TCM's new catch phrase "Let's Movie!" couldn't be more appropriate than it is this month, because rarely have so many great films been shown 24/7 in one spot before. Here at Turner Classic Movies, February is always our favorite time of the year because it means that for 31 days we show nothing but the best of the best that Hollywood and many other film centers of the world have given us since the first Academy Awards® were handed out on May 16, 1929.

This year those 31 days run from Feb. 1-Mar. 2 as we bring you the 21st edition of our "31 Days of Oscar®" salutes, when every film we show--be it a feature, a cartoon short, a documentary of any size or anything comparable which has even been run through a projector--is either a past Academy Award® winner or nominee. This year that list will be including 31 films that received the Academy's highest, most prestigious prize for Best Picture of the year (among them: the 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty; Casablanca [1942]; The Best Years of Our Lives [1946]; The Bridge on the River Kwai [1957]; Gigi [1958]; Lawrence of Arabia [1962]; The Sting [1973]; Patton [1970]; and Gandhi [1982]).

It also means stars galore, including those two beautiful people on the cover of this month's Now Playing guide: Audrey Hepburn and William Holden looking particularly spiffy in Billy Wilder's 1954 Sabrina. Audrey delivered a performance in that romantic comedy which brought her a Best Actress Oscar® nomination, with other Sabrina nominations going to Billy Wilder for his direction and screenplay, also ones for the film's cinematography and art direction. That dress Audrey is wearing triggered quite a kerfuffle at Oscar® time: Edith Head was given solo screen credit for the Sabrina costume designs although it was French designer Hubert de Givenchy who, at Audrey's insistence, did the majority of Audrey's costumes for that film; he was denied a screen credit because he was not a member of Hollywood's costume design union. Lo and behold, the Oscar® for costume design that year did go to Sabrina. Edith Head, alone, went to the podium to accept the Oscar® and, shocking many, never mentioned Givenchy in her acceptance speech. (But that, as they say, is "another story," Oscar®'s history being full of fascinating Academy Award® facts, oversights, stir ups and snubs we'll be sharing all month long.)

The screen's other famous Hepburn will also be well represented this month on TCM: we'll be showing six of Katharine H's films touched by Oscar®, hers but one of the many fascinating faces abounding on the schedule throughout the 31 days. We'll also be premiering several impressive movies we've never shown on TCM before including Frenchman's Creek (1944), The Slipper and the Rose (1976), Bloodbrothers (1978), Breaking Away (1979), Best Friends (1982) and Apollo 13 (1995).

We've also scheduled the 360 films we're showing in a way that we hope will add to your fun: every movie is linked to the next one by an actor who has a role in both films. It's up to you to guess who that actor may be. (A clue: it's most likely not the star of either film.) Happy hunting, and we hope you'll be joining us as often as your days and nights allow. We'll do our best to make it worth your time.

by Robert Osborne