TCM Saturday 12/14 - William Powell and Myrna Loy, The Shop Around the Corner, Mame, Gregory Peck

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DECEMBER 14 AT A GLANCE

- TCM PRIMETIME: GREGORY PECK
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Cape Fear (1962)
Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)
Snows of Kilimanjaro, The (1952)
- TCM DAYTIME: WEEKEND FEATURES
Oklahoma Blues (1948) (7:00 am ET)
MGM Cartoons: The Dot and the Line (1965)
Third Dimensional Murder (1941) (short)
Believe It or Not #6 (1932) (short)
Feudin' Fools (1952)
The Wolf Dog Ch. 11: The Broken Record (1933) (TCM Premiere)
Popeye: Goonland (1938)
Bomba on Panther Island (1949)
20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang (1933) (short)
Mame (1974) (Musical Matinee)
Lili (1953)
- CHRISTMAS FAVORITES
Shop Around the Corner, The (1940)
Man Who Came to Dinner, The (1942)
- TCM PRIMETIME: TWO FOR ONE - TODD HAYNES
Go-Between, The (1971)
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
- NOIR ALLEY
(P) Black Gravel (1961)
- TCM LATE NIGHT: WILLIAM POWELL & MYRNA LOY
I Love You Again (1940)
Double Wedding (1937)

DECEMBER 14 - FULL SCHEDULE

10:30 PM To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American coming-of-age legal drama crime film directed by Robert Mulligan starring Gregory Peck and Mary Badham, with Phillip Alford, John Megna, Frank Overton, James Anderson, and Brock Peters in supporting roles. It marked the film debut of Robert Duvall, William Windom, and Alice Ghostley. Adapted by Horton Foote, from Harper Lee's 1960 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, it follows a lawyer (Peck) in Depression-era Alabama defending a black man (Peters) charged with rape while educating his children (Badham and Alford) against prejudice.

It gained overwhelmingly positive reception from both the critics and the public; a box-office success, it earned more than six times its budget. The film won three Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Peck and Best Adapted Screenplay for Foote, and was nominated for eight, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Badham.

In 1995, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2003, the American Film Institute named Atticus Finch the greatest movie hero of the 20th century. In 2007, the film ranked twenty-fifth on the AFI's 10th anniversary list of the greatest American movies of all time. In 2008, the film ranked first on the AFI's list of the ten greatest courtroom dramas. In 2020, the British Film Institute included it in their list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 15. The film was restored and released on Blu-ray and DVD in 2012, as part of the 100th anniversary of Universal Pictures.

Dir: Robert Mulligan Cast: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton
Runtime: 131 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
(*WINNER*) ACTOR -- Gregory Peck {"Atticus Finch"}
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Mary Badham {"Scout Finch"}
(*WINNER*) ART DIRECTION (Black-and-White) -- Art Direction: Alexander Golitzen, Henry Bumstead; Set Decoration: Oliver Emert
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Black-and-White) -- Russell Harlan
DIRECTING -- Robert Mulligan
MUSIC (Music Score--substantially original) -- Elmer Bernstein
BEST PICTURE -- Alan J. Pakula, Producer
(*WINNER*) WRITING (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) -- Horton Foote

Trivia: Mary Badham (Scout) and Gregory Peck (Atticus) became close during filming, and kept in contact for the rest of his life. Peck always called her "Scout", her character role, while Badham called Peck "Atticus".

Trivia: Brock Peters, who played Tom Robinson in the film, delivered Gregory Peck's eulogy at his funeral on June 16, 2003.

12:45 AM Cape Fear (1962)

A released convict decides to menace and wreak havoc on the family of his defense lawyer.
Dir: J. Lee Thompson Cast: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen
Runtime: 105 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: At first, Robert Mitchum didn't want to do the film but finally relented after Gregory Peck and J. Lee Thompson delivered a case of bourbon to his home. His reply was, "Okay, I've drunk your bourbon. I'm drunk. I'll do it."

