TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for Tuesday, August 19, 2008 through Monday, August, 25 2008
By John Seal
August 18, 2008
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.
Tuesday 08/19/08
5:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Ten Cents a Dance (1931 USA): TCM loves them some Barbara Stanwyck, and while I also appreciate the belle from Brooklyn I do get a bit tired of seeing the usual suspects over and over again (paging Night Nurse!). Here's a Stanwyck obscurity, however, that I'd happily pay ten cents (or perhaps even a quarter) to see once more. Directed by Lionel Barrymore, Ten Cents a Dance is a reasonably spicy pre-Code drama about taxi dancer Barbara (guess who) torn between handsome suitor Bradley (Ricardo Cortez) and wealthy fop Eddie (Monroe Owsley). Stanwyck is radiant, and you'll love the title song, a witty and irresistible Rodgers & Hart number that makes mention of everyone's favorite flower, the pansy.
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Locked Door (1929 USA): More rare Stanwyck arrives this afternoon in the form of The Locked Door, a creaky mystery that provided her with her first leading role. She plays sweet young secretary Ann Carter, who finds herself in a compromising position when she gets mixed up with the boss's caddish son (craggy Rod La Rocque) aboard a floating nightclub. The story isn't much and the limitations of early sound are on glaring display, but it's fun to play spot the supporting cast member, including Mack Swain, ZaSu Pitts, and George Bunny.
8:45 PM IFC
The Element of Crime (1984 DEN): Lars von Trier made his auspicious if flawed feature film debut with this baffling, hyper-stylish, mostly black and white crime drama. Shot in English, the film stars Michael Elphick (the wicked night porter from The Elephant Man) as Fisher, an ex-cop hired to solve a series of murders in which lottery ticket sellers have been the victims. With the help (or perhaps misdirection?) of mentor Osborne (Esmond Knight), Fisher sets off on the trail of elusive suspect Harry Gray, but must negotiate his way through a damp dystopian mittel-European city in order to solve the crimes. It's an imperfect film - portions of it quite literally make no sense - but a fascinating precursor of later and more successful exercises in von Trier-ian wackiness such as Zentropa (1991).
Wednesday 08/20/08
3:00 AM Sundance
Home (2005 USA): It's not a particularly good film, but Home proves that even bloggers can make a movie - assuming they can find the time to get out of their pajamas and out of mom's basement. Directed by Matt Zoller Seitz, whose film criticism has, to be fair, appeared both in print AND online, Home is a fairly average, typically American indie flick about young people attending a Brooklyn party (Barbara Stanwyck, sadly, was unable to attend). If you're under thirty, you'll get more mileage from this chat-fest than us old folks.
2:30 PM Fox Movie Channel
Surf Party (1964 USA): One of the rarest American surf movies quietly resurfaces on Fox this afternoon, and if you're a fan of the Beach Party oeuvre you won't want to miss it. Directed by Maury Dexter (The Day Mars Invaded Earth, Mary Jane), Surf Party features Patricia Morrow as Terry Wells, an impressionable youngster traveling to California to reunite with her older brother (Jerry Summers) and soak up some his reflected glory as well as some sun-drenched surfside ambiance. Alas, things are not as they appear to be, and soon Terry and her pals are knocking heads with local anti-surfer lawman Neal (Richard Crane), who resolutely refuses to wax up his board. Of course, no one ever watches these films for the intricate plots — it's all about the bikinis and the music, which in this case includes Jackie de Shannon, The Astronauts, and The Routers, featuring a pre-fame Scott Walker. Barely an hour long and cheaply shot in black and white, Surf Party can't compete against those glorious widescreen, full color AIP epics, but genre completists should be excited nonetheless.
3:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
I Am the Law (1938 USA): Edward G. Robinson stars as a crusading prosecutor in this predictable but well accoutred Columbia drama. He plays John Lindsay (not the New York City mayor), whose law school sabbatical is interrupted by an urgent call from Civic Committee member Eugene Ferguson (Otto Kruger), who needs help putting the local racketeers behind bars. Lindsay is honored by the appointment — but doesn't realize that Ferguson is actually on the mob's payroll and has hired him in order to send the investigation on a wild goose chase. But don't worry — things turn out for the best in the end, not least thanks to the assistance of Ferguson's straight arrow son Paul (John Beal).
7:00 PM Sundance
The Page Turner (2006 FRA): Has anyone ever seen a film about a child prodigy in which the child prodigy DOESN'T suffer terribly from the unbearable weight of their talent? Here's a slight and welcome variation on the theme, this time featuring Deborah Francois as Melanie Prouvost, a woman still bearing the mental scars of her struggles as a ten-year old piano student. Now full grown, Melanie has never recovered from her exam failure — and is determined to teach the judge who failed her a humiliating lesson she'll never forget. Taut and to the point, this 80-minute psychological thriller is a wonderfully entertaining tale of ivory tickling revenge that will have you canceling your child's next recital.
Thursday 08/21/08
3:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Angel Wore Red (1961 GB): Dirk Bogarde is miscast once again as a Spaniard in this lumpy but still worth a look Spanish Civil War drama. Bogarde plays Arturo Carrera, a priest who falls for beautiful prostitute Soledad (Ava Gardner) after storming off in a huff from his bishop and the church's "empty piety". Based on a novel by Bruce Marshall, it's all very cod-Graham Greene, but Italian location work helps, as does the presence of Vittorio de Sica, Finlay Currie, and Joseph Cotten amongst the supporting cast.
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