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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 12/05/06

3:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (1956 USA):Dana Andrews stars in this Fritz Lang noir about a writer (Andrews) who, in order to prove a point about the immorality of the death penalty, designs some circumstantial evidence to implicate himself in a murder case. Unfortunately for Dana, his plans go awry when his exculpatory evidence goes astray in a car wreck, and before you know it he has an appointment with Ol' Sparky himself. Lang's last Stateside feature before his feted return to Europe, Beyond A Reasonable Doubt came too late in the cycle to be considered a ‘pure' noir—though it is in black and white, there are an awful lot of daytime scenes, for example—but the plot's paranoia and inescapable doom are right out of the noir playbook. It's not quite The Big Clock, but as long as you can accept the premise of Andrews playing an award-winning scribe, the film works reasonably well.

Wednesday 12/06/06

2:30 AM Showtime
Mixed Company (1974 USA): It isn't even close to being PC, but there's something endearing about this "family" comedy-drama about a husband and wife who end up adopting a house full of needy children, including a boy from the ghetto, an American Indian, and a Vietnamese orphan. Joseph Bologna plays Dad, a tough-guy basketball coach with the proverbial heart of gold, and Barbara Harris is Mom, a social worker with, er, a heart of gold, too. There's also an out-of-character appearance by cuddly Tom Bosley as an inveterate racist friend of the family. The film hasn't aged gracefully and it makes its point bluntly and repeatedly, but I like it anyway, and Bologna and Harris are both excellent. Also airs at 5:30 AM.

12:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Dark Passage (1947 USA): I've been on a bit of a Bogie kick of late, reacquainting myself with films such as Key Largo and In A Lonely Place. Here's another of his classic performances, this time in the service of an outrageous but hugely enjoyable scenario from writer-director Delmer Daves. Bogart plays Vince Parry, a wrongly convicted man who breaks out of prison to prove his innocence. When a suspicious bus driver sounds the alarm and notifies the coppers, Vince is rescued by sympathetic Irene Jansen (Lauren Bacall), who offers to hide him until the storm blows over. After spending a few blissfully platonic days holed up with Irene, Vince makes tracks for a plastic surgeon, who obligingly provides him with a new face—but a second murder sends him back to Irene's flat for a date with destiny. Though burdened with a gimmicky third act (who wants to watch Bogie wrapped up in bandages?), Dark Passage is premium entertainment, and one of only four films Bogie and Bacall made together. They're all good.

Thursday 12/07/06

5:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
Blood and Steel (1959 USA): One of a series of low-budget, widescreen World War II flicks shot by Fox on location in the Philippines, Blood and Steel returns to the small screen tonight after a very lengthy absence. Starring John Lupton, James Edwards, Brett (Return of the Fly) Halsey, and John Brinkley as four Seabees stranded on a Japanese-occupied island, the film is completely unexceptional in every respect, though it's good fun to see the great James Hong playing a stereotypical evil Nipponese. If you've seen one of these programmers, you've seen ‘em all—but this one has been much harder to see than the others!

10:30 AM Flix
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972 FRA): It's not my favorite Bunuel flick, but any Bunuel film is better than 99% of everything else, so it's still pretty darn good. Starring long time Bunuel buddy Fernando Rey, the film is a near plotless examination of the strenuous efforts of six friends to simply sit down and enjoy a meal together, and the surreal events that prevent them from doing so. Written by Bunuel in collaboration with frequent colleague Jean-Claude Carriere, this fantasy gleefully subverts the set-up of the great man's earlier examination of the bourgeois dinner party, The Exterminating Angel, which featured a room full of folks who couldn't—physically or mentally COULDN'T—take their leave after chowing down. Co-starring Delphine Seyrig, Stephane Audran, and Jean-Pierre Cassel, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie was the high watermark of the third act of Bunuel's long and convoluted film career, and is essential viewing for any serious film buff.

4:15 PM Showtime
Schultze Gets the Blues (2003 GER): This one screams ‘quirky character study', and it is, but at least it's a pretty good one. Horst Krause plays the title character, a retired salt miner who spends his days hanging out at the local bierkeller or reclining on his sofa. Whilst engaged in the latter activity one day, he hears a strange new kind of music on the radio—Cajun zydeco—and instantly becomes obsessed with the style and its practitioners. Fantasizing about the bayous of Louisiana, Schultze is soon pounding out his own unique blend of polka-zydeco on his accordion, as well as learning how to cook Jambalaya. When the opportunity arises to attend a folk music festival in Texas, Schultze is on the next plane, setting in motion a somewhat predictable series of culture clashes—Borat he ain't. This is an impressive first outing for director Michael Schorr, and airs in widescreen tonight and on 12/8 at 2:30 AM and 5:30 AM.

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