Celebrating the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood

Hollywood's legendary Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Just as Turner Classic Movies will pay on-air tribute to the films, talents and themes of the third annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood April 12 – 15, The Lady Eve’s Reel Life will also salute this year’s festival. From now until the 15th, TLE will feature posts and links to reviews of some of the 70+ film classics being shown in Hollywood and the end of this week.

TCM's Robert Osborne

Opening night, Thursday, April 12, features the world premiere screening of the 40th anniversary restoration of 1972 Best Picture Oscar nominee Cabaret.  The film's stars Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey, both of whom won Academy Awards for their performances, will appear with TCM host Robert Osborne.

The festival's celebration of Style in the Movies will honor Audrey Hepburn: Style Icon with presentations of four of her films and the first, Sabrina (1954), screens Thursday night. Janie Bryant, acclaimed costume designer of the Emmy winning series Mad Men, will be on hand.

Style in the Movies: The Legendary Costumes of Travis Banton will spotlight Paramount's long-time costume Designer-in-Chief who, before he moved on to 20th Century Fox, mentored his successor Edith Head. Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis will introduce all six Banton films (those asterisked below are part of the Travis Banton tribute). The Noir Style will also be celebrated and Eddie Muller, founder of the Film Noir Foundation, will be on hand for several noir screenings along with 'dames noir' like Rhonda Fleming, Marsha Hunt and Peggy Cummins.

There is so much packed into the four day festival that only a closer look at the daily schedules can give a real sense of how wide-ranging and spectacular TCMFF #3 promises to be. Click here (and scroll down) for Thursday's full schedule.

Friday offers a day of non-stop events:

James Stewart and Kim Novak in Vertigo

At world-famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre: John Ford's masterpiece, The Searchers (1956), Funny Face (1957) with  director and festival honoree Stanley Donen (on his birthday) and Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) with its star, Kirk Douglas. Kim Novak will introduce the screening of Vertigo (1958) (click here for Brandie Ashe's review for this blog on Novak's performance) and the final Chinese Theatre presentation for the night, Roman Polanski's brilliant 1974 neo-noir, Chinatown, will be discussed by legendary producer and former Paramount exec, Robert Evans, and screenwriter Robert Towne, who won an Oscar for his screenplay.

Audrey Hepburn in Stanley Donen's Funny Face

Among the films screening Friday at Chinese Multiplex 1 are William Wellman's Wings (1927), presented by Bill Wellman, Jr., and former Paramount exec A.C. Lyles (a sprightly 93-year-old), the world premiere restoration of Two for the Road (1967) presented by Stanley Donen (click here for Kevin Deany's take on the film at Kevin's Movie Corner), and the U.S. premiere of the 75th anniversary restoration of Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion (1937). At Chinese Multiplex 3, highlights include screenings of Nothing Sacred* (1937) and the Astaire/Rogers classic Swing Time (1936). A Friday night high point at Chinese Multiplex 4 will be the screening of Max Ophuls' Letter From an Unknown Woman* (1948), starring Joan Fontaine (click here for R.D. Finch's reflection on this underappreciated gem at The Movie Projector). At the Egyptian Theatre, Shirley Jones will present the screening of Elmer Gantry (1960), and Rhonda Fleming will join 'czar of noir' Eddie Muller for the screening of Cry Danger (1951).

Click here for the complete schedule of events for Friday, April 13.

Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Film festivals are always frantically busy on weekends, and TCMFF will be no exception. On Saturday at Grauman's, Kim Novak will have her hand and footprints enshrined in the courtyard concrete. Later, screenings at the theatre will include Disney's Snow White (1937), Casablanca (1942) and the 60th anniversary world premiere restoration of Singin' in the Rain (1952) - introduced by Debbie Reynolds. At Chinese Multiplex 1, Robert Wagner will appear for the presentation of The Longest Day (1962) and director Norman Jewison will be on hand for a 25th anniversary screening of his 1987 classic Moonstruck. At Chinese Multiplex 3 fashion designer Barbara Tfank will appear for the screening of Otto Preminger's sumptuous Bonjour Tristesse (1958), Eddie Muller will introduce Jules Dassin's 1950 noir classic, Night and the City, and actor Richard Anderson will be on hand for the screening of John Frankenheimer's underrated 1966 film, Seconds (click here for John Greco's review at Twenty Four Frames). Chinese Multiplex 4 will feature a program of Laurel & Hardy shorts, A Fine Mess (1932 - 1933), and the astonishing Josef von Sternberg/Marlene Dietrich 1934 historical fantasy, The Scarlet Empress* (click here for my series on the von Sternberg/Dietrich collaboration).

Marlene Dietrich in The Scarlet Empress

The Egyptian Theatre will showcase the sparkling 1958 comedy Auntie Mame, with an appearance by designer Todd Oldham, director Norman Jewison will  discuss his very stylish The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and Eddie Muller and actress Peggy Cummins (now 86) will discuss her best-known film, a standout of its genre and a shocker in its time, Gun Crazy (1950).

Click here for Saturday's full schedule.

Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief

Though Sunday's schedule isn't yet complete, the day is by no means quiet . At Grauman's: Hitchcock's glittering 1955 VistaVision romp To Catch a Thief, Robert Evans will appear at the screening of Roman Polanski's 1968 trendsetter Rosemary's Baby (my take here), Thelma Schoonmaker, Oscar winning film editor and widow of the incomparable Michael Powell, will introduce Powell's masterful 1948 collaboration with Emeric Pressburger, Black Narcissus (click here for Ivan G. Shreve's review at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear), and Todd Oldman is set to appear for the screening of George Cukor's sly and fabulous The Women (1939). At the Cinerama Dome, Debbie Reynolds will introduce the Cinerama epic How the West Was Won (1962). 

Deborah Kerr in Black Narcissus

Click here for the Sunday schedule. 

As even a brief glance at its schedule makes crystal clear, TCM's Classic Film Festival is truly bigger and better than ever in 2012.

John Wayne, The Searchers

Click here to watch a TCM festival promo...