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Lucy.
Saturday February 23, 2008
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Saturday, February 23,2008 7:30 AM
Sunday, April 6,2008 6:00 PM
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Shadow of a Doubt |
Alfred Hitchcock especially liked Shadow of a Doubt (1943), he once said, "because it was one of those rare occasions where you could combine character with suspense. Usually in a suspense story there isn't time to develop character." In this picture, it's the very nature of the relationship between two richly-drawn characters - Teresa Wright's "Charlie" and Joseph Cotten's "Uncle Charlie" - which creates suspense for the audience. The two share an almost telepathic connection, with Wright especially devoted to her beloved uncle, who has come to visit her family in Santa Rosa, California. What she doesn't know is that Uncle Charlie has come to town in order to throw the police off his trail, for he is really the "Merry Widow Murderer" and has been killing rich widows back east. Gradually, Charlie begins to suspect him.
Given its seamlessness, it's surprising that the screenplay was the product of at least six writers (four credited), including Hitchcock himself. The project began when the head of David Selznick's story department, Margaret McDonell, told Hitchcock that her husband Gordon had an interesting idea for a novel that she thought would make a good movie. His idea, called Uncle Charlie, was based on the true story of Earle Leonard Nelson, a mass murderer of the 1920s known as the Merry Widow Murderer. Hitchcock met with the couple over lunch at the Brown Derby restaurant, loved the pitch, and asked Gordon to type a 9-page outline. (McDonell would go on to earn an Oscar® nomination for Best Original Story.)
Outline in hand, Hitchcock put in a request for Thornton Wilder to write the script. He had admired Wilder's recent play Our Town and wanted to incorporate a similar sense of small-town American life into the movie. Furthermore, the director was eager to work with top writers. Hitchcock remembered, "In England I'd always had the collaboration of the finest writers, but in America - writers looked down their noses at the genre I work in. That's why it was so gratifying to find out that one of America's most eminent playwrights was willing to work with me and, indeed, that he took the whole thing quite seriously." As a matter of fact, Wilder at first wasn't terribly interested in the project. He knew he was about to receive military orders and took the job as a way to make some extra last-minute cash to help his ailing sister. But when he met Hitchcock in Los Angeles and felt the director's respect for his work, Wilder's enthusiasm rose greatly. Hitchcock recalled that they "worked together in the morning, and [Wilder] would work on his own in the afternoon, writing by hand in a school notebook. He never worked consecutively, but jumped about from one scene to another according to his fancy."
Wilder also gave input about other aspects of the production and even assisted Hitchcock in the location scouting, personally approving the town of Santa Rosa and the house in which the characters lived. After five weeks in California, Wilder was ordered to report for training at Army Air Intelligence in Florida. The script was largely but not totally complete, and Hitchcock accompanied Wilder back east on the Super Chief so they could finish their discussions.
Back in L.A., Sally Benson (who had just written the novel Meet Me in St. Louis) came on board to inject some comedic moments, and Hitchcock's wife Alma Reville also contributed to the script. Her influence on her husband's films cannot be overemphasized. She had her own career as a film editor when the two met and married in 1929, and she collaborated closely on all his movies - especially the scripts, usually uncredited. Shadow was one of the few titles for which she did receive a credit. One of the greatest compliments Hitchcock could ever give an actor or crewmember was, "Alma liked it." They were still married when Hitchcock died in 1980.
Actress Patricia Collinge, who plays Cotten's sister, also wrote at least one scene, the one between Teresa Wright and Macdonald Carey in a garage in which the couple talk about love and marriage.
But the final writer was Hitchcock himself. He devoted an unusual amount of time to the screenplay, even writing extensive dialogue - something he rarely did. The speech that Patricia Collinge delivers about what her brother Joseph Cotten was like as a boy, for instance, was drawn from Hitchcock's own life experience. And Collinge's character was named "Emma" after Hitchcock's own mother - "the last benevolent rendering of a mother figure in Hitchcock's films," wrote Hitchcock biographer Donald Spoto. Indeed, after this picture, Hitchcock's films would be filled with possessive, tyrannical, deranged, or evil mothers. One reason for this is that during the writing of Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock's mother became seriously ill in England, and he was unable to visit her because of the difficulties of wartime traveling. She would die during production. According to Spoto, "Hitchcock poured his soul into the first spiritually autobiographical film of his career. Shadow of a Doubt would become a handbook of all the literary and cultural influences on his own life, and it would be as near as he would ever get to wearing his private heart on his public and professional sleeve."
Resulting from all these writers' hands was a remarkably subversive movie, something of a flip side to Our Town. The town in the film is sunny and pleasant on the surface, but underneath runs a river of uncertainty and anxiety. Considering it was made in the middle of WWII, to find such a dark and disturbing portrait of smalltown America in a major studio production was quite amazing.
