2016 #TCMFF: The First Full Day

Decisions, decisions. Friday, April 29, the first full day of the TCM Film Festival, was chock full of great movies. The morning schedule was especially strong featuring three movies I wanted to see on the big screen: The More The Merrier (1943), Shanghai Express (1932), and Love Me Or Leave Me (1955). I thought that Shanghai Express was the most likely candidate to be one of the TBD features on Sunday, films that proved popular enough to be repeated, so I had to choose between The More The Merrier and Love Me Or Leave Me. I decided on George Stevens’s The More The Merrier with Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and Charles Coburn. Seeing this classic on the big screen with an audience was a delight. There’s nothing like a movie theater filled with laughter and Arthur, McCrea, and Coburn gave us plenty to laugh about.

I really wanted to see this movie, but I couldn’t be in two places at once.

After the screening of The More The Merrier, I ran into my first disappointment of the festival (last year I didn’t get to see Too Late For Tears). I was in line for Double Harness (1933), but the film, in one of the smaller venues, sold out almost immediately. Being a fan of William Powell and Ann Harding, I really wanted to see this film (I’ve never seen it). With nothing else on my schedule, I went to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel to buy a copy of Illeana Douglas’s book, I Blame Dennis Hopper. I waited on line to meet Illeana and to get my book autographed. I asked her what we have to do to get Theodora Goes Wild at the TCM Film Festival? She said we just have to keep “pestering” them about it. She lamented that when she brings it up, they remind her that she’s only doing so because her grandfather is in it. The nerve! With plenty of time before the next movie, I had a rare sit-down meal, so I had a nice lunch at Mel’s Diner before I went to see The Conversation (1974).

The charming Illeana Douglas and me

The Conversation featured an interview with its director Francis Ford Coppola by Ben Mankiewicz. I have to say I enjoyed the Coppola interview more than the movie. Coppola came across as very humble and likeable. I expected him to be more brash and full of himself (not sure why I thought this). The Conversation wasn’t my type of movie, but I can now check it off of my list. After the heaviness of The Conversation, it was time for something different.

Snow making on the backlot for It’s A Wonderful Life

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) was playing at the Chinese Theatre, an event I couldn’t pass up. I have this film on DVD and have seen it dozens of times, but to see it on the big screen with 900 + people, how could I pass that up? Craig Barron and Ben Burtt introduced the film. They shared how they made snow for the film, which was a new process at the time. Prior to It’s A Wonderful Life, movie snow was made from bleached corn flakes. The problem with the corn flakes is that when stepped on, you could hear them crunch, requiring the filmmakers to re-dub the dialogue, something, director Frank Capra didn’t want to do. The new snow was a mixture of fire retardant foam and glycerin, which looked real on screen and didn’t crunch. Barron and Burtt also treated us to film of a picnic wrap party that included the cast and crew, including star James Stewart and director Frank Capra, participating in sack and three-legged races, eating ice cream and watermelon…just like the rest of us.

Angela Lansbury watches James Gregory on TV in The Manchurian Candidate.

After the heartwarming tale of George and Mary Bailey, it was on to more serious fare with The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Ben Mankiewicz interviewed Dame Angela Lansbury before the screening. She explained how she got the role (Frank Sinatra originally wanted Lucille Ball) and the impact it made on her life and career (she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar). The performances of all the principals: Sinatra, Lawrence Harvey, and Janet Leigh were excellent. The movie, filmed in black and white, looked beautiful, which contrasted with the film’s serious tone and subject matter.

Well, that was the end of the first full day. Four movies!

Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard in Brief Encounter from
the first day of the festival

Films seen after two days:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Brief Encounter
The More The Merrier
The Conversation
It’s A Wonderful Life
The Manchurian Candidate








2016 #TCMFF: The Festival Begins
2016 #TCMFF: Saturday, The Second Full Day
2016 #TCMFF: Sunday, The Third Full (and Last) Day

Classic Movie Man's Favorite Christmas Movies

Meet Me In St. Louis—1944 This musical classic may not be thought of as a Christmas movie, but the story about the trials and tribulations of the Smith family in the year before the 1904 World’s Fair does contain the Christmas classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” As sung by Judy Garland to a young Margaret O’Brien, it became an instant hit and holiday standard. Great music, beautiful color cinematography, and a wonderful ensemble cast make this the perfect movie to watch on a snowy winter’s evening with family and friends. 

The Bells of St. Mary’s—1945 Can anyone make great sentimental films the way Leo McCarey did? McCarey was a master of emotional manipulation, but in a good way. Plus, when you have Ingrid Bergman as your leading lady (even if she’s playing a nun), you can’t really go wrong, can you? Bing Crosby reprises his Oscar-winning performance as Father O’Malley in this sequel to Going My Way, but it’s Bergman’s Sister Benedict that really is the heart and soul of this Christmas classic, in my opinion. And who do we have here? Henry Travers, the great character actor, playing business tycoon-turned-benefactor, Mr. Bogardus, one year before he would be immortalized as the angel Clarence in It’s a Wonderful Life (see below). 

Christmas in Connecticut—1945 A big hit when first released, this holiday classic is sometimes overlooked in the lists of great Christmas movies. Made when Barbara Stanwyck was at her peak, the story is clever and genuinely funny. Stanwyck’s character is a sort of 1940s version of Martha Stewart, except, unlike Martha, she has no domestic skills whatsoever. When compelled by her magazine publisher to entertain a war hero, Stanwyck goes into high gear to present herself as the perfect domestic goddess the reading public and her publisher think she is. Stanwyck, often cast in heavy melodramas was a great comic actress. She looks luminous on screen as the career woman falling for war hero Dennis Morgan. 

It’s a Wonderful Life—1946 What do you say that hasn’t already been said about this classic holiday favorite? Well, for starters, it wasn’t such a big hit when released. Most post-war audiences thought the story line was rather dark. Today, the tale of George Bailey visited by an angel named Clarence, who shows George what life would be like if he hadn’t been born, is almost required viewing during the Christmas season. James Stewart is perfectly cast as George and Donna Reed is every bit his equal as George’s wife, Mary. Reed’s characterization is pitch perfect and she makes us understand why George loves her so. 

Miracle on 34th Street—1947 There have been other versions of this classic, but none come close to matching the warmth and intelligence of the original. It’s amazing to me how well this movie holds up today. Maureen O’Hara is a single working mom trying to balance work while raising her young daughter, Susan, played by Natalie Wood. All the praise went to Edmund Gwen as Kris Kringle, and he’s wonderful (Best Supporting Actor winner), but O’Hara gives a beautifully layered performance as Doris Walker, a conflicted career woman who doesn't want her daughter to believe in fantasies of any kind. John Payne is also excellent as Fred Gailey, as is George Seaton’s crisp and fluid direction. 

The Bishop’s Wife—1947 Released the same year as Miracle on 34th Street, the movie boasts two of the most glamorous movie stars in the history of film: Loretta Young and Cary Grant. And for us regular folk, there’s David Niven as the bishop. Probably the most spiritual of all the Christmas classics, The Bishop’s Wife grows on me with each viewing. Niven is a bishop struggling to raise money to build a cathedral without compromising his faith or his marriage to Young. Grant plays an angel named Dudley sent from heaven to help the bishop during his hour of need. Perhaps a little too earthly an angel for his own good, Grant finds himself falling for Young, who, in simple dress and hairstyles, radiates feminine grace and beauty. A wonderful movie about grace, love, and commitment that continues to speak to audiences today.

The above is hardly an exhaustive list of my favorites, but these are very close to the top. What are your favorite Christmas movies? Do you have a list of holiday favorites that you absolutely have to watch every year? I’d love to hear from you.