2026 #TCMFF Wrap-Up

Another Turner Classic Film Festival (TCMFF) is in the books. This year’s festival was held from April 30 to May 3. The anticipation for the TCMFF is huge. Thinking about the film festival helps get me through the Chicago winters.

At this festival, I saw 11 movies. This total is the lowest of all my festivals, dating back to 2015. There were so many movies I wanted to see that I had to be strategic, so I passed on some films to guarantee that I’d get into the ones I really wanted to see and the ones I knew would be the most popular.

 

What did I see?

Thursday, April 30

Out of the Past (1947) I love this classic film noir starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer, co-starring Kirk Douglas and Rhonda Fleming. The movie was introduced by Eddie Muller and Dana Delany. The film we saw at the Egyptian Theatre was a 4K restoration by Warner Bros. Discovery. Not as famous as Double Indemnity (1944), but every bit as good. A must-see on any screen.

Man Hunt (1941). This World War II drama stars Walter Pidgeon and Joan Bennett. Pidgeon stars as a big-game hunter whose failure at assassinating Hitler puts him on the run. He meets up with Bennett, a Cockney streetwalker who helps to hide him from his Nazi pursuers. Directed by Fritz Lang, this is the beginning of his collaboration with Bennett that included The Woman in the Window (1944), Scarlet Street (1945), and The Secret Beyond the Door (1947). The film was screened in Chinese Multiplex #6.

Friday, May 1

Letty Lynton (1932). The movie that everyone has been dying to see for over 90 years. If you’re a classic movie fan, you’ve heard of this film. Presented in a beautiful 4K restoration by Warner Bros. Discovery. The film stars Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery. The other star is the clothes designed for Crawford by the legendary M-G-M costume designer, Adrian. The film was introduced by Eddie Muller, George Feltenstein, and Casey LaLonde, Joan Crawford’s grandson. According to Muller and LaLonde, this was the movie that made Joan Crawford, Joan Crawford. At the screening, we learned that the film will be released on Blu-Ray in June. The film was screened in the Egyptian Theatre.

Joan Crawford in the Letty Lynton dress

Strangers on a Train (1951) As soon as Letty Lynton let out, I was back on line at the Egyptian Theatre. Strangers on a Train was the beginning of Alfred Hitchcock’s amazing string of classic movies. After a series of box-office disappointments like Rope (1948), Under Capricorn (1949), and Stage Fright (1950), many people thought Hitchcock had lost his touch. Strangers on a Train put that idea to rest. Hitchcock would produce a string of classics, including Rear Window (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), and The Birds (1963). The film was introduced by Alicia Malone with special guest Carol Burnett. She was an usher at the old Warner Bros. Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. while on summer break from college. Strangers was playing, and in the old days, movies ran continuously. You could walk into the theater during the middle of the movie, sit down, watch, and then when the movie got to the part where you came in, you’d leave. While Carol was working as an usher, an old couple came during the film’s finale and wanted to be seated. Carol tried to convince the couple that they should wait until the film started again because it would spoil their enjoyment. The manager overheard this “discussion,” and Carol was fired on the spot. When she became famous, and she was asked where she’d like her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she asked for it to be right in front of the old movie theater. Years later, when Alfred Hitchcock heard about Carol’s firing, he sent her a framed copy of the movie poster. He wrote, “Dear Carol, I’m sorry. Alfred Hitchcock.”

Fred MacMurray and Carole Lombard

The Princess Comes Across (1936) is a forgotten screwball comedy/mystery starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray. This was the second of four films the stars made together. Alicia Malone interviewed Kate MacMurray, the daughter of Fred MacMurray and June Haver. Kate spoke lovingly of her father and his friendship with Lombard. She said he was his favorite leading lady, although I heard her say at the screening of The Egg and I at an earlier festival that Claudette Colbert was his favorite. In any event, it was a delightful movie shown in a packed Theater #4. Kate had never seen the movie on the big screen, so she stayed and watched it with us. She was sitting right behind me.

Saturday, May 2

Phantom Lady (1944) Saturday morning was relaxing. I decided to skip all the early-morning movies and have a nice breakfast at 25 Degrees, inside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. I wanted to get into see Phantom Lady in Theater #4, so that was one of the reasons I passed on the earlier films. After breakfast, I went to the Multiplex and was first in line for Phantom. The theater was totally sold out, so my strategy worked. Eddie Muller interviewed Christina Lane, the author of her 2020 biography, Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison. It was a great introduction, but the 35mm print was not the best, which was a bit disappointing. Fortunately, the film is good enough that you could get past the less-than-perfect print. I’m glad I got to see it on the big screen.

