TCM Schedule Saturday Feb. 15: 31 Days of Oscar: Around the World In 80 Days, The Big House, Mister Roberts, Cat Ballou

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The Day At a Glance

31 DAYS OF OSCAR - DAY 14
- LOVERS (VALENTINE'S DAY)
Pillow Talk (1959)
Now, Voyager (1942)
Brief Encounter (1945)
- BEST PICTURE
Racket, The (1928)
Saturday, February 15
- TCM DAYTIME
31 DAYS OF OSCAR - DAY 15
- BEST PICTURE
Big House, The (1930) (7:00 am ET)
Farewell to Arms, A (1932)
Barretts of Wimpole Street, The (1934)
Mister Roberts (1955)
Yearling, The (1946)
Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
- TCM PRIMETIME
31 DAYS OF OSCAR - DAY 15
- COWBOYS
True Grit (1969)
Cat Ballou (1965)
Giant (1956)
Westerner, The (1940)
- BEST PICTURE
Midsummer Night's Dream, A (1935)

Complete schedule

12:00 AM Pillow Talk (1959)

Pillow Talk is a 1959 American romantic comedy film in CinemaScope directed by Michael Gordon and starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day. The supporting cast features Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter, Nick Adams, Allen Jenkins, Marcel Dalio and Lee Patrick. The film was written by Russell Rouse, Maurice Richlin, Stanley Shapiro, and Clarence Greene.

It tells the story of Jan Morrow (Day), an interior decorator, and Brad Allen (Hudson), a womanizing composer and bachelor, who share a telephone party line. When she unsuccessfully files a complaint on him for constantly using the line to woo his conquests, Brad finds out she is rather pretty and decides to trick her by masquerading as a Texas rancher. The scheme seems to work until their mutual friend Jonathan Forbes (Randall) finds out about it and exposes Brad.

According to a "Rambling Reporter" (August 28, 1959) item in The Hollywood Reporter, RKO originally bought the script by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene in 1942, but since it was not produced, the writers bought it back in 1945. In 1947, they sold it as a play, but bought it back once again four years later, finally selling it in 1958 to Arwin Productions, the company owned by Doris Day's husband, Martin Melcher. Although the film was originally titled Pillow Talk, according to a February 2, 1959 "Rambling Reporter" item in The Hollywood Reporter, the title "displeased" the PCA, and was changed to Any Way the Wind Blows. In August 1959, however, the original title was reinstated.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Doris Day), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Thelma Ritter), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color (Richard H. Riedel, Russell A. Gausman, Ruby R. Levitt) and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

This is the first of three romantic comedies in which Day, Hudson, and Randall starred together, the other two being Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964).

Upon its release, Pillow Talk brought in a then staggering domestic box-office gross of $18,750,000 and gave Rock Hudson's career a comeback after the failure of A Farewell to Arms two years earlier.

In 2009, it was entered into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and preserved.

Dir: Michael Gordon Cast: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall
Runtime: 105 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTRESS -- Doris Day {"Jan Morrow"}
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Thelma Ritter {"Alma"}
ART DIRECTION (Color) -- Art Direction: Richard H. Riedel; Set Decoration: Russell A. Gausman, Ruby R. Levitt
MUSIC (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) -- Frank DeVol
*WINNER* WRITING (Story and Screenplay--written directly for the screen) -- Story by Russell Rouse, Clarence Greene; Screenplay by Stanley Shapiro, Maurice Richlin

Trivia: Ross Hunter wrote that after he made this film, no theatre managers wanted to book it. Popular movie themes at the time were war films, westerns, and spectacles. Hunter was told by the big movie chains that sophisticated comedies like this movie went out with William Powell. They also believed that Doris Day and Rock Hudson were things of the past and had been overtaken by newer stars. Hunter persuaded Sol Schwartz, who owned the Palace Theatre in New York, to book the film for a two-week run, and it was a smash hit. The public had been starved for romantic comedy, and theatre owners who had previously turned down Hunter now had to deal with him on HIS terms.

