TiVoPlex
By John Seal
November 21, 2006
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 11/21/06
2:05 AM Encore Mystery
The Harder They Fall (1956 USA): Humphrey Bogart went down fighting in this, his final feature before his untimely demise from throat cancer. Bogie stars as Eddie Willis, a gone to seed sportswriter who gets a fresh lease on life when he's offered the opportunity to manage Argentinian prizefighter Toro Moreno (pro wrestler Mike Lane) on behalf of promoter Nick Benko (Rod Steiger). After a series of successful bouts, Moreno finds himself rising swiftly through the ranks of heavyweight contenders—but Willis discovers late in the game that the fights are being fixed by Benko, who needs his boy to take a fall during the championship bout. Will Eddie stifle his disgust, and go along with the plan? Or will he retain a shred of dignity, and let Moreno duke it out honestly? The fifties were a great era for boxing flicks, and The Harder They Fall is probably the best of the lot thanks to Bogie's simmering performance, Philip Yordan's unrestrained screenplay, and Mark Robson's taut direction. It's also great fun to see former real life heavyweight champ Jersey Joe Walcott in a critical role as Moreno's corner man.
5:00 AM IFC
Keep the River On Your Right (2000 USA): What do you do when you're a successful painter and amateur anthropologist living in New York City? If you answer to the name of Tobias Schneebaum, the subject of this unusual documentary, you journey to Papua New Guinea and Peru, settle down with a "primitive" local tribe, and partake of a little long pig when good table manners demand it. Schneebaum wrote a book about his adventures in 1969, and 30 years later, filmmakers David Shapiro and Laurie Gwen Shapiro somehow convinced the aged adventurer to return to the Outback, capturing the crotchety but loveable old-timer as he reacquainted himself with old friends and lovers. Schneebaum was much more than a tourist: he plunged wholeheartedly into the lives of those he visited, adopting their cultures lock, stock and barrel, and his memories - as well as those of his long-unseen friends - make this film a unique sociological document. Also airs at 1:00 PM.
Wednesday 11/22/06
2:45 AM IFC
Alexander Nevsky (1938 USSR): One of the first foreign language films I ever saw, Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky—along with other classics such as The Seventh Seal and Rules of the Game—aired frequently throughout the 1970s on PBS, back when PBS was the only place you could see ‘art' films. A magnificent spectacle, it tells the historic tale of the title character, a Russian prince who battled the Teutonic Knights to a standstill on an icy lake near the city of Novgorod in 1242. 699 years later, the Germans tried again—and failed again. Rightly renowned for its magnificent action sequence atop chilly Lake Peipus—which takes up a huge portion of the film's running time—Alexander Nevsky's Prokofiev-composed score also left an indelible mark on me, and along with Ralph Vaughn Williams Antarctica remains one of the few pieces of ‘classical' music I truly enjoy. The fact that both works were inspired by cinema is surely nothing more than happy coincidence. Also airs at 11:40 AM.
7:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Bishop Murder Case (1930 USA): Basil Rathbone took over the role of private eye Philo Vance from William Powell in this early talkie from MGM. In this outing, Vance is conveniently vacationing on the estate of crotchety Professor Dillard (Alec Francis) when the corpse of a fellow guest shows up—shot through the heart with an arrow on the Professor's archery range. The killer is one of those chatty sorts who gets his jollies by leaving mysterious clues in the form of nursery rhymes, and it falls upon Vance to rescue the hapless police and solve the crime. The suspects are plentiful, as are the red herrings—but I don't think I'm going to surprise anyone by revealing that the hunchback (George F. Marion) DIDN'T do it. Released concurrently in silent and sound formats, The Bishop Murder Case now only exists in the latter, and that of course is what is airing this morning. Of course, you can always hit the mute button and pretend you're watching the silent version.
1:45 PM Encore Action
Alien 51 (2004 USA) : Two words to describe this week's Tivoplex : skimpy pickings. Two more words: Heidi Fleiss. Put them together, and that equals Alien 51, a truly dreadful space opera about a rubber monster trying to do bad things to the folks who sequestered it at a secret research lab. I know, it sounds good, doesn't it?
Thursday 11/23/06
5:00 PM Encore Westerns
My Name Is Nobody (1974 ITA): The great lost Sergio Leone spaghetti western, My Name is Nobody is actually credited to Leone colleague Tonino Valerii, but has the rotund Roman's fingerprints all over it. Featuring Henry Fonda's return to the genre after his archetype-shattering appearance in 1969's Once Upon a Time in the West, it's a much fluffier soufflé, but enjoyable nonetheless. In one of the film's many in-jokes, Fonda plays a gunfighter trying to retire to (of all places) Europe, but finds his plans upended by up-and-coming pistol-packer Terence Hill, who wants to learn his craft at the knee of the master. Hill was (and is) a massive star in Italy thanks to his appearances in the long-running Trinity series of western comedies (frequently with sidekick Bud Spencer, the Italian Gabby Hayes), and he was briefly afforded some American box office exposure thanks to this film. My Name is Nobody will never be mistaken for Leone's finest, but with Fonda, Hill and composer Ennio Morricone on board, entertainment is guaranteed, and after years of awful pan and scan appearances, it's still a pleasant surprise to note it's appearing this evening in widescreen.
