The fourth annual Turner Classics Film Festival returns to Hollywood April 25-28. Cinematic Journeys: Travel in the Movies, the theme for the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival, will explore how movies can carry viewers beyond their hometowns to distant or imaginary locales, where they can be transformed by great storytelling. Often, the mode of travel provides the filmic inspiration, whether it’s planes, trains, or automobiles. At other times, the trip itself serves as the central narrative, as in the case of many “road movies.” With Hollywood as the starting point, TCM’s cinematic excursion will take festival attendees on a fascinating journey to worlds both familiar and new.
TCM host and film historian Robert Osborne serves as official host of the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival, with TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz also introducing films and events during the festival.
The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the site of the first Academy Awards® ceremony, will once again serve as the official hotel for the festival, as well as a central gathering point for attendees. Passholders will have the opportunity to stay in this historic and magnificent Hollywood hotel at special TCM rates. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel will be the home to Club TCM with exclusive special fan gatherings, receptions, panel discussions, and much more for festival passholders. The main Festival theater venues are just a few blocks away from the Hollywood Roosevelt’s front doors on Hollywood Boulevard.
There’s going to be a very special spotlight on actress Eva Marie Saint during the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival. The Oscar®-winning actress is set to join TCM host Robert Osborne for an extended interview about her life, her career and her remarkable 61-year marriage to Jeffrey Hayden. Taped in front of a live audience at the Avalon Hollywood, the interview will debut on TCM in spring 2014 as the original special “Eva Marie Saint: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival.”
Saint will be one of the festival’s special guests, with a scheduled appearance at the U.S. premiere of the newly restored “On the Waterfront” (1954), the film that marked her film debut and earned her an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actress.
The festival will feature appearances by Mitzi Gaynor and France Nuyen, at a special poolside screening of “South Pacific” (1958).
Max von Sydow will attend screenings of “The Seventh Seal” (1957) and “Three Days of the Condor” (1975); Ann Blyth is set to appear at screenings of “Mildred Pierce” (1945) and “Kismet” (1955). Legendary documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles’ extraordinary career will be celebrated with presentations of his films “Gimme Shelter” (1970) and “Salesman” (1968).
David Maysles, the younger brother of the remarkable team, died in 1987.
Last minute celebrity additions include: Burt Reynolds and filmmaker John Boorman will join the previously announced Jon Voight at a screening of Boorman’s “Deliverance” (1972).
Director Rob Marshall is set to appear at a screening of the musical-comedy “On the Town” (1949), starring Gene Kelly (who co-directed with Stanley Donen), Frank Sinatra, Vera-Ellen, Betty Garrett, Jules Munshin and Ann Miller. Actress Rose McGowan, a past co-host of TCM’s Essentials showcase, will be on hand for a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious” (1946), starring Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant and Claude Rains. Malcolm McDowell will appear at a screening of “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (1942), starring James Cagney.
Others on the schedule are Polly Bergen, Theodore Bikel, Beau Bridges, Marge Champion, Barrie Chase, Coleen Gray, Dana Gould, Tippi Hedren, Marvin Kaplan, Norman Lloyd, Lulu, Malcolm McDowell, Chad McQueen, Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Julian Sands, Cybill Shepherd, William Wellman, Jr, Debra Winger, Jacqueline White, Jane Withers, Lili Fini Zanuck and racecar drivers Vic Elford and Derek Bell, as well as TCM Essentials Jr. host Bill Hader. Also making appearances will be filmmakers Kevin Brownlow, Jerry Schatzberg, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams along with documentarian Laurent Bouzeareau, producer Stanley Rubin, producer Ed Pressman, writer Robert Benton, screenwriter Bruce Feirstein, cinematographers Howard Wexler and Joan Churchill, Editor Billy Weber, Clara Bow biographer David Stenn, Visual-Effects Artist Craig Barron, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) film collections manager Katie Trainor and director Nicholas Ray’s widow, Susan Ray.
In addition, the festival will celebrate Bugs Bunny’s 75th Birthday, with a collection of shorts curated and presented by Leonard Maltin and Jerry Beck. Silent film composer Carl Davis will be on hand to conduct his score for the classic “It” (1927). The Film Forum’s Bruce Goldstein will present a special screening of Frank Capra’s “The Donovan Affair” (1929), complete with live voice actors and sound effects to replace the film’s long-lost soundtrack.
Among the many restorations set to premiere at the festival are “The Big Parade” (1925), “The General” (1926), “Giant” (1956), “The Great Escape” (1963) and “Badlands” (1973). Plus, there will be a film-music trivia contest hosted by “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek.
CRITICS PICKS
CLUNY BROWN (1946) CRITIC PICK
Critic’s note: Ernst Lubitsch’s sky adaptation of Margery Sharpe’s whimsical best-selling novel is a unique romantic comedy. Rarely screened, and only recently available on DVD, this film is slyly anarchistic and charming throughout. Jennifer Jones has never been better, playing the independent girl-plumber, and worldy, gentle Adam Belinski (Charles Boyer) is the man of many women’s unfulfilled fantasies. Lubitsch’s light comedy takes on class-consciousness, and the attitude of the British upper class toward the impending world war.
