TCM Schedule for Friday, April 23, 2021 -- TCM Spotlight: Oscars From A to Z

[Staph]

TCM continues their salute to the Oscars, beginning today with Paul Newman directing his wife Joanne Woodward to an Oscar nomination in Rachel, Rachel (1968) and finishing up with a grand Hollywood version of Romeo and Juliet (1937), with a 34-year-old Juliet and a 43-year-old Romeo! Enjoy!


8:15 AM -- Rachel, Rachel (1968)
1h 41m | Drama | TV-14
A small town teacher tries to overcome her shyness.
Director: Paul Newman
Cast: Joanne Woodward, James Olson, Kate Harrington

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Norma Shearer, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Basil Rathbone, Best Art Direction -- Cedric Gibbons, Fredric Hope and Edwin B. Willis, and Best Picture

The film's literary consultant was Professor William Strunk Jr., co-author of the famous treatise on the English language, Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style." Producer Irving Thalberg hired Strunk to work with the screenwriters to make sure that the Hollywood adaption of Shakespeare's play stayed true and respectful to its original source. Thalberg told Strunk, "Your job is to protect Shakespeare from us."


10:00 AM -- Random Harvest (1942)
2h 4m | Romance | TV-G
A woman's happiness is threatened when she discovers her husband has been suffering from amnesia.
Director: Mervyn Leroy
Cast: Ronald Colman, Greer Garson, Philip Dorn

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Ronald Colman, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Susan Peters, Best Director -- Mervyn LeRoy, Best Writing, Screenplay -- George Froeschel, Claudine West and Arthur Wimperis, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Randall Duell, Edwin B. Willis and Jack D. Moore, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Herbert Stothart, and Best Picture

Greer Garson rehearsed the "She M' Daisy" number with choreographers Ernst and Marie Matray for three weeks before shooting it in front of an audience of 200 extras.She was nervous until the extras started whistling at her legs. That put her at ease, and she performed like a seasoned vaudeville trooper. At the end of the number, the extras burst into a spontaneous chorus of "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow." Studio acting coach Lillian Burns, who witnessed the performance, said that it was the kind of work Garson had always wanted to do. The dramatic star would have been much happier, Burns said, doing musicals. Sidney Franklin sent her a telegram reading, "I was simply delighted with our Scottish number and your performance was beyond what I thought possible. I think it will add great colour to the picture and great warmth will be given to the character of Paula."


12:15 PM -- Rashomon (1950)
1h 28m | Drama | TV-PG
In medieval Japan, four people offer conflicting accounts of a rape and murder.
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Takashi Shimura

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Takashi Matsuyama and H. Motsumoto

During shooting, the cast approached Kurosawa en masse with the script and asked him, "What does it mean?" The answer Akira Kurosawa gave at that time and also in his biography is that Rashomon is a reflection of life, and life does not always have clear meanings.


1:45 PM -- Rasputin and the Empress (1932)
2h 13m | Drama | TV-PG
True story of the mad monk who plotted to rule Russia.
Director: Richard Boleslavsky
Cast: John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Charles MacArthur

The only film in which all three Barrymore siblings - John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore - appeared together. Although all had starring roles, there are only a couple of short scenes in the film where all three sibling actors are actually on the screen at the same time.


4:00 PM -- Rear Window (1954)
1h 52m | Drama | TV-PG
A photographer with a broken leg uncovers a murder while spying on the neighbors in a nearby apartment building.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Alfred Hitchcock, Best Writing, Screenplay -- John Michael Hayes, Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert Burks, and Best Sound, Recording -- Loren L. Ryder (Paramount)

According to Georgine Darcy, when the man and woman on the fire escape struggle to get in out of the rain was based on a prank by Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Each actor and actress in the apartment complex facing Jeff's rear window wore an earpiece through which they could receive Hitchcock's directions. Hitchcock told the man to pull the mattress in one direction and told the woman to pull in the opposite direction. Unaware that they had received conflicting directions, the couple began to fight and struggle to get the mattress inside once the crew began filming. The resulting mayhem, in which one of the couple is tossed inside the window with the mattress, provided humor and a sense of authenticity, which Hitchcock liked. He was so pleased with the result that he did not order another take.


