TCM Schedule for Saturday, February 1: 31 Days of Oscar Begins

February 1 at a glance

TCM SPOTLIGHT: IT WAS ALL A DREAM?
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The (1972)
Last Wave, The (1977)
Eraserhead (1977)
- TCM DAYTIME
31 DAYS OF OSCAR - DAY 1 - BEST PICTURE
Life of Emile Zola, The (1937)
Broadway Melody of 1936 (1936)
Great Dictator, The (1940)
Sounder (1972)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
12 Angry Men (1957)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
- TCM PRIMETIME
31 DAYS OF OSCAR - DAY 1 - ACTORS
All About Eve (1950)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Star Is Born, A (1937)
Goodbye Girl, The (1977)
Morning Glory (1933)

Detailed schedule

10:30 PM Wild Strawberries (1957)





On his way to an awards ceremony, a distinguished professor is forced to face his past, come to terms with his faults, and make peace with the inevitability of his approaching death
Dir: Ingmar Bergman Cast: Victor Seastrom, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson
Runtime: 91 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: N

Oscar nominations:
WRITING (Story and Screenplay--written directly for the screen) -- Ingmar Bergman

Trivia: Ingmar Bergman has described in the interview how he came up with the idea while driving from Stockholm to Dalarna, stopping in Uppsala where he had been born and raised, and driving by outside his grandmother's old house, when he suddenly began to think about how it would be if he could open the door and inside it would be just as it had been during his childhood. "So it struck me - what if you could make a film about this; that you just walk up in a realistic way and open a door, and then you walk into your childhood, and then you open another door and come back to reality, and then you make a turn around a street corner and arrive in some other period of your existence, and everything goes on, lives. That was actually the idea behind Wild Strawberries (1957)"


12:15 AM The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)





A surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together.
Dir: Luis Buñuel Cast: Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig
Runtime: 102 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: N

Oscar nominations:
*WINNER* FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM -- France
WRITING (Story and Screenplay--based on factual material or material not previously published or produced) -- Story and Screenplay by Luis Buñuel; in collaboration with Jean-Claude Carrière

Trivia: The movie includes three of Luis Buñuel's recurring dreams: a dream of being on stage and forgetting his lines, a dream of meeting his dead cousin in the street and following him into a house full of cobwebs, and a dream of waking up to see his dead parents staring at him.


2:15 AM The Last Wave (1977)





An examination of the relationship between white and Aboriginal Australia through the trial of five Aborigines accused of killing another. Corporate tax lawyer David Burton accepts the case just as torrential rains blanket even the most arid regions of the nation, and is instantly beset with prophetic dreams and apocalyptic ...
Dir: Peter Weir Cast: Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett, David Gulpilil
Runtime: 106 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-14 CC: Y

Trivia: Director Peter Weir asked tribal Aboriginal actors David Gulpilil and Nandjiwarra Amagula about the script and incorporated their reactions to the finished dialogue.

4:15 AM Eraserhead (1977)





A printer named Henry Spencer is on vacation when he learns that his ex-girlfriend, Mary X, has given birth to a terribly deformed baby. Henry marries Mary and the two try living together, but it does not work out. So Mary leaves and Henry begins to care for the baby. After this, several bizarre events take place. There ...
Dir: David Lynch Cast: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Judith Anna Roberts
Runtime: 100 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

Trivia: When production on the film took longer than expected, David Lynch had to sleep in the same room used as Henry's bedroom for over a year.

6:00 AM The Life of Emile Zola (1937)




The famed writer risks his reputation to defend a Jewish army officer accused of treason.
Dir: William Dieterle Cast: Paul Muni, Joseph Schildkraut, Gale Sondergaard
Runtime: 123 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR -- Paul Muni {"Emile Zola"}
*WINNER* ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Joseph Schildkraut {"Captain Alfred Dreyfus"}
ART DIRECTION -- Anton Grot
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR -- Russ Saunders
DIRECTING -- William Dieterle
MUSIC (Scoring) -- Warner Bros. Studio Music Department, Leo Forbstein, head of department (Score by Max Steiner)
*WINNER* OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Warner Bros.
SOUND RECORDING -- Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, Nathan Levinson, Sound Director
WRITING (Original Story) -- Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg
*WINNNER* WRITING (Screenplay) -- Norman Reilly Raine, Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg

Trivia: This was the first film to break double digits in Academy Award nominations, receiving an astonishing ten nods.

