By John Seal
May 26 - June 1, 2003
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or under-appreciated - they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times PDT.
Monday 05/26/03
3:15 PM Flix
The Revolutionary (1970 USA): It's too low-key to arouse much passion, but The Revolutionary is a reasonably interesting look at radical left wing activity in the late '60s. Jon Voight mumbles his way through his role as a college student wrestling with his conscience (and getting expelled for listening to it). Robert Duvall is on hand as a more experienced leftie organizer and Seymour Cassel is his usual fun self as Leonard, the token hippie. There are some very good moments, including a scene where Voight is caught painting anti-capitalist manifestos on a wall. There's also a wonderful pawnshop sequence that gets to the heart and soul of the film's thesis, but too much screen time is spent on Voight's struggling relationships with women. All in all, this is a period piece that will be of interest to anyone interested in the hard left aspects of political life in the turbulent Vietnam years. Also airs 6/1 on Showtime 3 at 8:05 AM.
Tuesday 05/27/03
1:00 AM Sundance
See the Sea (1997 FRA): Young French auteur Francoise Ozon directed this short (52 minute) and decidedly not sweet meditation on beach side alienation five years before making his critical breakthrough with the murder/mystery 8 Women(2002 FRA). Prior to that art house hit Ozon had made a string of contentious and audience polarizing films, including Criminal Lovers (1998 FRA) and Water Drops On Burning Rocks (2000 FRA). 8 Women's co-writer, Marina de Van, stars in See the Sea as Tatiana, a meddlesome backpacker who brings discord and disquiet to the life of new mother Sasha Hails. While he's not quite in the same league as Argentinian boogeyman Gaspar Noe, Ozon clearly has the ability to shock his audience - even when given less than an hour in which to do it.
6:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Bed of Roses (1933 USA): Is the rose bed half full, or half empty? Constance Bennett and Pert Kelton play a pair of loose women, newly released from prison and out to find themselves some new sugar daddies. Bennett is terrific as usual, but Kelton is hard to take, coming across like Glenda Farrell on steroids. There's enough good stuff in this lightweight RKO drama to make up for Ms. Kelton's presence, though, including Jane Darwell, Joel McCrea, and prissy Franklin Pangborn. Directed and written by Gregory La Cava, responsible for the remarkable Gabriel Over the White House the same year, Bed of Roses is a decent but familiar fairy tale of the Depression.
7:00 PM Fox Movies
Celebration at Big Sur (1971 USA): If you missed this obscure folkumentary when it aired a few months back on Fox, it's back for an encore engagement. The music isn't exactly my bag, but there's no denying the historical interest of this low budget film about a low budget festival that took place in 1969 at the Esalen Institute, one of the premier psychobabble headquarters of the day. If you enjoy footage of folks flying their freak flag high, this is for you. Fans of folk music will be in heaven, but others will find the sounds pretty thin gruel - and sometimes, especially in the case of Joni Mitchell's caterwauling, the musical equivalent of a high colonic. Neil Young looks and sounds cool, especially on an organ-heavy number early in the film, and the Edwin Hawkins Singers are excellent. The film has a grittiness that sets it apart from Woodstock, and the small nature of the crowd - and the fact that the "stage" is one side of a swimming pool - make this a valuable record of what seems to have been a genuinely communal experience.
10:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Animal Kingdom (1932 USA): This excellent pre-code drama is thematically similar to last week's Westward Passage. This time the obsessed writer (Leslie Howard subbing for Laurence Olivier) is married to Myrna Loy, when all he really wants is the love of Ann Harding. Jeez, Leslie, I'd settle for Myrna if I were you. A still suave Neil "Commissioner Gordon" Hamilton co-stars, and the film is ably brought to the screen by co-director George Cukor.
