Month: December 2020

DECEMBER ON TCM

WE MADE IT!!! 2020 is almost over. THANK GOD. Count down the days, minutes and seconds laughing at Laurel & Hardy’s antics, sitting (or zooming) with your family watching some of the best Christmas movies ever made, and celebrating the end of this godawful year on New Year’s eve with some sleuthing and dancing.

STAR OF THE MONTH: LAUREL & HARDY (MONDAYS IN DECEMBER)

TCM Backlot members chose legendary comedic team Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy to be December’s Star of the Month over another legendary comedic team Bud Abbott & Lou Costello. Laurel bumbled and Hardy would try to figure why he let Laurel get him into another mess.

Stan Laurel was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in England on June 16, 1890. Oliver Hardy was born two years later as Norvell Hardy on January 18, 1892, in Georgia. After having successful solo careers, the boys teamed up for the first time in 1919 and permanently in 1927. Laurel was the brains behind the operation. During breaks while filming, Laurel was hard at work refining their material while Hardy socialized.

The duo made over 70 short films in silent and sound; notably the Oscar-winning The Music Box (December 14 @ 6:12PM/5:12PM) where the boys have to deliver a piano to a home that is on top of a VERY long stairway. Their first feature was Pardon Us (December 7 @ 8PM/7PM) where the guys land in jail. Their most notable film was Sons of the Desert (December 7 @ 9:30PM/8:30PM) where the duo tells their respective wives a little white lie in order to attend a fraternity convention. Heck, Laurel & Hardy even have their own Christmas classic, 1934’s Babes in Toyland (December 8 @ 12:15AM/11:15PM AND Christmas Day @ 10:45AM/9:45AM). The duo worked on movies until 1950 with the release of Utopia (December 29 @ 1AM/midnight) and on the stage until 1954 when Hardy had to retire due to health issues. Laurel & Hardy last appeared on film in a 1956 home movie shot at Stan Laurel’s daughter Lois’ home. The following clip shows a nearly unrecognizable Oliver Hardy due to a 100-plus pound weight loss.

Oliver Hardy died in 1957 and Stan Laurel refused to perform without his partner. Stan Laurel died in 1965.

TCM SPOTLIGHT: BERNARD HERRMANN (WEDNESDAYS IN DECEMBER)

Consider this: your career begins and ends with two of the most acclaimed films EVER. This happened to Bernard Herrmann who launched his film composing career with CITIZEN KANE (December 2 @ 11:45PM/10:45PM) and ends working with Martin freakin’ Scorsese in Taxi Driver. Herrmann’s most recognized works are his collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock. TCM honors the man with 25 films divided into four categories exploring some his scores.

Herrmann Comes to Hollywood (December 2) features his early works including the aforementioned Kane plus the 1943 adaptation Jane Eyre (8PM/ 7PM), The Devil and Daniel Webster (9:45PM/8:45PM) for which he won the Academy Award, The Magnificent Ambersons (2AM/1AM), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (3:45AM/2:45AM) and On Dangerous Ground (6AM/5AM).

Adventures in Sound (December 9) features a variety of films from different genres: the sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still (8PM/7PM) fantasy films The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (9:45PM/8:45PM), The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (11:30PM/10:30PM), Mysterious Island (1:15AM/12:15AM), Jason and the Argonauts (3AM/2AM) plus the dramas Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (5AM/4AM) and The Naked and the Dead (6:45AM/5:45AM).

Herrmann & Hitchcock (December 16) features the collaboration between Herrmann and the “Master of Suspense” starting with Vertigo (8PM/7PM), Marnie (10:15PM/9:15PM), The Trouble with Harry (12:45AM/11:45PM), The Man Who Knew Too Much (2:30AM/1:30AM) where Herrmann makes a cameo as what else, a composer; The Wrong Man (4:45AM/3:45AM) and North by Northwest (6:45AM/5:45AM).

More Hitchcock & Thrillers (December 30) the festival ends with two Hitchcocks The Birds (8PM/7PM) and Psycho (10:15PM/9:15PM) followed by thrillers Cape Fear (12:15AM/11:15PM) Sisters (2:15AM/1:15AM) It’s Alive (4AM/3AM) and The Bride Wore Black (5:45AM/4:45AM).

NOIR ALLEY

December’s lineup:

  • 1951’s Tomorrow is Another Day (December 5 & 6) starring Steve Cochran and Ruth Roman
  • 1957’s The Burglar (December 12 & 13) starring Dan Duryea and Jayne Mansfield
  • 1947’s The Unsuspected (December 19 & 20) starring Claude Rains and Joan Caulfield
  • 1945’s Detour (December 26 & 27) starring Tom Neal and Ann Savage

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS MARATHON (DECEMBER 18-25)

Look it’s been a tough year and we all need a little Christmas. So the folks at TCM decided to air an eight-day festival of Christmas classics for a total of 90 movies. Christmas movies will air on the first two weekend afternoons in December. It all starts with the romantic dramedy Remember the Night (December 18 @ 8PM/7PM) starring Barbara Stanwyck as a thief who goes to lawyer Fred MacMurray’s home for Christmas and ends on Christmas Day with The Apartment (5:45PM/4:45PM) with many favorites in between. So sit down with the people you like, have some hot chocolate or eggnog and take your mind off your troubles for a few hours.

PRE-CODE CLASSICS WITH BRUCE GOLDSTEIN (DECEMBER 3)

New York City’s Film Forum’s Director of Repertory Programming Bruce Goldstein co-hosts a night of pre-Code films starting with Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face (8PM/7PM), the story of a woman who literally sleeps her way to the top. Next is Employee’s Entrance (9:30PM/8:30PM), where a department store executive takes advantage of a model. Third is the dramedy Blessed Event (11PM/10PM), the story of a gossip columnist who makes a lot of enemies. Finally it’s the crime film Two Seconds (12:45AM/11:45PM), where an ordinary working man’s life spirals out of control and he ends up in the electric chair.

