TiVoPlex
By John Seal
April 12, 2004
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.
Tuesday 04/13/04
5pm Turner Classic Movies
Callaway Went Thataway (1951 USA): There’s a ton of good (if predictable) fun to be had in this light-hearted MGM comedy about the early days of television. Written, produced and directed by the Melvin Frank-Norman Panama comedy team, the film stars Howard Keel as an unassuming cowpoke hired by marketing man Fred MacMurray to fill the role of missing silver screen legend Smokey Callaway, whose old films have suddenly become baby boom boob-tube favorites. When the real-life Callaway (also Keel), a hard-drinking ladies’ man, reappears, complications ensue. It’s possible to read a bit too much into this film’s gentle pokes at publicity men and the famous folk they promote, but it does seem weirdly prescient, hinting at the development of the endless news cycles and round-the-clock celebrity watching of the late 20th century. Besides credited appearances by Jesse “Maytag Man” White, Natalie “Mrs. Howell” Schaefer, and comic Stan Freberg, eagle-eyed viewers will also espy Clark Gable, Acquanetta, Cary Grant, Liz Taylor, and Esther Williams, plus Mae Clarke, Dick Powell, John “I know nothing” Banner, and Hugh “Ward Cleaver” Beaumont. Even if you think the story is worthless fluff, you’ll have fun picking out all the familiar faces.
4pm Trio
The Human Vapor (1960 JAP): I can’t remember the last time this Toho science-fiction film showed up on TV, but it’s been at least 20 years, perhaps even longer where cable is concerned. Directed by Godzilla veteran Inoshirô Honda, The Human Vapor has been an elusive title even on home video, so some excitement is definitely warranted by its reappearance this afternoon. Starring Yoshio Tsuchiya as a mild-mannered librarian transformed by arrant science into an amorphous super-criminal, the film is a superior example of the genre, ranking with The Mysterians as amongst the best Japanese sci-fi efforts, and not a single giant monster in sight! My biggest question is: will Trio be airing this in 1:2.35 Tohoscope? The channel has a fine record of airing films in their correct aspect ratios, but that might be almost too much to hope for. Even if it’s pan-and-scan, though, it’ll be worth your while. Or mine, at least. Also airs at 8pm, 4/14 at noon, and 4/18 at 6am.
6pm Trio
The Creature with the Blue Hand (1967 BRD): And the hits keep right on coming. German-made Edgar Wallace thrillers used to fill the wee hours of the broadcast morning, but it’s been a long, long time since any of them have seen the light of day in the United States. This one was re-released on video in the 1980s in a hack-and-slash version re-titled The Bloody Dead, an Al Adamsonesque mélange of new, mismatched footage courtesy of indie producer Sam Sherman and excerpts from the original film. Starring cinema madman Klaus Kinski as identical twin brothers - one good, one homicidal - who cause no end of confusion for Scotland Yard’s Inspector Craig (Harald Leipnitz), Creature with the Blue Hand is a typical Wallace krimi, no better or worse than the other three dozen similarly-themed films produced in West Germany during the 1960s. So which version will Trio be airing? Heck if I know, but now that both versions are available on a single DVD, it could be either. Also airs at 10pm and 4/14 at 2pm.
Wednesday 04/14/04
6am Sundance
Nicholas Nickleby (2002 GB): I’m a huge fan of all things Dickens, but his works have frequently proven tough nuts for screenwriters to crack. Dickens began his career writing serials for the developing magazine market of the early 1800s, and the end result were stories that frequently ran 600, 700, or even 800 pages in length and overflowed with characters and subplots seemingly antithetical to successful big-screen adaptation. That’s never stopped filmmakers from trying, however, but the resulting works have often ended up shorn of important details (especially in the spate of Hollywood adaptations produced during the 1930s) or over-larded with them (1988’s two-part, four-hour Little Dorrit springs to mind). As we anticipate Roman Polanski’s forthcoming take on the comparatively brief Oliver Twist, Douglas McGrath’s version of Nicholas Nickleby - making its television debut this evening - stands as one of the better (though still imperfect) recent efforts, with McGrath’s screenplay managing to keep the core of the story intact whilst avoiding the inertial epic length that burdened Little Dorrit. On the plus side, the villains are a superb set of miscreants, especially Christopher Plummer as frosty-hearted Ralph Nickleby and Jim Broadbent and Juliet Stevenson as the loathsome administrators of Dotheboy’s Hall, and Jamie Bell makes a fine (if predictably pathetic) Smike. There are also delightful smaller roles for Timothy Spall, Nathan Lane, Alan Cumming, and Barry Humphries, and heroine Romolo Garai brings a pungent blend of anger, resentment, and indignation to her performance as long-suffering Kate Nickleby. Unfortunately, Luke Wilson look-alike Charlie Hunnam is sadly not up to the task as the title character, his stoic acting style contrasting poorly with the rest of the cast and his blonde pretty -boy looks serving as an unnecessary distraction from the rapidly moving storyline. Nonetheless, this remains a worthwhile and enjoyable film, brilliantly shot by Mike Leigh vet Dick Pope and beautifully scored by Rachel Portman. Also airs 4/18 at 9am and 10:45pm.