Ella Raines and Alan Curtis in the shadows

There’s Always Tomorrow (1956) is a classic Douglas Sirk melodrama starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, and Joan Bennett. MacMurray is a married (to Bennett) father of three children and feels like his life is dull and meaningless. When Stanwyck surprises MacMurray with a visit while she’s in town, he begins to think that life with Stanwyck, an old colleague, would be better than the life he’s currently living. How will it all end? The movie was introduced by Dana Dalany and former child actress Gigi Perreau, who starred in the film as the older daughter of MacMurray and Bennett’s characters. Perreau had some interesting stories about the making of the film, including the fact that she felt that Stanwyck was in total control of the movie and not in a bad way. She said she, “Missy,” played cards and smoked cigarettes with the crew, which was something she would never have been allowed to do as a teenager on the set. Another packed house in Theater #4.

The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) is a delightful comedy starring Jean Arthur, Robert Cummings, Spring Byington, Edmund Gwenn, and Charles Coburn. It’s a tale of labor versus management. Charles Coburn is a rich industrialist who owns a New York City department store. He’s so rich that he didn’t even know he owned it, until he was hanged in effigy by a disgruntled department store staff that includes Arthur, Cummings, and Byington. Cummings is an organizer fighting for better treatment for employees. Coburn is convinced that he can get things under control by going undercover as a department store employee. Much to his own surprise, he becomes friendly with the “agitators” and becomes their champion. I don’t remember who introduced this film, but it attracted a good crowd in Multiplex Theater #1.

Sunday, May 3

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is one of my favorite movies. I’ve always wanted to see it on the big screen, and it was a great experience. What we saw was a restored version of the film that looked brand new. I was a special guest of author Alison Macor, who introduced the movie. She wrote a book, The Making of The Best Years of Our Lives: The HollywoodClassic That United a Nation. Seeing it with an audience was special. When two of the main characters got together, the audience applauded. Thanks to Alison, I got a “golden ticket,” which meant I didn’t have to wait in line and had a reserved seat! Not bad. There was a good crowd, although I think it should have been packed in Multiplex Theater #1.

Dana Andrews and Teresa Wright

From Song to Scene was an event in Club TCM with a trio of music supervisors, with Eddie Muller moderating. The job of the music supervisor is to work with the director to make sure the music used in a film matches the narrative. One of the three music supervisors, Maureen Crowe, graduated from high school with me. We both graduated from Holy Trinity High School, Hicksville, Long Island, New York. We last saw each other at our high school reunion in October and planned on seeing each other during the festival. However, she wasn’t on the TCM schedule at that time. It was great seeing her in action, and she and her colleagues were thrilled by the positive reaction.

Maureen and me

Trouble in Paradise (1932) I have to admit that I don’t think I’ve seen this pre-Code classic from beginning to end. I’ve seen parts of it over the years, so seeing it on the big screen in a beautiful 4K digital restoration was a real treat. Director Ernst Lubitsch was a master of pre-Code comedies, and Trouble may be his best film from this period. The movie was introduced by Julia Sweeney, a true Lubitsch fan. Her introduction was funny, informative, and brief. Translation: it was perfect! I think Multiplex #1 was sold out for this showing.

Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, and Miriam Hopkins

Lady Windemere’s Fan (1925) was a silent film version of the Oscar Wilde play, directed by Ernst Lubitsch (two Lubitsch films in one day). It starred a very young Ronald Colman. The film was accompanied by the Molto Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. The film, restored by The Museum of Modern Art, was beautiful. It looked as good as it probably looked in 1925 when it first premiered. The last three festivals, I’ve ended with a silent film (last year’s silent, Beau Geste (1926), also starred Ronald Colman).  The film was introduced by TCM host Jacqueline Stewart in the Egyptian Theatre.

Another great festival is in the books.

I’m already thinking of next year!

 

 

 

George Sanders and Lucille Ball are “Lured” into danger and intrigue

Lured (1947) is an American film noir directed by Douglas Sirk and starring George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn, and Boris Karloff. Lured is a remake of a French film directed by Robert Siodmak (The Killers, The Spiral Staircase). It was titled Personal Column in the United States.

Sandra Carpenter (Ball) is an American in London. She came to the U.K. with a show that closed. To make ends meet in the meantime, she works as a taxi dancer. One of her colleagues was a victim of the “Poet Killer” who lures women through newspaper ads in the personal columns. Sandra meets with the Scotland Yard Inspector Harley Temple (Coburn) about her fellow dancer’s disappearance. Temple, appealing to Sandra’s concern for her friend, convinces her to work with the Yard as an undercover agent. She will be used to lure the killer out in the open.

