TCM Schedule for Friday, March 1, 2024: 31 Days of Oscar - Director

"A director must be a policeman, a midwife, a psychoanalyst, a sycophant and a bastard." -- Billy Wilder

"Anybody can direct a picture once they know the fundamentals. Directing is not a mystery, it's not an art. The main thing about directing is: photograph the people's eyes." -- John Ford

"The truth is, a director wins an Oscar for a writer's script and actors' performances." -- George Cukor

"A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it." -- Alfred Hitchcock

"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." -- Orson Welles

"I dream for a living. Once a month the sky falls on my head, I come to, and I see another movie I want to make." -- Steven Spielberg

"When I'm making a film, I'm the audience." -- Martin Scorsese

"I'm a storyteller - that's the chief function of a director. And they're moving pictures, let's make 'em move!" -- Howard Hawks

"If you want to send a message, try Western Union." -- Frank Capra

Link: https://www.brainyquote.com



Frank Capra, six-time Oscar nominee and three-time winner. His Oscar-winning Mr. Deeds Goes to Town airs tonight.



---- DAYTIME (EDT) ----

6:15 AM | The Informer (1935)
In 1922 an Irish rebel informs on his friend, then feels doom closing in.
Dir: John Ford | Cast: Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, Preston Foster

Ford's first Oscar win. Nominated five times for Best Direction, he won three other Oscars: The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952).



8:00 AM | The Crowd (1928)
In this silent film, an office worker deals with the simple joys and tragedies of married life.
Dir: King Vidor | Cast: Eleanor Boardman, James Murray, Bert Roach

Vidor was a five-time Oscar nominee, but never won



9:45 AM | Great Expectations (1946)
A mysterious benefactor finances a young boy's education.
Dir: David Lean | Cast: John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Finlay Currie

Lean was a seven-time Oscar nominee, winning the Academy Award for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1958) and Lawrence of Arabia (1963)



12:00 PM | The Heiress (1949)
A plain young woman's wealth makes her prey to fortune hunters.
Dir: William Wyler | Cast: Olivia De Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson

Wyler was a twelve-time Oscar nominee, winning for Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Ben-Hur (1959). His twelve nominations are the most of any director.



2:00 PM | I Want to Live! (1958)
True story of the small-time lady crook who fought to escape the gas chamber.
Dir: Robert Wise | Cast: Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent

A three-time Best Director Oscar nominee, Wise won for West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965).



4:15 PM | 12 Angry Men (1957)
A jury holdout tries to convince his colleagues to vote not guilty.
Dir: Sidney Lumet | Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley

A four-time Best Director nominee, Lumet never won an individual film Oscar despite directing Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and Network (1976).



6:00 PM | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
A couple's attitudes are challenged when their daughter introduces them to her African-American fiancé.
Dir: Stanley Kramer | Cast: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn

Producer/Director Kramer was a three-time Oscar nominee for Achievement in Film Directing (this film, The Defiant Ones, and Judgment at Nuremberg), but never won.



---- PRIME TIME & LATE NIGHT ----

8:00 PM | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
When he inherits a fortune, a small-town poet has to deal with the corruption of city life.
Dir: Frank Capra | Cast: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft

Capra was a six-time Oscar nominee, winning for this film, It Happened One Night (1934), and You Can't Take It With You(1938). Nominations include Lady for a Day (1933), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and It's a Wonderful Life (1946).



10:15 PM | A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
A small-town seductress notifies her three best friends that she has run off with one of their husbands.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Cast: Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern

Writer/Producer/Director Joseph Mankiewicz is one of only three film directors to win the Academy Award for Best Director two years in a row, winning for this film and All About Eve (1950). Nominations include 5 Fingers (1952) and Sleuth (1972). The other two directors to win two years in a row were John Ford and Alejandro G. Iñárritu—Birdmann (2013) and The Revenant (2014)


,
12:15 AM | Marty (1955)
A lonely butcher finds love despite the opposition of his friends and family.
Dir: Delbert Mann | Cast: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Esther Minciotti

Marty is Mann's only Oscar nomination and win.



2:00 AM | The Awful Truth (1937)
A divorced couple keeps getting mixed up in each other's love lives.
Dir: Leo McCarey | Cast: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy

McCarey was a three-time Oscar nominee for Achievement in Film Directing, winning for this film and Going My Way (1944).



Trivia from IMDb.com and Wikipedia