Today, after what feels like an eternity (even though it’s only been 2.5 weeks since the last announcement), TCM finally dropped some more titles of films that will be appearing at this year’s festival! This was a particularly exciting announcement to me. Out of the seven titles dropped, I’ve only seen one of them. We’re now up to 25 titles announced. This is just a mere drop in the bucket in terms of what to expect at this year’s festival. Last year, close to 80 films were screened!
Without further ado, here are the titles that were announced today:
Ben-Hur (1959)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Diamond Jim (1935)
A Guy Named Joe (1943)
Hud (1963)
Rhapsody in Blue (1945)
Servants’ Entrance (1934)
I am particularly excited about Diamond Jim, a film I’d never heard of until today’s announcement. It was penned by a writer/director of mine, Preston Sturges, and stars one of my favorite performers, Jean Arthur. Out of the seven films announced, I’ve only seen Bringing Up Baby. Both Ben-Hur and Rhapsody in Blue will feature world premiere restorations. Servants’ Entrance is a musical pre-code. Hud is the classic Paul Newman/Patricia Neal film for which Neal won the Best Actress Oscar. I’ve heard of A Guy Named Joe, but hadn’t seen it. I believe that this is the film that Van Johnson was making when he sustained horrific injuries in a car accident–culminating with him having to have a metal plate inserted into his head. Remarkably, despite having to have his skull rebuilt and receiving brain surgery, Johnson only needed four months to recover.
I look forward to future announcements as well as the final schedule when it is published about 3-4 weeks out from the festival.