During her undercover work, Sandra comes in contact with Robert Fleming (Sanders), a stage producer who is attracted to her. Fleming shares his home with his business partner and friend Julian Wilde (Sir Cedric Hardwicke).

Sandra responds to several personal ads but none seem to be the “Poet Killer.” Will Sandra find the killer or will she become his latest victim?

Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn, and George Sanders

 

Douglas Sirk (1897 – 1987) was a German film director best known for his Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s. Sirk is identified with melodramas but he worked in many genres including comedies, westerns, film noir, and war films. Sirk came to Hollywood in 1937 because of his Jewish wife who was being persecuted by the Nazis. Sirk’s first American film was Hitler’s Madman (1943). Sirk hit his stride with a series of popular Technicolor melodramas’ including Magnificent Obession (1954), All That Heaven Allows (1955), Written on the Wind (1956), and Imitation of Life (1959).

George Sanders (1906 – 1972) was a British film and stage actor who also had a fine singing voice. Hollywood was looking for a villain to star opposite a young Tyrone Power in Lloyd’s of London (1936) and Sanders more than fit the bill. His performance in that film would forever stamp him as a sophisticated bad guy. Before his acting career, he worked in the textile industry, which must have helped him with his role in The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry. In the 1960s, Sanders played Mr. Freeze in the Batman (1966) television series.

Lucille Ball (1911 – 1989) was an American actress. Ball started her career as a model and later appeared in films while under contract to RKO Radio Pictures during the 1930s and 1940s. At RKO, she starred in B-pictures and had supporting roles in A-pictures like Stage Door (1937) co-starring Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers. Ball left RKO for M-G-M in the mid-40s but major stardom eluded her. Ball had a hit radio show, My Favorite Husband. CBS wanted her to develop the show for television but Ball insisted on having her real-life husband Desi Arnaz co-star with her. The studio wanted her to star with her radio husband, Richard Denning, but Ball held out for Arnaz and I Love Lucy was born. During her television career, Ball was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times. Ball’s reputation as one of the world’s great comedians has never been disputed.

Charles Coburn (1877 – 1961) was an Academy-Award-winning character actor. Coburn was one of the most popular character actors in film during the 1940s. He was nominated for three Best Support Actor Academy Awards for The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), for The More the Merrier (1943)—won, and The Green Years (1946). Other classic films featuring Coburn include The Lady Eve (1941), Kings Row (1942), The Constant Nymph (1943), Monkey Business (1952), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

Boris Karloff (1887 – 1969) was an English actor famous for playing Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein (1931). The film and its sequels Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939) established him as a horror movie icon. Karloff starred in many silent films before successfully transitioning to talkies. He also had success on Broadway, most notably with the original production of Arsenic and Old Lace (1941). Karloff also won a Grammy Award for his narration of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966).

 

Lured trivia

• The title was changed to Personal Column during its initial release because the Production Code Administration thought the word lured sounded like lurid. Douglas Sirk thought the name change was confusing the theater goers and contributed to its failure at the box office.
• Boris Karloff, George Zucco, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke all starred in classic Universal horror movies.
• Alan Napier who played Alfred the Butler on the TV show Batman, which also had Neil Hamilton playing Neil Hamilton Commissioner Gordon, plays a police inspector named Gordon in Lured.
• The voice of the blonde nightclub singer is that of Annette Warren. Warren dubbed the singing for Lucille Ball in Sorrowful Jones (1949) and Fancy Pants (1950). She was also the singing voice of Ava Gardner in Show Boat (1951). Warren is still with us as of this writing. She’s 101.
• Charles Coburn and George Sanders were both Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners.

 

Click HERE to watch the movie on YouTube.

 

Click HERE to join the discussion online on May 20, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

 

Discussion questions

1. Did Lured fell like a film noir to you? If yes, what characteristics did you find fit the genre?
2. This was a serious role for Lucille Ball; what did you think of her performance?
3. Was the plot of the film believable to you?
4. This was an early film by director Douglas Sirk. Do you see any touches in this film that showed up later in his more popular movies?
5. Did anything about this film surprise you?
6. Was the ending satisfying and believable?

Lobby card with the “new” title

 

2015 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival Recap: Day 3

Colleen Moore and Neil Hamilton from Why Be Good?

