As they have done in past years, on Friday, January 20, to celebrate the life and career of Oscar and Tony-winning actress and Knoxville, Tennessee native Patricia Neal, TCM is presenting a day-long marathon of some of her best film film roles.
TCM starts things off at 7/6c with Neal playing second banana to Doris Day in the 1949 musical comedy, It's a Great Feeling. This movie is a film buff's dream, as it is presented as a sort of behind-the-scenes look at filmmaking, casting some of Hollywood's biggest names behind and in front of the camera as themselves in a tale of trying to get a Jack Carson movie made, despite the fact that no one wants to work with him. Among the then-heavy hitters movie-makers making guest appearances are directors King Vidor, Raoul Walsh, Michael Curtiz. In addition to Carson in the lead, a cavalcade of Warner Bros. stars including: Dennis Morgan, Ronald Reagan, Gary Cooper,Jane Wyman, Errol Flynn, Joan Crawford, Ray Heindorf, Maureen Reagan, Sydney Greenstreet and of course our birthday girl, Patricia Neal. On the fictional side, Bill Goodwin and Doris Day play Carson's fictional producer and his unknown co-star, respectively.
Up next 8:30/7:30c is the romantic comedy, John Loves Mary (1949). This marked Neal's film debut and co-stars Ronald Reagan. In a sweet opening sequence, Mary (Neal), the daughter of an American Congressman, learns that her soldier boyfriend, John (Reagan) is returning after four years in the war. She attempts to recreate the last time they saw each other, but her plans are spoiled by the arrival of John's army buddy, Fred (Jack Carson). Further complicating things, John confides in Fred that Fred's presumed-dead girlfriend Lilly (Virginia Fields) isn't dead after all, and furthermore, in order to reunite them, John had to marry her so she could enter the US.
The Fountainhead, from 1949 follows at 9:15/8:15c. Based on the book by Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead stars Gary Cooper as an architect hired to design the world's tallest building. Among his obstacles, a corrupt boss and affection for a married woman (Neal).
At 11:15/10:15c, it's 1950's Bright Leaf, in which Neal again co-stars with both Jack Carson and Gary Cooper. This drama takes place in turn-of-the-century America during the mid 1890s as two rival tobacco kingpins battle for control of the ever-growing cigarette market. Control of their industry isn't the only thing these men are at odds over. There's also the matter of Margaret Singleton (Neal) and her rival, Sonia Kovac (Lauren Bacall).
Neal stars again with her John Loves Mary pal, Ronald Reagan in The Hasty Heart, a war-time tear-jerker, at 1:15/12:15c. An interesting plot-device finds five soldiers of different nationalities the remaining patients at a soon-to-be evacuated Red Cross hospital in post-war Burma. Before they too are shipped home, doctors inform them they are to be joined briefly by a sixth soldier, a Scottish man named McLachlen (Richard Todd), who, unbeknownst to the man himself, has only a short time to live. At their doctor's urging, the men, including Reagan, Ralph Michael, Orland Martins, Howard Crawford and John Sherman, agree to befriend the gruff scot, as does Sister Margaret Parker (Neal). As the story unfolds, their forced friendships are at first tested, then questioned. Thanks to another clever plot-devise, their actions, while initially encouraged, become genuine by movie's end. The Hasty Heart is one of my favorite Neal films, and I for one and thrilled TCM decided to include it as part of this year's birthday marathon.
TV icon, Andy Griffith is front and center in the title role alongside Neal whenTCM airs A Face In The Crowd (1957) at 3/2c. As popular Arizona radio personality,Marcia Jeffries,Neal brings her man-in-the-streets program to the unlikely location of the Pickett county jail. When Sheriff Big Jeff Bess promises an early release to drunk and disorderly prisoner, Larry Lonesome Rhodes (Griffith) if he agrees to sing on Jeffries' show, Rhodes becomes an immediate media sensation. Initially just a way to bolster her own acclaim, Jeffries finds herself attracted to Rhodes, much to the chagrin of Memphis television writer, Mel Miller (Walter Matthau), who quickly develops feelings for Jeffries. As with all small-town-guy/turned-music sensation stories, along with the fame comes fan adoration and jealousy. Look forLee Remick in her film debut as Betty Lou Fleckum, one of Lonesome's above mentioned adoring female fans.
To conclude their tribute to Neal, 1968's The Subject Was Roses airs on TCM at 5:15/4:15c. The Subject Was Roses is perhaps Neal's most remember role, with the exception of her Made-for-TV turn as Olivia Walton in The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, the film that preceded the classic Waltons TV series. In the film, Neal plays Netty Cleary, mother to returning young veteranTimmy (Martin Sheen). When Timmy discovers he's returning to a house nearly divided, he attempts to reconcile his parents. While out with his father, John (Jack Albertson),Timmy suggests he buy roses for Netty. Tensions flair and figurative thorns are uncovered upon their return home. Under the direction of Ulu Grosbard, Neal and Albertson each received Oscar nominations for their work, with Albertson taking home the coveted golden statuette. Neal had won her sole career Oscar some five years prior for her work in the film Hud.
Immediately following the Patricia Neal marathon, TCM presents a rarely seen TV episode of 1955's limited-run movie-themed series, MGM Parade. Episode 8, which originally aired November 2, 1955, features clips and interviews with the stars of The Philadelphia Story and Ziegfeld Follies.
As TCM rolls into primetime, it's a Martin Balsam 3-picture mini-marathon featuring two crime dramas, 1959's Al Capone & The Anderson Tapes (1971), as well as 1977's airborne suspense thriller, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
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