February 2005 – 31 Days of Oscar

February 2005 – 31 Days of Oscar

It’s going to be hard during TCM’s "31 Days of Oscar" salute this month to distinguish this page from their listing of the schedule each day. The primary reason for this is the fact that I’ve written capsule reviews for all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners and because so many of the films I deem essential have also received Oscar nominations in at least one of the featured categories. Hopefully the comments I have provided and linked to will help you to decide which films to tape TIVO or just watch at the designated time;-)

Tuesday February 1 – Tribute to Irving Thalberg

6:00 AM The Crowd (1928)

9:30 AM Smilin’ Through (1932) – full review!

1:30 PM The Merry Widow (1934)

3:30 PM Camille (1937)

5:30 PM The Good Earth (1937)

8:00 PM & 12:00 AM Irving Thalberg: Prince of Hollywood (2004) – an all NEW TCM feature about MGM’s "boy wonder"

9:30 PM Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

1:30 AM Grand Hotel (1932)

3:30 AM Romeo And Juliet (1936)

Wednesday February 2 – Best Supporting Actress theme

6:00 AM Love Affair (1939)

7:30 AM Key Largo (1948)

9:15 AM Jezebel (1938)

11:00 AM The Spiral Staircase (1946)

12:30 PM Since You Went Away (1944)

3:30 PM Stella Dallas (1937)

5:30 PM I Remember Mama (1948)

8:00 PM Imitation Of Life (1959) – though inferior to the 1934 version this one is probably worth seeing for Juanita Moore’s performance

2:30 AM L.A. Confidential (1997) – a TCM premiere; many thought this was the Best Picture of 1997

Thursday February 3 – Best Supporting Actress

7:30 AM All This And Heaven Too (1940)

10:00 AM These Three (1936)

11:45 AM Singin’ In The Rain (1952)

1:30 PM The Little Foxes (1941)

3:30 PM The Paradine Case (1947)

9:30 PM Sergeant York (1941)

12:00 AM Nixon (1995) – A TCM Premiere!

3:15 AM The Great Lie (1941)

5:15 AM Four Daughters (1938)

Friday February 4 – Best Supporting Actor

9:00 AM Mr. Skeffington (1944)

11:30 AM The Corn Is Green (1945)

3:30 PM Picnic (1955)

8:00 PM The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) – full review!

9:45 PM The Farmer’s Daughter (1947)

11:30 PM Notorious (1946)

1:15 AM Ride The Pink Horse (1947)

3:00 AM The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

5:00 AM Juarez (1939)

Saturday February 5 – Best Supporting Actor

8:45 AM The Great Dictator (1940) – Charlie Chaplin spoofs Adolf Hitler! Nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture Best Actor (Chaplin) & Writing (also Chaplin) and Supporting Actor (Jack Oakie). Added to the National Film Registry in 1997. #37 on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list.

2:30 PM The Westerner (1940)

4:15 PM The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)

6:15 PM The Maltese Falcon (1941)

8:00 PM The Paper Chase (1973) – a great college law school film featuring John Houseman’s Academy Award winning (Supporting) acting performance. Also stars Timothy Bottoms Lindsay Wagner James Naughton and Edward Hermann. #91 on AFI’s 100 Most Inspiring Movies list.

10:00 PM Quiz Show (1994) – A TCM Premiere!

4:45 AM Crossfire (1947)

Sunday February 6 – Best Cinematography

8:00 AM Abe Lincoln In Illinois (1940)

6:45 PM Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939)

8:00 PM The Uninvited (1944)

10:00 PM Portrait of Jennie (1948) – Jennifer Jones is the "muse" for painter Joseph Cotten who is supported by gallery owners Ethel Barrymore & Cecil Kellaway. But does she really exist? Lillian Gish and David Wayne also appear as does Nancy Davis Reagan (at the very end) in this unusual yet captivating story. A Best Special Effects Oscar winner also nominated for B&W Cinematography.

11:30 PM The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

1:30 AM The Sign of the Cross (1932)

Monday February 7 – Best Adapted Screenplay

6:00 AM The Jazz Singer (1927)

7:45 AM Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1932) – probably worth seeing for Fredric March’s Oscar winning Best Actor performance of Robert Louis Stevenson’s titled character if not Miriam Hopkins sexy pre-code performance as the object of his obsession. Rose Hobart plays March’s fiancee.

