TiVoPlex
April 7, 2009 through April 13, 2009
By John Seal
April 6, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 04/07/09
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Petrified Forest (1936 USA): Robert Sherwood's downbeat play made a glorious transition to the big screen in 1936, with stage star Humphrey Bogart coming along for the ride as nihilistic gangster Duke Mantee. The film made Bogie a star, but Leslie Howard was the film's initial box-office draw, and he's excellent as Alan Squier, a mentally-scarred World War I veteran who falls in love with waitress Gabby Maple, played by Bette Davis in one of her most affecting performances. It's a surprisingly mature film for the mid-1930s, and somehow got away with featuring a black actor (Slim Thompson) as a moody gang member distinctly out of sync with Hollywood's preferred view of African-Americans as comic sidekicks or servants. One of the highlights of Warner Bros' considerable catalogue of crime pictures, this is an unforgettable classic that also features Dick Foran and Charley Grapewin.
Wednesday 04/08/09
5:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Smart Set (1928 USA): Handsome William Haines headlines as a polo superstar in this late-period silent comedy from MGM. Haines plays Tommy Van Buren, a Long Island layabout with an eye for the ladies and a penchant for the ponies. When Tommy meets cute with Polly (Alice Day), romantic sparks fly — and conflict appears in the person of polo team captain Nelson (Jack Holt), who also has a claim on the lovely lass. If you're familiar with the Haines oeuvre, you'll know what to expect here — it's not very different from his West Point, another MGM rom-com about a hell-raising child of privilege.
10:20 AM Encore Western
Hellgate (1953 USA): Sterling Hayden made some crummy movies, but I can never resist his deep, hyper-masculine siren song. Here's one of his least known pictures, a decent pseudo-western about innocent Gil Hanley (Hayden), accused of spying on behalf of the Confederacy and sent to a notorious New Mexico prison camp operated by sadistic warden Voorhees (Ward Bond). The film is elevated by good location footage, fine performances from Hayden and Bond, and some pretty outrageous (for the time, at least) torture sequences. Look for Gunsmoke star James Arness in a supporting role, as well as future Purple People Eater-singer Sheb Wooley and the great Timothy Carey in bit parts.
4:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Morris Engel: The Independent (2007 USA): The charming, unique, and important films of Morris Engel were released on DVD last year by Kino, and now get some small screen attention thanks to TCM. Tonight's programming commences with this brief documentary that fills in the blanks about this virtually unknown filmmaker: a World War II veteran from Brooklyn, Engel only made three films, but what films they are! His first effort, The Little Fugitive (1953), follows at 5:00 PM, and was a huge inspiration for Francois Truffaut, who credited the film with being a source text for the Nouvelle Vague. It's the utterly compelling tale of a little boy (Richie Andrusco) who fears he has murdered his brother and runs away to Coney Island to escape his guilty past. Naturally, he didn't really kill his sibling, and the film is a series of neo-realist adventures. It's followed at 6:30 PM by Lovers and Lollipops (1956), in which Engel examines a mother and young daughter's life in New York City, and at 8:00 PM by his final film, Weddings and Babies (1958), about a shutterbug trying to find the right balance between his personal and professional lives. Engel was a true independent, a left-wing gadfly who would never have made it in red-baiting Hollywood, and also a colleague of Russ Meyer, with whom he shot much of the extant footage of the D-Day landings. The documentary and films air again immediately following the conclusion of Weddings and Babies.
Thursday 04/09/09
5:00 PM IFC
It's Alive! (1974 USA): Not to be confused with Larry Buchanan's execrable 1968 effort of the same name (minus the exclamation mark), Larry Cohen's It's Alive! asks the burning question: what happens when a carnivorous mutant baby is let loose upon society? John P. Ryan and Sharon Farrell play the Davies, a typical American couple preparing for the pitter-patter of little feet. Alas, when baby finally arrives, the sound they hear is that of razor sharp teeth rending human flesh. It's a great set-up and a gruesomely satisfying effort from the reliable Cohen, and also co-stars beady-eyed Robert Emhardt as a beady-eyed business executive. It's Alive! airs again at 11:30 PM, and is followed at 6:35 PM by the widescreen television premier of the 1988 chiller Pumpkinhead, an equally entertaining piece of hokum featuring Lance Henriksen as a vengeance-seeker who unleashes the titular demon upon a group of irresponsible teenagers.
