Movies

Here Are Martin Scorsese's Personal Recommendations For Classic Movies As TCM's New Advisor

Martin Scorsese The Hollywood Reporter
By Witney Seibold/

To briefly remind readers of the saga: 

Back in June of 2023, it was announced that the leadership behind Turner Classic Movies, a long-beloved curator of cinema from Hollywood's Golden Age and beyond, would be laid off. VP of enterprises and strategic partnerships Genevieve McGillicuddy, senior VP of programming and content strategy Charles Tabesh, executive vice president and general manager Pola Changnon, marketing VP Dexter Fedor, and VP of studio production Anne Wilson all lost their jobs. The future of TCM was suddenly up in the air. This not only outraged fans of classic cinema but threw some of Hollywood's most beloved filmmakers into a panic. Was David Zaslav, the CEO of the beleaguered Warner Bros. Discovery nixing the entire TCM brand the same way he did with so much of the films and TV shows on HBO Max? Perhaps Zaslav, having already accrued a horrendous reputation for a long series of consumer-hostile business decisions, figured he'd lean directly into supervillain territory. 

Luckily, a cavalry rode to the rescue in the form of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Thomas Anderson. After a fiery phone call (that every cineaste in the world wishes they could have heard) — and a presumed tongue-lashing about the importance of preserving classic cinema and its availability to the general public — Zaslav decided to rehire Tabesh and take on Spielberg, Scorsese, and Anderson as special TCM curators. For the time being, it seems that the brand is safe, and classic movies can be accessed. 

Spielberg's first round of cinematic picks has already been released, and it includes films like "Meet Me in St. Louis," Douglas Sirk's "Imitation of Life," "Them!," "The Bad and the Beautiful," and Alfred Hitchcock's "The Wrong Man."

Scorsese's picks were announced on TCM's Twitter just this afternoon.

Scorsese's picks

Isle of the Dead Karloff RKO Radio Pictures

According to IndieWire, Spielberg, Scorsese, and Anderson will be curating TCM until at least June of 2024, so there will be plenty of classic movies to catch in that time.  Scorsese's picks are his selections to run on TCM throughout the month of September.

In the introductory video on Twitter, Scorsese — true to his character — selected numerous pieces of classic cinema that fall comfortably outside the mainstream film school syllabi. He said that during the COVID-related lockdowns, he found himself thinking of a 1945 Boris Karloff film called "Isle of the Dead," directed by Mark Robson ("Peyton Place," "Valley of the Dolls"). The film is about a group of doctors who are trying as hard as they can to outlive a plague. When they shake hands, they realize they have violated a no-contact rule. One can see why Scorsese's mind went to this film under the circumstances. 

Scorsese also recommended Henry Koster's 1946 film "Two Sisters from Boston," a film he himself discovered watching TCM. He touts the film's "edge," citing the beer hall scenes as possessing an authentic element of ribaldry. Jimmy Durante plays the emcee. He also encouraged one to watch Victor Fleming's 1932 film "Red Dust," a manly picture with Clark Gable, as well as Arthur Crabtree's 1945 film "Madonna of the Seven Moons" which Scorsese called "pure and unabashed" and also "incredibly trashy," which is most assuredly a compliment.

The most provocative of the bunch was "Accident," Joseph Losey's 1967 melodrama written by Harold Pinter. Scorsese said it was full of brutality and fury, and that it was more clinically precise even than Pinter's "The Servant."

The schedule

Accident 1967 London Independent Producers

Scorsese's picks will air on TCM at the following times. 

  • "Red Dust" (1932) — September 1, 7:30 a.m. ET
  • "Two Sisters from Boston" (1946) — September 3, 8 a.m. ET
  • "Isle of the Dead" (1945) — September 17, 11 p.m. ET
  • "Madonna of the Seven Moons" (1945) — September 20, 2 p.m. ET
  • "Accident" (1967) — September 27, 8 p.m. ET

Scorsese thinks you know of the big, mainstream classics, and that you have likely already seen films like "All About Eve," "Casablanca," "Shane," and the like. Scorsese wants to dig deep and he wants you to dig deep. Begin as soon as possible, and appreciate how much TCM provides to us. 

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