TiVoPlex
By John Seal
March 26, 2007
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.
Tuesday 03/27/07
6:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
T-Men (1947 USA): Anthony Mann has a well-earned reputation as one of the founding fathers of the noir genre, and much of that reputation stems from this early collaboration with cinematographer John Alton, another icon of the style. Oddly, though, T-Men can hardly be considered a noir at all — though shot in atmospheric black and white, it's a police procedural through and through, right down to Gayne Whitman's just the facts ma'am narration and IRS investigator Elmer Lincoln Irey's clunky prologue. The not terribly engaging story follows the exploits of undercover Treasury Department agents O'Brien and Gennaro (Dennis O'Keefe and Alfred Ryder) as they trail counterfeiting mastermind The Schemer (Wallace Ford), who's acquired some high quality paper that could net him a tidy profit whilst presumably undermining the integrity of the American monetary system. The characters are bland and little developed, but T-Men is still worth watching, primarily for Alton's masterful use of framing, depth, and odd camera angles. As a result — and somewhat counter-intuitively — even should you find the story boring, you won't find the film boring. T-Men is followed at 8:00 AM by Vice Squad (1953), a more entertaining if artistically mundane Edward G. Robinson vehicle about a day in the life of an L.A. police captain.
9:00 PM More Max
Swimming Pool (2003 FRA-GB): I'm not a huge fan of director Francois Ozon, whose films (e.g., See the Sea and Water Drops on Burning Rocks) at first seem subtly subversive but ultimately turn into shallow exercises in clever-clever filmmaking and predictable naughty-naughty sexual provocation. I'm a bit more charitable about this effort, but perhaps that has less to do with Ozon and more to do with the presence of actress Charlotte Rampling, an actress who can do little wrong in my eyes. Rampling plays Sarah Morton, a writer of murder mysteries who has retreated to a villa in France to recharge her creative batteries. She recovers from writer's block and seems well on the way to penning another best-seller — until the unexpected arrival of Julie (Ludivine Sagnier), her publisher's teenage daughter, leads to some unexpected distractions, most of which occur in or around the mansion's swimming pool. As with all Ozon films, there's a determined air of sexual bait and tease pervading the proceedings, and a dogged determination to overturn some of the viewer's preconceived notions about sex and sexuality. There's more to Swimming Pool than garden variety Gallic naughtiness, however, as the film takes a turn towards thriller territory midway, but the film is ultimately let down by a silly (though quintessentially Ozon-ish) denouement. Still, it's worth watching for Rampling alone.
Wednesday 03/28/07
3:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Immortal Story (1968 FRA): The penultimate production of renaissance man and wine enthusiast Orson Welles, this was originally intended to be part of an omnibus of Isak Dinesen adaptations, but ended up being the only completed segment. Originally aired on French television, The Immortal Story - which clocks in at a brief 58 minutes — then went on to theatrical release in the United States as part of a double bill with Luis Bunuel's great (and even shorter) Simon of the Desert. Set during the 1860s in the Portuguese coastal enclave of Macao, the film features the director as Clay, a tea merchant whose underhanded tactics and poor business ethics have left him a fretting insomniac. Desperate for sleep, he asks his clerk (Roger Coggio) to read him a saucy bedtime story — and the tale, about a prostitute and a sailor, so impresses Clay that he becomes obsessed with recreating it in real life. Co-starring Jeanne Moreau and Fernando Rey, this fascinating Welles' career footnote was also the director's belated introduction to shooting in color.
8:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
After Midnight With Boston Blackie (1943 USA): TCM has been airing lots of detective flicks this month, and tonight they air the entire Boston Blackie series in chronological order. I recommended the first three episodes when they initially showed in February, but the balance of the films are worth watching, too — especially if you're a fan of Blackie portrayer Chester Morris. The fourth entry in the series, After Midnight With Boston Blackie, is no better or worse than any of the other ‘B' mysteries of the period, but features the first screen appearance of enigmatic Ann Savage, who went on to appear as the malicious Vera in Edgar Ulmer's nightmare noir Detour two years later. Here she plays the sweet young daughter of a paroled jewel thief who inadvertently involves Blackie in criminal conduct, once again arousing the suspicions of avuncular Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane). Ms. Savage is apparently still with us today, and she must have some fascinating stories to tell — time for me to invest in that back-issue of Films of the Golden Age I missed in 2002, I think. After Midnight is followed at 10:00 PM by Budd Boetticher ‘s directorial debut, 1944's One Mysterious Night, in which the usual jewel thievery gets an Egyptian twist; at 11:15 PM by 1945's Boston Blackie's Rendezvous, with Blackie on the trail of a maniacal killer; at 12:30 AM by 1946's Boston Blackie and the Law, featuring a daring escape from women's prison; and at 1:45 AM by 1947's Trapped By Boston Blackie, in which our hero once again comes into the crosshairs of Farraday, who surely should know better at this point.
