TCM Schedule for Friday, May 22 -- Star of the Month -- Sean Connery

[Staph]

Happy birthday to Lawrence Olivier, who would have been 102 today. And what an embarrassment of riches we have to celebrate his birthday, with his first film with future wife Vivian Leigh -- Fire Over England (1936), the Daphne Du Maurier classic Rebecca (1940), and international intrigue in The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) with Anthony Quinn. And tonight is again all about star of the month, Sean Connery, with a trio of his non-Bond films. Enjoy!


4:15am -- Cuba (1979)
A British mercenary meets an old love while training anti-Castro forces in Cuba.
Cast: Sean Connery, Brooke Adams, Jack Weston, Hector Elizondo
Dir: Robert M. Stevens
C-122 mins, TV-MA

The role of Alexandra (played by Brooke Adams) was offered to Diana Ross who turned it down.


4:33am -- Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Cuban Rhythm (1941)
From the rhumba to the conga, Pete Smith gives a Cuban dancing lesson.
Cast: Pete Smith, Madeline Pollard, Mickey Alvarez
Dir: Will Jason
BW-9 mins

Pete Smith always punctuated impending disasters in his movies with a very distinctive Uh-OOh !... When we heard that, we knew the 'worst' was about to happen and got ready to laugh.


6:30am -- Friends And Lovers (1931)
A society woman and her husband blackmail the men who flirt with her.
Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Lily Damita, Laurence Olivier, Erich von Stroheim
Dir: Victor Schertzinger
BW-68 mins, TV-G

Nicholls makes a comment to Roberts along the lines of "The Old Guard dies but never surrenders its shower ... ". This is a reference to the famous quote by one of Napoleon's generals, popularly attributed to General Vicomte de Cambronne, on June 18, 1815, to the Duke of Wellington's demand for a French surrender at Waterloo. Cambronne himself said afterwards that his reply was, "Merde," (sh*t). For years afterwards, the word "merde" was referred to by the French as "le mot de Cambronne" (Cambronne's word).


7:45am -- Westward Passage (1932)
An heiress gives up her fortune to wed a poor novelist, then dreams of giving their children the finer things.
Cast: Ann Harding, Laurence Olivier, ZaSu Pitts, Irving Pichel
Dir: Robert Milton
BW-73 mins, TV-PG

Bonita Granville's first film, as Little Olivia Allen (age 9), daughter of Harding's and Olivier's characters.


9:00am -- Fire Over England (1936)
A British spy infiltrates the Spanish court to thwart their planned invasion of England.
Cast: Flora Robson, Raymond Massey, Leslie Banks, Laurence Olivier
Dir: William K. Howard
BW-89 mins, TV-G

It was while screening Fire Over England that agent Myron Selznick saw Vivien Leigh and decided that she was Scarlet O'Hara. Coincidentally she was in Hollywood to accompany her husband, Lawrence Olivier who was making Wuthering Heights (1939) and Myron brought her down to the Gone with the Wind (1939) set, the Burning of Atlanta and introduced her to his brother David as his new Scarlet O'Hara.


10:30am -- Rebecca (1940)
A young bride is terrorized by the memories of her husband's glamorous first wife.
Cast: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
BW-130 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- George Barnes, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Laurence Olivier, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Joan Fontaine, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Judith Anderson, Best Art Direction, Black-and-White -- Lyle R. Wheeler, Best Director -- Alfred Hitchcock, Best Effects, Special Effects -- Jack Cosgrove (photographic) and Arthur Johns (sound), Best Film Editing -- Hal C. Kern, Best Music, Original Score -- Franz Waxman, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison

Because Laurence Olivier wanted his then-girlfriend Vivien Leigh to play the lead role, he treated Joan Fontaine horribly. This shook Fontaine up quite a bit, so Alfred Hitchcock decided to capitalize on this by telling her EVERYONE on the set hated her, thus making her shy and uneasy - just what he wanted from her performance.


