Highlights of TCMFF 2021

Between May 6th and 9th, I was among the many fans of Turner Classic Movies who spent their weekend glued to their television to participate in the 2021 TCM Classic Film Festival. For the second year in a row, the festival was a virtual experience, taking place on the channel, on HBO Max, and on Zoom for some virtual Club TCM events.

When I go to the TCM Film Festival in person, I usually watch a mix of old favorite movies and things I’ve never seen before. But with the virtual format this year, I ended up leaning very heavily toward things I had never seen before. Usually, it’s the experience factor that draws me to the old favorites during an in-person festival, whether it’s being able to see a movie in a specific theater or because of a special guest introducing it. Since that wasn’t as much of a factor this time around (any special intros I wanted to see could be watched separately from the movie), I decided to check out as many movies as I could that I had never seen before.

This approach worked out remarkably well. During the festival, I watched 16 feature-length movies that were new to me and I didn’t outright dislike any of them. Of course, I liked some more than others, but I came out of this being introduced to a lot of great movies. As far as movies go, my favorite discoveries this year (in no particular order) included: 

• Dogfight (1991)
• They Won’t Believe Me (1947)
• Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
• Diner (1982)
• The Getaway (1972)

They really did a great job of including movies that don’t quite get the attention they deserve and I’m really glad I took the time to give them a shot. In the end, the list of movies I watched ran the gamut from Georges Melies to River Phoenix. There were also several other features that I felt added a lot to the whole experience.

Plan 9 From Outer Space Table Read & Movie 

When the schedule for this year’s festival was first announced, I was immediately excited to see that we’d be getting some midnight movie style content this year. First up was a table read of the script for Plan 9 From Outer Space, which was originally produced by Dana Gould for SF Sketchfest with performers such as Bob Odenkirk, Paul F. Tompkins, Laraine Newman, Jonah Ray, and Oscar Nunez, just to name a few, bringing the script to life. I knew this was going to be a lot of fun to watch, but it far exceeded my expectations. Every performer involved brought their A game and it was an absolute riot. Laraine Newman’s deadpan narration was perfection. And being able to watch the movie version of Plan 9 immediately afterward made the whole thing even better. Definitely my favorite experience of the festival.

West Side Story Cast Reunion

This year’s opening night movie was West Side Story, starting with a conversation between Ben Mankiewicz, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, and Russ Tamblyn. I’ve watched a lot of these interviews at the festival over the years and this was one of the best. The camaraderie between the actors is still so strong and the conversation was fascinating. They took time to talk about Yvonne Othon, who is the actress who says, “I know you do!” during the America number. This was an ad-libbed line which has made such an impression that it not only stayed in the movie, it’s worked its way into theatrical productions over the years. Rita Moreno told an adorable story about Olivia de Havilland fawning over George Chakiris at the Oscars. Rita’s remarks about the movie were particularly interesting since she made it clear that the movie means the world to her, but that doesn’t stop her from criticizing it for where it falls short in terms of race.

Jet Jockeys in Love: The Making of Chain Lightning

Jet Jockeys in Love: The Making of Chain Lightning was another one of the things I was most excited to see in the lineup. This presentation by Craig Barron and Ben Burtt focused on the special effects in 1950’s Chain Lightning and was every bit as fun and informative as the presentations they do at the in-person festival each year. The movie Chain Lightning didn’t end up being one of my favorite Humphrey Bogart movies, but the presentation was top notch.

Tribute Interviews

Conversations with actors are always one of the biggest draws at the festival and this year, we had excellent, brand new interviews with Ali MacGraw, Danny Glover, and Martin Short as part of the Tributes section on HBO Max. All of these were actors I was somewhat familiar with, but didn’t really know a whole lot about their lives and careers. Each of these interviews ended up making me want to see more of each actor’s work and learn more about them in general. Of the three, I was probably least familiar with Ali MacGraw, but I watched her interview after seeing The Getaway and ended up being so charmed by her that I later watched Love Story, even though it hadn’t really been on my radar going into the festival.

