ON TCM JANUARY 2019
This month, Kathryn Grayson is the star of the month. From the first time I saw her, in Kiss Me Kate on TV, I was hooked. A beautiful lady with the pipes of a nightingale, Grayson was a much better actress than she was given credit for. So leave yourself some time on Tuesdays this month to check out this great actress with a great voice.
1/1 TWENTIETH CENTURY This is a madcap comedy starring John Barrymore in his best movie performance and Carole Lombard in the role that made her a star.
1/2 VIVA ZAPATA! Elia Kazan directs Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn in a John Steinbeck script about the rise and fall of Mexico's greatest revolutionary.
1/3 SPARTACUS This is the best epic ever filmed. Stanley Kubrick was brought in to direct when producer/star Kirk Douglas fired Anthony Mann. Every performance in this all-star cast is one of, if not the best, of their careers. The Dalton Trumbo script is the best he wrote and the score by Alfred North is a classic.
1/4 CYRANO DE BERGERAC Jose Ferrer in a virtuoso performance as the greatest swordsman in France. This translation of the original French script is also the best.
1/5 BLUE GARDENIA Fritz Lang directs Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern, Raymond Burr, Jeff Donnell, George Reeves and Nat King Cole (he's the cafe singer who croons the title song) in this classic film noir.
1/6 THE LETTER Bette Davis emerges from a dark shadow to shoot a man, several times, as the movie begins. Was she defending herself after being attacked by him? Or was he being murdered in cold blood?
1/7 THE CLOCK Vincente Minnelli directs his then-wife Judy Garland in her best non-singing role as a young woman who falls in love with soldier Robert Walker.
1/8 THE NAKED SPUR In the 1950s, Jimmy Stewart made a serious of adult westerns and this is the best of them.
1/9 MAN ON A TIGHTROPE One of Fredric March's best performances as the head of a small circus trying to get his people threw the Iron Curtain.
1/10 THE CONSPIRATORS Hedy Lamarr heads an all-star cast of character actors in this take-off on Casablanca.
1/11 FIVE CAME BACK Did you like the TV series, Lost? Then this is for you.
1/12 A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS Fred Zinnemann directs Oscar-winner Paul Schofield in the best movie about henry VIII and his times.
1/13 A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN Over 25 years old and still as fresh as the day it was released - but remember, there's no crying in baseball! And Madonna is very good too.
1/14 THE PUBLIC ENEMY James Cagney becomes Jame Cagney in this early crime flick.
1/15 ANCHORS AWAY Kelly, Sinatra, Grayson - they sing, they dance, they make moview history.
1/16 MONKEY BUSINESS There is no reason to watch this movie except for the fact that it is very funny with Cary Grant playing the nerdy scientist who discovers Marilyn Monroe.
1/17 THE HAPPY THIEVES A good caper flick with Rex Harrison and Rita Hayworth.
1/18 KING RAT Prisoner of war camp movie that made s star of George Segal.
1/19 THE BIG CHILL Almost every major actor of a generation gets his/her start in the movie about growing up, finally.
1/20 MURDER MY SWEET Dick Powell grows up and becomes a film noir star.
1/21 A SOLDIER'S STORY African-American soldiers have their lives turned upside down in the tale of murder.
1/22 THE TOAST OF NEW ORLEANS Grayson and Lanza sing.
1/23 BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE Not a great movie but just fun to watch Jimmy Stewart, Kim Novak and Jack Lemmon.
1/24 KISMET Minnelli directs this light-weight but fun film.
1/25 THE FOUNTAINHEAD Gary Cooper as an Ayn Rand hero swimming against the tide and picking up a besotted Patricia Neal.
1/26 HIGH SOCIETY Musical remake of The Philadelphia Story with songs by Cole Porter sung by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Celeste Holm and Satchmo!
1/27 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY A non-singing Julie Andrews falls in love with a cowardly James Garner.
1/28 BULLIT Tough crime drama with Steve McQueen in the best car chase ever filmed - until The French Connection.
1/29 KISS ME KATE Cole Porter takes on Shakespeare and comes up a winner.
1/30 WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE See why Bette Davis is Bette Davis - an unswerving commitment to a character no matter where it takes her.
1/31 THE PLAYER Robert Altman looks at Hollywood - it ain't pretty but it's a lot of fun.