The Broadcast Log: NBC's Monday Night at the Movies, 1962–63

"The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC."

NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies was successful enough to warrant a second night on the schedule, filling in a programming hole for any fall duds the following season. Monday was the winner — er, loser? — where two freshmen dramas failed to bring in an audience. In the two seasons prior, seven new shows had come and gone, alongside four returnees that died upon their moves to Monday. With the cancellation of It's a Man's World and Saints and Sinners and migrating The Price Is Right to Friday, NBC presented another movie night — and CBS' daytime host Art Linkletter returned to NBC primetime for a Candid Camera ripoff.

Most, but not all, the Monday movies were adventure-ish films, which ran to counter CBS' always popular Monday night lineup (Lucy, Danny, and Andy). The new lineup, which premiered Feb. 4, consisted of 16 movies, all but two were in color. I assume Art Linkletter was in color because David Brinkley's Journal was in color. The competition on both CBS and ABC was black and white.

While never as popular as Saturday Night at the Movies, the Monday program, like its Saturday sibling, was popular with young people and was well-regarded, according to TvQ polls occasionally included in Broadcasting.

Programmer's Corner: Unlike the Saturday Night at the Movies, the first iteration of Monday Night at the Movies opened the night, and all but one movie stayed within the two-hour slot. The debut broadcast was followed by a special episode of The Bell Telephone Hour. The following week, a half-hour news special Eisenhower on Lincoln aired. The Art Linkletter Show didn't premiere until Feb. 18. The Monday movie directly competed with To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret, The Lucy Show, and The Danny Thomas Show on CBS and The Dakotas, The Rifleman, and Stoney Burke on ABC.

NBC MONDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES, 1962–63

Regular season

4 Feb 1963: The Enemy Below (1957, 2 hours)

During World War II, an American destroyer meets a German U-Boat. Both captains are experts, and so begins a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. (War / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Dick Powell; with Robert Mitchum, Curd Jürgens

More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 21.3

Programming Note: The one-hour Bell Telephone Hour that followed featured Pat Boone, Erik Bruhn, Mindy Carson, Joan Sutherland, and John Browning.

Ratings Report: In the New York market, this premiere came in at 28.2/36, beating CBS (25.3/33) and ABC (12.7/16.3), a 130% jump from last week.

11 Feb 1963: The Bravados (1958, 2 hours)

A man is chasing four outlaws who killed his wife and finds them in a small town's jail, but they escape to Mexico. (Western / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Henry King; with Gregory Peck, Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 19.1

18 Feb 1963: Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957, 2 hours)

During World War II, an American marine and an Irish nun form an unlikely friendship after being stranded on a South Pacific island. They find comfort in one another as the two hope for a rescue. (Adventure / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: John Huston; with Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 25.7

25 Feb 1963: King of the Khyber Rifles (1953, 2 hours)

A half-caste British officer in 19th-century India battles the prejudices of both his Army colleagues and the local populace while trying to help put down a rebellion led by a greedy local ruler. (Adventure / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Henry King; with Tyrone Power, Terry Moore, Michael Rennie
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 15.8

4 Mar 1963: Hell and High Water (1954, 2 hours)

During the Cold War, a scientific team refits a Japanese submarine and hires an ex-Navy officer to find a secret Chinese atomic island base and prevent a Communist plot against America that could trigger WW3. (Action-Adventure / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Samuel Fuller; with Richard Widmark, Bella Darvi, Victor Francen, Cameron Mitchell
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 19.8

11 Mar 1963: Prince Valiant (1954, 2 hours)

A young Viking prince strives to become a knight in King Arthur's Court and restore his exiled father to his rightful throne. (Action-Adventure / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Henry Hathaway; with James Mason, Janet Leigh, Robert Wagner, Debra Paget, Sterling Hayden, Victor McLaglen
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 15.5

18 Mar 1963: Boy on a Dolphin (1957, 2 hours)

A woman finds a treasure and is torn between two men: one who wants to sell it and one who wants to gift it to Greece. (Romance Adventure / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Jean Negulesco; with Alan Ladd, Clifton Webb, Sophia Loren
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 20.3

25 Mar 1963: From Hell to Texas (1958, 2 hours)

When ranch hand Tod Lohman accidentally kills the son of a powerful rancher, he panics and flees, but the rancher and his vengeful crew hunt Tod down. (Western / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Henry Hathaway; with Don Murray, Diane Varsi, Chill Wills, Dennis Hopper
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 17.7

