TCM Schedule for Thursday, June 3, 2021 -- Primetime Theme: Juvenile Delinquents

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The theme for the daylight hours is Deadly Domiciles. Then in prime time, TCM begins a month-long look at Juvenile Delinquents. Tell us more, Roger!

Spotlight: Juvenile Delinquents - Thursdays in June
By Roger Fristoe
May 25, 2021

This month-long Spotlight examines the “juvenile delinquent” movies of the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, when the subject of youthful alienation and anti-social behavior was a popular one in both exploitation flicks and more serious studies. Movies about youthful crime had been made throughout the 1920s and ‘30s, but it was in the following decades that the issue was presented as a social problem in need of solutions.

Our Juvenile Delinquent films cover the period 1945-1967 and include three TCM premieres. They are divided into categories as shown below, with highlights from each grouping.

School’s a Drag includes two of our premieres. Youth on Trial (1945), released through Columbia Pictures, was an early effort from director Budd Boetticher (1957’s The Tall T) under the name Oscar Boetticher Jr. Mary Currier plays a tough juvenile court judge who discovers that her own daughter (Cora Sue Collins) is part of a gang of youthful criminals.

The Diary of a High School Bride (1959), an American-International release directed and co-written by Burt Topper, tells the story of a 17-year-old student (Anita Sands) who marries a 24-year-old law student (Ron Foster). Among their problems are objections by her parents and a delinquent ex-boyfriend (Chris Robinson) who still has designs on the bride.

This category also includes two classic films about sympathetic teachers who break through to their tough students: Blackboard Jungle (1955), starring Glenn Ford; and To Sir, With Love (1967) starring Sidney Poitier. Also screening: The Careless Years (1957), Street of Sinners (1957), High School Confidential! (1958), and High School Hellcats (1958).

. . .

Enjoy!


6:00 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".


7:15 AM -- While the Patient Slept (1935)
1h 5m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A nurse investigates murder at a mysterious mansion.
Director: Ray Enright
Cast: Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, Lyle Talbot

Warner Bros. created the advertising marketing ploy "Clue Club" to increase audiences attending its crime mystery/drama movies. Twelve titles showing the Warner Bros. "Clue Club" promo footage were released from 1935 to 1938.
Clue Club #1: The White Cockatoo (1935)
Clue Club #2: While the Patient Slept (1935)
Clue Club #3: The Florentine Dagger (1935)
Clue Club #4: The Case of the Curious Bride (1935)
Clue Club #5: The Case of the Lucky Legs (1935)
Clue Club #6: The Murder of Dr. Harrigan (1936)
Clue Club #7: Murder by an Aristocrat (1936)
Clue Club #8: The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936)
Clue Club #9: The Case of the Black Cat (1936)
Clue Club #10: The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937)
Clue Club #11: The Patient in Room 18 (1938)
Clue Club #12: Mystery House (1938)


8:30 AM -- The Case of the Black Cat (1936)
1h 2m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
Perry Mason looks into a trio of murders heralded by the shriek of a cat.
Director: William McGann
Cast: Ricardo Cortez, June Travis, Jane Bryan

Reportedly, Erle Stanley Gardner, the author of the books, did not approve of the casting of Ricordo Cortez as Perry Mason. He was therefore replaced by Donald Woods after doing only one movie. Ironically, many feel that Cortez' performance and this movie in general is the best of the series.


9:45 AM -- Murder by an Aristocrat (1936)
59m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
A blackmailer's murder tears apart a well-off family.
Director: Frank McDonald
Cast: Lyle Talbot, Marguerite Churchill, Claire Dodd

Filming began with Margaret Lindsay cast as Sally Keating. Lindsay left the project after her close friend Thelma Todd's mysterious death from carbon monoxide poisoning.


11:00 AM -- Sinner Take All (1936)
1h 13m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
Members of a wealthy family are murdered one-by-one.
Director: Erroll Taggart
Cast: Bruce Cabot, Margaret Lindsay, Joseph Calleia

This was columnist/TV panelist Dorothy Kilgallen's film debut, and only movie as an actress apart from a gag cameo in Pajama Party (1964) 28 years later. Fittingly, she plays a reporter.


12:30 PM -- Mystery House (1938)
1h 1m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
A detective tries to solve a murder in a house full of suspects.
Director: Noel Smith
Cast: Dick Purcell, Ann Sheridan, Anne Nagel

Fans of William Hopper - aka private eye Paul Drake from Perry Mason (1957) - might be slow to recognize Hopper in this early role. He has black hair (instead of blond) and he's 20 years younger than when he appeared in the popular series about the famous lawyer. Hopper's distinct voice, however, is easily recognized.


1:45 PM -- Nine Lives Are Not Enough (1941)
1h 3m | Crime | TV-PG
A reporter tries to solve a series of boardinghouse murders.
Director: A. Edward Sutherland
Cast: Ronald Reagan, Joan Perry, James Gleason

First feature film to mention "television " in the dialogue. About 13 minutes into the film Ronald Reagan says the word television.