8:00 AM Broadway Melody of 1936 (1936)


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A Broadway columnist tries to use an innocent dancer to frame a producer.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast: Jack Benny, Eleanor Powell, Robert Taylor
Runtime: 103 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
*WINNER* DANCE DIRECTION -- "I've Got a Feeling You're Fooling" number; Dave Gould
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
WRITING (Original Story) -- Moss Hart [came in 3rd]

Trivia: Eleanor Powell was spotted in a Fox screen test by MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer, who, due to the grainy quality of the test, initially thought she was African-American. Once Fox cast her in George White's Scandals (1934), MGM made its move. Reportedly, Powell did not want to participate in Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935), as she was slated for the non-dancing role eventually played by Una Merkel. Too much of a neophyte to confront the studio executives, she engineered her dismissal by politely demanding the lead role and an exorbitant salary, and she was shocked when the studio met her terms, paving the way for her meteoric film career.

Trivia: The singing voice of Eleanor Powell was dubbed by Marjorie Lane.


9:45 AM The Great Dictator (1940)



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A Jewish barber takes the place of a war-hungry dictator.
Dir: Charles Chaplin Cast: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie
Runtime: 129 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR -- Charles Chaplin {"Hynkel, Dictator of Tomania"}
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Jack Oakie {"Napaloni, Dictator of Bacteria"}
MUSIC (Original Score) -- Meredith Willson
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Charles Chaplin Productions
WRITING (Original Screenplay) -- Charles Chaplin

Trivia: Adolf Hitler banned the film in Germany and all Nazi-occupied countries. Curiosity got the best of him, and he had a print brought in through Portugal. History records that he screened it twice, in private, but not his reaction. He was said to have laughed only once which was during the 'barber chair scene' between Hynkel and Napaloni. Charles Chaplin said, "I'd give anything to know what he thought of it." West Germany finally lifted the ban in 1958.

12:00 PM Sounder (1972)





In 1933 Louisiana, a family of African American sharecroppers endure racism and injustice when their father is convicted of a petty crime and sent to a prison camp.
Dir: Martin Ritt Cast: Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks
Runtime: 105 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR -- Paul Winfield {"Nathan Lee Morgan"}
ACTRESS -- Cicely Tyson {"Rebecca Morgan"}
BEST PICTURE -- Robert B. Radnitz, Producer
WRITING (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) -- Lonne Elder, III

Trivia: The first film to feature Oscar-nominated performances by two black actors with Paul Winfield nominated for Best Actor and Cicely Tyson for Best Actress. This feat wouldn't be achieved again until What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) 21 years later. The third film to achieve this was Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) 27 years later.

2:00 PM Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)





The seven Pontipee brothers ease the loneliness of their Oregon farm by courting seven women.
Dir: Stanley Donen Cast: Howard Keel, Jeff Richards, Russ Tamblyn
Runtime: 103 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Color) -- George Folsey
FILM EDITING -- Ralph E. Winters
*WINNER* MUSIC (Scoring of a Musical Picture) -- Adolph Deutsch, Saul Chaplin
BEST MOTION PICTURE -- Jack Cummings, Producer
WRITING (Screenplay) -- Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, Dorothy Kingsley

Trivia: Julie Newmar, an accomplished dancer, never got a chance to show off her skills because her dance partner, Jeff Richards, was a former professional baseball player with no dancing skills.

4:00 PM 12 Angry Men (1957)





A jury holdout tries to convince his colleagues to vote not guilty.
Dir: Sidney Lumet Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley
Runtime: 95 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
DIRECTING -- Sidney Lumet
BEST MOTION PICTURE -- Henry Fonda and Reginald Rose, Producers
WRITING (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) -- Reginald Rose

Trivia: Director Sidney Lumet had the actors all stay in the same room for several hours on end and do their lines over and over without filming them. This was to give them a real taste of what it would be like to be cooped up in a room with the same people.

