TCM Schedule for Thursday, December 22, 2022 -- What's On Tonight: Christmas Marathon

[Staph]

Day and night, it's all Christmas all the time. That makes for some interesting choices of what constitutes a Christmas movie. No, I'm not talking about the Die Hard films. The Curse of the Cat People (1944)? Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954)? The Silent Partner (1978)? No matter - they are all interesting choices, even with the most tenuous connections to Christmas. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Blossoms in the Dust (1941)
1h 40m | Drama | TV-G
True-life story of Edna Gladney, who fought for orphans' rights in Texas.
Director: Mervyn Leroy
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Felix Bressart

Winner of an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary and Edwin B. Willis

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, Best Cinematography, Color -- Karl Freund and W. Howard Greene, and Best Picture

The child who portrayed Tony in the movie was a 4-year-old named Pat Barker. It was only when Pat came to Fort Worth to celebrate the movie's premiere that the world discovered that Pat was actually Patricia.


7:45 AM -- The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
1h 10m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A child explores her late mother's life and discovers her maternal bloodline is cursed.
Director: Gunther V. Fritsch
Cast: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph

The theme within the film, a child believed to be on the verge of insanity because she lives in a fantasy world, was personal to producer Val Lewton who behaved in a similar way as a child. His wife has said that she felt he never truly came back to the real world as an adult.


9:00 AM -- The Thin Man (1934)
1h 20m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
In New York, a detective, his wife and his dog solve the murder case of an eccentric inventor.
Director: W. S. Van Dyke
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Powell, Best Director -- W.S. Van Dyke, Best Writing, Adaptation -- Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, and Best Picture

The scene of Nick shooting the ornaments off the Christmas tree was added after William Powell playfully picked up an air gun and started shooting ornaments the art department was putting up.


10:45 AM -- Susan Slept Here (1954)
1h 38m | Comedy | TV-PG
A Hollywood screenwriter takes in a runaway girl who's more woman than he can handle.
Director: Frank Tashlin
Cast: Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis

Nominee for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio), and Best Music, Original Song -- Jack Lawrence and Richard Myers for the song "Hold My Hand"

In addition to being Dick Powell's final film as an actor, this was also the only colour film in which he appeared.


12:30 PM -- Never Say Goodbye (1946)
1h 37m | Comedy | TV-PG
A husband tries to win back his wife before she can divorce him.
Director: James V. Kern
Cast: Errol Flynn, Eleanor Parker, Lucile Watson

About 45 minutes into the film, Philip Gayley (Errol Flynn) says something about the possibility of spending Christmas in Connecticut. That is an inside joke because S.Z. Sakall (Luigi) was one of the stars of Christmas in Connecticut (1945).


2:30 PM -- Bachelor Mother (1939)
1h 20m | Comedy | TV-G
A fun-loving shop girl is mistaken for the mother of a foundling.
Director: Garson Kanin
Cast: Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Felix Jackson

After making this movie, David Niven returned to England to serve in the British Army during World War II. At the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, German infiltrators into American lines caused roadblocks to be established and military police asked all suspicious persons questions about things no German was likely to know. Lt. Col. David Niven was stopped at a roadblock and was asked who won the baseball World Series in 1940. He replied, "I haven't the faintest idea. But I do know that I made a picture with Ginger Rogers in 1938." The MP replied, "OK, beat it Dave. But watch your step, for Chrissake."


4:00 PM -- Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954)
1h 21m | Comedy | TV-G
The Ozark farmers try to clean up their act to help their son win a college scholarship.
Director: Charles Lamont
Cast: Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Alan Mowbray

This was the last acting role for Percy Kilbride. Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1953), which was filmed several years earlier, was not released until 1955.


5:30 PM -- The Lion in Winter (1968)
2h 14m | Drama | TV-14
England's Henry II and his estranged queen battle over the choice of an heir.
Director: Anthony Harvey
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn (Tied with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl (1968). Hepburn became the third performer to win consecutive awards, and the first to win three awards for lead roles. Anthony Harvey, the film's director, accepted the award on her behalf.), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- James Goldman, and Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- John Barry

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter O'Toole, Best Director -- Anthony Harvey, Best Costume Design -- Margaret Furse, and Best Picture

Yule decorations in the time of Henry and Eleanor would not have included what came to be known as the Christmas tree. Boughs of greens and holly garlands (ancient pagan traditions associated with winter solstice) were brought indoors and a large Yule log would burn in the great hall the entire twelve days of Christmas. There would have been much feasting, religious ceremony, entertainment and general merriment, but the holiday was quite different to what it came to be in the future.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: DAYTIME & PRIMETIME THEME -- CHRISTMAS MARATHON



8:00 PM -- It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
1h 55m | Comedy | TV-G
Two homeless men move into a mansion while its owners are wintering in the South.
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Don Defore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani

Originally planned to be directed by Frank Capra, he chose to do It's a Wonderful Life (1946) instead.


10:15 PM -- The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
1h 52m | Comedy | TV-G
An acerbic critic wreaks havoc when a hip injury forces him to move in with a Midwestern family.
Director: William Keighley
Cast: Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Monty Woolley

Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, authors of the play from which this film was adapted, were good friends with Alexander Woollcott, a famous critic, radio personality, and lecturer at the time. Woollcott requested that they write a play FOR him, but they never came up with a plot. One day Woollcott came to visit Hart unexpectedly and turned his house upside down, taking over the master bedroom, ordering Hart's staff around and making a general nuisance of himself. When Hart told Kaufman of the visit, he asked, "Imagine what would have happened if he broke his leg and had to stay?" They looked at each other and knew they had a play.


12:15 AM -- Fitzwilly (1967)
1h 42m | Comedy | TV-PG
When an aging philanthropist goes broke, her butler robs from the rich so she can give to the poor.
Director: Delbert Mann
Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Feldon, Edith Evans

Fitzwilly's thrift store is named for St. Dismas, the "good thief," in Christian tradition.


2:15 AM -- Lady on a Train (1945)
1h 33m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A young woman enlists a mystery writer to help her solve a murder when the corpse vanishes.
Director: Charles David
Cast: Deanna Durbin, Ralph Bellamy, David Bruce

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Bernard B. Brown (Universal SSD)

Since audiences expected to hear Deanna Durbin sing in her films, the screenwriters had to work at least a handful of singing opportunities into this film's faux murder mystery plot. At one point, they resort to having Durbin's character sing an extensive a capella version of "Silent Night" by phone to her father on Christmas Eve.


4:00 AM -- The Silent Partner (1978)
1h 45m | Adaptation | TV-MA
A timid bank teller anticipates a bank robbery and steals the money himself before the crook arrives.
Director: Daryl Duke
Cast: Susannah York, Christopher Plummer, Elliott Gould

The picture's story-element of a heist at Christmas time formed the background for the first few films in the Die Hard film franchise, many years before the beginning of the Die Hard franchise.