How to Have Your Own TCM Classic Film Festival with Netflix, Hulu, and Prime
Today classic film fans descend on Hollywood for the sixth annual TCM Classic Film Festival for four days of classic movies in historic movie palaces, special guests from cinema’s days of yore, and fun with classic film fan friends old and new. Unlike most film festivals, which occur before the films playing have officially been released in theatres, many of the films playing at TCM Fest are available right now from the comfort of your home. Of course, you still have to go to the festival for the movie palaces, special guests and community of film fans!
If you’re not going to be at this year’s TCM Fest, here’s how to play along at home and see some of the top-ranked films screening at the fest. The theme this year is “History According to Hollywood,” so expect films that depict or explore historical subjects. (Disclaimer: Film availability is accurate as of time of posting; availability on any streaming/rental service is always subject to change.)
1. The Apartment (1960)
It’s a challenge to choose which Billy Wilder film is the best (four or five are vying for the title), but The Apartment is definitely one of the strongest contenders. The eponymous dwelling belongs to C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon), a clerk at an insurance firm who lends his home out to company execs for their extramarital trysts, in hopes of getting a juicy promotion. This becomes problematic when he starts falling for comely elevator operator Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). Equal parts drama, comedy, satire, and romance, as well as one of Wilder’s sweetest films, The Apartment won Oscars for Picture, Director, and Screenplay.
- currently ranked #34
- ranked 86,656 times by 5309 users
- wins 57% of its matchups
2. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
The wasn’t the last Western John Ford made, but it feels elegiac anyway. The film puts heavyweights James Stewart and John Wayne against each other, one the new guy in town who wants to hold pacifist ideals, the other the veteran westerner who knows some people just need a’killin’. It’s told in flashback, so we know Stewart is now a senator who built his reputation on ridding the town of outlaw Liberty Valance, but is the legend true? “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
- currently ranked #122
- ranked 31488 times by 1823 users
- wins 61% of its matchups
3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Epic films aren’t generally known for their subtlety, but that’s the genius of Lawrence of Arabia. T.E. Lawrence is a mystery wrapped in an enigma, and the film delves into the ambiguity of his relationship with Arabia (and his relationship with his native England) just as much as it revels in the vastness of the desert and the thrilling battles for Arabia’s future, both military and political. A lesser film would crumble under trying to do so many things at once. Lawrence of Arabia soars.
- currently ranked #145
- ranked 218,045 times by 19,196 users
- wins 53% of its matchups
4. The French Connection (1971)
1970s crime thrillers are a special breed – slower paced and more character-driven than we’re used to today, but grittier and more exciting than earlier crime films, and The French Connection fits the bill on both counts. Gene Hackman won an Oscar playing short-tempered Popeye Doyle (the film also won Best Picture and Best Director), a cop on the trail of a drug-smuggling ring, and the slow burn of the plot culminates in one of the most famous vehicular chases of all time.
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- currently ranked #165
- ranked 87,264 times by 6764 users
- wins 53% of its matchups
5. Patton (1970)
Opening with the iconic shot of General George S. Patton (George C. Scott) giving a rousing speech to unseen new recruits and moving through the highs and lows of Patton’s WWII career, this movie toes the line between hero worship and criticism, showing both Patton’s military prowess and the negative aspects of his temper and megalomania. In any case, it’s a fascinating and epic character study of one of WWII’s most memorable generals.
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- currently ranked #319
- ranked 64,487 times by 6042 users
- wins 49% of its matchups
6. Steamboat Bill Jr (1928)
Buster Keaton‘s best-known film these days is probably The General, but many fans would put both Sherlock Jr. and Steamboat Bill Jr. above that Civil War era epic. Here Keaton is the college-going son of a steamboat captain, who is utterly incompetent at steamboat piloting, must to his father’s chagrin – worse, Junior in love with the daughter of Senior’s biggest rival. There are a lot of great funny business in this movie, like when Senior tries to get Junior a more appropriate hat for a steamboat captain, to no avail. It all culminates in one of Keaton’s best known stunt sequences, when a giant cyclone tears the town apart – when watching this part, remember that Keaton did all his own stunts.