The Restorations

New film restorations are another very consistent programming feature at the TCM Film Festival, but it seemed like this year had an exceptionally good group of restorations. A big highlight for me was They Won’t Believe Me, which featured 15 minutes of footage that had been cut from its initial release. I had never seen They Won’t Believe Me before, so I’m glad that I was able to see it for the first time as producer Joan Harrison wanted it to be seen. Picture quality was excellent as well.

Other restorations this year included Doctor X, The Whistle at Eaton Falls, Her Man, So This is Paris, and Princess Tam Tam, all of which looked spectacular. Annie Get Your Gun was another restoration, which I didn’t catch when it aired, but I’ve heard wonderful things about that restoration.

The Melies Mystery

As a silent film fan, of course I was delighted to see that HBO Max included a collection related to George Melies. The Melies shorts were great, but the real star was the new documentary The Melies Mystery. This documentary explains how original camera negatives of several of his films were found in the United States despite the fact that Melies himself had personally destroyed his original negatives. If you have any interest at all in silent film or film preservation, this documentary is a must-see. I’m always fascinated by stories about how lost films are re-located and this story has some very unexpected twists. I liked this documentary so much that I watched it twice.

The Extras

During the 2020 festival, the movies shown on Turner Classic Movies were often supplemented with things like interviews from previous festivals. This year, they did the same, but it wasn’t necessarily limited to material from past festivals. Both on TCM and HBO Max, viewers could see extras ranging from brand new introductions to mini-documentaries that added to the festival vibe.

On Turner Classic Movies, Diner, Mean Streets, Fame, and The Goodbye Girl respectively had introductions/interviews with Barry Levinson, Martin Scorsese, Debbie Allen, and Richard Dreyfuss. There was also a mini-documentary about director Michael Curtiz’s work in horror films that was shown along with Doctor X and let me come in featured a documentary about the work of Bill Morrison. On HBO Max, there were things like a conversation between Alicia Malone and Danny Huston about The Maltese Falcon, a fun featurette by Bruce Goldstein about famous filming locations in New York City, and movie introductions by people like Lisa Rinna and Michael Douglas, all of which were recorded specifically for the festival. HBO Max also had lots of other extras from the TCM archive and DVD/Blu-ray releases.

Overall, I really enjoyed this year’s virtual version of the festival. Last year, they had limited time to switch to a virtual format, but the extra preparation that went into this year’s fest showed and I felt like it more effectively captured the essence of the festival. I dearly miss being able to do the festival in person and being able to spend time with my friends there, but this was an example of how good a virtual film festival can potentially be. And, as always, I’ve been spending the past few days after the festival trying to catch up on some of the things I didn’t have time to see. Whether the festival is virtual or in person, I will never have time to truly do it all.

Looking Ahead to TCMFF 2021

Spring has arrived, which means it’s TCM Classic Film Festival season once again. As was the case in 2020, this year’s festival will be fully virtual. But while last year’s festival was fully on the Turner Classic Movies channel (with additional content posted to YouTube), this year’s festival will be a more expansive experience with additional movies available on HBO Max and Club TCM events taking place on Zoom. This approach adds to the festival vibe by giving people different venues to attend, so to speak, and lets people have the fun of choosing what they want to watch. (Visit the TCM Classic Film Festival website to see all movies playing on TCM and HBO Max during the festival.)

In some ways, planning what to watch for the virtual festival could potentially be even more challenging than planning for the in-person festival. Doing the festival in person means each day has a set start time and a set end time, so even if you go really hard and pack your days with as many events and screenings as possible, there will still be a point when there aren’t any official things to do. But with the virtual format, you can watch movies for a full 24 hours if you really want to, so it could end up feeling like an even longer marathon. And when in-person events are going on, there are only a handful of them happening at any given time. In this case, if you aren’t into what’s playing on TCM, there are over 50 other movies to choose from on HBO Max.

At the time of writing this post, the virtual Club TCM event schedule hasn’t been announced, so I haven’t figured out a real schedule for myself yet. The Club TCM events at the in-person festival are consistently excellent, so I know there will very likely be some that I’ll want to check out this year. Since those will be on a set schedule and will have limited capacity, I’m waiting on that schedule. But as it stands now, here are some of the things I’m most excited to see.

