FLICK PICKS: April salutes to George Stevens, Robert Taylor

Monday night's George Stevens roundup kicks off April's director of the month tribute from Turner Classic Movies, screening three of Stevens' biggest titles and his own son's acclaimed clip-filled salute. The Texas-sized 1956 epic Giant (April 6 at 8 p.m. ET, TCM) with James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson leads into 1984's George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey (11:30 p.m. ET, TCM) from longtime American Film Institute leader George Stevens Jr. They're followed overnight by the essential 1953 western Shane and 1935's Barbara Stanwyck vehicle Annie Oakley (1:30 and 3:45 a.m. ET, TCM).

Stevens was less a cinematic auteur than the ultimate golden-age Hollywood craftsman, which becomes clear as successive April Monday nights move through genre after genre. Look for sentimental stories like Alice Adams and I Remember Mama (April 12), social dramas like The Diary of Anne Frank and A Place in the Sun (April 19), and deft comedy and music in my favorite lineup wrapping up Stevens month.

Saving the liveliest for last, April 26 brings the sparkling and sexy '40s Jean Arthur double feature of The More the Merrier (with Joel McCrea and Charles Coburn) and The Talk of the Town (with Cary Grant and Ronald Colman), with the Hepburn-Tracy gem Woman of the Year and the Astaire-Rogers musical Swing Time. There's even a repeat of A Filmmaker's Journey, saluting all the month's pleasures as the Stevens tribute concludes April 26. Check out the full lineup here.

Also in April, Robert Taylor is honored as TCM's star of the month. The channel goes 'round the clock on Tuesday nights with 54 of the dashing leading man's 1930s-60s credits.

Taylor's celebrated good looks took him through romances of both the present and past variety (April 6's Magnificent Obsession, Camille opposite Greta Garbo, and Waterloo Bridge), war and crime (April 13's High Wall, Stand by for Action and Johnny Eager), period epics (April 20's Quo Vadis and Ivanhoe), sweeping adventures (April 27's Savage Pampas and Killers of Kilimanjaro), westerns, suspense and more. Review the entire lineup of TCM Taylor titles here.