TCM Schedule for Friday, April 10, 2015 -- Friday Night Spotlight - A. Arnold Gillespie

During the day, it's happy birthday to Harold Spencer Bucquet, born April 10, 1891, in London. Bucquet served in the US army during WWI, and started working as an assistant director in Hollywood in 1922. In prime time, TCM continues featuring films by special effects wizard A. Arnold Gillespie, including Test Pilot (1938), Boom Town (1940), Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), and The Good Earth (1937). Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- Parrish (1961)
When his mother marries into the tobacco business, a young man struggles to find himself.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Troy Donahue, Claudette Colbert, Karl Malden
C-138 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In the scene in Raike's office where Raike to Parrish about irrigation, he mentions that "it just so happens that Sekulovich is irrigating" his fields. Sekulovich is Karl Malden's real name. He would often manage to work his name into dialogue, as most famously in Patton.


9:00 AM -- A Summer Place (1959)
An adulterous couple discovers that their children are sexually involved.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Richard Egan, Dorothy McGuire, Sandra Dee
C-130 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Max Steiner's main theme for this film is probably his best-known after his "Tara Theme" for "Gone With the Wind." As with "Tara's Theme," it has remained a favorite ever since, with several charting recordings. Percy Faith's version (American Columbia: 1960) went to Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1960, remaining in that position for 9 weeks, becoming both the Number One Instrumental Hit of the Rock Era and the first instrumental to win the Grammy for Record of the Year. Other charting versions were by Billy Vaughn (Dot: 1960, peaking at #2), the Lettermen (Capitol: 1965, using Mack Discant's lyrics and peaking at #16), and the Ventures (Liberty: 1969, at #83). Faith himself re-recorded it, shortly before his death in 1976, in a disco arrangement entitled "Summer Place '76."


11:15 AM -- MGM Parade Show #5 (1955)
Tony Martin performs in a clip from "Till the Clouds Roll By"; John Hodiak introduces a clip from "Trial." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-26 mins,


12:00 PM -- Kathleen (1941)
A neglected daughter tries to find the right wife for her widowed father.
Dir: Harold S. Bucquet
Cast: Shirley Temple, Herbert Marshall, Laraine Day
BW-88 mins,

"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on December 27, 1943 with Shirley Temple and Herbert Marshall reprising their film roles.


1:30 PM -- The Penalty (1941)
Federal agents use a gangster's son to catch him.
Dir: Harold S. Bucquet
Cast: Edward Arnold, Lionel Barrymore, Marsha Hunt
BW-81 mins,

The New York production of Martin Berkeley's play "Roost" opened 14 February 1938 and closed after 8 performances.


3:00 PM -- We Who Are Young (1940)
A man violates company policy by getting married.
Dir: Harold S. Bucquet
Cast: Lana Turner, John Shelton, Gene Lockhart
BW-80 mins, CC,

This picture marked the American debut of European producer Seymour Nebenzal.


4:30 PM -- Calling Dr. Kildare (1939)
A young doctor treats a gangster and falls for the man's kid sister.
Dir: Harold S. Bucquet
Cast: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day
BW-86 mins, CC,

The third of the Dr. Kildare films series.


6:00 PM -- On Borrowed Time (1939)
An old man and his grandson trap Death in a tree.
Dir: Harold S. Bucquet
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Beulah Bondi
BW-99 mins, CC,

The original Broadway production of "On Borrowed Time" by Paul Osborn opened at the Longacre Theater on February 3, 1938, closing in November 1938 after 321 performances. The major players (with their character names) were Dudley Digges (Julian Northrup - Gramps, played by Lionel Barrymore in the film), Frank Conroy (Mr. Brinks - played by Cedric Hardwicke), Dorothy Stickney (Nellie - Granny - played by Beulah Bondi), Jean Adair (Demetria Riffle - played by Eily Malyon) and Peter Miner (Pud - played by the adorable Bobs Watson).


7:50 PM -- Home Early (1939)
In this short film, a businessman goes home early to surprise his family and is treated with suspicion by his wife's bridge club.
Dir: Roy Rowland
Cast: Jimmy Lydon, Robert Benchley,
BW-9 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: A. ARNOLD GILLESPIE



8:00 PM -- Test Pilot (1938)
An irresponsible test pilot's wife and best friend try to get him to grow up.
Dir: Victor Fleming
Cast: Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy
BW-119 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Original Story -- Frank Wead, Best Film Editing -- Tom Held, and Best Picture

Reportedly Myrna Loy's personal favorite movie of all her films.


10:15 PM -- Boom Town (1940)
Friends become rivals when they strike-it-rich in oil.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert
BW-119 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harold Rosson, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound)

This was the last of three films (after San Francisco (1936) and Test Pilot (1938)) that Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy did together. After this film, Tracy insisted on a clause in his MGM contract that he would receive equal billing with Gable in all future films. While the two remained lifelong friends, they were never again paired together in a movie because MGM wasn't sure how to handle the equal billing.


12:30 AM -- Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
General Jimmy Doolittle trains American troops for the first airborne attacks on Japan.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Van Johnson, Robert Walker, Tim Murdock
BW-138 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic), Donald Jahraus (photographic), Warren Newcombe (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound)

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Surtees and Harold Rosson

When Lawson's plane arrives in Tokyo and sees the fire and smoke from the previous bomber, Davy Jones, we are not looking at a special effect. During the making of the film, there was a fuel-oil fire in Oakland, near the filming location. The quick-thinking filmmakers scrambled to fly their camera plane and B-25 through the area, capturing some very real footage for the movie.


3:00 AM -- The Good Earth (1937)
Epic adaptation of the Pearl Buck classic about Chinese farmers battling the elements.
Dir: Sidney Franklin
Cast: Paul Muni, Luise Rainer, Walter Connolly
BW-138 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Luise Rainer (Luise Rainer became the first actress and first performer to win consecutive awards for lead roles.), and Best Cinematography -- Karl Freund

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Sidney Franklin, Best Film Editing -- Basil Wrangell, and Best Picture

Chinese-born Anna May Wong desperately wanted the role of O-Lan. Being a close friend of author Pearl S. Buck helped. She tested for the role, but producer Irving Thalberg was unsatisfied. Also, since Paul Muni, a Caucasian actor, had already been cast in the lead, Thalberg knew he couldn't cast Wong as Muni's wife. The Hays Code prohibited actors of different races from playing husband/wife couples on film. (This was to avoid offending white audiences in the segregated American South, where there were laws against mixed-race marriages.) Thalberg offered her the "vamp" role of Lotus, but a distraught Anna May turned it down.


5:30 AM -- MGM Parade Show #5 (1955)
Tony Martin performs in a clip from "Till the Clouds Roll By"; John Hodiak introduces a clip from "Trial." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-26 mins,