The TCM Classic Film Festival is Coming Soon! Full Line-up is Here!

The TCM Classic Film Festival runs this year from May 6th through the 9th.  It is totally virtual and this year TCM is teaming with HBO Max to…

…feature more than 100 films, brand new conversations with over 30 special guests, rarely seen gems from the TCM archives and special presentations.

Here are the films/events that I look forward to…

May 6th
11:15pm  TCM  Mean Streets (1973) – A young hood in New York’s Little Italy contends with saving the neck of his hotheaded best friend from the local loan shark and struggles with the religious guilt prompted by his lifestyle.

May 7th
1:30am  TCM  Dr. X (1932) – TCM premiere of recently restored version. The new two-color Technicolor master was restored by UCLA Film and Television Archive and The Film Foundation in association with Warner Bros. Entertainment.

8:00pm  TCM  Plan 9 From Outer Space Table Read (2020) – Television premiere. SF Sketchfest Presents a table read of Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959), adapted by comedian Dana Gould and featuring Maria Bamford, Bobcat Goldthwait, Oscar Nuñez, Laraine Newman, Bob Odenkirk, David Koechner, Janet Varney, Jonah Ray, Paul F. Tompkins, Gary Anthony Williams, Baron Vaughn, Deborah Baker Jr. and Kat Aagesen.  (Followed by the original Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) film at 9:30pm.)

May 8th
3:15am  TCM  let me come in (2021) – World broadcast premiere presentation of Bill Morrison’s experimental short featuring decayed film reels from the lost, German silent film Pawns of Passion (1928). Co-presented by The Los Angeles Opera with composer David Lang and soprano Angel Blue, and in partnership with the Library of Congress Audio Visual Conservation Center.

4:00am  TCM  Underworld U.S.A. (1961) – A bitter young man sets out to get back at the gangsters who murdered his father.

6:00am  TCM  TEX AVERY: THE KING OF CARTOONS (1988) – Documentary about the life and career of animator and director Frederick Bean “Tex” Avery.

7:00am  TCM  TEX AVERY AT MGM (1943-1955) – Compilation of cartoons directed by Tex Avery during his years at MGM. Featured cartoons: Red Hot Riding Hood (1943), Bad Luck Blackie (1949), Deputy Droopy (1955), Screwball Squirrel (1944), King-Size Canary (1947), T.V. of Tomorrow (1953) and Symphony in Slang (1955).

8:00am  TCM  I LOVE TROUBLE (1947) – TCM premiere. A private detective is hired by a politician to check on his wife’s background.

8:00pm  TCM  THEY WON’T BELIEVE ME (1947) – World premiere of a recent 4K restoration from the nitrate film. This restoration returns the film to its original 95 minutes thanks to the return of 15 minutes of original footage cut by RKO at the film’s reissue in the 1950s. A philandering playboy with a wealthy wife and two girlfriends ends up on trial for murder when two of the ladies turn up dead, and he’s the most likely suspect.

10:00pm  TCM  LADY SINGS THE BLUES (1972) –  The story of jazz singer Billie Holiday: from her early life of poverty and abuse, through her successful career and eventual downfall from heroin addiction.
*** Presented in partnership with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, featuring conversation with Jacqueline Stewart, TCM Host and Academy Museum Chief Artistic and Programming Officer

May 9th
8:00pm  TCM  SO THIS IS PARIS (1926) – World premiere restoration featuring a new score by composer Ben Model. A married doctor falls for a dancer while his wife develops an attraction to the dancer’s husband.

9:30pm  TCM  THE GOODBYE GIRL (1977) –  Paula is a divorced mother and ex-Broadway dancer, who learns that her lover has left her only when aspiring actor Elliot arrives to sublet the apartment in the middle of the night. Their uneasy truce blossoms into love.
*** NEW! Conversation with Richard Dreyfuss

11:45pm  TCM  FAME (1980) –  Five outstandingly gifted students at New York’s High School of Performing Arts are followed as they prepare for careers in show business. A budding singer, two actors, a dancer and a musician polish their crafts as they struggle to excel academically in the demanding school.
*** NEW! Conversation with Debbie Allen

2:15am  TCM – BREATHLESS (1960) – A petty criminal, wanted for the murder of a police officer, returns to Paris where he meets an American girl who hawks newspapers. They become lovers, but eventually the police pressure her into betraying him and revealing his whereabouts.

HBO Max created a TCM hub where “starting at 8pm ET on Thursday, May 6 Festival programming will be presented in specially-crafted themes for you to explore featuring exclusive new interviews with actors and filmmakers, special presentations by notable film experts, rarely seen archival content and a wide selection of beloved classic movies curated by the experts at TCM.”

Click here to view the full TCM schedule and here to view the HBO Max offerings.