TCM Festival, Here I Come!

Well, I hadn’t intended to write about my choices for the upcoming TCM Film Festival, but it seems to be the thing to do among the cognoscenti.

I should warn my dear readers, though, my opinions being what they are, I may well insult a favorite film of yours. There are just some films for which I have no tolerance, regardless of their being beloved by many (and having the “classic” imprimatur stamped on them by their presence at the Festival—although every time TCM has a day of Elvis movies, that definition gets stretched to the point of incredulity … see, I’ve already started). So, consider yourself warned, because here we go with the intro.

The Festival itself is now in its tenth year. I’ve been to nine of them. (I would have been there in 2018 had I not been cast in a show that ran at the same time.) The festivities begin on Thursday night, and stretch over a weekend up and down Hollywood Boulevard (or at least that section that stretches between the Chinese and Egyptian Theatres—with assorted side trips to the Cinerama Dome on Sunset and—this year—the American Legion post up on Highland), to the point of exhaustion.

I use that word “exhaustion” advisedly, but it amazes how tiring it is to sit in a dark room and watch movies all day, from 9:00 am until after midnight (assuming one has that much stamina).

THURSDAY

Things begin with the gala opening night show. In the past, we’ve been shown some actual classics and restored gems, but there are the occasional WTF entries, including Funny Girl and When Harry Met Sally. One of the themes of this year’s festival is paying tribute to Nora Ephron, which is another nail in the coffin of definition of “classic,” as far as I’m concerned. So, that one’s out. Competing in the time slot are Dark Passage, a very good noir with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, filmed largely on location in San Francisco (many of those locations are still intact), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I have a very low tolerance for Marilyn Monroe in non-dramatic parts, and have seen the Bogart many times, so I’ll be starting with Night World, a gangster pre-Code with Boris Karloff and a number choreographed by Busby Berkeley. I’m a sucker for pre-Codes and have never seen this one, so it’s a natural.

 Boris Karloff, cutting a dashing figure

Starting off the next block of films is Ocean’s Eleven, which is highly enjoyable, but it’s being shown poolside at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel, but I’ve found past screenings there to be lacking, as I find myself easily distracted by the venue and the crowds.

Going up against it is Sergeant York, which is an okay picture, but one I find goes on far longer than its subject matter can bear, so that’s out.

That leaves me with Mogambo, with Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, and Grace Kelly—but I find post-War Gable difficult to watch (he’s a man with a death-wish that wasn’t fulfilled) and Kelly bland, so it’s a nope—and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which I find simultaneously precious and dull, so that’s out.

Fortunately, up against those two is The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, which is one of my favorite films. I could happily watch the climactic nightclub scene every day for a year, and I’ve never seen it with an audience, so I’m good to go there.

Myrna and Cary; it doesn't get much better.

FRIDAY

This is when the real filmgoing begins. Beginning at 9:00 am (which means getting in line at 8:00, which means getting up around 7:00, after going to bed no earlier than 11:00 or 12:00), we have The Postman Always Rings Twice (another very good crime picture), The Clock (another of my favorites, and another I’ve never seen with an audience), High Society (which has maybe two good numbers and the bland Grace Kelly), but the winner here is Merrily We Go to Hell, another pre-Code, this time with Sylvia Sidney—in a role—and Frederic March. There was a temptation to see Cinerama’s Russian Adventure at 10:00, but a little Cinerama can go a long, long way.

 Cary Grant (it seems like he's in every picture this year),

Sylvia Sidney, and Frederic March

The mid-morning slot is, basically, Hobson’s Choice; that is to say, a choice that is really no choice. There’s Out of Africa (which is one of those films that I saw once, found okay—it's an early example of Meryl Streep starting to give the same damn performance in every movie—and don’t need to see again), Love in the Afternoon, a May-December romance between Audrey Hepburn and Gary Cooper that I find really creepy (the age difference between them is 28 years, but feels like about 90), Sleeping Beauty (I really don’t need to see a Disney movie under these circumstances--or any circumstances, really ...), so the choice here is What’s Not to Love About Republic Serials? While I do love Republic serials, I don’t know how much there is to say about them. That said, these oddball programs generally tend to be the most memorable.

 Sorry, Carol; this is the real Captain Marvel

In the afternoon, we have Raiders of the Lost Ark (preceded by Ben Burtt and Craig Barron, who use their presentations to discuss the sound design and other special effects and are always interesting, so I'll probably watch that, then cut out once the picture starts), Broadway Danny Rose (which I think is one of Woody Allen’s lesser efforts), My Favorite Wife (a really good screwball comedy—and very tempting), A Patch of Blue (meh), and (our winner) Sunrise, a classic silent film. I’ve seen Sunrise once and, despite the raptures people go into over it, found it dull and unmemorable. I’m hopeful that seeing it on a big screen with an audience and a live orchestra accompanying it will make me see the light.

 Here's hoping!

The early evening brings my first real difficult choice, in that we start with Vanity Street, yet another pre-Code, Escape from Alcatraz (which is one of those “if it’s on, I can’t not watch”) movies, Day for Night (with Jacqueline Bisset in attendance!), and the duds of the slot, The Sound of Music and Steel Magnolias (to which I say of both “Really?”) I’m thinking of Vanity Street, because it’s short enough to allow me easier access to the evening films, but Jacqueline Bisset! This will be a last-minute call.

