SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: MAUREEN O'HARA
TCM, 6:00 a.m. ET
There are 24 hours of Maureen O’Hara movies on today’s “Summer Under the Stars” TCM schedule – but let me steer you straight to the best one, and a movie that’s worth revisiting no matter how many times you’ve seen it. At 8 p.m. ET, in the coveted start-of-prime-time spot, TCM presents 1939’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. O’Hara co-stars as Esmeralda, the beauty who catches the eye (and what a bulging eye it is) of Charles Laughton’s hunchbacked Quasimodo, who operates the bell tower at Notre Dame Cathedral. The setting is magnificent, Victor Hugo’s story is a classic, and Laughton’s performance is just as amazing dramatically as it is physically. (Even though there was a stuntman stand-in for the really difficult parts. Maureen O’Hara confirmed that in a TCM interview years ago, so it’s not just a hunch.)