First off, a personal note. This will be the last “on TCM” I will be posting. I might do a highlighted version from now on but it will not be as long. These posts used to be fun but now feel like a chore. This has never been my intention. I’ll be trying out new things next year so stay tuned!
STAR OF THE MONTH: INGRID BERGMAN (WEDNESDAYS IN DECEMBER)
Ingrid Bergman is December’s Star of the Month for the third time. Here are some recommendations:
A Woman’s Face (December 2 @ 2:30PM/1:30PM)-Bergman is a bitter, scarred (physically and emotionally) who gets a chance at a new life.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (December 1 @ midnight/11PM)-Ingrid is the “bad girl” in this 1941 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic.
The Bells of St. Mary’s (December 8 @ 8PM/7PM)-Ingrid is a plucky nun in this sequel to the 1944 Best Picture winner Going My Way.
Indiscreet (December 15 @ 8PM/7PM)-Would you believe that this was Bergman’s first comedy?!
TCM SPOTLIGHT: MET ON SET (THURSDAYS IN DECEMBER)
Sometimes performers and/or their directors really hit it off and start up a relationship. Some relationships manage to last for a lifetime while others do not end well. Most are in-between. TCM looks at some of cinema’s greatest off-screen couples.
Night 1 looks at Classic Hollywood Sweethearts beginning with a couple whose only on-screen pairing came four years before they got together. I’m talking about Clark Gable and Carole Lombard in No Man of Her Own (8PM/7PM). Lombard was married to William Powell at the time of filming and Gable was also married but in name only. Next is Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in Woman of the Year (9:30PM/8:30PM). The duo co-starred in another 8 films and spent the next 25 years together until Tracy’s death in 1967. Third is the film where Bogie met Bacall in To Have and Have Not (11:45PM/10:45PM). They made four more films together and were happily married until Bogart’s death in 1957. The subject of Season 3’s The Plot Thickens features the next couple Lucy and Desi in Too Many Girls (1:45AM/12:45AM). They were married for 20 years. Joel McCrea and Frances Dee met on the set of The Silver Cord (3:30AM/2:30AM); McCrea died on the couple’s 57th wedding anniversary. Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck met on the set of His Brother’s Wife (5AM/4AM) and lasted for 15 years. Finally, Jane Wyman and Ronald Reagan met on the set of Brother Rat (6:45AM/5:45AM), married in 1940, and split in 1949.
Night 2 features Short & Sweet Couplings. First up is the previously mentioned Carole Lombard and William Powell who co-starred in Man of the World (8PM/7PM); they lasted a little over two years but remained friends (yes, really). Next is Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone who co-starred in seven movies including Today We Live (9:30PM/8:30PM). They were married for four years. Wait a minute! Bette Davis and Gary Merrill who met on the All About Eve (11:30PM/10:30PM) set lasted for 10 years. That is not short and sweet! Now Eddie and Debbie who co-starred in Bundle of Joy (2AM/1AM) only were married for four years before he left her for Elizabeth Taylor. That’s better. John Gilbert and Virginia Bruce (Downstairs (3:45AM/2:45AM)) were married for less than two years. Lana Turner and Artie Shaw eloped during the making of Dancing Co-Ed (5:15AM/4:15AM) and were married for four months! Finally Ann Sheridan and George Brent fell for each other and made Honeymoon for Three (6:45AM/5:45AM). The marriage lasted nine months.
Night 3 features Passionate Affairs starting with the “affair that nearly burned down Hollywood.” Clark Gable and Joan Crawford (both married) met on the set of Dance, Fools, Dance (8PM/7PM) and a years-long on-again, off-again affair quickly followed. The duo eventually settled into a friendship. SOTM Ingrid Bergman set off an international firestorm when she hooked up with her director Roberto Rossellini on the set of Stromboli (9:30PM/8:30PM). They lasted seven years. A decade later, another affair blew up in the media when Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (both married) began a torrid affair on the set of Cleopatra (11:30PM/10:30PM). They left their spouses for each other and married twice!
Night 4 is all about Modern Hollywood Couples. The oddest romance I read about was the relationship between Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland on the set of Klute (4:15AM/3:15AM). With the exception of Cybill Shepherd and Peter Bogdonavich plus Ali McGraw and Steve McQueen, the couplings of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and Frances McDormand and Joel Cohen have lasted.
TCM SPECIAL THEME: DIRECTED BY ERNST LUBITSCH (TUESDAYS IN DECEMBER)
The director who had his own “touch” is being celebrated with most of his films airing Tuesdays in December including three TCM premieres on December 14. I personally recommend watching his last completed film, Cluny Brown (December 7 @ 10PM/9PM), a movie to get you into the Christmas spirit, The Shop Around the Corner (December 7 @ 8PM/7PM) and I say again, a PRO-throuple movie, Design for Leaving (December 28 @ 9:45PM/8:45PM).