11:45 AM The Thin Man (1934)

1:30 PM Baby Doll (1956)

3:30 PM Lolita (1962)

6:15 PM 12 Angry Men (1957)

8:00 PM Peyton Place (1957)

11:00 PM Stand by Me (1986) – A TCM Premiere!

1:30 AM JFK (1991) – A TCM Premiere!

4:45 AM Little Caesar (1931)

Tuesday February 8 – Best Actress

8:00 AM Dark Victory (1939)

3:45 PM Splendor In The Grass (1961)

6:00 PM Kitty Foyle (1940)

12:30 AM Now Voyager (1942)

Wednesday February 9 – Best Actress

7:30 AM Lili (1953) – A four star film featuring an Oscar nominated performance by Leslie Caron I’ve not seen

11:00 AM Suspicion (1941)

8:00 PM Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) – one of those "Only in America" true stories about an ignorant girl from the sticks who makes it big as a country & western singer. A biography of Loretta Lynn featuring Sissy Spacek’s (only to date) Oscar winning Best Actress performance in which she sings all the songs herself! Tommy Lee Jones plays ‘Doo’ her #1 fan & supporter husband who strays when her limelight and newfound independence overshadows his contributions to her success. Beverly D’Angelo plays fellow singer and Lynn friend Patsy Cline. Six other Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Screenplay.

12:15 AM Long Day’s Journey into Night (1962) – A four star TCM Premiere featuring an Oscar nominated performance by Katharine Hepburn. Written by Eugene O’Neill it invokes memories of both Tennessee Williams’ work as well as the film Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) with Ralph Richardson Jason Robards and Dean Stockwell as a dysfunctional family with secrets to tell which all come flooding out in one long day’s time.

3:15 AM Anna Christie (1930)

Thursday February 10 – Best Actor

6:00 AM The Big House (1930) – pre-code prison drama with Wallace Beery Robert Montgomery & Chester Morris as the cons Lewis Stone as the warden. Leila Hyams plays Montgomery’s sister. Oscar nominations for Best Picture Beery; it won for Writing & Sound.

7:30 AM A Free Soul (1931) – full review!

12:00 PM Citizen Kane (1941)

2:00 PM Gaslight (1944)

4:00 PM Lust For Life (1956)

6:15 PM The Search (1948)

8:00 PM Random Harvest (1942)

4:30 AM Bad Day At Black Rock (1955)

Friday February 11 – Best Actor

6:00 AM The Front Page (1931)

7:45 AM Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

10:15 AM Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939)

12:15 PM The Yearling (1946)

2:30 PM The Human Comedy (1943) – full review!

6:30 PM The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

8:00 PM Father Of The Bride (1950)

10:00 PM Tootsie (1982)

2:00 AM Network (1976)

4:15 AM Raging Bull (1980)

Saturday February 12 – Best Score

8:00 AM The Lost Patrol (1934)

9:15 AM The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)

12:30 PM To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)

2:45 PM The Magnificent Seven (1960)

5:00 PM The Big Country (1958)

8:00 PM Superman: The Movie (1978) – a great score indeed!

10:30 PM Jaws (1975)

3:30 AM The Pink Panther (1964) – a classic score by Henry Mancini!

Sunday February 13 – Best Song

10:00 AM The Gay Divorcee (1934)

12:00 PM Georgy Girl (1966)

5:30 PM The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

12:15 AM Born Free (1966) – a great movie to see with preteen children who love animals with an unforgettable score. It’s about a game warden and his wife in Africa who befriend a lion cub which grows to big to keep as a pet. So they then have to teach it to be able to survive on its own. The titled song and John Barry’s score won Oscars (his first of four!).

2:00 AM Holiday Inn (1942) – remade later as White Christmas (1954) (sort of;-) which I prefer this original prompted the creation of the hotel chain! It stars Bing Crosby Fred Astaire Walter Abel Marjorie Reynolds Virginia Dale and Louise Beavers. Irving Berlin won his only Oscar for the Best Original Song "White Christmas" (#5 on AFI’s Top 100 Movie Songs of All Time); his Original Story was also nominated.

Monday February 14 – Best Original Screenplay – Happy Valentine’s Day!

6:00 AM Vitelloni I (1953) – one of the better Fellini films IMO and this is a TCM premiere!

