By John Seal
October 7-13, 2002
Catch your breath and pull up the La-Z-Boy. We’ve got another full week of 100% USDA Grade A choice movie pleasure for you! All times PDT.
Monday 10/7/02
12:45am Encore Mystery
House of Games (1987 USA): One of David Mamet’s best films is about illusion, both at the gambling table and away from it. Joe Mantegna and Lindsay Crouse are both excellent as they try to pull the wool over each other’s eyes, but it’s the cameo appearance by cardsharp Ricky Jay that is the highlight of the film. Also airs 10/11 at 12:45pm and 7:45pm and on The Movie Channel, 10/7 at 2:35am.
8:30am Cinemax
She Creature (2001 USA): Shortly before he died, Samuel Z. Arkoff co-produced a series of in-name-only, straight-to-cable remakes of some of the classic AIP monster titles. She Creature was the best of the bunch, setting its tale of a mysterious mermaid abducted for profit firmly in the Gothic genre. Rufus Sewell and Carla Gugino are both good in lead roles, and the film holds together very well until it decides to show its creature in the last reel, at which point it becomes a more typical guts-‘n’-gore monster bash. Nonetheless, it’s worth watching and a fine example of what can be done on a very limited budget and with a little imagination. Also airs at 11:30am.
10:00am Sundance
Irma Vep (1996 FRA): Maggie Cheung appears as a Hong Kong action star (no stretch there, right?), who comes to France to work on a remake of the great silent serial, Les Vampires. The film works as a vérité mockumentary and is quite interesting, if you’re not expecting a linear narrative. Recommended for hardcore movie buffs. Also airs at 9:15pm and 10/12 at 3:30am and 2:30pm.
10:45am Flix
Angel Baby (1967 BRD): Here’s a super rarity, a West German skin flick from the late ‘60s. Gila Von Weitershausen plays a young girl who moves to Munich to experience some thrills and possibly lose her virginity. The dubbing is pretty awful, but the mod, mod clothes are why you want to catch this forerunner to the popular (in Germany) Schulmadchen Report films. There’s also some groovy music, of course, courtesy of The Speeders, an otherwise forgotten German beat combo of the time. Also airs at 1:45pm.
8:00pm TCM
Phantom of Crestwood (1932 USA): Ready for an old dark house mystery? Here’s a decent one, even if the plot (and the house) are pretty creaky. Ricardo Cortez is the dashing star and there’s a reliable supporting cast, led by H. B. Warner as the elderly Crestwood patriarch and Karen Morley as his scheming daughter.
Tuesday 10/8/02
3:00am TCM
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 USA): This is the best film version of the Robert Louis Stevenson story. Fredric March is superb in the Jekyll and Hyde double role, and the film still can shock the unsuspecting modern viewer with its pre-Code approach to sex. There’s one really remarkable scene where March (as Hyde, of course) caresses a young woman’s legs; this scene is as ripe with sexual tension as anything else to come out of Hollywood for the next 40 years.
7:45am HBO
Free Enterprise (1998 USA): Here’s a film that I really shouldn’t have liked but did. Two aspiring screenwriters who are also inveterate Star Trek fans try to approach William Shatner in order to pitch their latest project to him. Shatner (played by Shatner) has a ton of fun poking fun at his own image, and the rest of the cast - none of whom I’m familiar with - do a great job of playing against him. This is a sweet, heartwarming comedy that manages to avoid being sentimental. Trekkies will enjoy it but so will the rest of you. Also airs at 10:45am.
10:00am Flix
Ladybug Ladybug (1963 USA): This is a very unusual and much underappreciated film about a small rural school and how it deals with an impending nuclear attack. Director Frank Perry was one of the leading lights of American indie cinema in the ‘60s, and this film deserves to be as well-known as his debut, David and Lisa. Personally, I think it’s the better of the two pictures. Also airs10/9 at 1:35pm and 10/12 at 4:30am.
1:00pm IFC
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975 AUS): This week’s Peter Weir film is this languidly paced feature, a story about some female Victorian-era students who disappear (along with one of their teachers) on a day trip. There’s no satisfying resolution or solution to the mystery, but the film brilliantly captures the period and has the feel of a scorching hot Outback day. Brilliant. Also airs 10/9 at 5:00am and 11:00am.
