TCM Schedule for Saturday, Dec. 9: Fiddler On the Roof, My Favorite Wife, Fred Astaire, Robert Mitchum, Jean Harlow

[ificandream]

TCM Schedule for Saturday, Dec. 9: Fiddler On the Roof, My Favorite Wife, Fred Astaire, Robert Mitchum, Jean Harlow



STAR OF THE MONTH: CARY GRANT
- MARRIAGE MIX-UPS
My Favorite Wife (1940)
Every Girl Should Be Married (1948)
Suzy (1936)
Alice in Movieland (1940)
- TCM DAYTIME
WEEKEND FEATURES
For the First Time (1959)
MGM Cartoons: Peace on Earth (1939)
Football Romeo (1938) (short)
Glimpses of Ontario (1942) (short)
Here Comes Happiness (1941)
Buck Rogers Ch. 6: The Unknown Command (1939)
Popeye: Pleased to Meet Cha! (1935)
Let's Go Navy! (1951)
Musical Movieland (1944) (short)
Royal Wedding (1951) (Musical Matinee)
Night of the Hunter, The (1955)
- CHRISTMAS
It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
Remember the Night (1940)
- TCM PRIMETIME
HAPPY HANUKKAH
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
Tevya (1939)
- NOIR ALLEY
(P) I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes (1948)
- TCM LATE NIGHT
Chimes at Midnight (1965)
Star of Midnight (1935)

12:00 AM My Favorite Wife (1940)

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A shipwrecked woman is rescued just in time for her husband's remarriage.
Dir: Garson Kanin Cast: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott
Runtime: 88 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ART DIRECTION (Black-and-White) -- Van Nest Polglase, Mark-Lee Kirk
MUSIC (Original Score) -- Roy Webb
WRITING (Original Story) -- Bella Spewack, Samuel Spewack, Leo McCarey

Trivia: Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "Enoch Arden," about a fisherman presumed lost at sea who returns to find his wife remarried, was the basis of five prior films: Enoch Arden (1914), Die Toten kehren wieder - Enoch Arden (1919), and D.W. Griffith's Enoch Arden: Part I (1911), Enoch Arden: Part II (1911), and Enoch Arden (1915). Those films adhered to Tennyson's poem. But in My Favorite Wife, Something's Got to Give (1962), and Move Over, Darling (1963), only the basic idea of a spouse who returns is kept, with the spouse presumed lost now being the wife. However, in all of these films, the surname of the couple in question remains "Arden."


2:00 AM Every Girl Should Be Married (1948)

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A young woman uses scientific research to trap a man into marriage.
Dir: Don Hartman Cast: Cary Grant, Franchot Tone, Diana Lynn
Runtime: 85 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Love interests in this film, Cary Grant and Betsy Drake tied the knot in real life less than a year after the film was released. They met the year before on the RMS Queen Mary while crossing the Atlantic from England to the U.S. They were introduced by Merle Oberon.


3:30 AM Suzy (1936)

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A French air ace discovers that his showgirl wife's first husband is still alive.
Dir: Geo. Fitzmaurice Cast: Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, Cary Grant
Runtime: 99 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations: MUSIC (Song) -- "Did I Remember," Music by Walter Donaldson; Lyrics by Harold Adamson

Trivia: The flying scenes for this movie were not shot by MGM. They were outtakes from Hell's Angels (1930) filmed by Howard Hughes.


5:15 AM Short: Alice in Movieland (1940)
When a beauty queen tries to make it in Hollywood, she learns stardom comes at a price.
Dir: Jean Negulesco Cast: Joan Leslie, Nana Bryant, Jack Mower
Runtime: 21 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-PG CC: Y


6:00 AM For the First Time (1959)

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While vacationing in disguise, an opera star falls in love with a deaf girl.
Dir: Rudolph Maté Cast: Mario Lanza, Johanna Von Koczian, Kurt Krasznar
Runtime: 97 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: While names are being read by the judge after the bar brawl, the next name called after Mario Lanza's character's name is called is Alfred Cocozza. Lanza's real name was Alfred Cocozza.