12:45pm -- 49th Parallel (1941)
The crew of a stranded German U-boat tries to evade capture in Canada during World War II.
Cast: Leslie Howard, Raymond Massey, Eric Portman, Laurence Olivier
Dir: Michael Powell
BW-122 mins, TV-14

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Emeric Pressburger

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Rodney Ackland and Emeric Pressburger, and Best Picture

Elisabeth Bergner was originally cast in the role of Anna. Initially the Hutterites were only too happy to assist with the filming until one day Bergner was spotted by a Hutterine woman smoking and painting her nails, which so incensed the woman that she slapped Bergner full in the face. Filming was halted until Michael Powell pleaded with the community to let them continue. Bergner was eventually replaced by the much younger Glynis Johns (although Bergner can be seen in some long shots). It also transpired that the main reason Bergner had joined the film was to get to America-as a German Jew living in England, she obviously felt that the Nazis were a little too close for comfort.


3:00pm -- That Hamilton Woman (1941)
Naval hero Lord Nelson defies convention to court a married woman of common birth.
Cast: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Alan Mowbray, Sara Allgood
Dir: Alexander Korda
BW-125 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Jack Whitney (General Service SSD)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Vincent Korda and Julia Heron, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Rudolph Maté, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- Lawrence W. Butler (photographic) and William A. Wilmarth (sound)

One of Winston Churchill's hobbies was writing for movies as ghost writer. He wrote two of Nelson's speeches, as propaganda pieces against Germany, which was invading Europe at the time the movie was filmed and released.


5:15pm -- The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)
International intrigue follows the election of the first Russian pope.
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Laurence Olivier, Oskar Werner, David Janssen
Dir: Michael Anderson
C-158 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- George W. Davis and Edward C. Carfagno, and Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- Alex North

Reference is made to Kiril being the first non-Italian pope to be elected since Adrian VI 400 years earlier. In real life, this happened 10 years after this film was released with the election of Pope John Paul II.


What's On Tonight: STAR OF THE MONTH: SEAN CONNERY


8:00pm -- Marnie (1964)
A rich man marries a compulsive thief and tries to unlock the secrets of her mind.
Cast: Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Diane Baker, Martin Gabel
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
C-130 mins, TV-PG

After rehearsing just a few scenes with co-star Sean Connery, Tippi Hedren asked Alfred Hitchcock, "Marnie is supposed to be frigid - have you seen him?" referring to the young Connery. Hitchcock's reply was reportedly, "Yes, my dear, it's called acting."


10:15pm -- The Hill (1965)
Prisoners fight to survive the grueling conditions in a North African military stockade.
Cast: Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, Alfred Lynch
Dir: Sidney Lumet
BW-123 mins, TV-14

In Sidney Lumet's autobiography "Making Movies", the director recalled suffering through the horrendous heat of the location and asking Sean Connery if he was urinating at all, to which Connery's reply was "Only in the morning".


12:30am -- The Russia House (1990)
An expatriate Englishmen finds love while doing intelligence work in the Soviet Union.
Cast: Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer, Roy Scheider, James Fox
Dir: Fred Schepisi
C-123 mins, TV-MA

Based on the novel by John le Carré.


2:45am -- Blast of Silence (1961)
A hit man loses his nerve after allowing himself to feel emotion--and pays the price.
Cast: Allen Baron, Molly McCarthy, Larry Tucker, Peter Clune
Dir: Allen Baron
BW-77 mins

Part of the movie was shot during the middle of a real hurricane - the wind seen during the fistfight is not artificial. It was filmed on Long Island during Hurricane Donna (September 10-12, 1960), the only hurricane of the 20th Century to strike the entire East Coast from south Florida to Maine.


4:15am -- Mafioso (1962)
A factory worker returns home to Sicily, where he gets mixed up with the Mob.
Cast: Alberto Sordi, Norma Benguell, Cinzia Bruno, Katiuscia Piretti
Dir: Alberto Lattuada
BW-102 mins, TV-PG

Alberto Sordi began his career as a dubber - notably as Oliver Hardy's voice in the Italian version.

[Staph]

1. The Shoes of the Fisherman

Frequent collaborators director Michael Anderson and cinematographer Erwin Hillier teamed for the tenth and last time to make The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), an internationally produced political thriller, along the lines of their earlier Operation Crossbow (1965) and The Quiller Memorandum (1966), but with a distinctly ecclesiastical theme. Although a box office failure at the time of its release, The Shoes of the Fisherman was voted Best Film of the year by the National Board of Review and was nominated for two Academy Awards for Art Direction and Original Score. Alex North's music won a Golden Globe and the film received a Globe nomination for Best Picture, Drama. The National Board of Review also gave Leo McKern an award as Best Supporting Actor.