In director Ernst Lubitsch’s final completed film, Jennifer Jones plays a plumber who lands a job at an English country estate where she meets a charming Czech refugee played by Charles Boyer.
THE DESERT SONG (1943) CRITIC PICK
Critics Note: Rarely shown, this is the third version of the Oscar Hammerstein II-Sigmund Romberg operetta. Infectious and entertaining screen hokum.
An American veteran of the Spanish Civil War leads a team of nomadic tribesmen against the Nazis to stop them from building a railroad through the Moroccan desert. Dennis Morgan and Irene Manning star in this rare screening of the film adaptation of the stage operetta. Print courtesy of Warner Bros. Classics.
I AM SUZANNE! (1933) CRITIC PICK
Critic’s note: A dramatic precursor to “Lili”, Rowland V. Lee’s surreal musical features actors and puppets. A dream sequence, reminiscent of “Alice in Wonderland” puts injured dancer turned puppeteer Suzanne (Lilian Harvey) on trial for murdering a puppet. Leslie Banks is a scene-stealer as the evil theatre manager.
Lilian Harvey, Gene Raymond and Leslie Banks star in this unique, musical romance about rival puppeteer troupes in Paris. Print courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art.
I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING! (1945) CRITIC PICK
Critic’s note: Powell and Pressburger’s daffy black and white fantasy is a must see. Virtuosic magical realist touches, like Joan Webster’s ‘Tartan” dream, a mythopoetic use of the Scottish Highlands, and an eccentric cast of characters make this rarely screened collaboration an absolute classic. Erwin Hillier’s high contrast black and white cinematography and Allan Gray’s haunting music add to what is one of my favorite Powell and Pressburger pictures.
Pragmatic Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) agrees to marry wealthy, older industrialist Sir Robert Bellinger. On the way to her wedding to the (fictitious) Isle of Kiloran, bad weather forces her to stop on the Hebridean Isle of Mull, where she meets Torquil MacNeil (Roger Livesey), a naval officer on shore leave. Torquil, the ancestral cursed Laird of Kiloran, has eased his island to Bellinger. Staying the night at the home of Torquil’s equally bohemian friend, Catriona Potts (Pamela Brown), an inconvenient romance begins.
Wendy Hiller stars as a free-spirited Englishwoman who is eager to join her soon-to-be husband on a remote Scottish island until her journey is delayed by menacing weather and a young naval officer.
ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932) CRITIC PICK
Critic’s note: Erle C. Kenton’s exquisitely shot horror film employs cinematographer Karl Struss moody contrasting lighting and disturbing visuals to capture a lurid sadistic shocker made before the Hays Code was enforced. Hans Dreier’s uncredited Art Direction and wonderful sound effects and Wally Westmore’s brilliant makeup add to this nightmarish adaptation of H.G. Wells’ tale. Newcomer Laughton is riveting as the perverse Dr. Moreau, effortlessly layering obsession, seduction, sadism and pathos.
Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen and Bela Lugosi star in this adaptation of H. G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau about a shipwrecked traveler who encounters a fanatical scientist and his half-human creature experiments.
IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY (1947) CRITIC PICK
Critic’s note: This rarely screened gem by the brilliant Robert Hamer (“Kind Hearts and Coronets’) prefigures the British Kitchen Sink dramas of the late 50’s and 60’s. A bleak 24-hours in the life of some hard-up East End characters. Multiple overlapping storylines and flashbacks illustrate the anxious lives of the Bethnal Green denizens. Googie Withers gives a wonderful performance as the married former barmaid Rose Sandigate, who hides he ex lover from her own family. A strong cast brings these shifty East Enders to life. Cinematographer Douglas Slocombe’s finale, a train yard chase really pays off.
Director Robert Hamer’s portrait of a prison escapee who turns up at an old flame’s door one Sunday in post-war London set the table for the “kitchen sink” dramas and British New Wave that would follow.
THE LADY VANISHES (1938) CRITIC’S PICK
Critic’s note: Early Hitchcock’s don’t get better than this. Probably the greatest comedy thriller ever made (or matched by “North By Northwest”. A witty adaptation of Ethel Lina White’s novel “The Wheel Spins”, the mystery is set entirely on a train, except for it’s opening scenes. Dame May Whitty plays the middle-aged spy who vanishes. Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave and Paul Lukas head up the impeccable cast
Hitchcock launched the career of England’s most beloved comedy duo Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, who play the blithe cricket-loving Charters and Caldicott. (The pair, who invented the language for the film’s fictional country Banrika, influenced Graham Greene and Harold Pinter to name a few.)
When an elderly woman disappears during a train ride across Europe, two young passengers uncover a sinister plot in Alfred Hitchcock’s delightful thriller starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave.
THE LADYKILLERS (1955) CRITIC’S PICK
Critic’s note: Alexander Mackendrick never made a bad film. His blackly comic heist film, written by American expatriate William Rose, is a comic masterpiece. Tottery Mrs. Wilberforce (septuagenarian Katie Johnson) fends off the murderous burglars lodged in her house. The Proprietress of the ramshackle boarding house set beside a train siding, takes a motherly interest in the “band members” who move in to case a burglary. Otto Heller’s bright Technicolor images and rear screen projections, Jim Morahan’s perfectly dotty art direction (How about those Gasworks!) Tristram Cary’s jazzy contrapuntal score add to the perfection.
