TiVoPlex
By John Seal
March 6, 2007
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.
Tuesday 03/06/07
8:05 AM Showtime
Made In Sheffield (2001 GB): The city of Sheffield has generally been considered one of Britain's musical backwaters, but this hour long documentary offers some reminders about "the ugliest town in the Old World's" not inconsiderable contributions to the cause of post-punk music. Amongst the artists featured in Eve Wood's film are The Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, ABC, and Heaven 17, all groups that made the transition from experimental proto-electronica to pop music stardom with relative ease, as well as less successful but equally worthy bands such as the mighty (and still extant) Comsat Angels, They Must Be Russians, I'm So Hollow, and Clock DVA. Rich with rare archival footage and featuring interviews with Sheffield native Jarvis Cocker, as well as beloved BBC disc jockey John Peel, Made In Sheffield makes its American television premiere this morning, and also airs at 11:05 AM and on Showtime 3 3/11 at 11:00 AM.
11:30 AM Sundance
Molly and Mobarak (2003 AUS): John Howard notwithstanding, the Australian people aren't all vicious racists, but they get a mixed report card in this very interesting documentary. Molly and Mobarak details the almost unbelievable life of Mobarak Tahiri, a Hazari Afghan who fled his homeland after the Taliban's ascent to power for the relative safety of, well, just about anywhere else. Arriving in Australia in 1999, he was imprisoned for two years, given his freedom in 2001, granted a temporary asylum visa, and hired to work in a slaughterhouse in the New South Wales mining town of Young—a town where anti-Chinese racism had been endemic for decades. The handsome and now gainfully employed Mobarak proceeded to fall for 25-year-old local girl Molly, but found her reluctant to commit to a long-term relationship with a man whose immigration status was far from certain. The film portrays the good, the bad, and the ugly of the rural small-town experience, and provides a microcosm of the immigrant experience, with Mobarak learning English, taking driving lessons from Molly, and adopting Aussie slang. All in all, it's a bonzer doco that won't make you chunder.
Wednesday 03/07/07
1:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Scarlet Clue (1945 USA): This late entry in the Charlie Chan series features Sidney Toler as the canny Asian sleuth, but the real star is African-American comic Mantan Moreland, returning to the role of Birmingham Brown, Chan's sidekick and ostensible chauffeur. In this outing, our heroes are trying to solve the murder of a radio actress, whose death may be related to the disappearance of some top-secret government radar documents. Moreland was one of America's comic treasures, and he really shines here, especially in scenes where he's reunited with old time vaudeville partner Ben Carter. Though still burdened with the expected racial stereotypes, the savvy Birmingham always managed to insinuate his way into being an indispensable part of Chan's crime solving team, which, in this episode, also includes young Benson Fong as Tommy, Charlie's All-American 'number three son'. Though hardly enlightened, the Chan films were never as objectionable as their modern day critics contend, and are great fun for those willing to view them in the context of their time.
8:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Missouri Breaks (1975 USA): Director Arthur Penn's tale of horse thievery and old west political intrigue makes its widescreen television debut this morning. Jack Nicholson stars as Tom Logan, a poacher who's so good at his job that he decides to purchase his own ranch in an effort to go legit, or at least semi-legit. Enter, stage right, Marlon Brando as Robert E. Lee Clayton, an enforcer hired by land baron Braxton (John McLiam) to bring Logan and his compatriots to justice. Clayton isn't your average bounty hunter, though—he gets especial pleasure from performing his duties in disguise, and isn't averse to a spot of the old ultraviolence. This is the film that marked Brando's transition from serious actor to dotty overweight eccentric, and he both devours the scenery and overshadows Nicholson's surprisingly low-key presence. Beautifully lensed by Michael Butler (Charley Varrick, Harry and Tonto), The Missouri Breaks co-stars Randy Quaid, Harry Dean Stanton, Kathleen Lloyd, and Luana Anders.
10:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1940 USA): A quartet of Lone Wolf murder mysteries featuring the dapper Warren William as reformed jewel thief Michael Lanyard kick off with Lone Wolf Spy Hunt, in which amateur sleuth Lanyard finds himself kidnapped by foreign agents eager to have him apply his safecracking talents on their behalf. After refusing to co-operate, Lanyard is framed for the break-in, finds himself on the wrong side of the law, and must convince Inspector Thomas (Don Beddoe) that he's still on the straight and narrow. Inhabiting a universe not all that far from the one occupied by Columbia's other private eye, Boston Blackie, Warren William's Lanyard is, however, a far more refined character than Chester Morris' Blackie, and was cut from the same dapper cloth as RKO's competing gentleman P.I. Gay Laurence (The Falcon). Lone Wolf Spy Hunt is followed at 11:15 PM by 1940's The Lone Wolf Strikes, in which Lanyard attempts to recover a stolen necklace; at 12:30 AM by The Lone Wolf Meets A Lady, featuring our hero's efforts to prove the innocence of a beautiful murder suspect; and at 1:45 AM by 1941's The Lone Wolf Takes A Chance, wherein Lanyard himself is framed for murder.
Thursday 03/08/07
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
I Know Where I'm Going (1945 GB): Wendy Hiller stars in this Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger feature about a thoroughly modern and ambitious woman determined to gold dig her way to marriage and money. Hiller plays Joan Webster, a middle-class lass intent on wedding moneyed, off-screen industrialist Sir Roger Bellinger, now living in seclusion in northernmost Scotland. After the nuptials are postponed due to inclement weather, Joan finds herself temporarily stranded on the remote island of Mull — where she meets and falls in love with naval officer Torquil McNeil (Roger Livesey), and suddenly discovers she may not know exactly where she's going, after all. As with all films produced by The Archers, I Know Where I'm Going is burdened by a curious air of detachment and a smothering serving of British reserve — it makes Brief Encounter look like 9 1/2 Weeks — but the film is beautifully made and the cast superb. Echoing some of the themes of Powell's 1937 drama The Edge of the World, which detailed the changes wrought on a remote island by the pernicious influences of modernity, the film also features a very early appearance by future pop star Petula Clark, here playing a 13-year-old islander, who presumably has yet to go downtown and sleep in the subway, darling.
Friday 03/09/07
6:00 AM Showtime Extreme
Budo: The Art of Killing (1979 JAP): This near-legendary documentary about the many styles of Japanese martial arts makes its American television debut this morning. A grindhouse favorite back in the day, Budo has since been granted a surprising domestic DVD release by Synapse Films, and we can only hope that their re-mastered print is the one being sourced by Extreme. Detailing at considerable length the history, tradition, and techniques of aikido, karate, judo, and other styles, as well as the correct and safe usage of such popular weapons as the nunchaku, staff, and sword, Budo: The Art of Killing is essential viewing for the survivalist in your family. Also airs at 8:40 PM.
4:30 PM Showtime
Jiminy Glick In Lalawood (2004 USA): I missed this Martin Short comedy during its theatrical run in Spring 2005 — and judging from its meagre box office takings, so did the rest of you. Critics either loved it or hated it, but the film has since developed a devout cult following, and my curiosity has been piqued. For better or worse, I'm going to be tuning in. Won't you join me? Also airs at 7:30 PM and 3/10 on Showtime 2 at noon.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
I Bury the Living (1958 USA): Cemetery caretaker Robert Kraft (Richard Boone) discovers that he can make people die by sticking pins into a wall map in this intriguing low budget thriller from schlockfather Albert Band. After selling a plot to a young couple and accidentally 'pinning' their plot on the map, Kraft learns they've been killed in an auto accident — and becomes determined to prove to himself and everyone else that the confluence of black pins and death is mere coincidence. The premise, alas, is completely undermined by a poorly thought out third act, and Boone looks like he'd be much happier in a Stetson and spurs. Nonetheless, I Bury the Living's first hour is redolent with atmosphere, and horror fans can do far worse — like, for example, 1943's Dead Men Walk, which follows on Saturday morning at 12:30 AM. This PRC poverty row thriller treads some pretty well worn paths, but is worth watching thanks to the presence of George Zucco and Dwight Frye as an evil doctor and his hunch-backed assistant.