Friday 04/10/09
5:00 PM The Movie Channel
Bug (2006 USA): A William Friedkin-helmed psychological thriller, Bug makes its television debut this evening. Protector-of-wolves Ashley Judd stars as waitress Agnes, who's stuck between a rock and a hard place: she has a nasty ex-husband (Harry Connick Jr.) who's just been paroled, and a creepy guest named Peter (Michael Shannon) who swears he's on the up and up, but whose thousand-yard stare implies otherwise. Peter is suffering from a particularly nasty case of PTSD he picked up in Iraq, as well as an obsession with the insects he believes inhabit his body...and Agnes falls into the trap of buying into the bug theory, leading to a journey deep into the paranoid heart of darkness. Based on a play by Tracy Letts, Bug is Friedkin's best film in a long time, and airs again at 8:00 PM.
Saturday 04/11/09
7:00 PM Sundance
Diary of a Chambermaid (1964 FRA-ITA): Jeanne Moreau stars as the titular household help in this surprisingly linear Luis Bunuel feature. Moreau plays Celestine, a maid starting a new position in the countryside after spending years working in Paris. Her employer, M. Monteil (Michel Piccoli), is a rabid horndog, whilst Madame (Francoise Lugagne) is a shopping junkie, but Celestine's real problem is gardener Joseph (Georges Geret), a hyper-nationalist bigot who can't stop ranting about Jews, immigrants, and other untermenschen. The film is decidedly unflashy by Bunuel's usual standards; it is, perhaps (and appropriately), a chamber piece about one woman and the adaptations she makes in order to survive. As such, it's much less immediately accessible than the director's usual visually striking efforts, and descends more from the tradition of Renoir than Dali. It's followed at 8:30 PM by Bunuel's Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), which covers some of the same ground in distinctly brasher terms, and at 10:30 PM by That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), the great man's final feature film.
Sunday 04/12/09
Noon HBO2
Thrilla in Manila (1975 USA): There are quite a few Muhammad Ali documentaries out there; this one was an early production of the fledgling HBO but hasn't been seen on the channel in a while. The Thrilla was a much-hyped bout between Ali and former world heavyweight champ Joe Frazier, and the fight ultimately lived up to the promotional material: the brawl went the distance and ended up supplying Sly Stallone with some tips for his forthcoming boxing pic Rocky. If you're a boxing fan, you won't want to miss Thrilla in Manila.
9:00 PM Sundance
Shutter (2004 THA): I don't know if I somehow overlooked a previous airing of this Thai horror film, but it looks like we just might be getting some fresh blood in Sundance's Asia Extreme series. I haven't seen Shutter yet, but it sounds like a fairly routine genre effort, this time involving that old chestnut, the ghosts you can't see until they show up on the film you develop (or, more likely, download to your laptop). And why don't they ever smile when you say "cheese"?
10:00 PM IFC
Kill the Poor (2006 USA): Not a documentary based on the Dead Kennedy's song of the same name (or any GOP legislation of the last 40 years), Kill the Poor is an above-average indie about life on Manhattan's Lower East Side during the hardscrabble early 1980s. Adapted for the screen by Lemony Snicket author Daniel Handler from Joel Rose's novel, the film follows the efforts of everyman Joe (David Krumholtz) to find safe and affordable housing for his wife (Clara Beller) and their forthcoming progeny. Alas, his old neighborhood is now awash in drug addicts and ladies of the night, and it's up to Joe to pull out his Magnum 357 and clean things up. Er, no, wrong film — but someone DOES commit an act of arson, all in the name of improving the local quality of life. This is a solid, well written film that manages to avoid most of the indie ghetto clichés, and also looks great thanks to Harlan Bosmajian's widescreen photography.
Monday 04/13/09
7:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
Gaslight (1940 GB): Four years before George Cukor's Gothic romance was produced, the original film version of Patrick Hamilton's play was released in British cinemas. Directed by Thorold Dickinson (The Queen of Spades), Gaslight stars Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynyard in the roles later popularized by Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. Most film fans prefer the glossier Hollywood take on the story, but this remains an atmospheric, low-budget adaptation nicely shot by early Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Knowles. Both versions are good, but this is the one that gets the TiVoPlex nod.
7:00 PM Fox Movie Channel
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker (1971 USA): A forgotten little gem from the Fox library, Marriage of a Young Stockbroker returns to the small screen tonight, with the minor caveat that it's airing in pan and scan. Richard Benjamin stars as William Alren, a bored moneyman with a roving eye, and Joanna Shimkus as wife Lisa, who gets wind of her hubby's wandering eye and abandons him for furthest Pasadena, where sister Nan (Elizabeth Ashley) begins to plot divorce proceedings. The film has often been compared to The Graduate, and it was, in fact, also the product of the earlier film's producer (Lawrence Turman). Derivative, perhaps, but Marriage of a Young Stockbroker is still worth a look. Also on hand: Adam West as Nan's hen-pecked spouse, and Tiffany Bolling in a small role.