Like many other people, I was completely heartbroken to hear the news that the 2020 TCM Classic Film festival would be cancelled this year due to the coronavirus outbreak. Was I surprised? No, not even remotely close. Even under normal circumstances, I usually hear about multiple other attendees coming down with colds shortly after getting home from the festival, so in light of this year’s events, cancellation was definitely the right call.
In the days leading up to the cancellation, I had been very carefully thinking about what my plans would be if TCMFF didn’t happen. I entertained the idea of going to a different film festival, but with so much uncertainty, I wasn’t comfortable with making other plans that involved travel. Then I figured I would take some time to have my own personal film festival at home instead. But then TCM announced that they would be doing a special at-home version of the festival and I was absolutely delighted.
Running from April 16-19, Turner Classic Movies will be playing a selection of notable films that have played at the festival in previous years, as well as a handful of movies that had been slated to play at this year’s festival. In a virtual press conference I was able to participate in, Charlie Tabesh, the Vice President of Programming for TCM, talked about how they worked to make this event feel more special than watching a typical weekend of movies on the channel by using existing material to enhance the experience and better create a virtual festival experience. There will also be new introductions by Ben Mankiewicz. Throughout the virtual press conference, it was apparent how much the festival means to TCM’s staffers, so I’m very excited to see how this all works together.
The full schedule is available on TCM’s website, but I wanted to highlight a few of the things I’ll definitely be tuning in for:
Thursday, April 16
TCMFF typically kicks into high gear on Thursday evenings and this year is no exception. The first night of the at-home festival includes a selection of highlights from the first festival in 2010, including an 8:00 PM screening of 1954’s A Star is Born, which was the big opening night film that year. It will be followed with a screening of Metropolis starting at 11:00 PM. If you haven’t seen the Luise Rainer: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival interview that was recorded before a screening of The Good Earth in 2010, it’s worth setting your DVR for.
Friday, April 15
This is my favorite day of programming of the festival. Since I’ll be working from home this day, I love that a lot of the movies on during the day are ones that I can be entertained by just by listening to them. At 12:30 PM, there’s A Hard Day’s Night, which is a special one for me since it’s the first movie I ever had the pleasure of seeing in the Chinese Theater at the 2014 festival. It’s followed at 2:00 PM by the Eva Marie Saint: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival interview recorded at the 2013 festival and North by Northwest at 3:00 PM. At 5:45 PM, there’s Some Like it Hot, one of my all-time favorite movies.
The prime time lineup kicks off at 8:00 PM with a screening of the documentary Harold and Lilian: A Hollywood Love Story, which had its west coast premiere at the 2016 festival. This is a very genuinely fascinating documentary about film researcher Lilian Michelson and storyboard artist Harold Michelson. If you’re a Twitter user, Raquel from Out of the Past will be hosting a live Tweet of the movie along with director Daniel Raim, so be sure to follow along.
From the late night block, my favorite is the 1:45 AM screening of Grey Gardens. I was lucky enough to be able to see this at the 2014 festival with Albert Mayseles in attendance and as a big fan of the Maysles Brothers, it was one of my all-time favorite festival experiences. At 3:15 AM, there’s a screening of 1933’s Night Flight, which isn’t a great movie, but I recommend because it’s a really good reflection of why the festival is so important for lovers of film history. Due to legal issues, Night Flight had been out of public circulation for over 50 years. But once those issues were resolved, it was able to screen at the festival in 2011, giving fans a chance to finally see it.
Saturday, April 18
This morning’s line-up is a great reflection of the “discovery” types of movies that work their way into festival schedules. At 8:00 AM you have Mad Love, which played at the festival in 2019, followed by Double Harness at 9:15 AM. For those who were at the festival in 2016, Double Harness is somewhat notorious. That year, it had been scheduled to play in the smallest theater of those being used at the TCL Multiplex. Since this is the kind of festival where people can get very enthusiastic about lesser-known pre-codes, a very long line of people showed up to get into a very small theater. I distinctly remember walking by, seeing the line, and deciding the much shorter line for The Way We Were looked way more appealing. At least this time, nobody has to worry about being shut out!
