As I sit waiting for my flight to Atlanta, GA from Los Angeles, CA, here is a recap of the last day (Sunday, April 28) of the TCM Film Festival. Tomorrow I’ll write a review of the overall experience.

Come September (1961) starring Rock Hudson, Sandra Dee, Bobby Darin and Gina Lollobrigida. I started the last day of the festival with the frothy, fun romantic comedy set in Italy. Though other great films such as Gilda, Badlands and Yankee Doodle Dandy were also showing, I was in the mood for the familiar and colorful film after a late night. According Vanity Fair correspondent Matt Tyrnauer this wealthy “white telephone” aristocrat film was filmed during a time that Italian films had more socialist themes so this film was slightly behind its time.

I Am Suzanne (1933) starring Lilian Harvey and Gene Raymond.
This is one of those movies that I sat there through the majority of the movie thinking, “What the heck?”
It was an odd film but worth seeing.
I considered going to see Ann Blyth talk before Kismet (1955). However, though I love Blyth, I don’t like Kismet so I chose a film I had never seen before.
“I Am Suzanne” was introduced by Museum of Modern Art film archivist Katie Trainor, she said the film had not been seen in 80 years.
The oddness of the film is due to the fact that the plot revolves around puppets. Marionette puppets.
Raymond is a puppeteer and Harvey is a (very bad) dancer. Raymond is so entranced by Harvey that he wants to model a puppet of her. Harvey’s issue is that though Raymond loves her, she feels he loves the puppet version more than her. The film ends with a 10 minute puppet and dance performance. I plan on doing a full post on this film so stay tuned.

It Happened One Night (1934) starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. I considered going to see a more serious movie during this film block but decided “Hey, it’s the last day. I’m going to have fun.” It’s terrific watching a 1930s comedy and hearing an audience erupt in laughter. You notice the subtle comedic glances and moments more on the big screen.

The General (1926)- This was the big finale of the night shown in Graumann’s Chinese (or now called TCL Chinese). The crowded screening started with the 1920 Keaton short “One Week” and both films were accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra. I had seen both the General and One Week before, but it’s an amazing experience to watch it on the big screen with live music.
But even more special, it’s the second to last film shown in Graumann’s before the historic theater will be remodeled to IMAX. The crowd boo-ed as Robert Osborne said that but told everyone to take in the architecture before it’s gone. So above is a photo of the ceiling of the theater

Overall, it was a wonderful trip and I hope to return next year. I hope you have enjoyed my updates as well.