I’ve known Jay Bobbin for over 40 years. Over that time, the nationally syndicated feature writer has asked more smart questions at Television Critics Association press gatherings than any other reporter. TCA press tours would not have been the same without his FM radio voice.
Today on Facebook he posts the following informed and comprehensive report on TCM’s fun lineup of Canada-adjacent movies scheduled for July 1st, Canada Day. Jack Carson? Jean Adair? Jay knows more about Canadian actors than most Canadians! Kudos to my American friend for pointing them all out and cheers to TCM — especially this year — for scheduling this salute.
Happy Canada Day: TCM salutes that country’s talents
By Jay Bobbin
Tuesday, July 1, is Canada Day – and Turner Classic Movies will spend most of it by staging an appropriate celebration.
Through much of that day, the channel will present films featuring stars who hailed from that country. To viewers elsewhere, that might be surprising in some cases, particularly when it comes to performers who helped build the film industry … but Canadians generally know who came from their homeland to attain widespread fame across borders.
The first feature, “Coquette,” marked the first “talking picture” for Toronto, Ont., native Mary Pickford after being one of the silent era’s top stars. Released by United Artists, of which she was a co-founder, it casts her as a flirtatious woman who has her own plans for her future … to the frustration of her doctor father (John St. Polis).
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Then, “Marie Antoinette” (1938) offers Norma Shearer – who was born in Montreal, Que. — in the title role of the 18th-century French queen for whom romance and power were intertwined. In fact, a Power by the first name of Tyrone is one of the leading men in the expensive-for-its-time film.
Next is the Frank Capra-directed “Arsenic and Old Lace” (1944), adapting the stage hit and starring Cary Grant as a newlywed writer who comes to suspect relatives of wrongdoing, Canadians in the cast include Toronto native Raymond Massey, Jack Carson (from Carman, Man.) and Jean Adair (originally of Hamilton, Ont., and reprising her Broadway role here).
The 1946 screen version of “The Postman Always Rings Twice” follows, with earlier London, Ont., resident Hume Cronyn as the lawyer for a woman (Lana Turner) who convinces a drifter (John Garfield) to help kill her husband (Cecil Kellaway). The film was adapted from the novel by James M. Cain.
After that, the sci-fi classic “Forbidden Planet” (1956) parallels Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” with Regina, Sask., native Leslie Nielsen as the commander of a spacecraft probing what happened to another ship. Walter Pidgeon (from Saint John, N.B.) plays Dr. Morbius, a survivor of the earlier mission.
Fay Wray was born in Cardston, Alb., 26 years before she was seen famous shrieking in the paws of “King Kong” in the 1933 landmark that’s the next movie in the Canadian-centric festival. It remained her most famous project though she continued to work until her 1980 retirement.
Finally, two talents of relatively modern vintage – Rick Moranis (of Toronto) and Dave Thomas (of St. Catharines, Ont.) – bring their “SCTV” television characters Bob and Doug McKenzie to the comedy “Strange Brew” (1983). After the picture opens with their signature “Great White North” TV segment, the beer-loving McKenzie siblings battle a sinister brewer (Max von Sydow) and his plans for massive mind control. Moranis and Thomas also directed and co-wrote the movie.
Canada certainly has exported its share of film artists, and thanks to TCM, viewers in various locales can celebrate that country’s holiday via a large sampling of such entertainers.
