Turner Classic Movies has a fair number of films with a WWI theme this month. We make no claims about them being scholarly; we just post them to show how the war did influence movie-making, particularly in the decades afterwards and before World War II. All times listed here are Central.

We’ve already missed a few films that aired yesterday and this morning / early afternoon. By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) aired yesterday; Gordon MacRae is Doris Day’s sweetheart returning from the war. Ever in My Heart (1933) aired this morning; Barbara Stanwyck suspects her husband of being a German spy. Immediately after that Chances (1931) aired; two brothers fighting together fall in love with the same woman.

I said, we make no claims about them being scholarly . . .

Coming up:

–I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932). Paul Muni as a WWI veteran sentenced to hard labor. Airs at 8:45 p.m. October 7.

–Lafayette Escadrille (1958). William Wellman’s semi-autobiographical film about the famed flying corps. Airs at 3:00 p.m. October 8.

Big day on October 9 – 10:

–The Eagle and the Hawk (1933). Frederic March and Cary Grant as RAF pilots. Airs at 8:30 p.m. October 9.

–The Lost Patrol (1934). British army troops hold off Arab snipers. A John Ford-directed film with Victor McLaglen and Boris Karloff. Airs at 11:30 p.m. October 9.

–Captured! (1933). Leslie Howard and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., in a film where a POW finds his best friend is his wife’s lover. Airs at 12:45 a.m. October 10.

–Ace of Aces (1933). A sculptor travels to France to prove his courage. Airs at 2:15 a.m. October 10.

–Storm at Daybreak (1933). Fictionalized account of events leading up to the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand. Airs at 2:00 p.m. on October 18.

Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War. He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.