3:00 PM -- Shadows on the Stairs (1941)
1h 3m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A series of mysterious murders haunts the inhabitants of a boarding house.
Director: D. Ross Lederman
Cast: Frieda Inescort, Paul Cavanagh, Heather Angel

Based on Frank Vosper's play "Murder on the Second Floor," which opened on Broadway at the Eltinge Theatre on September 11, 1929, running for 45 performances. The play marked Laurence Olivier's New York stage debut in the role of Hugh Bromilow, portrayed by Bruce Lester in the film version.


4:15 PM -- Ten Little Indians (1966)
1h 29m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-14
Party guests at a remote mansion have been brought together to pay for past crimes.
Director: George Pollock
Cast: Hugh O'Brian, Shirley Eaton, Fabian

All movie versions of "Ten Little Indians" are based on the stage play by Dame Agatha Christie and not the novel. While the identity of the murderer is the same in each version, who survives the murderer's plot is different.


6:00 PM -- The Tell-Tale Heart (1941)
19m | Short | TV-PG
A man commits a murder and is tormented by the victim's beating heart.
Director: Jules Dassin
Cast: Joseph Schildkraut, Roman Bohnen, Oscar O'Shea.

Directorial debut of Jules Dassin, who had worked under Alfred Hitchcock and Garson Kanin. He would go on to receive two Oscar nominations for Never on Sunday (1960).


6:30 PM -- The Old Dark House (1963)
1h 26m | Comedy | TV-PG
An eccentric millionaire invites a car salesman to visit his decaying family home.
Director: William Castle
Cast: Tom Poston, Robert Morley, Janette Scott

The drawings in the title sequence were by Charles Addams, whose whole career was inspired by the 1932 version of The Old Dark House (1932) (of which this is a remake).



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- JUVENILE DELINQUENTS



8:00 PM -- High School Confidential! (1958)
1h 25m | Drama | TV-PG
A young police officer returns to high school undercover to investigate the drug trade.
Director: Jack Arnold
Cast: Russ Tamblyn, Jan Sterling, Mamie Van Doren

European prints featured more explicit versions of two scenes, including co-star Jan Sterling showing a naked breast when Russ Tamblyn calls her on the telephone. Additionally, a girl suffering from heroin withdrawal also shows a naked breast as she lies uncomfortably on a bed.


9:45 PM -- Blackboard Jungle (1955)
1h 41m | Drama | TV-14
An idealistic teacher confronts the realities of juvenile delinquency.
Director: Richard Brooks
Cast: Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Richard Brooks, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Russell Harlan, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Randall Duell, Edwin B. Willis and Henry Grace, and Best Film Editing -- Ferris Webster

The original novel was based on author Evan Hunter's own experiences as a teacher in New York City's tough South Bronx area. Hunter (who found fame as crime writer Ed McBain) said, "I thought I was going to give these kids who want to be motor mechanics Shakespeare and they were going to appreciate it and they weren't buying it. I went home in tears night after night."


11:45 PM -- To Sir, With Love (1967)
1h 45m | Drama | TV-PG
A substitute teacher changes the lives of the slum children in his class.
Director: James Clavell
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Christian Roberts, Judy Geeson

The South African Publications Control Board banned the film, claiming it was "offensive to see a black male teaching a class of white children".


1:45 AM -- High School Hellcats (1958)
1h 9m | Crime | TV-PG
A new student befriends an all-female gang bent on bucking authority and terrorizing their school.
Director: Edward L. Bernds, Robert Agnew
Cast: Yvonne Lime, Brett Halsey, Jana Lund

This movie was part of a two-picture deal (the other movie being Hot Rod Gang) between producers Charles "Buddy" Rogers, who was the husband of "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford, and Ferde Grofe Jr., son of the composer Ferde Grofe, in association with a nationwide competition in Dig Magazine. Mary Pickford put up $100,000 for each of the movies. Grofe Jr. had his name removed from the credits, fearing the low-brow nature of this and Hot Rod Gang would reflect poorly on his father.


3:15 AM -- The Diary of a High School Bride (1959)
1h 12m | Drama
A 17-year-old high-school senior must justify her wedding to a 24-year-old law student to both her parents and her unbalanced ex-boyfriend.
Director: Burt Topper
Cast: Anita Sands, Ronald Foster, Chris Robinson

A poster for one of the director's previous efforts, Hell Squad (1958), can be seen in one of the studio apartments on the fictional movie lot (during the climactic last half hour).


4:45 AM -- The Careless Years (1957)
1h 10m | Drama | TV-G
A rich girl and her poor boyfriend flee to Mexico to escape family disapproval.
Director: Arthur Hiller, John Burch
Cast: Dean Stockwell, Natalie Trundy, John Larch

Arthur Hiller's feature film directorial debut. He was later an Oscar nominee for directing Love Story (1970).