Hitchcock assembled a perfect cast, borrowing Joseph Cotten from David O. Selznick and Teresa Wright from Samuel Goldwyn. Wright had just won an Oscar® for Mrs. Miniver (1942, and had been nominated twice before). Her Broadway career, ironically, had begun as an understudy to Dorothy McGuire in Our Town, and it's possible that Wilder suggested her to Hitchcock. Cotten's likable, easygoing persona makes him a sympathetic protagonist, at least at first, and it provided a nice contrast in the riveting scenes where his inner evil surfaces from deep within. Cotten recalled of Hitchcock, "He said I should dress as if I were a rich man going to a resort for a vacation. No director was ever easier to work with." Wright echoed Cotten, stating, "During the shooting he made us feel very relaxed. His direction never came across as instruction...He saw the film completely in his mind before we began - as if he had a little projection room in his head."
Shadow of a Doubt also features the screen debut of Hume Cronyn, who would go on to appear in Lifeboat (1944) and then collaborate with Hitchcock on the treatments of Rope (1948) and Under Capricorn (1949). Wright's little sister Ann was played by the daughter of a local Santa Rosa grocer, whom Hitchcock discovered on a location shoot.
As always, Hitchcock paid great attention to every detail of the production, even arranging for the train that carries Cotten to Santa Rosa to belch black smoke when it pulls into town, "one of those ideas," he remarked, "for which you go to a lot of trouble although it's seldom noticed." Also on that train, look for the master himself in his cameo, playing poker.
Producer: Jack H. Skirball
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay: Sally Benson, Joan Harrison, Gordon McDonell, Alma Reville, Thornton Wilder
Cinematography: Joseph A. Valentine
Film Editing: Milton Carruth
Art Direction: John B. Goodman
Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Cast: Joseph Cotten (Charlie Oakley), Teresa Wright (Young Charlie Newton), Macdonald Carey (Jack Graham), Henry Travers (Joseph Newton), Patricia Collinge (Emma Newton), Wallace Ford (Fred Saunders).
BW-108m. Closed Captioning.
by Jeremy Arnold
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Sports - 2/22
Place your bets on your favorite challenger in our six film competition that includes James Garner in Grand Prix (1966), Champion (1949) with Kirk Douglas & other Oscar® honorees.
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| | Posted by Lucy. at 1:07 AM - | |
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Friday February 22, 2008
| 3:30am |
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Pocketful Of Miracles (1961)   
A good-hearted gangster turns an old apple seller into a society matron so she can impress her daughter.
Cast: Bette Davis, Glenn Ford, Hope Lange. Dir: Frank Capra. C-137 mins, TV-G |
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| 6:00am |
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Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)
True story of Annette Kellerman, the world's first great swimming star.
Cast: Esther Williams, Victor Mature, Walter Pidgeon. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. C-110 mins, TV-G |
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| 8:00am |
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This Sporting Life (1963)
A rugby player finds the violence in his professional life tainting his personal relationships.
Cast: Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel. Dir: Lindsay Anderson. BW-134 mins, TV-MA |
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| 10:30am |
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Pride Of The Yankees, The (1942)
Baseball legend Lou Gehrig faces a crippling disease at the height of his success.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Walter Brennan. Dir: Sam Wood. BW-128 mins, TV-PG |
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| 12:45pm |
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Champion (1949)
An unscrupulous boxer claws his way to the top.
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Arthur Kennedy, Ruth Roman. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-99 mins, TV-PG |
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| 2:30pm |
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Grand Prix (1966)
Auto racers find danger and romance at the legendary European road race.
Cast: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand. Dir: John Frankenheimer. C-176 mins, TV-14 |
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| 5:32pm |
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Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Touche, Pussycat (1954)
C-7 mins |
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| 5:45pm |
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Fortune Cookie, The (1966)
A crooked lawyer trumps up an insurance case for a cameraman injured at a pro football game.
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Cliff Osmond. Dir: Billy Wilder. BW-126 mins, TV-PG |
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| What's On Tonight: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: 70'S | |
| 8:00pm |
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Heaven Can Wait (1978)
When a football player dies early, he gets a second chance in the body of a crooked industrialist.
Cast: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, James Mason. Dir: Warren Beatty, Buck Henry. C-101 mins, TV-14 |
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| 9:45pm |
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Goodbye Girl, The (1977)
A dancer discovers her runaway boyfriend has sublet her apartment to an aspiring actor.
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings. Dir: Herbert Ross. C-111 mins, TV-MA |
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| 11:45pm |
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Manhattan (1979)
A TV comedy writer falls for his best friend's girl.