At 10:30 AM, there is a half-hour block of Vitaphone shorts that were part of the 90th Anniversary of Vitaphone presentation from 2016, including one with Baby Rose Marie and Lambchops with Burns and Allen. While it’s not part of this block, I very highly recommend also checking out The Beau Brummels featuring the vaudeville duo Shaw & Lee. That one was also among the shorts shown during that presentation and it brought the house down. It remains one of my favorite things I’ve had the pleasure of discovering at the festival.
After that, there are a whole lot of movies you just can’t really go wrong with, like Sergeant York at 11:00 AM, Safety Last! at 1:15 PM, and They Live By Night at 2:45 PM. I’ll also be tuning in for the Faye Dunaway: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival interview at 4:30 PM and reminiscing about how amazing it was to be there for that taping in 2016.
In prime time, you have Casablanca at 8:00 PM followed by The Magnificent Ambersons at 10:00, both of which will have introductions co-hosted by Peter Bogdonavich. As much as I love both of those movies, I may skip one of them in favor of putting on my Blu-ray of The Passion of Joan of Arc, because I know I won’t be up to catch it at 4:15 AM and I’ve been thinking of that movie a bit lately.
Sunday, April 19
At 2:00 PM is a screening of Red-Headed Woman, which was an absolute blast to see at the festival in 2017. Starting in prime time and going into the overnight block, they’ll be showing a few movies that were scheduled to play at this year’s festival, including The Hustler at 9:45 PM, Baby Face at 12:15 AM, Bardleys the Magnificent at 1:45 AM, and Victor/Victoria at 3:00 AM. Since animator Floyd Norman was set to be saluted this year, there’s also Floyd Norman: An Animated Life at 8:00 PM. Since I won’t be able to stay up for many of the things I’m most excited for in today’s line-up, I may get out my DVDs of things like Baby Face and Bardleys the Magnificent to watch them earlier in the day instead.
Other Ways to Bring the TCMFF Experience Home
The movies are just one part of the TCMFF experience. More than anything, I’ll dearly miss seeing all of the friends from all over the world that I spend time with during the festival, so I’m glad to have the official at-home festival to provide a common experience for us to share, even if we can’t share it in person this year.
Every year, there are certain places I always look forward to visiting while I’m in Hollywood for the festival. And even though I’m not able to visit them in person, I’m glad I had ways to support some of my favorite businesses and organizations from home this year.
For many TCMFF attendees, a visit to Larry Edmunds Bookshop is a must, whether it’s for their special events on Sundays during the festival or just to pick up some new books or movie posters. If there’s anything in particular you’re looking for, contact the store and they can ship it to you. You can call them at (323)463-3273 or send an email to [email protected].
I also love being able to visit the Hollywood Heritage Museum to see the Lasky-DeMille Barn. This year, they’ve created an online gift shop with new and used books, some signed books, posters, note cards, DVDs, and more.
Every year, people who attend the festival often like to decorate their pass lanyards with different movie-themed pins. Many of those pins are made by Kate Gabrielle, so even though we don’t have passes to wear this year, there are still plenty of awesome pins, buttons, and other accessories that all reference classic films that you can use to accessorize your bags, jackets, and so much more.
Also, if you’d like to get a more authentic Hollywood Experience during the at-home festival, I recommend playing this song in between movies. It’s definitely a song a lot of festival attendees are very familiar with.
Will There be Other At-Home Events from TCM in the Future?
During the virtual press conference I attended, it was said that this year’s at-home edition of the TCM Classic Film Festival is something of an experiment and that audience reactions will help guide their decisions about whether or not similar events could come later on. So if this is something you really enjoy, be sure to let them know on social media or through their website.
