Wow, I'm really running late this year. Normally, I have this up within a few days of the schedule being released. Last week, the schedule has dropped for the TCM Classic Film Festival (TCMFF) April 24–27, 2025. As usual, I'll be doing my picks in NCAA tournament format brackets. I'm only list films (not Club TCM programs etc.). I do sometimes switch gears and pick up Club TCM program or at least bits and pieces of one. Without any further adieu, let's look at the matchups.
Thursday
Early Evening
My first choice would be Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, but that is not included on my Media pass, so I'm faced with the other options. To be honest, none the films in the first group really impressed me a lot. I will probably go with Suspicion. It is a Hitchcock movie but it's fairly low down on my list of great Hitchcock movies. I watch it when it comes on, but mostly for the sake of seeing the lesbian dinner guest. I could just as easily go with Moonlight and Pretzels, but with it being in the dreaded House 4, I think Suspicion is a much safer bet.
Late Evening
The second matchup gets tough. I do like Blithe Spirit, but I love Mothra, so it takes it in the first round. I'm not a huge fan of Hud, but I really love Pat and Mike. Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn are amazing together, and this is one of their best. Plus, I saw Mothra in the theater a few years ago. I don't think I can pass up seeing Katherine Hepburn kick Charles Bronson's ass, so I'm going to go with Pat and Mike.
Friday
Morning
In the top bracket, I'm going to drop Mrs. Miniver right away, never really did much of anything for me. That leaves a very tough choice of Thunderball, probably my all-time favorite Bond movie, and The Incredible Shrinking Man, a really great 1950s sci-fi movie. Well, I saw The Incredible Shrinking Man in the theater several years ago, so I'm going with Thunderball. In the lower bracket, while it would be cool to see Cinderella and Mario Cantone and the inside of the El Capitan Theatre, Cinderella is one of only Disney animated features that I don't have strong feelings for. I'm going to go with The Divorcee. Timewise, The Divorcee works out a lot better, but I still can't miss Sean Connery in his bright orange wetsuit. Thunderball takes it.
Mid-Day
I've only seen Heaven Knows Mr. Allison once and it was really good, but Babe has a soft spot for me. There was a point where my son when he was about 4 used to watch Babe every single day, in fact, multiple times every day, and I never got sick of it. I got to go with Babe. Next up we have Servants' Entrance and The Time Machine. My first choice would be The Time Machine, but with it being in Theater 4, I think I'm going to save myself the aggrivation. Looking at Servants' Entrance, I'd never even heard of the film. Reading the description, it seems very cool, and it does give me a bigger window of time to get some food, so Servants' Entrance it is.
Afternoon
This block is one of those blocks we're not super psyched on anything. Yes, I do like Superman, but I'm more of a Batman guy to be honest. Bringing Up Baby I will watch but it's mostly for Cary Grant slipping in that gay line. Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby is kind of a sociopath, and it just doesn't work for me. If I have to choose, and I do, I would go with Bringing Up Baby. I've always thought it was somewhat overrated, maybe seeing it in the theater would change that for me. Then again, this might be a really good time to get food, real food, hot food comes on a plate, and you have time to sit down and eat it. If anyone else is feeling the same way, let me know. Maybe, we can go grab a meal.
Early Evening
This block really isn't much of a battle. The Lady Eve is a huge favorite of mine. I'm going with with it all the way.
Late Evening
I feel the same way about Now Voyager as I do about The Lady Eve. There's no way I can miss it. I do really like Clueless. It's a great great movie. If something weird happens like I get locked out of Now Voyager I will probably be hoofing it over to the Roosevelt pool for whatever's left of Clueless, but there's nothing quite like Now Voyager.
Midnight
On to midnight, I really want to love The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I don't. I've only seen it once. Now, I know the point of Rocky is the audience dressing up and yelling things at the screen but the time I saw it, I wasn't all that impressed. The people yelling we're not yelling in unison so you couldn't really hear what they were saying, and you couldn't hear the movie either, It just didn't work for me. I think with the right cast, and by cast I mean, the right audience interacting with the movie, I'm sure I'd love it. I just don't know whether this is the right cast. I figure you're going to have a bunch of people who haven't seen it in a whole lot of years, and they're all coming from different parts of the country. I know that the regional variances to what people say at the screenings, and I just think I'm going to have the same problem I had with it before. I think I'm going to save The Rocky Horror Picture Show for a midnight screening where I know the people really have it dialed in and then watch it there. I really do want to love it. I just question whether this is the screening that will do it for me. Besides, midnight movies are really a killer at TCMFF I think my time would be better spent having a drink or two.