Friday 11/24/06
9:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957 USA): Helmed by frequent Jerry Lewis herder Frank Tashlin, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? has long been overshadowed by the director's OTHER Jayne Mansfield vehicle, the admittedly superior The Girl Can't Help It. Mansfield, who had a brief but brilliant career as a comedienne, is also at the top of her game here, playing Rita Marlowe, an outrageously accoutered movie star whose endorsement for a new brand of lipstick is sought by television ad man Tony Randall. Drenched in glorious color by Deluxe, this is '50s eye candy of the highest order, and is a pretty funny film to boot—even if it lacks the blistering rock and roll energy of its predecessor.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Sadist (1963 USA): In the long, cold night prior to the advent of sell-through home video, this rarely seen film was considered a schlock classic at best, but it's actually an extremely good (and surprisingly gritty) thriller from writer-director James Landis. The film earned its reputation thanks to the presence of the infamous Arch Hall Jr., a not terribly good actor who appeared in a series of films produced by his father. Though Dad wasn't directly involved in the production of The Sadist, Arch Jr. managed to land the plum lead role of psychotic drifter Charlie Tibbs—and thank goodness he did, because no one else could have given the character such a round, full-bodied performance. The extremely simple plot involves three teachers (Richard Alden, Helen Hovey, and Don Russell) driving to a Los Angeles Dodgers game (‘now batting, Ron Fairly'), and their misadventures at a remote service station after their car breaks down. It's here they cross paths with Tibbs and his loopy girlfriend Judy (Marilyn Manning), who, unbeknownst to the educators, are in the midst of a Starkweather style cross-country killing spree. The psychotic pair indulge in mind games with their elders, and the film takes some unexpected twists and turns before reaching its more predictable conclusion. This was the first American film lensed by the great cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, who worked his way up to the top of the ‘A' list ladder within a decade. Sadly, his success was not mirrored by either Landis, who ended his feature film career two years later with Rat Fink, or the cast, who (with the exception of Alden) returned to anonymity shortly thereafter. The Sadist is followed at 12:45 AM by Hall's less successful but equally enjoyable Wild Guitar, which stars the would-be hunk as an up and coming rock and roller—and if you enjoy his tunes, they're now available on an eponymous CD from Norton Records.
Saturday 11/25/06
11:10 PM Showtime Edge
Axe(2006 USA): Aw, who am I kidding. The title tells you everything you need to know about this one, and it doesn't even have Heidi Fleiss in it.
Sunday 11/26/06
11:30 AM HBO 2
The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl (2006 USA): Though obviously hagiographical in intent, The Journalist and the Jihadi also doubles as a well-made documentary about Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter murdered in Pakistan by British-born Omar Sheikh in apparent retribution for American crimes against Islam. The film's title is a little dishonest: we learn a lot about Pearl and his family (who, to their everlasting credit, started an interfaith NGO in response to his murder) and precious little about Sheikh, whose family either weren't invited to comment or chose not to. We do learn that Sheikh is a well-educated arm wrestling and chess enthusiast, but his possible connections with Pakistan's ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) and Britain's MI6 are not explored in depth. Nonetheless, this is a decent (if culturally biased) film. Also airs at 2:30 PM.
9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Master of the House (1925 DEN): This extremely obscure Carl-Theodor Dreyer silent returns to TCM this evening. It's a drawing room comedy with a social conscience and stars Astrid Holm as the wife of a determinedly unsatisfied businessman (Johannes Meyer) who constantly complains about the failings of his family and the household help. To the rescue comes the family maid (Mathilde Nielsen), who hatches a plot with Holm's mother to teach their lord and master a badly-needed lesson in humility. About as far from The Passion of Joan of Arc as Dreyer ever got, Master of the House remains one of his most accessible and enjoyable films.
Monday 11/27/06
9:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Thin Man (1934 USA): Based on Dashiell Hammett's comic detective novel of the same name, The Thin Man affirmed William Powell's position as a matinee idol and made Myrna Loy a star. It also spawned a long running series of sequels, the last of which appeared in 1947. Powell and Loy play Nick and Nora Charles, a wisecracking odd couple who dabble in amateur sleuthing. In their initial outing, the pair are hired by concerned daughter Dorothy (Maureen O'Sullivan) to locate her missing father, Professor Wynant (Edward Ellis). Nick isn't terribly interested in taking the assignment, but when the bad-tempered Wynant's mistress (Natalie Moorhead) turns up suspiciously dead, the chase is on, and it's up to the Charles and their faithful pooch Asta to unravel the mystery. The second of 14 fruitful collaborations between Powell and Loy, The Thin Man remains a potent blend of mystery and screwball comedy.
6:00 PM Sundance
Writer of O (2004 FRA): A scandalous bestseller back in the 1950s (and the source of some personal embarrassment which I won't detail for yours truly in the early 1980s), The Story of O was a novel of sadomasochistic erotica penned by a young Frenchwoman pseudonymously named Pauline Reage. In reality, she was a Gallimard editor named Dominique Aury, and only revealed her secret in 1994 at the age of 87. This film blends documentary and fictional footage to cast light on the creation of this novel, written by the lovelorn Aury whilst she still lived with her parents in a Paris garret. No doubt she smoked countless Gauloise and knocked back gallons of red wine whilst whipping her book into shape. Watch the film and learn the painful truth.