A trifecta of perfection on TCM

Turner Classic Movies has long been one of my favorite channels. Not only can you see some of the greatest movies ever made, but also sans commercials and in their original aspect ratio (none of that "formatted to fit your screen" crap.) Plus you get insight into each movie before and after it shows from cuddly film historian Robert Osbourne. You do need to have a high tolerance for black and white, but what serious film lover doesn't?

Anyway, I bring this up because while TCM will often show movies I have no interest in seeing, every so often they will show two or three classics right in a row, making for some amazing old-school movie-viewing action. And Sunday night is one of those times.

Tune in to TCM (Time Warner channel 63) starting at 9 p.m. to see, and I can't stress this enough, three of the GREATEST MOTION PICTURES EVER TO GRACE THE PLANET. In a row. Without commercials. Drool.

Starting at 9 o'clock you get Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart in The Philadelphia Story. The 1940 comedy of high society and low blows single-handedly resurrected Hepburn's then-flagging movie career. Basically, without this movie, Cate Blanchett would still be Oscar-less.

After that at 11, you get the mack daddy of them all, the most perfect movie ever made, Casablanca. If the Packers happen to fall prey to the Panthers tomorrow afternoon, take solace in Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman outwitting Nazis, falling in and out of love, and asking Sam to play a certain song. Pure film bliss.

And to finish it off at 1 a.m., strap yourself in for Alfred Hitchcock's most flat-out enjoyable movie, North By Northwest. Mama's boy Cary Grant is mistaken for a government agent, chased across Mount Rushmore, and ends up taking a highly suggestive train ride with Eva Marie Saint.

Keep an eye on TCM's listings and you'll be rewarded with some great film watching. You can always click it here for this month's schedule at TCM's Web site.

-- Adam Reinhard, lifeisfunnybutnothahafunny@gmail.com