TCM Sets Month-Long Marathon Celebrating Warner Bros. 100th Anniversary

Turner Classic Movies is planning the ultimate tribute to its corporate sibling, Warner Bros. Pictures, in April. The network announced plans for a month-long marathon of only Warner Bros. movies to celebrate the studio’s 100th anniversary. The schedule will include premieres of 10 special restorations completed as part of TCM’s multi-year partnership with Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation.

The marathon kicks off on April 1 with a celebration of Warner Bros.’ early days. The 1924 version of Beau Brummel will kick things off at 6 a.m. ET that day. Other Warner Bros. silents will be sprinkled through that day, including The Clash of the Wolves (1925). The Jazz Singer (1927), the first Hollywood film with synchronized dialogue and sound, will air at 1:15 a.m. ET on April 2.

Programming will be arranged with special themes throughout the month, along with new documentaries sprinkled between movies, shorts, and Looney Tunes cartoons. Classic TCM interstitials focusing on Warner Bros. actors and filmmakers are also on the schedule. The complete schedule is available here.

Several important Warner Bros. movies will also make their TCM debuts. Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987) will air on Thursday, April 20. Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Ben Affleck’s Argo (2012) will make their TCM debuts on the last day of the event, Sunday, April 30.

The restoration premieres are spread throughout the month. Each of these movies will feature introductions from some of today’s top filmmakers and historians. Scorsese will introduce a 4K restoration of Rio Bravo (1959) and Blu-ray HD remasters of Land of the Pharaohs (1955) and Storm Warning (1951). Rio Bravo was recently chosen as the opening film for the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival, which kicks off on April 13 in Hollywood.

Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenanbaums) will introduce a Blu-ray remaster of The Strawberry Blonde (1941) and will be joined by Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir) to introduce a 4K restoration of East of Eden (1955). Ethan Hawke will introduce a Blu-ray HD remaster of Paul Newman’s Rachel, Rachel (1968), starring Joanne Woodward. Hawke recently directed the CNN Films documentary series The Last Movie Stars on Newman and Woordward’s relationship, making him the perfect choice to introduce this underrated film.

Alexander Payne (About Schmidt) will introduce a Blu-ray HD remaster of the 1931 Pre-Code classic Safe in Hell. Daphne Dentz and Robyn Sklaren of the Warner Bros. Discovery Library will introduce a Blu-ray HD remaster of the James Cagney-starring A Lion is in the Streets (1953). Blu-ray HD remasters of Helen of Troy (1956) and One Way Passage (1932) will also air in April. Some of these titles will also be available to stream on HBO Max.

“Warner Bros.’ history is TCM history. Where would this network be without films like Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, or A Star is Born? We are thrilled to be honoring the studio that has given us so many iconic films since 1923,” TCM general manager Pola Changnon said in a statement. “In addition to this wide swath of films, we are programming a tapestry of trailers, archival interviews and more that will further highlight the studio’s legacy, so much of which can’t be found anywhere but on TCM.”