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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 1/18/11

2:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Siege of the Saxons (1963 GB): Merlin must save Camelot from perfidious Saxons in this entertaining blend of fantasy and historical fiction (with the emphasis heavily on "fiction"). After good King Arthur (Mark Dignam) pops his clogs, true heir to the throne Katharine (The Day of the Triffids’ Janette Scott) goes underground, leaving the kingdom in the hands of rotter Edmund of Cornwall (Ronald Howard). But Merlin (John Laurie) has other ideas regarding the line of succession: he knows the throne belongs only to the man or woman who can remove the sacred sword Excalibur from the stone in which it is set, a task which may prove beyond Edmund’s abilities. Siege of the Saxons was produced by Charles Schneer as a second-feature to accompany Jason and the Argonauts (both films were directed by Nathan Juran), and was shot at Bray Studios — though it’s not a Hammer production. Though never boring, it’s no lost classic either, but this does mark its TCM premiere.

4:30 AM Fox Movie Channel
Accent on Love (1941 USA): George Montgomery plays a rich man experiencing hard times in this rarely seen Fox rom-com. George is silver-spooned John Hyndman, who decides life with trophy wife Linda (Cobina Wright) is more trouble than it’s worth. He drops off the grid one day and takes up with a group of immigrant ditch-diggers, including J. Carrol Naish (but sadly not John Qualen) who teach him important lessons about life, love, and outrageous comedy accents. Though nothing special, the film marked the film debut of Sergeant Shultz himself, John Banner, and also features an uncredited appearance by comedy legend Mantan Moreland.

5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Screen Directors Playhouse marathon: TCM’s tribute to producer Hal Roach delivers something really special this week: ten episodes of the forgotten NBC television series Screen Directors Playhouse, which ran for one season in 1955. A spin-off from a popular radio show, the Playhouse’s gimmick was combining the talents of contemporary film stars and veteran directors — many of whom had begun their careers during the silent era — in original, written for TV stories. As a result, these programs — which have not been shown publicly since their original airings in 1955, despite the wishful fantasies of late IMDb confabulist F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre — include work by Frank Borzage, Allan Dwan, Leo McCarey, John Ford, and relative newcomers Ida Lupino and Fred Zinnemann, and feature rarer than rare performances by Robert Ryan, John Wayne, Errol Flynn, Dennis Hopper, Peter Lorre, and many, many others. Nothing else in this week’s TiVoPlex really matters: your life will not be complete if you miss a single episode of Screen Directors Playhouse!

6:45 AM Flix
Assassination (1987 USA): Secret Service agent Jay Killon (Charles Bronson) has been protecting the President of the United States but is reassigned to First Lady duties in this predictable but passable Cannon production. Convinced he’s been demoted, Killon considers his new job an insult to his manhood, and matters are made worse when he discovers that Mrs. POTUS (real-life Bronson spouse Jill Ireland) is a complete pain in the tuckus. An incident during a parade, however, suggests her life may really be in danger, and Killon’s professionalism trumps his desire to wring her neck. Will he track down her would-be killer, or will the would-be killer get to her first? More importantly, will Flix continue its recent predilection for all things widescreen and air Assassination in its correct aspect ratio?

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