Quick Preview of TCM in February: 31 Days of Oscar

Last week Turner Classic Movies posted the online preview of the schedule for next February.

As is always the case, February means the 31 Days of Oscar Festival on TCM. The festival, which years ago originated in March, before the Oscar ceremony was moved up to earlier in the year, runs through March 3rd.

There are many excellent movies airing on the channel in February, although the requirement that every film on the schedule be an Oscar nominee necessarily means the schedule is fairly predictable, without many lesser-known films to explore. That said, it's an especially good month for those who are newer to classic movies to catch up on some outstanding titles.

The February 2015 prime time schedule will take viewers through some Oscar nominees chronologically, starting with films from the 1920s on February 1st.

In keeping with that theme, the last couple days of the schedule, on March 2nd and 3rd, hold a surprisingly high number of "recent" films for TCM, including the complete LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy on the 2nd and THE ARTIST (2011), THE KING'S SPEECH (2011), and THE QUEEN (2006) on the final night of the series March 3rd.

TCM will also be rerunning last year's documentary AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... in February.

I'll have a detailed look at the February schedule posted around the end of January 2015.

The current theme for November is Silent Stars, with Cary Grant ahead as the Star of the Month for December and Robert Redford planned for January.

Many thanks to Ivan of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear for the tip that the schedule is available -- and a big congratulations to Ivan on 11 years blogging!

Update: For more details, please visit TCM in February: 31 Days of Oscar Highlights.