TCM Schedule Saturday 11/16/24 - Psycho, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jailhouse Rock, Village of the Damned

DAY AT A GLANCE

SCI-FI HORROR
Thing, The (1982)
Village of the Damned (1960)
Children of the Damned (1964)
Power, The (1968)
- TCM DAYTIME - WEEKEND FEATURES
Broadway Melody of 1936 (1936) (6:15 am ET)
MGM Cartoons: The Winning Ticket (1938)
Free and Easy (1931) (short)
Believe It or Not #2 (1931) (short)
Jungle Gents (1954)
The Wolf Dog Ch. 7: The Empty Room (1933) (TCM Premiere)
Popeye: Plumbing Is a 'Pipe' (1938)
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940)
Teddy the Rough Rider (1940) (short)
MUSICAL MATINEE
Glass Slipper, The (1955)
Iron Major, The (1943)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Psycho (1960)
- TCM PRIMETIME - TCM SERIES: TWO FOR ONE
- STEVEN SPIELBERG
Jailhouse Rock (1957)
Forty Guns (1957)
- NOIR ALLEY
Big Combo, The (1955)
- TCM LATE NIGHT: BLUE
Blue Velvet (1986)
Three Colors: Blue (1993)

FULL DAY SCHEDULE

11:00 PM The Thing (1982)





A 12-man research team finds an alien being that has fallen from the sky and has been buried for over 100,000 years.
Dir: John Carpenter Cast: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Richard Dysart
Runtime: 108 mins Genre: Horror Rating: TV-14 CC: Y

Trivia: To give the illusion of icy Antarctic conditions, interior sets on the Los Angeles sound stages were refrigerated down to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, while it was well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside.


1:00 AM Village of the Damned (1960)





After a mysterious blackout, the inhabitants of a British village give birth to emotionless, super-powered offspring.
Dir: Wolf Rilla Cast: George Sanders, Barbara Shelley, Martin Stephens
Runtime: 77 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-14 CC: Y

Trivia: The eerie effect of the children's glowing eyes was created by matting a negative (reversed) image of their eyes over the pupils when they used their powers. The British print of the film contained no optical effects, as the British Board of Film Classification considered them too frighting for an 'A' classification.

Trivia: When the military are testing Midwich for radiation after everyone wakes up, there is a sign in the background that says "Beware of Children." Another "Beware of Children" sign appears towards the start of the car crash scene.


2:30 AM Children of the Damned (1964)





Space invaders impregnate six women with super-powered offspring.
Dir: Anton M. Leader Cast: Ian Hendry, Alan Badel, Barbara Ferris
Runtime: 90 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-14 CC: Y


4:15 AM The Power (1968)





A scientist tries to unmask a murderous genius with psychic powers.
Dir: Byron Haskin Cast: George Hamilton, Suzanne Pleshette, Richard Carlson
Runtime: 109 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Miklós Rózsa's score is one of the few movie scores to make extensive use of the cimbalom. The instrument can be seen being played at the beginning of the film.

6:15 AM Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)







A Broadway columnist tries to use an innocent dancer to frame a producer.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast: Jack Benny, Eleanor Powell, Robert Taylor
Runtime: 103 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
(*WINNER*) DANCE DIRECTION -- "I've Got a Feeling You're Fooling" number; Dave Gould
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
WRITING (Original Story) -- Moss Hart [came in 3rd]



Trivia: Eleanor Powell was spotted in a Fox screen test by MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer, who, due to the grainy quality of the test, initially thought she was African-American. Once Fox cast her in George White's Scandals (1934), MGM made its move. Reportedly, Powell did not want to participate in Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935), as she was slated for the non-dancing role eventually played by Una Merkel. Too much of a neophyte to confront the studio executives, she engineered her dismissal by politely demanding the lead role and an exorbitant salary, and she was shocked when the studio met her terms, paving the way for her meteoric film career.