WRITTEN BY CHARLES DICKENS (DECEMBER 8)

How many times have the works of Charles Dickens been adapted? According to Wikipedia, there are at least 48 wiki pages on A Christmas Carol (8PM/7PM). TCM airs the 1938 version of the Dickens classic starring Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge. Then it’s the 1935 version of David Copperfield (9:30PM/8:30PM)-9 adaptations with the most recent one coming out this year. Legendary director David Lean made arguably the best adaptations of Great Expectations (midnight/11PM) and Oliver Twist (2:15AM/1:15AM). Thirteen and 23 adaptations respectively. Closing out the tribute is the 1935 version of A Tale of Two Cities (4:30AM/3:30AM) one of nine adaptations.

SANTA SIGHTINGS (DECEMBER 10)

You better watch out, you better not cry, because guys in Santa suits are coming to a TV near you! I couldn’t come up with another rhyme. Tonight’s lineup starts with Errol Flynn donning a fake beard to spend Christmas with his daughter in Never Say Goodbye (8PM/7PM), followed by Edward G. Robinson leading a cohort of hapless ex-cons in Larceny, Inc. (10PM/9PM), Glenn Ford in the film noir comedy (?) Mr. Soft Touch (midnight/11PM), Frank Sinatra and friends in Robin and the 7 Hoods (2AM/1AM), and the 1932 comedy Prosperity (4:15AM/3:15AM).

STARRING MARSHA HUNT (DECEMBER 11-DAYTIME)

Marsha Hunt is one of the last surviving actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. She turned 103 years young on October 17. TCM celebrates this leading lady with a day of her films leading up to the TCM premiere of a 2015 documentary about her life and career Marsha Hunt’s Sweet Adversity (8PM/7PM).

Marcia Virginia Hunt was born in Chicago on October 17, 1917. Hunt knew she wanted to be an actress since childhood. After graduating from high school, Hunt who changed the spelling of her name to Marsha, couldn’t find a college where one could major in drama before one’s junior year, so she enrolled in drama school instead. Marsha signed with Paramount Pictures at the age of 17. She signed with MGM in 1941 but not before losing the part of Melanie in Gone With the Wind. In the early 1950s, Hunt was blacklisted by the House of Un-American Activities Committee. Marsha turned to humanitarian work and made sporadic appearances in television and film.

Hunt’s daytime lineup includes the comedy Bride By Mistake (6AM/5AM), playing the other woman in Smash-Up: the Story of a Woman (7:30AM/6:30AM), Flight Command (9:30AM/8:30AM), The Human Comedy (11:30AM/10:30AM), The Valley of Decision (1:45PM/12:45PM), Bombers B-52 (3:45PM/2:45PM) and playing the middle Bennett sister Mary in Pride and Prejudice (5:45PM/4:45PM)

FILM DOCUMENTARIES (DECEMBER 11-EVENING)

After the aforementioned premiere of the Marsha Hunt documentary, TCM premieres three documentaries about the history of cinema starting with the 2019 documentary Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the Movie Palace (10PM/9PM), the 2018 documentary What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (11:30PM/10:30PM) and the 2009 documentary about the history of film criticism For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism (1:15AM/12:15AM).

NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY (DECEMBER 15)

The schedule for tonight’s National Film Registry hasn’t been posted yet because the Registry hasn’t announced their 2020 selections. For a film to be considered for the Registry, a movie must be at least 10 years old (so 2010 films are eligible) and be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” So, here’s a couple of films that could be added to the 2020 registry.

  • 1895’s The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
  • 1896’s Serpentine Dance by Annabelle
  • The first full-length comedy Tillie’s Punctured Romance
  • The last film notorious bank robber John Dillinger ever saw 1934’s Manhattan Melodrama
  • The Lord of the Rings trilogy!

UPDATE: Well, none of the films I posted made this year’s list. You can find the 2020 inductees here.

HOLIDAYS WITH THE HEPBURNS (DECEMBER 25)

Spend Christmas night with Audrey and Katharine Hepburn (no relation) with three films apiece. Audrey’s films are the romantic comedy Sabrina (8PM/7PM), the musical My Fair Lady (midnight/11PM) and the dramedy Two for the Road (4:45AM/3:45AM). Kate’s selected movies include The African Queen (10PM/9PM), one of her four teamings with Cary Grant, 1938’s Holiday (3AM/2AM), and her final pairing with Spencer Tracy in 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (6:45AM/5:45AM).

IN MEMORIAM (DECEMBER 29)

  • The Graduate (screenwriter Buck Henry-died January 8 at age 89)
  • Sweet Bird of Youth (actress Shirley Knight-died April 22 at age 83)
  • This is Spinal Tap (actor Fred Willard-died May 15 at age 86)
  • TCM premiere The Belly of an Architect (actor Brian Dennehy-died April 15 at age 81)
  • The Front (cinematographer Michael Chapman-died September 20 at age 84 and actor Jerry Stiller-died May 11 at age 92)
  • The Battle of Algiers (composer Ennio Morricone-died July 6 at age 91)
  • The Family Secret (actress/author Diana Serra Cary aka “Baby Peggy”-died February 24 at age 101)
  • The Square Peg (actress Honor Blackman-died April 5 at age 94
  • Evil Under the Sun (actress Diana Rigg-died September 10 at age 82
  • The China Syndrome (actor Wilford Brimley-died August 1 at age 82)

NEW YEAR’S EVE (DECEMBER 31)

New Year’s Eve has the annual marathons of The Thin Man series during the daytime and the That‘s Entertainment quartet in the evening.