7:00 PM Sundance
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005 GER): Based on a true but little known story, this film examines the activities of Sophie Scholl, a resistance activist in Nazi Germany. Set during February 1943, when the war had already turned against Hitler at Stalingrad — and with the German people deep in a state of denial — the film portrays the efforts of The White Rose, a group of German students surreptitiously advocating against the Nazi regime. My gosh, how could they do that at a time when their country was at war? I mean, come on — with us or against us, people, with us or against us. The treasonous goings-on soon attract the attention of the Gestapo, who arrest Sophie (Julia Jentsch) and her rabble-rousing brother Hans (Fabian Henrichs), who have been distributing anti-war leaflets at the local university. Once again, I ask, is this any way for patriotic Germans to show their support for the troops? Shocking. Anyhoo, the two are soon subjected to intense interrogations, which inevitably lead to confessions and appointments with the guillotine. The film is a straightforward variant on the police procedural with the crucial difference, of course, being our complete and utter empathy for the 'criminals' — but Sophie Scholl also raises important issues of complicity and collective guilt that, if there be any justice in the world, Americans and Britons will be contending with for many years to come.
Thursday 03/29/07
7:00 PM Encore Dramatic Stories
Brothers (2004 DEN): If you missed this excellent drama when it premiered in January, it makes an encore appearance this evening. Helmed by Danish director Susanne Bier, it tells the story of Copenhagen siblings Jannik and Michael, the former an oft-imprisoned troublemaker, the latter a dutiful military man and productive citizen. When Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is released from prison after completing his most recent sentence, the two expect to resume their usual roles in the family drama - but when Michael (Celebration's Ulrich Thomsen) finds himself posted to Afghanistan, where he subsequently is captured by the Taliban, Jannik finds himself thrust into the unfamiliar role of the responsible adult who must care for his brother's ‘widow' (the wonderful Connie Nielsen) and children. Displaying the influence of the Dogme Manifesto without strictly adhering to its rules, Brothers is an engrossing look at the way violence can bring unexpected changes to its victims, and also features a fine supporting performance by Bent Mejding as the brother's alcoholic father.
Friday 03/30/07
1:00 AM Sundance
Ghost Story (1981 USA): A fun old-fashioned chiller, Ghost Story drew criticism on its initial release for being a gimmick picture. In retrospect, the gimmick — casting three much beloved Hollywood old-timers in lead roles — looks pretty benign by contemporary Hollywood standards, and the film has aged pretty well. The three actors in question are Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, and Doug Fairbanks Jr., and they play three-fourths of a group of chums (the fourth being John Houseman, who only came to film prominence in later years thanks to his Academy Award-winning turn in 1973's The Paper Chase) calling themselves The Chowder Society who regale each other with creepy tales of the supernatural. The film is deceptively simple and uniquely structured, the cast a delight to watch (it also includes Patricia Neal and the spectacular Alice Krige), and the cinematography — by the great Jack Cardiff — gorgeous. I'm hoping Sundance will be airing this is widescreen, but even if they don't, it's worth watching.
Saturday 03/31/07
11:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Hell In the Pacific (1968 USA): Set on a remote and paradisiacal island in the middle of the titular ocean during the waning days of the Second World War, Hell In the Pacific makes perfect sense when considered in the context of director John Boorman's body of work. The film takes place in incredibly lush surroundings that will remind viewers of Boorman's The Emerald Forest (1985), and the central conflict - a struggle for survival on the most basic, brutal level between two very dissimilar men (Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune, as, respectively, a shot down American pilot and an abandoned Japanese officer) - echoes themes from both Deliverance (1972) and Zardoz (1974). The film's setting also reminded me of Shakespeare's The Tempest, especially when Marvin and Mifune are alternately trussed up like turkeys during the film's second act, reducing them both to lurching, Caliban-style monsters. There's another remarkable transformative scene featuring a mud-caked Marvin, seemingly grafted onto a tree, underscoring the fraught relationship between man and nature. Hell In the Pacific compares favorably to the films of Werner Herzog in its mad intensity and respect for the forces of the natural world, and frankly blows the collected works of fellow eco-lover Terrence Malick out of the water. Boorman filmed fecund greenery, pouring rainstorms, and powerful waves long before Malick did, and to far greater effect.
8:00 PM IFC
This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006 USA): Kirby Dick's contentious look at the illogical and frequently unfathomable workings of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Ratings Board makes its television premiere this evening. Released with an NC-17 rating itself, This Film Is Not Yet Rated is a fascinating and maddening examination of the Board's ratings, though Dick's decision to stalk some of the board members is a little disturbing. For anyone remotely interested in the business aspects of cinema, however, this is absolutely essential — and compulsive — viewing. Also airs at 11:30 PM.
Sunday 04/01/07
1:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Twilight Time (1982 USA-YUG): I haven't seen this drama about an elderly immigrant who returns to his native land to raise his grandchildren, but it's premise is mildly intriguing and it features the great Karl Malden (who, born Mladen Sekulovich, recently celebrated his 95th birthday) in the lead role of Yugoslavian patriarch Marko Sekulovic. It's also never had an American home video release and is airing in widescreen, making it all the more enticing for rare film enthusiasts. Set your timers, because this one probably won't be showing up again any time soon.
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