TiVoPlex
By John Seal
June 18, 2007
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 06/19/07
3:30 AM Starz
Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006 USA): I had always thought it was Professor Plum, in the kitchen, with the candlestick, but it turns out I was wrong. It was actually the least likely suspect of all: Mr. Automobile Executive, in the smoke-filled courtroom, with the lawsuit. That, of course, is the thesis of this well-intentioned, if somewhat underpowered, documentary from first time director Chris Paine. Unnecessarily larded with testimonial appearances by celebrity enthusiasts ranging from Tom Hanks to Phyllis Diller, but bolstered by fascinating archival footage, Who Killed the Electric Car? makes a cogent point about the poisonous intersection between commerce and the body politic, all within the space of a lean 90 minutes. Now, if only someone would kill the Segway, the world would truly be a better place. Also airs at 6:30 AM.
8:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Beware, My Lovely (1952 USA): Robert Ryan plays a psychotic handyman with his eye on Ida Lupino in this enjoyably far-fetched RKO thriller. Ryan, always at his best portraying morally compromised characters laden with disturbing tics and compulsions, essays the role of Howard Wilton, a wandering jack of all trades whose unfortunate penchant for violence has left a trail of death in his wake. Moving to a new town, Wilton lucks into a gig working for kindly World War I widow Helen Gordon (Lupino), but his paranoia rapidly redevelops and he convinces himself that she doesn't have his best interests at heart. Plunging over the edge into madness, he proceeds to imprison the terrified Helen in her own home whilst alternating death threats with periods of helpful fixer-uppery. Oddly, Beware My Lovely (based on Mel Dinelli's play The Man) avoids the implication that Howard could himself be a shell-shocked victim of The War to End All Wars — but perhaps that un-stated premise may have seemed quite obvious to 1952 filmgoers wearied by World War II and the then ongoing ‘police action' in Korea.
Wednesday 06/20/07
8:00 PM HBO Signature
The Fever (2004 GB-USA): This fever is neither of the boogie nor baseball variety, but simply of the base: politics. Committed revolutionary and long-term activist Vanessa Redgrave stars as a mysterious unnamed woman who awakens one morning in a dank hotel somewhere on the wrong side of the old Iron Curtain. Finding a copy of Das Kapital left on her doorstep by a kindly stranger, our heroine immerses herself in the exciting new ideology of Marxism, learns that free markets have enslaved and bled dry the Third World, and determines to change things for the better and overcome her newly awakened middle class guilt. An allegorical and autobiographical tribute to its star, The Fever was written by Wallace Shawn (My Dinner With Andre, The Princess Bride) and directed by the wonderfully monickered Carlo Gabriel Nero, who also happens to be Vanessa's son by Franco Nero. This fascinating if occasionally maddening vanity project also features appearances by right wing bete noir Michael Moore, Angelina Jolie (!), and Redgrave's daughter (this time via Tony Richardson) Joely Richardson.
Thursday 06/21/07
3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957 USA): A low rent take on the Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? meme, The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown stars future brassiere huckster Jane Russell as Laurel Stevens, a sexy blonde actress whose new film, The Kidnapped Bride, is just about to open in monoplexes around the nation. On her way to the premiere, Stevens is snatched off the street by a pair of bumbling hoods (Ralph Meeker and Keenan Wynn), and everyone assumes it's all a publicity stunt — which it most assuredly isn't. To further complicate matters, Laurel soon comes down with a full-fledged case of Stockholm Syndrome, as she falls in love with abductor Mike Valla (Meeker). Will the studio ante up the $100,000 demanded by the goombahs — or will love trump all? A frothy concoction from Lewis and Martin director Norman Taurog and screenwriter Richard Alan Simmons, The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown is ideal early morning viewing for insomniacs and Playtex Cross Your Heart Bra enthusiasts alike.
Friday 06/22/07
3:30 AM Sundance
Language Does Not Lie (2003 USA): Oh, that is SUCH a lie! Ever since George Orwell wrote his legendary essay Politics and the English Language in 1946, we've been well aware of the infinite ways in which language can be subverted and perverted for political gain. This outstanding documentary examines the writings of a German Jew named Victor Klemperer (any relation to Werner?), who kept a journal during the Nazi era detailing the language used by Hitler and his pals to control thought and exercise authority. Thankfully, as we now safely reside in Francis Fukuyama's post-history period, we no longer need be concerned about such aberrations from the reality-based past, but it sure makes for an interesting look at the bad old days. Freedom fries, anyone?