On TCM

The festival officially kicks off on Thursday, May 6 at 8:00 PM with West Side Story and a virtual cast reunion of Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, and Russ Tamblyn, which is easily going to be a must-see for me. West Side Story is followed by Mean Streets, which is one I’ve been meaning to revisit for a while, but I may switch over to HBO Max depending on my mood that day. At 1:30 AM is 1932’s Doctor X, which I really hope I can stay up for because they’ll be showing a brand new restoration that I’m excited to see. If you saw the recent beautiful restoration of Mystery of the Wax Museum, you’ll understand why I’m so eager for the Doctor X restoration.

GREASE 2, from left: Alison Price, Christopher McDonald, Lorna Luft, Adrian Zmed, Michelle Pfeiffer, Maxwell Caulfield, Maureen Teefy, Peter Frechette, Leif Green, 1982, © Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection

From Friday’s schedule, the big highlights for me are the Plan 9 From Outer Space table read at 8:00 PM, the screening of Plan 9 From Outer Space at 9:30 PM, and Grease 2 at 11:00 PM. Every year that I’ve done the festival in person, the midnight movies have always been a major highlight, so I’m very excited to see that those types of movies are being represented in this year’s lineup. The Plan 9 table read should be a lot of fun, and while I haven’t seen Grease 2 in its entirety, I’ve seen enough to know that it’s perfect late night movie material. Earlier in the day at 10:00 AM is Whistle at Eaton Falls, which would be a new one to me. I’ll be sure to set my DVR for the 3:15 AM showing of let me come in, which consists of footage from 1928’s Pawns of Passion, a now lost film, along with an opera score. let me come in is directed by Bill Morison, director of the Dawson City: Frozen Time documentary, which I really enjoyed.

LADY SINGS THE BLUES, Diana Ross, 1972.

On Saturday, I will likely spend much of the day checking out stuff on HBO Max and switch over to TCM in prime time. At 8:00 PM is the restored version of 1947’s They Won’t Believe Me, followed by Lady Sings the Blues at 10:00 PM and Diner at 12:45 AM. I also love the whole Saturday morning cartoon concept with the documentary Tex Avery: The King of Cartoons at 6:00 AM and Tex Avery at MGM at 7:00 AM.

So This Is Paris (1926) Directed by Ernst Lubitsch Shown from left: Lilyan Tashman, André Beranger

Sunday’s lineup has a couple of restorations I’m really looking forward to: 1930’s Her Man at 8:45 AM and 1935’s Princess Tam Tam at 12:45 PM. The two big highlights of the day for me are the Hollywood Home Movies presentation at 7:00 PM the 8:00 PM showing of Ernst Lubitsch’s silent So This is Paris, with a new musical score by Ben Model. I saw So This is Paris at the festival a few years ago and I’m very excited to be able to see it again. Hollywood Home Movies is always one of the events I most look forward to at the festival and I’m happy that a wider audience will now be able to experience it. Later, there’s The Goodbye Girl at 9:30 PM with a conversation with Richard Dreyfus, Fame at 11:45 PM with a conversation with Debbie Allen, and the French new wave classic Breathless at 2:15 AM.

On HBO Max

The movies on HBO Max are organized into various collections, like tributes to Ali McGraw, Danny Glover, and Martin Short; movies introduced by their directors; The L.A. Rebellion; Immigrants in America; Hawks & The Art of Comedy; and The Streets of New York.

The Essentials and Discoveries collections are the biggest collections in the streaming library. In the Essentials collection, there are several classic Hollywood staples like Top Hat, The Maltese Falcon, The Searchers, North by Northwest, and The Thin Man. The Discoveries collection includes lots of great movies which might be new to people, like So This is Paris, Chain Lightning, The Mortal Storm, Victim, Cleo from 5 to 7, and The Decline of Western Civilization.

All of the movies available through HBO Max include bonus materials, ranging from actor/director introductions to introductions by Robert Osborne, discussions between Ben Mankiewicz and various guests, and other supporting content from TCM. Some of these extra features are brand new, others have aired on TCM in the past.

