A scene from 1958's "A Night to Remember," screening a day shy of the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's sinking

Credit: Rank Film Distributors

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The third annual TCM Classic Film Festival kicks off Thursday and as I'm slowly slipping back into the saddle this month, I'll be hoping to attend this and that over the swift four-day event.

As I look over the schedule, I'm actually pretty impressed at the number of anniversary restoration screenings. The fest kicks off with one of them, in fact, a 40th anniversary showcase of Bob Fosse's "Cabaret." There's also "Two for the Road" (45th anniversary), "Grand Illusion" (75th), "The Longest Day" (50th)...

...yep, there's more: "Fall Guy" (65th), "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (75th), "Casablanca" (70th), "Dr. No" (50th), "Singin' in the Rain" (60th), "Moonstruck" (25th), "Call Her Savage" (80th) and perhaps the centerpiece of the week, a restoration of "A Night to Remember" a day short of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

One premiere restoration in particular caught my eye, of "Rio Bravo," with actress Angie Dickinson in attendance. Others planning to attend for conversations on this or that flick include Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Rick Baker, Stanley Donen, John Carpenter, Kirk Douglas, John Landis, Mel Brooks, Robert Wagner, Norman Jewison, Debbie Reynolds and Thelma Schoonmaker, among others.

Finally, actress Kim Novak is a bit of a guest of honor this year as her hands and feet ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre happens on Saturday, April 14. "Vertigo" will also be screened during the fest with the actress on hand. Hopefully she's recovered from that "rape" perpetrated by "The Artist" and Oscar-winning film composer Ludovic Bource.

Lots to do and see for fans of classic cinema. I definitely want to make that "A Night to Remember" screening, and the "Grand Illusion" restoration is tempting (though it's lined up against a "Chinatown" event with Robert Towne and Robert Evans on hand, so that's a tough choice). There's also a "History of the Oscars Red Carpet" panel that could be interesting for our purposes.

If you're in the area and want to dig into some of this stuff this weekend, check out the festival's official website. I'll try to do and see what I can. It'll be a nice change of pace, certainly.

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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Kristopher Tapley
Editor-at-Large

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Kristopher Tapley has covered the film awards landscape for over a decade. He founded In Contention in 2005. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Times of London and Variety. He begs you not to take any of this too seriously.