Saturday
Morning
I would absolutely love to see Ben-Hur, but I don't think I can take up two blocks to do so. Normally, my first choice here in the top bracket would be Earth vs. the Flying Saucers but reading the description of Daisy Kenyon gave me second thoughts. The main reason for this is not the movie itself, and not even that it's being shown in nitrate. The first film I saw in nitrate was Laura at TCMFF many years ago, and I was one of the people that walked out of the theater thinking nitrate schmitrate, but if you read the description for the event, they will also be showing a 7-minute short film by Bill Morrison called "Ghost of the Past." In 2019 I think, I saw a short Bill Morrison film called "Light is Calling" from 2004. It's a nitrate film where the disintegration of the film is so overwhelming that you would think it's unwatchable, but in the middle of the screen the images emerge and at times become crystal clear and then distort in amazing ways, and set to music. It was absolutely mesmerizing and beautiful. I assume that "Ghost of the Past" is something similar. If you are on the fence about Daisy Kenyon, go to YouTube and find "Light is Calling," and see if that pushes you one way or another. That said, it's up against Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Does anybody know where I can find some coconut shells?
Mid-Day
I think I have seen Colossus: The Forbin Process, and normally there would be no contest between it and Mildred Pierce but Colossus is a special presentation of Ben Burtt and Craig Barron. Their presentations are always amazing and not to be missed. Throw in the star of the movie, Eric Braeden, and the choice here is very easy.
Afternoon
Most of the time, I think To Be or Not to Be would win out over Back to the Future. But To Be or Not to Be is being shown in Theater 4, so I think I'm going to save myself the nightmare and go with Back to the Future. Though it is possible I could blow off everything this block, and get some food again. And no, it doesn't have to be pizza.
Early Evening
This is probably my toughest choice the entire festival. I really love The Birdcage. It's one of those movies that I probably seen about 20 or 30 times. Whenever it comes on, I always end up watching it, and sometimes I'll throw in the DVD even though I've seen it recently just because I feel like it. Sadly, it is up against Jaws. I love Jaws. Someone pointed that Jaws is not all that hard to see in the theater, and that is true. There is a theater here in San Diego that shows Jaws pretty much every 4th of July weekend. So yes I could see it on this big screen otherwise. But we're not talking about just Jaws, we're talking about Jaws a new restoration at the Egyptian with what I assume will be a full house. Besides, I already made buttons for Jaws, so it's got to happen.
Late Evening
While Animal Crackers is very tempting, I Love You Again is so good, but by the time Jaws gets out, I think I would have missed too much of it, a damn shame, but this often happens with the poolside screenings. They often don't align well with the other films, so if you see the entire thing from start to finish you end up taking up two blocks most of the time. In the bottom bracket it all comes down to Blade Runner and The Wiz. I'd like to say that the spunky contender The Wiz is able to take out the heavyweight champion of Blade Runner but I really don't see that happening, especially since Blade Runner is in the Egyptian, and The
Wiz is at the multiplex.
Midnight
I remember seeing Wild at Heart when it first came out, on VHS probaby. Sadly I don't remember very much about it, so I think I'm going to give the midnight movie a pass again.
Sunday
Morning
I am not a fan of All This and Heaven Too or 2001: A Space Odyssey, yes I know for the latter, that is almost sacrilege, but I really think there's only about 20 minutes worth of story in 2001 and it's a 2 hour 40 minute movie. That just doesn't sit right with me. It doesn't make up for the brilliant visuals, and that last psychedelic bit goes on the way way way too long. This leaves it between Oklahoma! and Spirited Away. I do love both films, I'm leaning toward Spirited Away right now mostly because the timing is better. But I might call an audible and switch to Oklahoma!
Mid-Day
I am not a fan of Splendor in the Grass, so Diamond Jim advances. I do like Apocalypse Now, probably better than To Catch a Thief, but Apocalype Now is a long movie, and it starts late, messing up everything in the next block. To Catch a Thief like Suspicion is fairly far down on my list of Hitchcock movies, but it does get the nod. To be honest in this block, the right TBA could be perfect.
Afternoon
Normally, I would say that Sunset Boulevard up against The Talk of the Town is a really tough choice. But considering that I saw Sunset Boulevard at TCMFF however many years ago with star Nancy Olson introducing, I'm going to go with The Talk of the Town. This is not the type of film you get to see in the theater very often or ever. Again, I might be lured away by the right TBA film.
Early Evening
This is another tough call. Heat with Michael Mann introducing, would be great but it starts late and wipes out the next block. Also it gets out late which means I would miss more of the closing night party, a favorite event of the whole Festival. I think I'm going to go with Fantastic Voyage, provided there isn't a TBA monkey wrench thrown into the mix.
Late Evening
That's it. Those are my picks for this year's TCM Film Festival. I hope you enjoyed it. See you all in a couple of weeks.
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