Wednesday 05/28/03
3:45 PM IFC
Gloria (1980 USA): Of all the bad Hollywood remakes over the years, few have been as pointless as the Sharon Stone "re-imagining" of this John Cassavetes classic. The original airs tonight and stars Gena Rowlands, terrific as a moll with a heart of gold, and benefits tremendously from director Cassavete's verite approach and outstanding use of New York location photography. Also airs 5/29 at 4:45 AM.
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Big Clock (1948 USA): One of my favorite films noir, The Big Clock (surprisingly never subjected to an 'X' rated remake along the lines of Driving Miss Daisy Crazy or Face Jam) is a faithful adaptation of a terrific novel by Kenneth Fearing. Ray Milland stars as George Stroud, a man with a two very big problems - a murder, and an inadequate alibi. That doesn't do the intricate plot full justice, but suffice to say that, true to the genre, there are some implausible but awfully enjoyable twists and turns involving Milland, Charles Laughton as haughty businessman Earl Janoth and Mrs. Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, as a stereotypically eccentric painter. Also airs 5/31 at 7:00 AM.
Thursday 05/29/03
3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Nuisance (1933 USA): In an unsurprising turn of events, Lee Tracy - player of innumerable hot shot reporters and other assorted troublemakers - stars as an ambulance-chasing lawyer in The Nuisance, an amiable little comedy from MGM. Nicely shot by cinematographer Gregg Toland, the film also features Frank Morgan, Samuel S. Hinds, and Nat Pendleton in a small role as a street car guard.
12:35 PM More Max
Exile Express (1939 USA): Here's a real oddity. I wouldn't be saying that if this were on TCM, but someone at Cinemax decided to schedule this instead of another erotic thriller, so it really sticks out on the schedule. Produced by Poverty Row studio Grand National, Exile Express stars Ukrainian born Anna Sten in a low budget tale of suspense involving spies - as usual for pre-war American films, of the non-specific Teutonic variety - and some scientific secrets. There's a solid if unspectacular supporting cast, including bitchy Jerome Cowan, TiVoPlex favorite Irving Pichel, and ubiquitous "B" movie utility man Byron Foulger.
Friday 05/30/03
9:35 AM Encore Mystery
Ffolkes (1980 GB): This absurd stiff-upper-lip adventure film stars a bearded Roger Moore in mid-Bondian stride as Rufus Ffolkes, a gentleman mercenary whose skills are required by Her Majesty's government when psychotic Anthony Perkins hijacks a North Sea oil rig. He's assisted somewhat ably by James Mason, not looking too well as a Royal Navy admiral, and David (The Fly) Hedison as the bewildered representative of an oil company. There's even a lady Prime Minister in the person of Faith Brook, the daughter of Hollywood star Clive Brook. Need I mention she's not as annoying to look at or listen to as Margaret Thatcher? Also airs at 8:10 PM.
10:55 AM Showtime Extreme
Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976 HK): Wow. Thanks to the good folks at Showtime, we're being treated to a widescreen (if slightly worn) print of this outrageous martial arts epic. Director Jimmy Wang Yu stars as a one-armed boxer engaged in a battle to the death against a blind man with a grudge. If you enjoy watching disabled people fight each other, decapitation by flying guillotine (a weapon that looks a little like a red velvet lampshade lined with blades), or Indian mystics who can lengthen their arms at will a la Stretch Armstrong, this is your movie.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Diabolique (1955 FRA): One week, and two disastrous Sharon Stone remakes are aired in their original format. Gloria was the first, and here's the second, Henri-Georges Clouzot's suspense classic about murder and a disappearing body. Simone Signoret is outstanding as the calculating Nicole and there are performances by Clouzot's spouse Vera and French matinee idol Michel Serrault. One thing is guaranteed: after watching this film you'll look twice before stepping into your next bubble bath.
