TCM in June: Highlights

It's hard to believe it's almost summer! Time to take a look at the June schedule on Turner Classic Movies.

Audrey Hepburn is the June Star of the Month.

Hepburn movies will screen every Monday evening beginning June 5th. There will not be a separate Star of the Month post for June.

The latest installment of Treasures From the Disney Vault airs Friday, June 2nd. The remaining four Fridays in June have a "European Vacation" theme.

Here's a look at just a few highlights for what promises to be a great month on TCM! Click on any hyperlinked title for the related review.

...Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell charm as a prince and princess playing detective in TROUBLE FOR TWO (1936) on June 1st. They were a great team in several films, and this is one of my favorites.

...Leonard Maltin hosts the latest quarterly installment of Treasures From the Disney Vault on June 2nd. The evening includes the TCM premiere of SUMMER MAGIC (1963) with Hayley Mills and Dorothy McGuire, followed by the return of Mills in the evergreen POLLYANNA (1960). The rest of the evening consists of "horse" themed cartoons and films, all TCM premieres, starting with the cartoon MICKEY'S POLO TEAM (1936).

...Saturday evening, June 3rd, features Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Blondell in UNION DEPOT (1932), one of the films I just read about in the new book FROM THE HEADLINES TO HOLLYWOOD: THE BIRTH AND BOOM OF WARNER BROS. by Chris Yogerst. Kristina also just wrote about the movie at Speakeasy.

...Eddie Muller kicks off this month's Noir Alley films with the classic OUT OF THE PAST (1947) on Sunday morning, June 4th. I invite interested viewers to visit my 2010 and 2014 photo posts on the film's locations in Bridgeport, California. The spot where Jeff (Robert Mitchum) and Ann (Virginia Huston) fish at the start of the movie is seen at the left, photographed in 2014.

...As far as I know there isn't a "TCM Jr." or "TCM Movie Camp" on Sunday nights this summer, but many of the Sunday night titles are nonetheless excellent viewing for young people, starting with A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945) on June 4th. Peggy Ann Garner, Dorothy McGuire, and Joan Blondell star.

...Audrey Hepburn's Star of the Month tribute being on June 5th with five films, including a pair of favorites, ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953) and LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON (1957) (the latter film was also reviewed here). They're followed by GREEN MANSIONS (1959), WE GO TO MONTE CARLO (1953), and LAUGHTER IN PARADISE (1951).

...There's a terrific prime time tribute to director Edgar G. Ulmer on Tuesday, June 6th. Seven films are featured, including DETOUR (1945) and the marvelous HER SISTER'S SECRET (1946). The latter film was screened at the TCM Classic Film Festival in 2014 and at UCLA in 2015; it's a very well-made movie which, somewhat unusually for the mid '40s, deals with a single woman's unplanned pregnancy. Nancy Coleman and Margaret Lindsay star.

...Alexis Smith is honored with a 10-film birthday tribute on June 8th. Technically, the tenth film, NIGHT AND DAY (1946), is part of the evening's Spotlight series, but there's an overlap with her tribute as she stars in it. I especially recommend SPLIT SECOND (1953), which I just saw at the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs..

...A delightful MGM musical, SUMMER STOCK (1950), starring Gene Kelly and Judy Garland, airs on Thursday, June 8th. Director Charles Walters, a great favorite of mine, is one of numerous filmmakers who are part of this month's Thursday night Spotlight series on Gay Hollywood.

...Bette Davis, Margaret Lindsay, and Donald Woods star in the fun little crime film FOG OVER FRISCO (1934) on Friday, June 9th.

...There's another great Noir Alley movie on tap on June 11th: PHANTOM LADY (1944), starring the wonderful Ella Raines.

...Another great Sunday evening movie to share with the entire family, on June 11th: James Stewart in Anthony Mann's BEND OF THE RIVER (1952), a film I love more every time I see it. Julie Adams, Arthur Kennedy, and Rock Hudson costar.

...The second Audrey Hepburn night on June 12th features BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1961), MY FAIR LADY (1964), THE NUN'S STORY (1959), and THE CHILDREN'S HOUR (1961).

...Five films directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger are featured in prime time on June 14th. They include a film which is a huge favorite of mine, I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING! (1945), and one I just saw as part of last year's "10 Classics" list, A CANTERBURY TALE (1944). I especially recommend setting the DVR for I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING! which I've enjoyed multiple times. Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey star.

...I love that TCM celebrates Powell & Pressburger one day, and a couple days later, on June 16th, they have an eight-film tribute to "B" director Lew Landers. I've seen several of the movies airing that day and especially recommend DOUBLE DANGER (1938), in which Preston Foster is a charmer as a jewel thief; CRASHING HOLLYWOOD (1938), a very good Lee Tracy comedy which has stood up to a second viewing; and DYNAMITE PASS (1950), a Tim Holt Western I saw in Lone Pine, immediately followed by a tour of the locations in the Alabama Hills!

...The Noir Alley title for Sunday, June 18th is HE RAN ALL THE WAY (1951), starring John Garfield and Shelley Winters. I saw this for the first time at last year's TCM Classic Film Festival, with costar Norman Lloyd in the audience!

...Family films celebrating Father's Day on June 18th include William Powell in LIFE WITH FATHER (1948) and Spencer Tracy in FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1950).

...The June 19th Audrey Hepburn films are HOW TO STEAL A MILLION (1966), WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967), THE LAVENDER HILL MOB (1952), and THE SECRET PEOPLE (1952).

...The daytime theme on June 21st is "Vincente Minnelli in Color." You can't go wrong with any musicals he directed airing that day, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951), THE BAND WAGON (1953), and BRIGADOON (1954). The first is an Oscar-winning classic, the second is one of the best musicals ever made, and the third is an underrated personal favorite.

...The final Noir Alley film of the month, on June 25th, is the underrated HIGH WALL (1947), starring Robert Taylor as a brain-injured amnesiac veteran arrested for murdering his wife (Dorothy Patrick). Audrey Totter and Herbert Marshall costar; Curtis Bernhardt directed. It's a good one!

...Talented actor-director Mark Stevens is a name which should be better known. He receives a two-film salute on Sunday evening, June 25th, with the TCM premiere of the 20th Century-Fox film THE STREET WITH NO NAME (1948), followed by THE SNAKE PIT (1948).

...The month's salute to Audrey Hepburn concludes on June 26th with PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES (1963), FUNNY FACE (1957), ALWAYS (1989), WAR AND PEACE (1956), and ROBIN AND MARIAN (1976).

...A "restaurant" theme on June 26th has a very diverse lineup including Margot Grahame starring in NIGHT WAITRESS (1936), directed by Lew Landers; THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946); and the great musical THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946).

...I've been watching lots of Richard Dix films this year, and there's one I haven't seen yet on the 29th: NO MARRIAGE TIES (1933), costarring Elizabeth Allan.

For more on TCM in June, please visit the complete online June schedule.