Classic Movie Picks: November

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.)

"Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood"
11/1, 8 PM - Episode 1: Peepshow Pioneers
11/8, 8 PM - Episode 2: The Birth of Hollywood
11/15, 8 PM - Episode 3: The Dream Merchants
11/22, 8 PM - Episode 4: Brother, Can You Spare a Dream?
The big news this month is the premiere of this seven-part documentary series produced by TCM and airing Mondays and Wednesdays through Dec. 15. Moguls & Movie Stars chronicles the birth of American movies in the late 1880s to major industry shifts of the 1960s, including Thomas Edison's kinetoscope, the studio system heyday, and the rise of television. Each episode is followed by related film programming which was either from or about the featured time period. Check the spotlight article on TCM.com for a full schedule of related films and encore presentations of each episode.

11/6, 9 AM: Remember? (1939)
Fans of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) may feel a sense of deja vu when they hear the plot of Remember? Robert Taylor and Greer Garson play a bickering couple who each take an amnesia potion so that they can forget they ever met. However, unlike the couple in Eternal Sunshine, Garson and Taylor want to rediscover each other and fall in love again.

11/7, 8 PM: Metropolis (1927)
11 PM: Metropolis Refound (2010)
One of the most anticipated screenings at this year's TCM Classic Film Festival was the North American premiere of a new version of director Fritz Lang's Metropolis which included newly found and restored footage. Metropolis is a must-see film for anyone who enjoys studying film history because the imagery and themes pop-up again and again in later films. Metropolis Refound is a documentary about the discovery of a print of Lang's film in Argentina, which contained several minutes of footage that was thought to be lost.
BONUS: More films by Fritz Lang
12 AM - Spies (1928)
2 AM - M (1931)
4 AM - The Woman in the Window (1944)

11/9, 10 PM: Local Hero (1983)
Some films you watch for academic curiosity and some you watch for pure enjoyment. I would put tonight's selection by Guest Programmer Michael J. Fox in the latter category. It stars the underrated, but always welcome, Peter Riegert as an American executive who falls under the spell of an idyllic Scottich village. Peter Capaldi, so hilarious in last year's In the Loop, and classic film icon Burt Lancaster play supporting roles.

11/13: Starring Teresa Wright
8 PM - The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
11 PM - Mrs. Miniver (1942)
1:30 AM - The Little Foxes (1941)
3:30 AM - Enchantment (1948)
5:15 AM - Casanova Brown (1944)
Someone in the TCM Programming Department must be reading my blog (please don't suggest otherwise; it will ruin my illusions of grandeur) because this month they've devoted an evening to one of my favorite actresses (and my avatar), Teresa Wright. Wright began her film career at age 23 with an Oscar-nominated role in The Little Foxes and during the next decade followed up with an impressive string of films, two more Oscar nominations, and one award for Best Supporting Actress. She was pretty and petite with a girl-next-door charm, often playing characters who were spunky and resilient, yet sensitive. However, she lacked the glamour of the era's top stars and by the 1950s she was playing character parts. Tonight's line-up begins with my favorite Wright performance in one of my favorite movies, The Best Years of Our Lives. That is followed by her Oscar-winning turn in Mrs. Miniver; her film debut, The Little Foxes; and Enchantment, an odd film which benefits from the enjoyable performances of Wright and David Niven. The final film of the night is the only one I haven't seen before, Casanova Brown co-starring Gary Cooper. I'm looking forward to this one since Cooper and Wright had great chemistry as husband and wife in The Pride of the Yankees (1943), a film which isn't showing tonight, but is scheduled for January 1, 2011.

11/14, 3:45 AM: Hearts and Minds (1975)
5:45 AM: Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976)
Two superb, Oscar-winning documentaries from the 1970s. Their subjects are the effects of war and economic hardship on Americans in the 70s, topics which are still quite relevant today.

11/19: Directed by Peter Weir
8 PM - The Last Wave (1977)
10 PM - Gallipoli (1981)
12 AM - Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
During the late 70s, the Australian film industry experienced a surge as many talented directors began creating unique work which gained the attention of a worldwide audience. Peter Weir made such an impression with the haunting, atmospheric Picnic at Hanging Rock, which tells the story of a mysterious disappearance during a picnic in the Australian bush. The two other films showing tonight also deal with stories of "Oz" - the trial of five Aborigines in The Last Wave and Australian soldiers fighting in WWII in Gallipoli.

11/21: Mr. and Mrs. Cary Grant
8 PM - Room for One More (1952)
10 PM - Every Girl Should Be Married (1948)
These two curious little films with a decidedly retro, domestic bent star then-husband-and-wife Cary Grant and Betsy Drake. I was surprised to find out that Betsy was only 25 when she made Every Girl, since she looks older, probably due to a hairstyles and clothing which look matronly to my modern eyes. According to that film's credits, the story was inspired by an idea submitted by a home economics class. Makes you wonder what exactly the curriculum was in that school...man-hunting?

And since I'm posting this on October 31...Happy Halloween, everybody!