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From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.

Tuesday 03/24/09

8:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Phantom Tollbooth (1969 USA): TCM offers a tribute to animation master Chuck Jones this evening, including a number of his legendary Looney Tunes productions and the channel's original documentary, Chuck Jones: Memories of Childhood. However, the evening's highlight — at least for me — is this adaptation of Norton Juster's children's book, which I read countless times as a wee one. The Phantom Tollbooth tells the tale of Milo, a precocious young lad who drives his toy car through a mysterious tollbooth that appears in his room one day. Much like C. S. Lewis' wardrobe, the tollbooth transports him to a wondrous alternate universe where anything can happen — especially when it involves the eternal battle between logic (numbers) and ideas (words). Though burdened with some wretched songs, The Phantom Tollbooth's story is strong enough to bear the burden, and there's excellent voice talent — including Hans Conried, Daws Butler, and Mel Blanc — along for the ride. Also airs 3/25 at midnight.

Wednesday 03/25/09

2:10 AM More Max
The Desert Fox (1951 USA): James Mason portrays Third Reich tank commander Erwin Rommel in this solid if somewhat staid war drama from director Henry Hathaway. Rommel was renowned for his innovations in armored warfare and for his leadership in the North African campaigns, which saw Germany's Afrika Korps and Britain's 8th Army engage in a see-saw series of engagements from Egypt to Tunisia and back again. Rommel was also considered to be a soldier's soldier; never a member of the Nazi Party, he treated prisoners of war humanely and refused to kill or deport Jews who stumbled across his path. As a result, The Desert Fox fell out of favor with Hitler and committed suicide shortly after the failed July 20, 1944 plot — a plot he was, perhaps surprisingly, not party to. As for the film, the title is something of a misnomer, as most of the action takes place after Rommel had returned to Europe. Mason was the perfect man for the role (though Erich von Stroheim is more than adequate in 1943's Five Graves to Cairo), and he would pop up again as the Generalfeldmarschall in 1953's The Desert Rats. The excellent supporting cast includes Cedric Hardwicke, George Macready, Leo G. Carroll, Eduard Franz, and Jessica Tandy as Frau Rommel.

5:00 PM HBO
They Killed Sister Dorothy (2008 USA): Sister Dorothy Stang was a Catholic nun deeply concerned with issues of social injustice and economic inequality. She lived amongst the native peoples of the Brazilian rainforest for decades, where she supported them in their struggles against the oligarchs of the logging industry. Sister Dorothy was murdered in early 2005, and this brand new HBO doc takes a look at the crime and the resultant court case, which ended in December 2005 with the conviction of two assassins who killed her at the behest of a local rancher eager to get his clear-cut on. Narrated by Martin Sheen, They Killed Sister Dorothy won both the audience and jury prizes at the South by Southwest Film Festival. Also airs at 8:00 PM.

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