Starting today on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is their annual 31 Days of Oscar.
In celebration of this yearly event here are some picks from the schedule (no not 31 picks - that's too many and this isn't a poll). I've avoided any and all Best Picture winners as they have their own aura of fame about them that renders a personal recommendation list, well, non-personal. Also I've avoided picks like Casablanca (also a Best Picture winner) and Citizen Kane, not because I don't love them, I do, but because if you're reading this you've seen them, probably multiple times. Of course since TCM is doing a month of nothing but movies nominated for or recipients of Oscars there's nothing in the schedule that would be unfamiliar to many readers either. Okay, enough. Here are my ten picks for the month from the TCM schedule.
*The Trip to Bountiful (1985) - Feb 2. It's been a long time since I've seen this so I look forward to watching it again. Geraldine Page gives a remarkable performance that deservedly won an Oscar.
*Atlantic City (1981) - Feb 2. Excellent study of desperate people connecting with each other then moving on with their lives. As directed by Louis Malle it is a beautiful piece of work.
*A Nous la Liberte (1931) - Feb 4. Released in 1931 and directed by the great Rene Clair this film is famous for two reasons (aside from it being excellent that is): One, it was the first non-English sound film to receive an Oscar nomination (for Best Art Direction) and Two, its production company, Tobis, sued United Artists and Charlie Chaplin after the release of Modern Times over plagiarism saying certain story elements (factory workers reduced to cogs in the machine, hitting the road at the end) had been lifted. The case dragged on past World War II and Chaplin finally settled but refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing. And right he was. If you're going to sue people for using "elements" of your story, every fourth film released would be sued by somebody somewhere.
*Libeled Lady (1936) - Feb 6. This is one of the best screwball comedies of the thirties and it's barely known to modern audiences. Even many cinephiles who love My Man Godfrey, The Thin Man and other William Powell comedy classics are unfamiliar with this one. It boasts Powell with regular co-star Myrna Loy as well as Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy. It's just great!
*The Best Man (1964) - Feb 11. Politicians vying for the Party's nomination battle each other at the convention. Cliff Robertson's men have a never publicized nervous breakdown on Henry 
Fonda to sling but then Fonda's man, played by Kevin McCarthy comes up with something big on Robertson. Really big. As in political D-Y-N-A-M-I-T-E! Who will blink first?
*Rasputin and the Empress (1932) - Feb 18. Why see this? Because it's got all three Barrymores together that's why: Ethel, Lionel and John.
*The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) - Feb 21. It's not the greatest film in the world and yes, it has some relatively vast breaks with reality (Faye Dunaway figures out Thomas Crown's masterly planned robbery in the beginning in about 17 seconds) but it has a great sixties look to it and a great sixties, streamlined feel. Steve McQueen and Dunaway look great together and there's that song, before Sting recorded it.
*Portrait of Jennie (1948) - Feb 26. Yes, it's a little sappy and schmaltzy but you know what else it is? Addictive! He's (Joseph Cotten) obsessed with a girl (Jennifer Jones)- or is it a ghost - and won't stop until he understands what happened to her leading to one of the most amazing dream sequences ever put on film (especially considering the time it was made - the storm special effects are incredible). Directed by William Dieterle (criminally underrated director of the 1941 masterpiece The Devil and Daniel Webster, which sadly is not on the schedule).
*Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) - Feb 28. Career performance by Kim Stanley in a 
great little film. Easily the best performance of 1964. The next best being Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove, . By the way, neither won. It was Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins and Rex Harrison for My Fair Lady. I'm just saying.
*The Day of the Jackal (1973) - Feb 29. Love this movie! Love it! Edward Fox is excellent as The Jackal and Michael Lonsdale as his pursuer Lebel excels as well.
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P.S. A special mention for The Naked Prey, which I will not have a chance to see and which airs today. It has just recently been digitally restored and released on DVD. Since I've never seen it in it's proper form (only on commercial television sad to say) I'd love to see it today but my schedule does not allow and I have no means of recording it (also sad to say). But if you'd like a recommendation from someone who has seen it recently go here now.
