthrow the dictator.
Dir: Joseph Henabery Cast: J. Harold Murray, Bernice Claire, Mildred Van Dorn
Runtime: 21 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-PG CC: Y


12:00 PM Evergreen (1934)











Evergreen is a 1934 British musical film directed by Victor Saville starring Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale and Barry MacKay. The film is based on the 1930 musical Ever Green, also starring Matthews, who plays a dual role as mother and daughter.

The film was produced at Gaumont British by Michael Balcon and shot at the Lime Grove Studios in London. The film's sets were designed by art director Alfred Junge. The music was written by Rodgers and Hart.

Dir: Victor Saville Cast: Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale, Betty Balfour
Runtime: 94 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The main character is based upon the music hall star Lottie Collins, who popularized the song "Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-de-Ray" and was the mother of actress Jose Collins.

1:45 PM The Big Sky (1952)







The Big Sky is a 1952 American Western film produced and directed by Howard Hawks and written by Dudley Nichols, based on the novel of the same name by A.B. Guthrie Jr. The film does not have the same tragic ending as the book. The cast includes Kirk Douglas, Dewey Martin, Elizabeth Threatt and Arthur Hunnicutt, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Though not considered among Hawks's major achievements by most critics, the film was chosen by Jonathan Rosenbaum for his alternative list of the Top 100 American Films.

Dir: Howard Hawks Cast: Kirk Douglas, Dewey Martin, Elizabeth Threatt
Runtime: 122 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Arthur Hunnicutt {"Zeb Callaway"}
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Black-and-White) -- Russell Harlan

Trivia: While shooting Red River (1948), there was a scene that director Howard Hawks unsuccessfully urged John Wayne to do. It involved his getting a finger mangled between a saddle horn and a rope, resulting in Walter Brennan's amputating it. Hawks reportedly told Wayne, "If you're not good enough, we won't do it", but Wayne wouldn't do it. According to Hawks biographer Todd McCarthy, Hawks did get Kirk Douglas to do that scene in this film, and it came off so funny that Wayne later declared to Hawks, "If you tell me a funeral is funny, I'll do a funeral."

4:15 PM Jim Thorpe--All American (1951)







Jim Thorpe – All-American (UK title: Man of Bronze) is a 1951 American biographical film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Burt Lancaster as Jim Thorpe, the great Native American athlete who won medals at the 1912 Olympics and distinguished himself in various sports, both in college and on professional teams.

The film features some archival footage of both the 1912 and 1932 Summer Olympics, as well as other footage of the real Thorpe (seen in long shots). Charles Bickford plays the famed coach Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner, who was Thorpe's longtime mentor. Bickford also narrates the film, which told of Thorpe's athletic rise and fall, ending on an upbeat note when he was asked by a group of boys to coach them. Phyllis Thaxter portrays Thorpe's first wife. The film's production company Warner Bros. used a number of contract players in the film, as well as a few Native American actors.

Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: Burt Lancaster, Charles Bickford, Steve Cochran
Runtime: 107 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: The film is riddled with errors and fabrications. For example, the story of the games against Penn and Harvard - Carlisle did defeat both on several occasions, but never in the manner or by the scores shown. The film depicts Jim Thorpe as being married once, and having had one child who died young. In fact, he was married a total of three times and had seven other surviving children. Another is the portrayal of Pop Warner as an avuncular father figure to Thorpe. In truth, Warner abandoned Thorpe to save his own career after Thorpe's non-amateur status was discovered following his Olympic triumph.

