TCMFF 2019: Indulging My Love of Silent Films

By the time Sunday comes up during the festival, I’m always ready for a slower pace and this year was no exception. But even though I felt like I was taking things slowly, everything I did go to was absolutely amazing.

To start things off, I skipped the first couple blocks of movies to head over to Larry Edmunds Bookshop for a book signing and conversation between Cari Beauchamp and Kevin Brownlow. As a huge fan of silent film, getting to see Kevin Brownlow in person and hear him discuss his career was nothing less than an honor. There are so many movies I love that I’m able to see because of his work, I’m a huge fan of his documentaries, and he’s done so much incredible work to give silent films the respect they deserve, so I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

During the conversation, he talked a bit about things like how he got started making connections with people who had been involved in silent films, the perils of meeting people who have zero credibility while doing research, and his ongoing struggles with studios over licensing and copyright for silent films. As many silent film fans are well aware, his 1980 documentary series Hollywood is a tremendous source of information, but has never gotten an official release on DVD or Blu-ray release because of problems over copyright, leading Brownlow to remark that pirates have done a wonderful job of making money off of that documentary.

After that, I grabbed some lunch and went over to the TCL Multiplex for a screening of the 1964 version of The Killers. This isn’t my favorite version of The Killers, but just getting to see the discussion between Ben Mankiewicz and Angie Dickinson was great. One of the strangest things about this version of The Killers is seeing Ronald Reagan play a villain and Angie talked quite a bit about working with him and how he only agreed to do the movie to get out of his contract so he could start focusing on his political career. There is a photo of his character hitting Angie’s which he particularly despised because that wasn’t the kind of image he wanted have for himself going into politics.

Once The Killers ended, I made a dash over to the Egyptian for a screening of A Woman of Affairs with Greta Garbo and John Gilbert and live music conducted by the great Carl Davis. On top of that, there was a conversation between Kevin Brownlow and Leonard Maltin before the movie, so this screening was pretty much a silent film fan’s dream. This was definitely the top screening of the festival I was most excited for this year. Before the schedule was announced, I had really been hoping for some Garbo and was absolutely delighted when they announced A Woman of Affairs because it would be my first time seeing one of Garbo’s silents in a theater. It was a pretty packed house, so I think it’s safe to say lots of other people were just as excited as I was. The real icing on the cake was when it was announced that a french horn player in the orchestra accompanying the movie was the great-grandson of John Gilbert. Now that’s the kind of extra touch that makes me love the TCM Classic Film Festival so much.

Once A Woman of Affairs ended, I got right back in line at the Egyptian for the my last screening of the festival: a nitrate print screening of The Dolly Sisters with Betty Grable and June Haver. I usually like to end the festival on a lighter note so The Dolly Sisters fit the bill perfectly. It had been a long time since I’d last seen it; long enough for me to forget about that unfortunate musical number featuring blackface. But aside from that, those colorful scenes and glamorous costumes were a lot of fun to see on the big screen. It’s the kind of movie that had me already looking forward to next year’s festival as I left the theater.

TCMFF 2019: The Force is Strong With This Festival

On Saturday morning, I started my day off with a movie that would end up becoming my favorite new-to-me discovery of the festival: All Through the Night. Even though I’m a big Humphrey Bogart fan, I’d never seen it before and when I heard it was a comedic thriller that involved a gambler getting mixed up with Nazi spies after they kill the guy who made his favorite cheesecake, I was really intrigued. As tempted as I was to go see From Here to Eternity over at the Chinese theater in that same time slot, I’m really glad I went with All Through the Night because it was an absolute joy to see that one in a theater with a very appreciative crowd.

All Through the Night was introduced by Michael Schlesinger, who has been lobbying to have this movie shown at the festival for the past 10 years because it has a history of being overlooked. To begin with, its release had rather unfortunate timing. The movie was filmed filmed before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but was released shortly afterward. So by the time audiences had a chance to see it, they were in a very different mindset than they had been a few months earlier. Schlesinger also explained that it tends to get left out of Bogart retrospectives because its director, Vincent Sherman, doesn’t have quite the same wide name recognition as, say, Michael Curtiz or John Huston. But at a festival like TCMFF, All Through the Night finally had an opportunity to be appreciated on its own.

