TCM Schedule for Friday, September 15, 2017 -- What's On Tonight: Carole Lombard

During the daylight hours, TCM is showing off the blue bloods. And in prime time, there is a lovely selection of the films of Carole Lombard. Enjoy!


7:30 AM -- MARY OF SCOTLAND (1936)
Biography of the flighty Scottish queen who was brought down by love.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Fredric March, Florence Eldridge
BW-123 mins, CC,

According to A. Scott Berg's memoir "Kate Remembered", Katharine Hepburn was already chosen for Mary, but they had trouble casting Elizabeth. At one point Hepburn, who had by then been nicknamed "Katharine of Arrogance", suggested that she play both roles. Supporting player John Carradine asked, "But if you played both queens, how would you know which one to upstage?" She was not amused at the time, but roared with laughter when retelling the story years later.


9:45 AM -- THE ROYAL RODEO (1939)
In this short film, a young monarch invites a traveling rodeo show to perform at his palace. Vitaphone Release 9539-9540.
Dir: George Amy
Cast: Lucile Fairbanks, John Howard Payne, Scotty Beckett
C-15 mins,


10:15 AM -- CAMELOT (1967)
The romance between Guinevere and Lancelot destroys King Arthur's dream kingdom.
Dir: Joshua Logan
Cast: Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero
C-180 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- John Truscott, Edward Carrere and John Brown, Best Costume Design -- John Truscott, and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Alfred Newman and Ken Darby

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography -- Richard H. Kline and Best Sound

Sir Richard Harris desperately sought the lead role, despite being repeatedly refused due to his limited singing ability. At one point, he even paid a man to carry a board down the Strand that said, "Harris Better than Burton, Only Harris for Camelot". When Vanessa Redgrave was cast as Guenivere, Harris sent a note to Producer Jack L. Warner, which read, "Height of Vanessa Redgrave: 5 feet 11 inches. Richard Burton: 5 feet 10 inches. Richard Harris: 6 feet 2 inches", according to his salute for Kirk Douglas at AFI ceremony.


1:30 PM -- THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938)
The bandit king of Sherwood Forest leads his Merry Men in a battle against the corrupt Prince John.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Basil Rathbone
C-102 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Carl Jules Weyl, Best Film Editing -- Ralph Dawson, and Best Music, Original Score -- Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

Howard Hill, who is listed in the credits as "Captain of Archers", also played "Elwyn the Welshman" in the archery contest. Hill actually made the shot where we see one arrow split another and he did all the shots which required hitting human targets. He also worked closely with the sound department to produce the distinctive arrow sounds by using specially made arrows.


3:15 PM -- A CHALLENGE FOR ROBIN HOOD (1968)
Robin Hood gathers a band of rebels to fight against his scheming cousin and the evil sheriff.
Dir: C. M. Pennington-Richards
Cast: Barrie Ingham, James Hayter, Leon Greene
C-96 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

James Hayter previously played Friar Tuck in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952).


5:00 PM -- AT SWORD'S POINT (1951)
The children of the Three Musketeers swing into action against a traitor.
Dir: Lewis Allen
Cast: Cornel Wilde, Maureen O'Hara, Robert Douglas
C-81 mins, CC,

Alan Hale Jr. plays the son of Porthos here. His father, Alan Hale, appeared in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) as an aging Porthos. When that film was remade as The Fifth Musketeer (1979), that role was taken by Alan Hale Jr.. In that same movie the role of an aging D'Artagnan was played by Cornel Wilde, this picture's son of D'Artagnan. Also here, the elderly Porthos is played by Moroni Olsen, who played that character in his younger days in the film of the original Dumas novel, The Three Musketeers (1935).


6:30 PM -- THE WARRIORS (1955)
The "Black Prince" of England remains in France to guard the lands taken by his predecessor-father.
Dir: Henry Levin
Cast: Errol Flynn, Joanne Dru, Peter Finch
C-85 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Originally Errol Flynn did not want to star in this movie, as he felt at 45 he was now too old for swashbuckling roles. However he badly needed money because he had just been declared bankrupt while filming The Story of William Tell (1953).
This became Flynn's last historical action film.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: CAROLE LOMBARD



8:00 PM -- HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE (1935)
A manicurist uses her beauty and emery board to snag a rich husband.
Dir: Mitchell Leisen
Cast: Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, Ralph Bellamy
BW-80 mins, CC,

Gary Cooper was the first choice for the role of Theodore Drew III but was unable at the time. The role eventually went to Fred MacMurray.


9:30 PM -- LOVE BEFORE BREAKFAST (1936)
A Park Avenue beauty plays two suitors against each other.
Dir: Walter Lang
Cast: Carole Lombard, Preston Foster, Cesar Romero
BW-70 mins,

Although Faith Baldwin is credited onscreen as writer of the novel Spinster Dinner, it was actually just a short story in a magazine. No novel was ever published.


11:00 PM -- THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS (1936)
A Brooklyn girl masquerades as a princess to land a Hollywood contract.
Dir: William K. Howard
Cast: Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, Douglass Dumbrille
BW-77 mins, CC,

Carole Lombard based her "Princess" character on Greta Garbo.


12:30 AM -- NOW AND FOREVER (1934)
A young swindler tries to mend his ways when he's reunited with his daughter.
Dir: Henry Hathaway
Cast: Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard, Shirley Temple
BW-82 mins, CC,

Shirley Temple memorized every line of dialogue in this movie, and whenever Gary Cooper forgot or fumbled his lines, Temple prompted him, much to Cooper's annoyance.


2:00 AM -- THE GAY BRIDE (1934)
A gold digger tries to get ahead by marrying a succession of ill-fated racketeers.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Carole Lombard, Chester Morris, ZaSu Pitts
BW-80 mins,

Based on the story Repeal by Charles Francis Coe.


3:30 AM -- BRIEF MOMENT (1933)
A nightclub singer tries to rehabilitate a wealthy playboy.
Dir: David Burton
Cast: Carole Lombard, Gene Raymond, Donald Cook
BW-69 mins, CC,

In an early bit of dialogue, Gene Raymond's character listens to his parents say he shouldn't marry a blues singer, and he replies, "Whom should I marry - Schumann-Heink?," referring to a famous opera singer who had just retired in 1932. Ironically, when Raymond himself married in 1937 his bride was an opera singer as well as a movie star: Jeanette MacDonald.


4:45 AM -- NOTHING SACRED (1937)
When a small-town girl is diagnosed with a rare, deadly disease, an ambitious newspaper man turns her into a national heroine.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: Carole Lombard, Fredric March, Charles Winninger
C-74 mins, CC,

After one fight scene with Fredric March, Carole Lombard had to take the following day off to recuperate from her scratches and bruises. To discourage March's attentions, she invited him to her dressing room one night; after preliminary fumbling, March discovered to his disgust that she was wearing a rubber dildo. He never bothered her again.