Chilly November evenings are the perfect time to gather the family for an evening of classic movies. Here are 21 films airing on Turner Classic Movies this month that we think you’ll enjoy.
With colder weather upon us and the holidays just around the corner, an evening of classic movies with the family is just the ticket. Here are 21 movies airing on Turner Classic Movies this month that you’ll want to watch (or record for later viewing).
1 of 21 Trouble Along the Way (1953)
Monday, November 1, at 11:30 a.m. ET
John Wayne plays an atypical role in this dramedy about a former football coach (Wayne) who is hired by a small Catholic college in hopes that he’ll make their football team a winner and help the school avoid bankruptcy. Donna Reed and Charles Coburn costar.
2 of 21 Sabotage (1936)
Wednesday, November 3, at 8 a.m. ET
In this tense drama from Alfred Hitchcock, Sylvia Sidney shines as the wife of a man who operates a neighborhood movie theatre but is secretly part of a gang of foreign saboteurs who are seeking to foment chaos and fear by detonating a bomb in London. Oskar Homolka and John Loder costar.
Here’s a great opportunity to show the young people in your life what movies were like in the earliest days of cinema. This film, a huge hit in its day, is just 12 minutes long, a duration even the squirmiest child can handle.
4 of 21 Blondie Plays Cupid (1940)
Saturday, November 6, at 8 p.m. ET
Columbia Pictures’ films based on Chic Young’s “Blondie” comic strip were very popular, with the studio releasing 28 entries in the series from 1938-1950. This, the seventh film in the series, is followed at 9:15 p.m. by the ninth, Blondie in Society (1941), and at 10:45 p.m. by the 11th, Blondie’s Blessed Event (1942). Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake portrayed the Bumsteads for the entire run.
5 of 21 Marty (1955)
Sunday, November 7, at 2 p.m. ET
This classic drama, written by Paddy Chayefsky, won four Oscars—Best Picture, Best Actor (Ernest Borgnine), Best Director and Best Screenplay. It tells the tale of a lonely, middle-aged butcher (Borgnine) who has given up on ever experiencing romance until he meets an equally lonely schoolteacher (Betsy Blair) at a dance.
6 of 21 The Music Box (1932)
Monday, November 8, at 6 a.m. ET
If there are kids in your life who have yet to experience the comedic genius of Laurel and Hardy, this classic half-hour short makes the perfect introduction. Stan and Ollie are tasked with delivering a piano, only to discover that a long, steep set of stairs stands between them and their destination. Hijinks, as you might expect, ensue.
7 of 21 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Thursday, November 11, at 8 p.m. ET
Perhaps the perfect film to watch on Veterans Day, this acclaimed account of three servicemen trying to adjust to civilian life after returning from World War II earned seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actor (Fredric March), Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell) and Best Screenplay (Robert E. Sherwood). Russell also won an honorary Oscar “for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans.”
This acclaimed adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author Henryk Sienkiewicz’s international best-selling novel was nominated for eight Academy Awards. It stars Robert Taylor as a Roman soldier who falls in love with a young Christian woman (Deborah Kerr), even as the emperor Nero (Peter Ustinov) persecutes adherents of the young religion.
9 of 21 Stagecoach (1939)
Monday, November 15, at 2:15 p.m. ET
By 1938, John Wayne had already appeared in more than 165 films, but it was his portrayal of the Ringo Kid in this classic John Ford western that set him on the path toward becoming a Hollywood icon. Claire Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine and Thomas Mitchell costar.
10 of 21 The Learning Tree (1969)
Tuesday, November 16, at 9 p.m. ET
Photographer, musician, writer and director Gordon Parks helmed this film adaptation of his own semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. It tells the story of a 14-year-old Black young man (Kyle Johnson) growing up in a small town in Kansas. This groundbreaking motion picture was the first movie from a major Hollywood studio that was directed by an African American.
11 of 21 Dear Heart (1964)
Wednesday, November 17, at 8:15 p.m. ET
While in New York City to attend a convention, a single, middle-aged, small-town postmistress (Geraldine Page) meets a charming (but recently engaged) salesman (Glenn Ford), and her life will never be the same. Angela Lansbury costars.