Alec Guinness stars as the head of a bumbling gang of crooks planning a heist while living in an eccentric old woman’s boardinghouse in this comedy directed by Alexander Mackendrick.
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955) CRITIC PICK
Critic’s note: Any chance to see Laughton’s gothic-expressionist adaptation of Davis Grubb’s novel is a holiday. What a loss that Laughton never directed another film.
Charles Laughton directs Robert Mitchum to a chilling performance as a corrupt minister who will stop at nothing to get a fortune from a widow and her two children.
SALESMAN (1968) TRIBUTE TO ALBERT MAYSLES: CRITIC PICK
Critic’s Note: The immediacy of the Maysles Brothers’ handheld portrait inspired generations. of documentarians to follow.
This landmark documentary by directors Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin captures in vivid detail the bygone era of door-to-door Bible salesmen and their daily frustrations with quotas and life on the road
SAFE IN HELL (1931) CRITIC PICK
Critic’s note: This earthy pre-code William Wellman features an unrepentant female character and plenty of great background characters
Dorothy Mackaill stars as a prostitute who goes on the lam for murder, only to find the tropical island to which she’s fled may be an even more dangerous place to be.
SUMMERTIME (1955) CRITIC PICK
Critic’s note: David Lean’s deliriously beautiful love story cannot be beat.
Vincent Korda’s production design, Alessandro Cicognini’s original score and Jack Hildyard’s ravishing wide screen cinematography of St. Mark’s Square and
Campo San Barnaba burnish a romantic Venice.
Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi star in David Lean’s tale of an American spinster who unexpectedly finds romance when she meets a handsome Italian while vacationing in Venice.
THE SWIMMER (1968) CRITIC PICK
Critic’s note: Frank Perry’s stylized allegory is the best version of John Cheever on screen. (Look for Cheever at the pool party!) Following the Aristotelian Principle, the story takes place over one day. Lancaster’s picaresque Hero Journey (through a series of suburban pools) represents a man’s life, from youthful fantasy to the sober realities of mature experience.
Based on the short story by John Cheever, Burt Lancaster plays a middle-aged executive determined to swim home using only his neighbors’ pools.
THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975) CRITIC PICK part of TRIBUTE TO MAX VON SYDOW
Critic’s note: Sydney Pollack’s Watergate era political thriller set the bar for decades of similar films. TCM guest Max von Sydow plays hired assassin G. Joubert.
CIA chief J. Higgins (Cliff Robertson) delivers a curdling speech that shocked at the time and Joseph Turner aka The Condor (Robert Redford) asks the prescient question “You think that not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth?”
When all of his co-workers are murdered, a CIA researcher realizes that he can trust no one as he tries to outwit the assassins in director Sydney Pollack’s political thriller starring Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson and Max von Sydow.
TRY AND GET ME (1950) NOIR CRITIC PICK
Critic’s note: Cy Endfield’s brutal noir was a stand out at the UCLA’s recent bi-annual Festival Of Restoration.
When an attempted kidnapping goes horribly wrong and ends in murder, the violence escalates as an angry mob seeks to enact its own justice in this film noir by director Cy Endfield. This new 35mm print was restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by the Film Noir Foundation.
VOYAGE TO ITALY (1954) CRITIC PICK
Critic’s note: Rossellini’s understated portrait of a marriage on the rocks, shot in caves and catacombs and volcanic regions near Vesuvius, prefigured and influenced Antonioni’s landscape films.
Texture, ambiance and emotional atmosphere build up in this uncharacteristic Rossellini film. Seen at the time as a betrayal of “Neo Realism” it ushered in existential, modern cinema.
The backgrounds metaphorize the characters inner melancholy and struggle.
The last of the three great films Rossellini made with Ingrid Bergman, the troubling relationship mirrors the coming dissolution of their own marriage.
An already-cooling marriage is strained when a couple travels to Italy after inheriting property abroad in this U.S. premiere restoration of director Roberto Rossellini’s romantic drama starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders.
DISCOVERIES (not mentioned above)
LE MANS (1971)
One of the most realistic and thrilling depictions of auto racing, Steve McQueen stars as a seasoned driver for the Porsche team who returns to the famous 24-hour race a year after being involved in a horrific accident.
SCARECROW (1973)
Gene Hackman and Al Pacino star as a pair of mismatched drifters who travel across the country to open the car wash of their dreams.
RESTORATIONS OR NEW PRINTS
THE GENERAL (1926)
World premiere restoration of actor/director Buster Keaton’s death-defying and hilarious action-comedy about a southern train engineer trying to save the loves of his life—his train and his girlfriend—from the hands of Union troops. This presentation will feature a live musical score written and performed by the world-renowned Alloy Orchestra.
BADLANDS (1973) World premiere restoration of writer/director Terrence Malick’s landmark true-crime-based tale of doomed lovers on a cross-country crime spree, starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek.
GIANT (1956)
World premiere restoration of George Stevens’ epic tale of the oil boom in Texas and how it changes the lives, and fortunes, of all involved. Starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean and Mercedes McCambridge.
