TCM Schedule for Thursday, April 29, 2021 -- What's On Tonight: Oscar From A to Z

[Staph]

We're fast approaching the end of 31 Days of Oscar. Today's schedule begins with This Land is Mine (1943) directed by Impressionist painter Pierre August Renoir's son Jean Renoir, and ending with Gene Hackman in a mid-life crisis in Twice in a Lifetime (1985). Enjoy!


5:45 AM -- This Land Is Mine (1943)
1h 43m | Drama | TV-PG
A soft-spoken school teacher tries to prove he's not a Nazi collaborator.
Director: Jean Renoir
Cast: Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, George Sanders

Winner of an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Stephen Dunn (RKO Radio SSD)

The singing of "Die Lorelei" by the German soldiers was a subtle dig at the anti-semitic regime of the Nazis, since the words were written by banned Jewish poet Heinrich Heine. Many of his books, considered "un-German," were burned in the book-burning episode at Opernplatz, Berlin, Germany, on 10 May 1933. However, his works were so popular that they were still published, but "author unknown" was the listed writer. In his 1821 play "Almansor," Heine also prophetically wrote "Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen." (Where they burned books, they will in the end in burn people.)


7:30 AM -- The Three Musketeers (1948)
2h 5m | Drama | TV-G
Athletic adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic adventure about the king's musketeers and ...
Director: George Sidney
Cast: Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, June Allyson

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert H. Planck

Fearing pressure from church groups, MGM had the script refer to Richelieu as Prime Minister rather than Cardinal, and almost all traces of him being a Cardinal or a man of the church at all have been removed, even though other versions of this story kept Richelieu explicitly a Cardinal without any repercussions.


9:45 AM -- To Be or Not to Be (1942)
1h 39m | Comedy | TV-PG
A troupe of squabbling actors joins the Polish underground to dupe the Nazis.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Werner R. Heymann

The biggest problem early in the shoot was Jack Benny's insecurity about acting the central role in such an important production by a major filmmaker. He seemed dumbfounded that Ernst Lubitsch had not only cast him but was building the film around him. Finally Lubitsch set him straight: "You think you are a comedian. You are not even a clown. You are fooling the public for 30 years. You are fooling even yourself. A clown - he is a performer what is doing funny things. A comedian - he is a performer what is saying funny things. But you, Jack, you are an actor, you are an actor playing the part of a comedian and this you are doing very well. But do not worry, I keep your secret to myself."


11:45 AM -- Tom Jones (1963)
2h 11m | Comedy | TV-14
In 18th century England, an abandoned orphan is adopted by a Squire. The young Tom Jones g...
Director: Tony Richardson
Cast: Albert Finney, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith

Winner of Oscars for Best Director -- Tony Richardson (Tony Richardson was not present at the awards ceremony. Edith Evans accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- John Osborne, Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- John Addison (John Addison was not present at the awards ceremony. Elmer Bernstein accepted the award on his behalf.), and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Albert Finney, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Hugh Griffith, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Diane Cilento, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Edith Evans, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Joyce Redman, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Ralph W. Brinton, Edward Marshall, Jocelyn Herbert and Josie MacAvin

The hunting scene posed special problems because the local hunters refused to cooperate, assuming the film would take an anti-hunting approach. The crew had to comb the countryside to find hounds people were willing to sell or rent. Tony Richardson wanted to show the dogs tearing into the deer at the end, so the crew tried to keep the hounds hungry, as is the custom in hunting. The local huntsmen, getting wind of the schedule, broke into the kennel the night before and fed the dogs heartily. When it came time to film the scene, all the dogs would do was sniff at the carcass of the dead deer the crew had bought. They had to re-shoot the scene three days later. Then the crew stuffed the carcass with beef liver to get the dogs to attack.


2:00 PM -- tom thumb (1958)
1h 38m | Family | TV-G
A six-inch-tall boy takes on a pair of comical crooks.
Director: George Pal
Cast: Russ Tamblyn, Alan Young, June Thorburn

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Tom Howard

George Pal forgot to cast The Whipping Man and didn't realize his mistake until it was too late. Peter Sellers stepped in at the last minute and played the role, masked.


4:00 PM -- Top Hat (1935)
1h 45m | Comedy | TV-G
A woman believes that an enamored dancer is her best friend's husband.
Director: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Carroll Clark and Van Nest Polglase, Best Dance Direction -- Hermes Pan for "Piccolino" and "Top Hat", Best Music, Original Song -- Irving Berlin for the song "Cheek to Cheek", and Best Picture

The finale of "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" production number with Fred Astaire miming his cane as a weapon "attacking" his supporting dancers, 13 canes were prepared for it. During shooting, Astaire, ever the unforgiving perfectionist, was continually breaking his canes in frustration at his mistakes, which concerned the crew that he was running out of them. As it turns out, the shooting of the scene was finished with the very last cane.


