A Personal Look at the TCM Classic Film Festival 2012

Friday started out bright and early with a phone interview with Thelma Schoonmaker, the three time Academy Award winning film editor whose work with Martin Scorsese and marriage to the late Michael Powell make her someone with a unique hold on both the classic film era, as well as New Hollywood. I’m still in shock that that conversation actually took place. Y’all will love it when you get to read it.

Hollywood is a magical place

But the day had hardly begun. Next up was a 9:00 a.m. screening of William A. Wellman’s silent Wings, the first film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, at the Chinese Multiplex Cinemas. The film was introduced by A.C. Lyles, who is 93 years old. He is known as Mr. Paramount and has been working there his whole life. He told a story about how he saw Wings in theaters when it premiered and that’s how he got his first job working in a movie theater. He later wrote Adolph Zukor, founder of Paramount, a letter every week for years until he landed a job at the studio. The rest is history.

Unfortunately, Wings ran late, so I was unable to make it to Eddie Muller’s presentation of Raw Deal with star Marsha Hunt present. Instead, I saw Robert Evans, the producer often credited with bringing about the renaissance at Paramount in the 1970s, introduce and discuss Love Story. I stayed for an hour because as much as I loved seeing Ryan O’Neal’s handsome face on the giant screen, I needed to get in line for the next film. Which was William A. Wellman’s Technicolor screwball comedy Nothing Sacred. The film is the only film Carole Lombard did in color and boy was it a hoot.

It rained while we waited in line outside the Egyptian Theatre

After that Kristen, Trevor and I sprinted to the Egyptian Theatre for a screening of Cry Danger, which was introduced with a discussion between Eddie Muller and star Rhonda Fleming. She truly is still so stunningly beautiful.

After that film we bolted to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre — our first film in the giant 1,000 seater — to see Roman Polanski’s Chinatown. The screening, which was introduced by producer Robert Evans, writer Robert Towne and festival emcee Robert Osborne, broke a festival record — completely filling the theater to capacity (and beyond). Seeing Jack Nicholson’s sexy bandaged nose on that giant screen was a life-changing experience, really.