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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.

Wednesday 06/17/09

3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968 GB): I'm not a huge admirer of director Tony Richardson, but this marks the widescreen television premiere of his revisionist take on one of the British army's most embarrassing moments, and therefore earns a nod. For those of you unfamiliar with British history, the Charge took place in 1854, when Britain, France, and Ottoman Turkey faced off against the might of the Russian Empire during the Crimean War. The result of disastrous, ill-advised decision-making by Lord Lucan (here portrayed by the marvelously crusty Harry Andrews), it resulted in the near-destruction of an elite cavalry unit and inspired Alfred, Lord Tennyson to write a poem that British schoolboys would recite religiously for over a hundred years. Also featuring Trevor Howard as Lord Cardigan (who led the charge), John Gielgud as Lord Raglan (who shared blame with Lucan for the disaster), and Richardson's then-wife Vanessa Redgrave as one of the ladies observing the action from the sidelines, this is a film best appreciated when seen in its original aspect ratio. Look for five-year old Natasha Richardson, here making her screen debut as a flower girl at a wedding. The Charge of the Light Brigade is followed at 5:15 AM by Richardson's screen adaptation of Marguerite Duras' novel Sailor From Gibraltar (1967), also featuring Mrs. Richardson as well as Orson Welles and Jeanne Moreau; at 6:45 AM by the director's outback biopic Ned Kelly (1970), with Mick Jagger portraying the titular Aussie villain; and at 8:30 AM by Hamlet (1969), with Nicol Williamson as the slightly loopy Danish heir.

7:00 PM Sundance
Ten Canoes (2006 AUS): The first feature film to be shot almost entirely with Aboriginal dialogue, Ten Canoes is a mytho-poetic drama inspired by a famous 1930s photograph of Australian natives gathered around ten bark dugouts. Set a thousand years or so in the past, the film stars the legendary David Gulpilil as The Storyteller, a fount of knowledge and common sense who imparts useful advice to young buck Dayindi (Jamie Gulpilil, son of guess who), who's eager to find him a woman — even if it means stealing his brother's wife. Directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr, Ten Canoes is a beautiful, lazy daydream of a film, and will appeal to anyone who enjoyed the early films of Peter Weir or Nicholas Roeg's Walkabout.

Thursday 06/18/09

5:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Reunion in France (1942 USA): I'm a huge fan of director Jules Dassin, and whilst Reunion in France is far from his best effort, it still offers considerable entertainment value. Set during the Nazi occupation of Dassin's native France, the film stars Joan Crawford as a Parisian (!) woman hiding ditched RAF airman Pat Talbot (chickenhawk John Wayne!!) from Gestapo ogre Winkler (John Carradine!!!). And if that doesn't sound ridiculous enough, future Gilligan's Island star Natalie Schafer (Mrs. Howell) also shows up as the wife of a German officer. The story is utterly absurd, but Crawford is good, and as with all Dassin films, it looks terrific. Reunion in France is followed at 7:00 AM by A Letter for Evie (1946), a rather bizarre Dassin romantic comedy about a woman (Marsha Hunt) finding love via her job in a shirt factory.

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