TiVoPlex

By John Seal

March 5, 2012

Happy 71st birthday, Nick! Have another drink!

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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 3/6/12

2:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Harold Teen (1934 USA): This forgotten Warners musical comedy is almost as obscure as the comic strip on which it was based. The strip, however, must have been quite popular in the 1920s and ‘30s, as there’d already been a silent film adaptation produced by First National in 1928. I’ve never seen that version (which apparently does still exist), but fans of weird old musicals will probably find much to enjoy in this iteration, which stars terribly tall, super slim vaudevillian Hal Le Roy as the title character, a hapless cub reporter whose complicated relationship with high school sweetheart Lillums Lovewell (Rochelle Hudson) gets him into all sorts of trouble. He also gets to dance with the "woo-woo" man himself, Hugh Herbert, in one particularly wacky scene, and Guy Kibbee huffs and puffs adequately as Lillums’ devoted daddy.

6:00 PM Encore
The Crimson Petal and the White (2011 GB-CAN): Here’s something interesting, and a little confusing, too. Originally intended to be a theatrical release, The Crimson Petal and the White ended up being a four-part made-for-television miniseries. What’s odd is that Encore is screening the series in two parts, and it’s not clear to me if we’re getting the whole thing or a bowdlerized version. As for the "film," it’s the impressively mounted tale of Sugar (Romola Garai), a prostitute in 1870s London who finds herself extricated from the gutter by soap factory accountant and aspiring novelist William Rackham (Chris O’Dowd). As you’d expect from a British television period piece, it’s quality frock flick stuff, and features a fabulous supporting cast, including Shirley Henderson, Richard E. Grant, and Gillian Anderson (yes, that Gillian Anderson). Part two airs at 6:00 PM on Wednesday 3/7.




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Wednesday 3/7/12

1:30 AM Showtime 2
Evasive Action (1998 USA): Do you ever wish there were more low-budget knock-offs of Con Air? If so, mark your calendar for Evasive Action, an incredibly derivative thriller in which a prison full of miscreants are transported across California to a new high security lock-up. They plan to escape en route, but wrongly convicted inmate Luke Sinclair (Dorian Harewood) is determined to put paid to their scheme. Also starring Roy Scheider as a mafia bigwig and Clint Howard as a psychotic killer, Evasive Action may not be particularly original, but features enough goofy thrills to satisfy your average action movie maven.

6:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Death in Small Doses (1957 USA): Not to be confused with the 1995 TV movie of the same name, this Death in Small Doses stars Peter Graves as Tom Kayler, a G-man investigating one of the great scandals of our time: truck drivers who get hopped up on bennies in order to stay awake! Nowadays, of course, meth is as all-American as Chevrolet and apple pie - by golly, Air Force pilots even gobble it before they drop freedom bombs - but back in the '50s it was a big no-no. Going undercover and getting himself hired by a trucking firm, Tom soon discovers that his colleagues - including speed freak Mink Reynolds (Chuck Connors) - are dropping uppers left and right. Can Tom put a halt to the practice, and most importantly, can he cut off the source of the supply (Robert B. Williams)? If you’re tired of cinematic admonitions to stay off the grass or away from the horse, Death in Small Doses provides a welcome alternative. Mala Powers and Merry Anders provide love interest for all and sundry.


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