It certainly was an ambitious project (costing $9 million) from its extensive studio and location shooting in Italy to its high-powered international cast to its grand themes, taken from the best-selling novel by Morris West. Set in what was then the not-too-distant future (the 1980s), the story follows the rise of a Russian Catholic priest, Kiril Lakota, a political prisoner released from 20 years of hard labor in Siberia by the Soviet premier in order to give the USSR a foothold in the Vatican. Kiril is quickly elevated to cardinal by the Pope, with an eye to improving East-West relations in a time of crisis: the Chinese army is massing at its borders, ready to invade India and Mongolia as China faces a devastating famine. When the Pope dies, Kiril (a reluctant candidate) is elected by acclamation as the new Pope. On the eve of his coronation, he makes a momentous decision destined to change the Catholic Church and the world forever.

Although of Mexican-Irish heritage, Anthony Quinn had played a wide range of ethnic characters in his long career, so he was not considered too far-fetched as a Russian (which didn't stop some reviewers from making a joke on his most famous role by referring to his part in this picture as "Zorba the Pope"). American actor David Janssen had just completed a four-year run in the highly successful TV series The Fugitive. That show's finale, the highest-rated episode in TV history until J.R. Ewing was shot on Dallas, surely was a factor for producers seeking to boost the box office. Janssen was cast as an American reporter and given a romantic triangle subplot that many considered totally unnecessary to the picture. As Kiril's friend, a radical priest, Oskar Werner had an impressive resume that included such international hits as the Francois Truffaut films Jules and Jim (1962) and Fahrenheit 451 (1966) and his Oscar®-nominated role in Ship of Fools (1965), as well as a reputation as the premier Shakespearian actor in the German language. The cast was rounded out with a number of top British actors, including Laurence Olivier as the Soviet Premier and John Gielgud as the earlier Pope, and Italian actor-director Vittorio De Sica as a powerful Cardinal.

Erwin Hillier received praise for his spectacular cinematography of Rome. Much of the film was shot in that city's Cinecitta studios. The scenes of Kiril's election included newsreel footage of crowds in St. Peter's Square from the 1963 election of the real pontiff at that time, Pope Paul VI. Because commercial film productions were not allowed in the Vatican, a replica of the Sistine Chapel was built in California and shipped to Italy for interior shots.

The months prior to production had not been easy ones for Olivier. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer complicated by pneumonia and later appendicitis. While undergoing radiation therapy for the cancer, he received news that his ex-wife, Vivien Leigh, died in her London home. Against doctors' orders, Olivier checked himself out of the hospital to help with preparations for her funeral. After several months of treatment, Olivier's cancer was declared cured.

Although still not in the best health during shooting, Olivier was his old self whenever he found the opportunity to expound on acting for the cast. At night, Quinn, Werner, Olivier and others would gather in Rome's Excelsior Hotel, where the British star would give 10-to-15-minute performances of his greatest roles, often in different styles to show how a character could be changed by putting another shading on him. A relative of producer George Englund recalled Olivier as a brilliant mimic who could do Hamlet and Lear as performed by De Sica or Quinn. One night, Olivier and Werner got into a good-natured duel reciting Hamlet. Werner had played the role to great acclaim, and although he spoke the lines in his native German, everyone agreed he more than held his own against Olivier. But they were all astonished when Olivier countered by performing Werner's speeches in perfect German.

The Shoes of the Fisherman was somewhat prescient in its depiction of the election of the first non-Italian Pope in four centuries. Ten years later, a Polish cleric made history when he became Pope John Paul II.

Director: Michael Anderson
Producer: George Englund
Screenplay: James Kennaway, John Patrick, based on the novel by Morris L. West
Cinematography: Erwin Hillier
Editing: Ernest Walter
Art Direction: Edward Carfagno, George W. Davis
Original Music: Alex North
Cast: Anthony Quinn (Kiril Lakota), Laurence Olivier (Piotr Ilyich Kamenev), Oskar Werner (Father Telemond), David Janssen (George Faber), Vittorio De Sica (Cardinal Rinaldi), John Gielgud (the Elder Pope), Leo McKern (Cardinal Leone), Barbara Jefford (Dr. Ruth Faber), Frank Finlay (Igor Bounin), Burt Kwouk (Peng), Clive Revill (Vucovich).
C-161m. Letterboxed. Closed captioning.

by Rob Nixon