Thursday, December 15, 2011

Quick Preview of TCM in February: 31 Days of Oscar

Turner Classic Movies recently posted the initial online draft of their schedule for February 2012.

A special microsite celebrating the month's "travel" theme is also now online, and a note on the web page says the site will be operational as of December 20th.

As I mentioned last year, February is my least favorite month of the year on TCM, simply because the Oscar nominees tend to be well known and have often been seen by me many times. I also don't care for the number of "newer" films shown in February.

That said, February is a great opportunity for newer classic film fans to enjoy numerous excellent titles, and there are some interesting lesser-known titles scattered around the schedule.

Among the titles which caught my eye at first glance: the Powell-Pressburger film ONE OF OUR AIRCRAFT IS MISSING (1941), with a great cast including Eric Portman, Googie Withers, Pamela Brown, and Peter Ustinov; and CAPTAIN FURY (1939) with Brian Aherne.

As was the case in February 2010, there are a significant number of 20th Century-Fox films licensed for showing in "Oscar month," along with a smattering of Universal and Paramount films.

The Fox films on the tentative schedule include STATE FAIR (1933), SECOND FIDDLE (1939), THE RAINS CAME (1939), THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940), A YANK IN THE R.A.F. (1941), THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (1943), BOOMERANG! (1947), COME TO THE STABLE (1949), and BENEATH THE 12-MILE REEF (1953).

A YANK IN THE R.A.F. will also be shown in January.

Universal films on TCM in February include THE HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES (1940) with George Sanders and Vincent Price, as well as THE INVISIBLE WOMAN (1940) with Virginia Bruce.

Paramount's DeMille films CLEOPATRA (1934) and REAP THE WILD WIND (1942) are also planned to air in February.

And don't forget, Angela Lansbury is Star of the Month in January! I'll have more on the January schedule sometime around New Year's.

2 Comments:

Blogger Cliff Aliperti said...

"As I mentioned last year, February is my least favorite month of the year on TCM ..."

That's funny, Laura, I just re-tweeted this with the text "My least favorite month" in front of your link!

I was going through January's Now Playing Guide yesterday and I was pretty upset by all of the 1950's and 60's movies airing then. All I could think was all these 60's flicks in January when I know February is going to be packed with 80's and 90's movies! C'mon March!

6:47 AM  
Blogger Kevin Deany said...

Very pleased to hear about "Come to the Stable." Years ago that title was on all the time, but not so much recently. I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

7:42 AM  

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