Hello my friends. For those of you who don't know, last weekend is one of the highlights of a film buff's year, the TCM Classic Film Festival. It was four days of classic films and movie related delights presented at historic Hollywood sights (including Grauman's Chinese Theater, The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (where the first Academy Awards were held)). There were major special guests (including film historians and big time Hollywood stars and filmmakers), the most enthusiastic audiences you have ever seen and of course lots of classic movies. Also for classic film fans it is one of the few times that we can be surrounded by people who are just as passionate about them as we are.
There were so many highlights for me this year. One of the biggest was the wonderful 100th anniversary screening of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) with Lon Chaney. I have seen this film before in only cheap public domain prints and liked it well enough. However seeing a great print of this film and seeing it in a movie theater, made me realize just what a great movie it is. I found myself emotionally moved by the film in a way I never had been before. Another great silent film experience was seeing the delightful silent movie, Clash of the Wolves (1925) with canine star Rin Tin Tin. It may seem strange to some (who haven't seen his films) that Rin Tin Tin was one of the biggest box office draws of his day and pretty much saved Warner Brothers from bankruptcy before The Jazz Singer (1927) and Al Jolson. However when you watch one of his movies, you fully understand. That are such fun movies and a pure delight to watch. Listening to the audience reaction to this film shows how these movies are still sure-fire audience pleasers. Adding to the fun was the wonderful silent film historian and composer Ben Model, accompanying the film live with a truly terrific score. Speaking about audience pleasers, there were no better audience pleasers than Harvey (1950) (which was introduced by the wonderful movie director Joe Dante) and a selection of Laurel and Hardy shorts. Speaking about shorts it was also a delight to watch a panel hosted by Jerry Beck and Randy Haberkamp about Looney Tunes shorts and the Oscars (which included some full cartoons). One of the most delightful surprises was a delightful film Warner Brothers made in Britian, Mr. Cohen Takes a Walk (1935). I had never even heard of this movie before, but I was soon completely won over by its charms. If you ever get a chance to watch this film, I highly recommend it. Leonard Maltin introduced the movie and said that he personally picked it for the festival and I am very grateful to him for picking it. To turn the attention to special guests, I got to see some great ones there. Dave Krager interviewed Richard Dreyfus and Candy Clark before American Graffiti (1973) and Ann Margert before Bye Bye Birdie (1963) and it was wonderful to watch those movies knowing the stars were in the same theater. Brain Henson (son of Muppet creator Jim Henson and the director of The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) and Muppet Treasure Island (1996)) introduced a screening of Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) (which was another audience pleaser). As an Alfred Hitchcock fan I was delighted to see two wonderful Alfred Hitchcock movies on the big screen, Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).
This was simply a wonderful four days and I wish it never had to end. If any of you are debating about going next year, do so.
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