When I read a little bit about All Through the Night, I was excited not just to see Bogart, but Peter Lorre and Conrad Veidt. A movie that features a good part of the cast of Casablanca, but was released shortly before Casablanca? That’s a pretty big selling point for me right there. But I somehow totally missed the fact that both Jackie Gleason and Phil Silvers were in it, so when Michael Schlesinger mentioned they were in it, I was absolutely delighted. The plot, the cast, I was so into everything about this and I did not leave the theater disappointed. I never knew how badly I needed that scene of Humphrey Bogart and Phil Silvers beating up Nazis in my life

After All Through the Night, I had originally planed to check out Tarzan and His Mate, but ended up deciding to go get lunch instead. There was a huge line and the movie was being screened in the smallest theater of the festival, and even though in theory I could have gotten in, the longer I waited in line, the more I felt like lunch was a better call. But it worked out really well because it gave me a better chance to get in line early for Alicia Malone’s book signing in the lobby of the Roosevelt. I always enjoy the introductions she does at the festival and on TCM, so it was a pleasure to have a few minutes to chat with her.

From there, I headed over to the Chinese theater for another great new-to-me discovery for the festival, Working Girl. I’d been really curious about that movie for a while and since I was already planning to see two of the three Harrison Ford movies playing at the festival, why not go for all three. Before the movie, there was a discussion between Illeana Douglas and casting director Juliet Taylor, during which Taylor gave some brief insights into the process behind casting Working Girl and her working process in general. As for the movie, I absolutely loved it. It’s pure 1980s, but it still holds up extremely well in 2019. The characters are so entertaining and the casting was absolutely flawless.

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Once Working Girl was over, I got right back in line at the Chinese to see the Burt Bacharach conversation before Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Since I really wanted to see Star Wars that night and I wasn’t entirely sure what the line situation would be like, I wasn’t planning to stay for the whole movie. But I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to see Burt Bacharach in person, especially since he’d be talking about the music for Butch Cassidy.

The discussion was absolutely fantastic. One thing I had never realized is that Butch Cassidy was actually only the second movie he had scored. His career is so incredibly prolific that it’s hard to imagine that such an iconic score came so early in his career. During the conversation, he also talked about some of the behind-the-scenes debates over whether or not the song “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head” belonged in the movie and what it was like to go on tour with Marlene Dietrich. While he wasn’t a big fan of some of the songs she performed, he enjoyed working with her and getting to travel all over the world, including places where Dietrich was still very unpopular because of her support for American troops during World War II.

I love Butch Cassidy so there’s part of me that wishes I had stayed and watched the whole movie because it would have been amazing to see it in that theater. But Star Wars: A New Hope is one of my favorite movies and even though it was the Special Edition, I wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to see it on the big screen. The only time I’ve seen any of the original trilogy on the big screen was when it was re-released in 1997, so it had definitely been a while. And after seeing it in the Chinese Theater, where it very famously drew such huge crowds on its initial release, complete with a discussion between cinematographer Richard Edlund, visual effects artist Dennis Muren, and sound designer Ben Burtt, I can safely say that if I never have another chance to see Star Wars in a theater again, that’s okay because it’s going to be awfully hard to top that experience. It was an excellent way to end the day.

TCMFF 2019: Kicking Off the Festival in Style

Every year I attend the TCM Classic Film Festival, I like to arrive in Los Angeles the day before festival activities get started to give myself a little bit of time to get settled and spend time catching up with friends. This year, however, I didn’t have much time to rest before I got into full festival mode. 

Once I got into town, my first major event was to take a tour of the Margaret Herrick Library with my friend Nikki and other TCM Backlot members. I have several friends who have taken trips to the library to do some research over the years, so I’d heard amazing things about it and was thrilled to have an opportunity to see it for myself.

If you ever have the opportunity to take a tour of the Margaret Herrick Library, I highly recommend it. Being able to explore their collections, even if just for a little while, is pure heaven for anyone with an interest in film history.

While the library itself is open to the public, this tour took us through many areas that the general public doesn’t get to see and each department we visited had a selection of items pulled for us to look at. We started off in their photo department, which is full of publicity photos, behind-the-scenes photographs, and other production-related images, such as continuity photos and so much more. From there, we headed over to other departments where we saw things like original posters, paper items they’re currently working on preserving, and original costume sketches. As someone who loves the art of costume design, I was absolutely delighted to have a chance to see original sketches for costumes from Gone With the Wind, The Godfather Part 2, Lady Sings the Blues, and Blonde Venus. I’d seen reprints of those costume sketches before, but they looked even more beautiful in person.