Out of everything on HBO Max, I was most excited to see 1950’s Chain Lightning in the lineup, a Humphrey Bogart movie I’ve never seen before. Best of all, the bonus feature for it is a presentation by Craig Barron and Ben Burtt about the production of the movie. Barron and Burtt presentations are a regular feature at the in-person festival and are a must-see for many of the people who attend. Their presentation on the effects in Raiders of the Lost Ark in 2019 was excellent and I can’t wait to see what they have to say about Chain Lightning.

Another huge highlight of the streaming library for me is 1981’s The Decline of Western Civilization. This was on TCM during Labor Day weekend 2020 as part of their End of Summer Tour programming, but I wasn’t able to catch the whole thing so I’m glad to have another chance to see it. This one also features a conversation between Jacqueline Stewart and director Penelope Spheeris, which I definitely want to see. I may end up diverting a little bit from the official programming by following it up with my Blu-ray of 1982’s Smithereens just because I like the idea of doing a west coast/east coast punk block.

As a big silent film fan, I was very excited to see that one of the collections is The Melies Mystery, which consists of 5 short films (A Trip to the Moon, The Impossible Voyage, Four Troublesome Heads, The Infernal Cauldron, and The Old Hag) and the new documentary, The Melies Mystery. This will be an absolute must-see for me.

Some other standouts for me include The Color Purple, The Getaway, Misery, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Dogfight, The Black Legion, Stranger Than Paradise, T-Men, Harlan County USA, and Speedy. Those are a mix of things that would be new to me and things I’m way overdue to revisit. I may also be tempted to check out the MGM Musicals and Outtakes collection to see some outtakes from It’s Always Fair Weather, Singin’ in the Rain, or Take Me Out to the Ball Game, as well as the collection of Powell & Pressburger movies. Those are all just awfully hard for me to resist.

More Ways to Bring the Festival Experience Home

Interested in having even more ways to get the full TCMFF experience from the comfort of home? There are lots of options!

If you’ve been missing being able to visit some of the locations you normally would during the festival, like the Hollywood Roosevelt, the Chinese Theater, and the Egyptian Theater, April Clemmer will be hosting a virtual presentation about these historic locations and more. The presentation starts at 1:30 PM Eastern, but if you aren’t able to watch the presentation live, you’ll receive a link afterward to watch it when you have a chance. Tickets are available on Eventbrite.

At 7:00 PM Eastern on Wednesday, May 5, Kimberly Truhler will be doing her annual Fashion in Film of TCMFF presentation over Zoom. This year, she’ll be discussing The Thin Man, Top Hat, His Girl Friday, North by Northwest, Breathless, Bullitt, and Love Story. If you’d like to attend, visit glamamor.com to sign up.

For a lot of people, no TCMFF is complete without a trip to Larry Edmunds Bookshop. They just recently launched a new online store, but if there are any other film-related books or movie posters you’re looking for that you don’t see on the website, give the store a call. Every year, during the regular festival, the store traditionally hosts an event at the store with a special guest where attendees have an opportunity to get signed copies of books. In the past, I’ve gone to these events for people like Marsha Hunt and Kevin Brownlow and they were truly excellent. This year, they’re doing a virtual Sunday (May 9) event, which is a conversation with Peter Bogdanovich at 3:30 PM Eastern. Tickets to the event are just $5 and autographed copies of some of Peter’s books are also for sale as a fundraiser for the store since they’ve been hit hard by COVID-19 closures. Visit their website if you’d like to buy a ticket to the event, order a book, or both!

Another great place to support is the Hollywood Heritage Museum. Since they are not currently open, sales through their online store help keep the museum going and they have a large selection of books, DVDs, notecards, posters, and more to choose from.

Another big TCMFF tradition is decorating pass lanyards with lots of pins, which are very often designed by Kate Garbielle. Every year, she makes a special TCMFF-themed pack of buttons and this year is no exception. This year’s pins are really cute, reflecting the different approach to this year’s festival.