5:20pm Encore Action
Bride with White Hair (1993 HK): In the mood for some wire-fu? This is the first and best of a series of three fantasy films. Helmed by Ronny Yu, who went on to direct the fun Bride of Chucky (1998), the film stars Brigitte Lin as the eponymous bride and Leslie Cheung as a swordsman in the pay of the Wu Tang Clan. Filled with all the good stuff you anticipate from a Hong Kong action flick, this is a popcorn movie par excellence. Also airs 10/11 at 1:00am.
Wednesday 10/9/02
2:05am Encore Mystery
The Harder They Fall (1956 USA): Humphrey Bogart’s swan song is one of Hollywood’s reliable chestnuts, a film about corruption in the fight game. Bogie plays a down-on-his-luck journalist hired by an up-and-coming promoter (Rod Steiger) to hype his new fighter, a gentle South American giant called Toro Moreno. Bogart takes on the assignment but soon discovers that Moreno can’t fight for beans, and that he’s being set up for the ultimate knockdown. A riveting film, brilliantly directed by Mark Robson. Also airs 10/12 at 6:45am.
10:15am HBO
The Witches (1990 GB): I’m definitely partial to director Nicolas Roeg’s work, but here’s one that really looks funny on his resumé. It’s a children’s film based on a Roald Dahl story about a group of witches convening amidst summer vacationers at a seaside hotel in Britain. Head of the coven is Anjelica Huston, playing it to the hilt as she tries to rid the world of those annoying rugrats. The supporting cast features Rowan Atkinson, Jane Horrocks, and Brenda Blethyn, and the film has one of the sweetest endings imaginable. I wuv it. Also airs at 1:15pm and 10/12 at 3:40am and 6:40am.
11:30am TCM
Double Indemnity (1944 USA): Billy Wilder’s adaptation of James Cain’s famous novel is truly one of the crown jewels of film noir, as Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck hatch an insurance plot that should set them up for life. Unfortunately for them, an astute Edward G. Robinson is on their heels to thwart their efforts. The film sadly pulls its punches and avoids the tragic ending of Cain’s novel, but we can blame the Production Code, and not Wilder or co-writer Raymond Chandler (!):, for that faux pas.
12:15pm Encore Action
V (Parts 1 and 2) (1983 USA): This made-for-TV two-part epic about Earth’s response to an alien invasion is one of the better examples of this maligned genre and features a terrific (as usual) performance from Michael Ironside as an effective but not-very-nice guerrilla leader for the human partisans. Action is also airing the two-part sequel, V: The Final Battle (1984), but you can give that one a miss.
Thursday 10/10/02
3:30am TCM
The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1935 USA): Poverty row studio Monogram produced a short-lived series of Mr. Wong films, presumably to cream off some of the Charlie Chan cash cow then being milked by Fox. TCM is showing three of them (Mr. Wong Detective [1938] and Mr. Wong in Chinatown [1939], following this one at 4:45am and 6:00am respectively). The first one featured Bela Lugosi as Mr. Wong; the others starred Boris Karloff. Both Lugosi and Karloff had already essayed Asian characters on film, Lugosi as the vaguely Eastern mystic Chandu and Karloff as the decidedly evil Fu Manchu. These aren’t great films and they certainly aren’t politically correct, but they are enjoyable reminders of the sort of bottom-of-the-bill B-grade filler that was prevalent in the ‘30s and ‘40s.
4:45am IFC
Berkeley in the Sixties (1990 USA): Thankfully, this documentary doesn’t focus on love beads, kaftans, and pot parties in People’s Park. Instead it’s a very serious and well-documented look at the political ferment of the times, with particular emphasis on the important Free Speech Movement.
7:00am Fox Movies
When Michael Calls (1972 USA): No one seems to like this made-for-TV movie, but I can remember watching it when it was first broadcast and being scared to death by it. I watched it again recently and it has held up pretty well for me, regardless of a starring role by the annoying Michael Douglas in his pre-Streets of San Francisco days. Is that phone call REALLY coming from beyond the grave? Watch and find out...but don’t be alone in the room! Also airs at 9:00pm.