SUDDENLY, IT’S SPRING (1947)
Paulette Goddard and Fred MacMurray star in this world premiere restoration of Mitchell Leisen’s comedy about a marital-relations expert who refuses to let her husband divorce her to marry another woman.
TARZAN FINDS A SON! (1939)
Tarzan and Jane adopt the infant survivor of a plane crash and raise him as their son, but they must fight to keep their family together when greedy fortune hunters arrive in the jungle. Presented with a new 35mm print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive and screened courtesy of Warner Bros. Classics.
TRY AND GET ME (1950) NOIR CRITIC PICK
When an attempted kidnapping goes horribly wrong and ends in murder, the violence escalates as an angry mob seeks to enact its own justice in this film noir by director Cy Endfield. This new 35mm print was restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by the Film Noir Foundation.
VOYAGE TO ITALY (1954) CRITIC PICK
An already-cooling marriage is strained when a couple travels to Italy after inheriting property abroad in this U.S. premiere restoration of director Roberto Rossellini’s romantic drama starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders.
SILENT FILMS
THE BIG PARADE (1925)
John Gilbert and Renée Adorée star in director King Vidor’s influential World War I tale of an idle rich boy turned soldier who finds friendship, love and loss in the trenches of France. Beautifully restored by Warner Bros. in partnership with Photoplay Productions, this world premiere restoration presentation features a prerecorded original score by composer Carl Davis.
THE DONOVAN AFFAIR (1929)
When an inspector investigates a murder at a fancy dinner party, the suspect list dwindles as more guests are killed in Frank Capra’s comedic murder-mystery. To replace the long-lost soundtrack, this print—courtesy of the Library of Congress Film Archive—will be shown with a presentation of live dialogue and sound effects produced by Film Forum’s Bruce Goldstein.
IT (1927)
Clara Bow gives a career-defining performance as a shop girl who uses her romantic charms to pursue her wealthy employer. This presentation will feature a live performance of the orchestral score commissioned by Photoplay Productions for the Thames Silents series by composer Carl Davis and conducted by Robert Ziegler.
MUSICALS
FUNNY GIRL (1968)
Official Opening Night Gala world premiere restoration of director William Wyler’s musical comedy starring Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford, and Walter Pidgeon. Streisand made one of the great big screen debuts—and won an Academy Award—reprising her Broadway role as comedienne Fanny Brice.
FLYING DOWN TO RIO (1933)
Celebrating the 80th anniversary of the film with a new print, Gene Raymond and Dolores del Rio star, and dance duo Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire make their onscreen debut together, in this musical comedy about a bandleader pursuing the woman of his dreams in Brazil.
GUYS AND DOLLS (1955)
Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine star in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s big-screen version of the musical about a small-time New York gambler who finds the biggest bet of his life is whether he can take a straight-laced missionary on a date to Cuba.
I AM SUZANNE! (1933) CRITIC PICK
Lilian Harvey, Gene Raymond and Leslie Banks star in this unique, musical romance about rival puppeteer troupes in Paris. Print courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art.
KISMET (1955)) part of the TRIBUTE TO ANN BLYTH
A twist of fate intervenes in the lives of a poor Persian poet and his daughter in director Vincente Minnelli’s musical starring Ann Blyth and Howard Keel.
MY FAIR LADY (1964)
Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn star as a renowned phonetics professor and the crude Cockney pupil he takes on as a wager in George Cukor’s film adaptation of the hit musical play.
ON THE TOWN (1949) MUSICAL
Three sailors search for romance and fun during their whirlwind, 24-hour leave in New York City. Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra star in this musical, which will be presented with a new 35mm print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.
SOUTH PACIFIC (1958)
While stationed on an island during World War II, a naïve nurse falls in love with a wealthy Frenchman in this Rodgers & Hammerstein musical starring Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi.
YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942) MUSiCAL
James Cagney stars in director Michael Curtiz’s star-spangled musical based on the life of legendary entertainer, composer and playwright George M. Cohan.
THE DESERT SONG (1943) CRITIC PICK
Critics Note: Rarely shown, this is the third version of the Oscar Hammerstein II-Sigmund Romberg operetta. Infectious and entertaining screen hokum.
An American veteran of the Spanish Civil War leads a team of nomadic tribesmen against the Nazis to stop them from building a railroad through the Moroccan desert. Dennis Morgan and Irene Manning star in this rare screening of the film adaptation of the stage operetta. Print courtesy of Warner Bros. Classics.
NOIRS:
CAPE FEAR (1962)
A small-town lawyer goes to great lengths to protect his family from a sadistic parolee seeking revenge in this thriller starring Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Polly Bergen.
GILDA (1946)
Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth star in this film noir about a crooked gambler falling for a past lover, Gilda, who is now his boss’ wife.
THE KILLING (1956)
A retiring criminal plans one final, elaborate heist, but his scheme goes awry in Stanley Kubrick’s film noir starring Sterling Hayden and Coleen Gray.
MILDRED PIERCE (1945) part of the TRIBUTE TO ANN BLYTH:
Joan Crawford gives an iconic performance as a woman who starts her own successful business to win the approval of her neurotic daughter, played by Ann Blyth.
NOTORIOUS (1946)
Critic Note: Bergman and Grant’s cynical romance is irresistible.
Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains are caught in dangerous love triangle in Alfred Hitchcock’s South American espionage thriller.
THEY LIVE BY NIGHT (1949) CRITIC PICK
After a fugitive hoping to prove his innocence gets involved with a gang of hardened criminals, he and his new wife go on the lam to try and start a new life in Nicholas Ray’s film noir starring Farley Granger and Cathy O’Donnell. Restored by Warner Bros., in association with The Film Foundation and The Nicholas Ray Foundation.
THE NARROW MARGIN (1952)
A cop must protect a gangster’s moll on a dangerous train ride to testify before a grand jury. Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor and Jacqueline White star in this screening presented with a new 35mm print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.
THE TALL TARGET (1951)
Dick Powell plays a police sergeant trying to prevent an assassination attempt on President Abraham Lincoln as he travels by train to Washington, D.C., for his inauguration.
TRY AND GET ME (1950) CRITIC PICK
When an attempted kidnapping goes horribly wrong and ends in murder, the violence escalates as an angry mob seeks to enact its own justice in this film noir by director Cy Endfield. This new 35mm print was restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by the Film Noir Foundation.
COMEDIES
Besides Mitchell Leisen’s restored SUDDENLY, IT’S SPRING (1947), this edition will present the following comedies:
AIRPLANE! (1980
When food poisoning strikes an entire flight crew, the only man who can safely land the plane is afraid of flying in this hilarious disaster-movie spoof written and directed by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams.
COME SEPTEMBER (1961)
A vacationing American millionaire discovers that his Italian villa is being used as a hotel and his long-time girlfriend has left him for another man in this romantic comedy starring Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida.
A FOREIGN AFFAIR (1948)
John Lund, Jean Arthur and Marlene Dietrich star in Billy Wilder’s romantic comedy about a U.S. Army captain who gets caught between an ex-Nazi cabaret singer and a U.S. congresswoman in occupied Berlin.
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) CRITIC PICK
The first winner of all five major Academy Awards, Frank Capra’s romantic comedy about an heiress on the run and a reporter looking for a story stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.
IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD (1963)
When a dying thief tells a group of eccentric strangers the location of his stolen loot, the result is a madcap race to seek the treasure. This 50th anniversary presentation of producer/director Stanley Kramer’s uproarious, star-studded comedy is presented in 70mm.
THE LADY EVE (1941) CRITIC PICK
Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda star in Preston Sturges’ screwball tale of a con-artist out to land the snake-loving heir of a brewery fortune.
LIBELED LADY (1936) CRITIC PICK
Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy star in this screwball comedy about a desperate newspaper editor out to get a an heiress to drop her libel suit against him.
NINOTCHKA (1939) CRITIC PICK
Ernst Lubitsch directs Greta Garbo in her first full comedy about a Russian envoy who is sent to Paris and tries to resist the seduction of the West and a dashing count played by Melvyn Douglas.
ROAD TO UTOPIA (1946)
Legendary comedy duo Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are former vaudeville performers who take a detour on their way to Alaska after discovering a gold mine map in this fourth film of the Road to… series.
RUGGLES OF RED GAP (1935) CRITIC PICK
Charles Laughton stars as a proper English butler who is brought to the Wild West to work for a newly rich American family in this comedy by Leo McCarey.
THE TWELVE CHAIRS (1970) Rarely Shown CRITIC PICK
An impoverished Russian aristocrat, a priest and a con artist search for a dozen chairs that could contain a hidden treasure in this hilarious comedy directed by Mel Brooks and starring Ron Moody, Frank Langella and Dom DeLuise.
ANIMATION
BUGS BUNNY’S 75TH BIRTHDAY BASH (VARIOUS YEARS)
Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin and author and animation historian Jerry Beck curate and present some of the best shorts featuring everyone’s favorite rascally rabbit in this diamond anniversary celebration of Bugs Bunny.
LADY AND THE TRAMP (1955)
When a refined American Cocker Spaniel named Lady falls for a homeless mutt named Tramp, romance and adventure soon follow in Walt Disney’s 15th animated film.
DOCUMENTARY
GIMME SHELTER (1970)
Critic Note: Maysle’s Brother’s vérité footage captures the soul wrenching violent end to
Flower Power.
Called “the greatest rock film of the greatest rock and roll band,” this documentary by directors Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin chronicles the Rolling Stones and their tragically ill-fated 1969 free concert at the Altamont Speedway.
ESSENTIALS: (Not listed above)
BEN-HUR (1959)
Charlton Heston stars in director William Wyler’s epic adaptation of the Lew Wallace novel about a Jewish prince’s escape from slavery and his vengeful mission to repay the Roman friend-turned-betrayer who enslaved him.
THE BIRDS (1963)
50th anniversary screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s technologically groundbreaking and horrifying tale of avian aggression, starring Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963)
Based on Ian Fleming’s novel of the same name, Sean Connery’s Agent 007 is out to reclaim a stolen Soviet encryption device by playing oblivious to an assassination scheme in the second installment of the James Bond series.
THE BIRDS (1963)
50th anniversary screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s technologically groundbreaking and horrifying tale of avian aggression, starring Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor.
