In 1937, Katharine Hepburn was struggling. Or rather, the idea of “Katharine Hepburn” was struggling. Though she’d already claimed her first Oscar win in 1933 for Morning Glory, and contributed to the enormous success of George Cukor’s Little Women, a string of financial flops in the late ’30s meant she was proving Marie Dressler’s old adage true: “You’re only as …
This post summarizes the events of my first full day at the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival on Thursday, April 10. Check out my introductory post about the festival here.
Ok, so I’m already contradicting myself with the title of this post, but for me, the festival actually began a day before “Day 1,” on Wednesday, when I attended two of the pre-opening night parties. Although not an official part of the Fest, these were an important part of the process for me, as many of the blogs that I’ve come to known and love don’t use a personal photo for their Twitter feeds or bios, so often times I have no idea who this person is whom I’ve been interacting with for so long—I know they’re funny and quick and love Robert Taylor, but none of the biographical details people usually lead with in real life. So, meeting people in person, and getting to connect face to name to blog was a real thrill, and everyone I met was completely kind and charming, even though at times I felt a bit like the new kid in class.
After last month’s “break” from rarities, with a focus on Oscar’s best, brightest, and, logically, most easily available, TCM’s interestingly obscure programming returns in March with a whole slew of rare musicals. This includes several of my remaining That’s Entertainment entries, so I’m very excited to check a few more off of my list thanks to my DVR. There are also a few easily acquired That’s Entertainment titles (Anchors Aweigh, Gigi, and so on) airing this month, if you’ve missed any of those and need to catch up.
Bachelor Mother is another one of those great time-capsule movies that communicates much more to a modern viewer than just its plot. It’s a light, charming comedy from 1939, starring Ginger Rogers, and pretty much right from the start, the concept of the situation completely and utterly reflects its era. Rogers plays a shopgirl at Merlin’s department store …
In case it’s not obvious, I’m sort of cheating on my That’s Entertainment watchlist, because I’m starting with all the movies that have multiple entries first, so it’s more satisfying to check off. This will catch up to me later, but for now it works.
The Barkleys on Broadway was kind of a delightful surprise, as I’d mistakenly assumed it was related to Babes on Broadway (because… words, I guess), so I was expecting a pleasant, frothy comedy with a few dances in it. But I was wrong! It’s actually a heady, emotional dramatic piece with some great character moments. Not that there’s anything wrong with either of these options–it was just a pleasant surprise.