9:30 AM The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)

11:30 AM The Ladykillers (1955)

2:45 PM The Lady Eve (1941)

4:30 PM The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944)

12:00 AM Crocodile Dundee (1986) – a TCM premiere!

2:00 AM Diner (1982) – an above average coming of age film with a cast of "soon to be" stars including Kevin Bacon Mickey Rourke Ellen Barkin Paul Reiser Steve Guttenberg Daniel Stern Timothy Daly and Michael Tucker. Directed by Barry Levinson (Rain Man (1988)).

Tuesday February 15 – Best Costume Design

7:30 AM Seven Samurai (1954) – this Akira Kurosawa directed classic was used by John Sturges as the basis for The Magnificent Seven (1960) and is a classic in its own right though fairly long;-)

8:00 PM Guys And Dolls (1955)

11:00 PM Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Wednesday February 16 – Best Visual Effects

6:00 AM Air Force (1943) – not great but pretty good … and a full review!

10:15 AM So Proudly We Hail! (1943) – full review!

4:15 PM Spellbound (1945)

10:00 PM Forbidden Planet (1956)

12:00 AM The Birds (1963)

3:45 AM Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

Thursday February 17 – Best Sound

9:00 AM So This Is Washington (1943) – a TCM premiere!

2:30 PM Cleopatra (1934)

4:15 PM Imitation Of Life (1934)

6:15 PM Bright Victory (1951) – a TCM premiere!

11:00 PM The Bells Of St. Mary’s (1945)

1:15 AM Oklahoma! (1955) – new capsule review!

Friday February 18 – Best Art Direction

1:30 PM Blood on the Sun (1945) – a TCM premiere!

3:15 PM Is Paris Burning? (1966) – a TCM premiere!

6:15 PM The Shootist (1976) – new capsule review!

8:00 PM Vertigo (1958)

10:15 PM Batman (1989) – a TCM premiere!

12:30 AM Aliens (1986) – a TCM premiere!

Saturday February 19 – Best Editing

7:15 AM The Letter (1940)

2:45 PM Red River (1948)

5:00 PM The Great Escape (1963)

8:00 PM Bullitt (1968) – new capsule review!

10:00 PM The Day Of The Jackal (1973)

3:30 AM David Copperfield (1935) – new capsule review!

Sunday February 20 – Best Director

11:30 AM Psycho (1960)

1:30 PM Rear Window (1954)

6:00 PM The Professionals (1966) – new capsule review!

8:00 PM The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

2:00 AM Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Monday February 21 – Best Picture

6:00 AM Disraeli (1929) – new capsule review!

9:00 AM Trader Horn (1931) – a bit dated and not politically correct but it is a pre-code such that it’s a lot like looking through National Geographic magazine. Nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and stars Harry Carey and directed by W.S. Van Dyke I finally got to see this one to compare it with that year’s Oscar winner Cimarron (1931). Carey plays the title character and leads the son (Duncan Renaldo) on an African safari with native guide & gun bearer Rencharo (Mutia Omoolu in his only film. They meet a brave missionary woman (Olive Carey Harry’s real life wife) along the way who’s looking for the daughter she believes is still alive; her husband was killed 20 years ago but her daughter was never found. After venturing for more than half the film deep into the jungle where we see every animal known to inhabit the wilds of Africa they arrive at a hostile camp where they discover that the daughter (Edwina Booth looking a lot like Fay Wray) is the White Jungle goddess. Can they convince her to save their lives and leave with them? If so can they escape?

11:15 AM Lady For A Day (1933)

2:30 PM The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer (1935)

4:30 PM Libeled Lady (1936)

6:15 PM Wuthering Heights (1939)

8:00 PM Gone With the Wind (1939) – updated!

12:00 AM It Happened One Night (1934) – updated!

2:00 AM You Can’t Take It With You (1938) – updated!

4:15 AM The Life Of Emile Zola (1937)

Tuesday February 22 – Best Picture

6:15 AM Hold Back the Dawn (1941) – new capsule review!

8:15 AM 49th Parallel (1941) – a TCM premiere! If you can ignore the fact that everyone in Canada speaks the same language as some Nazi U-boat invaders and the fact that they talk in terms of miles instead of kilometers on at least one occasion and Laurence Olivier’s awful French-Canadian accent this is a pretty good Oscar winning WW II story.