6:15 PM The Split (1968)





A gang of thieves plots to rob the Los Angeles Coliseum box office during a Rams game.
Dir: Gordon Flemyng Cast: Jim Brown, Diahann Carroll, Ernest Borgnine
Runtime: 90 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-14 CC: Y

Trivia: While promoting this film, Jim Brown told critic Roger Ebert "What I want to do is play roles as a black man, instead of playing black man's roles. You know? The guy in 'The Split,' for example, could be any color. And I don't make a big thing out of my race. If you try to preach, people give you a little sympathy and then they want to get out of the way. So you don't preach, you tell the story. I have a theory, an audience doesn't need to get wrapped up in blackness every time they see a Negro actor. And a movie doesn't have to be about race just because there's a Negro in it. If there's a bigot in the audience, he has to keep reminding himself, that's a black man, that's a Negro, because the story line has left him 'way behind, man. Away behind. Just tell the story, and before you know it, that cat will be identifying with you, and he won't even know how it happened."

Trivia: This was Donald Sutherland's first movie filmed in America. He was shooting in London when the offer came through, but he didn't have enough money to fly his family to Los Angeles. Fellow Canadian Christopher Plummer lent him $1,500.

8:00 PM The Wild North (1952)







A Mountie tracks an accused killer through the Canadian wilderness.
Dir: Andrew Marton Cast: Stewart Granger, Wendell Corey, Cyd Charisse
Runtime: 97 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Filming could not take place across the Canadian border due to bad weather. It was scheduled to resume in June at actual sites of Constable Pedley's journey near Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, Canada.

10:00 PM Rose Marie (1954)



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A trapper's daughter is torn between the Mountie who wants to civilize her and a dashing prospector.
Dir: Mervyn Leroy Cast: Ann Blyth, Howard Keel, Fernando Lamas
Runtime: 115 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: A comic duet by Bert Lahr and Marjorie Main, "Love and Kisses" (music by Rudolf Friml, lyrics by Paul Francis Webster) was deleted from the release print. The filmed number is included on the 2011 DVD from Warner Bros. The Lahr-Main audio was first presented on the 1954 soundtrack LP from MGM Records, and a CD track is available on a 2011 import from the 101 Distribution label.



12:00 AM Woman on the Run (1950)







A woman searches for her husband, who ran off after witnessing a mob hit.
Dir: Norman Foster Cast: Ann Sheridan, Dennis O'Keefe, Robert Keith
Runtime: 77 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: The only known print of this film was destroyed in a fire in June of 2008, leaving only a few very low-quality--basically unwatchable--prints in the public domain. Eddie Muller, host of Turner Classic Movies' "Noir Alley", did a bit of detective work and found a 35mm print at the British Film Institute. He had it shipped to UCLA Film and Television Archive where, with financial help from Muller's own organization, the Film Noir Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Charitable Trust, the film was preserved for future generations. This is one of Muller's favorite noir films for a number of reasons, including the pairing of two great actors, Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe , who wrote their own dialogue, but mostly because of its use of San Francisco, Eddie's home town, while it was still a bustling, growing, blue-collar seaport.






1:45 AM If Winter Comes (1948)

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Scandal results when a well-meaning man takes in a pregnant girl.
Dir: Victor Saville Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Deborah Kerr, Angela Lansbury
Runtime: 97 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y



Trivia: Twenty-two-year-old Dame Angela Lansbury wanted the sympathetic part of the waif-like village girl Effie, but was forced to play Mabel, the thirty-five-year-old, shrewish wife of fifty-year-old Walter Pidgeon. This brought home to Lansbury that she would never be a star player at MGM. The role of Effie went to Janet Leigh, Lansbury's future co-star in The Manchurian Candidate (1962). In that movie, Lansbury again played an unsympathetic older woman, but would cite the part of Mrs. Iselin as her favorite movie role.

3:45 AM Winter Meeting (1948)







A repressed poetess and an embittered war hero help each other cope with their problems.
Dir: Bretaigne Windust Cast: Bette Davis, Janis Paige, James Davis
Runtime: 104 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: First film for Bette Davis after her pregnancy.

Trivia: This film was a huge box office failure, bringing in less than half the cost of production and promotion. It was Bette Davis's biggest flop at Warner Bros. and came after Deception (1946), another money-loser for the studio, causing Jack L. Warner to lose faith in Davis's box office appeal.