TCM SPECIAL THEME: FIRESIDE FAVORITES (SATURDAYS IN DECEMBER)
The hosts of TCM get to pick some of their favorite films every Saturday night, except on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. As it turns out, there will be an airing on January 1.
Alicia Malone kicks off things on December 4 with the pre-Fatal Attraction movie Leave Her to Heaven (8PM/7PM) and the feminist film Dance, Girl, Dance (10PM/9PM).
Eddie Muller turns up on December 11 with Lady on a Train (8PM/7PM) and the period newspaper drama Park Row (10PM/9PM).
Jacqueline Stewart takes over December 18 with the 1934 version of Imitation of Life (8PM/7PM) and Gold Diggers of 1933 (10PM/9PM).
Of course Ben Mankiewicz gets Christmas Day evening programming with The Bridge on the River Kwai (8PM/7PM) and Billy Wilder’s courtroom drama Witness for the Prosecution (11PM/10PM).
Dave Karger closes out the festival New Year’s Day evening with Penny Serenade (8PM/7PM) and Children of a Lesser God (10PM/9PM).
CHRISTMAS CLASSICS MARATHON (DECEMBER 19-25)
TCM has lined up 76 Christmas movies to air that starts on the evening of December 19 until Christmas Day.
NOIR ALLEY
Hey Noiristas, there’s only three films airing this month.
- The Unsuspected (December 4 & 5)-true crime radio host Claude Rains decides it would be fun to try murder.
- Cruel Gun Story (December 11 & 12)-ooh, a Japanese noir!
- Blast of Silence (December 18 & 19)-a neo-noir.
FROM THE ARCHIVES (DECEMBER 3)
Tonight’s programming is interesting. All three films are documentaries focusing on film archives. The night starts with AMIA Archival Screening Night Roadshow (8PM/7PM), followed by Image Makers: The Adventures of America’s Pioneer Cinematographers (10PM/9PM) and ending with Fragments (midnight/11PM).
HAPPY HANUKKAH (DECEMBER 5)
Shalom! TCM celebrates Hanukkah with three TCM premieres starting with The Dybbuk (8PM/7PM), followed by Tevya (10:15PM/9:15PM) and Mir Kumen On (midnight/11PM).
TCM GUEST PROGRAMMER: GUILLERMO DEL TORO & KIM MORGAN (DECEMBER 6)
TCM host Dave Karger welcomes the Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro and screenwriter Kim Morgan as they talk about the films that inspired their new film Nightmare Alley (coming out on my birthday!) including the original starring Tyrone Power airing at midnight/11PM. The other cinematic inspirations are Lizabeth Scott in Too Late for Tears (8PM/7PM) and angry officer Dana Andrews who kills a suspect in Where the Sidewalk Ends (10PM/9PM).
80TH ANNIVERSARY OF PEARL HARBOR (DECEMBER 7)
On December 7, it will be the 80th anniversary of a day that will live in infamy. Last year was the first time that no survivors nor eyewitnesses attended the ceremony. This year, a 101-year-old survivor will attend thanks to his daughter and donors from GoFundMe.com.
TCM will six WWII films and one documentary called December 7th (1:30PM/12:30PM). Notable films include They Were Expendable (5:30PM/4:30PM), Air Force (3PM/2PM) and Torpedo Run (9:30AM/8:30AM).
STARRING RITA MORENO (DECEMBER 10)
On December 11, Rita Moreno will turn 90. The day before the new adaptation of West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg will premiere. So far, the movie has gotten great reviews and there are talks that Moreno will receive her second Oscar nomination. This would break a ton of records including smashing Henry Fonda’s 41 year gap between his Oscar nominations. Films airing this evening start with the 1961 version of West Side Story (8PM/7PM) and ending with The King and I (11PM/10PM).
NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY (DECEMBER 17)
The new entries to the National Film Registry will be added sometime this month. TCM will air a few of the films and documentaries named to the Registry but as of this writing, no one knows what will make it this year.
IN MEMORIAM (DECEMBER 27)
TCM looks back at those we lost in 2021 who did not already have a tribute earlier in the year.
Breathless (8PM/7PM) Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo who died September 6 at age 88.
Bright Eyes (9:35PM/8:35PM) Starring Jane Withers who died August 7 at age 95.
Young Frankenstein (11:30PM/10:30PM) Starring Cloris Leachman who died January 27 at age 94.
Across 110th Street (1:30AM/12:30AM) Starring Yaphet Kotto who died March 15 at age 81.
Watermelon Man (3:30AM/2:30AM) Starring Melvin Van Peebles who died September 21 at age 89.
The Group (5:30AM/4:30AM) Starring Jessica Walter who died March 24 at age 80 and Hal Holbrook who died January 23 at age 95.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (8:15AM/7:15AM) Starring Nino Castelnuovo who died September 6 at age 84.
Mariah's Musings 