6pm Sundance
The Hired Hand (1971 USA): By the early 1970s, the combined forces of social and artistic change generated, respectively, by the Vietnam War and by the success of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Westerns had rendered the traditional sagebrush saga obsolete. A rash of American-made “revisionist” Westerns was the result, foremost amongst them this very personal film directed by Peter Fonda after his lengthy post-Easy Rider break. Fonda directed himself as a wanderer who returns home, hoping to settle down with wife Verna Bloom after a lengthy road trip with drinking partner and general hell-raiser Warren Oates. Mirroring the experiences of returning Vietnam vets, Fonda finds readjustment difficult, as he becomes the “hired hand” on his own land, doing penance for abandoning his family seven years earlier. Beautifully shot by Vilmos Zsigmond and memorably scored by Bruce Langhorne, The Hired Hand is finally getting its due (after an ironically lengthy absence) thanks to a restored print that briefly played theaters in 2001. Now reappearing on television and newly available on DVD, this is one you’ll definitely want to make time for. Also airs 4/17 at 1pm.
6pm Trio
The Cat Burglar (1961 USA): Action specialist William Witney directed this long-forgotten crime drama about a thief (Jack Hogan) and a stolen briefcase. It’s barely an hour in length (Trio has it scheduled in a ninety-minute slot) and hardly qualifies as a classic in any sense of the word, but anal retentives (raises hand) and film freaks will want to take a look. Co-stars include silent actress Billie Bird and Roger Corman regular Bruno Ve Sota, best remembered as a gun-toting backwoodsman in 1959’s Attack of the Giant Leeches. Also airs at 10pm and 4/15 at 2pm.
Thursday 04/15/04
4pm Trio
Crazy House (1943 USA): Some weeks I feel like a shill for TCM, other weeks for Sundance or IFC. This week I’m getting that guilty feeling thanks to Trio, but please rest assured I’m not getting any kickbacks, freebies, or sexual favors from Trio employees, their relatives, or their agents. In fact, in the interests of fairness, I may as well criticize them (again) for airing commercials, bleeping out f-words, and fogging genitalia, and their Web site leaves a lot to be desired. Still and all, they deliver the goods programming-wise, and this week they have a particularly strong slate of films on offer. Today’s pick is a Universal wartime musical comedy with a cavalcade of “stars”, chief amongst them the second-string comedy team of Chic Johnson and Ole Olsen playing a pair of, erm, second-string comedians trying to get a film made at, gosh, Universal (Films within films seem to be the unofficial TiVoPlex theme this week, as are films featuring huge arrays of once-famous faces and films about mistaken identities). Crazy House isn’t much of a story and the musical numbers are for the most part eminently forgettable, but you’ll enjoy spotting the likes of Percy Kilbride, Hans Conried, Shemp Howard, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (as Holmes and Watson!), Count Basie, Lon Chaney Jr., and Gale Sondergaard, amongst many others. Also airs at 8pm and 4/16 at noon.
Friday 04/16/04
4am Cinemax
Balseros (2002 ESP): This interesting, if overlong, Spanish documentary focuses on seven Cuban citizens attempting to flee their homeland for the green grass of the United States. Granted access to ordinary Cubans that would never be given to American filmmakers, directors Carlos Bosch and Jose Maria Domenech offer balanced criticism of both the Cuban and US governments, but their film concentrates on the personal stories of the seven Balseros, beginning with their 1994 decision to negotiate the dangerous waters of the Caribbean to their new lives years later in America. The film would have been more effective shorn of about 20 minutes, but it remains a fascinating look at the hopes, dreams, and cruel realities of seven intrepid rafters. Also airs at 6:30am.
