Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004)

I watched Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) the other night and found it to be really interesting. It’s a documentary film about one of the first pay-tv stations in the US and its brilliant programming chief, Jeff Harvey.

Harvey had a knack for finding obscure films and breathing new life into lesser known films by some famous directors—Robert Altman, Sam Peckinpah and Michael Cimino to name a few. Unfortunately for Z Channel, HBO and a other premium cable channels gave it a lot of competition.

Harvey suffered from depression and used to tell people that he was crazy. I suppose he was in the end because in the late 80s he killed his wife before committing suicide in LA. Shortly after that Z Channel also faded into obscurity.

One of the great things about this documentary is that it mentions a lot of obscure films that merit some attention. Here is a list of films that I hope to track down and watch at some point:

Overlord (1975) — directed by Stuart Cooper
Mädchen in Uniform (1931)
Silver Streak (1976)
Fingers (1978)
Bad Timing (1980)
The Passenger (1975)

Has anyone seen any of these films?

Posted in DVD Reviews at 11:36 AM