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Sunday 12/26/10

5:20 PM Sundance
Bunny and the Bull (2009 GB): Not to be confused with the film Roger Ebert hated before he loved it (or at least liked it) — Vincent Gallo’s The Brown Bunny — Bunny and the Bull is a comedic fantasia from Mighty Boosh creator Paul Ryan. Described by the director as a “comedy road movie set entirely in a flat," the film stars Edward Hogg as reclusive Stephen, a stay at home type who hasn’t left his apartment in months. When an infestation of mice upends his routine, Stephen’s sense of complacency is disrupted and he imagines himself back on last year’s European road trip with chum Bunny (Simon Farnaby). If you’re familiar with the surreal and non-sequitur-ish (is that a word?) nature of The Mighty Boosh, you know what to expect: if not, you’ll probably be puzzled beyond belief.

9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Wizard of Oz (1925 USA): Though not the first film based on L. Frank Baum’s wildly popular series of novels for children of all ages, 1925’s The Wizard of Oz remains the best silent imagining of that magical kingdom. Directed by silent comic Larry Semon (stop giggling in the back row!), this version stars Dorothy Dwan (as Dorothy) as well as Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodsman, African-American actor Spencer Bell as (sigh) The Cowardly Lion, and Semon himself as a toymaker who turns into the Scarecrow. Their adventures in Oz aren’t drawn directly from any of the Baum stories, but the film remains a charming period piece regardless.

Monday 12/27/10

1:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Beware of Pity (1946 GB): This obscure British drama stars Lilli Palmer as Baroness Edith de Kekesfalva, a crippled woman searching for the love she doesn’t feel she deserves. Left paralyzed after an unfortunate riding accident, the Baroness meets Anton (Albert Lieven), a handsome army officer who takes pity on her and starts spending an inordinate amount of time in her company. She begins to fall in love with him, but he doesn’t share her feelings, and compounds matters by trying to disguise the fact that he only wants to be friends. Tragedy threatens to ensue. Co-starring Cedric Hardwicke and Ernest Thesiger, Beware of Pity is quite the maudlin affair, but benefits from solid production values and a good performance by Palmer.

4:00 AM Encore Mystery
The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002 GB): I haven’t seen this BBC version of the classic Sherlock Holmes tale yet, but its well-regarded by the cognoscenti and stars Ian Hart as Dr. Watson and Richard E. Grant as villainous Jack Stapleton. Richard Roxburgh, the Australian thespian essaying the role of Holmes, played Count Dracula in Stephen Sommer’s dreadful Van Helsing (2004), but I’ll try not to hold that against him.

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