12 of 21 Jack and the Beanstalk (1952)
Friday, November 19, at 7:45 a.m. ET
The legendary comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello offer their comedic take on the classic fable that scholars say originated more than 5,000 years ago. Listen carefully, and you’ll hear the legendary voiceover actors Mel Blanc providing the voices of the animals. This is a great film to have waiting on the DVR when the family gathers for Thanksgiving weekend.
Rosalind Russell stars as Elizabeth Kenny in this true story of an Australian nurse who discovered an effective treatment for polio, but struggled to get the medical establishment to adopt it. Dean Jagger costars.
14 of 21 A Kiss in the Dark (1949)
Monday, November 22, at 8:15 a.m. ET
In this romantic comedy, David Niven plays an exhausted concert pianist who has recently learned he is the owner of an apartment building. Advised to move there to get some rest, he gets involved in the life of his oddball tenants. Jane Wyman, Victor Moore, Wayne Morris and Broderick Crawford costar.
15 of 21 Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Late Monday, November 22, at 12:30 a.m. ET
Perhaps the most beloved movie musical of all, Singin’ in the Rain takes the viewer back to the early days of talking pictures, when some silent picture stars struggled to find their footing with the ascent of sound. Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor all shine in this delightful celebration of Hollywood’s golden age.
16 of 21 Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Wednesday, November 24, at 10 p.m. ET
On Thanksgiving Eve, get a jump on your Christmas movie viewing with this delightful romantic comedy that finds a prominent food writer (Barbara Stanwyk), who in fact can’t even boil water, in a predicament when her boss (Sydney Greenstreet, TCM’s Star of the Month for November) arranges a publicity stunt that requires her to host a returning war hero (Dennis Morgan) over the holidays, putting her at risk of being revealed as a fake. Reginald Gardiner, Una O’Connor and S. Z. “Cuddles” Sakall costar.
17 of 21 Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
Thursday, November 25, at 4 p.m. ET
In this comedy classic, Mr. and Mrs. Blandings (Cary Grant and Myrna Loy) leave their cramped Manhattan apartment for a fixer-upper (to put it mildly) in rural Connecticut. As you might guess, the road to a newly renovated dream home proves to be a hilariously rocky one. Reginald Denny and Melvyn Douglas costar.
Beginning at 6 a.m. ET today, TCM is airing eight classic comedies from director Ernst Lubitsch today. You can’t go wrong with any of them, but our choice is this romantic comedy. James Stewart plays Alfred Kralik, a retail clerk who is so devoted to his work that he hasn’t time for a social life. He does have a pen pal, though, a woman he’s never met in person, who provides a spark of romance in his life. Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) is a new employee who grates on Alfred’s nerves and seems the polar opposite of his delightful pen pal. Even if you have already guessed the twist that brings this picture to comedic (and romantic) life, you’ll be delighted as you watch it all unfold. Be sure to point out Frank Morgan, who played the title role in The Wizard of Oz, to the kids; he plays Alfred and Klara’s boss.
19 of 21 David Copperfield (1935)
Saturday, November 27, at 12 p.m. ET
Director George Cukor’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel is a film the whole family can enjoy. The cast is a stellar one: Edna May Oliver, Freddie Bartholomew, Basil Rathbone, Una O’Connor, Lionel Barrymore, W. C. Fields, Roland Young, Lewis Stone, Maureen O’Sullivan and Elsa Lanchester, among others.
20 of 21 Murder Most Foul (1964)
Monday, November 29, at 6:15 a.m. ET
Dame Margaret Rutherford shines as Agatha Christie’s amateur sleuth Miss Marple, who in this film joins a small-town theatrical company in order to solve a series of murders. This film is followed by three more pictures featuring Rutherford as Miss Marple: Murder at the Gallop (1963) at 8 a.m., Murder Ahoy (1964) at 9:30 a.m. and Murder She Said (1961) at 11:15 a.m.
21 of 21 Four Daughters (1938)
Tuesday, November 30, at 6:30 a.m. ET
A music educator with a love for the classics (Claude Rains) raises his four daughters (played by real-life sisters Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola Lane, plus Gale Page) to love music as he does. The household is thrown into turmoil when a tenant in their boarding house, a rebellious young composer (John Garfield), falls for the youngest daughter. This film was such a hit it inspired two sequels.
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