 I mean; c'mon ...

If I do see Vanity Street, it should allow me time to see Open Secret and Road House, both interesting-sounding noirs. What I can easily skip are The Opposite Sex (a dismal musical remake of The Women, which is torturous enough), Do the Right Thing, Winchester ’73, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and Desert Hearts, all of which I just don’t care about.

The midnight show is Santo vs. the Evil Brain, but if I don’t care about the ones just mentioned, I really don’t care about Mexican wrestling flicks—especially if I have to get up early on Saturday.

SATURDAY

The morning begins with From Here to Eternity, which I’ve just seen too many times, Double Wedding—which, as much as I love William Powell and Myrna Loy, is one of their minor efforts, When Worlds Collide, which I haven’t been able to take seriously or comically since the MST3K guys deconstructed it, and The Little Colonel, in which I have little patience for Shirley Temple.

By default then, the winner is All Through the Night, another of my favorites, which features a fantastic cast (Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, William Demarest, Judith Anderson, Jackie Gleason, Phil Silvers) in a story that mixes Runyonesque gangsters and Nazi spies. It should play great with an audience.

 "See that movie? You're gonna watch it."

Mid-morning gives us A Woman Under the Influence (and I have no tolerance left for John Cassavettes movies), Kind Hearts and Coronets (which is tempting), Sleepless in Seattle (really, TCM?), and Tarzan and His Mate. It’ll be another game-time decision between the Guinness and the Tarzan, with the latter probably winning.

 Which will it be?

Afternoon brings us Father Goose (one of those Cary Grant movies that didn’t need to be made; it’s innocuous enough), Love Affair (which, with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne, is sappy but acceptable), Working Girl (really really, TCM?), and A Raisin in the Sun, all of which strike me as things I don’t need to see. The oddball in the lot is a double feature of Tom Mix westerns, which will get the nod here.

 Cowboy pictures!

In the early evening, we have Blood Money (another pre-Code!), Nashville (if I have no tolerance for a Cassavettes picture, I have even less for this one), Wuthering Heights (meh), and It Happened Here, Kevin Brownlow’s film about a Nazi invasion of Great Britain, along with Brownlow getting the Robert Osborne Award for his preservation work, a combination that presents a huge temptation. If I see that, though, I can’t see Will Rogers in Life Begins at 40. I love Rogers, but love Brownlow more, so that one will probably get the nod.

 Trump's fantasy come true

The evening brings The Bad Seed out at the pool (oy), Indiscreet (another so-so Grant romcom), Star Wars (I refuse to call it “A New Hope”), but in the 1994 “improved” edition, rather than the 1977 original, which might be a little tempting. We also have Escape from New York (with a live introduction by John Carpenter and Kurt Russell) and Waterloo Bridge (the original, pre-Code version that is much better than the remake), but I’ll opt for Samson and Delilah, a big hunk of DeMille cheese in a nitrate print that may be best known for Groucho Marx dismissing it, as he would any picture where “the leading man has bigger knockers than the leading lady.”

 It doesn't get much better than this.

  

I think I can safely miss the midnight show of The Student Nurses, exploitative as it may be.

SUNDAY

The final day starts with Hello, Dolly! (goodbye, Babs!), The Defiant Ones (a good picture, but not one I want to see at 9:00 in the morning), Holiday (I’d rather see the original version for a novelty, as I’ve seen the 1938 one too many times) and Mad Love, a crazy Peter Lorre vehicle that ought to get the blood pumping for the rest of the day.

 Again: "I mean, c'mon ..."

The mid-morning movies are Yours, Mine, and Ours (a mistake starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball that wasn’t good in 1968), Magnificent Obsession (add Douglas Sirk to directors I just don’t get, along with Cassavettes and Altman), The Shawshank Redemption (a good movie, but wildly overrated), and The Robe, another piece of cheese, but (unfortunately) this one is sincere. I’m hoping for something good in the TBA slots, which are reruns of things that sold out earlier in the weekend.

 "Did I really want to be in the movies this badly?"

The afternoon is another dead zone, with Marty (meh) and the 1964 version of The Killers (which, to me, is notable only for Ronald Reagan playing the heavy), and Cold Turkey. I don’t think I’ve seen the last, so I’ll probably opt for that.

 Well, at least it's got Dick Van Dyke

Early evening gives us Gone With the Wind (which is a movie I never need to see again), The Godfather, Part II (a movie I don’t really want to see right now), and A Woman of Affairs, a 1928 Greta Garbo picture accompanied by a live orchestra and Kevin Brownlow, so that’s where you’ll find me.

 "Thaïs! DuBarry! Garbo!"

Finishing off the evening, and the Festival, are Buck Privates, with Abbott and Costello (so that’s out), and The Dolly Sisters. Fox musicals are always crazy and in vivid Technicolor, and a nitrate print of that should be a treat.

Yep. That's a Fox musical.

After that, it’s the closing night party, the usual round of good-byes, and a weary walk home in advance of my long drive home on Monday.