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep. Dir: Woody Allen. BW-96 mins, TV-MA |
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| 1:30am |
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Love Story (1970)
Students from opposite sides of the tracks fight for their love.
Cast: Ali MacGraw, Ryan O'Neal, Ray Milland. Dir: Arthur Hiller. C-100 mins, TV-MA |
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| 3:15am |
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Equus (1977)
A psychoanalyst tries to help a young man who blinded a stable full of horses.
Cast: Richard Burton, Peter Firth, Joan Plowright. Dir: Sidney Lumet. C-138 mins, TV-MA |
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| | Posted by Lucy. at 12:33 AM - | |
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Thursday February 21, 2008
| 5:00am |
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On The Waterfront (1954)
A young stevedore takes on the mobster who rules the docks.
Cast: Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Steiger. Dir: Elia Kazan. BW-108 mins, TV-PG |
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| 5:53am |
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Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Don'T Talk (1942)
BW-22 mins |
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| 7:15am |
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From Here To Eternity (1953)
Enlisted men in Hawaii fight for love and honor on the eve of World War II.
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra. Dir: Fred Zinnemann. BW-118 mins, TV-PG |
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| 9:15am |
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Strategic Air Command (1955)
A baseball star takes to the air to help plan the U.S.' aerial defense.
Cast: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy. Dir: Anthony Mann. C-114 mins, TV-G |
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| 11:15am |
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Action In The North Atlantic (1943)
A Merchant Marine crew fights off enemy attacks at the start of World War II.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Raymond Massey, Alan Hale. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. BW-127 mins, TV-G |
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| 1:30pm |
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Commandos Strike At Dawn, The (1942)
A Norwegian refugee leads the British in an attack against his country's Nazi invaders.
Cast: Paul Muni, Anna Lee, Lillian Gish. Dir: John Farrow. BW-100 mins, TV-G |
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| 3:15pm |
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Sergeant York (1941)
True story of the farm boy who made the transition from religious pacifist to World War I hero.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Margaret Wycherly. Dir: Howard Hawks. BW-134 mins, TV-G |
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| 5:45pm |
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King Rat (1965)
A U.S. officer in a World War II Japanese POW camp tries to raise money to buy his fellow prisoners' freedom.
Cast: George Segal, Tom Courtenay, James Fox. Dir: Bryan Forbes. BW-134 mins, TV-PG |
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| What's On Tonight: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: 60'S | |
| 8:00pm |
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Dirty Dozen, The (1967)
A renegade officer trains a group of misfits for a crucial mission behind enemy lines.
Cast: Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, Charles Bronson. Dir: Robert Aldrich. C-150 mins, TV-PG |
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| 10:45pm |
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Great Escape, The (1963)
Thrown together by the Germans, a group of captive Allied troublemakers plot a daring escape.
Cast: James Garner, Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough. Dir: John Sturges. C-172 mins, TV-PG |
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| 1:45am |
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Thomas Crown Affair, The (1968)
A bored tycoon turns to bank robbery and courts the insurance investigator assigned to bring him in.
Cast: Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Burke. Dir: Norman Jewison. C-102 mins, TV-14 |
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| 3:30am |
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Pocketful Of Miracles (1961)
A good-hearted gangster turns an old apple seller into a society matron so she can impress her daughter.
Cast: Bette Davis, Glenn Ford, Hope Lange. Dir: Frank Capra. C-137 mins, TV-G |
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  | | Posted by Lucy. at 9:23 PM - | |
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Tuesday February 19, 2008
| 5:15am |
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Mrs. Miniver (1942)
A British family struggles to survive the first days of World War II.
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright. Dir: William Wyler. BW-134 mins, TV-G |
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| 7:30am |
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Red Danube, The (1949)
A Russian ballerina in Vienna tries to flee KGB agents and defect.
Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Janet Leigh, Ethel Barrymore. Dir: George Sidney. BW-119 mins, TV-PG |
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| 9:30am |
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Comrade X (1940)
An American warms up an icy Russian streetcar conductor.
Cast: Clark Gable, Hedy Lamarr, Eve Arden. Dir: King Vidor. BW-90 mins, TV-G |
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| 11:00am |
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Ice Station Zebra (1968)
A sub commander on a perilous mission must ferret out a Soviet agent on his ship.
Cast: Rock Hudson, Patrick McGoohan, Jim Brown. Dir: John Sturges. C-152 mins, TV-PG |
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| 1:45pm |
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Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming, The (1966)
When a Russian sub runs aground in New England, it creates a local panic.