The third day of the TCM Film Festival and I felt like a “seasoned campaigner,” to quote Jean Dixon from My Man Godfrey, a film from the festival’s first day. There were some great movies screening in the morning, but again, I opted to see things I hadn’t seen before, including another silent movie, a Disney classic, an early John Ford melodrama featuring Ralph Bellamy—in the lead—Pat O’Brien and Gloria Stewart, a Preston Sturges classic, a glossy melodrama from director Douglas Sirk, and some Hollywood home movies.

First up was the silent film Why Be Good? (1929) starring Colleen Moore and Neil Hamilton. Cari Beauchamp, an award-winning writer and documentary filmmaker introduced the film. We learned that the movie was thought to be lost, but that a print was discovered in Italy in the late 90s and eventually restored. The movie is about a young flapper, Pert—love that name—Kelly (Moore) who pretends to be a bad girl so she can go clubbing with her fast friends. Pert loves to dance and have fun, but she is strictly a “good girl.” The action begins when she meets a young man at a club after she ditches her lech of a date, when he falls asleep in a drunken stupor. As she is about to leave, she meets Winthrop Peabody Jr. (Hamilton). They are immediately smitten and Winthrop asks her out on a date for the following evening. Pert, tired from the late-night out with Winthrop, arrives tardy for work, only to be reprimanded by the new head of personnel, Winthrop! In order to please his father Winthrop Peaboy Sr. and show him that he’s up for his new job, junior is unusually harsh with Pert. This causes all kinds of confusion and frustration for the young couple. Of course the end of the movie resolves all, but the scenes between Pert and her parents, and the others in between, are both humorous and poignant. It’s easy to see why Moore was such a big star in the silent era. Besides being pretty and attractive, she had a effervescent personality that is hard to resist. Hamilton, Moore’s costar is best known today as Commissioner Gordon from the Batman TV series from the 1960s. Although the film is silent (no dialogue), it is accompanied by a synchronized score and sound effects, something that was fairly common during the transition from silent to talking films. The film boasts early screen appearances of Jean Harlow, Andy Devine, Mischa Auer, Phil Harris, and Grady Sutton, but the only one I really noticed was Harlow in a party scene. Two silents in two days and I enjoyed them both!

Bobby Driscoll receives his juvenile Oscar
from Donald O'Connor

After Why Be Good? it was a choice between 42n Street (1933) and So Dear To My Heart (1948). It was really no contest. I’ve seen 42n Street and the opportunities to see it on the big screen would come again, but not so with Disney’s So Dear To My Heart. Film critic Leonard Maltin who is a real fan of the film said he hoped he hadn’t “oversold” the movie with his enthusiastic introduction, gave us some backgrond on the film. We learned that the movie had originally been planned as Disney’s first all live-action film, but that the distributor, RKO, didn’t think they could “sell” a Disney film without animation. So some short animation scenes were inserted to appease RKO, even though they add little—other than the fact that they’re cute—to the overall story line. The plot surrounds Jeremiah Kincaid (Bobby Driscoll) and his efforts to raise a black sheep to be a county fair champion, a champion just like race horse Dan Patch, in 1903 Indiana. Jeremiah’s stern, but loving grandmother, Granny Kincaid (Beulah Bondi) is against her grandson raising the black sheep as a pet, but she eventually relents, against her better judgment. Others in the cast include a very young Burl Ives as Uncle Hiram Douglas, singing the Oscar-nominated song, “Lavender Blue” and Luana Patten as Tildy. Bobby Driscoll, who also scored a hit in The Window (1949) on loan to RKO won a special juvenile Academy Award for his performances. The movie is corny, sentimental, but charming and extremely watchable. I was transported to a simpler time in my life when my older sister would take me to every Disney movie, that was playing in our neighborhood, when I was a young boy.

After So Dear To My Heart, it was back on line at the same theater for John Ford’s Air Mail (1932). I never even heard of  Air Mail, so I was anxious to see it. Seven years before Howard Hawks’s Only Angels Have Wings, John Ford crafted this exciting film about young pilots transporting the mail under dangerous conditions from a desert airport at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Leonard Maltin introduced this film as not a classic, but as an entertaining film and early Ford directorial effort and a rare stint working at Universal Studios. Ralph Bellamy as Mike Miller is top-billed over Pat O’Brien (Duke Talbot) and the rest of the cast that also includes Gloria Stewart (Ruth Barnes), Ward Bond (Joe Barnes), and Slim Summerville (Slim McCune). Bellamy plays the level-headed and headstrong operator of the airport who hires hotshot pilot Duke Talbot to take the place of Joe Barnes (Ruth’s brother) who lost his life in a fiery plane crash. For a film shot in 1932, the special effects are fairly impressive. Most impressive are some of the miniature sets of the airport that were remarkably realistic. The real drama begins when Mike, whose eyesight isn’t what it used to be, flies out during some bad weather, against the wishes of his girlfriend Ruth. He crashes in a remote mountain area with little hope of being rescued. Duke who has run off with the widow of another pilot, decides he can rescue Mike. Duke makes the daring attempt to save Mike, successfully landing his plane where Mike is stranded. Duke manages to load Mike into the plane and take off. Although the plane is able to fly, it sustained some damage during its rocky landing. While flying, the plane begins to fall apart. Realizing that he can’t land safely, Duke flips the plane over on purpose, which causes Mike to fall out. Mike lands safely with his parachute. Duke crashes, but survives, making him an instant hero. It was great to see a film where Bellamy was not only the lead, but also the guy who actually gets the girl in the end. Maltin called this a “bread and butter” movie for Ford. Under contract to Fox, which was cutting salaries, Ford decided to go to work for Carl Laemmle Jr. at Universal to pick up some extra cash.


