18 Classic Movies to Watch on TCM in July 2022

Funny Face (1957)

Saturday, July 2, at 8 p.m. ET

In this charming musical, directed by Stanley Donen, Audrey Hepburn plays a Greenwich Village bookstore clerk who is unexpectedly "discovered" by a fashion photographer (Fred Astaire) and whisked off to Paris. Kay Thompson costars and the classic songs of George and Ira Gershwin make up much of the film's music.

Casablanca (1942)

Sunday, July 3, at 2 p.m. ET

Few films hold up to repeated viewings as well as Casablanca, no matter how many times you've seen it. Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Claude Rains all deliver iconic performances, and Dooley Wilson's rendition of As Time Goes By will pull at your heartstrings. Casablanca is as close to perfect as Hollywood movies get.

Ah Wilderness! (1935)

Monday, July 4, at 6 a.m. ET

This film adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's only comedy boasts a star-studded cast that includes Mickey Rooney, Wallace Berry, Lionel Barrymore, Aline MacMahon, Spring Byington, Charley Grapewin, Bonita Granville and Eric Linden. It's a nostalgic look at growing up in a small American town in the early years of the 20th century.

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Monday, July 4, at 12 p.m. ET

This beloved 1942 biopic depicts the life and career of George M. Cohan, proud patriot—he composed the title song, You're a Grand Old Flag, and Over There, among many others—and a giant in the world of late 19th- and early 20th-century entertainment. Cohan was a playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and producer, and James Cagney does him a great turn. Joan Leslie and Walter Huston costar.

1776 (1972)

Monday, July 4, at 2:15 p.m. ET

This innovative musical tells, in musical form, the story of the Continental Congress and the drafting of the Declaration of Independence (the young people in your life may be surprised to learn that Hamilton wasn't the first musical take on the founding fathers). William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, Ken Howard and Blythe Danner star.

The Enchanted Cottage (1945)

Tuesday, July 5, at 12:15 p.m. ET

In this charming romance with a touch of fantasy, Robert Young portrays a veteran whose face is scarred from war injuries and Dorothy McGuire plays a woman who was not blessed with beauty. Can love transform them? Herbert Marshall also stars.

Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking (2021)

Wednesday, June 6, at 8 p.m. ET

Those interested in the history of the film industry will want to catch this documentary, which explores the life and career of Oscar Micheaux, a pioneering African-American filmmaker who worked at a time when Hollywood's film studios were making no effort to appeal to Black audiences. Micheaux's movies were what were then referred to as "race movies"—low-budget films that were marketed strictly to a Black audience. Following the documentary at 10 p.m. is one of Micheaux's movies, The Symbol of the Unconquered, starring Iris hall, Walker Thompson and Lawrence Chenault, in which a Black heiress fights back against the Ku Klux Klan as they try to steal her land.

Born Yesterday (1950)

Thursday, July 7, at 4:15 p.m. ET

The great Judy Holliday shines as Billie Dawn, an uneducated young woman whose boyfriend (Broderick Crawford), a crooked junk dealer, is embarrassed by her lack of education and social polish and so hires a journalist (William Holden) as her tutor. Comedic complications ensue. This classic comedy was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture. Holliday took home the statuette for Best Actress. Another terrific Holliday comedy, It Should Happen to You (1953), follows at 6:15 p.m. ET.

His Girl Friday (1940)

Sunday, July 10, at 1:15 p.m. ET

The witty repartee flies fast and furious in this hilarious comedy, directed by the legendary Howard Hawks. Cary Grant is a conniving newspaper editor who wants to lure back his best reporter (who happens to also be his ex-wife), played by Rosalind Russell. The trouble is, she's engaged to another fellow (Ralph Bellamy). This one's tons of screwball fun.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Thursday, July 12, at 8 p.m. ET

This beloved 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."

The Killing Floor (1984)

Late Saturday, July 14, at 3 a.m. ET

This hardhitting drama, based on a true story, is an account of a Black Southerner (Damien Leake) who moved to Chicago during the First World War to obtain work in the city's slaughterhouses and ended up playing a key role in getting workers of various nationalities and enthnicities to work together for the unionization of meatpackers. Alfre Woodard, Dennis Farina and John Mahoney costar.

Three Little Words (1950)

Wednesday, July 18, at 4:45 p.m. ET

This entertaining musical biopic explores the lives and careers of the Tin Pan Alley-era songwriting team Bert Kalmar (played by Fred Astaire) and Harry Ruby (Red Skelton). A dozen of the team's most-loved songs are heard during the movie. Vera-Ellen and Arlene Dahl costar.

Joy of Living (1938)

Friday, July 20, at 3:15 p.m. ET

This musical-comedy (with the emphasis on comedy) stars Irene Dunne as a Broadway star whose various relations are perfectly happy not to work and instead just sponge of her success. She meets a charming sea captain (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) who is eager to whisk her away from the Great White Way and off to the South Seas. Jerome Kern, one of Dunne's favorite composers, contributed a number of songs to the score.

Cause for Alarm! (1951)

Early Saturday, July 21, at 4:45 a.m. ET

Loretta Young shines in this tense thriller as a woman whose invalid husband (Barry Sullivan), suffering from a delusion that his wife is having an affair with his doctor and plans to kill her husband, writes a letter to the local district attorney about the imagined plot. Young unknowingly mails the letter, only to have her distraught husband tell her of its contents right before suddenly dying, leaving Young, as the movie's posters trumpeted, a "girl in trouble."

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Monday, July 23, at 12 p.m. ET

There have been many movies about the legendary bandit king of Sherwood Forest and there will no doubt be many more, but this beloved adaptation, nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains and Alan Hale, Sr., remains the favorite of classic movie buffs everywhere.

A Star Is Born (1937)

Sunday, July 29, at 9 a.m. ET

This classic drama has inspired three remakes (with, no doubt, more still to come), but if you've never seen the original, here's your chance. The great William Wellman directed this Technicolor classic, with Janet Gaynor starring as a young actress with big dreams and stars in her eyes, Fredric March portraying an alcoholic movie star whose career is on the wane, and other stalwarts, such as Adolphe Menjou and Andy Devine in supporting roles. The film was nominated for seven Oscars.

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Sunday, July 29, at 11:15 p.m. ET

Stanley Kubrick's sumptuous adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1844 novel stars Ryan O'Neal as a charming 18th-century Irish rogue who connives and flatters to improve his status in life. It's as beautifully visually as any film you'll ever see. Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee and Leonard Rossiter costar.

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