It’s hard to believe we’re already down to the final month of 2012, but leave it to TCM to end the year on a high note! There is so much going on that I’m excited for. First and foremost, we get Barbara Stanwyck as Star of the Month! Every Wednesday night in December will kick off a 24-hour block of Stanwyck movies, and since I know a lot of my readers are big Stanwyck fans, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got plenty of room on your DVRs. Every Friday night this month will be a salute to director Ernst Lubitsch, so you know every Friday night is going to be good.
Naturally, you can expect plenty of Christmas movies throughout the month. Also worth noting is Baby Peggy night on December 3rd. Baby Peggy is one of the last surviving stars from the silent era and was recently the subject of the documentary Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room, which will be airing on TCM that night along with some of her movies.
December 1: Even if you won’t be traveling this holiday season, you can watch other people hit the road tonight with Sullivan’s Travels at 8:00 PM, Harry and Tonto at 10:00 PM, The Long Long Trailer at 2:00 AM, and It Happened One Night at 4:00 AM.
December 3: Don’t miss Baby Peggy night starting with the documentary Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room at 8:00 PM, Captain January at 9:00 PM, Carmen Jr. at 10:15 PM, Such is Life at 10:30 PM, Peg O’ the Mounted at 11:00 PM, and an encore of the documentary at 11:30 PM.
December 4: Tonight we get a night of movies directed by George Roy Hill with Period of Adjustment at 8:00 PM, The Sting at 10:00 PM, The World of Henry Orient at 12:15 AM, and Toys in the Attic at 2:15 AM.
December 5: It’s the first night of Barbara Stanwyck starting with Ladies of Leisure at 8:00 PM, This is My Affair at 9:45 PM, The Other Love at 11:45 PM, A Message to Garcia at 1:30 AM, Stella Dallas at 3:00 AM, and The Miracle Woman at 5:00 AM.
December 6: More Stanwyck with So Big! at 6:45 AM, The Bitter Tea of General Yen at 8:15 AM, Baby Face at 9:45 AM, Golden Boy at 11:15 AM, Meet John Doe at 1:00 PM, Executive Suite at 3:15 PM, Walk on the Wild Side at 5:00 PM, and the documentary Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire at 7:00 PM. Tonight’s movies were chosen by guest programmer Lee Child, who has picked Casablanca at 8:00 PM, The Third Man at 10:00 PM, Days of Heaven at 12:00 AM, and The Dam Busters at 2:00 AM.
December 7: TCM commemorates the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor with Prelude to War at 6:00 AM, Cry of Battle at 7:00 AM, They Were Expendable at 8:45 AM, Task Force at 11:00 AM, Air Force at 1:00 PM, From Here to Eternity at 3:15 PM, and Tora! Tora! Tora! at 5:30 PM. Then it’s on to Ernst Lubitsch with the TCM premiere of The Loves of Pharoh at 8:00 PM, followed by The Smiling Lieutenant at 10:00 PM, and The Shop Around the Corner at 12:00 AM.
December 8: TCM gets seasonal tonight with Summertime at 8:00 PM, Autumn Leaves at 10:00 PM, If Winter Comes at 12:00 AM, A Walk in the Spring Rain at 2:00 AM, and A Man for All Seasons at 3:45 AM.
December 9: You can catch a few Christmas classics today with Tenth Avenue Angel at 8:30 AM and Susan Slept Here at 10:00 AM, and then a couple of non-traditional Christmas movies,We’re No Angels at 8:00 PM and Lady in the Lake at 10:00 PM. Tonight’s Silent Sunday feature is King Vidor’s The Crowd at 12:00 AM.
December 10: Happy birthday to Una Merkel! You can see her in Huddle at 6:00 AM, Beauty for Sale at 8:00 AM, Clear All Wires! at 9:30 AM, Day of Reckoning at 11:00 AM, Whistling in the Dark at 12:15 PM, The Women in His Life at 1:45 PM, Paris Interlude at 3:15 PM, Baby Face Harrington at 4:30 PM, We Went to College at 5:45 PM, and Sweethearts of the USA at 7:00 PM. Tonight is something called Academy Conversations: Production Design, which includes Grand Hotel at 8:00 PM, My Fair Lady at 10:15 PM, The Grapes of Wrath at 1:15 AM, and The Leopard at 3:30 AM.
December 11: If you’re into westerns, you’ll love tonight! The Magnificent Seven at 8:00 PM; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly at 10:15 PM; The Searchers at 1:30 AM; and How the West was Won at 3:45 AM.
