TCM Schedule for Thursday, February 21, 2019 -- 31 Days of Oscar - Foreign Language Winner - Fellini

Last edited Mon Feb 25, 2019, 10:31 PM - Edit history (1)

Get your passport ready - today's 31 Days of Oscar themes beging with: daylight - Exotic Locales (Africa and Asia - from 1938's Algiers to 1958's The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness), prime time - Favorite Foreign Language Film Winner: Fellini (1963's 8 1/2 vs. 1954's La Strada), and night time - Favorite Movie Prisoner (1967's Cool Hand Luke vs. 1978's Midnight Express). Enjoy!



7:00 AM -- LADY OF THE TROPICS (1939)
An American playboy in Saigon has to fight to get his Eurasian wife out of the country.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Robert Taylor, Hedy Lamarr, Joseph Schildkraut
BW-92 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Norbert Brodine

Hedy Lamarr's first film under contract at MGM.


9:00 AM -- MISS SADIE THOMPSON (1953)
A moralist sets out to reform the legendary South Seas floozy.
Dir: Curtis Bernhardt
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Jose Ferrer, Aldo Ray
C-90 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee
Oscar Best Music, Original Song
Lester Lee (music)
Ned Washington (lyrics)
For the song "Sadie Thompson's Song (Blue Pacific Blues)"

This was a "Personal Pick" of Robert Osborne, the late host for Turner Classic Movies. He considered Rita Hayworth of be "the definitive" Sadie Thompson.


11:00 AM -- SAYONARA (1957)
American soldiers in post-war Japan defy convention when they fall in love with local women.
Dir: Joshua Logan
Cast: Marlon Brando, Patricia Owens, Red Buttons
C-147 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Red Buttons, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Miyoshi Umeki, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Ted Haworth and Robert Priestley, and Best Sound, Recording -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD)

Nominee for Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Marlon Brando, Best Director -- Joshua Logan, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Paul Osborn, Best Cinematography -- Ellsworth Fredericks, Best Film Editing -- Arthur P. Schmidt and Philip W. Anderson, and Best Picture

Audrey Hepburn was offered the role of a Japanese bride opposite Marlon Brando but turned it down. She explained that she "couldn't possibly play an Oriental. No one would believe me; they'd laugh. It's a lovely script, however I know what I can and can't do. And if you did persuade me, you would regret it, because I would be terrible."


1:30 PM -- THE RAINS CAME (1939)
A Hindu doctor's affair with a British noblewoman is disrupted by a violent flood.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Myrna Loy, Tyrone Power, George Brent
BW-104 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Fred Sersen (photographic) and Edmund H. Hansen (sound)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Arthur C. Miller, Best Art Direction -- William S. Darling and George Dudley, Best Sound, Recording -- Edmund H. Hansen (20th Century-Fox SSD), Best Film Editing -- Barbara McLean, and Best Music, Original Score -- Alfred Newman

This movie was a monumental undertaking for 20tj Cemtury-Fox. Of the 100 shooting days, almost half were spent filming the man-made rain and floods, for which 33 million gallons of water were used.


3:15 PM -- THE INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS (1958)
A missionary fights to bring Christianity and modern ways to China.
Dir: Mark Robson
Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Curt Jurgens, Robert Donat
C-158 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Director -- Mark Robson

Final film of Robert Donat. NOTE: He died during its making. In the scene where he is saying goodbye to Gladys as the elders prepare to take their leave of the city, he says as though he was prophesying his death, "I fear we shall never see each other again."


6:00 PM -- MOGAMBO (1953)
In this remake of Red Dust, an African hunter is torn between a lusty showgirl and a married woman.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly
C-116 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ava Gardner, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Grace Kelly

While Ava Gardner was shooting a scene with a baby elephant, the creature pushed her into a mud pool. She screamed for help, but John Ford motioned the crew to keep quiet and keep on filming. The scene proved to be one of the funniest in the movie.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: FAVORITE FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM WINNER: FELLINI



8:00 PM -- 8 1/2 (1963)
A world-famous film director juggles his romantic relationships while trying to come up with an idea for his next picture.
Dir: Federico Fellini
Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée
BW-139 mins, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Piero Gherardi, and Best Foreign Language Film -- Italy

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Federico Fellini, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli and Brunello Rondi, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Piero Gherardi

The title refers to the number of movies Federico Fellini had directed up until that point - six features, two shorts (films #7 and #8) and a co-directed film with Alberto Lattuada, for a total of 8 1/2 films.


10:30 PM -- LA STRADA (1954)
A traveling strongman buys a peasant girl to be his wife and co-star.
Dir: Federico Fellini
Cast: Giulietta Masina, Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart
BW-108 mins,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film -- Italy

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Original -- Federico Fellini and Tullio Pinelli

Anthony Quinn was working on a film with Giulietta Masina when she introduced him to her husband, Federico Fellini. Fellini was immediately convinced that the Mexican -born actor would make the perfect Zampano the strongman in his new film, which was to become (La Strada (1954), and implored him to accept the role. The nonplussed actor, who had no idea who Fellini was, initially turned him down, but Fellini was persistent, pestering him for days about the project. Shortly thereafter, Quinn spent the evening with Ingrid Bergman and her husband, director Roberto Rossellini. After dinner, the three watched Fellini's most recent film, the comedy-drama (I Vitelloni (1953), and Quinn realized with astonishment that the crazy Italian filmmaker who had been hounding him for days was a genius.


12:30 AM -- COOL HAND LUKE (1967)
A free-spirited convict refuses to conform to chain-gang life.
Dir: Stuart Rosenberg
Cast: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J. D. Cannon
C-127 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George Kennedy

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Newman, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson, and Best Music, Original Music Score -- Lalo Schifrin

Morgan Woodward (Boss Godfrey (The Man With No Eyes)) remained in character during breaks between scenes. He would sit in his chair, still wearing his mirrored sunglasses, and not speak to anyone.


3:00 AM -- MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978)
A young man arrested for drug smuggling fights to survive the horrors of a Turkish prison.
Dir: Alan Parker
Cast: Brad Davis, Randy Quaid, John Hurt
C-121 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Oliver Stone, and Best Music, Original Score -- Giorgio Moroder

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Hurt, Best Director -- Alan Parker, Best Film Editing -- Gerry Hambling, and Best Picture

In a scene at the airport, the middle-aged Turkish customs officer (played by Joe Zammit Cordina) supposedly speaks Turkish to Billy. However, in reality, he is speaking Maltese after he forgot his lines in Turkish, and he decided to use his native Maltese at the spur of the moment. The only Turkish words he speaks are "pasaport" (passport) and "canta" (bag).


5:30 AM -- THE DAY OF THE DOLPHIN (1973)
After teaching dolphins to speak, a scientist tries to keep them from being used in an assassination plot.
Dir: Mike Nichols
Cast: George C Scott, Trish Van Devere, Paul Sorvino
C-105 mins, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Sound -- Richard Portman and Larry Jost, and Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Georges Delerue

The trained dolphins who played Alpha and Beta were actually named Buck (for screenwriter Buck Henry) and Ginger (for dancer Ginger Rogers). On the next to the last day of filming, when their parts were done, they escaped and never returned. It was almost if they knew that for their roles it was a wrap.