TCM Schedule for Friday, July 17, 2015 -- TCM Spotlight - Summer of Darkness

[Staph]

TCM is continuing their new special program, Summer of Darkness, featuring 24 hours of film noir every Thursday in June and July. Enjoy!



7:45 AM -- Tension (1950)
A man who had planned to murder his wife's lover becomes the prime suspect when somebody beats him to it.
Dir: John Berry
Cast: Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter, Cyd Charisse
BW-91 mins, CC,

When Richard Basehart's character of Quimby decides to create another identity for himself, he gets the idea for the name Sothern when he sees a movie fan magazine with Ann Sothern on the cover. "Tension" producer Robert Sisk was then in the process of prepping Shadow on the Wall (1950) to star Miss Sothern in the last film of her long-term MGM contract.


9:30 AM -- Where Danger Lives (1950)
A psychopath draws her doctor into her murderous schemes.
Dir: John Farrow
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, Claude Rains
BW-80 mins, CC,

The name of Maureen O'Sullivan's character is "Julie Dorn". "Dorn" was the original stage name of leading lady Faith Domergue.


11:00 AM -- The Woman On Pier 13 (1950)
Communists blackmail a shipping executive into spying for them.
Dir: Robert Stevenson
Cast: Laraine Day, Robert Ryan, John Agar
BW-73 mins, CC,

William Talman's first movie role. Those of us of a certain age remember him best as Hamilton Burger, the district attorney who always lost to Raymond Burr's Perry Mason.


12:20 PM -- The Costume Designer (1950)
This short film focuses on the job of the costume designer in the production of motion pictures.
Cast: Bess Flowers,
BW-9 mins,


12:30 PM -- A Lady Without Passport (1950)
A secret service agent falls in love with an illegal immigrant.
Dir: Joseph H. Lewis
Cast: Hedy Lamarr, John Hodiak, James Craig
BW-74 mins, CC,

Feature film debut of Steven Hill, the first district attorney from the television series Law & Order, from 1990 to 2000.


1:50 PM -- A Wife's Life (1950)
A comedic short in which a housewife let's her husband know what she has "done with her day."
Dir: Dave O'Brien
Cast: Dave O'Brien, Dorothy Short,
BW-8 mins,


2:00 PM -- Cause For Alarm! (1951)
A woman fights to intercept a letter in which her husband tries to prove her guilty of murder.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan, Bruce Cowling
BW-74 mins, CC,

Producer Tom Lewis wanted Judy Garland for the part, but his wife Loretta Young wanted the part also. She retained a lawyer who told him that he was discriminating against her because she was his wife. She got the part.


3:15 PM -- No Questions Asked (1951)
A young lawyer's primrose path to success gets him framed for murder.
Dir: Harold F. Kress
Cast: Barry Sullivan, Arlene Dahl, George Murphy
BW-81 mins,

Based on a story by Berne Giler.


4:45 PM -- Strangers On A Train (1951)
A man's joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Burks

This was the last full feature for Robert Walker who died eight months after filming finished from an allergic reaction to a drug.


6:30 PM -- The Racket (1951)
A tough cop has to fight his superiors in order to battle the mob.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Lizabeth Scott, Robert Ryan
BW-89 mins, CC,

Remake of a 1928 silent movie. Both movies were produced by Howard Hughes.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: SUMMER OF DARKNESS



8:00 PM -- Too Late for Tears (1949)
A married woman's discovery of stolen money changes her character for the worse.
Dir: Byron Haskin
Cast: Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore, Dan Duryea
BW-101 mins,

When this film was re-released in 1955 with the title "Killer Bait", it was on a double bill with Johnny Holiday (1949), which was retitled as "Boy's Prison".


10:00 PM -- The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers (1946)
Years after a murder drove them apart, an heiress tries to win back her lost love.
Dir: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott
BW-115 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story-- John Patrick

Kirk Douglas's debut.


12:05 AM -- Curious Contests (1950)
This short film presents a diaper derby, a fireman's ball, and a basket race.
BW-8 mins,


12:15 AM -- 99 River Street (1953)
A taxi driver gets mixed up with jewel thieves.
Dir: Phil Karlson
Cast: John Payne, Evelyn Keyes, Brad Dexter
BW-83 mins, CC,

Based on a story by George Zuckerman.


1:49 AM -- Calling On Costa Rica (1947)
This documentary short film presents the life, geography, and historical aspects of Costa Rica.
C-10 mins,


2:00 AM -- Conflict (1945)
A man murders his wife so he can be free to marry her sister.
Dir: Curtis Bernhardt
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet
BW-85 mins, CC,

The statue of a possible version of the Maltese Falcon is displayed as an ornament on the top of the wooden filing cabinet in Det. Lt. Egan's office when Richard visits. A few years earlier, in 1941, Bogart and Greenstreet had appeared together in the movie "The Maltese Falcon" about this statue. No reference to it is made in the dialogue of this movie. This possible version has broader shoulders, longer neck and thinner head than what was actually used in the previous movie. Although it does look very much like the version used in a poster for the earlier movie where hands are grasping for it and is clearly different in shape than what was actually used in the earlier movie.


3:30 AM -- Klute (1971)
A small-town detective searches for a missing man linked to a high-priced prostitute.
Dir: Alan J. Pakula
Cast: Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi
C-114 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jane Fonda

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced -- Andy Lewis and David E. Lewis

According to her autobiography, Jane Fonda hung out with call girls and pimps for a week before beginning this film in order to prepare for her role. When none of the pimps offered to "represent" her, she became convinced she wasn't desirable enough to play a prostitute and urged the director to replace her with friend Faye Dunaway.


5:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #8 (1955)
Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant perform in a clip from "The Philadelphia Story"; George Murphy introduces a clip from "The Tender Trap." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-26 mins,

[SummerSnow]

1. I watched Tension this morning, it was very good...

Now I'm watching 'Cause for Alarm' Loretta Lynn is good at playing the nervous wife. She did it in 'The Stranger'.