The Silver Screen Oasis

TCM has posted a partial schedule for April, 2024.
In honor of his 100th birthday on April 3rd,
Marlon Brando is Star of the Month, his first time.

Additional details are available at my schedule information page:

http://escapepress.com/tcmsched/tcm_overview.html

I'm not a big Marlon Brando fan, but it's cool that he's being honored for the first time. It's amazing he's never been picked before now.

I'm excited about Ann Dvorak day on 4/2. I want to see more of her films. I've only seen a handful. I also like how TCM is honoring Gregory Peck, Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis on their shared April 5 birthday.

Ugh they're repeating that dull "Power of Film" documentary on 4/10. At least it's during the day. 4/14 is exciting with a repeat of Robert Osborne's 20th Anniversary tribute to TCM.

Readers of my schedule summary may notice that on Thursdays in April there is a “Special Theme” that includes a variety of films, but has otherwise not been specified. Since April is also the 30th Anniversary of TCM, I am hoping that this Special Theme might include a tribute to the earlier days of TCM, and perhaps show some of Robert Osborne’s introductions, for example. But this might be wishful thinking on my part. Hopefully TCM will announce something in the next few weeks.

cmovieviewer wrote: ↑February 18th, 2024, 8:47 pm Readers of my schedule summary may notice that on Thursdays in April there is a “Special Theme” that includes a variety of films, but has otherwise not been specified. Since April is also the 30th Anniversary of TCM, I am hoping that this Special Theme might include a tribute to the earlier days of TCM, and perhaps show some of Robert Osborne’s introductions, for example. But this might be wishful thinking on my part. Hopefully TCM will announce something in the next few weeks.

I would love to see Robert Osborne's 1994 intros to different films. That would be fantastic. I would DVR movies I already own just to see his intro. I was 10 in 1994 and while I had seen some classic films, I only really watched things on TCM when they were showing films with my favorite stars, e.g., Lucille Ball. My movie knowledge was very limited. My parents subscribed to an expanded cable package during that time and TCM was included. I had access to their programming for a few years. I remember their very primitive website and when they used different retro looking icons for each genre on the schedule. I loved their old graphic design. However, at some point in the late 90s, TCM moved to a higher tier cable package to which my parents didn't want to subscribe. I didn't regain access to TCM again until 2007 when I rented my first apartment. This is all to say that seeing glimpses of the earlier days of TCM would be fantastic and bring back a lot of nostalgia. I wish that TCM would occasionally use one of Robert Osborne's old intros, but maybe that'd be too disconcerting for today's viewers. I don't know. Occasionally a Robert Osborne introduction pops up as a special feature on one of my DVDs.

I remember during the early days of TCM, I would occasionally flip to AMC when they still showed classic films, with host Bob Dorian. Tangentially related, I also loved watching episodes of A&E's "Biography" with host Peter Graves. I learned a lot about all my favorite classic Hollywood and television stars.

It's interesting that they're having back-to-back tributes to Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon on April 11, but they're not showing Rosemary's Baby, as far as I can tell.

Oh wow!

On April 5, the TCM premiere of Francis Ford Coppola's RUMBLE FISH is scheduled!

I first saw this movie in the 2000s, and it made a huge impression on the teenaged me.
Stephen H. Burum's beautiful black-and-white cinematography (with only the titular fish in color) blew me away.
With a style that drew inspiration from the German expressionism of F. W. Murnau and Robert Wiene and the creative use of light and shadow in the work of Orson Welles, RUMBLE FISH is the rare mainstream American studio release that weaves surrealistic elements into a traditional realistic story -- a teen movie no less!

I'm hoping the experience of re-watching of this movie lives up to the memory of my first impression.

And it turns out TCM is also having the premiere of Last Tango in Paris.

skimpole wrote: ↑March 22nd, 2024, 2:22 pm And it turns out TCM is also having the premiere of Last Tango in Paris.

Watching that one once was enough. Maria Schneider is very good in it (even if the constant nudity is degrating to her), but Brando's character is a true boor.

The Godfather is on the schedule for April 10! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

CinemaInternational wrote: ↑March 30th, 2024, 3:36 pm The Godfather is on the schedule for April 10! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

So does that mean that The Godfather will be followed by The Freshman, where Marlon Brando plays a comic version of his character from The Godfather?

BagelOnAPlate wrote: ↑March 30th, 2024, 4:29 pm

CinemaInternational wrote: ↑March 30th, 2024, 3:36 pm The Godfather is on the schedule for April 10! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

So does that mean that The Godfather will be followed by The Freshman, where Marlon Brando plays a comic version of his character from The Godfather?

Yes, indeed!

THE FRESHMAN is very funny (Andrew Bergman).

Do not miss Paul Benedict as a very pretentiously enthusiastic NYU film professor who runs scenes from THE GODFATHER for his students. Hilarious.

And Maximillan Schell pops ups, quite amusingly. "They said one boy and here are two...."

Two weeks from now they're also showing The Men, Brando's film debut, a movie they took some to confirm on the schedule, and one that TCM doesn't show that often.

CinemaInternational wrote: ↑March 22nd, 2024, 2:57 pm

skimpole wrote: ↑March 22nd, 2024, 2:22 pm And it turns out TCM is also having the premiere of Last Tango in Paris.

Watching that one once was enough. Maria Schneider is very good in it (even if the constant nudity is degrating to her), but Brando's character is a true boor.

I wouldn't disagree with your assessment of the Brando 'character' but having viewed it multiple times and seeing it within the context of his wife's infidelity and recent mysterious suicide it does provide another dimension to how he chooses to behave and then when he discovers that it was wrong it is too late.

skimpole wrote: ↑April 10th, 2024, 2:24 am Two weeks from now they're also showing The Men, Brando's film debut, a movie they took some to confirm on the schedule, and one that TCM doesn't show that often.

The Men is an interesting film. It's an excellent debut for Brando who plays a GI who is shot and paralyzed during the war. The film depicts his efforts to acclimate to his new life. Teresa Wright plays his fiancee.