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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 02/24/09

3:10 AM Encore Love Stories
Starcrossed (1985 USA): A rarely seen ABC Movie-of-the-Week, this rather pallid sci-fi love story stars Belinda Bauer as Mary the Alien, a space fugitive who falls to Earth and promptly falls in love with helpful Boston Irishman Joey (James Spader), who does his level best to return the favor whilst helping her return home. Attitudes towards inter-galactic, interspecies sex being what they are, however, their relationship is, indeed, star-crossed, and the two realize they must remain light-years apart or risk the wrath of religious fundamentalists and genetic ethicists throughout the Solar System. This used to play a lot on the Lifetime channel, so rest assured there are no space battles, chest-bursting aliens, or invisible predators prowling around Starcrossed's sets. It doesn't add up to a whole bunch, and the special effects are lousy, but Bauer and Spader are decent enough to elevate this to tolerable time waster level.

7:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Four Days of Naples (1962 ITA): I don't think I've seen this film since I was a teenager, and all I remember about it is that someone drives a jeep at some point. Not much to go on, I know, but hey — Four Days of Naples was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1963, so it's gotta be worth your while. Directed by Nanni Loy, this late example of neo-realism follows the exploits of the Neapolitan resistance movement as they battle the German occupiers circa 1944. Some of my favorite Euro stars of the '60s show up here, including legendary American expat thesp Frank Wolff as Salvatore, a Giuseppe Six-Pack locking and loading on behalf of the people, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly's Aldo Giuffre as an artilleryman, and Gian Maria Volonte as an army officer.

2:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Gervaise (1956 FRA): Director Rene Clement is revered — and rightly so — for films such as Forbidden Games (1952) and Purple Noon (1960). Here's one of his more obscure efforts, an adaptation of Emile Zola's 1877 novel L'Assomoir, and it's just as good as either of those classics. Lovely Maria Schell stars as the titular Parisian, a single mom laundress with two children and hard feelings for in-abstentia deadbeat dad Auguste (Armand Mestral). Gervaise finds love with zinc worker Coupeau (Francois Perier from Z and Le Cercle Rouge) and even manages to open her own business — but when Coupeau falls off a roof and then falls victim to demon rum and Auguste shows up again, things begin to slide downhill. A festival favorite that also earned an Academy Award nomination, Gervaise makes its TCM debut this afternoon.

5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Burmese Harp (1956 JAP): One of the greatest of all Japanese films, Kon Ichikawa's Burmese Harp makes a very rare American television appearance this evening. Shoji Yasui stars as foot soldier Private Mizushima, who entertains his fellow Imperial troops by playing the titular instrument whilst they wait out the end of World War II in the Burmese jungle. As his unit prepares to surrender to the British Army, Mizushima is sent on a special mission by Captain Inouye (Rentaro Mikuni): to tell his fellow soldiers on Triangle Mountain that the Emperor has surrendered, and that they should also lay down their arms. Mizushima fails in his mission and becomes an itinerant Buddhist priest, more by happenstance than conviction, and embarks upon a physical and spiritual journey across the corpse-strewn landscape. If you're an admirer of Ichikawa's 1959 war epic Fires on the Plain, you need to make time for The Burmese Harp, which features a suitably brooding score from the incomparable Akira Ifukube, who would go on to compose the unforgettable Gojira theme in 1956.

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