6:00 PM In the Heat of the Night (1967)



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A black detective teams up with a racist white sheriff to solve a murder in a small town in the South. Over time, they begin to find respect for one another.
Dir: Norman Jewison Cast: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates
Runtime: 109 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-14 CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
*WINNER* ACTOR -- Rod Steiger {"Police Chief Bill Gillespie"}
DIRECTING -- Norman Jewison
*WINNER* FILM EDITING -- Hal Ashby
*WINNER* BEST PICTURE -- Walter Mirisch, Producer
*WINNER* SOUND -- Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department
SOUND EFFECTS -- James A. Richard
*WINNER* WRITING (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) -- Stirling Silliphant

Trivia: Sidney Poitier insisted that the movie be filmed in the North because of an incident in which he and Harry Belafonte were almost killed by Ku Klux Klansmen during a visit to Mississippi. That's why Sparta, IL, was chosen for location filming. Nevertheless, the filmmakers and actors did venture briefly into Tennessee for the outdoor scenes at the cotton plantation, because there was no similar cotton plantation in Illinois that could be used. Poitier slept with a gun under his pillow during production in Tennessee. He did receive threats from local racist thugs, so the shoot was cut short and production returned to Illinois.

8:00 PM All About Eve (1950)





All About Eve is a 1950 American drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on the 1946 short story (and subsequent 1949 radio drama) "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr, although Orr does not receive a screen credit.

The film stars Bette Davis as Margo Channing, a highly regarded but aging Broadway star, and Anne Baxter as Eve Harrington, an ambitious young fan who maneuvers herself into Channing's life, ultimately threatening Channing's career and her personal relationships. The film co-stars George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, and Hugh Marlowe, and features Thelma Ritter, Marilyn Monroe in one of her earliest roles, Gregory Ratoff, Barbara Bates and Walter Hampden.

All About Eve held its world premiere in New York City on October 13, 1950. Highly praised by critics at the time of its release, it received a record 14 nominations[notes 1] at the 23rd Academy Awards, becoming the only film in Oscar history to receive four female acting nominations (Davis and Baxter as Best Actress, Holm and Ritter as Best Supporting Actress). It went on to win six awards, including Best Picture, as well as Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, Mankiewicz's second consecutive wins in both categories.

Widely considered as among the greatest films of all time, in 1990, All About Eve became one of 25 films selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress's National Film Registry, deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".The film was ranked No. 16 on AFI's 1998 list of the 100 best American films.

Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz Cast: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders
Runtime: 138 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
*WINNER* ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- George Sanders {"Addison De Witt"}
ACTRESS -- Anne Baxter {"Eve Harrington"}
ACTRESS -- Bette Davis {"Margo Channing"}
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Celeste Holm {"Karen Richards"}
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Thelma Ritter {"Birdie"}
ART DIRECTION (Black-and-White) -- Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler, George W. Davis; Set Decoration: Thomas Little, Walter M. Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Black-and-White) -- Milton Krasner
*WINNER* COSTUME DESIGN (Black-and-White) -- Edith Head, Charles LeMaire
*WINNER* DIRECTING -- Joseph L. Mankiewicz
FILM EDITING -- Barbara McLean
MUSIC (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) -- Alfred Newman
*WINNER* BEST MOTION PICTURE -- 20th Century-Fox
*WINNER* SOUND RECORDING -- 20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department, Thomas T. Moulton, Sound Director
*WINNER* WRITING (Screenplay) -- Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Trivia: Holds the record for the most female acting Oscar nominations in a single film with four: Anne Baxter and Bette Davis' for Best Actress and Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter for Best Supporting Actress. Also shares the record for most Oscar nominations (14) with Titanic (1997) and La La Land (2016).

10:30 PM Singin' in the Rain (1952)





Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds, and featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Rita Moreno and Cyd Charisse in supporting roles. It offers a lighthearted depiction of Hollywood in the late 1920s, with the three stars portraying performers caught up in the transition from silent films to "talkies".