8:00 AM Cartoon: The Winning Ticket (1938)
John Silver tries to steal a winning lottery ticket from the Captain and the Kids by dressing up as a frail, old woman.
Dir: Burt Gillett Cast: Mel Blanc
Runtime: 9 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-G CC: Y


8:10 AM Short: Free and Easy (1931)
In this short film, a hobo and his "son" attempt a search for money in an abandoned house. Vitaphone Release 1285.
Dir: Roy Mack Cast: Christina Graver, Edgar Bergen, Edwin B. Dupar
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: N


8:18 AM Short: Believe It or Not #2 (1931)
Robert L. Ripley presents more of life's curiosities, such as a small office building designed to look like a dresser drawer.
Dir: Murray Roth Cast: Robert L Ripley
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: Y


8:26 AM Jungle Gents (1954)





The Bowery Boys go diamond hunting in Africa.
Dir: Edward Bernds Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey
Runtime: 64 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The jungle sets used in this film were the same ones used in the Bomba: The Jungle Boy (1949) series of 12 films made from 1949 to 1955 - also from Monogram/Allied Artists.

9:30 AM Serial: The Wolf Dog (1933): Chapter 7, The Empty Room (1933) (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:


10:00 AM Cartoon: Plumbing Is a 'Pipe' (1938)
Popeye visits Olive Oyl and discovers her home in turmoil because of a broken water pipe. When they are soon surrounded by a series of bursting pipes, Popeye tries every means to stop the flood.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Willard Bowsky Cast: Margie Hines, Jack Mercer
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-PG CC: Y


10:08 AM Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940)





A young doctor uses pioneering methods to treat a mental patient.
Dir: Harold S. Bucquet Cast: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day
Runtime: 76 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Nurse Molly Byrd tells Mary Lamont that she is 49 years old. In fact, Alma Kruger, the actress who played Ms. Byrd was 72 when the film opened.

11:30 AM Short: Teddy the Rough Rider (1940)
This follows the political career of president Theodore Roosevelt.
Dir: Ray Enright Cast: Pierre Watkin, Glenn Strange, Selmer Jackson
Runtime: 18 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: N


12:00 PM The Glass Slipper (1955)





Musical adaptation of the story of Cinderella and her magical trip to the prince's ball.
Dir: Charles Walters Cast: Leslie Caron, Michael Wilding, Keenan Wynn
Runtime: 94 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: In the documentary "Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star" (2016), Caron says she saw Ella as a rebel and was influenced by Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront" (1954). She also designed her own cropped hairstyle, to the displeasure of MGM bosses.


1:45 PM The Iron Major (1943)





In this true story, Frank Cavanaugh proves himself as a football coach and a World War I hero.
Dir: Ray Enright Cast: Pat O'Brien, Ruth Warrick, Robert Ryan
Runtime: 85 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Through the latter stages of the film it is shown that Cavanaugh was losing his sight. However, a fact not revealed is that when he died he was also broke. According to "Tales from the Boston College Sideline" (Reid Oslin) he warned former player Joe McKenney (later a coach) to "get out of coaching while you can - the end of every coaching career is disaster."

3:30 PM Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)





Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 American science fiction drama film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut. The film depicts the stories of Roy Neary, an everyday blue-collar worker in Indiana, whose life changes after an encounter with a UFO; and of Jillian, a single mother whose three-year-old son was abducted by a UFO.

Close Encounters was a long-cherished project for Spielberg. In late 1973, he developed a deal with Columbia Pictures for a science-fiction film. Though Spielberg received sole credit for the script, he was assisted by Paul Schrader, John Hill, David Giler, Hal Barwood, Matthew Robbins, and Jerry Belson, all of whom contributed to the screenplay in varying degrees. The title is derived from Ufologist J. Allen Hynek's classification of close encounters with extraterrestrials, in which the third kind denotes human observations of extraterrestrials or "animate beings". Douglas Trumbull served as the visual effects supervisor, while Carlo Rambaldi designed the extraterrestrials.

Made on a production budget of US$19.4 million, Close Encounters was released in a limited number of cities on November 16 and 23, 1977, AND was a critical and financial success, eventually grossing over $300 million worldwide. It received numerous awards and nominations at the 50th Academy Awards, 32nd British Academy Film Awards, the 35th Golden Globe Awards and the 5th Saturn Awards, and has been widely acclaimed by the American Film Institute.