December 12: Get ready for more Barbara Stanwyck with Banjo on my Knee at 8:00 PM, Remember the Night at 9:45 PM, The Lady Eve at 11:30 PM, Ball of Fire at 1:15 AM, You Belong to Me at 3:15 AM, and Lady of Burlesque at 5:00 AM.
December 13: More Stanwyck with To Please a Lady at 6:45 AM, The Bride Walks Out at 8:30 AM, Breakfast for Two at 10:00 AM, The Mad Miss Manton at 11:15 AM, The Woman in Red at 12:45 PM, The Secret Bride at 2:00 PM, Ever in my Heart at 3:15 PM, Shopworn at 4:30 PM, Illicit at 5:45 PM. And then you can see Les Miserables three different ways starting with the 1935 version at 8:00 PM, the 1952 version at 10:00 PM, and the 1934 version at 12:00 AM.
December 14: Wow, what a day! The Informer at 6:30 AM, The Life of Emile Zola at 8:00 AM, The Citadel at 10:00 AM, Wuthering Heights at 12:00 PM, Citizen Kane at 1:45 PM, Watch on the Rhine at 3:45 PM, The Lion in Winter at 5:45 PM. And then it’s on to Ernst Lubitsch with Trouble in Paradise at 8:00 PM, Design for Living at 9:30 PM, One Hour With You at 11:15 PM, and The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg at 12:45 AM.
December 15: It’s a night full of faded stars tonight starting with The Band Wagon at 8:00 PM, The Star at 10:00 PM, Sweet Bird of Youth at 11:45 PM, My Favorite Year at 2:00 AM, and Two Weeks in Another Town at 4:00 AM.
December 16: Lots of Christmas movies on today. It Happened on 5th Avenue at 8:00 AM, The Shop Around the Corner at 10:00 AM, Carol For Another Christmas at 8:00 PM, and the 1951 A Christmas Carol at 9:30 PM.
December 17: Black Narcissus at 6:00 AM, Singin’ in the Rain at 2:15 PM, and I Could Go On Singing at 4:00 PM. The theme for tonight’s line-up is Christmas in Uniform, so there’s Destination Tokyo at 8:00 PM, Battleground at 10:30 PM, The Fighting 69th at 12:45 AM, Never So Few at 2:30 AM, and Salute to the Marines at 4:45 AM.
December 18: I love today’s schedule. During the day is a bunch of Myrna Loy/William Powell movies with The Thin Man at 6:30 AM, After the Thin Man at 8:00 AM, Another Thin Man at 10:00 AM, I Love You Again at 11:45 AM, Shadow of the Thin Man at 1:30 PM, Love Crazy at 3:15 PM, and the documentary Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To at 6:45 PM. After that is a night full of Christmas related musicals with In the Good Old Summertime at 8:00 PM, Meet Me in St. Louis at 10:00 PM, On Moonlight Bay at 12:00 AM, The Seven Little Foys at 2:00 AM, and The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady at 4:00 AM.
December 19: Another excellent day. Today we get a day of Robert Mitchum movies with Undercurrent at 6:00 AM, Where Danger Lives at 8:30 AM, His Kind of Woman at 10:00 AM, My Forbidden Past at 12:15 PM, Angel Face at 1:30 PM, Second Chance at 3:15 PM, River of No Return at 4:45 PM, and She Couldn’t Say No at 6:15 PM. And then it’s time for another night of Barbara Stanwyck with Double Indemnity at 8:00 PM, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers at 10:00 PM, Sorry Wrong Number at 12:00 AM, Clash by Night at 1:45 AM, Jeopardy at 3:45 AM, and Witness to Murder at 5:00 AM.
December 20: More Stanwyck with Crime of Passion at 6:30 AM, Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire at 8:00 AM, The Two Mrs. Carrolls at 9:00 AM, Cry Wolf at 10:45 AM, The Gay Sisters at 12:15 PM, Ladies They Talk About at 2:15 PM, The Purchase Price at 3:30 PM, Forbidden at 4:45 PM, and Ten Cents a Dance at 6:15 PM. Then it’s on to a rather delightful night of Christmas movies with Holiday Affair at 8:00 PM, The Lemon Drop Kid at 9:30 PM, and Bachelor Mother at 11:15 PM.
December 21: It’s another night of Ernst Lubtisch movies starting with The Love Parade at 8:00 PM, Monte Carlo at 10:00 PM, and The Merry Widow at 12:00 AM.