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- currently ranked #519
- ranked 11,435 times by 565 users
- wins 59% of its matchups
7. An Affair to Remember (1957)
The classic Hollywood romantic film to end all classic Hollywood romantic films – Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr meet and fall in love on an ocean liner, promising to meet up six months later at the top of the Empire State Building (yes, this is where Sleepless in Seattle got the idea) if they’ve broken off their existing relationships and still want to pursue one with each other. Devastatingly, Kerr gets in an accident on her way to the rendezvous, leading to misunderstandings. It leans toward the maudlin at times, but it’s become cliche for a reason.
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- currently ranked #979
- ranked 11,806 times by 971 users
- wins 44% of its matchups
8. Grease (1978)
Regardless of what you think of Grease‘s gender politics, it’s difficult not to get caught up in its infectious soundtrack and nearly carefree evocation of 1950s teenagerhood (from the vantage point of the 1970s). Everyone’s much too old for their high school-aged characters, but somehow it works out, and I dare you not to sing along with “Greased Lightning” or “You’re the One That I Want” when they come on. Actually, be right back, I need to go dance the hand jive real quick.
- currently ranked #1016
- ranked 404,680 times by 61,402 users
- wins 37% of its matchups
9. Limelight (1952)
Though not quite his last film, Limelight basically acts as Charlie Chaplin’s farewell to cinema, as he plays a washed-up clown trying and failing to mount a comeback (Chaplin is musing to some degree on the failure of his previous film Monsieur Verdoux). This would end up being Chaplin’s last American film, as he was refused re-entry to the country based on accusations of him being a Communist sympathizer.
- currently ranked #1359
- ranked 5386 times by 353 users
- wins 47% of its matchups
10. 1776 (1972)
The Continental Congress debates that led to the Declaration of Independence doesn’t seem like a natural subject for a musical, and indeed the songs are generally considered unmemorable and the performances overly broad, but according to Vincent Canby (original reviewer for the New York Times), it “insists on being so entertaining, you might as well stop resisting it.”
- currently ranked #2209
- ranked 5528 times by 423 users
- wins 42% of its matchups
11. Marriage Italian Style (1964)
Director Vittorio De Sica was one of the central figures of Italian Neorealism in the late 1940s, with films like The Bicycle Thief, Shoeshine, and Umberto D. By the 1960s it was time for a little comedy, pairing immensely popular actors Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren in a story of a womanizing businessman in an on-again-off-again relationship with a prostitute, who finally feigns illness as a ploy to get him to marry her.
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- currently ranked #6802
- ranked 728 times by 57 users
- wins 49% of its matchups
12. The Proud Rebel (1958)
If you want to add a Flickchart obscurity to your chart, this is your ticket – only 11 Flickchart users have ranked this lesser-known Western. Alan Ladd plays a former Confederate soldier trying to get treatment for his son (played by Ladd’s actual son, David Ladd), who has been mute since the shock of seeing his mother’s death. Along the way, the father-son pair become involved in a land dispute between a powerful sheep farmer and a woman (Olivia de Havilland) who refuses to sell her family farm. This is kind of a twilight film for Alan Ladd, de Havilland, and director Michael Curtiz, made near the end of each of their careers.