On Monday, May 10, you can end your festival experience by checking out a virtual tour of Hollywood Forever Cemetery hosted by their in-house tour guide, Karie Bible. Lots of Hollywood legends are laid to rest there, including Rudolph Valentino, Judy Garland, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Jr., Janet Gaynor, Adrian, Peter Lorre, Mickey Rooney, Tyrone Power, Marion Davies, and Cecil B. DeMille, just to name a very few. The event starts at 9:00 PM Eastern and tickets are available through Eventbrite.

My Thoughts on TCMFF: Special Home Edition

Every year, the TCM Classic Film Festival has a theme. Had the festival gone on in Hollywood as intended this year, that theme would have been Grand Illusions: Fantastic Worlds on Film. When this year’s festival became an at-home festival, there wasn’t one defining theme connecting the movies aside from the fact that they were all screened at previous festivals or slated for this year’s festival. For me, though, the overwhelming theme ended up being Rediscovery. Out of all the movies I was able to watch during the at-home festival, only one was new to me: Floyd Norman: An Animated Life. But most of the movies I was able to catch were ones that I was overdue to revisit.

When I do the festival in person, I really like to check out a mix of old favorites and things I’ve never seen before. But even though this year ended up skewing heavily toward things I’d seen before, I was able to approach many of them with a fresh perspective. It’s been a few years since I last watched the 1954 version of A Star is Born from beginning to end and it’s probably been ten years since I last saw Network. I couldn’t even remember the last time I watched Deliverance.

As someone who has attended the festival for several years, the schedule for the at-home version also took me on a trip down memory lane. A Hard Day’s Night reminded me of my first ever trip to the Chinese theater and the Faye Dunaway interview brought back memories of how excited I was to be at the taping for it. And then there was the time I saw the line for the first Double Harness screening and just said, “Hahahahaha…no.” Even though I wasn’t able to attend the festival in person this year, it was really nice to have so many great memories to look back on.

The thing I loved most about this at-home festival is how nice it was to just relax and go along with the scheduled programming. I’ve been working from home for a little over a month now and in that time, I’ve ended up putting a lot of thought into the movies I watch. Anything I wanted to watch had been divided into one of three categories: familiar movies I can listen to while working, movies to watch during evenings/weekends, and movies I wanted to save for the at-home festival I was planning before this version of TCMFF was announced. With all that to keep in mind, it was very nice to have few days during which I didn’t have to actively think about what I wanted to watch next.

I also really enjoyed seeing the footage of interviews, introductions, and other events from previous festivals that were broadcast between films. If anything, I wanted to see more of those in their entirety as part of the over-the-air broadcast. However, lots of great things were uploaded to TCM’s YouTube channel instead, like a Club TCM interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Osborne’s conversation with Jean-Paul Belmondo before a screening of Breathless, and a discussion with Norman Jewison, Lee Grant, and Walter Mirisch before In the Heat of the Night on opening night of the festival in 2017. At most, some of those uploads may have been previously available to TCM Backlot members, but there’s a lot on there that I don’t recall ever seeing before.

As far as supplemental content in the live broadcast went, my favorites were the interview with Eva Marie Saint and Martin Landau after North By Northwest and the spot they put together to run after Singin’ in the Rain. The Singin’ in the Rain one was really a highlight, featuring footage of Debbie Reynolds from a previous festival along with other archival interview clips of Cyd Charisse and Donald O’Connor.

The thing I missed most in the at-home version of festival was the representation of the midnight screenings. It’s not easy to stay up for those midnight screenings during the festival, but if you can pull it off, they can easily be some of the most fun and memorable events of the festival. Creature from the Black Lagoon was definitely a good late night movie, but not nearly as off-the-rails as some of the ones that have turned up in the midnight time slot during past festivals.

Perhaps the thing that surprised me the most about the at-home version of TCMFF is how quickly it all went by. When I attend TCMFF in person, time flies and it’s completely understandable why: it’s the culmination of months of anticipation and excitement around getting spend some time surrounded by good friends and good movies in a city I only get to visit once a year. But even doing the festival at home, where my only changes of scenery came by moving from one room to another, it still kept me engaged enough that Sunday afternoon caught up to me way faster than I expected. Even though I wasn’t able to spend time with my friends in person this year, I’m glad this version of the festival still gave us a way to connect on some level.