December 22: One of my favorite Christmas comedies, The Man Who Came to Dinner, is on at 6:00 PM. The it’s a night of some of the best movies of the 1950s with Rebel Without a Cause at 8:00 PM, The Wild One at 10:00 PM, the documentary Hidden Values: Movies of the 1950s at 11:30 PM, Blackboard Jungle at 12:30 AM, and Anatomy of a Murder at 2:15 AM.
December 23: Two of my Christmas essentials, The Bishop’s Wife and It Happened on 5th Avenue, are on at 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM. Then it’s a great night for Silent Sunday Nights and TCM Imports with The Passion of Joan of Arc at 12:00 AM and Grand Illusion at 2:00 AM.
December 24: TCM is definitely in the holiday spirit today! They’ve got Meet John Doe at 7:00 AM, Susan Slept Here at 9:15 AM, In the Good Old Summertime at 11:00 AM, The Bishop’s Wife at 1:00 PM, Holiday Affair at 3:00 PM, Meet Me in St. Louis at 4:30 PM, Babes in Toyland at 6:30 PM, The Shop Around the Corner at 8:00 PM, Come to the Stable at 10:00 PM, Auntie Mame at 12:00 AM, The Man Who Came to Dinner at 2:30 AM, And So They Were Married at 4:30 AM, and Boys Town at 5:45 AM.
December 25: Merry Christmas, everyone! During the day there’s Going My Way at 7:30 AM, The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima at 9:45 AM, The Nun’s Story at 11:30 AM, The Song of Bernadette at 2:15 PM, King of Kings at 5:00 PM. And then it’s on to an evening with the Hardy family starting with Love Finds Andy Hardy at 8:00 PM, Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever at 9:45 PM, Judge Hardy and Son at 11:15 PM, Andy Hardy Meets Debutante at 1:00 AM, Andy Hardy’s Private Secretary at 2:45 AM, and Life Begins for Andy Hardy at 4:30 AM.
December 26: Get ready for one last night of Barbara Stawnyck movies starting with Forty Guns at 8:00 PM, The Maverick Queen at 9:30 PM, The Violent Men at 11:15 PM, Trooper Hook at 1:00 AM, The Moonlighter at 2:30 AM, Annie Oakley at 4:00 AM, and Night Nurse at 5:45 AM.
December 27: The Stanwyck-a-thon comes to a close with Gambling Lady at 7:00 AM, His Brother’s Wife at 8:30 AM, My Reputation at 10:00 AM, B.F.’s Daughter at 11:45 AM, The Man With a Cloak at 1:45 PM, and These Wilder Years at 3:15 PM. Then Gene Tierney steps into the spotlight with Black Widow at 8:00 PM, The Left Hand of God at 9:45 PM, The Return of Frank James at 11:30 PM, Where the Sidewalk Ends at 1:15 AM, Belle Starr at 3:00 AM, and Night and the City at 4:30 AM.
December 28: The last night of Ernst Lubitsch movies includes Ninotchka at 8:00 PM, To Be or Not to Be at 10:00 PM, That Lady in Ermine at 11:45 PM, and That Uncertain Feeling at 1:30 AM.
December 29: Get out your box of tissues for this night of real tearjerkers. The Way we Were at 8:00 PM; Love Affair at 10:15 PM; Now, Voyager at 12:00 AM; West Side Story at 2:00 AM; and Brief Encounter at 4:45 AM.
December 30: Check out some giant insects with Them! at 8:00 PM, Rodan at 9:45 PM, and The Cosmic Monsters at 11:15 PM. Tonight’s Silent Sunday Night Feature is Mary Pickford in The Hoodlum at 1:00 AM.
December 31: Happy New Year’s Eve! Say farewell to 2012 with Abbott and Costello all day long with Dance With Me, Henry at 6:30 AM; Jack and the Beanstalk at 8:00 AM; Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd at 9:30 AM; Rio Rita at 10:45 AM; Lost in a Harem at 12:30 PM; Abbott and Costello in Hollywood at 2:00 PM; Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein at 3:30 PM; Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man at 5:00 PM; and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy at 6:30 PM.
During prime time on New Year’s Eve, TCM usually runs a series of movies like all the Thin Man movies, all the Astaire/Rogers movies, or a bunch of Marx Brothers movies. This year, they’re showing a bunch of movies that involve scenes that take place on New Year’s Eve including After the Thin Man at 8:00 PM, The Apartment at 10:00 PM, Oceans Eleven at 12:15 AM, Made for Each Other at 2:30 AM, and Till We Meet Again at 4:15 AM.
