TCM
TiVo ALERT
For
October
23–October 31
DAVID’S
BEST BETS:
THE
LAST PICTURE SHOW (October 28, 1:30 am): In honor of
Halloween, TCM is going all-out with a number of excellent and some
really bad and/or corny horror films. Check out the mini-reviews and
letter grades below to pick your poison. For this week, I'm
recommending two of my favorite films that aren't in the horror
genre. The first is The Last Picture Show, a 1971 film
directed by Peter Bogdanovich about life in a small Texas town from
late 1951 to late 1952. The movie's primary focus is on two high
school seniors, played by Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges. The film
has an incredible cast of supporting actors including Cloris
Leachman, Ben Johnson (both won Oscars for their roles), Ellen
Burstyn, Cybill Shepherd and Randy Quaid. This is the cinematic
debuts of the latter two, but Bogdanovich is able to bring out the
best in not only them, but the entire cast. It's a brilliant
character study on life in a small nothing-happening town, and how
high school doesn't prepare you for the real world, particularly if
you aren't that smart or rich. Most of the characters are just trying
to survive in a community that's dying. It's a depressing film, but
authentic and one that stays with you long after it's done.
THE
SWIMMER (October 30, 10:00 pm): Burt Lancaster is one of
my all-time favorite actors and his role as Ned Merrill, a
middle-aged ad executive who decides to swim his way home in the
pools of his neighbors in this 1968 film, is his most underrated.
This Kafkaesque film starts off with Lancaster's character in a
bathing suit suddenly emerging from a wooded area without
explanation. Merrill is initially greeted with a welcome in the first
backyard, but as he goes from swimming pool to swimming pool, things
about his seemingly happy and successful life turn out to be not so
happy or successful. The closer he gets to home, the more he (and the
viewers) learn about his life. The final scenes of Merrill at a
public pool and at his house are compelling and fascinating. It also
shows how brilliant of an actor Lancaster was.
ED’S
BEST BETS:
THE
DEATH KISS (October 26, 6:00 am): This is a nice little
independently produced Whodunit set inside a movie studio (Tiffany
Studios), where the leading actor has been murdered while filming a
scene. Bela Lugosi gives a fine performance as the studio’s manager
who is busy trying to keep a lid on things, and also paying a
familiar role: that of the Red Herring. This role is especially
intriguing here because of the presence of two of his Dracula
castmates, David Manners and Edward van Sloan (as the harried
director trying to finish his cursed film). Another little enjoyment
afforded by the film is a glimpse of a real-life Poverty Row studio
and it inner workings, something a cineaste would consider must
viewing.
DIABOLIQUE
(October 27, 3:00 am): Frankly, I cannot recommend this
picture enough. Think of a perfect Hitchcock film without Hitchcock.
That’s Diabolique, which is directed by Henri-Georges
Cluzot. To no one’s surprise, he’s known as “the French
Hitchcock,’ and Hitchcock himself was influenced by this film. This
is a masterful psychological horror film that builds slowly to a
final q5 minutes that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Although the twist ending murder plot has been done many times since,
it’s never been done better. Diabolique takes
place at a school where Simone Signoret helps her friend Vera Clouzot
(real life wife of the director) drown her ogre of a husband (Paul
Meurisse), who “returns to life” in a really terrifying scene.
It’s a taut, beautifully woven thriller with a climax that will
truly shock you. Fans of Hitchcock will love this, as will anyone
that loves a well-written thriller with the emphasis on character
rather than going for the cheap thrill.
WE
DISAGREE ON . . . WHITE ZOMBIE (October 26, 12:30 am)
ED:
B. One of the great
overlooked horror classics from the ‘30s, it was lost for years
until a print was found in the ‘60s, and the film is only beginning
to get the critical adulation it deserves. Yet another case of star
Bela Lugosi outsmarting himself – he received only $800 for his
role, while the film was a box office hit – it was the first zombie
movie made. In fact several of its scenes, such as the opening burial
on the road and the sight of the zombies working in Lugosi’s sugar
mill, still remain in my memory. Made by the Halperin Brothers, it is
another example that a low-budget film need not be God awful if
written and directed with a touch of intelligence, verve and
imagination, which more than make up for what the production values
lack. Lugosi is superb as zombie master “Murder” Legendre, with
frequent close-ups of his eyes used to convey the horror he visits on
unsuspecting Madge Bellamy and John Harron. Enamored of bride-to-be
Bellamy, he uses black magic to make her his bride. Harron must stop
him before he succeeds, with the result being an atmospheric, eerie
chiller. By the way, for you trivia buffs, this was the film that Ed
Wood and Lugosi were watching on Halloween night in Ed
Wood.
DAVID:
C. This isn't an awful film, but there isn't anything
special about it. Bela Lugosi as the evil zombie master is, of
course, over-the-top. But he is Olivier in comparison to the rest of
the cast of misfit, has-been, never-was actors. The storyline is
ridiculous: A rich guy is in love with someone else's fiance so he
goes to see Lugosi's character, Murder Legendre, to turn his love
into a zombie. She marries her true love, but drinks a zombie potion,
dies, is buried, gets dug up, and ends up with the rich guy, who has
second thoughts about being in love with an undead woman. He
obviously didn't think things through. And then the rich guy becomes
a zombie too. While it tries to be menacing, such as Lugosi giving
the evil stare, it's more comedic than anything else. The ending is
predictable so there's no need to give it away here. It's not a bad
movie and there is a certain charm to it. It's only 67 minutes long
so you're not wasting much time watching it.
No comments:
Post a Comment