10:15 AM Kings Row (1942)

2:00 PM Double Indemnity (1944)

6:00 PM The Heiress (1949)

8:00 PM The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946) – updated!

11:00 PM Going My Way (1944) – updated!

1:15 AM Rebecca (1940) – updated!

3:30 AM The Lost Weekend (1945) – updated!

Wednesday February 23 – Best Picture

12:00 PM Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954)

2:00 PM The Rose Tattoo (1955)

4:00 PM Separate Tables (1958)

6:00 PM Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958)

8:00 PM Ben-Hur (1959) – updated!

12:00 AM On The Waterfront (1954) – updated!

2:00 AM An American in Paris (1951) – updated!

4:00 AM Gigi (1958) – updated!

Thursday February 24 – Best Picture

6:00 AM The Sundowners (1960) – a terrific period piece about a family of drovers (sheep herders) in Australia in the 1920’s and the struggle within the family between those that want to settle down mother (Deborah Kerr) and son vs. the father (Robert Mitchum) that doesn’t. Peter Ustinov plays a British drifter who joins them; Glynis Johns a woman for him. A 4 star film by director Fred Zinnemann who received Oscar nominations for Best Picture & Director. Kerr & Johns were also nominated as was the story.

8:30 AM How the West Was Won (1962)

11:15 AM Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1963)

1:00 PM Ship of Fools (1965)

3:30 PM Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

5:30 PM The Lion In Winter (1968)

8:00 PM Lawrence of Arabia (1962) -updated!

12:00 AM My Fair Lady (1964) – updated!

3:00 AM West Side Story (1961) – updated!

Friday February 25 – Best Picture

1:30 PM Airport (1970)

4:00 PM Sounder (1972)

6:00 PM The Goodbye Girl (1977)

8:00 PM The Sting (1973) – updated!

10:30 PM Rocky (1976) – updated!

1:00 AM Midnight Cowboy (1969) – updated!

3:00 AM Mrs. Miniver (1942) – updated!

Saturday February 26 – Best Picture

11:00 AM Sense and Sensibility (1995) – even if Hugh Grant normally annoys you like he does me this is a pretty good film adaptation of Jane Austen’s story about two sisters (played by Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet both Oscar nominated) who live with their mother and are romanced by Grant and Alan Rickman. Thompson (Howards End (1992)) won her second Oscar for Writing she adapted the novel for the screen.

1:30 PM Moonstruck (1987) – although I don’t personally care much for this film it won Cher & Olympia Dukakis Oscars (its Writing also won) and was directed by the exceptional Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night (1967)). Also featuring Nicholas Cage.

3:15 PM Field of Dreams (1989)

5:15 PM The Color Purple (1985)

8:00 PM Out of Africa (1985) – listed because it won the Oscar not because I’d recommend it – updated!

11:00 PM Rain Man (1988) – updated!

1:30 AM Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) – updated!

3:30 AM Cimarron (1931)

Sunday February 27 – Best Picture & Best Foreign Language Films

6:00 AM The Great Ziegfeld (1936) – updated!

9:15 AM Oliver! (1968) – updated!

11:45 AM Around The World In 80 Days (1956) – updated!

3:00 PM Casablanca (1942) – updated!

5:00 PM The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) – updated!

8:00 PM Kapo (1959) – full review!

10:00 PM La Strada (1954) – a great Fellini film which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film; it’s screenplay (co-written by the director) was also nominated. It stars Anthony Quinn as a gruff circus performer a strongman who travels the Italian countryside giving shows. He "buys" a girl (Giulietta Masina) to be his wife and co-star from her poor mother. He treats her badly. However when he "joins" an existing "circus" she meets another performer a fool (Richard Basehart) and the attraction is mutual. This causes a jealous and ultimately tragic reaction from her husband.

Monday February 28 – Irving Thalberg Memorial Award winners

7:15 AM I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932)

9:00 AM Dead End (1937)

12:15 PM Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)

2:15 PM Gunga Din (1939)

6:00 PM Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

10:30 PM Irving Thalberg: Prince of Hollywood (2004) – A terrific new TCM documentary about the legendary "Boy Wonder" who along with Louis B. Mayer helped to create the behemoth MGM Studios & its incredible success!

12:00 AM The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939)