There's a whole bunch of special programming on TCM this month

In the past, it's always seemed as though there's a Star of the Month on TCM, and usually one spotlight. Obviously, 31 Days of Oscar and Summer Under the Stars are different, but for a couple of years now there's been that spotlight on one or two nights in prime time.

This month seems to be a bit different. There's a prime time spotlight I'll get to on Thursday, but there's also one starting tomorrow morning. Every Wednesday in April starting at 6:00 AM (more or less) and going through to the start of the Thursday schedule, they're showing movies directed by Michael Curtiz. 53 of them in all according to the TCM article. Of course, it's almost entirely his output at Warner Bros. I know at least one of his silents that he made in his native Hungary survives, since I blogged about the restoration back in 2013. Somehow I doubt Criterion holds the American distribution rights to those, which would explain why we're not getting any of them in the spotlight.

There's also a premiere of a new interview. TCM retired the Private Screenings, I think, what with the TCM Film Festival and the opportunity to get a big star to interview there. They've interviewed a star, and then that interview gets edited and premiered on TCM usually about a year later. I don't remember all of the folks they've interviewed, but tonight sees the premiere of the interview from last year's Festival: Live from the TCM Film Festival: Michael Douglas. That will be on at 8:00 PM tonight. As is often the case with premiere documentaries and interviews, there will be a second showing of it after one feature film for the benefit of the folks on the west coast. The feature film is The China Syndrome at 9:15 PM, with the second showing of the interview at 11:30 PM.