GUYS AND DOLLS (1955)
Critic Note: The original swinging musical. Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s only musical
sports great songs (“Luck Be a Lady” and “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat”)
Production design by Oliver Smith, art direction by Joseph C. Wright, set decoration by Howard Bristol and Irene Sharaff’s witty costumes summon the slangy world of Damon Runyon’s Brooklyn and mid-town sharpies and demi-mondaines.
Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine star in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s big-screen version of the musical about a small-time New York gambler who finds the biggest bet of his life is whether he can take a straight-laced missionary on a date to Cuba.
THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963)
50th anniversary world premiere restoration of John Sturges’ thrilling WWII tale of Allied prisoners struggling to escape a German POW camp, which was based on a true story. The all-star cast includes Steve McQueen, James Garner and Richard Attenborough
ON GOLDEN POND (1981)
Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains are caught in dangerous love triangle in Alfred Hitchcock’s South American espionage thriller.
ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains are caught in dangerous love triangle in Alfred Hitchcock’s South American espionage thriller.
PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1959)
Director Edward D. Wood, Jr.’s low-budget sci-fi cult classic about extraterrestrial creatures planning to resurrect the Earth’s dead in order to discourage humans from constructing a universe-destroying doomsday weapon.
SHANE (1953)
Director Edward D. Wood, Jr.’s low-budget sci-fi cult classic about extraterrestrial creatures planning to resurrect the Earth’s dead in order to discourage humans from constructing a universe-destroying doomsday weapon.
TO SIR, WITH LOVE (1967)
Sidney Poitier plays an engineer who gets more than he bargained for after taking a teaching job in the socially and racially troubled classrooms in the East End of London.
JOURNEYS OF SELF DISCOVERY: (Not mentioned above)
CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS (1937)
Spencer Tracy, Freddie Bartholomew and Mickey Rooney star in Victor Fleming’s coming-of-age story about a spoiled boy who is rescued from open waters by Portuguese-American fishermen after falling from a luxury liner.
THE RAZOR’S EDGE (1946)
Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, Anne Baxter and Herbert Marshall star in Edmund Goulding’s adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham novel about a young man’s search for life’s meaning after witnessing the horrors of World War I.
A JOURNEY TO ITALY: (Not mentioned above)
A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1985)
A young Englishwoman travels to Florence with her dour chaperone and falls in love with a free-spirited young man in this adaptation of E.M. Forster’s novel starring Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith and Julian Sands.
LOVERS ON THE RUN: (Not mentioned above)
BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty star as the legendary couple whose infamous crime spree terrorizes the Depression-era southwest in director Arthur Penn’s groundbreaking film.
RIDING THE RAILS: (Not mentioned above)
THE TRAIN (1964)
In John Frankenheimer’s action-packed war thriller, Burt Lancaster plays a French train inspector who goes head-to-head with a Nazi officer determined to smuggle a boxcar full of stolen art masterpieces into Germany.
THE RIVER AS ROAD: (Not mentioned above)
THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
A grizzled riverboat captain and a straight-laced missionary decide to take on the Germans in East Africa during World War I in this adventure directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn and Theodore Bikel.
DELIVERANCE (1972)
A canoeing trip turns into a nightmare when four city-dwelling friends venture into the Georgia backwoods in director John Boorman’s harrowing tale of survival starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox.
RIVER OF NO RETURN (1954)
When his horse and rifle are stolen, a farmer, his son and a saloon singer journey down the river in pursuit of the thief in this Western directed by Otto Preminger and starring Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe.
TRIBUTE TO MAX VON SYDOW: (Not mentioned above)
THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957)
Max von Sydow stars as a knight returning home from the Crusades only to find his land tormented by the Black Plague and rampant superstition in director Ingmar Bergman’s striking allegory.
Club TCM offers a series of events exclusively for passholders. (Select events limited by pass level.) Exclusively for passholders*, Club TCM is a private locale in the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel where movie fans can gather to relax, meet new friends, and attend special presentations and events with many of our celebrity guests — including our own Robert Osborne and Ben Mankiewicz. Recreating the flavor of bygone Hollywood hotspots, Club TCM embodies true Hollywood glamour and is located in the Blossom Room — site of the very first Academy Awards banquet.
THURSDAY, APRIL 25
1:00pm – 2:00pm – Meet TCM
Get to know the people behind the network! Join TCM staffers for a look behind the scenes at network programming, how TCM is produced and what’s coming up on the horizon.
3:00pm – 4:00pm – So You Think You Know the Movies
New York’s Film Forum repertory programmer Bruce Goldstein returns as host of this popular program, challenging you with new trivia to test your movie knowledge. Novices and experts are welcome to take part in this fun team challenge, and you can join a team on the spot (minimum 2 team members, maximum 8).
FRIDAY, APRIL 26
12:30pm – 1:30pm – A Conversation with Kevin Brownlow
The renowned filmmaker, film historian and 2010 recipient of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Governors Award Kevin Brownlow will discuss his films, career and lifelong passion for silent cinema with author, film historian and documentarian Cari Beauchamp.
(Due to unforeseen circumstances, TCM regrets to announce that Carl Davis will be unable to join us in person at this event as previously announced.)
