TCM Schedule for Friday, June 4, 2021 -- Primetime Theme: Jane Austen Triple Feature

[Staph]

Last edited Tue Jun 8, 2021, 08:31 PM - Edit history (1)

In the daylight hours, TCM is saluting Rosalind Russell - born Catherine Rosalind Russell on June 4, 1907, in Waterbury, Connecticut. I love her wicked sense of humor: "Acting is standing up naked and turning around very slowly."

Then in prime time, TCM is giving us a triple dose of Jane Austen. First, Emma Thompson's version of Sense and Sensibility (1996) - she won an Oscar for her screenplay, brilliantly capturing the humor of Austen's work. Second, a TCM premiere of Persuasion (1995) - one of Austen's more difficult novels, with thirty-something spinster Anne Elliot as the main character. And finally, the 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice, set in the 1830s rather than the usual 1790s or 1800s. Supposedly, the studio thought that the Regency fashion of simple, empire-waisted dresses was too plain for public taste, and they could hide some leftover costumes from Gone With The Wind (1939) on the background characters! Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- Street of Sinners (1957)
1h 16m | Drama
Rookie New York cop has to deal with juvenile delinquents, his superiors, and blame for the suicide of a woman.
Director: William Berke
Cast: George Montgomery, Geraldine Brooks, Nehemiah Persoff

Film debut (billed as Sandra Rehn) of Andra Martin. It was also film debut of Diana Millay.


7:45 AM -- They Met in Bombay (1941)
1h 26m | Drama | TV-G
Rival jewel thieves on the run find love in the Far East.
Director: Clarence Brown
Cast: Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell, Peter Lorre

At the beginning of the movie, a friend of Gerald Meldrick is making an imitation of the Star of Asia. The film doesn't say what kind of gem it is, but there is a real Star of Asia. It's a 330-carat star sapphire. It is in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. The deep blue gem was mined in Burma (modern Myanmar) and is said to have belonged to the Maharajah of Jodhpur at one time. An even larger blue sapphire is the Star of India. The 563-carat gem is one of the largest of its kind in the world. It has a colorful history that includes being heisted in 1964 from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The unusual stone, with stars on both sides, was recovered the following year. It was mined in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) around the year 1600, but much of its past before the 20th century is clouded.


9:15 AM -- The Velvet Touch (1948)
1h 37m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
After accidentally killing her lecherous producer, a famous actress tries to hide her guilt.
Director: John Gage
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Leo Genn, Claire Trevor

One of the first films to mention the New Look, with which Dior had altered all of fashion the year before. As Valerie leaves the theater, an extra is heard to say, "She's got the New Look, it sure suits her."


11:00 AM -- Live, Love and Learn (1937)
1h 18m | Comedy | TV-G
A bohemian artist and a society girl try to adjust to marriage.
Director: Geo. Fitzmaurice
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Robert Benchley

First feature film for Monty Woolley.


12:30 PM -- Rendezvous (1935)
1h 31m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A decoding expert tangles with enemy spies.
Director: William K. Howard
Cast: William Powell, Rosalind Russell, Binnie Barnes

Originally intended to be a vehicle for William Powell and Myrna Loy, Russell was brought in as Loy was "on strike" for better pay after the huge success of The Thin Man (1934).


2:15 PM -- The Feminine Touch (1941)
1h 37m | Comedy | TV-G
An author writing a book on jealousy discovers his wife is an expert on the subject.
Director: Major W. S. Van Dyke II
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Don Ameche, Kay Francis

Don Ameche's first film for MGM. He had made a screen test there in 1935 and was rejected, but was signed the following year by 20th Century-Fox.


4:00 PM -- Sister Kenny (1946)
1h 56m | Drama | TV-G
True story of the Australian nurse who fought to gain acceptance for her polio-treatment methods.
Director: Dudley Nichols
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Alexander Knox, Dean Jagger

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Rosalind Russell

It was reported at the time that Elizabeth Kenny was paid $100,000 for the rights to her story by RKO. She then donated the amount to a trust fund set up for the benefit of seventeen nephews who were all in the Royal Australian Air Force at the time. And, it was stipulated in her contract with RKO that Rosalind Russell portray her in the film.


6:00 PM -- Night Must Fall (1937)
1h 57m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A charming young man worms his way into a wealthy woman's household, then reveals a deadly secret.
Director: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Merle Tottenham, Kathleen Harrison, Dame May Whitty, Rosalind Russell

Nominee
Oscar Best Actor in a Leading Role
Robert Montgomery
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
May Whitty

MGM didn't want Robert Montgomery to do the film, and at its premiere at Grauman's Chinese screened a trailer disclaiming the film and warning the audience about the film's "spurious content." Despite this, the film was well-received by audiences and critics. How could they not want the Patron Saint of the Classic Films group?





WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- JANE AUSTEN TRIPLE FEATURE



8:00 PM -- Sense and Sensibility (1995)
2h 15m | Romance | TV-PG
Jane Austen's classic tale of two sisters with different romantic notions.
Director: Ang Lee
Cast: Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published -- Emma Thompson

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Emma Thompson, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Kate Winslet, Best Cinematography -- Michael Coulter, Best Costume Design -- Jenny Beavan and John Bright, Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Patrick Doyle, and Best Picture

There is an ironic twist surrounding the casting of Kate Winslet, Dame Emma Thompson, and Greg Wise. Although they portray love interests on-screen, Kate Winslet and Greg Wise dated only briefly in reality before Greg took to Winslet's on-screen sister, Dame Emma Thompson. Thompson and Wise were together for eight years before getting married. Together, they have one adopted son and one biological daughter. Interestingly, Richard Lumsden, who portrayed Thompson's on-screen brother-in-law Robert Ferrars, is her actual brother-in-law. Lumsden is married to Emma's younger sister, Sophie Thompson, who was also featured in two movie adaptations of Jane Austen's books, Screen Two: Persuasion (1995) and Emma (1996). In Screen Two: Persuasion (1995), Sophie Thompson played the younger sister of the story's main character, Anne Elliot, which was played by Amanda Root, who ironically enough was sought for the role of Marianne in Sense and Sensibility (1995). Root, however, could not accept the role due to her obligations to film Persuasion (1995). In a nutshell, Amanda Root landed a role in a Jane Austen adaptation and was coincidentally asked to star in another one. When she could not appear, another actress who dated the future husband of her on-screen sister's sister was given the role, and her on-screen sister's actual husband portrayed the on-screen brother-in-law of his actual sister-in-law in the same movie in which she could not star.


10:30 PM -- Persuasion (1995)
1h 43m | Romance | TV-PG
After turning down a previous marriage proposal years earlier, a young woman is thrown into company with her former beau.
Director: Roger Michell
Cast: Ken Shorter, David Plummer, Roger Hammond

Made for British television and originally screened by the BBC in April 1995, the film was released theatrically around the rest of the world. It was filmed completely on location and using natural light.


12:30 AM -- Pride and Prejudice (1940)
1h 57m | Romance | TV-PG
Jane Austen's comic classic about five sisters out to nab husbands in 19th-century England.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Mary Boland

Winner of an Oscar for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse

Spoilers (if there can be spoilers for a 200 year old novel!): Key characters from the novel underwent changes during scripting, filming, and editing. To avoid the Production Code taboo against portraying the clergy in a negative light, the theological occupation of the Bennets' hypocritical, toadying cousin Mr. Collins was considerably downplayed. Either to provide a more upbeat tone to the ending, or to accommodate the sort of character most often associated with Edna May Oliver, the haughty and forbidding Lady Catherine de Bourgh was portrayed as a comic figure. Her final visit to Elizabeth is presented as merely a ruse to test the girl's feelings for Darcy. Finally, the last scene, contrary to the novel, shows all of the Bennet girls on the verge of marriage.


2:45 AM -- Magic (1978)
1h 47m | Drama
A ventriloquist is at the mercy of his vicious dummy while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart.
Director: Richard Attenborough
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith

Upon seeing Fats the ventriloquist dummy for the first time, Sir Anthony Hopkins was allowed to take the doll home to work with it. However, he wound up being so unnerved by it that he called the consulting ventriloquist in the middle of the night, threatening to throw Fats into the canyon if someone didn't come and get the doll immediately. Director Sir Richard Attenborough ended up going to Hopkins' house to calm him down.


4:45 AM -- Dolls (1987)
1h 17m | Comedy | TV-MA
A group of people stop by a mansion during a storm and discover two magical toy makers and their haunted collection of dolls.
Director: Stuart Gordon
Cast: Ian Patrick Williams, Carolyn-Purdy Gordon, Carrie Lorraine

The house was constructed inside of a soundstage at the Italian studio formerly owned by Dino De Laurentiis. Inside, it seemed like a real two-story house, where cast and crew members could actually walk from room to room. Outside were remnants of sets and props from other De Laurentiis productions, including Barbarella (1968), which had inspired some of the dolls featured in the film.

[CBHagman]

1. Three of my favorite Austen adaptations!

Persuasion is an absolute gem, with simplicity and straightforwardness that serve the story beautifully. No flashy Hollywood touches here. It's almost Dogma 95 in its use of light, sound, and music.

Fun fact: Lady Russell, Anne Elliot's neighbor and friend, is played by Susan Fleetwood, whose brother is someone named Mick.