October Spotlight: Female directors

It looks as though TCM may be getting away from the standard "Friday Night Spotlight", instead having a spotlight each month, but not necessarily having it on Fridays. September's spotlight was on Tuesdays, in part because the theme was about five directors who served in World War II and there weren't five Fridays in September.

October, however, has a bigger spotlight. The theme is women directors, and the spotlight is big enough that it's going to be on two nights each week in October, all five Thursdays and then the four Tuesdays. As I understand it, there's also going to be a second installment next year.

This first night of the spotlight looks at some of the early female directors, of whom the best known would probably be Alice Guy-Blaché. The short Falling Leaves, which I mentioned in that post from two years ago, is on the night's schedule, airing sometime betewen 8:00 PM and 9:30. This portion of the lineup is another one where TCM has schedule a block of shorts, which means the schedule isn't always clear. The TCM monthly schedule implies it'll be the last film of the block; my box guide suggests it'll be in the middle. Record the whole block.

Perhaps more interesting personally for me will be The Love Light at midnight. This one was directed by Frances Marion. Marion is probably much better known as a screenwriter, coming up with some great screenplays at the end of the silent era and the beginning of the sound era. That movie will be followed at 1:45 AM by a documentary on Marion.