TCM Schedule for Monday, February 18 -- 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: 20'S/30'S

[Longhorn]

3:30am Jerry Maguire (1996)
A sports manager strikes out on his own after he loses his job.
Cast: Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, Cuba Gooding, Jr. Dir: Cameron Crowe. C-139 mins, TV-MA

6:00am Rasputin And The Empress (1932)
True story of the mad monk who plotted to rule Russia.
Cast: John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore. Dir: Richard Boleslawski. BW-121 mins, TV-PG

8:02am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: It'S Got Me Again! (1932)
BW-7 mins

8:15am Taras Bulba (1962)
A cossack leader clashes with his rebellious son.
Cast: Yul Brynner, Tony Curtis, Christine Kaufmann. Dir: J. Lee Thompson. C-124 mins, TV-14

10:30am Quo Vadis (1951)
A Roman commander falls for a Christian slave girl as Nero intensifies persecution of the new religion.
Cast: Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. C-169 mins, TV-PG

1:20pm Short Film: One Reel Wonders: One Droopy Knight (1957)
C-7 mins

1:30pm Fall of the Roman Empire, The (1964)
A mad emperor's excesses leave the Roman Empire open to barbarian invasions.
Cast: Sophia Loren, Christopher Plummer, Alec Guinness. Dir: Anthony Mann. C-183 mins, TV-PG

4:45pm Raintree County (1957)
In this sumptuous Civil War story, a willful southern belle goes mad out of fear that she may be part black.
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Eva Marie Saint. Dir: Edward Dmytryk. C-188 mins, TV-PG

What's On Tonight: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: 20'S/30'S

8:00pm Gone With the Wind (1939)
Classic tale of Scarlett O'Hara's battle to save her beloved Tara and find love during the Civil War.
Cast: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland. Dir: Victor Fleming. C-233 mins, TV-PG

12:00am Wuthering Heights (1939)
A married noblewoman fights her lifelong attraction to a charismatic gypsy.
Cast: Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon, Geraldine Fitzgerald. Dir: William Wyler. BW-104 mins, TV-PG

1:49am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Sword Fishing (1939)
BW-10 mins

2:00am Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939)
A married violinist deserts his family when he falls for his accompanist.
Cast: Leslie Howard, Ingrid Bergman, Edna Best. Dir: Gregory Ratoff. BW-70 mins, TV-14

3:15am Garden Of Allah, The (1936)
A monk deserts his calling to marry a beautiful woman he meets in the Sahara.
Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Charles Boyer, Basil Rathbone. Dir: Richard Boleslawski. C-79 mins, TV-PG

[Longhorn]

1. Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939)

During the period in which he was producing and releasing his signature movie, Gone With the Wind (1939), David O. Selznick made another important contribution to American films by introducing Ingrid Bergman in her first English-speaking movie, Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939). Selznick assistant Kay Brown had seen an earlier Swedish version of the film, also starring Bergman, and the producer dispatched her to Stockholm to secure the rights for an American remake. After Brown returned to New York with the screenplay rights, Selznick had an afterthought and sent her once again to Sweden, this time with instructions to sign the leading lady to a contract.

According to Selznick biographer Bob Thomas, Bergman had turned down other Hollywood offers from fast-talking Hollywood types but was impressed by Brown's personality, telling her, "You're so sweet and human that anyone you work for couldn't be nearly as crazy as I expected." She eventually signed with Selznick, although stipulating that she would commit to only one film before deciding whether she wanted to stay in Hollywood.

Bergman balked at Selznick's plans for a "glamour makeover" that involved capping her teeth, plucking her eyebrows and dying her hair. "You must have liked me to bring me all the way over here," she told him, adding that she had not had plucked eyebrows or dyed hair in the original Intermezzo. Selznick then realized that a great publicity campaign could be built around Bergman's "naturalness," and a new type of Hollywood star appeared to captivate an international public.

Intermezzo tells of a bittersweet love affair between a young pianist (Bergman) and a famous concert violinist (Leslie Howard) who is married with two children. The movie was Oscar-nominated for its musical score and for Gregg Toland's beautiful black-and-white photography, which gave Bergman a special glow. Upon the film's release, critics warmed to the actress as quickly as audiences did. "There is that incandescence about Miss Bergman," wrote Frank S. Nugent in the New York Times, "that spiritual spark which makes us believe that Selznick has found another great lady of the screen."

Producers: David O. Selznick, Leslie Howard (Associate)
Director: Gregory Ratoff
Screenplay: George O'Neil, from screenplay by Gustaf Molander and Gosta Stevens
Cinematography: Gregg Toland, Harry Stradling Sr. (uncredited)
Original Music: Max Steiner
Editing: Hal C. Kern
Costume Design: Travis Banton, Irene
Cast: Leslie Howard (Holger Brandt), Ingrid Bergman (Anita Hoffman), Edna Best (Margit Brandt), John Halliday (Thomas Stenborg), Cecil Kellaway (Charles Moler), Enid Bennett (Greta Stenborg), Ann E. Todd (Ann Marie Brandt).
BW-70m. Closed captioning.

by Roger Fristoe