Trivia: Gregory Peck, who produced the film, didn't like the original novel's title "The Executioners". When thinking of a new title, he decided that movies named after places tended to be very successful, so he looked at a map of the U.S. until he happened upon Cape Fear in North Carolina.


2:45 AM Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)

The famed 19th century hero defeats enemy fleets and courts an admiral's widow.
Dir: Raoul Walsh Cast: Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo, Robert Beatty
Runtime: 117 mins Genre: Adventure Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Once the flogging of Seaman Hommel (Peter Morton) was complete, vinegar was applied to the wound as an (unfortunately painful) antiseptic. If vinegar were not available salt could have been used instead, hence the saying "rubbing salt in the wound" whenever one trauma follows another.


5:00 AM The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)

As he fights a deadly jungle fever, a hunter remembers his lost loves.
Dir: Henry King Cast: Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Ava Gardner
Runtime: 114 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ART DIRECTION (Color) -- Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler, John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Thomas Little, Paul S. Fox
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Color) -- Leon Shamroy

Trivia: Ernest Hemingway disliked the film because he thought it cannibalized material from his other work to pad the story. He told friend Ava Gardner that the only things he liked about it were her and the hyena. It has been reported, but not confirmed, that director Henry King mimicked the hyena on the soundtrack.


7:00 AM Oklahoma Blues (1948)



A state official tries to clean up a town being considered for the county seat.
Dir: Lambert Hillyer Cast: Jimmy Wakely, "Cannonball" Taylor, Virginia Belmont
Runtime: 56 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-G CC: N

Trivia: This film is a perfect example of a sub-genre popular with Poverty Row studios like Monogram in the 1940s and 50s - The "Singing Cowboys Movie," in which cowpokes armed with guns and guitars sang and shot their way through formulaic Western plots.

8:00 AM Cartoon: The Dot and the Line (1965)
A straight line tries to woo a dot.
Dir: Chuck Jones Cast: Robert Morley (narrator)
Runtime: 10 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-G CC: Y


8:11 AM Short: Third Dimensional Murder (1941)
This was made in 3-D and features a character facing various monsters in a creepy old house.
Dir: George Sidney Cast: Ed Payson, Pete Smith, Philip W. Anderson
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-PG CC: N


8:20 AM Short: Believe It or Not #6 (1932)
Robert Ripley presents a series of oddities, such as a wooden flower garden and a sands spider attacking a lizard. Vitaphone Release 1346.
Dir: null Cast: Robert L Ripley, Roy Mack
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: N


8:30 AM Feudin' Fools (1952)

Trivia: First film in the series where the gang consists of only four members, and it would remain that size until the end of the series.

The Bowery Boys get caught in a hillbilly feud when one of them inherits a Kentucky farm.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Dorothy Ford
Runtime: 63 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y


9:35 AM Serial: The Wolf Dog (1933), Chapter 11: The Broken Record (TCM Premiere)

When a boy's guardian secretly plots to steal his inheritance, only his radio operator friend and wolf-dog companion stand between him and disaster.
Dir: Colbert Clark, Harry L. Fraser Cast: Rin Tin Tin Jr., Frankie Darro, Boots Mallory
Runtime: 20 mins Genre: Adventure Rating: TV-G CC: Y


10:05 AM Cartoon: Goonland (1938)
While Popeye is searching for his Pappy he discovers an island inhabited by super strong natives.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Seymour Kneitel Cast: Jack Mercer
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-PG CC: Y


10:15 AM Bomba on Panther Island (1949)



Bomba the Jungle Boy must stop a man-eating black panther.

Dir: Ford Beebe Cast: Johnny Sheffield, Allene Roberts, Lita Baron
Runtime: 76 mins Genre: Adventure Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: The set seen here as the lagoon where Bomba and Judy go swimming would later be used as the principal locale for the classic TV series Gilligan's Island.

