TCMFF 2025: This Cary Grant or that Cary Grant?

This year’s Turner Classic Movies Film Festival (TCMFF) will kick off in less than two weeks and thousands will hit the ground running, hoping to make it to their favorite screening. Sometimes, however, that is an illusion in the land of illusions. You will know what I mean when you look at my schedule.

Scheduled from April 24 to 27, this year’s festival theme is Grand Illusions: Fantastic Worlds on Film, and there is plenty to make imaginations soar. In a year when I seriously considered skipping the festival, I am now particularly excited about the offerings. This will be a rekindling of my romance with movies in a sense, after several difficult months navigating a new, big position at work and nerves caused by news everywhere. I have not been able to gather wherewithal to post anything on this blog, but that changes today with this, my preamble to TCMFF 16.

Before I get to my planned schedule, choices that cause the usual agita, know that there will be a lot worthy of attention in Hollywood in late April. There are so many exciting things planned, in fact, that I will simply ask that you go to the source, TCM’s festival pages where updates have been frequent, fast, and furious.

A few of the highlights are Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and director George Lukas opening the festival, a salute to the BFI scattered throughout the weekend, and rare VistaVision screenings. Director Rob Reiner and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin will introduce the 30^th anniversary of The American President, which I love and blogged about here. Kathy Bates joins Reiner to introduce Misery (1990) and her spectacularly creepy, Oscar-winning performance in that movie. I’m your number one fan indeed. Who else am I a fan of? The fabulous effects duo of Ben Burtt and Craig Baron with a special presentation of Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970). If you have yet to attend a screening introduced by these two experts in behind-the-screen treasures, then you simply must put this on your schedule.

Living Legend Rita Moreno will introduce The Ritz (1976), which will be spectacularly popular. Michele Pfeifer will be there for her hand- and footprint ceremony at the Chinese Theatre. I wish she were introducing Tequila Sunrise, but you can’t have everything. Plus, The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), directed by Steve Kloves and co-starring the Bridges brothers, is a terrific choice.

Also on hand will be George Stevens, Jr., who will follow his recent Presidential Medal of Freedom with the Robert Osborne Award at this year’s festival. The award presentation will be preceded with a world premiere 40^th anniversary restoration of George Stevens: A Filmmakers Journey, which honors George Stevens Sr’s legendary career, one of my favorite directors.

Finally (for now), the official closing night movie at the legendary Chinese Theatre will be a 30^th anniversary screening of Michael Mann’s Heat with the director in attendance. That will be difficult to pass up. We shall see how the weekend looks for me live and in person because this year’s schedule poses many conflicts that may have to be decided on the run. With that in mind, here are my choices today…

Thursday, April 24

It is a rarity and a pre-code, and it will be a sell-out, which is why Karl Freund’s Moonlight and Pretzels (1933) will likely be repeated in one of the TBA slots on Sunday. Me? I will start TCMFF 16 at the Egyptian Theatre with a glass of milk in hand for the first of four collaborations between Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant, Suspicion (1941). Add an Oscar-winning performance by Joan Fontaine and a Franx Waxman score and I will be in heaven in my favorite venue.

My next choice should be David Lean’s Blithe Spirit (1945, which I have never seen. However, I do not think Suspicion will leave me sufficient time to make it to Blithe Spirit and since Ishiro Honda’s mythical Mothra (1961) on a big screen will be difficult to ignore, I will be with the moth.

Friday, April 25

‘C’mon, put ‘em around me’ – I’m starting my Friday with one of my favorite pre-codes, Robert Z. Leonard’ delicious The Divorcee(1930). Norma Shearer won an Academy Award for her starring role in this supremely entertaining picture.

And that is the only movie I am completely sure of on Friday. The rest of the day is a cornucopia of difficult choices to include my passing up a Cary Grant offering. Heaven help me.

I am thinking of the following:

• The History of VistaVision presentation in Club TCM. Presented by Charlotte Barker, director of film restoration and preservation at Paramount Pictures, and Craig Barron, Academy-Award winning visual effects supervisor and historian, this sounds fascinating.
• Next, the world premiere restoration of John Cromwell’s The Enchanted Cottage (1945) with the director’s son, the great James Cromwell introducing the picture. I am a huge fan of Mr. Cromwell’s work, and this would give me a fantastic opportunity to see him in person. I am pretty set with this one, but it means I miss the essential Bringing Up Baby (1938).
• Next, I am leaning toward Rouben Mamoulian’s The Mark of Zorro (1940) for several reasons not the least of which are Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, sword fights, and the fact that this choice would put me in a perfect position for Now, Voyager (1942) introduced by Mario Cantone and his Bette Davis impersonations. This time slot is loaded with goodies though.

The downfalls to attending The Mark of Zorro screening are numerous. For one, it is playing opposite one of my favorite movies, Preston Sturges’s The Lady Eve (1941), but I have already seen that on a big screen. Then there’s Misery with Reiner and Bates, The George Stevens documentary, and Me and My Gal, a Raoul Walsh pre-code I have never seen introduced by the supremely entertaining Bruce Goldstein. That one may win if I can deal with the infamous House 4.

• I may even attend the midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with Barry Bostwick in attendance to end Friday.

Saturday, April 26

My Saturday will begin with a nitrate print of Otto Preminger’s Daisy Kenyon (1947). Starring Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, and Henry Fonda, author/historian Donald Bogle and director Bill Morrison will introduce this. It is too bad I will miss Fred and Ginger in Carefree screening at the same time, but I am hoping it will take a TBA slot on Sunday.

Once again, the day gets difficult for me after the first movie. One combination would be Mildred Pierce following Kenyon at the Egyptian (but I saw that at a previous festival introduced by Ann Blythe) followed by the new-to-me Gunman’s Walk (1958), then Jaws (1975), and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). I am leaning toward The Freshman (1925), however, to follow Pierce, with accompaniment by the great Ben Model, and Gunfight. I love Jaws and Lorraine Gary will introduce it, but my thought is that since it is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year, I am more likely to get another opportunity to see it on a big screen than I will The Freshman.

The most maddening part of the Saturday schedule is W. S. Van Dyke’s I love You Again (1940) playing poolside at the Roosevelt taking up two time slots, which is cruel and unusual punishment.

Sunday, April 27

My final Sunday schedule will be determined once the TBA slots are filled, but I am starting the day with Oklahoma! (1955) and a Shaun Cassidy discussion. After that I encounter a complication. Jennifer Grant is introducing her father and Grace Kelly in Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief (1955) at the Chinese, but if I go to that one, I am likely to not get into The Talk of the Town (1942) with a George Stevens, Jr. introduction. This is the biggest issue for me all weekend. This Cary Grant or that Cary Grant? I had the illusion of seeing many Cary Grants throughout the weekend. That is not nice, TCM.

And, if I go to The Talk of the Town, I will miss seeing Rita Moreno introducing The Ritz (1976) and if I see Rita Moreno I will miss Fantastic Voyage (1966) on a big screen. And any of those will affect which movie I end the festival with. Do you understand the dilemma?

I have a lot to think about as I navigate this festival. To see where I end up, which Cary Grant I end up with, and for live TCMFF updates from Hollywood follow me on social media. I will once again be covering the festival as media. Stay tuned.

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I hope to see you in Hollywood!