My Choices for the TCM Classic Film Festival: Home Edition

Like many other people, I was completely heartbroken to hear the news that the 2020 TCM Classic Film festival would be cancelled this year due to the coronavirus outbreak. Was I surprised? No, not even remotely close. Even under normal circumstances, I usually hear about multiple other attendees coming down with colds shortly after getting home from the festival, so in light of this year’s events, cancellation was definitely the right call.

In the days leading up to the cancellation, I had been very carefully thinking about what my plans would be if TCMFF didn’t happen. I entertained the idea of going to a different film festival, but with so much uncertainty, I wasn’t comfortable with making other plans that involved travel. Then I figured I would take some time to have my own personal film festival at home instead. But then TCM announced that they would be doing a special at-home version of the festival and I was absolutely delighted.

From April 16-19, Turner Classic Movies will be playing a selection of notable films that have played at the festival in previous years, as well as a handful of movies that had been slated to play at this year’s festival. In a virtual press conference I was able to participate in, Charlie Tabesh, the Vice President of Programming for TCM, talked about how they worked to make this event feel more special than watching a typical weekend of movies on the channel by using existing material to enhance the experience and better create a virtual festival experience. There will also be new introductions by Ben Mankiewicz. Throughout the virtual press conference, it was apparent how much the festival means to TCM’s staffers, so I’m very excited to see how this all works together.

The full schedule is available on TCM’s website, but I wanted to highlight a few of the things I’ll definitely be tuning in for:

2010 TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, California. 4/25/10 ph: Edward M. Pio Roda

Thursday, April 16

TCMFF typically kicks into high gear on Thursday evenings and this year is no exception. The first night of the at-home festival includes a selection of movies from the first festival in 2010, including an 8:00 PM screening of 1954’s A Star is Born, which was the big opening night film that year. It will be followed by a screening of Metropolis starting at 11:00 PM. If you haven’t seen the Luise Rainer: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival interview that was recorded before a screening of The Good Earth in 2010, it’s worth setting your DVR for.

HOLLYWOOD, CA – APRIL 27: Actor Eva Marie Saint and TCM host Ben Mankiewicz attend the screening of ‘A Hatful of Rain’ during Day 2 of the 2018 TCM Classic Film Festival on April 27, 2018 in Hollywood, California. 350620. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for TCM)

Friday, April 15

This is my favorite day of programming of the festival. Since I’ll be working from home this day, I love that a lot of the movies on during the day are ones that I can be entertained by just by listening to them. At 12:30 PM, there’s A Hard Day’s Night, which is a special one for me since it’s the first movie I ever had the pleasure of seeing in the Chinese Theater during the 2014 festival. It’s followed at 2:00 PM by the Eva Marie Saint: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival interview recorded at the 2013 festival and North by Northwest at 3:00 PM. At 5:45 PM, there’s Some Like it Hot, one of my all-time favorite movies.

The prime time lineup kicks off at 8:00 PM with a screening of the documentary Harold and Lilian: A Hollywood Love Story, which had its west coast premiere at the 2016 festival. This is a very genuinely fascinating documentary about film researcher Lilian Michelson and storyboard artist Harold Michelson. If you’re a Twitter user, Raquel from Out of the Past will be hosting a live Tweet of the movie along with director Daniel Raim, so be sure to follow along.

From the late night block, my favorite is the 1:45 AM screening of Grey Gardens. I was lucky enough to be able to see this at the 2014 festival with Albert Mayseles in attendance. As a big fan of the Maysles Brothers, it was one of my all-time favorite festival experiences. At 3:15 AM, there’s a screening of 1933’s Night Flight, which isn’t a great movie, but I recommend it in this context because it’s a really good reflection of why the festival is so important for lovers of film history. Due to legal issues, Night Flight had been out of public circulation for over 50 years. But once those issues were resolved, it was able to screen at the festival in 2011, giving fans a chance to finally see it for the first time.