2:00 AM Now, Voyager (1942)

A repressed spinster is transformed by psychiatry and her love for a married man.
Dir: Irving Rapper Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains
Runtime: 117 mins Genre: Romance Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTRESS -- Bette Davis {"Charlotte Vale"}
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Gladys Cooper {"Mrs. Vale"}
*WINNER* MUSIC (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) -- Max Steiner

Trivia: The biggest box office hit of Bette Davis's career.

Trivia: The movie's line "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." was voted as the #46 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).

4:00 AM Brief Encounter (1945)

Brief Encounter is a 1945 British romantic drama film directed by David Lean from a screenplay by Noël Coward, based on his 1936 one-act play Still Life. The film stars Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard in lead roles, alongside Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond, Everley Gregg and Margaret Barton in supporting roles.

Brief Encounter tells the story of two married strangers living in pre-World War II England, whose chance meeting at a railway station leads to a brief yet intense emotional affair, disrupting their otherwise conventional lives.

Brief Encounter premiered in London on 13 November 1945, followed by its wide release on 25 November. The film received widespread critical acclaim, with Johnson and Howard's performances earning high praise. However, despite critical acclaim, it emerged as a moderate commercial success at the box-office.

Brief Encounter received three nominations at the 19th Academy Awards for Best Director (Lean), Best Actress (Johnson) and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was one of the winners in the Grand Prix category at the 1st Cannes Film Festival, while Johnson won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress.

Many critics, historians, and scholars consider Brief Encounter as one of the greatest films of all time. In 1999, the British Film Institute ranked it the second-greatest British film of all time. In 2017, a Time Out poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers, and critics ranked it the 12th-best British film ever.
Dir: David Lean Cast: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway
Runtime: 86 mins Genre: Romance Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTRESS -- Celia Johnson {"Laura Jesson"}
DIRECTING -- David Lean
WRITING (Screenplay) -- David Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Ronald Neame

Trivia: Carnforth Station was chosen partly because it was so far from the southeast of England that it would receive sufficient warning of an air-raid attack that there would be time to turn out the filming lights to comply with wartime blackout restrictions.

Trivia: According to several Billy Wilder biographies, the scene in this movie where Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) tries to use a friend's apartment in order to be alone with Laura inspired Wilder to write "The Apartment (1960)."

5:30 AM The Racket (1928)



In this silent film, a renegade police captain sets out to catch a sadistic mob boss.
Dir: Lewis Milestone Cast: Thomas Meighan, Marie Prevost, Louis Wolheim
Runtime: 85 mins Genre: Silent Rating: TV-G CC: N

Oscar nominations:
OUTSTANDING PICTURE -- The Caddo Company

Trivia: Only one copy of the film is known to have survived. It was long thought lost before being located in Howard Hughes' film collection after his death. The film was restored and preserved by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas film department. The restored copy is frequently shown on Turner Classic Movies in the US.

7:00 AM The Big House (1930)





An attempted prison break leads to a riot.
Dir: George Hill Cast: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone
Runtime: 80 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR -- Wallace Beery {"'Machine Gun' Butch Schmidt"}
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Cosmopolitan
*WINNER* SOUND RECORDING -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Douglas Shearer, Sound Director
*WINNER* WRITING -- Frances Marion

Trivia: Frances Marion's Academy Award for Best Screenplay made her the first woman to win an Oscar in a non-acting capacity.

8:30 AM A Farewell to Arms (1932)

An American soldier falls in love with Catherine Barkley, a British nurse he meets after being wounded at the front.
Dir: Frank Borzage Cast: Helen Hayes, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou
Runtime: 89 mins Genre: Romance Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ART DIRECTION -- Hans Dreier, Roland Anderson [came in 2nd]
*WINNER* CINEMATOGRAPHY -- Charles Bryant Lang, Jr.
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Paramount [came in 2nd]
*WINNER* SOUND RECORDING -- Paramount Studio Sound Department, Franklin B. Hansen, Sound Director

Trivia: Censorship problems arose from early versions of the script, which included phases of Catherine's actual childbirth and references to labor pains, gas, her groaning and hemorrhaging. After these were removed, the MPPDA approved the script, and even issued a certificate for re-release in 1938 when the censorship rules were more strictly enforced. Still, the film was rejected in British Columbia and in Australia, where Hemingway's book was also banned.