To showcase a very small sampling of items available in their special collections, they pulled several original documents relating to movies being shown during the festival. Some highlights included production code office checksheets from Dark Passage, a 1934 letter stating that a movie based on The Postman Always Rings Twice would be totally unacceptable, a script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, plus many items related to Gone With the Wind, including the mourning brooch worn by Vivien Leigh in the final scenes of the movie.

Near the end of the tour, we got to see some highlights from their collection of magazines, ranging from vintage fan magazines to recent issues of publications like The Hollywood Reporter. We also got to see a selection of movie pressbooks, which included some interesting tips for theaters about how to market these movies. For example, the pressbook they showed us from The Maltese Falcon suggested that theater owners do a limerick contest. The real highlight of the tour was when everyone had a chance to hold a real Oscar statuette. It was definitely heavier than I was expecting. 

Later in the evening, I headed over to the Hollywood Heritage Museum for a presentation about Gypsy Rose Lee, hosted by her son, Erik Lee Preminger, and Dita Von Teese. The majority of the presentation was a screening of a film Erik created about his mother’s life which features family photos, home movies, clips from TV appearances, footage of her performances, complete with commentary from Erik himself. Much like his mother, Erik is very witty and I easily could’ve listened to his stories all night.

The home movies included in the presentation were a real treat to see. Some of the highlights included footage of Gypsy Rose Lee visiting the troops, footage from a show she did with Bob Hope, and Alice Faye and Tony Martin at 20th Century Fox, with Tony Martin doing a fake striptease for the camera. Being able to visit the Hollywood Heritage Museum is always a pleasure and it was the perfect setting for an event like this. This year was my sixth time traveling to the festival and this event ranks pretty highly on my list of all-time favorite events. 

Festival activities got into full swing on Thursday evening and while lots of people were either around the pool at the Roosevelt for the Ocean’s Eleven party, at the Egyptian for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, or lining up in the multiplex for the Boris Karloff pre-code Night World, I was in the bleachers outside of the Chinese Theater watching the red carpet arrivals for the big gala screening of When Harry Met Sally. The first few days I was in Los Angeles, winds were very strong and that led to some difficulties on the red carpet. But it was worth braving the wind to have a chance to see festival guests like Ted Turner, Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal, Rob Reiner, Mario Cantone, Dennis Miller, and Kevin Brownlow, as well as TCM hosts Alicia Malone, Dave Karger, and Eddie Muller. 

Once the red carpet had closed, I ended up getting some dinner before catching my first movie of the festival, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, in the TCL Multiplex. Umbrellas is one of my all-time favorite movies; it’s the movie that helped really get me into foreign films and French films in particular. I’ve been wanting to see it on the big screen for years, but never had a chance to before now. I was not disappointed by the experience. Those stunning colors were made to be seen on the big screen. Between that and all the other events I attended before it, to say that this year’s festival got off to an incredible start feels like a huge understatement. 

My Choices for TCMFF 2019

It’s that time of year again! The 2019 TCM Classic Movie Festival is already right around the corner and the full schedule was just released on Tuesday, which means I’ve been spending the past few days obsessing over it to figure out my plans. I’m a pretty big fan of this year’s schedule so, as always, I had a lot of hard choices to make. Even though I have a lot of blocks that will come down to how I feel that day, I at least have my options narrowed down. As of now, here are my very tentative plans for this year’s festival:

Pre-Festival

I’ll be getting into Los Angeles on Wednesday and once I get into town, it’s usually a fairly low-key day mostly spent catching up with friends and making appearances at various mixers. But this year, I’ve got some very cool things to look forward to once I get into town. First of all, my friend Nikki very kindly invited me to be her guest on a tour of the Margaret Herrick Library through TCM Backlot. I’ve heard a lot about the Margaret Herrick Library, so I’m definitely excited to be able to see it for myself. Later that night, I’ll be heading over to the Hollywood Heritage Museum for a presentation of Gypsy Rose Lee’s home movies and a discussion about her career with her son Erik Lee Preminger and Dita Von Teese. It should be a fascinating event!