I was now ready for a good laugh, so the ideal choice was Christmas in July (1940). It was a long time since I last saw this Preston Sturges classic. Being a Sturges fan, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see this film on the big screen with a live audience. It did not disappoint. Sturges’s follow-up to The Great McGinty (1940) chronicles the aspirations of Jimmy MacDonald (Dick Powell) and his efforts to win the slogan writing contest sponsored by Maxford House Coffee. Desperate to win, Jimmy dreams of providing for his mother and prove himself worthy of his girlfriend, Betty Casey (Ellen Drew). Jimmy’s “winning” slogan: “If you can’t sleep at night, it’s not the coffee, it’s the bunk.” The slogan doesn’t exactly resonate with Jimmy’s friends and family, but he’s convinced it’s a winner. As a practical joke, three of Jimmy’s coworkers phony-up a telegram announcing that Jimmy is the winner. Before his friends can tell him it’s a prank, Jimmy is off buying expensive gifts and furniture for his mother, an engagement ring and fur coat for Betty, and presents for just about everyone on his city block. Jimmy’s boss, J. B. Baxter (Ernest Truet) coincidentally, the head of another coffee company, is so impressed with Jimmy’s “win” that he gives him a promotion, his own office, and a private secretary (Betty). Things begin to unravel when Dr. Maxford discovers that the voting for the winning slogan is deadlocked because of the stubbornness of Mr. Bildocker (William Demarest). Jimmy is humiliated and embarrassed when he finds out his winning telegram was a joke and the owner and clerks from the department store where Jimmy bought all his gifts comes to take them all back. Jimmy pleads with his boss to let him keep his new job on a probationary basis until he proves himself. Jimmy’s boss agrees, but he gets no raise in the bargain. Finally Mr. Bildocker bursts into Dr. Maxford’s office proclaiming the deadlock is over. The winning slogan: “If you can’t sleep at night, it’s not the coffee, it’s the bunk!”

Jane Withers charms the crowd.

Next it was off to Club TCM for some Hollywood Home Movies. This was a great treat. Guests that shared their home movies included, Jane Withers, Bob Koster (son of director Henry Koster), and Neile Adams McQueen (widow of Steve McQueen). We saw some rare behind the scenes movies of Esther Ralston and Gary Cooper in a silent film that is lost to history, as well as images of Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, and Sophia Loren, during the filming of her first American film, Boy on a Dolphin (1957). Withers was the most fun, however. She narrated her home movies, which included the likes of Jackie Cooper, Roddy McDowell and other child actors of the era. Withers’s enthusiasm and charm was evident throughout and it was a treat just to see her.

For some reason (I blame Laura and Kristina) I decided to see Imitation of Life (1959) starring Lana Turner and John Gavin. Imitation is a glossy melodrama produced by Ross Hunter and directed by Douglas Sirk. Introduced by Sherry Lansing and Leonard Maltin, who both think the film is worth seeing and a film that resonated with Lansing when she first saw it at age 14. For me though, the film was almost a parody. The melodrama and acting style was over the top and it just didn’t work for me. After not getting into Too Late for Tears, watching this film was one of the few things I regret about the festival. I would have much rather enjoyed seeing Adam’s Rib or The French Connection, but that’s the way it goes; we have to make choices and sometimes we’re not happy with them.

Five films in one day was a record for me. I was exahausted and my eyes were sore and dry from all that movie-watching. On Sunday, my day started a little later than Saturday with my favorite movie experience of the festival: Calamity Jane (1953).

Check back for my last update, to be followed by a wrap-up, and some hints for first-time festival goers.

2015 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival Recap

2015 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival Recap: Day 1

2015 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival Recap: Day 2