Happy November, everyone! Hope everyone had their fix of horror movies in Halloween and is ready for a new month of movies to look forward to.
Before we take a look at November’s TCM schedule, a little bit of site news! If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that I traditionally spend every November writing about the fabulous pre-code era on a daily basis as part of National Blog Posting Month. But after five years, I feel like I’ve written about most of the most significant pre-code movies and at this point, the pre-codes I have access to (and haven’t previously written about) would make for a pretty lackluster month of posts. So for the sake of quality, I have decided to go in a different direction this year. I’ve decided to shift my attention to another era of filmmaking that I adore, but have long felt I don’t give nearly enough attention on here — the silent era. Stay tuned every day in November for a review of a different classic from the silent era.
Now, back to TCM’s schedule. I’m thrilled to see that Norma Shearer is November’s Star of the Month. She’s one of my favorite actresses, so even though I’ve seen most of the movies they’re showing for her this month aren’t new to me, it will be a pleasure to revisit some of them and catch up on the few I haven’t seen. On Wednesday nights, there will be a spotlight on movies based on the works of southern authors. And in between, there are plenty of delightful days in between.
With no further ado, let’s take a closer look!
November 1: Tonight’s Silent Sunday Night selection is King Vidor’s masterpiece The Crowd, starting at midnight. If you’ve never seen it, you’re in for a treat!
November 2: It’s a night of movies that are set in fictional locations with The Mouse That Roared at 8:00 PM, Romanoff and Juliet at 9:30 PM, Duck Soup at 11:30 PM, and The Great Dictator at 1:00 AM.
November 3: Norma Shearer has her first turn as star of the month tonight with a selection of classics from the silent era of her career. Lady of the Night at 8:00 PM, A Lady of Chance at 9:15 PM, The Student Prince of Old Heidelberg at 10:45 PM, He Who Gets Slapped at 12:45 AM. Afterward, there are a couple of great circus-related silents with Laugh, Clown, Laugh at 2:15 AM and Chaplin’s The Circus at 3:45 AM.
November 4: It’s the first night of TCM’s spotlight highlighting southern writers with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 8:00 PM, Gone With the Wind at 9:45 PM, The Sound and the Fury at 2:00 PM, and In This Our Life at 4:15 PM.
November 5: Guest Programmer Greg Proops takes over tonight with Grand Illusion at 8:00 PM, The Three Musketeers at 10:15 PM, Out of the Past at 12:15 AM, and Dog Day Afternoon at 2:00 PM.
November 6: To Have and Have Not at 7:45 AM, Joan of Paris at 9:30 AM, Somewhere I’ll Find You at 2:30 PM, The Clock at 4:30 PM, and Charade at 8:00 PM.
November 9: Tonight’s selections of movies represent some of the choice memorabilia being auctioned off at TCM’s Bonhams auction this year with Gypsy at 8:00 PM, Limelight at 10:30 PM, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at 12:30 AM, and 2001: A Space Odyssey at 2:15 AM.
November 10: This is the kind of day where I’d be able to just leave TCM on all day long and not have any complaints. Who doesn’t love a day full of Myrna Loy and William Powell movies? I Love You Again at 6:00 AM, Double Wedding at 7:45 AM, The Great Ziegfeld at 9:15 AM, The Thin Man at 12:30 PM, After the Thin Man at 2:15 PM, Manhattan Melodrama at 4:15 PM, and Evelyn Prentice at 6:00 PM. Then Norma Shearer takes over again with Private Lives at 8:00 PM, A Free Soul at 9:30 PM, Let Us Be Gay at 11:15 PM, The Divorcee at 12:45 AM, Their Own Desire at 2:15 AM, and The Last of Mrs. Cheyney at 3:30 AM.
November 11: It’s another night of movies based on the works of southern writers tonight with The Night of the Hunter at 8:00 PM, Wise Blood at 9:45 PM, To Kill a Mockingbird at 11:45 PM, and Claudelle Inglish at 2:00 AM.
November 13: If you’ve never seen The Umbrellas of Cherbourg before, be sure to set your DVR for 1:30 PM. Then it’s on to a night of Robert Osborne’s picks with It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World at 8:00 PM, Libeled Lady at 11:00 PM, The Wrong Box at 1:00 AM, and Make Mine Mink at 3:00 AM.
November 14: Red Dust at 8:30 AM, Friendly Persuasion at 8:00 PM, and Three Coins in the Fountain at 12:15 AM.
November 17: During the day, there’s Watch on the Rhine at 8:00 AM and To Have and Have Not at 10:00 AM. Then Norma Shearer returns with Strangers May Kiss at 8:00 PM, Smilin’ Through at 9:30 PM, Strange Interlude at 11:15 PM, The Barretts of Wimpole Street at 1:15 AM, Riptide at 3:15 AM, and Romeo and Juliet at 5:00 AM.
November 18: More movies based on the works of southern writers with Reflections in a Golden Eye at 8:00 PM, In Cold Blood at 10:00 PM, A Streetcar Named Desire at 2:45 AM, and Ship of Fools at 2:45 AM.
November 19: Start the day with a couple of Cagney pre-codes with Blonde Crazy at 7:30 AM and Winner Take All at 9:00 AM. Then it’s a night of Douglas Fairbanks movies with The Good Bad Man at 8:00 PM, The Half-Breed at 9:00 PM, The Mark of Zorro at 10:00 PM, The Thief of Baghdad at 12:00 AM, The Black Pirate at 2:45 AM, and The Private Life of Don Juan at 4:15 AM.
November 20: I’m a huge fan of today’s schedule. Summer Stock at 6:00 AM, An American in Paris at 8:00 AM, Singin’ in the Rain at 10:00 AM, Brigadoon at 12:00 PM, It’s Always Fair Weather at 2:00 PM, Invitation to the Dance at 4:00 PM, Les Girls at 6:00 PM, 42nd Street at 8:00 PM, A Chorus Line at 10:00 PM, Ziegfeld Girl at 11:45 PM, The Band Wagon at 2:15 AM, and The Boy Friend at 4:15 AM.
November 24: Norma Shearer has her last turn in this month’s star of the month spotlight with Marie Antoinette at 8:00 PM, The Women at 10:45 PM, Idiot’s Delight at 1:00 AM, Escape at 3:00 AM, Her Cardboard Lover at 4:45 AM, and We Were Dancing at 6:30 AM.
November 25: TCM’s spotlight on the works of southern authors comes to an end with A Time to Kill at 8:00 PM, The Prince of Tides at 10:30 PM, No Country for Old Men at 1:00 AM.
November 26: Enjoy a night of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy with Desk Set at 8:00 PM, Woman of the Year at 10:00 PM, State of the Union at 12:00 AM, and Adam’s Rib at 4:00 AM.
November 27: What a fantastic daytime lineup! Topper at 6:00 AM, Bringing Up Baby at 8:00 AM, My Favorite Wife at 10:00 AM, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House at 11:30 AM, Room for One More at 1:30 PM, Charade at 3:30 PM, and North By Northwest at 5:30 PM.
November 30: November draws to a close with the Apu Trilogy. Pather Panchali at 8:00 PM, Aprajito at 10:15 PM, and Satyajit Ray at 2:15 AM.
