TCM Highlights: December 15-21 & Full December Calendar

This week, TCM is getting into the holiday spirit, classic Hollywood style — that means a set of Christmas crime comedies and a marathon of films about angels intervening in the affairs of men, as well as a screening of the Bing Crosby/ Ingrid Bergman classic The Bells of St. Mary’s. And if you’re feeling a little bah humbug about all the holiday hustle and bustle, you can also get in some classic romance, with the a tribute to Jane Austen adaptations, and the original 1939 Wuthering Heights — filmed nearly 100 years before the upcoming 2026 adaptation.

Just looking for the full December calendar for the month? Scroll to the bottom to download.

Monday, December 15

The Unsinkable Molly Brown

9:15am

Everett Collection

TCM’s Unexpected Heroes block of films today includes a favorite with 1964’s The Unsinkable Molly Brown. This is one of those golden-age musicals that still feels alive with personality, thanks almost entirely to Debbie Reynolds. She’s a powerhouse as Molly — a rough-around-the-edges Colorado dreamer who claws her way from poverty to high society, and then famously refuses to go down with the Titanic. Reynolds gives her heart and grit, making Molly as funny as she is fearless.

Opposite her, Harve Presnell‘s Johnny Brown adds some warmth, grounding the film’s wilder moments. Presnell was the sole member of the original Broadway cast who reprised his stage role for the film. Sure, it’s big and brassy (Reynolds singing “Belly Up to the Bar, Boys”), but beneath the show tunes is a story about resilience and reinvention that still hits home today.

Tuesday, December 16

Wuthering Heights

8pm

Everett Collection

This 1939 film was the first (and best) onscreen adaptation of Emily Brontë’s gothic classic, filled with just as much romance and yearning as the original novel. Directed by William Wyler (Ben-Hur, Roman Holiday), the film starred Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon as star-crossed lovers — brooding orphan Heathcliff and headstrong Catherine Earnshaw Linton. The passionate black-and-white period film set in the 19th-century only covers the book’s first 16 chapters, focusing on the first generation of inhabitants of the Yorkshire moors, and their tragic choices, eliminating the hopeful ending of the book entirely. It was just as much of a hit then as it is now — and was nominated for eight Academy Awards.

Wednesday, December 17

250 Years of Jane Austen

Beginning at 8pm

Everett Collection

Yesterday, Dec. 16, marked the 250th anniversary of writer Jane Austen’s birth. Today, we celebrate the 18th century literary icon’s legacy with four films based on her best works. First is Gwyneth Paltrow‘s 1996 take on Emma, a period rom-com in which her Emma Woodhouse plays matchmaker with hilarious results. Next is 1995’s critically acclaimed, star-studded Sense and Sensibility, with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman in lead roles. After that, see the same year’s missed-opportunity romance Persuasion, a more true-to-book film from England. And last but certainly not least is 1940’s Pride and Prejudice, notably starring Laurence Olivier as the reserved Mr. Darcy. Are you swooning yet?

Thursday, December 18

TCM Spotlight: Divine Intervention

Beginning at 8pm

Courtesy Everett Collection

Film characters benefit (or suffer) from some “divine intervention” in these six films. The ‘thon begins with the 1943 period comedy Heaven Can Wait (no relation to the 1978 Warren Beatty film of the same name) about a playboy (Don Ameche) who argues with Satan (Laird Cregar) that his ne’er-do-well life suggests he belongs down there instead of up in heaven. Gene Tierney costars. Then, Paul Muni is the dead gangster whose deal with the Devil (Claude Rains) backfires on Satan in 1946’s Angel on My Shoulder. Eddie “Rochester” Anderson got a rare starring role in 1943’s Cabin in the Sky, an all-Black-cast musical about a resurrected gambler given one last chance to make good (as an angel and the Devil try to influence him). The night is rounded out with The Story of Mankind (1957), The Green Pastures (1936) and Heavenly Music (1943).

Friday, December 19

Holiday Shopping Rom-Coms

Beginning at 8pm

Courtesy Everett Collection

There are only five more shopping days ’til Christmas — but if you haven’t gotten your fill of it yet, tune in to this marathon of holiday romantic comedies, each involving a store.

First up, 1949’s A Holiday Affair showcases Robert Mitchum in a rare romantic comedy lead, playing a down-on-his-luck salesman trying to woo a young widow (Janet Leigh). Then, in 1940’s The Shop Around the Corner, Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan play coworkers who can’t stand each other in person, but have fallen hard for each other through an anonymous correspondence. 1958’s Bell, Book and Candle is the only Christmas romance to feature jazz-loving Greenwich Village witches and warlocks — but the compelling love story between Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak is the real attraction. End the night with 1956’s Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds musical Bundle of Joy, which tells the tale of an unmarried department store sales clerk who finds an abandoned baby, and its original inspiration, the 1939 Ginger Rogers comedy Bachelor Mother.

Saturday, December 20

Classic Christmas Criminal Comedies

Beginning at 8pm

Everett Collection

Crime doesn’t pay — but it sure is funny in these two holiday films about folks who have a little trouble following the law. First up, in Remember the Night (1940), Barbara Stanwyck plays Lee, a beautiful young criminal due to spend Christmas in jail for stealing a bracelet; Fred MacMurray plays the lawyer who finds her so charming, he posts her bail and ends up taking her back to Indiana to meet Mom. Then, in We’re No Angels (1955), Humphrey Bogart leads a group of three convicts who escape from prison right before Christmas, but  find their plans to go on the run stymied when they become attached to a small-town family.

Sunday, December 21

The Bells of St. Mary’s

5:45pm

Everett Collection

Few films capture the heart and optimism of postwar America quite like The Bells of St. Mary’s. Released in 1945, this cherished sequel to Going My Way reunited audiences with Bing Crosby‘s genial Father O’Malley — this time assigned to a struggling parochial school under the care of the devoted Sister Benedict, portrayed with luminous grace by Ingrid Bergman. On the surface, it’s a gentle story about faith and perseverance. But what keeps The Bells of St. Mary’s ringing after all these years is its quiet humanity.

Click here to download the printable December 2025 TCM schedule.