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Friday 1/27/12

2:00 AM HBO Signature
Chile Puede(2008 CHI): I haven’t seen this Chilean comedy yet, but it features Catalina Saavedra in a supporting role. Saavedra, absolutely brilliant as morose housekeeper Raquel in 2009’s The Maid, is reason enough to give Chile Puede a look.

3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Numbered Men (1930 USA): This very obscure (and very ridiculous) early talkie stars Conrad Nagel as Duke Gray, an inmate at Stoneyhurst State Penitentiary, where he shares trustee privileges with fellow cons Bud (Raymond Hackett) and Baby Face (man-mountain Ivan Linow, Hercules in the sound remake of The Unholy Three). It’s a life of bliss for our boys behind bars - until King Callahan (Ralph Ince) shows up and starts plotting his escape. After Callahan successfully breaks out during a riot, the warden does just what any man in his position would do - deputize his trustees, give them guns, and send them out to track down the fugitive. And that’s not the funniest aspect of Numbered Men: the credits list Nagel as portraying prisoner number 26521, but Duke actually wears the number 10607!

10:15 AM Fox Movie Channel
The Return of the Incredible Hulk (1988 USA): Lather, rinse, repeat: here’s another made for TV movie screening uninterrupted on Fox Movie Channel! Take that, FXM! Lou Ferrigno, the worst "actor" since Johnny Weissmuller, returns as the titular Hulk, still transforming into his bad green self whenever scientist Bruce Banner (Bill Bixby) gets upset about something. Banner is on the verge of discovering a cure for his condition, but naturally things don’t go as planned, and he (and the Hulk) soon find themselves flexing muscles alongside fellow super hero Thor (Eric Kramer). It’s all good, goofy fun and co-stars Tim Thomerson and the recently deceased Charles Napier.

6:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
One More River (1934 USA): James Whale is best known, of course, for directing some of the greatest horror and science fiction films ever made, including Frankenstein and The Invisible Man. Whale’s non-horror output, however, continues to get overlooked, including his sterling 1936 version of Show Boat and this first-rate drama. One More River tells the story of Clare Corven (Diana Wynyard), a liberated woman who abandons her brutal husband (Henry Frankenstein himself, Colin Clive) and his Ceylonese plantation for a down-at-heel existence as a London office girl. Of course, this being Hollywood, there’s a new man around the corner, but Whale and screenwriter R.C. Sherriff play up the emancipated aspect of Clare’s character to excellent effect. Look for fresh-faced Jane Wyatt in her first big screen appearance.

7:30 PM Sundance Channel
X (2011 AUS): Who can resist a film with the tagline “A jaded callgirl... a fledging hooker... the night from hell”? I know I can’t. The delightfully named Viva Bianca (paging Russ Meyer and Radley Metzger!) stars as Holly, a Sydney call girl who eyeballs a murder while at, ahem, "work." To make matters worse, the killer is a police associate of one of Holly’s clients…and the bent copper has no qualms about rubbing out witnesses. X is about as grungy and exploitative as a film being aired on Sundance can get.

11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Possession (1981 FRA): Lotta movies on today, need to cut down the verbiage. Possession: art-horror movie starring Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill. Points of interest: widescreen television debut; only French film ever made in which a woman gives birth to a monster in the Paris Metro. I think.

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