Arthur Freed conceived the idea of the film based on the back catalogs of songs written by himself and Nacio Herb Brown. Because many of the songs had been written during the transition from silent films to "talkies", writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green decided that was when the story should be set. When the story morphed into that of a romantic hero with a vaudevillian background surviving the transition period in Hollywood and falling back onto his old song-and-dance habits, Kelly, who was chosen for the lead along with Donen, responded enthusiastically to it. The film was released after a premiere at the Radio City Music Hall on April 11, 1952.

The film was only a modest hit when it was first released. Today, however, it is often regarded as the greatest musical film ever and one of the greatest films ever made. It topped the AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals list, ranked as the fifth-greatest American motion picture of all time in its updated list of the greatest American films in 2007, having ranked as the tenth-greatest in the original 1998 list, and Kelly's rendition of "Singin' in the Rain" ranked third in their list of the greatest film songs. In 1989, Singin' in the Rain was one of the first 25 films selected by the United States Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2005, the British Film Institute included it in its list of the 50 films to be seen by the age of 14. In 2008, Empire magazine ranked it as the eighth-best film of all time. In Sight & Sound magazine's 2022 list of the greatest films of all time, Singin' in the Rain placed 10th. Previously, it had ranked fourth in their 1982 list and tenth in their 2002 list.
Dir: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds
Runtime: 103 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Jean Hagen {"Lina Lamont"}
MUSIC (Scoring of a Musical Picture) -- Lennie Hayton

Trivia: For the "Make 'em Laugh" number, Donald O'Connor revived a trick he had done as a young dancer: running up a wall and completing a somersault. The number was so physically taxing that O'Connor ended up in a hospital bed for a week after its completion. He suffered from exhaustion and carpet burns. After an accident ruined all of the initial footage, O'Connor agreed to do the difficult number all over again.

12:30 AM A Star Is Born (1937)





When a young actress arrives in Hollywood with hopes of stardom, a chance encounter places her under the wing of older actor Norman Maine. Adopting the stage name Vicki Lester, she co-stars with Norman in a major motion picture, but his success is clearly fading even as her career begins. After the couple wed, Vicki's fame ...
Dir: William A. Wellman Cast: Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou
Runtime: 111 mins Genre: Romance Rating: TV-G CC: Y


ACTOR -- Fredric March {"Norman Maine (Alfred Hinkel)"}
ACTRESS -- Janet Gaynor {"Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester"}
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR -- Eric Stacey
DIRECTING -- William Wellman
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Selznick International Pictures
*WINNER* WRITING (Original Story) -- William A. Wellman, Robert Carson
WRITING (Screenplay) -- Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, Robert Carson
*WINNER* SPECIAL AWARD
To W. Howard Greene for the color photography of A Star Is Born. (This Award was recommended by a committee of leading cinematographers after viewing all the color pictures made during the year.)


2:30 AM The Goodbye Girl (1977)





Paula is a divorced mother and ex-Broadway dancer, who learns that her lover has left her only when aspiring actor Elliot arrives to sublet the apartment in the middle of the night. Their uneasy truce blossoms into love.
Dir: Herbert Ross Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings
Runtime: 110 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-14 CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE -- Richard Dreyfuss {"Elliot Garfield"}
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE -- Marsha Mason {"Paula McFadden"}
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Quinn Cummings {"Lucy McFadden"}
BEST PICTURE -- Ray Stark, Producer
WRITING (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen--based on factual material or on story material not previously published or produced) -- Neil Simon

Trivia: The disastrous production of Shakespeare's "Richard III," in which Elliot Garfield (Richard Dreyfuss) portrays the title character as gay, was based on an actual production that Marsha Mason was in (as Lady Anne) and told her husband, Neil Simon, about. Like the production in the film, it took place at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre in New York in 1974, and starred Michael Moriarty.

4:30 AM Morning Glory (1933)





A stage struck girl travels to New York determined to make it on Broadway.
Dir: Lowell Sherman Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Douglas Fairbanks, Adolphe Menjou
Runtime: 74 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
*WINNER* ACTRESS -- Katharine Hepburn {"Eva Lovelace"}

Trivia: Katharine Hepburn and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. performed the balcony scene from "Romeo and Juliet" in costume, but it was not used in the picture.