Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies Now Playing guide for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)
7/2: "Wizard of Oz" Day
The official theme of tonight's programming is films starring Terry, the Cairn terrier who played Toto in The Wizard of Oz. So, starting at 7 p.m. you can see two Oz documentaries and three of Terry's best-known films. 
7 PM - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic (1990)
8 PM - The Wizard of Oz (1939), her finest role
10 PM - Memories of Oz (2001)
10:30 PM - Fury (1936), Terry plays Spencer Tracy's loyal dog, Rainbow
12:15 AM - George Washington Slept Here (1942), Terry's final film
However, making this a truly "Oz-some" day, starting at 6:30 a.m. TCM is showing films featuring Terry's Oz co-stars.
6:30 AM - The Show Off (1934) with Clara Bendick (Auntie Em)
8 AM - Stepping Out (1931) with ???
9:15 AM - Flying High (1931) with Bert Lahr (Cowardly Lion)
10:45 AM - Success at Any Price (1934) with Frank Morgan (The Wizard)
12 PM - Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943) with Billie Burke (Glinda the Good Witch)
1:15 PM - Four Jacks and a Jill (1942) with Ray Bolger (Scarecrow)
2:30 PM - Mister Cinderella (1936) with Jack Haley (Tin Man)
4 PM - Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937) with Judy Garland (Dorothy)
5:30 PM - 13 Ghosts (1960) with Margaret Hamilton (The Wicked Witch of the West)
Stepping Out is the only film I couldn't attribute to an Oz cast member. Perhaps Charley Grapewin, who played Uncle Henry in Oz, will make an appearance?
7/8, 4 PM: The Unsuspected (1947)
Claude Rains stars as the producer of a radio crime series who commits "the perfect crime." I can't wait to see Rains dig in to this sinister role alongside a great supporting cast including Audrey Totter, Hurd Hatfield, and Constance Bennett.
7/13: Two films directed by Michael Ritchie
1 AM - Smile (1975)
3 AM - The Survivors (1983)
Michael Ritchie is not a widely known director, but he has quite a few gems in his filmography - The Candidate (1972), The Bad News Bears (1976), Fletch (1985). He has also directed several, ahem, non-classics - A Simple Wish (1997), Cops and Robbersons (1994), Fletch Lives (1989). I would definitely put Smile, a social satire set in the world of small-town beauty pageants, in the former category; and apparently actor Robert Wuhl would agree as it is one of his guest programmer picks tonight. But which category does The Survivors fall into? It stars Walter Matthau and Robin Williams as recently unemployed friends who witness a robbery and subsequently become the targets of a mob hit man (Jerry Reed). There is enough talent involved in this film that I'm intrigued to see if it's a hit or miss.
7/18, 8 PM: Beauty and the Beast (1946)
This surrealistic telling of the classic French fairytale is renowned for its haunting imagery and inventive special effects. In his Great Movies essay for Beauty and the Beast, Roger Ebert calls it "one of the most magical of all films."
BONUS PICKS: More beauties and beasts!
10 PM - King Kong (1933)
12 AM - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
7/30, 5:30 AM: The Relaxed Wife (1957)
This short film explains how "the modern miracle of tranquilizers helps working men and their wives deal with life's little problems." TCM has several old educational or promotional shorts like this one scheduled in July; this one's description sounded the most hilariously anachronistic for a 2010 audience. Other titles: RFD Greenwich Village, a promotional short for corduroy clothing set in New York (7/2, 5:45 AM); The Golden Years, in which bowling is made respectable through modernization (7/23, 5:45 AM); The Trouble Maker, you can probably guess that this one's about a trouble-maker (7/16, 5:45 AM).
Next month: Summer Under the Stars!
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