1pm Fox Movie Channel
Zoo in Budapest (1933 USA): With a title like Zoo in Budapest, you’d have a hard time convincing me NOT to watch this film, but as an extra-added bonus, it’s actually a pretty good movie, too. Directed by Son of Frankenstein helmer Rowland V. Lee, it’s a romantic tale of two young lovers (Loretta Young and Gene Raymond) who meet at the zoo where Raymond is employed. After a brief courtship, the pair elope, with Young running away from the orphanage she calls home and setting up house with Raymond overnight in the bear cave (!). It’s all rather strange, but thoroughly compelling in that odd early-‘30s way, and beautifully shot by cinematographer Lee Garmes. Watch for O.P. Heggie, the blind hermit from 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein, as the zoo director, Doctor Grumbach. Also airs 4/17 at 3am.
Saturday 04/17/04
10:30pm Encore Action
The Island (1980 USA): A guilty pleasure if ever there was one, The Island is a ridiculous and logic-free Peter Benchley story about an island full of pirates who have survived (and presumably propagated) for the last few centuries. Michael Caine stars as a journalist who stumbles across the island whilst investigating the disappearance of numerous ships and pleasure cruises in the Caribbean. It's easy to imagine this being a hit at a time, when tales of the Bermuda Triangle were vying for tabloid consumers everywhere, but it actually bombed, grossing only $10 million against Universal's $22 million investment. The pirates are being nurtured by a conniving jack-of-all-trades, played by an oily Frank Middlemass (Barry Lyndon), and are led by David Warner, who for once avoids ingesting his accompanying scenery. Don't ask how the almost-exclusively male pirates have bred, or why they haven't succumbed to infectious disease over the centuries. This is a film where you must suspend entirely all common sense and give yourself up to the absurd story. If you can do so, you'll have fun.
Sunday 4/18/04
1pm Encore
Hardcore (1979 USA): Director Paul Schrader definitely seems a little obsessed with the seamy side of life. His underrated Bob Crane biopic Auto Focus (2002 USA) wasn’t even his first film about pornography; this George C. Scott vehicle arrived a quarter-century earlier, and is actually much harder going than the aforementioned Greg Kinnear vehicle. Scott plays Jake Van Dorn, a distraught and deeply religious father searching for his runaway daughter in the slimy world of back-alley sleaze merchants and peep-show promoters. It’s not for all tastes, but it’s a worthy entry in Schrader’s filmography and, along with Blue Collar (1978 USA) and Auto Focus, is amongst his best work. Still unavailable on DVD, Hardcore will hopefully arrive in digital format sooner than Schrader’s Exorcist prequel, which currently ranks high on my must-see list. Also airs at 3:30am.
Monday 04/19/04
3am Turner Classic Movies
Smart Alecks (1942 USA): This is getting to be a regular thing. Yes, it’s East Side Kids night on TCM, and this time they’re matching wits with ex-boxer Max “Slapsie Maxie” Rosenbloom. Rosenbloom plays a gangster who runs afoul of Kid Bobby Jordan (yes, the same unlucky schlemiel who got mixed up with gangsters in Bowery Blitzkrieg and Kid Dynamite) and starts stalking him after Jordan aids in Maxie’s arrest during the first reel. The rest of the Kids disenfranchise the newly law-abiding Jordan, but naturally come to his rescue when Rosenbloom gets out of jail and starts making threatening noises. Look for future noir bad girl Marie Windsor in a small role.
11:20am Sundance
Black Box Germany (2001 GER): Left-wing revolutionary armies were the order of the day in 1970s Europe. Italy had the Red Brigades, Britain contended with the IRA and the Angry Brigade, and Germany, of course, had the Red Army Faction, more commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Focusing on the tragic stories of RAF member Wolfgang Grams and powerful establishment banker Alfred Herrhausen, Black Box Germany won the 2001 German Film Award for Best Documentary. It’s followed at 1pm by the equally fascinating The Tunnel (2000 GER), about a group of young Germans who dug a tunnel under the Berlin Wall in 1961.
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