Backlots at the TCM Classic Film Festival 2017

For the 5th year in a row, Backlots will be joining the ranks of the media in early April,  covering the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood. In the years since its inception in 2010, the TCM Classic Film Festival has easily become the most prominent classic film festival in the country, attracting world-class speakers and attended by fans from all over the world.

The festival always has an overarching theme, and this year TCM is saluting comedy in the movies with a theme they call “Make ‘Em Laugh.”

The schedule is still in the works, but the lineup announced so far is phenomenal, even by TCM’s standards. Some of the highlights for me thus far:

• The Palm Beach Story

Starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, and a marvelously funny Mary Astor, The Palm Beach Story is a staple of the screwball comedy genre about a woman who divorces her husband to finance his career with the money of a millionaire she starts to date. This is a movie that we’ve been hoping to have at the festival for some time, as it’s a real crowd-pleaser and very much in the vein of The More the Merrier, which was such a big hit last year.

• Red-Headed Woman

In this steamy pre-code, Jean Harlow uses her feminine power to climb the ladder of success, wrecking marriages, engaging in affairs, and attempting murder along the way. With a screenplay written by Anita Loos, Red-Headed Woman is a must-see in Jean Harlow’s filmography, and a delicious example of what we think of when we think of that raw and glorious era between 1929 and 1934.

Having attended the TCM Classic Film Festival 6 times (5 as press with Backlots), I have come to recognize general trends among festivalgoers, and which movies will be sellouts. TCM has an intricate ticketing system–about an hour before the movie starts, the staff starts passing out numbers to passholders in line, starting with the Spotlight and Essential passes and then moving to the Classic and Media. Once the numbers get past the number of seats in the theater, the movie has sold out. Thus, if you hold a Classic or Media pass, it is important to get in line as early as possible, in order to avoid being shut out of a movie. The festival leaves TBA slots open on the last day of the festival to re-screen select movies that sold out, but it is left to their discretion which ones are re-screened.

Red-Headed Woman is a sellout if I’ve ever seen one. Pre-codes are immensely popular at the TCM Festival, as is Jean Harlow, as are movies from any year of the 1930s. Last year, Double Harness sold out, was re-screened, and sold out again. I would expect this event to repeat with Red-Headed Woman. If you’re attending the festival and would like to see Red-Headed Woman, I would advise you to get in line about 2 hours ahead of time. It will fill up so quickly your head will spin.

• Twentieth Century

Considered to be one of the first screwball comedies, Twentieth Century features Carole Lombard and John Barrymore in a zany piece filled with hilarious Carole Lombard lines and over-the-top acting by Barrymore that leaves the viewer in stitches. It’s one that I’m surprised hasn’t been shown up to now, it’s such a marvelous fit for TCM. Watch for this one being sold out too–Carole Lombard always sells well at this festival.

• Born Yesterday

The winner of the Best Actress Oscar of 1950 (it came as a thrilling surprise–Judy Holliday was up against Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard and Bette Davis for All About Eve), Born Yesterday is an exploration of how a newly-educated woman equips herself to leave her abusive boyfriend. While on the surface it may look like a standard 1950s comedy, the movie is really an ode to the powers of education, and to a woman’s right to her own happiness. It seems especially significant in this day and age, when both education and women’s rights are under threat. I wrote a blog post about Born Yesterday some time ago, feel free to take a look.

Stay tuned to hear more festival news as it comes in. Looking forward to reporting to you from Hollywood!