3:00pm – 4:00pm – Taking the Fall: A Conversation with Hollywood Stuntmen
Whether it’s crashing a car, jumping off a train or being dragged behind a truck, it’s all in a day’s work for Hollywood stuntmen. Join stunt performing veterans Jeannie Epper (Romancing the Stone, Blade Runner), Loren Janes (IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD, Bullitt) and Conrad E. Palmisano (AIRPLANE!, First Blood) as they discuss the history of the stuntman profession and their decades of experience in the business. They will be interviewed by TCM senior writer/producer Scott McGee.
5:30pm – 6:30pm – Hollywood Home Movies: Treasures from the Academy Film Archive Collection
The Academy Film Archive shares some unique gems from its collection with a screening of specially selected home movie footage from Hollywood’s Golden Age. The home movie craze extended to Hollywood’s film professionals, including stars and directors who captured their families, friends, parties and vacations, as well as behind-the-scenes activities on their film sets. The Academy Film Archive houses a wide variety of home movies and will present a selection of excerpts in the context of the Festival’s “Cinematic Journeys” theme, including Sophia Loren in Greece, the cast and crew of Gunga Din on location in the Sierras, a Malibu party with Jimmy Stewart and other stars, Lucille Ball filming a Western in New Mexico, and many more. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to enjoy unique and rarely-screened footage. Actresses Mitzi Gaynor and Fay McKenzie will make a special appearance during this Club TCM event. Presented by Randy Haberkamp, Managing Director of Programming, Education and Preservation for AMPAS and Lynne Kirste, Special Collections Curator at the Archive.
SATURDAY, APRIL 27
12:30pm – 1:30pm – A Conversation with Tippi Hedren
Golden Globe winner and friend of TCM Tippi Hedren shares memories of her career in golden age Hollywood—providing insights on the great talents she has worked with (including Alfred Hitchcock, Jessica Tandy, Rod Taylor, Sean Connery, Isabelle Hupert, Dustin Hoffman) and behind the scenes stories from some of her greatest films (THE BIRDS, Marnie, I Heart Huckabees)—and discusses her many recent roles in film and television. She will be interviewed by film professor and author Foster Hirsch.
3:00pm – 4:00pm – A Conversation with Max von Sydow
From the Swedish art cinema of the late 1950s to Hollywood productions of today, Max von Sydow has remained a powerful presence in film and an icon of enduring versatility. Join the Academy Award-nominated actor and international film star as he discusses his extraordinary life and career.
5:30 – 6:30pm – “What’s the Score?” with Alex Trebek
Do you have an ear for music and a knack for facts? Join renowned television game show host Alex Trebek for this special movie music trivia contest. Pre-registration is not required, and you can join a team on the spot (minimum 3 team members, maximum 6).
7:30 – 8:30pm – LE MANS: Behind the Scenes
Incorporating footage from the actual 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans race, LE MANS (1971) is widely considered one of the most authentic of racing films, due in no small part to the passion that star Steve McQueen had for the sport. Join Chad McQueen and race car drivers Derek Bell and Vic Elford as they talk about the making of the film and their memories of LE MANS.
SUNDAY, APRIL 28
10:00am – 12:00pm – Classic Movie Memorabilia Appraisals by Bonhams
(Lobby of Roosevelt Hotel)
The TCM Classic Film Festival is proud to partner once again with the world-renowned Bonhams auction house to provide expert appraisals of classic movie memorabilia for Festival goers. Come and watch as the experts at Bonhams help your fellow attendees learn more about their Silver Screen collectibles. Through these clinics, Bonhams’ experts have discovered many important items that have gone on to bring record prices at auction. For more information or to make an appraisal appointment, please visit http://bonhams.com/tcm.
12:30pm – 1:30pm – Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood
Half of all films written before 1925 were written by women. Hollywood was a magnet for creative women at a time they were not welcome in other professions. As directors, editors, producers, and particularly as writers, women thrived and nurtured each other during this unique period. Film historian and author Cari Beauchamp explores the story of these pioneers of Hollywood in this in-depth presentation.
3:00pm – 4:00pm – Hollywood’s Silent Echoes
Comedy legends Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd filmed their classic movies on the streets of Hollywood. Join author and “archaeologist of early cinema” John Bengtson for a multi-media tour of silent-era Hollywood filming locations, some located just steps from Club TCM. Then travel north to Cottage Grove, Oregon, for a behind-the-scenes tour of how Buster Keaton filmed his 1926 masterpiece THE GENERAL in this presentation.
Presenter John Bengston has also provided directions for film fans to take their own self-guided tour of many silent film locations in the Hollywood area. Click the link below to access and print the directions:http://silentlocations.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/club-tcm-hollywoods-silent-echoes-tour-2013.pdf
SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS
Select Works from Bonhams
Bonhams auction house shares select items from upcoming entertainment memorabilia auctions, including rare collectibles associated with Festival programming. Additional details about these items and upcoming auctions are available at http://www.bonhams.com/entertainment.
Celebrating Cinematic Journeys: Photography from the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library
TCM is proud to present these rare photographs from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, celebrating the “Cinematic Journeys” theme of this year’s Festival. On vacation or on location in exotic locales, stars like Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor and Cary Grant deliver their unique and undeniable glamour no matter what the environment. Special thanks to Randy Haberkamp, Jane Glicksman, Faye Thompson, Stacey Behlmer and Matt Severson for their support of this exhibit.