- currently ranked #20226
- ranked 99 times by 11 users
- wins 42% of its matchups
AVAILABLE FOR DIGITAL RENTAL
If you’re willing to part with $3 a pop, these films also playing at the Festival are available for digital rental.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – currently ranked #4 – Amazon / iTunes
Psycho (1960) – currently ranked #41 – Amazon / iTunes
The Philadelphia Story (1940) – currently ranked #93 – Amazon / iTunes
Roman Holiday (1953) – currently ranked #201 – Amazon / iTunes
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) – currently ranked #241 – Amazon / iTunes
My Man Godfrey (1936) – currently ranked #247 – Amazon / iTunes
Apollo 13 (1995) – currently ranked #354 – Amazon / iTunes
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) – currently ranked #400 – Amazon / iTunes
The Man Who Would Be King (1975) – currently ranked #397 – Amazon / iTunes
Inherit the Wind (1960) – currently ranked #500 – Amazon / iTunes
The Invisible Man (1933) – currently ranked #529 – Amazon / iTunes
Doctor Zhivago (1965) – currently ranked #631 – Amazon / iTunes
A Man for All Seasons (1966) – currently ranked #697 – Amazon / iTunes
Adam’s Rib (1949) – currently ranked #758 – iTunes
Malcolm X (1992) – currently ranked #815 – Amazon / iTunes
Out of Sight (1998) – currently ranked #896 – Amazon / iTunes
Lenny (1974) – currently ranked #1066 – Amazon / iTunes
42nd Street (1933) – currently ranked #1342 – Amazon / iTunes
The Party (1968) – currently ranked #1432 – Amazon / iTunes
The Miracle Worker (1962) – currently ranked #1662 – Amazon / iTunes
Gunga Din (1939) – currently ranked #1673 – Amazon / iTunes
Imitation of Life (1959) – currently ranked #1890 – Amazon / iTunes
The Cincinnati Kid (1965) – currently ranked #2110 – Amazon / iTunes
The Children’s Hour (1962) – currently ranked #2296 – Amazon / iTunes
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) – currently ranked #2416 – Amazon / iTunes
They Were Expendable (1945) – currently ranked #2672 – Amazon / iTunes
Desk Set (1957) – currently ranked #3083 – Amazon / iTunes
Queen Christina (1933) – currently ranked #3630 – iTunes
The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) – currently ranked #3597 – Amazon / iTunes
The Wind and the Lion (1975) – currently ranked #3855 – Amazon / iTunes
Earthquake (1974) – currently ranked #4454 – Amazon / iTunes
Houdini (1953) – currently ranked #4753 – Amazon / iTunes
Viva Zapata! (1952) – currently ranked #5445 – Amazon
Calamity Jane (1953) – currently ranked #5570 – Amazon / iTunes
Madame Curie (1943) – currently ranked #6499 – iTunes
The Loved One (1965) – currently ranked #9021 – iTunes
So Dear to My Heart (1948) – currently ranked #9141 – Amazon / iTunes
Too Late for Tears (1949) – currently ranked #10166 – Amazon
Really, you could do it all (kinda pretentiously, ahem) on hulu. They have 900 or so Criterion movies.
You could have a great classic film festival on HuluPlus, yes – most of them aren’t playing at this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival, though, which is where I pulled the list of films from. I had to throw in HuluPlus to get to include Limelight, though – I love how many Chaplin films are on HuluPlus/Criterion now.
I believe Shirley MacLaine will be at the festival for a screening of The Apartment? I think I read that somewhere.
For reasons unknown to me, Limelight is rather popular in Japan, at least as a concept. A lot of schoolkids know the basic story, because it’s used in a couple of major English textbooks, and they often choose to recite it/act it out for competitions. I’ve never seen it.
Yes, she will! She’ll be at the fest for The Apartment, The Children’s Hour, and also a taped Conversation that will be broadcast on TCM later this year. I’m going to try to see her at The Apartment, but I’m not sure I’m going to make it.
That’s interesting. I wonder why it’s got cultural cache there? I haven’t seen it or his two features after it, either. Definitely something I’d like to catch up with soon.
so weird that you post this! cause ive been watching every film on the 2012 TCM genre list for 2 weeks now! and ive always been a classic films fan but I have a whole new appreciation for them now Ive found some real gems that I love now! like Charade,Sullivans Travels and Bringing Up Baby! great idea and blog post! Im HorrorHistorian5 by the way!
Nice! Yeah, we covered the festival in much more depth in 2012 here on the Flickchart blog, so there was a genre list for it that year. They always have a great line-up every year.
we really need to have a Flickfest and have a movie marathon night,if it were in florida Id definatly join.