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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 06/09/09

8:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Night Ambush (1958 GB): TCM's theme this month is "Great Directors" — which is perfectly acceptable, but tends to exacerbate the channel's primary flaw, "been there done that" syndrome. Still, even the greatest directors have the occasional hidden gem in their filmography — and here's one such item, an obscure war tale from the Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger tag team. Dirk Bogarde stars as Major Paddy Leigh-Fermer, commander of a super secret unit sent to kidnap a high-ranking German officer stationed on Crete. The plan is to take General Kreipe (Marius Goring) to Cairo for interrogation, and Paddy's men nab him with little difficulty, but bad weather and rough terrain contribute to slow progress transport wise, allowing the nasty Nazi to leave a trail of clues for his troops to follow. Can Paddy and his ridiculous comic-Greek moustache overcome the cunning of the mighty Wehrmacht? Though not considered a highlight of Powell and Pressburger's career, Night Ambush (originally released in Britain as Ill Met by Moonlight) is a taut and entertaining thriller, and co-stars Cyril Cusack, Michael Gough, and Christopher Lee as a dental patient!

10:50 PM Encore Mystery
Jindabyne (2006 AUS): This above average Australian drama from director Ray Lawrence (Lantana) died an undeserved death at the American box office. It returns to the small screen this evening, and features everywoman Laura Linney as Claire, the wife of secretive Irish auto mechanic Stewart (Gabriel Byrne). Stewart has just returned from his annual fishing trip with his drinking buddies - a trip low-lighted by their discovery of the dead body of a young aboriginal woman. Undisturbed, the men don't report the death until they return from holiday, forcing Claire to ask herself how well she really knows the man she married. Beautifully shot in New South Wales and featuring standout performances by the two leads, Jindabyne deserves a far wider audience than the one it has heretofore enjoyed.

Wednesday 06/10/09

7:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Sullivan's Travels (1941 USA): My personal favorite Preston Sturges feature, Sullivan's Travels is a piquant mix of laugh-out-loud humor and stinging social commentary from America's foremost cinema satirist. Joel McCrea stars as John Sullivan, a director of lightweight film fare who takes to the road in order to learn something about the harsh realities of life and perhaps provide his features with an edgier touch that will appeal to the common man. Disguised as a hobo and with only one thin dime in his pocket, Sullivan soon befriends a beautiful would-be actress (Veronica Lake, who gives the best performance of her career), and the two partake of all that a life riding the rails can offer, including a stint in the poorhouse and some quality time on the chain gang. A flop on its initial release, Sullivan's Travels is now rightly considered an American film classic, and though ostensibly a comedy, features scenes as powerful as any in John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath. It's an essential viewing experience for anyone seriously interested in the cinema arts.

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