6:00 PM -- Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
1h 51m | Drama | TV-PG
An alienated teenager tries to handle life's troubles and an apron-wearing dad.
Director: Nicholas Ray
Cast: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sal Mineo, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Natalie Wood, and Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Nicholas Ray

Ann Doran said, "Jimmy [James Dean] did most of the directing. He gave us our lines; he dominated the entire thing." Dean's and Nicholas Ray's working relationship was equally bizarre. Ray often rehearsed with Dean at his Chateau Marmont bungalow, and felt the energy between them there was so powerful that he actually recreated his own living room on the set to inspire Dean. Doran also recalled, "Jimmy was a strange boy. On the first day, Jim Backus couldn't believe it. We were watching Jimmy doing his scene and someone had said, 'Quiet, we're going to shoot now.' And they got up speed and were ready for action. Jimmy went down on the floor in the fetal position for the longest time. It seemed like half a can of film . . . and Nick said, 'Action.' Jimmy stood up and went into the scene . . . [Jim and I] had never seen this "Method" of doing things. Nick seemed to be mesmerized by Jimmy".



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: DAYTIME & PRIMETIME THEME -- OSCARS FROM A TO Z



8:00 PM -- Red River (1948)
2h 5m | Western | TV-PG
A young cowhand rebels against his rancher stepfather during a perilous cattle drive.
Director: Howard Hawks
Cast: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Borden Chase, and Best Film Editing -- Christian Nyby

Howard Hawks shot the beginning of the cattle drive in close-ups of each of the principal cowhands because he felt tight shots would be needed to help the audience keep all the characters straight in their minds. To that end, he also gave them all different kinds of hats, including a derby. Montgomery Clift used Hawks' own hat, which was given to him by Gary Cooper. Cooper had imparted a weather-beaten look to the hat by watering it every night. "Spiders built nests in it," Hawks said. "It looked great."


10:30 PM -- The Red Shoes (1948)
2h 14m | Romance | TV-G
Tale of a famous ballerina who must choose between art and love.
Director: Michael Powell
Cast: Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer

Winner of Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Hein Heckroth and Arthur Lawson, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Brian Easdale

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Emeric Pressburger, Best Film Editing -- Reginald Mills, and Best Picture

When people complained to Hein Heckroth about the grim ending, he pointed out to them that in Hans Christian Andersen's original fairy tale, the ballerina had her feet hacked off by a woodsman to stop her dancing.


1:00 AM -- Rhapsody in Blue (1945)
2h 19m | Drama | TV-PG
Fictionalized biography of George Gershwin and his fight to bring serious music to Broadway.
Director: Irving Rapper
Cast: Robert Alda, Joan Leslie, Alexis Smith

Nominee for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD), and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Ray Heindorf and Max Steiner

Maurice Ravel actually rejected Gershwin as a student because he was afraid that classical training would interfere with Gershwin's unique style.


3:30 AM -- Romance (1930)
1h 16m | Romance | TV-G
An opera singer leaves her wealthy lover for a young priest.
Director: Clarence Brown
Cast: Greta Garbo, Lewis Stone, Gavin Gordon

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greta Garbo, and Best Director -- Clarence Brown

Leading man Gavin Gordon was hit by another vehicle while driving his car to the set the first day of shooting. He was flung onto the pavement and fractured a collarbone, as well as dislocating his shoulder. Gordon was determined to play alongside Greta Garbo and feared his part might be recast if he went to the hospital, therefore proceeding to the set in spite of great pain. He managed to get through the first scene, whereupon he fainted. Garbo visited his bedside at the hospital and told him, production would wait for him. Director Clarence Brown therefore had to shoot all the scenes first in which Gordon didn't appear.


5:00 AM -- Romeo and Juliet (1937)
2h 7m | Romance | TV-G
Shakespeare's classic tale of young lovers from feuding families.
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Norma Shearer, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Basil Rathbone, Best Art Direction -- Cedric Gibbons, Fredric Hope and Edwin B. Willis, and Best Picture

This was the last film producer Irving Thalberg personally produced before his death. The film's Los Angeles premiere took place at the Carthay Circle Theater on September 14, 1936, the night of Thalberg's death. Frank Whitbeck, the radio announcer for the broadcast of the premiere, decided not to interview the stars of the movie on the air. The actors were so grief-stricken that Whitbeck was afraid they would break down crying, so he simply announced their names as they arrived.