By John Seal
March 24-30, 2003
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated - they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times PST.
Monday 03/23/03
1:45 AM Encore Mystery
Johnny Angel (1945 USA): This enjoyable little RKO programmer stars George Raft as the title character, out for revenge against the criminals who murdered his father. Along the way he hooks up with Signe Hasso, playing a young woman whose father also met the same fate. Deftly directed by Edwin L. Marin (Death Kiss, 1938’s A Christmas Carol) and well written by Western specialist Steve Fisher, the film also benefits from some nice photography by Harry Wild. The icing on the cake is provided by Hoagy Carmichael, playing a tuneful cab driver who gets to sing “Memphis In June”. Cabbies just ain’t what they used to be.
5:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Cavalcade (1933 USA): Noel Coward’s play of the same name was adapted for the big screen by Fox, who assigned one of their top directors (Frank Lloyd, two years away from Mutiny On the Bounty) and were ultimately rewarded with three Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Art Direction). It’s pretty much a forgotten film at this point, and the world it takes place in - aristocratic London society - has changed beyond all recognition. Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard (nominated for Best Actress) play a wealthy couple living through the tumultuous years of the early 20th Century, including the Boer War and World War I. Watch out for the original Nancy Drew, Bonita Granville, in a small role.
10:50 PM Encore
Jennifer Eight (1992 USA): You won’t find me recommending many films starring Oprah - oops, Uma - Thurman, and she isn’t much good in this one either. Nonetheless, this is a surprisingly good suspense film, well written and directed by Bruce Robinson, the man behind How to Get Ahead In Advertising and Withnail and I, two of the best British films of the ‘80s. Dare I suggest this film would have been even better in a British setting? Suppositions aside, Andy Garcia is decent enough as the fish out of water L.A. cop thrust into a murder investigation in a backwater town. He’s ably supported by local policeman Lance Henriksen, who delivers his usual fine performance in a role somewhat larger and more prestigious than the ones he’s used to getting. Atmospherically shot by the recently deceased Conrad Hall, Jennifer Eight is strongly recommended to suspense fans who can cope with Ms. Thurman playing a blind girl. Also airs 3/25 at 1:50 AM and 3/28 at 6:35 AM and 9:35 AM.
Tuesday 03/25/03
6:15 AM More Max
Testament (1983 USA): The Day After got most of the attention, but this is the better “nuclear holocaust” film, relying less on special effects and horrific scenes and more on character-driven drama. Jane Alexander plays a Northern California mother in a small town that at first seems to have been spared the horrors of an atomic attack on San Francisco. The aftereffects, however, soon take a toll, as radiation sickness begins to affect the townsfolk. With nuclear proliferation back in vogue, now seems a particularly appropriate time for Testament to reappear on the small screen. Perhaps we can look forward to an airing of the BBC’s grueling Threads (1985) in the near future.
5:25 PM Showtime Extreme
The Shooters (1990 USA): The speculative pick of the week is a film I truly know nothing about, but it does star good old Aldo Ray. The plot sounds like a cross between ‘F’ Troop and one of those bad Spring Break or Summer Camp movies: the hapless soldiers of Fort Lepter are forced to engage in war games that are clearly beyond their skills. It’s probably terrible, but it’s so obscure I can’t resist including it.
Wednesday 03/26/03
2:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Five Star Final (1931 USA): Another terrific Mervyn Leroy Warner's film, Five Star Final finds the director in familiar hard-boiled territory. Starring Edward G. Robinson as a ruthless newspaper editor out to get the big scoop regardless of the pain inflicted on the subjects of the story, this is an indictment of journalism's tendency for sensationalism - still, unsurprisingly, a problem seventy years later. His costars include 18-year-old Marian Marsh, still with us today, as well as H. B. Warner, Aline MacMahon, and Boris Karloff (pre-Frankenstein) as Robinson's hatchet man.
11:30 AM Encore
War of the Worlds (1953 USA): Considering the veracity of his other evidence, I’m surprised that George W. Bush hasn’t accused Saddam Hussein of being a Martian. Yet. In the meantime, we’re left to ruminate on the intra-system threat posed by these faceless space enemies, in this, another stunning science-fiction film from producer George Pal. This is the best film adaptation of the famous H. G. Wells novel. I say that with confidence, as the rumored Hollywood remake will surely pale in comparison, though it will undoubtedly feature larger and more explosive explosions and gooier aliens. Shot in glorious and gaudy Technicolor, this film features some terrific spaceships and some very fleeting - but very effective - peeks at the Martian invaders.
8:00 PM Fox Movies
Cinderella Liberty (1973 USA): This is a widescreen broadcast of this outstanding drama, displaying some of James Caan's finest work in this adaptation of Darryl Ponicsan's novel. Ponicsan also wrote The Last Detail, a superb slice of Navy life that was also adapted for the screen with great success in the same year. I haven't read the source material for this film, but the result is a fine example of character-driven '70s cinema. Caan plays a sailor whose Navy paperwork gets misplaced. As a result, he hangs around portside, meeting and falling in love with single mom and all-around woman-of-ill repute Marsha Mason. Mason is superb in a tough role, and the film has a rough but bittersweet edge that ultimately leads to a happy ending. There’s also a great performance by young Kirk Calloway as Mason’s streetwise child, a boy who projects a tough veneer to conceal an inner core of vulnerability. Calloway went on to appear in 1976’s Monkey Hustle, where he played a similar character to less effect.