The screening of Voices of Light: The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) on Friday at the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival In Hollywood, California. 04/29/2016 PH: Tyler Golden

Saturday, April 18

This morning’s line-up is a great reflection of the “discovery” types of movies that work their way into festival schedules. At 8:00 AM you have Mad Love, which played at the festival in 2019, followed by Double Harness at 9:15 AM. For those who were at the festival in 2016, Double Harness is somewhat notorious. That year, it had been scheduled to play in the smallest theater of those being used at the TCL Multiplex. Since this is the kind of festival where people can get very enthusiastic about lesser-known pre-codes, a very long line of people showed up to get into a very small theater. I distinctly remember walking by, seeing the line, and deciding the much shorter line for The Way We Were looked way more appealing. At least this time, nobody has to worry about being shut out!

At 10:30 AM, there is a half-hour block of Vitaphone shorts that were part of the 90th Anniversary of Vitaphone presentation in 2016, including one with Baby Rose Marie and Lambchops with Burns and Allen. While it’s not part of this block, I very highly recommend also checking out The Beau Brummels featuring the vaudeville duo Shaw & Lee. That one was also among the shorts shown during that presentation and it brought the house down. It remains one of my favorite festival discoveries.

After that, there are a whole lot of movies you just can’t really go wrong with, like Sergeant York at 11:00 AM, Safety Last! at 1:15 PM, and They Live By Night at 2:45 PM. I’ll also be tuning in for the Faye Dunaway: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival interview at 4:30 PM and reminiscing about how amazing it was to be there for that taping in 2016.

In prime time, you have Casablanca at 8:00 PM followed by The Magnificent Ambersons at 10:00, both of which will have introductions co-hosted by Peter Bogdonavich. As much as I love both of those movies, I may skip one of them in favor of putting on my Blu-ray of The Passion of Joan of Arc, because I know I won’t be up to catch it at 4:15 AM and I’ve been thinking of that movie a bit lately.

Sunday, April 19

At 2:00 PM is a screening of Red-Headed Woman, which was an absolute blast to see at the festival in 2017. Starting in prime time and going into the overnight block, they’ll be showing a few movies that were scheduled to play at this year’s festival, including The Hustler at 9:45 PM, Baby Face at 12:15 AM, Bardleys the Magnificent at 1:45 AM, and Victor/Victoria at 3:00 AM. Since animator Floyd Norman was set to be saluted this year, there’s also Floyd Norman: An Animated Life at 8:00 PM. Since I won’t be able to stay up for many of the things I’m most excited for in today’s line-up, I may get out my DVDs of things like Baby Face and Bardleys the Magnificent to watch them earlier in the day instead.

Other Ways to Bring the TCMFF Experience Home

The movies are just one part of the TCMFF experience. More than anything, I’ll dearly miss seeing all of the friends from all over the world that I spend time with during the festival, so I’m glad to have the official at-home festival to provide a common experience for us to share, even if we can’t share it in person this year.

Every year, there are certain places I always look forward to visiting while I’m in Hollywood for the festival. And even though I’m not able to visit them in person, I’m glad I had ways to support some of my favorite businesses and organizations from home this year.

For many TCMFF attendees, a visit to Larry Edmunds Bookshop is a must, whether it’s for their special events on Sundays during the festival or just to pick up some new books or movie posters. If there’s anything in particular you’re looking for, contact the store and they can ship it to you. You can call them at (323)463-3273 or send an email to info@larryedmunds.com.

I also love being able to visit the Hollywood Heritage Museum and seeing the Lasky-DeMille Barn. This year, they’ve created an online gift shop with new and used books, some signed books, posters, note cards, DVDs, and more.

Every year, people who attend the festival often like to decorate their pass lanyards with different movie-themed pins. Many of those pins are made by Kate Gabrielle, so even though we don’t have passes to wear this year, there are still plenty of awesome pins, buttons, and other accessories that all reference classic films that you can use to jazz up your bags, jackets, and so much more.

Also, if you’d like to get a more authentic Hollywood Boulevard experience during the at-home festival, I recommend playing this song in between movies. It’s definitely a song a lot of festival attendees are very familiar with.

Will There be Other At-Home Events from TCM in the Future?

