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Friday 05/08/09

5:00 AM Showtime 2
Lambada (1990 USA): I always get this film confused with its twin, The Forbidden Dance, also released in 1990 to cash in on the much-hyped Lambada "craze". I know one of them is slightly better than the other. I think this is the worse of the two, but when it comes to movies about steamy tropical dances and the dancers who dance them, can you really afford to miss either?

3:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
The First Time (1969 USA): Sixties sexpot Jacqueline Bisset stars in this comedy about three young men trying to lose their virginity whilst on a trip to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Ricky Kelman, Wink Roberts, and Wes Stern star as Mike, Tommy, and Kenny, who hope to get laid and think they've found an appropriate layee in the form of Anna (Bisset), an Englishwoman looking for help in crossing the border into the United States. The First Time is actually pretty tame stuff, and it's a bit hard to believe it came out the same year as Easy Rider and Midnight Cowboy - but don't worry, one of the likely lads does, indeed, get lucky before the credit crawl.

7:00 PM Sundance
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2007 FRA): Anyone who enjoyed the Austin Powers films will probably get a kick out of this thoroughly enjoyable French take-off of the '60s super-spy genre. Jean Dujardin stars as Hubert Bonissuer le Bath, otherwise known as secret agent OSS 117, previously the subject of half a dozen films during the swinging sixties. Actually set in 1955, Nest of Spies sends Hubert off on a dangerous mission to Egypt, where he must settle the impending Suez Crisis and bring peace to the Middle East whilst masquerading as a poultry wholesaler. It all adds up to outrageous good fun, with loads of sight gags and a clever screenplay that, naturally, includes a few exiled Nazis for good measure. The film was so successful that it's spawned at least one sequel, with more apparently in the offing.

Saturday 05/09/09

9:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Rich and Strange (1932 GB): Strange to say, but I've never seen this early Hitchcock film - it's one of about half a dozen, mostly early, Hitch's that have evaded my eyeballs to date. That said, I suggest you head over to my pal David Cairn's excellent Web site to check out his recent review, after which you'll be chomping at the bit to see what David describes as "the third Hitchcock film I'd be willing to call a masterpiece."

Sunday 05/10/09

1:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Mystery Liner (1934 USA): I'm a big fan of formulaic mystery writer Edgar Wallace, who wrote almost 200 books (as well as an early treatment of King Kong) before succumbing to swine flu, er, double pneumonia, in 1932. Wallace faded from public consciousness soon after his death (in all honesty, his books are not well written, though they are entertaining), but he remains strangely popular in Germany to this very day. His prodigious output has, nonetheless, spawned a wealth of British and American films, and here's one that doesn't get seen very often. Noah Beery stars as John Holling, captain of the good ship Guthrie, who's relieved of command by ship's owner Grimson (Ralph Lewis) the day before sailing on an important and mysterious experimental voyage. Replaced at the helm by Chief Mate Downey (Boothe Howard) after being stricken with a strange tropical malady, Holling recovers just in time to help detective Pope (Edwin Maxwell) solve an onboard murder. A ripe melodrama directed by William Nigh, Mystery Liner co-stars the reliably florid Gustav von Seyffertitz and features an unusual non-western cameo from George "Gabby" Hayes.

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