Tonight at 5 PM PDT, Turner Classic Movies launches the Special Home Edition of its annual festival with A STAR IS BORN (1954). Not coincidentally the Judy Garland weeper was the opening night film at the inaugural edition of the festival. This four day television event will offer nostalgia for past attendees, and all home viewers will finally experience the best of the fest with no pass required! Programming will feature highlights from TCMFF’s previous ten years–from introductions to interviews to films. Here’s a highly personal list of picks not to miss!
Robert Osborne
My first recommendation isn’t a film. Try to catch what Robert Osborne you can. The current crop of TCM hosts have the credentials and talent to be on the network, but there’s no way to address the network’s and festival’s legacies without featuring Osborne. As the founding and most popular host of the channel, seeing his familiar face will provide comfort, and watching him talk film and interview stars are lessons in film history and interview technique. His appearances are peppered throughout the first half of the schedule. I recommend his 2011 chat with Luise Rainer (tonight at 10:45 PM PDT), and concludes with a 2013 Kim Novak interview (Saturday at 2 AM).
METROPOLIS (1927)
I’ve previously written about my experience seeing the restored version at the 2010 San Francisco Silent Film Festival. It turns out the the TCM fest showed the same version the same year with the Alloy Orchestra! While the small screen will diminish movie’s visual effects, watch this one to experience the best cut of METROPOLIS with the perfect accompaniment. I bet even the traditionalists who decry “modern” silent scores would have to begrudgingly admit that image and emotion are matched and driven by the Alloy Orchestra’s percussive score. It earned them a standing ovation at SFSFF. METROPOLIS airs at 8 PM PDT tonight.
Vitaphone Shorts
This was one of my favorite experiences of the 2016 edition of the festival! The founder of the Vitaphone Project, Ron Hutchinson presented a program celebrating the “90th Anniversary of Vitaphone”. Hutchinson was personally responsible for finding elements, sound discs and films, scattered among collectors and archival collections to re-pair for restorations. In BABY ROSE MARIE THE CHILD WONDER (1929), DON’T GET NERVOUS (1929), and LAMBCHOPS (1929), vaudeville stars perform the songs and routines that made them famous. You’ll feel like you took a trip back in time to sit up close in the good seats! Get up early to watch these on Saturday at 7:30 AM PDT.
Norman Lloyd: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival (2016)
At 105, Norman Lloyd is a living legend of the stage, screen, and television. He’s also a delightful raconteur with a spry and witty intellect and a talent for putting over a punchline. He worked in and remembers the Hollywood that was, and he’s incredibly articulate about his memories and art. Best of all, he’s a fan of the movies himself. He often attends screenings at the TCM Classic Film Festival, even when he’s not in the movie playing! While the interview aired on TCM in 2016, it’s from the 2015 edition of the festival. Ben Mankiewicz‘s interview with Lloyd plays on Saturday at 10:30 PM PDT.
LA PASSION DE JEANNE D’ARC / THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1928)
Director Carl Theodor Dreyer had to prove a Danish filmmaker could tackle a very French subject. He made unusual aesthetic choices. Dreyer allowed no makeup on his cast; he made church officials look grotesque; he shot his actors in extreme closeups; and he selected a lead actress with no previous major film roles. In Falconetti, he found a performer with the face to bear close, long term scrutiny from the camera. Each emotion experienced by the guileless, devout girl rewrites her face. She’s a soul tormented not by the internal voices she hears, but from the male church elders who are threatened by her direct connection to her god. Falconetti’s performance is a revelation of what screen acting could be, and it was never marred by an inferior follow-up. This was her one starring role for which she’ll be forever known. The UC of Berkely Alumni Chorus performance of Richard Einhorn’s VOICES OF LIGHT adds to the otherworldly intensity. Watching the film at 1:45 AM PDT on Sunday, you might imagine you dreamt it.
THE SET-UP (1949)
If you’re not a night owl, you’ll want to program you DVR to record THE SET-UP (1949) at 3:45 AM PDT on Sunday! It’s among the most hardboiled noirs I’ve watched. Robert Ryan plays Stoker, an aging boxer on a losing streak. His wife Julie (Audrey Totter) wants him to quit. His manager takes a bribe to have Stoker intentionally blow the match and take a pre-planned dive. Stoker’s unwavering belief in himself and his integrity become dangerous when a gambler’s waiting for his bet to win big. For the audience, the ending of the movie is more emotionally brutal than the boxing. At the 2018 festival, Noir Alley host Eddie Muller introduced the film, and actor/filmmaker Malcom Mays performed a live reading of the poem the film is adapted from. I hope TCM includes the recording in its presentation!
