Classic Movie Picks: October 2013

by Lani and A.J.

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.)

This month I've turned over the Classic Movie Picks to my co-blogger, A.J. While we both enjoy the spooky films that play during October, he is the real horror aficionado in this partnership. I'm looking forward to his picks, hope you enjoy them, too! - Lani

Murder...?
10/5, 2 PM - Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)

The original script for Annie Hall contained a murder mystery plot that was ultimately cut to make the story wholly a romantic comedy. If you’ve ever wondered what Annie Hall with a murder mystery would be like, then I highly recommend Woody Allen’s underwatched 1993 film. Woody Allen and Diane Keaton play couple whose marriage has grown stale until Keaton suspects their neighbor of murdering his wife. Will a murder mystery be able to rejuvenate their marriage? Did their neighbor even murder anyone? Manhattan Murder Mystery is Rear Window as directed by Woody Allen and the result is a fun, romantic, and genuinely intriguing mystery movie, and a great light start to October.

Vampires

I remember a time when vampires used to be scary and so does TCM. Before they were angsty, brooding anti-heroes that graced magazine covers, vampires were the ultimate movie monster.

10/11, 9:30 PM - Isle of the Dead (1945)

Boris Karloff stars in this movie about a group of people trying to survive a war, a quarantine, and, as if things weren’t bad enough, a suspected vampire. This movie is produced by one of the masters of classic horror, Val Lewton. He’s one of the few movie producers that is also thought of as an “auteur,” a title usually only given to directors. His films are famous for their stripped-down, sparse style and emphasis on mood and shadows.

Also Playing…

10/13, 12 AM - Nosferatu (1922)

10/19, 9:15 PM - Mark of the Vampire (1935)

Anthology Horror
If you want more than one spooky story in a single movie TCM has 3 anthology horror movies airing this month.

10/11, 11 PM - Dead of Night (1945)

In this Ealing Studios production a man fears that his reoccurring dream in coming true so other guests at a country house share supernatural stories of their own. When this movie was released in America one of the stories was cut because U.S. distributors thought movie ran too long. They made the movie shorter, but confusing. Fortunately for this broadcast the missing story has been restored and should make for good spooky night.

Also Playing…

10/20, 2 AM - Kwaidan (1965)

10/31, 2:45 AM - Twice-Told Tales (1963)

Monsters Need Love Too!

10/26, 11 PM - Cat People (1942)

Val Lewton’s films were at their best when the producer worked with director Jacques Tourneur. Cat People is among their most highly regarded pictures. In this collaboration, an American man marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into a cat person from the fables of her homeland. These RKO horror movies had a low budget, but Lewton used that disadvantage to make better films. His films focused less on spectacle and more on character, an eerie mood, and scaring us more by showing us less.

10/31: Halloween with Christopher Lee...

All day long on Halloween, TCM will be showing films starring Christopher Lee, including two he starred in for Hammer Films, the UK company whose horror movies made Lee famous.

12:15 PM - Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1965)
3:45 PM - Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1969)
5:30 PM - Horror Express (1972)

Horror Express is not a Hammer Film but hoped to cash in on the success of those movies by getting Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing to star in a movie with a monster. The result is a Hammer knock off that actually works. Lee, who usually played Dracula and other monsters, gets to be the hero. He plays on archeologist attempting to transport his recent mysterious discovery on the Trans-Siberian railway, but his discovery proves to be too monstrous to contain. Peter Cushing plays a fellow Englishmen helping Lee try to stop the mysterious deaths on the train. If Murder on the Orient Express meets The Thing meets Hammer Horror sounds like an intriguing combination, then you won’t go wrong with Horror Express.

…and Vincent Price

It just wouldn’t be Halloween without a Vincent Price movie or two. Perhaps Vincent Price being the star of the month for October is less than a coincidence. Some of his non-horror, dramatic movies are being highlighted Thursday nights earlier in the month. Fortunately, Halloween falls on a Thursday, so there will be a full night of Price movies to enjoy.
8 PM - Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
9:30 PM - The Haunted Palace (1963)
11:15 PM - The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

Happy Halloween!