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Saturday 10/11/08

6:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Shockproof (1949 USA): Cornel Wilde stars as a parole officer with a problem in this excellent film noir from director Douglas Sirk. Wilde portrays Griff Marat, who's taken a keen interest in parolee Jenny Marsh (Patricia Knight) and has gone so far as to take her on as his mother's caretaker. Breaking all sorts of rules, Griff falls for Jenny and marries her on the sly, offering sleazeball Harry Wesson (John Baragrey) the blackmailing opportunity of a lifetime. Sirk predictably amps up the melodramatic aspects of Sam Fuller's story, and things take a tragic turn before the redemptive final reel.

11:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
Dreamer (1979 USA): A few weeks back, I wrote about 1948's Roadhouse, a founder member of the exclusive 'bowling noir' genre. If you enjoyed Roadhouse, but felt that it underemphasized the bowling aspects of its story, you're ready for Dreamer, an obscure Fox feature returning to television tonight after a very lengthy absence. The film stars Tim Matheson as the titular all-around good guy, who holds down a day job at a bowling alley whilst hoping against hope that one day he will be admitted into the hallowed halls of the Professional Bowling Association. Dreamer is basically Rocky with skittles, but without the scene in the meat locker, or the exciting fight sequences, or Philadelphia City Hall. If memory serves, however, it does have a training montage, so the comparison remains apt.

Sunday 10/12/08

12:00 PM Starz in Black
The Front Line (2006 IRE): Frenchman Eriq Ebouaney takes the lead as a security officer in a sticky situation in this entertaining Irish caper flick. He plays Joe, a Congolese asylum seeker working as a bank guard whilst awaiting final determination of his immigration status. Though surrounded by blatant prejudice and racism, Joe maintains a sunny disposition — until a gang of robbers led by psychotic Eddie (James Frain) kidnap his family and force him to serve as the inside man for their pending bank job. The Front Line takes some intriguing and unpredictable turns, and provides further proof that the tiny but resilient Irish film industry is leaving its cosy rural roots behind.

12:30 PM Sundance
Manderlay (2006 DEN): Part two of Lars Von Trier's still incomplete Dogville trilogy makes its American television debut this afternoon. The luminous Bryce Dallas Howard replaces Nicole Kidman in the lead role of Grace Mulligan, and the story commences as she departs with her father (Willem Dafoe) from Dogville for greener pastures in rural Alabama. It's 1933, and apparently this back-of-beyond part of the Deep South hasn't received word that slavery was outlawed 70 years prior. The Mulligans meet plantation owner Mam (Lauren Bacall) and overseer Wilhelm (Danny Glover), neither of whom believe their slaves are ready for the responsibilities of freedom. Grace believes differently, and ends up leading a slave rebellion. Shot in the same arch-theatrical style as its predecessor, Manderlay exposes American's post-racial mythology through the prism of Von Trier's puckish point of view. It's not easy or entertaining viewing, but like all of the Danish nutter's output, thought provoking and maddening in equal measure.

6:30 PM IFC
Jeepers Creepers (2001 USA): Jeepers Creepers was hailed as a minor miracle of modern horror when it was released in 2001: a film that provided brooding atmosphere and genuine scares and avoided relying (entirely) on blood and grue to score points with the audience. Whilst that analysis looks somewhat questionable in retrospect — there's still plenty of latex and Kayro Syrup to go around — it's still a decent and slightly above average chiller about a spooky drainage ditch and its flesh-eating inhabitant. Jeepers Creepers makes its widescreen television debut tonight, and is well worth a look for those hoping to get a head start on Halloween.

Monday 10/13/08

8:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Circus Queen Murder (1933 USA): Titles don't get much better than 'The Circus Queen Murder', do they? It's got to either be a film about a) a serial killer who follows the carnival from town to town with the intention of murdering their effeminate employees, or b) a maladjusted Divine-type who's knocking off the trans-phobic members of a travelling circus. Really, there are no other options. For example, there's NO WAY such a film could star Adolphe Menjou as a district attorney who gets involved with cannibals and Dwight Frye as a trapeze artist. That just couldn't happen. Could it?

3:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Snorkel (1958 GB): If not for Michael Weldon's essential Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film, I would never have heard of this film before. There it is on page 641, however, and ever since that book came out a quarter-century ago, I've read and re-read The Snorkel's oh so brief précis and wondered what on earth the film would be like. Now we're all going to find out. Besides being one of Hammer Films most obscure productions, The Snorkel stars Peter Van Eyck (The Brain, The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse), was directed by Guy Green (who would go on to helm worthy efforts The Angry Silence, The Mark, and A Patch of Blue) and was co-written by Jimmy Sangster and Italian pulpmeister Antonio Margheriti! With pedigree like that — and the fact that this marks its first American television appearance in living memory — The Snorkel ranks as this week's critical must see for obsessive-compulsive movie mavens.

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