TCM Film Festival: I’m Going Hollywood!

I can’t believe the TCM Classic Film Festival is almost here!  I discovered this awesome event when I happened upon Noir Girl‘s TCM Festival 2015 diary.  I was instantly hooked!    So ever since like 1 week after the last festival I’ve been counting down the days.  This is my first time attending so I’m a complete newbie to the whole excruciating selection process.  The theme this year is Moving Pictures with subcategories like animal movies, inspirational sports movies, love and loss, religious films, and coming of age.  (I’m still grieving no Robert Osborne at the festival.  I love that man!)

For those who might want to know this Ginger Rogers loving, musical adoring, horror despising, noir discovering, 28 year old Jimmy Stewart fan’s selections, well… here you go.

Thursday

I’ll be spending the afternoon at #ClubTCM for Great Genre Debate and Library Bar at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and then the Meet TCM event.  Then I’ll be playing So You Think You Know Movies and hopefully impress with my mad trivia skills.  Then it’ll be time for the welcome party.  Next is that oh so special first movie of the festival.  I’ve decided on a bold for it’s time film about interracial marriage that I’ve never seen called One Potato, Two Potato.

I might try to go to bed early here to save up my movie watching energy for the next three days although Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner will be super tempting.

Friday

I’ll have to pass up Doris Day in Love Me or Leave me because I absolutely can’t miss seeing Marlene Dietrich on the big screen in Shanghai Express.  The cinematography is absolutely mind boggling.

Then The Way We Were or possibly Double Harness with William Powell if I want to be sure to make Tea and Sympathy at 2.  If I can’t make Tea and Sympathy I’ll enjoy Amazing Film Discoveries instead.  OH, the uncertainty!  When will I eat you ask?  Beats me.  This is where goldfish crackers come in super handy.

Then on to Club TCM for vaudeville 101:

“Live vaudeville was once the leading form of American entertainment—until talkies killed it. But it was a training ground for movie icons like Buster Keaton, Fred Astaire, the Marx Brothers, Mae West, Judy Garland and even Cary Grant. Film Forum’s Bruce Goldstein, who at past festivals presented “Pre-Code 101” and “Character Actors 101,” will re-create vaudeville’s golden age with some of its greatest acts.”

This day is definitely setting up to be my very favorite!

Then after a little nourishment it’ll be time for Voices of Light: The Passion of Joan of Arc with Richard Einhorn’s original score performed by a live orchestra and vocalists.

I probably won’t be able to make The Manchurian Candidate from here but I can’t help but try because seeing the living legend, Angela Lansbury, would be the ultimate!  These are the two films I want to see the most.  If only I could make both!  If I can’t get in I’ll see Repeat Performance, a little known film noir with Joan Leslie of all people.

Saturday

Saturday morning I have to choose between Ace in the Hole and 90th Anniversary of Vitaphone documentary.

I was seriously considering Intolerance next but, as sacreligous as it is to classic movie buffs, I’m afraid I’ll be slightly tortured.  So I’m opting instead for Dead Men Wear Plaid introduced by Carl Reiner himself.  Then on to The War of the Worlds.  Woohoo!  Can’t wait!  Not usually a big sci-fi fan but this one appeals bigtime.  “Two Oscar-winners, sound editor Ben Burtt and special effects technician Craig Barron, share their unique insights into George Pal’s Oscar winning science-fiction classic.”

Then it’ll be time for the luscious I’ve Always Loved You, a classic romance I’ve never seen or maybe I’ll just curl up on a bench and take a nap. ; )

If my motors still running into the later evening I have to decide between Rocky and A Short History of Widescreen Cinema.  Ugh!

Sunday

The last day… Oh dear…  Better make my picks count.  The day starts off with one of the toughest decisions of the festival.  To see Holiday in Spain in Smell-O-Vision at the Cinerama Dome or stay closer to home base and see the classic tearjerker All That Heaven Allows.  This decision will come down to the wire.

Based on how that plays out I’ll see either Law and Order, The Kid, or The Art of the Film Score.   Then grab a bite to eat at the historic Pig’ N Whistle founded in 1927.

Sunday is the day with 6 movie surprises that we don’t know yet so I can’t completely plan this one out but the day will probably end with my favorite male movie star Fred Astaire in The Band Wagon.  Just hearing him sing By Myself is more than worth the price of admission.  Also, hoping to sneak in a visit to the Hollywood Museum (and possible Madame Tussauds Wax Museum) at some point.  Then over to the Closing Night Party (if I haven’t previously keeled over) at Club TCM where I’ll say goodbye to a few movie lovin’ friends and reminisce about the films we love the most.

Interesting Band Wagon post.

(Passing up some all-time fav’s like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The More the Merrier, It’s a Wonderful Life, The King and I, Midnight, and Old Yeller in favor of film’s I’ve never seen.)

Thanks for checking out my oh so shaky itinerary.  I’d love to hear about your picks or get some festival advice from the old hands.

California, here I come!