8:00 AM Cartoon: Peace on Earth (1939)
Two squirrel children get a story from their grandfather on Christmas Eve how about mankind ended in violence.
Dir: Hugh Harman Cast: Mel Blanc, Jeanne Dunne, Shirley Reed
Runtime: 9 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: Y


8:09 AM Short: Football Romeo (1938)
In this comedic short, a gang of children try to prep up their friend for an upcoming football game, with disastrous results.
Dir: George Sidney Cast: Payne B. Johnson, Leonard Landy, Charline Flanders
Runtime: 10 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: N


8:20 AM Short: Glimpses of Ontario (1942)
This explores the history, land and people of the Canadian province, Ontario.
Dir: null Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick, Nathaniel Finston, Joseph Nussbaum
Runtime: 8 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: N


8:29 AM Here Comes Happiness (1941)

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An heiress ditches her fortune-hunting fiance to find happiness living on her own.
Dir: Noel M. Smith Cast: Mildred Coles, Edward Norris, Richard Ainley
Runtime: 57 mins Genre: Romance Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Chet gets a marriage license more than a day before he learns that Jessica's last name is Vance instead of Jones, but when her father looks at it that same day, Jessica's last name is shown as Vance.


9:30 AM Serial: Buck Rogers, Chapter 6: The Unknown Command (1939)
In Chapter Six of Buck Rogers, Killer Kane uses a mind-zapping ray to brainwash Prince Tallen.
Dir: Ford Beebe, Ray Trampe Cast: Buster Crabbe, Constance Moore, Jackie Moran
Runtime: 19 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-G CC: N


10:00 AM Cartoon: Pleased to Meet Cha! (1935)
Popeye and Bluto, rivals for Olive Oyl's affection, call on her bearing gifts. Bluto decides three's a crowd and punches Popeye's nose. Olive tells them one must leave, and they decide whichever one can do the best trick may remain.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Willard Bowsky Cast: William Costello, William Pennell, Mae Questel
Runtime: 6 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-PG CC: Y


10:08 AM Let's Go Navy (1951)
The Bowery Boys join the Navy to catch some crooks posing as sailors.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Allen Jenkins
Runtime: 68 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y


11:30 AM Short: Musical Movieland (1944)
In this short film, a group of tourists are given a studio tour of several locations of famous movie musicals.
Dir: Leroy Prinz Cast: Richard Erdman, Lottie Williams, Harold Miller
Runtime: 20 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-PG CC: N


12:00 PM Royal Wedding (1951)

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A brother-and-sister musical team find romance when they tour London for Elizabeth II's wedding.
Dir: Stanley Donen Cast: Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford
Runtime: 93 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
MUSIC (Song) -- "Too Late Now," Music by Burton Lane; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Trivia: In an interview given shortly after the film was released, Fred Astaire revealed that he had tried dancing with more than 30 commercially available hat racks before the studio had the prop department design and build the one in the film at a final cost of over $900 (over $9000 in 2021 dollars). The hat rack disappeared shortly after the film wrapped.


2:00 PM The Night of the Hunter (1955)

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After hearing an about-to-be-hanged murderer's story about some hidden money he left in the care of his two young kids, the murderer's cell-mate is released and embarks on a journey to find the killer's family.
Dir: Charles Laughton Cast: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
Runtime: 93 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Robert Mitchum, who was usually indifferent to such matters, said that Charles Laughton was his favorite director and indicated that this was his favorite of the movies in which he had acted.


4:00 PM It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)

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Two homeless men move into a mansion while its owners are wintering in the South.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast: Don Defore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles
Runtime: 115 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The movie originally was planned to be directed by Frank Capra, but he chose to do It's a Wonderful Life (1946) instead.

6:15 PM Remember the Night (1940)

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An assistant D.A. takes a shoplifter home with him for Christmas.
Dir: Mitchell Leisen Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred Macmurray, Beulah Bondi
Runtime: 86 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Preston Sturges hung around the set and became friends with Barbara Stanwyck. He promised to write a film just for her. That film turned out to be The Lady Eve (1941).