Trivia: Ernest Hemingway hated this interpretation of his novel, as he felt it was overly romantic. That didn't stop him, however, from becoming lifelong friends with Gary Cooper, whom he met several years later. In fact, it was Hemingway who would insist that Cooper be cast in the lead of the adaptation of his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) 11 years later. However, the two made a point of never discussing this film.


10:15 AM The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)

An invalid poetess defies her father's wishes to marry a dashing young poet.
Dir: Sidney Franklin Cast: Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Charles Laughton
Runtime: 109 mins Genre: Romance Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTRESS -- Norma Shearer {"Elizabeth Barrett"} [came in 2nd]
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [came in 2nd]

Trivia: Concerned about the public's reaction, the disturbing subplot about Father Barrett's incestuous designs on his daughter was toned down by the studio. However, Charles Laughton famously remarked that they couldn't censor the "gleam" in his eye.

Trivia: When producer Irving Thalberg cast his wife, Norma Shearer, in the role of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Randolph Hearst was enraged that his mistress, Marion Davies, was not given the part. So Hearst pulled Davies out of MGM and placed her with Warner Brothers for the remainder of her career, and for over a year the name "Norma Shearer" did not appear in any Hearst newspapers. Hearst later attempted to get Davies cast in the title role in Marie Antoinette (1938)...a part that also went to Shearer.

12:15 PM Mister Roberts (1955)

A naval officer longing for active duty clashes with his vainglorious captain.
Dir: John Ford Cast: Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell
Runtime: 123 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
*WINNER* ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Jack Lemmon {"Ensign Pulver"}
BEST MOTION PICTURE -- Leland Hayward, Producer
SOUND RECORDING -- Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, William A. Mueller, Sound Director

Trivia: "Mister Roberts" was William Powell's final film appearance. He had marked difficulties retaining his lines, something that had not happened to him in earlier films. This, along with frail health (including bouts with cancer) plus a difficult Hawaii location shoot, ultimately led to the actor's decision to retire.

2:30 PM The Yearling (1946)

A Florida boy's pet deer threatens the family farm.
Dir: Clarence Brown Cast: Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman, Claude Jarman Jr.
Runtime: 134 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR -- Gregory Peck {"Pa Baxter"}
ACTRESS -- Jane Wyman {"Ma Baxter"}
*WINNER* ART DIRECTION (Color) -- Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse; Interior Decoration: Edwin B. Willis
*WINNER* CINEMATOGRAPHY (Color) -- Charles Rosher, Leonard Smith, Arthur Arling
DIRECTING -- Clarence Brown
FILM EDITING -- Harold Kress
BEST MOTION PICTURE -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

4:45 PM Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

The fantastic adventures of Englishman Phileas Fogg who, to win a bet, journeyed around the world in the "record time" of 80 days using every mode of transportation from train to boat to elephant and balloon.
Dir: Michael Anderson Cast: David Niven, Cantinflas, Robert Newton
Runtime: 170 mins Genre: Adventure Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ART DIRECTION (Color) -- Art Direction: James W. Sullivan, Ken Adam; Set Decoration: Ross J. Dowd
*WINNER* CINEMATOGRAPHY (Color) -- Lionel Lindon
COSTUME DESIGN (Color) -- Miles White
DIRECTING -- Michael Anderson
*WINNER* FILM EDITING -- Gene Ruggiero, Paul Weatherwax
*WINNER* MUSIC (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) -- Victor Young
*WINNER* BEST MOTION PICTURE -- Michael Todd, Producer
*WINNER* WRITING (Screenplay--Adapted) -- James Poe, John Farrow, S.J. Perelman

Trivia: This movie featured the longest closing credits sequence at the time, at six minutes and twenty-one seconds. All of the credits are shown at the end. The title is the last credit.