Saturday 5/31/03
8:00 AM Sci Fi
Rebirth of Mothra (1996 JAP): It's a rare day that I can recommend something on Sci Fi - though they do, admirably, air a fair number of films widescreen - but I believe this is the American television premiere of the latest films in Toho's kaiju eiga series about a giant, er, moth. We're treated to back to back to back insect attacks this morning, starting out with Mothra's first starring role in over 30 years. The first film of the new series tackles some of the environmental issues popular in the genre since the early 1970s and pits Mothra against Death Ghidorah, a particularly nasty relative of Toho's beloved three headed dragon. It's followed at 10:00 AM by Rebirth of Mothra II (1997 JAP), in which our favorite winged avenger takes on Dagarah, a new monster in the Toho family created by man to destroy garbage. Unfortunately, like most movie experiments, he slips his leash and worsens the environmental problems on Earth by spewing forth trash instead of consuming it. Finally, the imaginatively titled Rebirth of Mothra III (1998 JAP) flutters into view at noon. This time Mothra travels through time to do battle with King Ghidorah. Mothra has since appeared in 2001's Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, a film I would love to see on the big screen. As one of the few patrons to pony up to see Godzilla 1985 and Godzilla 2000 in an American cinema, I feel confident in predicting it'll be awhile before Sony bothers to give another kaiju film a general release in the States. A tip of the hat to the Sci Fi channel for giving American viewers the chance to see these marvelous creature features.
Sunday 6/01/03
2:10 AM Encore Action
The Last Blitzkrieg (1958 USA): Van Johnson stars in this underwhelming Columbia programmer, included in this week's column for its rarity. Directed by Arthur Drefuss, beloved for his hippie-era epics The Love-Ins and Riot On Sunset Strip (both 1967 USA), this is a decidedly less colorful affair, shot on location in the Netherlands in good old black and white. Co-starring Kerwin Mathews, Dick York, Larry Storch, and Brett Halsey, this story of Nazi spies out to wreck American morale is a fairly typical Sam Katzman production: cheap and not terribly cheery.
8:00 AM Sundance
Ballad of a Soldier (1960 USSR): This beautiful film is a very simple story of a Russian infantryman (Volodya Ivashov) who stumbles into committing an act of bravery on the Eastern Front. Impressed by his ability to knock out two German tanks, his commanding officer grants him a leave to fix the family roof. He has six days to get home, fix the roof, and return to the front, and numerous obstacles get in his way, including an overburdened rail system, a legless Russian veteran (played brilliantly by Yevgeni Urbansky, who looks a bit like Marlon Brando) in need of help, a recalcitrant railway guard who responds to bribery, and - most importantly - a young woman (Zhanna Prokorenko) who falls in love with him. The film is deeply moving without being in the least bit sentimental and is gorgeous to look at, featuring magnificent and superbly framed black and white cinematography by Vladimir Nikolayev and Era Savelyeva. Try watching it without at least getting a lump in your throat.
5:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Andromeda Strain (1971 USA): This solemn big budget science fiction film presents Earth with the ultimate challenge: an alien virus hitches a ride to the big blue marble via a returning Army satellite. I guess that's slightly more believable than the premise of more recent apocalyptic fare such as Armageddon or The Core, but Robert Wise's adaptation of a Michael Crichton novel treats it all with deadly seriousness. Richard H. Kline's sleek widescreen photography looks great, anticipating his sterling work on 1972's dystopian classic Soylent Green. If you're feeling nervous these days about the emergence of new infectious diseases, you'll want to give this one a miss.
9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Scaramouche (1923 USA): Well, swash my buckle! Or buckle my swash! Here's hunky Ramon Novarro in a terrific Metro silent, based on a Rafael Sabatini novel. Sabatini also wrote The Sea Hawk and Captain Blood, so Hollywood was only getting started on adapting the Italian novelist's work. Directed by Rex Ingram and starring many of the same cast members as Ingram's earlier Prisoner of Zenda (1922 USA), this is topflight silent entertainment for those who appreciate rum, sodomy, and the lash. Well, perhaps you'd believe derring-do, swordplay, and revenge?