In December 2007, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. A Special Edition was released theatrically in 1980. Spielberg agreed to create this edition to add more scenes that they had been unable to include in the original release, with the studio demanding a controversial scene depicting the interior of the extraterrestrial mothership. Spielberg's dissatisfaction with the altered ending scene led to a third version, the Director's Cut on VHS and LaserDisc in 1998 (and later DVD and Blu-ray). It is the longest version, combining Spielberg's favorite elements from both previous editions but removing the scenes inside the mothership. The film was later remastered in 4K and was then re-released in theaters in 2017 for its 40th anniversary.
Dir: Steven Spielberg Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr
Runtime: 135 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Melinda Dillon {"Jillian Guiler"}
ART DIRECTION -- Art Direction: Joe Alves, Dan Lomino; Set Decoration: Phil Abramson
(*WINNER*) CINEMATOGRAPHY -- Vilmos Zsigmond
DIRECTING -- Steven Spielberg
FILM EDITING -- Michael Kahn
MUSIC (Original Score) -- John Williams
SOUND -- Robert Knudson, Robert J. Glass, Don MacDougall, Gene S. Cantamessa
VISUAL EFFECTS -- Roy Arbogast, Douglas Trumbull, Matthew Yuricich, Gregory Jein, Richard Yuricich
(*WINNER*) SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (Sound Effects Editing) -- Frank E. Warner





Trivia: During the Neary dinner scene, just before Roy piles on the mashed potatoes, the little girl Silvia (Adrienne Campbell) says: "There's a dead fly in my potatoes." This was unscripted and almost caused the rest of the cast to laugh. The scene was kept as-is.

Trivia: Douglas Trumbull achieved the dramatic cloud effects by filling a tank half full of salt water with lighter fresh water on top, then injecting paint into the top layer. The paint billowed through the fresh water but flattened out at the top of the heavier salt water, creating the effect we see on screen.

6:00 PM Psycho (1960)





Psycho is a 1960 American horror film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay, written by Joseph Stefano, was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The film stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Martin Balsam. The plot centers on an encounter between on-the-run embezzler Marion Crane (Leigh) and shy motel proprietor Norman Bates (Perkins) and its aftermath, in which a private investigator (Balsam), Marion's lover Sam Loomis (Gavin), and her sister Lila (Miles) investigate her disappearance.

Psycho was seen as a departure from Hitchcock's previous film North by Northwest, as it was filmed on a small budget in black-and-white by the crew of his television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Initially, the film divided critics due to its controversial subject matter, but audience interest and outstanding box-office returns prompted a major critical re-evaluation. Psycho was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Director for Alfred Hitchcock and Best Supporting Actress for Janet Leigh.

Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films, and is arguably his most famous and influential work. International film critics and scholars who praise its slick direction, tense atmosphere, impressive camerawork, memorable score and iconic performances. It is regarded as "the most heavily analyzed film in the long career of the most investigated director in the history of American film" and often ranked among the greatest films of all time, it set a new level of acceptability for violence, deviant behavior and sexuality in American films, and has been considered to be one of the earliest examples of the slasher film genre. After Hitchcock's death in 1980, Universal Pictures produced follow-ups: three sequels, a remake, a made-for-television spin-off, and a television series. In 1992, the Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Runtime: 109 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Janet Leigh {"Marion Crane"}
ART DIRECTION (Black-and-White) -- Art Direction: Joseph Hurley, Robert Clatworthy; Set Decoration: George Milo
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Black-and-White) -- John L. Russell
DIRECTING -- Alfred Hitchcock

Trivia: When the cast and crew began work on the first day, they had to raise their right hands and swear an oath not to divulge one word of the story. Alfred Hitchcock also withheld the ending part of the script from his cast until he needed to shoot it.

Trivia: Sir Alfred Hitchcock was so pleased with the score written by Bernard Herrmann that he doubled the composer's salary to $34,501. Hitchcock later said, "Thirty-three percent of the effect of Psycho was due to the music." Ironically, he was originally adamant that there should be no music in the shower scene but he was persuaded by his wife to give it a try. The screeching violins and dire strings (which would inspire the music for Jaws (1975)) ending up selling the scene and driving theatrical audiences beyond anything they had ever experienced.

Trivia: Director Sir Alfred Hitchcock bought the rights to the novel anonymously from Robert Bloch for only $9,000. He then bought up as many copies of the novel as he could in order to keep the ending a secret.

Trivia: After this movie's release, Sir Alfred Hitchcock received an angry letter from the father of a girl who refused to have a bath after seeing Diabolique (1955), and now refused to shower after seeing this movie. Hitchcock sent a note back simply saying, "Send her to the dry cleaners."

Trivia: Walt Disney refused to allow Sir Alfred Hitchcock to film at Disneyland in the early 1960s because Hitchcock had made "that disgusting movie, 'Psycho.'"

