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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 11/29/11

Midnight Turner Classic Movies
The Unholy Wife (1957 GB): The titular spouse is Phyllis (Diana Dors), buxom life partner of blustery Paul Hochen (Rod Steiger), owner and operator of a Napa Valley winery that seems as much Old South as New West. Paul and Phyllis have a typical Hollywood May-December relationship: she married him for his money; he she for her wasp waist and big bazooms. Though Paul seems to consider their marriage reasonably successful, Phyllis hasn’t wasted much time in acquiring a bit on the side: ranch hand Sam (Tom Tryon), a young stud eager to travel deep into Postman Always Rings Twice territory with his woman and send Paul into, ahem, early retirement. Though Dors’ second American film, The Unholy Wife was the first to be released, and truth be told it’s not too surprising that the former Diana Fluck failed to connect with American audiences. Steiger is better (a last minute sub for Ernest Borgnine, he was going through his own marital troubles during production), and the film benefits from decent supporting turns from Arthur Franz, Beulah Bondi, and Marie Windsor, as well as attractive widescreen photography by Lucien Ballard. No lost classic, but interesting.

11:15 PM HBO
My Soul to Take (2010 USA): Well, we can keep hoping. Wes Craven tried once again to rekindle his spark with My Soul to Take, a disappointing but not entirely worthless horror flick about a serial killer stalking seven children born on the night he was killed. (Not sure how that works or why the kiddies are responsible for the Riverton Ripper’s demise, but logic is rarely a Craven strength.) Anyhoo, now the rugrats are all growed up and well aware that his evil spirit is eager to get its revenge upon them, and the only way to avoid it is to complete an annual ritual that keeps his evil spirit at arm’s length for the next 12 months. This year, however, the mumbo-jumbo doesn’t seem to work its magic, and Christmas, so to speak, comes early for The Ripper. Unsurprisingly, the baddie is by far the film’s most interesting character, the killings aren’t particularly inventive, and his teen victims cut straight from the plainest genre cloth. It’s a shame to see Craven churn out another disappointment, but like I said…we can keep hoping that the next one will be at least as good as The People Next Door, if not up to the standards of the original Nightmare on Elm Street. Also airs 11/30 at 2:15 AM.

Wednesday 11/30/11

5:00 PM HBO2
Pink Saris (2010 GB): Director Kim Longinotto (a specialist in films about women’s issues, including 1998’s excellent Divorce Iranian Style) takes a look at female vigilantes in this utterly fascinating and thoroughly unusual documentary. Filmed in India, the film records the exploits of a woman named Sampat Pal Devi, defender of women’s rights and stern leader of the organization known as the Gulabi Gang. Sampat has no time for patriarchy, custom, or religion (and not a great deal for her higher-caste husband either), and fights the good fight on behalf of the wronged (and frequently very young) women of Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s largest and most important provinces. Longinotto’s film makes it clear that while Sampat is no saint, she’s struggling against enormous odds to build a more just and more equitable society in her homeland. Occupy Saris, anyone?

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