5:00pm TCM
Cat People (1942 USA): TCM is broadcasting a Val Lewton mega-block on this night. Lewton was a Russian émigré whose low-budget productions for RKO are now viewed as low-budget artistic triumphs of the horror genre, movies filmed with terrific atmosphere and a pervasive sense of dread. For some reason, I Walked With A Zombie and The Body Snatcher are not included in the group of films TCM is showing, but you may as well just plant yourself in front of the tube for the rest: The Leopard Man at 6:15pm, Seventh Victim at 7:30pm, Ghost Ship at 8:45pm, Curse of the Cat People at 10:00pm, and Isle of the Dead at 11:15pm. My favorite of the bunch is Ghost Ship, but your mileage may vary. They’re all good.
10:00pm Showtime
The Visitors (1972 USA): This dramatic obscurity is an unheralded late-career film by the great name namer himself, Elia Kazan. James Woods made his theatrical debut as a Vietnam vet who suddenly gets a visit from two former (and very creepy) Army buddies, one played by Steve Railsback, who also debuted in this film. The film is quite typical for its time: slow and character-driven; the wintry setting underlines the general sense of unease one gets as soon as Woods’ pals show up on the scene. Also airs 10/11 at 1:00am.
Friday 10/11/02
12:30am TCM
Bedlam (1946 USA): Completing TCM’s Lewton festival, here’s the last film in the cycle. Starring Boris Karloff as the caretaker of the notorious insane asylum, the film is probably one of the lesser Lewtons, but it still has moments.
9:00am Fox
The Sicilian Clan (1969 FRA): Fox broadcast this cracking crime movie a few months back. I’m thrilled to report that they’re showing it again, this time in what will surely be a magnificent wide-screen transfer. Simply one of the best crime-caper films ever made, The Sicilian Clan stars Jean Gabin, the French matinee idol of the ‘30s, and Alain Delon, his ‘60s equivalent and the man whose hair many have wished to possess. Add in a performance by Lino Ventura as the police inspector out to stop Gabin and Delon, a terrific Ennio Morricone score, and luscious photography by Henri Decae, and you’re in movie heaven. The pan-and-scan version airs at 11:00pm.
6:00pm Sundance
Blank Generation (1976 USA): All I can say is, wow. It would have been cool enough if Sundance was airing Ulli Lommel’s 1979 Blank Generation, but here’s the earlier Amos Poe film, complete with Ivan Kral, Tom Verlaine, Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, and Wayne County. Stay tuned after the film for a documentary entitled Silver Rockets/Kool Things: 20 Years of Sonic Youth.
11:00pm TCM
The Evil Eye (1963 ITA): A rare TV airing of this Mario Bava film. If you don’t already own the DVD (released as The Girl Who Knew Too Much) and are a horror fan, you won’t want to miss this one. Star John Saxon had just relocated to Europe after failing to become a star in America, and it kick-started his long and usually illustrious career in genre films.
Saturday 10/12/02
1:15am Flix
Raw Meat (1972 GB): I’ve never seen this obscure British horror film about cannibals living in the London Underground. With a set up that terrific, how can I have missed it? Add in stars Christopher Lee and Donald Pleasence - as well as comedian Norman Rossington - and a good time seems guaranteed.
10:00pm Sci Fi
Incubus (1965 USA): I don’t normally recommend films broadcast with commercial interruptions, but the world television premiere of Incubus is of sufficient importance and interest to trump those concerns. The first (and to my knowledge, only) film ever shot in the international language Esperanto, Incubus should not be confused with the dreadful John Cassavetes film that shares its name. And will there ever be another week when I’ll recommend you watch not one but TWO films starring William Shatner?
Sunday 10/13/02
5:00pm Fox
Hand of Death (1962 USA): Another rediscovery, this film was held in abeyance by Fox out of respect to star John Agar until the actor’s death earlier this year. Unseen for almost 40 years, this is reportedly a minor but interesting horror entry.
9:00pm TCM
Der Golem (1915 GER): Silent Sunday night brings us another Hallowe’en treat from TCM, this time a broadcast of Paul Wegener’s expressionistic interpretation of the Jewish folktale. It’s interesting to consider that Wegener - who also plays the Golem in some impressive make-up - remained and worked in Nazi Germany throughout World War II. I don’t recall the film featuring much, if any, anti-Semitism, but it’s been many years since I’ve seen it.
10:30pm TCM
Primary (1960 USA): I’ve never seen this documentary about the race between John F. Kennedy and perennial bridesmaid Hubert Humphrey for the Democratic presidential nod in 1960, but it’s an early example of the vérité style that should be of equal interest to film, history, and political buffs.
