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10:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
End of the River (1947 USA): End of the River was close to the end of the road for Indian film star Sabu. Sabu Dastigar was a youngster discovered by British producer Alexander Korda, who turned the lad into box office gold via starring roles in such films as Drums, Thief of Bagdad, and Jungle Book. After a brief stint in Hollywood, an aging (well, 20-something) Sabu returned to Britain and found work in this Powell-Pressburger production. He portrays Manoel, a South American native taken into slavery by whites and then charged with the murder of a man during a dockside donnybrook. It's actually quite an interesting film, but Sabu just wasn't up to serious drama, and by the 1950s he was relegated to low-budget European co-productions. Though shot on location in Brazil, End of the River's cast is resolutely British - look for James Hayter and Charles Hawtrey as two of the not-terribly-convincing locals!

Friday 09/04/09

3:30 AM Starz in Black
Screen-Door Jesus (2003 USA): I'd never previously heard of this film, but with a title like Screen-Door Jesus, is there really any reason NOT to watch it? It's a shot in Texas indie about a woman who finds the image of Jesus imprinted, or etched, or something, into her screen door. And it won the Golden Starfish at the Hamptons International Film Festival! I'm sure you'll agree that any film that wins a Golden Starfish is worth 90 minutes of your time.

9:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Man From Down Under (1943 USA): Do you come from a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder? Charles Laughton didn't, but he gave it the old college try in this amusing but wildly inaccurate MGM representation of life in the Antipodes. Laughton plays World War I Anzac vet Jocko, who rescues a couple of Belgian kiddies, adopts them, and raises them in the outback, where they grow up, oddly enough, to become all-American Richard Carlson and Donna Reed! When those dastardly Japs declare war and bomb Jocko's hotel, our hero is ready to take up arms again in defense of all that's good and holy, including Foster's Lager, Vegemite, and Chips Rafferty. You won't believe for a minute that this was shot outside the confines of a Hollywood studio, but Laughton is as good as ever - bad accent notwithstanding.

6:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Brewster's Millions (1945 USA): Not to be confused with the Richard Pryor movie of the same name, this Brewster's Millions features Dennis O'Keefe as the titular character, a GI with no prospects who suddenly learns he's inherited a fortune from a distant relative. The legacy comes with strings attached, however: in order to gain access to the moolah, he must first spend a million bucks before he turns 30 in two months time! This contrived but enjoyable comedy earned an Oscar nom for Best Song, but is of interest now primarily for its supporting cast, which includes John Litel, Eddie ‘Rochester' Anderson, Mischa Auer, and Neil Hamilton.

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