8:00 PM Jailhouse Rock (1957)





Young Vince Everett goes to prison for accidentally killing a man in a barroom brawl while defending a young woman's honor. After Everett's cellmate teaches him how to play guitar and encourages him to sing, Everett's hip-swiveling, electrifying performance at a jailhouse concert leads to stardom.

Dir: Richard Thorpe Cast: Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler, Mickey Shaughnessy
Runtime: 96 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Elvis Presley refused to watch this movie because of Judy Tyler's tragic death in a car accident in Wyoming on July 3, 1957, three days after filming was completed.

10:00 PM Forty Guns (1957)





A showdown in Arizona between the Bonnell brothers, U.S. Marshals, and Jessica Drummond, the iron-fisted rancher who controls the territory with her private posse of hired guns.
Dir: Samuel Fuller Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Dean Jagger
Runtime: 80 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Barbara Stanwyck's stunt woman refused to be dragged by a horse, saying that it was too dangerous. Without further ado, 40-year-old Stanwyck did it by herself. She got some bruises and scrapes, but was otherwise okay.

NOIR ALLEY: 12:00 AM The Big Combo (1955)





An honest cop is brutalized by a gangster because they share the same girl.
Dir: Joseph Lewis Cast: Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Brian Donlevy
Runtime: 89 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Jack Palance was originally hired for the role of "Mr. Brown", but after clashing with the producers (because they would not cast his wife in the film per an article in the 13 August 1954 edition of Daily Variety), he left the production. Before leaving he recommended they hire Richard Conte to replace him, which they did.


2:00 AM Blue Velvet (1986)





Blue Velvet is a 1986 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written and directed by David Lynch. Blending psychological horror with film noir, the film stars Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, and is named after the 1951 song of the same name. The film concerns a young college student who, returning home to visit his ill father, discovers a severed human ear in a field. The ear then leads him to uncover a vast criminal conspiracy and enter into a romantic relationship with a troubled lounge singer.

The screenplay of Blue Velvet had been passed around multiple times in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with several major studios declining it due to its strong sexual and violent content. After the failure of his 1984 film Dune, Lynch made attempts at developing a more "personal story", somewhat characteristic of the surrealist style displayed in his first film Eraserhead (1977). The independent studio De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, owned at the time by Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis, agreed to finance and produce the film.

Blue Velvet initially received a divided critical response, with many stating that its explicit content served little artistic purpose. Nevertheless, the film earned Lynch his second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director, and received the year's Best Film and Best Director prizes from the National Society of Film Critics. It came to achieve cult status. As an example of a director casting against the norm, it was credited for revitalizing Hopper's career and for providing Rossellini with a dramatic outlet beyond her previous work as a fashion model and a cosmetics spokeswoman. In the years since, the film has been re-evaluated, and it is now widely regarded as one of Lynch's major works[8] and one of the greatest films of the 1980s. Publications including Sight & Sound, Time, Entertainment Weekly and BBC Magazine have ranked it among the greatest American films of all time. In 2008, it was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the ten greatest American mystery films.

Dir: David Lynch Cast: Kyle Maclachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper
Runtime: 120 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
DIRECTING -- David Lynch

Trivia: In an interview, Dennis Hopper claimed that writer/director David Lynch would never say the word "fuck" during filming, he would simply point to the line in the script and say "that word". Hopper laughed, saying "He can write it, but he won't say it. He's a peculiar man." Lynch has said this isn't exactly true, but he didn't want to charge the atmosphere anymore than it already was.

4:15 AM Three Colors: Blue (1993)





After a beautiful young woman's daughter and renowned composer-husband are killed in a car crash, she tries to cope with her losses by cutting off all ties to the past. Meanwhile, the music world searches for her late husband's unfinished symphony and a music critic suspects that the wife is the work's true author.
Dir: Krzysztof Kieslowski Cast: Juliette Binoche, Benoit Regent, Florence Pernel
Runtime: 98 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-MA CC: N

Trivia: At the 2018 Visegrad Film Forum, cinematographer Slawomir Idziak claimed that the script and initial cut of this film focused on the journalist character (played by Hélène Vincent) and her efforts to investigate the authorship of the unfinished musical composition that drives the plot. It was only during the editing process that director Krzysztof Kieslowski re-structured the film to focus on Julie (played by Juliette Binoche).