Cast: Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Saint, Alan Arkin. Dir: Norman Jewison. C-126 mins, TV-PG |
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| 4:00pm |
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Ninotchka (1939)
A coldhearted Soviet agent is warmed up by a trip to Paris and a night of love.
Cast: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire. Dir: Ernst Lubitsch. BW-111 mins, TV-G |
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| 6:00pm |
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One, Two, Three (1961)
A Coca-Cola executive in West Berlin tries to keep the boss's daughter from marrying a Communist.
Cast: James Cagney, Horst Buchholz, Arlene Francis. Dir: Billy Wilder. BW-108 mins, TV-PG |
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| What's On Tonight: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: 50'S | |
| 8:00pm |
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Some Like It Hot (1959)
Two musicians on the run from gangsters masquerade as members of an all-girl band.
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis. Dir: Billy Wilder. BW-121 mins, TV-PG |
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| 10:15pm |
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Stalag 17 (1953)
A cynical serviceman in a World War II POW camp has to prove he's not an informer.
Cast: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger. Dir: Billy Wilder. BW-120 mins, TV-PG |
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| 12:30am |
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Caine Mutiny, The (1954)
Naval officers begin to suspect their captain of insanity.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Jose Ferrer, Van Johnson. Dir: Edward Dmytryk. C-125 mins, TV-PG |
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| 2:45am |
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Buccaneer, The (1958)
French pirate Jean Lafitte tries to redeem his name helping the U.S. in the War of 1812.
Cast: Yul Brynner, Charlton Heston, Claire Bloom. Dir: Anthony Quinn. C-120 mins, TV-PG |
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| | Posted by Lucy. at 9:13 PM - | |
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Monday February 18, 2008
| 4:45am |
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Great Ziegfeld, The (1936)
Lavish biography of Flo Ziegfeld, the producer who became Broadway's biggest starmaker.
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer. Dir: Robert Z. Leonard. C-185 mins, TV-G |
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| 7:55am |
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San Antonio (1945)
A reformed rustler tracks down a band of cattle thieves and tries to reform a crooked dance-hall girl.
Cast: Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, S.Z. Sakall. Dir: David Butler. C-109 mins, TV-PG |
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| 9:45am |
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Arizona (1940)
A tough pioneer woman needs a young man's help in fighting land grabbers and finding love.
Cast: William Holden, Jean Arthur, Warren William. Dir: Wesley Ruggles. BW-122 mins, TV-G |
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| 12:00pm |
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Cimarron (1931)
A husband and wife fight to survive in the early days of the Oklahoma Territory.
Cast: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Edna May Oliver. Dir: Wesley Ruggles. BW-124 mins, TV-PG |
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| 2:15pm |
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Cimarron (1960)
A pioneer couple plays a major role in the settling of Oklahoma.
Cast: Glenn Ford, Maria Schell, Anne Baxter. Dir: Anthony Mann. C-148 mins, TV-PG |
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| 4:45pm |
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Hondo (1954)
An Army man takes a widow and her son under his wing in Apache territory.
Cast: John Wayne, Geraldine Page, Ward Bond. Dir: John Farrow. C-84 mins, TV-PG |
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| 6:15pm |
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Tin Star, The (1957)
An experienced bounty hunter helps a young sheriff learn the meaning of his badge.
Cast: Henry Fonda, Anthony Perkins, Betsy Palmer. Dir: Anthony Mann. BW-93 mins, TV-PG |
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| What's On Tonight: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: WESTERNS | |
| 7:49pm |
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Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Greetings Bait (1943)
C-7 mins |
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| 8:00pm |
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Ox-Bow Incident, The (1943)
A loner gets caught up in a posse's drive to find and hang three suspected rustlers.
Cast: Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn. Dir: William A. Wellman. BW-76 mins, TV-14 |
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| 9:20pm |
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Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Facing Your Danger (1946)
Conquering the Colorado River is no easy task but the men in this exciting short make it look so easy!
Cast: Knox Manning Dir: Edwin E. Olsen C-10 mins |
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| 9:30pm |
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Duel In The Sun (1946)
A fiery half-breed comes between a rancher's good and evil sons.
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten. Dir: King Vidor. C-144 mins, TV-14 |
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| 12:00am |
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Samson and Delilah (1949)
Epic re-telling of the story of the Biblical strongman laid low by love.
Cast: Hedy Lamarr, Victor Mature, Angela Lansbury. Dir: Cecil B. DeMille. C-128 mins, TV-PG |
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| 2:15am |
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Since You Went Away (1944)
A mother and wife struggle to cope while her husband is off serving in World War II.
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten. Dir: John Cromwell. BW-177 mins, TV-G |
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 | | | Posted by Lucy. at 10:09 PM - | |
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