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TCM Spotlight: MGM 100th
TCM, beginning at 3 a.m.
Turner Classic Movies continues its monthlong Monday salute to the centennial of Metro-goldwyn-mayer, the iconic Hollywood studio that was founded on April 17, 1924. Today’s 24-hour lineup of MGM favorites features titles from the late 1950s through the ’60s and into the ’70s, a time of great change when the old studio system that MGM helped pioneer was on its way out and the “New Hollywood” was dawning. The day begins with the 1956 sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet (pictured), starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen and Robbie the Robot, and concludes early Tuesday morning with Network (1976), the brilliant, Best Picture Oscar-nominated satire led by Best Actor winner Peter Finch, Best Actor nominee William Holden, Best Actress winner Faye Dunaway, Best Supporting Actress winner Beatrice Straight and Best Supporting Actor nominee Ned Beatty. In between these are several other popular and/or acclaimed MGM titles from this era, including two epic Westerns: Cimarron (1960), starring Glenn Ford and Maria Schell, and How the West Was Won (1962), featuring a large ensemble of stars; Doctor Zhivago (1965), the epic, Best Picture-nominated historical romance led by Omar Sharif and Julie Christie; Viva Las Vegas (1964), the fun Elvis Presley musical co-starring Ann-margret; another iconic sci-fi production, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); Shaft (1971), the action film that helped usher in the “blaxploitation” film genre; and more.