Trivia: This movie created the idea of "cameo roles" as a way to invite established stars to participate in a production.

8:00 PM True Grit (1969)

True Grit is a 1969 American Western film directed by Henry Hathaway, starring John Wayne as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, Glen Campbell as La Boeuf and Kim Darby as Mattie Ross. It is the first film adaptation of Charles Portis' 1968 novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Marguerite Roberts. Wayne won an Oscar for his performance in the film and reprised his character for the 1975 sequel Rooster Cogburn.

Historians believe Cogburn was based on Deputy U.S. Marshal Heck Thomas, who brought in some of the toughest outlaws. The cast also features Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Corey and Strother Martin. The title song, sung by Campbell, was also Oscar-nominated.

The movie's success launched a series of films including a 1975 sequel, a 1978 made-for-TV sequel, and a 2010 remake film adaptation.
Dir: Henry Hathaway Cast: John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby
Runtime: 128 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-14 CC:

Oscar nominations:
*WINNER* ACTOR -- John Wayne {"Rooster Cogburn"}
MUSIC (Song--Original for the Picture) -- "True Grit," Music by Elmer Bernstein; Lyrics by Don Black

Trivia: Elvis Presley was considered for the role of La Boeuf, the Texas Ranger. However, "Colonel" Tom Parker, his manager, insisted that Presley should receive top billing. The part was given to Glen Campbell instead.

Trivia: Despite its commercial success, John Wayne was not pleased with the finished film. He greatly disliked Kim Darby's performance, and while promoting the film for its US release in June 1969, told interviewers that he had starred in much better films, citing Stagecoach (1939) as an example. At the Oscar ceremony on April 9, 1970, Wayne personally told Richard Burton that he felt Burton should have won the Oscar for his portrayal of King Henry VIII in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969).

10:15 PM Cat Ballou (1965)

Cat Ballou is a 1965 American western comedy film starring Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin, who won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual role. The story involves a woman who hires a notorious gunman to protect her father's ranch, and later to avenge his murder, only to find that the gunman is not what she expected. The supporting cast features Tom Nardini, Michael Callan, Dwayne Hickman, and Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye, who together perform the film's theme song, and who appear throughout the film in the form of travelling minstrels or troubadours as a kind of musical Greek chorus and framing device.

The film was directed by Elliot Silverstein from a screenplay by Walter Newman and Frank Pierson adapted from the 1956 novel The Ballad of Cat Ballou by Roy Chanslor, who also wrote the novel filmed as Johnny Guitar. Chanslor's novel was a serious Western, and though it was turned into a comedy for the film, the filmmakers retained some darker elements. The film references many classic Western films, notably Shane. The film was selected by the American Film Institute as the 10th greatest Western of all time in its AFI's 10 Top 10 list in 2008.
Dir: Elliot Silverstein Cast: Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin, Michael Callan
Runtime: 96 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
*WINNER* ACTOR -- Lee Marvin {"Kid Shelleen/Tim Strawn"}
FILM EDITING -- Charles Nelson
MUSIC (Scoring of Music--adaptation or treatment) -- DeVol
MUSIC (Song) -- "The Ballad Of Cat Ballou," Music by Jerry Livingston; Lyrics by Mack David
WRITING (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) -- Walter Newman, Frank R. Pierson

Trivia: Nat 'King' Cole had a nightly singing engagement at a Lake Tahoe nightclub. He would commute daily between Lake Tahoe and the set in order to do both. Everyone noticed that Cole was coughing a great deal whenever he was on the set and losing weight, but most figured he was just running himself down with such a gruelling schedule. Unbeknownst to them and to Cole himself, he was already very sick with lung cancer.

12:00 AM Giant (1956)

Giant is a 1956 American epic drama film directed by George Stevens, from a screenplay adapted by Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat from Edna Ferber's 1952 novel.