6:00 PM -- Travels with My Aunt (1972)
1h 49m | Comedy | TV-14
A stodgy young man gets caught up in his free-living aunt's shady schemes.
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Maggie Smith, Alec McCowen, Lou Gossett

Winner of an Oscar for Best Costume Design -- Anthony Powell (Anthony Powell couldn't attend the awards ceremony, as he was working on Papillon (1973) in London, England. George Cukor, the film's director, accepted the award on his behalf.)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Maggie Smith, Best Cinematography -- Douglas Slocombe, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- John Box, Gil Parrondo and Robert W. Laing

Louis Gossett, Jr., on working with Director George Cukor on this movie: "The consummate director and a filmmaking genius. He kept shooting until he got it right. He knew when to say something to you, and he knew when to leave you alone. He was always one step ahead of everyone."



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



8:00 PM -- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
2h 6m | Drama | TV-PG
Three prospectors fight off bandits and each other after striking it rich in the Mexican m...
Director: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Walter Huston, Best Director -- John Huston, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- John Huston

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Picture

When John Huston first started working on the project in 1941, the studio had George Raft, Edward G. Robinson and John Garfield in mind for the three main roles. Then World War II intervened. By the time Huston came back from making several documentaries for the war effort, Humphrey Bogart had become Warner Brothers' biggest star. This was entirely appropriate, for when Bogart first got wind of the fact that Huston might be making a film of the B. Traven novel, he immediately started badgering Huston for a part.


10:15 PM -- The Truman Show (1998)
1h 42m | Comedy | TV-PG
The film that made critics sit up and take notice of Jim Carrey's dramatic chops, the lege...
Director: Peter Weir
Cast: Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Ed Harris

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Ed Harris, Best Director -- Peter Weir, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Andrew Niccol

Truman's house was filmed in the childhood home of Florida Republican Representative Matt Gaetz.


12:15 AM -- Tunes of Glory (1960)
1h 45m | Drama | TV-PG
When a popular colonel loses a promotion, it sets the stage for conflict with his new supe...
Director: Ronald Neame
Cast: Alec Guinness, John Mills, Susannah York

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- James Kennaway

There is a small but telling detail in the closing credits for the cast that emphasizes even more how Jock Sinclair (Alec Guinness) came up through the ranks where he is listed as Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. This follows the British practice of listing initials for medals they have received after the names of military men. The D.S.O. is the Distinguished Service Order and the M.M. is the Military Medal. The thing is that the British used to distinguish between medals for officers and medals for enlisted men/other ranks. The D.S.O. at the time of the film was awarded only to officers for meritorious leadership, where Jock would have received it for his World War Two service leading the battalion, while the M.M. was strictly for enlisted men, which Jock probably got for actions in World War One. The equivalent medal for officers was the Military Cross (M.C.), which the credits show was awarded to two other officers in the battalion. Given the British class system of the time, it would have been highly unusual for an officer of Jock's rank to hold both kinds of medals, and reinforces his working class roots that partly fuel his resentment of Colonel Barrow. The British Army did away with this distinction in 1993, where the M.M. was retired and both enlisted men as well as officers can be awarded the M.C. and enlisted men became eligible to be awarded the D.S.O.


2:15 AM -- 12 Angry Men (1957)
1h 35m | Drama | TV-PG
A jury holdout tries to convince his colleagues to vote not guilty.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Sidney Lumet, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Reginald Rose, and Best Picture

When John Calley was running United Artists from 1993-96, he gave an interview to "The New Yorker", in which he discussed United Artists' continuing rights to the project, and said he had looked into a possible remake that would have starred Michelle Pfeiffer, and been set around the 1992 Los Angeles riots in the aftermath of the Rodney King incident trial verdicts.


4:00 AM -- Twice in a Lifetime (1985)
1h 57m | Drama
A middle-aged man starts an affair with a younger woman and discovers the pain he causes h...
Director: Bud Yorkin
Cast: Gene Hackman, Ann-Margret, Ellen Burstyn

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Amy Madigan

Coincidentally, director Bud Yorkin's own thirty-year marriage broke up during the making of the film.

[BigmanPigman]

1. I'm going to miss Oscar month.

Thank goodness my DVR is filled up with the April goodies.