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.)
Happy New Year! January on TCM is dominated by Star of the Month Joan Crawford. Pickings were scarce if you're not a big fan of la Joan, but I've collected a few picks with some unintentional connecting threads: Private Screenings...Academy Awards...and Murder, She Wrote?
1/6, 8 PM and 11:30 PM - Private Screenings: Robert Osborne
In this special episode of TCM's series, Alec Baldwin steps into the role of host to interview Robert Osborne about his life and career -- including his nearly 30 years as the host of Turner Classic Movies. We'll get to see clips of Osborne's most memorable Private Screenings interviews with classic film stars, as well as clips from his early appearances as an actor on TV shows such as The Beverly Hillbillies.
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Osborne when I appeared as a fan programmer on TCM a few years ago and last September I saw him give a special presentation about Gone with the Wind. He is truly a class act with a treasure trove of knowledge about classic film. I look forward to learning more about his career before TCM and how he got his start in Hollywood.
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| Bob and me - as seen on TV! |
1/15: Birthday Tribute to Margaret O'Brien
8:30 AM - Private Screenings: Child Stars (2006)
6 PM - Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)
Margaret O'Brien, who turns 76 today, was one of classic Hollywood's great child stars. During the day, TCM is showing 6 of her films, as well as a Private Screenings episode featuring interviews with O'Brien as well as other child stars of the era Jane Withers, Darryl Hickman, and Dickie Moore. Our Vines Have Tender Grapes is a warm and fuzzy story of a Norwegian immigrants making a life in rural Wisconsin. The ever versatile Edward G. Robinson plays Margaret's father in the film and the little girl was more than up to the task of acting opposite the great actor. The year she made this film, at age 8, O'Brien was awarded a special Juvenile Academy Award for her performance in the previous year's Meet Me in St. Louis.
1/25, 12:15 AM - Rollercoaster (1977)
This entry in tonight's lineup of 1970s thrillers (Jaws at 8 PM, Alien at 10:15 PM) follows that decade's trend of disaster movies starring a sprawling cast featuring a mix Hollywood veterans and newcomers. However, Rollercoaster is more of suspense story than others in the disaster genre, centered on a cat-and-mouse game between a young terrorist threatening sabotage in several amusement parks and the detective trying to stop him. It features a very 70s cast headed by George Segal, Timothy Bottoms, and Richard Widmark. Also look for a young Steve Guttenberg, 13-year-old Helen Hunt (in her film debut), and a cameo by Henry Fonda. In researching this film, I discovered that the writers, Richard Levinson and William Link, wrote many episodes of my favorite mystery TV shows -- Columbo, Ellery Queen, and Murder, She Wrote. Before I knew about the writers, I wasn't sure about this film; the disaster genre often has weak characters and plot, in addition to relying on overblown spectacle; however, knowing that this film favors plot more than explosions makes me optimistic that I'll enjoy it.
1/29: Academy Governor's Award Winners
8 PM - The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
10:15 PM - The Harvey Girls (1946)
12:15 AM - Pennies From Heaven (1981)
2:15 AM - Father of the Bride (1991)
4:15 AM - I Compagni (1963)
6:30 AM - Le Notti Bianche (1961)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences handed out these honorary Oscars in a special ceremony last November, along with the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Award to Angelina Jolie. As an appetizer for "31 Days of Oscar" in February, tonight TCM features the work of the three Governor's Award honorees: Angela Lansbury, Steve Martin, and Piero Tosi.
Lansbury will always live in my heart as my honorary grandma for her work as Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote. But she has also received three Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her film work, including for what is probably her most celebrated movie role -- "Raymond's mother" in The Manchurian Candidate, the first film in tonight's line up. Though she was a trained singer (and subsequently won 4 of her 5 Tony awards for musicals), Lansbury's singing voice was dubbed in The Harvey Girls. In a Private Screenings interview, Lansbury admitted that it was the right choice. The full-throated alto of Virginia Rees which you hear in the film was better suited to the character of scheming saloon girl Em than Lansbury's natural high soprano.
Tonight's selections honoring Steve Martin show his dramatic and comedic sides. Father of the Bride shows the Martin most recognizable to today's moviegoers; playing the befuddled father of a bride-to-be in a light, family comedy. On the other hand, Pennies From Heaven might be Martin's strangest movie, a serious story about a traveling salesman during the Great Depression, which also features musical numbers in which the actors all lip-synch to recordings from the era.
The final honoree tonight, Tosi, is a 5-time Oscar nominated costume designer, known especially for his work with Italian new wave directors such as Luchino Visconti and Federico Fellini. The two films showing tonight are both stories about working-class Italian life starring Marcello Mastroianni. However, it was Tosi's more lavish designs for films like The Leopard, Death in Venice, and La Cage Aux Folles which attracted the notice of the Academy.
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| Angela Lansbury, George Murphy, and Margaret O'Brien from Tenth Avenue Angel |
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