Thursday, April 11

For the past few years, my opening night tradition has been to watch the red carpet arrivals, skip the first block of movies to get dinner, and then see something in the second block of movies. It works out really well for me so I think I’ll be sticking to it again this year. As much as I love Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, I want to make sure I have plenty of energy for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at 9:30 PM. It’s one of my all-time favorites and I’ve been dying to see it on the big screen so this was an easy choice.

Friday, April 12

For the first full day of the festival, I’m pretty much just going to be winging it all day. The day kicks off with a really tough block of movies: The Postman Always Rings Twice, the pre-code Merrily We Go to Hell, The Clock, and High Society. I’ve narrowed it down to The Clock and High Society. I love The Clock, but after The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, I can picture myself waking up in the mood for something more lighthearted, so High Society might be more up my alley. I also really want to make sure I have a chance to check out The Legion Theater, so High Society would give me a chance to do so.

After that, depending on how ambitious I am, I might check out the What’s Not to Love About Republic Serials presentation. But I’m also thinking that block might be a good time for me to get some lunch because it’s looking like I’ll be in for a long afternoon.

Next up is one of my most painful conflicts of the festival: Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Chinese theater with a presentation by Ben Burtt and Craig Barron up against a screening of Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. Sunrise is the one that I’d have fewer opportunities to see in a theater, but Raiders would be incredible to see at the Chinese Theater and I keep missing out on those Ben Burtt and Craig Barron presentations, even though I’ve heard great things about them. It’ll all depend on how I feel that day, but if I were making the decision today, Raiders would win.

Which ever movie I end up going with, it’ll be followed by another block that will probably be decided that day. At the TCL multiplex, they’ll have Francois Truffaut’s Day for Night up against Vanity Street and Open Secret. It’s been years since I last saw Day for Night so it’d be great to see it again, but I’d also be up for checking out two movies I’ve never seen before.

By the time I get out of either movie, it will be after 8:00 PM, so I’m thinking it’ll be a good time for me to quickly get something to eat before heading over to the Egyptian for Road House. After that, I’m totally in for the midnight screening of Santo vs. The Evil Brain. I’ve never seen it, but the midnight movies are always a blast so I’m excited for this one.

Saturday, April 13

When I first looked at this block, I was so excited about From Here to Eternity at the Chinese theater, that I almost completely overlooked All Through the Night at the TCL multiplex. I’m always up for checking out a Bogart movie I’ve never seen before, so All Through the Night wins out as my first movie of the day. After that is another one of my biggest conflicts of the festival: A Woman Under the Influence introduced by Gena Rowlands up against Tarzan and His Mate with a presentation by Ben Burtt and Craig Barron. I’ve been wanting to see more Gena Rowlands movies for a while so Woman Under the Influence could be a great discovery. On the other hand, I’m a big fan of Tarzan and His Mate and it’s been a while since I last watched it. I’ll wait and see what kind of mood I’m in that day.

Up next is another toss up block for me. I could either go for Love Affair, which I know I love, or Working Girl, which I’ve never seen but been interested in seeing for a while. At the moment, I’m leaning more towards Working Girl. After that, it kind of depends on how early I want to line up for Star Wars. I’m really tempted by Wuthering Heights, but I’m concerned that the line for Star Wars might already be really long by the time that one lets out. Considering that festival passes sold out the day Star Wars was announced, I’m definitely expecting a big crowd for that one. More likely, I’ll either rush over to Club TCM to check out Hollywood Home Movies or go get dinner so I can be ready to line up nice and early for Star Wars. Although Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Nashville are both hard ones to pass up.

If I have the energy after Star Wars, I’ll be headed back to the TCL multiplex for the midnight showing of The Student Nurses.

Sunday, April 14

I usually don’t go into Sundays with a lot of firm plans in mind. I like to wait to hear what the TBAs are and I’m not sure what will be going on over at Larry Edmunds in the morning, so that leaves a lot up in the air for me. A Woman of Affairs and The Dolly Sisters are the only two things I’m totally set on. If I were to make my other decisions based on what I know will definitely be on the schedule, I’d also go with Mad Love, Magnificent Obsession, and The Killers.

The more I look at my plans, the more excited I am for this year’s festival. It’ll be my sixth year attending and I fully expect it will be a memorable one.