TCM Schedule for Fri, May 9, 2025: Alexis Smith / The Swimmer, A Streetcar Named Desire, Duck Soup
Guest Programmer David O. Russell selects films in honor of National Health Awareness Month.
Russell is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He has earned numerous accolades including two British Academy Film Awards, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for five Academy Awards, and is best known for directing Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and American Hustle (2013).
Alexis Smith, (June 8, 1921 – June 9, 1993) was a Canadian-born American actress, pin-up girl and singer. She appeared in several major Hollywood films in the 1940s and had a notable career on Broadway in the 1970s. She was discovered in 1940 at Los Angeles City College, acting in a school production, by a Warner Bros. talent scout.
FULL BIO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Smith
DAYTIME: (EST)
6:30 AM | Whiplash (1948)
An artist becomes a boxer but finds that it may not have been the best career choice.
Dir: Lew Seile | Cast: Dane Clark, Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott
8:15 AM | The Smiling Ghost (1941)
A newswoman investigates a haunted house.
Dir: Lewis Seiler | Cast: Wayne Morris, Brenda Marshall, Alexis Smith
10:00 AM | The Doughgirls (1944)
Honeymooners in Washington get caught up in wartime crowding, with disastrous results.
Dir: James V. Kern | Cast: Ann Sheridan, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson
12:00 PM | The Woman in White (1948)
Classic mystery about the adventures of a young tutor sent to a ghostly country estate.
Dir: Peter Godfrey | Cast: Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker, Sydney Greenstreet
2:00 PM | Night and Day (1946)
Biography of songwriter Cole Porter.
Dir: Michael Curtiz | Cast: Cary Grant, Alexis Smith, Monty Woolley
4:15 PM | Any Number Can Play (1949)
The owner of a gambling casino tries to win back his estranged wife and child.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy | Cast: Clark Gable, Alexis Smith, Wendell Corey
6:00 PM | San Antonio (1945)
A reformed rustler tracks down a band of cattle thieves while reforming a crooked dance-hall girl.
Dir: David Butler | Cast: Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall
PRIME TIME, LATE NIGHT, EARLY MORNING
8:00 PM | The Swimmer (1968)
A tortured man reflects on past mistakes while "swimming" home through his neighbors' pools.
Dir: Frank Perry | Cast: Burt Lancaster, Janet Landgard, Janice Rule
10:00 PM | A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
A fading southern belle tries to build a new life with her sister in New Orleans.
Dir: Elia Kazan | Cast: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter
12:15 AM | Duck Soup (1933)
The nation of Sylvania schemes to provoke a revolution in neighboring Freedonia.
Dir: Leo McCarey | Cast: The Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont
LATE NIGHT COMEDIES
1:45 AM | Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966)
Two fliers during the Korean War compete for a beautiful Italian nurse.
Dir: Norman Panama | Cast: Tony Curtis, Virna Lisi, George C Scott
4:00 AM | Bachelor in Paradise (1961)
A writer moves into a housing development to study married couples.
Dir: Jack Arnold | Cast: Bob Hope, Lana Turner, Janis Paige