Sophisticated comedy highlights 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival

Cinema has always been a cyborg of the arts, part human, part technology. The trick is in maintaining the balance.

The TCM Classic Film Festival, now in its eighth year, goes a long way in fighting for that balance. With movies crafted almost exclusively before the dawn of CG, in-person appearances by celebrated filmmakers and plenty of interaction among moviegoers, the four-day event is full of that most human of special effects, emotion.

A new restoration of the 1967 Academy Award best picture winner, “In the Heat of the Night,” is the festival’s opening night film, with actors Sidney Poitier, Lee Grant and Scott Wilson; director Norman Jewison; producer Walter Mirisch; composer Quincy Jones; and casting director Lynn Stalmaster in attendance.

“It’s really going to be one for the books for us,” says festival director Genevieve McGillicuddy. “It’s a phenomenal lineup.”

The festival’s theme, “Make ’Em Laugh: Comedy in the Movies,” may seem like a ready-made remedy for the anxieties of 2017, but the folks behind the festival swear they had the idea 10 months ago.

“We decided this would be a fun theme for us to explore, not knowing what was coming,” says Charlie Tabesh, senior vice president of programming for TCM and FilmStruck.

“Certain kinds of comedy were more prevalent in the past, and a bigger part of the moviegoing experience,” Tabesh continues. “Sophisticated comedies, well-written, smart romantic comedies that you’ll see in the festival and you don’t see as much of anymore.”

Director Ernst Lubitsch “epitomizes smart, sophisticated comedy” and Tabesh is pleased the festival will screen two of the master’s films, the silent 1926 “So This Is Paris” and the pre-code 1932 “One Hour With You,” starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald. Also screening is RKO’s pre-code “Rafter Romance” (1933), featuring Ginger Rogers and Norman Foster (“a really charming, enjoyable comedy,” Tabesh says), which was out of circulation for many years due to rights issues.

If screwball comedy is your thing, there’s a dedicated sidebar called “Divorce/Remorse,” highlighted by Leo McCarey’s classic “The Awful Truth” from 1937 with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.

The festival does not limit itself to Hollywood’s Golden Age or comedy and this year includes a variety of more recent films, including a cast reunion for Christopher Guest’s 2000 dog-show satire “Best in Show.” Actors Bob Balaban, John Michael Higgins, Jim Piddock and Fred Willard will be on hand.

“There’s a range of films we can look at every year and there are so many factors that go into how the programming is chosen, whether it’s an anniversary or an opportunity to bring someone in associated with the film,” says McGillicuddy. “What’s great is that we can choose from any of these eras.”

From 1984 comes “Top Secret!,” with writer-directors Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker (who also have the 1977 sketch comedy “Kentucky Fried Movie” screening), and 1987’s “Broadcast News” with writer-director James L. Brooks attending.

Joining “In the Heat of the Night” in celebrating their 50th anniversaries — 1967 was quite a year — are “Barefoot in the Park,” “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Graduate.” The latter screening will have co-writer Buck Henry, he of the memorable hotel desk clerk cameo, in attendance.

McGillicuddy calls the “Conversations With …” series “a real hallmark of the festival for us since day one. That is really the magic that happens for our audience to have this intimate experience with people that they might never see in person and hear their stories.”

Among the actor-filmmakers and their films being featured are Peter Bogdanovich (“What’s Up Doc?” and “Last Picture Show”), Grant (“Detective Story” and “The Landlord” in addition to “In the Heat of the Night”), and Michael Douglas (“The China Syndrome”).

Carl Reiner (“The Jerk”) and Rob Reiner (“The Princess Bride”) will be honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre.

A first for the festival will be the screening of nitrate prints of such films as the 1947 drama “Black Narcissus,” the 1944 noir “Laura” and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1934 version of “The Man Who Knew Too Much.” “That is something I’m absolutely thrilled we can incorporate into the festival this year,” McGillicuddy says. “It’s not a format you can screen easily.”

In that vein, the festival will also screen the world premiere restoration of the 1953 3-D movie, “Those Redheads From Seattle.”

“Every year, we try to challenge ourselves to think about what we can show in original formats,” McGillicuddy says.

The festival returns to the Cinerama Dome for two shows, “This Is Cinerama,” which heralded the three-projector, curved screen Cinerama format in 1952, and the 1963 all-star comedy “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” “These are experiences that are rare and hard to find elsewhere,” said McGillicuddy.

Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher will be remembered with screenings of the 1952 musical “Singin’ in the Rain” and Fisher’s biting “Postcards From the Edge.” Todd Fisher, who loaned several costumes from “Singin’ in the Rain” for display at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s Club TCM, will be on hand.

“They were both so important to TCM,” Tabesh says. “Carrie Fisher was ‘The Essentials’ co-host for a while and Debbie Reynolds did a lot with us.”

And, of course, the festival will pay homage to TCM’s longtime host and Hollywood mainstay Robert Osborne, who died March 6. The opening-night panel “Remembering Robert” will feature network staff and Osborne’s friends, including actress Diane Baker, sharing memories with current TCM host, Ben Mankiewicz, along with a video tribute.

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TCM Classic Film Festival

Where: TLC Chinese Theatres, Egyptian Theatre, Cinerama Dome, Montalban Theatre and Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, all in Hollywood

When: April 6-9

Info: www.tcm.com/festival

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