TCM Schedule for Wednesday, May 1: Sci-Fi/TCM Spotlight: First Name Basis
It's a brand-new month with fresh TCM themes. Happening today: a sci-fi festival with some weird and unexpected selections. This is your opportunity to see Plan 9 from Outer Space.
And words fail me at the wonderfulness of TCM's First Name Basis series, which offers many classics and multiple genres! 
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
1:15 AM The Children's Hour (1961)
When an unruly young girl spreads the rumor that the co-headmistresses at her private all-girls school are engaging in a lesbian relationship, the townsfolk remove their daughters from the school and charge up a scandal.
Dir: William Wyler Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner
Runtime: 107 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
3:15 AM The Apartment (1960)
An aspiring executive lets his bosses use his apartment for assignations, only to fall for the big chief's mistress.
Dir: Billy Wilder Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray
Runtime: 125 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
6:00 AM From the Earth to the Moon (1958)
Lifelong rivals collaborate on a 19th-century moon rocket.
Dir: Byron Haskin Cast: Joseph Cotten, George Sanders, Debra Paget
Runtime: 100 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-G CC: Y
7:45 AM The Snow Devils (1965)
Aliens plot to freeze the Earth as a replacement for their doomed home planet.
Dir: Antonio Margheriti Cast: Peter Martell, Renato Baldini, Furio Meniconi
Runtime: 78 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
9:30 AM The Green Slime (1969)
A mysterious fungus invades a space station and turns the inhabitants into monsters.
Dir: Kinji Fukasaku Cast: Robert Horton, Richard Jaeckel, Luciana Paluzzi
Runtime: 90 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-G CC: Y
11:15 AM Moon Zero Two (1969)
In the distant future of May 2021, the Moon is in the process of being colonized on lunar settlements. A former astronaut turned salvager helps a millionaire space industrialist capture a sapphire asteroid, while also helping a woman find her missing brother.
Dir: Roy Ward Baker Cast: James Olson, Catherina Von Schell, Warren Mitchell
Runtime: 100 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-G CC:
1:15 PM Countdown (1968)
An astronaut takes a one-way voyage to the moon.
Dir: Robert Altman Cast: James Caan, Joanna Moore, Robert Duvall
Runtime: 101 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
3:00 PM Toward the Unknown (1956)
A dishonored pilot who is no longer allowed to fly attempts to clear his name.
Dir: Mervyn Leroy Cast: William Holden, Lloyd Nolan, Virginia Leith
Runtime: 115 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
5:00 PM Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Residents of California's San Fernando Valley are under attack by flying saucers from outer space. The aliens, led by Eros and his assistant, Tanna, intend to conquer the planet by resurrecting corpses in a Hollywood cemetery. The living dead, a cape-wearing ghoul, a vampire and a slow-footed cop who was killed for his nosiness, stalk curious humans who wander into the cemetery looking for evidence of the UFOs.
Dir: Edward D. Wood Jr. Cast: Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Duke Moore
Runtime: 79 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
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6:30 PM The Thing from Another World (1951)
The crew of a remote Arctic base fights off a murderous monster from outer space.
Dir: Christian Nyby Cast: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite
Runtime: 87 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
What's on Tonight: TCM Spotlight: First Name Basis
8:00 PM Laura (1944)
A hard-boiled detective falls hard for a murder victim. Every man who knew her fell in love with her, and now that she's dead, the obsessed detective can't get her out of his mind.
Dir: Otto Preminger Cast: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb
Runtime: 88 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
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9:45 PM Rebecca (1940)
A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by the memory of his first wife.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders
Runtime: 115 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
12:15 AM Marnie (1964)
A woman with a penchant for stealing money from the places she works as a receptionist marries one of her bosses, who knows she's guilty. He then proceeds to try to uncover the mysteries surrounding her past.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Diane Baker
Runtime: 130 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
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2:45 AM Agatha (1979)
Based on the actual 11-day disappearance of famed mystery writer Agatha Christie in 1926, the film fictionalizes her whereabouts during that time.
Dir: Michael Apted Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Timothy Dalton, Timothy West
Runtime: 98 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
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4:30 AM Penelope (1966)
A neglected wife turns to bank robbery to get her husband's attention.
Dir: Arthur Hiller Cast: Natalie Wood, Ian Bannen, Dick Shawn
Runtime: 97 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y