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12:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Air Raid Wardens (1943 USA): If January’s 24-hour Laurel and Hardy marathon didn’t sate your appetite for all things Stan and Ollie, here’s one of the duo’s later post-Hal Roach features. At this point the boys were almost done and the returns — both financial and artistic — in rapid decline. That said, however, even L & H at their worst have moments of sublime brilliance, and all their films have something to recommend them. In Air Raid Wardens, the bumbling pair try to enlist but are rejected, end up working for civil defense, and inadvertently break up a Nazi spy ring. Even at a brisk 67 minutes there isn’t enough material here to support the story, but MGM’s production values gloss over most of the film’s shortcomings. If only it were funnier...

Thursday 3/31/11

3:00 AM Sundance
The Man Who Became King (2007 CAN): Adongo Adaga was just another Sudanese exile living in Canada at the turn of the 21st century, until he received word that he was needed back home. This compelling documentary takes a look at the challenges facing Adaga, who desperately wanted to relocate his family from his homeland to the Great White North but was instead called to serve as the king of a tribe in his native Southern Sudan. A large tribe of several hundred thousand subsistence farmers, the Anyuak needed him to settle outstanding issues, such as their strained relationship with neighboring tribes and the difficulties faced by their fellow Anyuak across the border in Ethiopia. The film focuses on Adaga's efforts to balance the needs of his people with the needs and safety of his immediate family, and his grace under pressure is impressive indeed.

5:00 PM Showtime
Behind the Burly Q(2010 USA): The long-gone wild, wild world of burlesque is exposed for all to see in this enjoyable if inconsequential documentary directed by Leslie Zemeckis (yes, she’s Robert Zemeckis’ better half). Featuring a dizzying assortment of archival and interview footage with such performers as Lili St. Cyr, Tempest Storm, Blaze Starr, and Kitty West, this is a film designed to set the heart of any red-blooded American male pumping a little faster. Well, any red-blooded American male who came of age during the 1940s and ‘50s, as the burlesque houses transformed into porn theaters in the ‘60s — a cultural sea change which is definitely another story for another film! Also airs at 8:00 PM.

7:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Last of Sheila (1973 USA): Movie star deaths are a regular event, but it’s not often they really shock me. James Coburn’s passing in 2002, however, came as a surprise: the man always exuded an air of indestructibility, and had triumphantly returned to the movie game in the late ‘90s with a meaty role in Paul Schrader’s Affliction and a delightful cameo in Mel Gibson’s Payback. The Last of Sheila is prime mid-period Coburn, a satisfying mystery involving a wealthy playboy (guess who) who invites friends for a week on his yacht and engages them in a game of crime that turns deadly. Surprisingly well written by a very odd couple — actor Anthony Perkins and composer Stephen Sondheim – The Last of Sheila was directed by Herbert Ross (Play It Again, Sam; Pennies From Heaven) and features appearances by James Mason, Ian McShane and TiVoPlex favorite Dyan Cannon, with costume design by — wait for it — Joel Schumacher. I’m not making this up!

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