10:15 AM HBO Family
Drakmar: A Vassal's Journey (2006 USA): If you've ever spent a few too many hours immersed in the fantasy worlds of Dungeons and Dragons — or, for those of you a little younger, World of Warcraft — you'll want to take a look at this mildly cautionary tale about adolescence and role-playing games. Thankfully, Drakmar: A Vassal's Journey isn't a fundamentalist polemic raging against the dangers posed by pretending to be a level 10 cleric, but a quietly effective look at 14 year old RPG enthusiast Colin Taylor, who spends most of his spare time traipsing around the mythical ‘Kingdom of Terre Neuve', where he tries to come to terms with the absence of his father and his status as chief nerd at a San Diego-area high school. This bittersweet tribute to the angst of adolescence also airs at 5:45 PM.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Honeymoon Killers (1969 USA): Based on the true story of a misfit couple who took advantage of elderly (and generally well-off) widows, The Honeymoon Killers simply gets better with age and definitely isn't ready to be put out to pasture. Tony Lo Bianco and Shirley Stoler play unlikely lovers masquerading as brother and sister somewhere in middle America. Lo Bianco preys on recently bereaved older women, ultimately marrying them and then moving his "sister" into the household where, after a brief period of marital bliss, she murders the new brides. Starkly shot in black-and-white by Oliver Wood, who has since, erm, distinguished himself with films such as The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990 USA) and The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002 USA), this is a classic example of outsider cinema — director Leonard Kastle STILL hasn't made another film!
Sunday 06/24/07
1:10 AM More Max
El Juego de la Verdad (2004 ARG): No doubt you're familiar with the old bromide about buses: wait an hour for one, and then two come along at the same time. Such, apparently, is also the case with my beloved Argentinian films, which until last week had disappeared from the small screen for several months. Now along comes the second in as many weeks — El Juego de la Verdad, a romantic comedy about a game of truth or dare that gets out of hand and reveals the heartfelt desires and longings of a hopeless loser named Ernesto (Tristan Ulloa). Co-starring Natalia Verbeke (Jump Tomorrow) as Susana, the fiancee of Ernesto's best bud Alberto, El Juego de la Verdad utilises an incorrect cancer diagnosis as its starting point for the game of spin the bottle, which brings chaos into the lives of two young couples. The film doesn't score any points for originality, but is pleasant enough — and it's Argentinian, so you gotta watch!
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Exterminating Angel (1962 MEX): How could I have gone all these years without giving a stand-alone shout out to this Luis Bunuel surreal masterpiece? Not sure how that happened, but if you've never seen this amazing film, make time for it tonight. Set during and after a particularly stuffy bourgeois dinner party, The Exterminating Angel is a scathing and hilarious polemic about the hypocritical ways of the ruling classes, who are here seen as incapable of breaking away from the herd and physically incapable of leaving the celebration. As the high and mighty begin to descend into a Lord of the Flies style existence, their plight draws the attention of the outside world — but neither the police, the Army, nor even little children dare enter the mansion, which soon becomes overrun by a herd of sheep, a performing bear, and the Devil himself, though not in the form he/she would take in 1965's equally brilliant Bunuel effort Simon of the Desert. One of the greatest films ever made, and also one of the funniest!
Monday 06/25/07
7:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
St. Benny the Dip (1951 USA): Considering it's a Danziger Brothers poverty row production, St. Benny the Dip is blessed with a surprisingly good cast. Dick Haymes, Lionel Stander, and Cosmo Topper himself, Roland Young, play a trio of small time hoodlums who disguise themselves as priests to escape a police dragnet. Finding themselves in an abandoned Bowery mission, the threesome take their masquerade to extremes, holding services and feeding the poor. This marvelous tale of redemption also stars a luminous Nina Foch as love interest and Little Lord Fauntleroy himself, Freddie Bartholomew, in his final screen appearance. This is perhaps the first and so far only noir-comedy ever made, with some very fine black and white location photography by Don Malkames, whose career took him from Yiddish pictures to 'race' films. John Roeburt's screenplay is consistently intelligent and amusing, and though the film's low budget is readily apparent, it's also clear everyone involved was working very hard to make a quality picture. Happily, they succeeded.
2:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Charlie Chan In the Secret Service (1944 USA): Slowly but surely, the Charlie Chan series is resurfacing after the absurd brou-ha-ha a few years back that saw the films banished from Fox Movie Channel. This late period entry in the canon — the first produced after the series moved to its new low budget home at Monogram — may not be the best place to start for Chan neophytes, but for long time enthusiasts it offers plenty of rewards. In this outing, our hero (Sidney Toler) has been hired by the Feds to investigate the murder of inventor George Melton, whose work developing a new torpedo is crucial to the war effort. Naturally, there's a room full of suspects, including a flighty socialite, an egotistical politician, and the usual assortment of suspicious butlers and household hangers on. Oddly, series regular-to-be Mantan Moreland DOES put in an appearance as chauffeur Birmingham Brown—but this time he's not working for Chan. If you can overlook the anachronistic racial stereotyping, Charlie Chan in the Secret Service is good, very old-fashioned fun.
6:00 PM Sundance
Gay Sex in the 70s (2005 USA): I haven't seen this film yet, so I'm looking forward to learning how gay sex was different during the 1970s, and distinct from, say, gay sex BCE, gay sex during the Reformation, and gay sex during the Suez Crisis of 1956. Disco music? That must be the answer.