1 Apr 1963: My Cousin Rachel (1952, 2 hours)

A young man plots revenge against the woman he believes murdered his cousin, but his plans are shaken when he comes face to face with the enigmatic beauty. (Film Noir / Black & White, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Henry Koster; with Olivia de Havilland, Richard Burton, Audrey Dalton
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 13.5

8 Apr 1963: April Love (1957, 2 hours)

A young man visiting his relatives' farm in Kentucky falls in love with their neighbor. (Musical / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Henry Levin; with Pat Boone, Shirley Jones

More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 18.9

15 Apr 1963: An Affair to Remember (1957, 2 hours 30 minutes)

A couple falls in love and agrees to meet in six months at the Empire State Building — but will it happen? (Romance / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Leo McCarey; with Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 18.7

Programming Note: The movie preempted The Art Linkletter Show.

22 Apr 1963: The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958, 2 hours)

In 1856, the first U.S. Consul General to Japan encounters the hostility of the local authorities and the love of a young geisha. (Adventure / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: John Huston; with John Wayne, Eiko Ando, Sam Jaffe
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd

29 Apr 1963: The Hunters (1958, 2 hours)

In 1952, during the Korean War, two American pilots become bitter enemies over the same woman but must shelf their personal feud when confronted by deadly Chinese MIG fighter jets in battle. (Action-Romance / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Dick Powell; with Robert Mitchum, Robert Wagner, Richard Egan, May Britt, Lee Philips
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 19.3

6 May 1963: Harry Black and the Tiger (1958, 2 hours)

During a hunt for a ferocious tiger terrorizing an Indian village,ex-army Major Harry Black comes across his former wife Chris and her new husband, Desmond Tanner, who met Black in a German POW camp in WW2. (Action-Adventure / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Hugo Fregonese; with Stewart Granger, Barbara Rush, Anthony Steel
More: Wikipedia | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 13.0

13 May 1963: The Mudlark (1950, 2 hours)

A young man possessed with a desire to see the Queen, slips past the Beefeaters and wanders about Windsor Castle when a state dinner is in preparation. Meanwhile, the prime minister is struggling hard to persuade the Queen to end her long seclusion. (Drama / Black & White, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Jean Negulesco; with Irene Dunne, Alec Guinness, Andrew Ray, Beatrice Campbell, Finlay Currie
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 11.6

20 May 1963: Mardi Gras (1958, 2 hours)

A military school cadet wins a date with a French movie goddess who happens to be the queen of the "Mardi Gras" parade. They fall in love, but Carère's movie studio wants to capitalize on this newly found love for publicity. (Musical / Color, 20th Century Fox)

Director: Edmund Goulding; with Pat Boone, Christine Carère, Tommy Sands, Sheree North, Gary Crosby, Fred Clark
More: Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd; Nielsen Rating: 15.9

Summer season
(Movies aired entirely in their allotted timeslot unless otherwise noted.)

27 May 1963: The Enemy Below (1957)

3 Jun 1963: The Bravados (1958)

10 Jun 1963: Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

17 Jun 1963: King of the Khyber Rifles (1953)

24 Jun 1963: From Hell to Texas (1958)

1 Jul 1963: Hell and High Water (1954)

8 Jul 1963: Boy on a Dolphin (1957)

15 Jul 1963: An Affair to Remember (1957)
Programming Note: Like the premiere, the movie preempted The Art Linkletter Show.

22 Jul 1963: The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958)

29 Jul 1963: Prince Valiant (1954)

5 Aug 1963: My Cousin Rachel (1952)

12 Aug 1963: April Love (1957)

19 Aug 1963: The Hunters (1958)

26 Aug 1963: Mardi Gras (1958)

2 Sep 1963: American Revolution of '63

Less than a week after Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, NBC presented this three-hour, Peabody Award-winning news special about Black Americans' "long struggle for equality, as well as handsome evidence of the stature of the television medium."

9 Sep 1963: Harry Black and the Tiger (1958)

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NBC's NIGHT AT THE MOVIES

Sources: IMDb and Letterboxd for movie information; Television Obscurities, Cedar Rapids Gazette, and San Bernardino Sun for listing information; Wikipedia listed runtime information was confirmed but slight variations exist (5 or 10 minutes) depending on the source; if you see bad links or incorrect information, please let me know in the comments.

THE 1960s... 61–62: Sat | 62–63: Mon, Sat | 63–64: Mon, Sat | 64–65: Wed, Sat | 65–66: Tue, Sat | 66–67: Tue, Sat | 67–68: Tue, Sat | 68–69: Mon, Tue, Sat | 69–70: Mon, Tue, Sat