TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for March 16 2010 through March 22 2010
By John Seal
March 15, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 3/16/10
1:05 AM IFC
The Protector (2005 THA): Martial arts hero Tony Jaa stars in this enjoyable Thai action-adventure, which makes its widescreen television debut this morning. Jaa plays Kham, a simple villager who travels to Australia to retrieve his stolen property. Which happens to be a pair of elephants. Can Kham tease out the tuskers, or will the pachyderms remain permanently beyond his purview? Caveat: this will probably be the heavily cut version released to American cinemas by Harvey ‘Scissorhands' Weinstein. That said, there's still enough motorcycle and helicopter chases, chop socky action, and elephanty goodness to keep you engaged.
3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Guilty Generation (1931 USA): Boris Karloff fans will want to make time for The Guilty Generation, a rarely seen Columbia melodrama about ‘John Smith', an architect and fully assimilated Italian-American (Robert Young) whose gangster father Tony Ricca (Karloff) is engaged in a Prohibition-era turf war with the father of John's amour Maria (Constance Cummings). Maria's been educated in a French convent, but can't shake off the disrepute she's inherited from Dad (Leo Carrillo). The young lovers are determined to make a go of their relationship- but will the long-running dispute between the two families allow them to set up house together, or is blood truly thicker than firewater? Karloff's role is actually a rather small one, and his precise diction at odds with the unvarnished roughness of his character, but fans of ‘The Uncanny One' will definitely want to acquaint themselves with this film. Monster buffs should also note the behind-camera presence of director Rowland V. Lee, who worked with Karloff again in 1939 on both Son of Frankenstein and Tower of London.
Wednesday 3/17/10
1:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
I Live in Fear (1955 JAP): Akira Kurosawa Month continues on TCM this morning with two more of the master filmmaker's lesser known productions. I Live in Fear is one of Kurosawa's ‘contemporary' features, and stars—who else?—Toshiro Mifune as Nakajima, an aging businessman who lives in obsessive fear of nuclear annihilation. Nakajima wants to relocate his family to Brazil (presumably because no-one has the bomb there), but his thankless relations decide he's simply bonkers and attempt to have the courts rule him incompetent. Oh yeah, you'd have to be crazy to think one country might drop an atomic bomb on another country. This was Kurosawa's first film after completing Seven Samurai, and though it suffers in comparison remains a fascinating examination of post-war Japanese psychology. It's followed at 3:15 AM by Scandal (1950), a drama about an unlikely couple (Mifune and Shirley Yamaguchi) thrust into the limelight by a tabloid magazine.
10:05 AM Flix
Blessed (2004 GB): Good things about Blessed: it's airing in widescreen, it's got Andy Serkis in it, and it's got David Hemmings in his final role (good that he's here, of course, not so good that he died during production). Bad things about Blessed: pretty much everything else, including Heather Graham. Shot in the low-budget horror kingdom of Romania, the film features Graham as a woman impregnated with...something evil...at the local fertility clinic. Yep, even Rosemary's Baby got outsourced overseas. Also airs 3/18 at 12:55 AM.
Thursday 3/18/10
6:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Tip-Off (1931 USA): Three top-notch headliners elevate this otherwise unexceptional comedy from wearisome to watchable. Eddie Quillan stars as Tommy, a young and foolish radio repairman who falls in love with dime-store clerk Baby Face (Ginger Rogers). Unfortunately for Tommy, however, Baby Face already has a man—pugilist Kayo (Robert Armstrong). Complications ensue when gangster Nick Vatelli (Ralf Harolde) tries strong-arming Kayo into joining his organization, but the inventive Tommy scares the mugs away with a radio device of his own design, and then becomes fast friends with the boxer. The Tip-Off is a bit grittier than your standard Great Depression-era comedy, but ends on a predictably happy note: someone gets married to someone else, though I won't tell you who!
5:30 PM HBO
Afghan Star (2009 GB): Hard to believe, but true: there really is a Pop Idol/American Idol-style talent show on Afghani television. This British documentary, shot on behalf of HBO by filmmaker Havana Marking, takes a look at four contestants (three men and a woman) competing for the big prize: the joy of winning. There's not a Clay Aiken or a Leona Lewis amongst them, which, of course, is very good news indeed for music fans. Also airs at 8:30 PM and on 3/22 at 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM.
Friday 3/19/10
1:20 AM Encore
Child's Play 2 (1990 USA): Once cable staples, the adventures of Chucky the Good Guy Doll haven't been rearing their ugly, roto-molded plastic heads much recently. That changes this morning with an airing of Child's Play 2, in which the Chuckster (voice of Brad Dourif), recovering from the horrific burns suffered in the first film, continues to try to steal the soul of Andy (Alex Vincent), who's a little older but not much wiser. Also on hand: Jenny Agutter and Gerrit Graham as the very unlikely couple fostering poor little Andy. Also airs at 4:20 AM.
3:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Las Vegas Story (1952 USA): If you want to get an early glimpse of Vegas—at a time before its transition from backwater berg to gambling capital of the nation was complete—look no further. The Las Vegas Story stars Jane Russell and Vincent Price as Linda and Lloyd Collins, a married couple stopping off in Sin City for a few days. Lloyd, a none-too-straight arrow commodities broker, is desperate to try his luck at the tables, whilst former nightclub singer Linda reconnects with old flame Dave Andrews (Victor Mature), now a police lieutenant. Meanwhile, and not coincidentally, insurance investigator Tom Hubler (Brad Dexter) has also pulled into town, and when Lloyd's dishonest ways get the better of him, murder—and insurance fraud—is the case. The first film to feature a helicopter in a chase sequence, The Las Vegas Story also features Hoagy Carmichael, Paul Frees, and Clarence Muse.
10:55 AM The Movie Channel
Conjuror (2008 USA): If you like horror movies but are sick of torture porn and zombies, you might want to give this Georgia-shot indie a chance. Written and directed by Clint Hutchison (and no, I hadn't heard of him before, either), Conjuror stars Andrew Bowen as a photographer who moves to the country to help him and his wife recover from the recent death of their child. Well, if finding that your new home is haunted by the spirit of a witch, mission accomplished! This evenly-paced, almost gore-free chiller played at Slamdance and other film fests, but sadly never got a proper theatrical release. Also airs at 1:55 PM.
5:00 PM Sundance
Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten (2007 GB): Or as I prefer to call him, Saint Joe. The punk rock man of the people, already beatified in 2004's Let's Rock Again!, gets another dollop of hero worship in this excellent Julien Temple rockumentary. How could one man be so good, and do so much good for all the peoples of the world? Tune in to see the truth behind the snark behind the snarling man with the mohawk.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Kitten with a Whip (1964 USA): This week's TiVoPlex Movie of the Week, Kitten with a Whip stars Ann-Margret in all her full, mid-sixties sex goddess glory. She stars as Jody, a troubled young woman who knifes a matron, sets a fire, and escapes from reform school. She tries to inveigle her way into the good graces of nearby neighbor David Patton (John Forsythe), but he doesn't fall for the schtick and sends her on her way. But Jody won't settle for rejection, and she soon returns to David's house—with a whole gang of malchicks and droogs to back her up this time. As outrageous as they come, Kitten with a Whip would make a great double-bill partner with Lady in a Cage, another overheated 1964 melodrama about out of control youth (and, I might add, another forgotten film that needs to get an airing in the TCM Underground).
Saturday 3/20/10
7:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Bowery Bombshell (1946 USA): Hardboiled specialist Phil Karlson is behind the camera once again for this decent entry in the Bowery Boys series. This time out, the gang are trying to help Louie's Malt Shop stay afloat, but in the process find themselves mixed up in a bank robbery. Bowery Bombshell benefits from a decent supporting cast, including Sheldon Leonard as a hoodlum and Milton Parsons as loopy Professor Schnackenberger—in fact, if you squint hard enough whilst watching it, you could mistake it for a Warner Brothers bill-filler.
9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Ruling Class (1972 GB): The rich are different from the rest of us, as are the aristocracy. And never have they appeared more different than in The Ruling Class, Peter Medak's magisterial dissection of the silly asses otherwise known as the upper classes. Peter O'Toole stars as Jack, newly minted 14th Earl of Gurney and replacement toff for his deceased father, the 13th Earl (Harry Andrews). Dad has popped his clogs as the result of a little auto-erotic asphyxiation, and the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree: Jack thinks he is, quite literally, Jesus Christ. Though the film is a bit too long, it's still one of the best black comedies ever, and the supporting cast—including Alistair Sim, Arthur Lowe, Coral Browne, Nigel Green, James Villiers, Kay Walsh, and many more—is awesome.
Sunday 3/21/10
7:00 PM Sundance
Girl by the Lake (2007 ITA): A refreshingly old-fashioned murder mystery from Italy, Girl by the Lake makes its American television debut this evening. Based on a novel by Norwegian writer Karin Fossum, the film examines the death of Anna (Alessia Piovan), found dead lakeside with no signs of struggle and her clothing folded neatly beside her. It's up to big city Police Inspector Sanzio (Toni Servillo) to solve the crime, but the victim's back story is as elusive as the identity of the killer, and he soon finds himself in need of an assist from local PC Siboldi (Fausto Maria Sciarappa). Did the village idiot do the deed—or was it the troubled divorcé? Perhaps the hockey coach? There are red herrings aplenty, but you won't get too lost in the proceedings, and the film (shot in the Dolomites of Northern Italy) is beautiful to look at. Also airs 3/22 at 12:05 AM.
Monday 3/22/10
6:00 PM Playboy
Cherry, Harry, and Raquel! (1970 USA): Playboy is on to a good thing here. Meyer's fans, starved for their hero's output (the Region 1 DVDs are out of print, the PAL discs from the UK very expensive), probably won't object to paying a sawbuck for the pleasure of seeing the films in good condition. (Though I do wonder if anyone bothered to pony up for the March 1 broadcast of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, which has aired on TCM in the not too distant past).) As for Cherry, Harry, and Raquel!, this was Meyer's immediate precursor to Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and features that film's Charles Napier as the titular sheriff of a small Nevada town, where he's in the tank with local drug dealers whilst enjoying erotic dalliances with lady of the evening Raquel (Larissa Ely) and nurse Cherry (Linda Ashton). Oh, and Uschi Digard's breasts. Also airs at 9:00 PM.