During the virtual press conference I attended, it was said that this year’s at-home edition of the TCM Classic Film Festival is something of an experiment and that audience reactions will help guide their decisions about whether or not similar events could come later on. So if this is something you really enjoy, be sure to let them know on social media or through their website.

What’s on TCM: August 2017

Happy August, everyone! August can only mean one thing on TCM — Summer Under the Stars. If you’re not familiar with Summer Under the Stars, each day in August, TCM will be featuring the work from a certain actor or actress. I always look forward to this because it’s such a great way to discover new movies and maybe even gain appreciation for certain stars.

Looking through this year’s schedule, I’m very happy with the lineup. While there are some traditional crowd-pleasers like Cary Grant, John Wayne,  Marilyn Monroe, and Elizabeth Taylor, there are also quite a few stars who haven’t been featured in a while. I’m particularly looking forward to Gene Kelly, James Cagney, Lon Chaney, Franchot Tone, Angela Lansbury, Rosalind Russell, and Ann Harding days.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the schedule.

What’s on TCM: July 2017

Happy July, everyone! It’s looking like it’s going to be a pretty quiet month on TCM, but there are still two very good reasons to watch this month: Ronald Colman as Star of the Month and the 50 Years of Hitchcock spotlight. I like Ronald Colman, so I’m looking forward to seeing his movies every Thursday night this month. The Hitchcock spotlight is a bit bigger and will be happening every Wednesday and Friday night. I know I can’t complain about knowing that I’ll have two nights each week where I’ll be coming home to lots of Hitchcock movies.

Without further ado, let’s get on to the rest of the schedule.

What’s on TCM: May 2017

Happy May, everyone! Although the weather is getting nicer outside, TCM is giving me plenty of good reasons to stay in and watch movies this month.

One of the biggest things going on in May is Clark Gable as Star of the Month. His movies will be shown every Tuesday night, continuing into Wednesday morning and afternoon throughout the month. In honor of the 50th anniversary of 1967, TCM will be spending two nights showing movies made during that year. The 1967 tribute is coming up on May 12 and 19.

But the thing I’m most looking forward to in May is the monster movie marathons that will be happening every Thursday night. I absolutely love it when TCM does spotlights like these because the movies are just so much fun to watch.

Without further ado, let’s get into the rest of the schedule.

What’s on TCM: April 2017

Happy April, everyone! Looking at this month’s TCM lineup, I can honestly say there isn’t much here I don’t like. Instead of having just one star of the month, this month, the spotlight goes to character actors. Every Tuesday and Thursday night, the prime-time lineup will be dedicated to highlighting some of film’s most memorable character actors. Since I’m a sucker for a good melodrama, I’m really looking forward to the spotlight on post-war melodramas every Friday. Plus there are lots of great birthday tributes throughout the month and the recently-launched Noir Alley feature on Sunday mornings to look forward to.

Now, onto my highlights for the month!

What’s on TCM: March 2017

Happy March, everyone! It looks like March is going to be a pretty busy month on TCM. First of all, we have the final few days of the annual 31 Days of Oscar programming. On top of that, Richard Burton is the Star of the Month and his movies will be shown every night during the week of March 6. If you’re not into basketball and March Madness, perhaps TCM’s March Malice would be more up your alley. From March 20-25, TCM will be doing a spotlight of movies featuring very memorable villains. (It’s also perhaps my personal favorite name for a TCM spotlight of all time.) And, as the icing on the cake, TCM will be launching their brand new film noir series, Noir Alley, on March 5th with a screening of The Maltese Falcon at 10:00 AM. Noir Alley will be on every Sunday morning at 10:00 AM.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the schedule.

What’s on TCM: February 2017

Happy February, everyone! As any regular TCM viewer knows, February is traditionally TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar month. I’m well aware that this tends to be a love it or hate it type of month, and while I’m always disappointed that it means few silent films will be shown, there are always plenty of other movies to keep me entertained throughout the month.

This year, all the movies included in 31 Days of Oscar will be shown in alphabetical order. As if that weren’t enough, all the movies scheduled during prime time are grouped together by a common theme, which will also be in alphabetical order ranging from “addiction” to “zany.”

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the schedule.