Saturday 03/10/07
5:00 AM IFC
Sanjuro (1962 JAP): The great Toshiro Mifune stars as the titular ronin in this excellent Akira Kurosawa action comedy, a sequel to the director's 1961 epic Yojimbo. Saddled with the job of protecting nine rather hapless samurai, who find themselves threatened by the corrupt superintendent of a local clan, Sanjuro finds his prowess with the sword and his patience pushed to the limit, as his compatriots repeatedly find themselves in hot water. Mifune displays superb comic timing throughout, as well as admirable skill wielding the katana, and though the film is considered second-rate Kurosawa by most critics, it's a lot more fun than its sombre predecessor — and has proven popular enough to warrant a remake, scheduled for release in Japan this coming December.
6:00 PM Military Channel
Suicide Mission (1956 NOR): I don't spend a lot of time watching The Pentagon Channel, but when they squeeze a completely obscure Norwegian movie in between the usual World War II documentaries and paeans to America's fighting men in the Middle East, I sit up and take notice. Suicide Mission popped up on the DirecTV schedule last month, and I almost recommended it then — but the channel's Web site didn't list it, so I held my fire. Ever vigilant for obscure cinema, however, I went ahead and recorded the mooted time slot, and for once DirecTV got it right. A fascinating if somewhat stodgy Scandinavian take on the war movie, shot docudrama style with a bunch of genuine war heroes cast as Norwegian resistance fighters launching daring assaults against their Nazi occupiers, Suicide Mission was actually directed by a New Zealander, Michael Forlong, who also collaborated on the screenplay with Britons Sidney Cole and David Howarth. Skol!
Sunday 03/11/07
3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Madeleine (1950 USA): Most admirers of David Lean probably haven't seen this period piece about murder in Victorian-era Glasgow. Ann Todd (reprising an earlier stage role) plays Madeleine Smith, a bonny (and rich) lassy who dispenses with her French lover (Ivan Desny) in favour of handsome Englishman William Minnoch (Norman Wooland, excellent as usual). Using the familiar devise of courtroom proceedings, the film is told in flashback fashion to explain how Madeleine came to this pretty pass. Considered the 'crime of the century' at the time, Ms. Smith's villainy was fodder for the tabloids of the day, but the film's ambiguous approach to the case caused it to tank at the box office. Technically, though, the film is on a par with Lean's best, and this rare airing shouldn't be missed.
9:00 PM Sundance
The Heirloom (2004 TAI): Taiwan was a bit late arriving at the Extreme Asia horror party, but this is a worthy first genre effort from the land of Chiang Kai-Shek. A huge box office hit in its native country, The Heirloom tells the story of architect James Yang (Jason Chang), who returns to the capital city of Taipei to accept his legacy. Said legacy consists of a tumbledown old mansion—and strange things soon start to happen there, placing James, his girlfriend Yo (Terri Kwan), and anyone else in the vicinity in great danger. The Heirloom — or House Transformations, if you prefer the original Chinese title — is a more than satisfactory haunted house thriller that may not make you forget The Haunting, but is on a par with The Legend of Hell House.
Monday 03/12/07
9:30 AM Showtime
Moog (2004 USA): After being prominently featured in earlier flicks such as the excellent Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1994) and the more problematic Modulations (1998), musical innovator Robert Moog finally got his own film a year before his death. The man most responsible for the development of the synthesizer as instrument, Moog left an indelible mark on late 20th century pop music, and this warm-hearted tribute to him features interviews with acolytes such as Keith Emerson, Gershon Kingsley, Bernie Worrell, D. J. Spooky, and Jean-Jacques Perrey. Also airs at 12:30 PM.
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