This year, the Go-to destination for International Classic film lovers, adds another historic venue. The elegant theatre with its elaborate cast-concrete Spanish Colonial-style exterior by Stiles O. Clements (Morgan, Walls & Clements) and the lavish East Indian-inspired interior of designed by San Francisco architect G. Albert Lansburgh.
Stars of the stage attended the opening of the El Capitan Theatre, the largest legitimate theatre in Hollywood, on May 3, 1926. They filled the 1,550-seat theatre, dubbed “Hollywood’s First Home of Spoken Drama,” for the premiere of the fresh-from-Broadway play Charlot’s Revue, starring Jack Buchanan, Gertrude Lawrence and Beatrice Lillie. Legendary stars Clark Gable, Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford, Joan Fontaine, Henry Fonda and Will Rogers have graced the El Capitan stage. In 1941, the El Capitan Theatre was converted from a playhouse to a movie theatre. On May 8, 1941, Welles’ first feature film, Citizen Kane, premiered at the El Capitan Theatre. The El Capitan Theatre is an exclusive first-run theatre for Walt Disney Pictures and hosts live stage shows, world premieres, and other special events.
Venues include: The Cinerama Dome. Designed by famed Los Angeles architect, Welton Becket, The Cinerama Dome was the first of what was announced to be 300 domed theatres to be built around the world using Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome design. It is the only concrete geodesic dome in the world.
In 1999, Pacific Theatres announced a major construction project to surround The Cinerama Dome (ArcLight Cinema.) Until the opening of ArcLight Cinemas, the Cinerama Dome had never shown a film in the original three strip Cinerama process. By the time the Dome opened in 1963, the last two movies made in 3 strip Cinerama, “The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm” (1962), and How “The West Was Won” (1962) had already opened and Hollywood had decided that a new “Ultra-Panavision” anamorphic 70mm process could replicate Cinerama’s 2:76×1 aspect ratio at a much small cost of both projection and exhibition.
Three vintage Cinerama projectors and sound dubber were found backstage at the Cinerama Theatre in Honolulu. They were repaired and serviced and installed in the Cinerama Dome in time for the 50th Anniversary of the release of “This Is Cinerama” (1952). New prints were made for the original negatives of “This Is Cinerama,” and “How The West Was Won” and now play semi-annually. At its height of popularity, there were almost 300 theatres world-wide equipped to play Cinerama. Today, there are only three, The Seattle Cinerama, The National Museum of Television and Film in Bradford England, and Pacific’s Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.
TCL Chinese Theatre. The courtyard of Sid Grauman’s legendary Chinese Theatre , covered with footprints, handprints and signatures of Hollywood greats in cement, is a veritable catalog of movie history. AS part of this year’s festival Jane Fonda will be getting her handprints in the Chinese courtyard next to her fathers and then she will be hosting a screening of ‘On Golden Pond,’ the only film that she and her father made together. The sister multiplex The Chinese 6 Theatres also hosts the festival on three of its stadium seating screens.
The Egyptian Theatre, the site of the first “Hollywood” premiere, the venue originally known as “Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre” opened with the Douglas Fairbanks epic adaptation of ROBIN HOOD in 1922. Its architecture was inspired by the mania for Egypt following the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb. The Egyptian is now the home of the American Cinematheque.
Avalon Hollywood. Opened in 1927 as a stage theatre (The Hollywood Playhouse) the Spanish colonial revival building became the home for CBS radio broadcasts in the 1940s, including Fanny Brice’s Baby Snooks show and Lucille Ball’s My Favorite Husband program. Lux Radio Theater broadcast featured condensed movie scripts usually with the movie’s original cast performing their movie roles. Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland performed “Lady in the Dark” in 1945.
Television broadcasts in the 1950s brought stars like Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Judy Garland and to the famous stage. Richard Nixon delivered his famous “Checkers speech” on this stage on September 23, 1952. The Colgate Comedy Hour, the Lawrence Welk Show, This is Your Life and The Jerry Lewis Show were all broadcast at the venue.
In the 1960s, renamed the Hollywood Palace, the venue hosted The Beatles, Fred Astaire, , Jimmy Durante and Merv Griffin’s iconic talk show. BIng Crosby hosted “The Hollywood Palace Variety Show”. The seven season show had guest hosts such as Liberace, Jimmy Durante, Ginger Rogers, Victor Borge, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Cyd Charisse & Tony Martin, Van Johnson, Betty Hutton, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Judy Garland, Alice Faye & Phil Harris, Groucho Marx and Louis Armstrong.
Turner Classic Movies was launched by Ted Turner on April 14, 1994. Turner Broadcasting System then merged with Time Warner, which gave TCM access to the library of Warner Bros. films released after 1949 (which itself includes acquired entities such as the Lorimar, Saul Zaentz and National General Pictures libraries). The channel, which offers commercial free programing of classic films, won a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting in 2008. The first Turner Classics Film Festival was held in 2010.
Passes for the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival can be purchased by calling the festival box office at (877) 826-5764 on business days between 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (ET), or 24 hours a day through the official festival website: http://filmfestival.tcm.com. The site also features additional information about the festival, including video and photos from past festivals.