The film stars Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean and features Carroll Baker, Jane Withers, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Rod Taylor, Elsa Cárdenas and Earl Holliman.

Giant was the last of Dean's three films as a leading actor, and earned him his second and last Academy Award nomination – he was killed in a car crash before the film was released. His friend Nick Adams was called in to do some voice dubbing for Dean's role.

In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
Dir: George Stevens Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean
Runtime: 201 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR -- James Dean {"Jett Rink"}
ACTOR -- Rock Hudson {"Bick Benedict"}
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Mercedes McCambridge {"Luz Benedict"}
ART DIRECTION (Color) -- Art Direction: Boris Leven; Set Decoration: Ralph S. Hurst
COSTUME DESIGN (Color) -- Moss Mabry, Marjorie Best
*WINNER* DIRECTING -- George Stevens
FILM EDITING -- William Hornbeck, Philip W. Anderson, Fred Bohanan
MUSIC (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) -- Dimitri Tiomkin
BEST MOTION PICTURE -- George Stevens and Henry Ginsberg, Producers
WRITING (Screenplay--Adapted) -- Fred Guiol, Ivan Moffat

Trivia: During the shoot, James Dean appeared in an informal black-and-white television commercial in which he responded to questions posed by actor Gig Young. Ironically, Dean was promoting safe driving and informed viewers, "People say racing is dangerous, but I'd rather take my chances on the track any day than on the highway." Before he left the studio, he added one piece of advice: "Drive safely, because the life you save may be mine." Dean was wearing the same hat and clothing he wore for this movie throughout the commercial. He died a few weeks later in a car crash.

3:30 AM The Westerner (1940)

A drifter accused of horse stealing faces off against the notorious Judge Roy Bean.
Dir: William Wyler Cast: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Fred Stone
Runtime: 100 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
*WINNER* ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Walter Brennan {"Judge Roy Bean"}
ART DIRECTION (Black-and-White) -- James Basevi
WRITING (Original Story) -- Stuart N. Lake

Trivia: Walter Brennan was somewhat embarrassed as to how he won three Oscars. In the early years of the Academy Awards, extras had the right to vote. Brennan was popular with the Union of Film Extras, and since their numbers were overwhelming, he won every time he was nominated. His third win for this film led to the disenfranchisement of the union from Oscar voting.


5:30 AM A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1935 American film adaptation of the Shakespearean play of the same name. It is directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle, produced by Warner Bros., and stars James Cagney, Mickey Rooney, Olivia de Havilland (in her film debut), Jean Muir, Joe E. Brown, Dick Powell, Ross Alexander, Anita Louise, Victor Jory and Ian Hunter. The screenplay, written by Charles Kenyon and Mary C. McCall Jr., is adapted from Reinhardt's Hollywood Bowl production of the play from the previous year.[2]

Felix Mendelssohn's music was extensively used, as re-orchestrated by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The ballet sequences featuring the fairies were choreographed by Ballets Russes veteran Bronislava Nijinska.

The film opened on October 30, 1935. It initially received mixed reviews and was a financial failure, but retrospective reviews have been far more positive, and it is considered one of the best film versions of Shakespeare's play.

Dir: Max Reinhardt Cast: Ian Hunter, Verree Teasdale, Hobart Cavanaugh
Runtime: 132 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR -- Sherry Shourds [came in 2nd]
[NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL NOMINATION. Write-in candidate.]
*WINNER* CINEMATOGRAPHY -- Hal Mohr
[NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL NOMINATION. Write-in candidate.]
*WINNER* FILM EDITING -- Ralph Dawson
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION -- Warner Bros.

Trivia: When the forest that Max Reinhardt designed could not be lit properly, cinematographer Hal Mohr thinned the trees slightly, sprayed them with aluminum paint and covered them with cobwebs and tiny metal particles to reflect the light. As a result, he became the first (and only) write-in winner of an Academy Award.