Thursday 03/27/03
3:45 AM Encore Mystery
Last Man On Earth (1964 ITA): The widescreen presentation we’ve long been hoping for still eludes us, but even pan-and-scanned, this black and white adaptation of Richard Matheson’s brilliant novel I Am Legend is well worth a look. Vincent Price stars as the title character, the lone survivor of a worldwide plague that has turned the rest of the population into wandering zombies who only come out at night. Price is excellent, turning things down a notch from his frequently ripe performances, and the empty cityscapes surprisingly effective, considering Italian back-lots were filling in for New York City. This one really deserves the deluxe DVD treatment - the budget DVD currently available is simply inadequate.
7:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Georgy Girl (1966 GB): The film that allowed Lynn Redgrave to escape the shadow of elder sister Vanessa, Georgy Girl is a fairly lightweight but still pointed story of a young, slightly overweight woman trying to capitalize on some of the benefits of swingin’ London. Screenwriter Peter Nichols was on a bit of a roll, having just completed work on John Boorman’s sadly ignored classic, Catch Me If You Can (1965 GB), and the cast is excellent, also featuring James Mason, Charlotte Rampling, and newcomer Alan Bates. And don’t forget the marvelous theme song, composed by Dusty Springfield’s brother Tom.
10:00 AM Flix
Girl With Green Eyes (1964 GB): Here’s the younger Miss Redgrave in another film, this one a somewhat more low-key affair, taking place in the relative backwater of 1960s Dublin. The stars are actually Rita Tushingham, the quintessential ugly duckling of the period, and Peter Finch, here playing a wealthy landowner engaging in an extramarital affair with a working-class lass (Tushingham). Adapted for the screen by Edna O’Brien, and based on O’Brien’s novel The Lonely Girl, Girl With Green Eyes was produced by Tony Richardson, who also directed Tushingham in the similar A Taste of Honey in 1961. Also airs 3/28 at 2:45 AM.
Friday 03/28/03
2:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Emma (1932 USA): This outstanding MGM drama features Marie Dressler, the least likely star of the screen since Lon Chaney. Dressler’s career stretched back to an appearance in the 1916 comedy, Tillie’s Punctured Romance, but she really took off in the early ‘30s, with performances in Anna Christie, Min and Bill, and the unforgettable Tugboat Annie. Her no-nonsense bluntness clearly made a connection with Depression-era audiences, and this is one of her best efforts, a story of a nanny (Dressler) who marries her employer (Jean Hersholt) shortly before his death, only to be turned on by the children she helped raise once Daddy has departed. Written by Frances Marion and directed by Clarence Brown, Emma earned Dressler an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
2:00 PM Trio
Boulevard Nights (1979 USA): Here are the caveats: Trio interrupts their films with commercials. They digitize nudity and scramble certain words (‘asshole’) whilst allowing others (‘shit’) to air. Forearmed with that knowledge, you still might want to take the time to look at this forgotten tale of Chicano youth in the big city directed by the auteur responsible for Doctor Detroit.
Saturday 03/29/03
Midnight Flix
Beach Red(1967 USA): I’m still waiting for TCM to re-broadcast this widescreen - I botched my taping job last time they showed it - but till then pan and scan is the only option. Probably the first psychedelic war film, Beach Red encompasses flashbacks and fantasy sequences to great effect and is another fine example of the idiosyncratic talents of actor-director Cornel Wilde.
5:00 AM IFC
47 Ronin Part 1 (1941 JAP): Ask, and ye shall receive: IFC takes a break from recycling the Zatoichi series, reaching back to one of the earliest examples of the samurai genre. Kenji Mizoguchi’s extremely long (four hour) epic will test the devotion of even the most enthusiastic samurai cinema fans (including this one), but this is a historically important film that deserves a look - though you may tune out after a few hours. Also airs at 10:45 AM.
2:00 PM Encore Action
Rage of Honor (1987 USA-ARG) : Now, if you want some real flying fists, down and dirty chop socky action after 47 Ronin, here’s your film. Sho Kosugi stars in this Argentinian-American(!) co-production, a typically bloody tale of cops versus drug dealers. Not to be confused with Cynthia Rothrock’s equally inept Rage AND Honor films. Also airs at 10:35 PM.
8:45 PM IFC
The Pillow Book (1995 GB): If you didn’t get your, er, fill of Ewan McGregor’s John Thomas in last week’s Velvet Goldmine, here’s another opportunity for you to get an eyeful of the Scots thespian’s todger. Directed by arthouse favorite Peter Greenaway, the nudity is non-discriminatory, as co-star Vivian Wu is equally well presented. Greenaway is a filmmaker who revels in Fellini-esque artificiality, and if you enjoyed Prospero’s Books (1991 GB), you’ll be pleased by this one - not least for the lack of gratuitous nude shots of Sir John Gielgud. Wu plays a young woman obsessed with body art, McGregor serves as the object of her affections, and the two of them spend most of the film lying around in the buff. Also airs 3/30 at 12:45 AM.
Sunday 03/30/03
Midnight Encore
Birdy (1983 USA): It no longer plays as well as it did when I was 20, but Birdy remains a memorable film about the psychological aftereffects of war. Nicolas Cage plays a (physically) wounded soldier who is sent to a hospital to try and help his mentally damaged compatriot, Matthew Modine, who has returned from Vietnam thinking he’s a bird. Cage’s job is to establish contact with Modine’s buried human personality, and though the film tends to veer into Hollywood clichés and sentimentality, it has two brilliant performances at its core and is worth seeing at least once.
5:00 PM IFC
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995 USA): Todd Solondz’ debut feature comes with a big caveat: I found the film’s final reel to be utterly unsatisfying and quite ridiculous. That aside, the first hour-plus of this paean to the miseries of suburban childhood is picture perfect, filled with poignancy and heartbreak - as well as abject cruelty - in the person of Dawn Wiener, a character played superbly by 13-year-old Heather Matarazzo. Few other films have matched Solondz’ vision of teen torment as effectively. Also airs at 9:15 PM.