11:35 AM Short: 20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang (1933)
Convicts escape from a prison but long to return when they discover how luxurious it has become.
Dir: Roy Mack Cast: James Baskett, Patti Pickens, Jerry Bergen
Runtime: 19 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-PG CC: N

12:00 PM Mame (1974)

A wealthy eccentric takes in her orphaned nephew.
Dir: Gene Saks Cast: Lucille Ball, Bea Arthur, Robert Preston
Runtime: 132 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Even though she played Auntie Mame on stage, a part originally performed by Rosalind Russell, and had won a Tony award for her performance in the Broadway production in 1966, Angela Lansbury was passed over for the role of Mame. Jerry Herman went to Warner Brothers executives and begged them to reconsider, explaining the reasons why he considered Lucille Ball to be wrong for the part. Lansbury admitted in a 2009 interview with The Wall Street Journal that she never forgave Warner Bros. for passing her over.

Trivia: Angela Lansbury recalled when she was playing Mame on Broadway and was visited by Lucille Ball who told her she was amazing in the part, deserved all the honors she was receiving and was a shoo-in for the film version. Lansbury was very touched by this until she noticed Ball in the wings during her performance, taking notes. It was then that she realized that she was never going to play the part in the film.

2:30 PM Lili (1953)

A French orphan gets a job with a carnival puppet show.
Dir: Charles Walters Cast: Leslie Caron, Mel Ferrer, Jean Pierre Aumont
Runtime: 81 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTRESS -- Leslie Caron {"Lili Daurier"}
ART DIRECTION (Color) -- Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis, Arthur Krams
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Color) -- Robert Planck
DIRECTING -- Charles Walters
(*WINNER*) MUSIC (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) -- Bronislau Kaper
WRITING (Screenplay) -- Helen Deutsch

Trivia: This film was based on The Saturday Evening Post's Paul Gallico's short story "The Man Who Hated People", published in the 28 October 1950 edition, which was inspired by the children's puppet show Kukla, Fran and Ollie (1947). Due to the success of the film, Gallico expanded the story into a novella.

4:00 PM The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

The Shop Around the Corner is a 1940 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Frank Morgan. The screenplay was written by Samson Raphaelson based on the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklós László. Eschewing regional politics in the years leading up to World War II, the film is about two employees at a leathergoods shop in Budapest who can barely stand each other, not realizing they are falling in love as anonymous correspondents through their letters.

The Shop Around the Corner is ranked #28 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions, and is listed in Time's All-Time 100 Movies.[4] In 1999, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Dir: Ernst Lubitsch Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan
Runtime: 97 mins Genre: Romance Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Even though Margaret Sullavan was infamous for her quick temper and disdainful attitude towards Hollywood, James Stewart counted working with her as one of the great joys of his professional career. And because he knew her personally, he was more equipped than most of the cast and crew members to deal with her frequent and volatile emotional outbursts.

6:00 PM The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)

An acerbic critic wreaks havoc when a hip injury forces him to move in with a Midwestern family.
Dir: William Keighley Cast: Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Monty Woolley
Runtime: 112 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: 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.

8:00 PM The Go-Between (1971)

A young man carries letters between an aristocratic young woman and the groundskeeper he idolizes.
Dir: Joseph Losey Cast: Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Margaret Leighton
Runtime: 116 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Margaret Leighton {"Mrs. Maudsley"}

Trivia: Regarding filming in Norfolk, director Joseph Losey said in an interview, "Norfolk helped me a lot because Norfolk hasn't changed. Most of the costumes were genuine. We made very few others, and we all lived in the house. They wore the costumes all the time, and ate, as well as acted in their costumes. Once you've got the exact house, accessories, costumes, something then springs to life."