8:00 PM Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

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Before the Russian revolution, a Jewish milkman tries to marry off his daughters who have plans of their own.
Dir: Norman Jewison Cast: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey
Runtime: 180 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR -- Topol {"Tevye"}
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Leonard Frey {"Motel"}
ART DIRECTION -- Art Direction: Robert Boyle, Michael Stringer; Set Decoration: Peter Lamont
CINEMATOGRAPHY -- Oswald Morris (WINNER)
DIRECTING -- Norman Jewison
MUSIC (Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score) -- Adaptation Score by John Williams (WINNER)
BEST PICTURE -- Norman Jewison, Producer
SOUND -- Gordon K. McCallum, David Hildyard (WINNER)


11:15 PM Tevya (1939)

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The original, non-musical film version of the book that inspired "Fiddler on the Roof".
Dir: Maurice Schwartz Cast: Maurice Schwartz, Miriam Riselle, Rebecca Weintraub
Runtime: 93 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: N

Trivia: Long thought to be a lost film, a print was discovered in 1978.

Trivia: Although he isn't credited as an author of the script, the film is a faithful adaptation of the stage play "Tevye the Dairyman," written by Sholem Aleichem himself shortly before his death in 1916. He first offered the play to Jacob P. Adler, one of the great actors of the Yiddish theater, who declined, because there was no romantic leading role. Maurice Schwartz heard about the play, bought the rights from Sholem Aleichem's widow and staged it with himself in the lead role, to great success. Two decades later, he turned it into this film. The script is substantially as written by Sholem Aleichem, despite the introduction of characters and elements not contained in his original short stories.

Trivia: The Tevya production was filmed at Biograph Studios in New York City and all of the exteriors filmed on a farm in Jericho, Long Island New York. Midway through the shooting of the film, Hitler seized Danzig on August 23, 1939, and a Nazi invasion of Poland was imminent. These and other events in Europe affected the actors, many of whom had family in Poland. The filming, however, was completed. In this version of Tevya, as the Jews are expelled from their shtetl, Chava who previously converted to Christianity to marry, leaves her husband, returns to her family and to Judaism. It is felt that the antisemitism of the time influenced Schwartz to provide this ending.

1:00 AM NOIR ALLEY: I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes (1948)

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A dancer is pinned for murder after his shoe prints are found at the scene of the crime. His wife follows the trail of clues to find the genuine killer.
Dir: William Nigh Cast: Don Castle, Elyse Knox, Regis Toomey
Runtime: 70 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-PG CC:


2:30 AM Chimes at Midnight (1967)

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Prince Hal becomes King Henry V and rejects his old friend Falstaff.
Dir: Orson Welles Cast: Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Margaret Rutherford
Runtime: 115 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Despite portraying Falstaff as a grossly obese man, Orson Welles actually had to diet to slim down for the role.

4:30 AM Star of Midnight (1935)

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A New York lawyer tries to track down a kidnapped actress.
Dir: Stephen Roberts Cast: William Powell, Ginger Rogers, Paul Kelly
Runtime: 90 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Clay Dalzell (William Powell) has framed 8x10 photos of RKO actresses Irene Dunne and Ann Harding prominently displayed in his bedroom suite.

Trivia: Early in the film, Clay Dalzell (William Powell) says that people consider him "Charlie Chan, Philo Vance, and The Saint all rolled into one." Powell previously played Philo Vance on five occasions, in The Canary Murder Case (1929), The Greene Murder Case (1929), The Benson Murder Case (1930), Paramount on Parade (1930), and The Kennel Murder Case (1933).

Trivia: A consummate worker, Ginger Rogers started working on this film within a week of finishing the filming of Roberta (1935) (with co-star Fred Astaire). Six days after this film finished shooting, she went to work on her next Astaire film, Top Hat (1935).

[LuvLoogie]

1. My Favorite Wife is a great movie.

Really funny. Well written and acted.