TCM celebrates History of the Oscars with 20th Installment of 31 Days Festival

On Sunday, February 1st Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will air John Sturges’ THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA at 6:00 am est.  The Oscar-winning adventure classic kicks off the 20th installment of the network’s most popular franchise, 31 Days of Oscar.

It’s no wonder the 31 Days of Oscar franchise, the network’s longest running event has become so popular.  TCM has for 19 years – since March 1995 – dedicated an entire month to Oscar winners and nominees allowing fans the opportunity to watch many films that have long been forgotten alongside popular favorites.  This year the planned schedule for the festival is particularly impressive.  Following the overall theme ‘History of the Oscars’ the month’s programming will be presented in two distinctly themed line-ups every day.  The daytime schedule for each of the 31 days will be presented in accordance with a specific genre – from adventure to biographies to film noir and every other genre possible that has been touched by Oscar, as Robert Osborne mentions in the February edition of the Now Playing Guide.  Then at primetime you can expect Best Picture winners and nominees (35 in all) that are scheduled in chronological order starting on February 1st with the first four Best Picture winners.  The 31 Days of Oscar festival ends on March 3 with the Best Picture of 2011, Michel Hazanavicius’ THE ARTIST.

I imagine that everyone who’s keeping tabs on the TCM Film Festival (TCMFF), which will run from March 26 to 29 gets an added kick out of the ‘History of the Oscars’ theme for the 31 Days as it mirrors the “History According to Hollywood” theme chosen for this year’s TCMFF.  Or maybe all they have in common is the word “history,” but it’s still exciting with both festivals encouraging film aficionados to look back and appreciate film as the premiere form of art and entertainment, which is what we appreciate most about TCM – the network’s knack for making history with history.

So, we have lots of classic greatness to look forward to in the coming months.  For details on the 31 Days of Oscar festival be sure to visit the complete TCM 31 Days schedule.  You’ll love the beautiful interface too.  And if you’re interested in the TCMFF you can take a look at details about that here.

Oh, and you may want to tune in to the 87th Academy Awards – or, rather The Oscars –  on February 22 at 7 pm est. on ABC.  I’m really looking forward to seeing Neil Patrick Harris as host!  I’ll be commenting on social media along with The Oscars and every other event listed in this post because – well…I don’t have a life and I happen to adore this stuff.

Finally – if you want to take a more active role as a fan in celebrating either the 31 Days of Oscar or The Oscars you might consider contributing to the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon.  The third annual TCM-inspired event begins this weekend and is hosted by Kellee Pratt at Outspoken & Freckled, Paula Guthat at Paula’s Cinema Club and yours truly on this blog.  We’ve an impressive list of participants already, some of the best film bloggers out there.  There’s still plenty of fun to join the fun.  You don’t have to be an author to take part in celebrating with the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon, you just have to love the movies.

I have to add another recommendation, which makes this one a PS, I guess.  Danny over at the wonderful Pre-Code.com blog just published a listing of all Pre-Code movies on TCM in February.  Be sure to take a look!

Aurora