10:15 PM Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)

Sunday Bloody Sunday is a 1971 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, written by Penelope Gilliatt, and starring Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch, Murray Head and Peggy Ashcroft.[2] It tells the story of a free-spirited young bisexual artist (played by Head) and his simultaneous relationships with a divorced recruitment consultant (Jackson) and a gay Jewish doctor (Finch).[3]

Although a box office failure in many regions of the United States, the film received critical acclaim upon release, with major praise drawn towards Schlesinger's direction, performances of the cast (particularly of Finch and Jackson), and its screenplay. The film garnered significant praise for its positive depiction of homosexuality, marking a considerable departure from Schlesinger's previous film Midnight Cowboy (1969), which portrayed gay men as alienated and self-loathing beings, as well as other gay-themed films of the era, including The Boys in the Band (1970) and Some of My Best Friends Are... (1971).[4]

The film received numerous accolades. At the 25th British Academy Film Awards, the film received eight nominations, winning a leading five awards, including for the Best Film. It received four nominations at the 44th Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Actor (for Finch), Best Actress (for Jackson), and Best Original Screenplay.

Dir: John Schlesinger Cast: Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson, Murray Head
Runtime: 110 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR -- Peter Finch {"Dr. Daniel Hirsh"}
ACTRESS -- Glenda Jackson {"Alex Greville"}
DIRECTING -- John Schlesinger
WRITING (Story and Screenplay--based on factual material or material not previously published or produced) -- Penelope Gilliatt

Trivia: Thirteen-year-old Sir Daniel Day-Lewis made his screen debut in this film as a teenage street vandal. He described his first acting experience, in which he was paid £2 to vandalize expensive cars parked outside his local church in Petersfield, Hampshire, as "heaven".

12:15 AM Black Gravel (1961)

In post-WWII Germany, people struggle with shortages of everything, including housing, water, food, and clothing. A military base being built for several thousand American soldiers provides an economic opportunity that some try to take advantage of. Also known by the German title "Schwarzer Kies."
Dir: Helmut Käutner Cast: Helmut Wildt, Ingmar Zeisberg, Hans Cossy
Runtime: 113 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-14 CC: N

Trivia: Shortly after its general release, the film was changed from its premiere cut. Due to complaints by the Central Council of Jews in Germany, two scenes were shortened in which a character is revealed to be a Holocaust survivor and an anti-Semitic slur is used against him. The ending was also changed and is much less dark: in the shortened cut, both Inge and Robert survive. The premiere cut was restored during the film's digital restoration in 2016.

2:30 AM I Love You Again (1940)

A solid married man discovers he's forgotten a past existence as a con artist.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke II Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Frank McHugh
Runtime: 99 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The ninth of 14 films pairing William Powell and Myrna Loy.

Trivia: Myrna Loy had originally been scheduled to make "The Road to Rome" with Clark Gable, but its anti-war message would have made it a difficult movie to market with World War II going on in Europe. The film was shelved and Loy moved on to make this film instead. She did not mind the change, as she was a great friend of William Powell and loved working with him.

Trivia: Paired "Our Gang" members Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer and Robert Blake (as Mickey Gubitosi).

4:15 AM Double Wedding (1937)

Double Wedding is a 1937 American screwball romantic comedy film starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, and featuring Florence Rice, John Beal, Jessie Ralph, and Edgar Kennedy. This was the seventh pairing of Powell and Loy, with another seven to go. It was directed by Richard Thorpe from a screenplay by Jo Swerling based on the unpublished play[3] Nagy szerelem ("Great Love&quot by Ferenc Molnár.

William Powell's fiancée Jean Harlow died during production, halting filming. Powell later described finishing the film as "very difficult under the circumstances". Myrna Loy, who had been good friends with Harlow, wrote in her autobiography that she disliked the film because of Harlow's death and that it was "the scapegoat for concurrent despair".
Dir: Richard Thorpe Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Florence Rice
Runtime: 87 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The seventh of 14 films pairing William Powell and Myrna Loy.

Trivia: The Oscar statuette at the end was a joke the audience at the time would have understood. At the 1937 Academy Awards, William Powell had been nominated for Best Actor for My Man Godfrey (1936), but ended up losing to Paul Muni for The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936); Powell had also starred in The Great Ziegfeld (1936), which was awarded that year's Best Picture honor. Many felt Powell had been robbed of an Oscar at the March 1937 ceremony, which was held shortly before that final scene was filmed. "Double Wedding" was released in the fall of 1937, so the reference wouldn't have been lost on the audience.