Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies schedule 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.)
Spotlight on Women Filmmakers
This month TCM kicks off a three-year initiative to shine a spotlight on women in film while raising awareness of the lack of gender equality in the industry. October's festival focuses on directors from the early days of cinema through to the current generation of trailblazing women. 47 women directors will be profiled over 9 nights. There is a lot to choose from, so check out the full schedule online. Here are some of the films I'm looking forward to from the series:
10/6, 8 PM - Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) dir. Dorothy Arzner
10/13, 8 PM - Crossing Delancey (1988) dir. Joan Micklin Silver
10/13, 11:45 PM - A Dry White Season (1989) dir. Euzhan Palcy
10/15, 11:30 PM - The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (1980) dir. Connie Field
10/22, 9:45 PM - Daughters of the Dust (1991) dir. Julie Dash
10/22, 1:30 AM - Middle of Nowhere (2012) dir. Ava Duvernay
10/27, 11:15 PM - Salaam Bombay! (1988) dir. Mira Nair
10/29, 10 PM - Walking and Talking (1996) dir. Nicole Holofcener
Decline of Western Civilization Parts I, II, and III
10/15, 2:45 AM - Part I (1981)
10/16, 2:30 AM - Part II, The Metal Years (1988)
10/24, 2:45 AM - Part III (1998)
This documentary trilogy directed by Penelope Spheeris chronicles music subcultures of Los Angeles in the 1980s and 90s. Part I, which looks at L.A.'s thriving punk scene circa 1980, airs on October 15 as part of a night devoted to women documentarians. Part II takes up seven years later as the punk scene is being overshadowed by glam metal and Part III looks at a group of homeless young gutter-punks. This year, for the first time, all three films were released as a DVD set; however, you can see them for free this month on TCM - set your DVR!
10/9 - Roving Hands
8 PM - Mad Love (1935)
9:30 PM - The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)
11:15 PM - Hands of a Stranger (1967)
Mad Love and Hands of a Stranger were inspired by the same source material, the 1920 novel Les Mains d'Orlac. In fact, the novel has spawned at least five film adaptations including 1991's Body Parts which until now I knew only as a movie whose VHS cover I would try to avoid looking at when browsing my local video store. This category of VHS tapes included other 80s-90s horror films like Nightmare on Elm Street, Child's Play, and Monkey Shines -- and I haven't watched any of these films to this day. However, the films in tonight's line-up have just the level of horror that I can handle.
In Mad Love, Peter Lorre plays a mad doctor who gives a pianist a hand transplant. The hands happen to be from an executed murderer and they exert an evil influence over their new body. Hands of a Stranger, reverses the sympathies of the story, with the doctor having noble intentions and the pianist as the crazed maniac. Beast with Five Fingers has Lorre again, this time being stalked by the severed hands of his former employer, an ex-concert pianist. (Note: beware concert pianists who've undergone any type of hand surgery!)
Bonus Pick: 10/31, 3 PM - The Tingler (1959)
This is one of my favorite low-budget horror films from a king of the genre, producer/director William Castle. The premise, which revolves around a lobster-esque monster which feeds on fear, is ridiculous enough to remove any terror. However, there are some moments of real tension and star Vincent Price is excellent, as usual.
10/18: Silent Lost and Found
8 PM - The Grim Game (1919)
9:30 PM - Sherlock Holmes (1916)
11:45 PM - The Grim Game (1919)
1:15 AM - The Round-Up (1920)
2:30 AM - The Life of the Party (1920)
Tonight's line-up features four silent films once thought to be lost. The Grim Game stars escape artist and illusionist Harry Houdini as a wrongly imprisoned man who must escape (surprise!) in order to save his fiancee. The two showings tonight feature alternate scores; at 8 PM, you'll hear music by Brane Zivkovic and the later version will have music by Steve Sterner. The other films tonight include a Sherlock Holmes story and two features from 1920 starring Fatty Arbuckle. Should be a treat for silent film enthusiasts.
10/28: Semi-Spooky Selections from the Disney Vault
8 PM - The Three Little Pigs (1933)8:15 PM - The Big Bad Wolf (1934)
8:30 PM - Three Little Wolves (1936)
Three Silly Symphonies shorts featuring the Three Little Pigs and their wolfish nemesis.
8:45 PM - The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
Animated adventures of characters from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Wind and the Willows, featuring the voices of Bing Crosby and Basil Rathbone.
10 PM - The Old Mill (1937)
Oscar-winning animated short about a community of animals inhabiting an abandoned mill threatened by a severe storm.
10:15 PM - The Plausible Impossible (1956)
Episode of the Disneyland TV show in which Walt Disney explains how animation can make the impossible "real."
11:15 PM - Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)
5 AM - Return From Witch Mountain (1978)
Popular live-action film about supernatural siblings on the run from an unscrupulous millionaire (Ray Milland) and the sequel in which the kids must escape the clutches of maniacs out to rule the world (Christopher Lee & Bette Davis).
1 AM - Lonesome Ghosts (1937)
Mickey Mouse short which proves that Mickey was ghost hunting before it was cool.
1:15 AM - Frankenweenie (1984)
An early short film by Tim Burton about a boy scientist who brings his dog back to life.
2 AM - Mr. Boogedy (1986)
3 AM - The Ghosts of Buxley Hall (1980)
Two made-for-TV movies about hauntings at a family home and military academy, respectively.
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