TV Talk: Filmed-in-Pittsburgh noir thriller ‘Pale Blue Eye’ delivers mystery, chills, character-driven drama

Director Scott Cooper’s “The Pale Blue Eye,” filmed last winter in Western Pennsylvania, is a rarity for movies today generally and movies on Netflix specifically.

Generally, it’s a movie for adults and without super­heroes, which makes it stand out. For Netflix, it’s the rare original movie where mood plays a larger role than action sequences or special effects.

In just two Western Pennsylvania theaters Dec. 23 — Shenango Valley Cinemas, Hermitage, and Diamond Theatre of Ligonier — and premiering on Netflix Jan. 6, “The Pale Blue Eye” is a character-driven two-hander that’s worth seeing, though some casting choices betray eventual plot turns.

Set in 1830 upstate New York, the film is a fictional murder-mystery that uses the framework of some historical facts.

Christian Bale, excellent as always, stars as a grumpy, traumatized detective hired by the top brass at West Point to investigate the murder of a cadet. The film’s real standout is Harry Melling, who plays an excitable, eccentric Edgar Allan Poe, an enthusiastic armchair detective/poet.

British actor Melling is probably best known as a chess wiz’s admirer in Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit.” At the start of “Pale Blue Eye,” he plays a Southern-­accented Poe as a wide-eyed romantic, leaps and bounds removed from the Poe of legend.

The genius of the story, written/directed for the screen by Scott Cooper and based on the Louis Bayard novel, is that events of the film — complete with plenty of Poe Easter eggs — push Poe toward that darker, more morose Poe that’s remembered today.

Cooper gives the film the requisite gloomy vibe with dark, candlelit scenes aplenty — but nothing so bad as that egregious “House of the Dragon” episode, thankfully — and a story that eventually includes a connection to the occult.

Among the supporting cast, Gillian Anderson seems to be having a blast as a daffy doctor’s wife. It’s an oddball character but one that fits snugly in a story that takes a “Scooby Doo”-esque turn that might not sit well with all viewers. It’s abrupt and will cause viewers to reevaluate (or rewatch) everything that’s come before. (There were similar complaints about the book’s denouement, so the movie tracks with that.)

Filming locations included Laughlintown, Ligonier Township, at the Compass Inn Museum, which plays a tavern. That’s the scene — about 14:46 into the film — where viewers can spot incoming U.S. Sen. John Fetterman as an extra at the bar (I never managed to spot Gisele Fetterman in multiple viewings of the scene.)

Other filming locations included Westminster College, which stood in for West Point military academy; Moraine State Park; McConnells Mill (playing the exterior of a site where occult ceremonies occur; the interior was built onstage at 31st Street Studios in the Strip District); and Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville.

Strike doc on WQED-TV

WQED-TV debuts the one-­hour independent documentary “Local 1196: A Steelworkers Strike” (8 p.m. Jan. 5), a chronicle of the March 2021 strike against Allegheny Technologies in Brackenridge. The steelworkers gave filmmaker Sam George access to their story as he followed them to the picket lines, to the union hall and into their homes. The film was funded by The Bertelsmann Foundation, which bills itself as a nonpartisan think tank. Viewer discretion is advised because of candid, sometimes profane language.

‘Wildcat’

Viewers seeking an emotional exploration of animals — wild and human — should make a point to stream the worthwhile “Wildcat,” premiering on Amazon’s Prime Video on Dec. 30.

It tells the story of research scientist Samantha Zwicker and former British soldier Harry Turner as they attempt to rewild baby ocelots in the Peruvian Amazon. “Wildcat” documents their conservation efforts as well as the relationship between Zwicker and Turner. At times heartbreaking for its depiction of what’s going on with the animals and the humans, “Wildcat” shows the impact of nature and nurture on both species.

RIP Nick ‘Bomba’ Tallo

Condolences to the family and friends of Nick “Bomba” Tallo, who died Dec. 14 at 75 from cancer.

Tallo was floor manager of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” for 30 years at WQED-TV, and he was memorably featured in the 2018 feature film documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” He also acted in 1978’s “Dawn of the Dead” and 2001’s “The Bread, My Sweet,” and he was a dolly grip on made-in-Pittsburgh movies “Kingpin” (1996), “Inspector Gadget” (1999) and “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012).

Canceled

CNN canceled “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” after two seasons.

Netflix canceled “Blockbuster” after one season, and Apple TV+ did the same to “Shantaram.”

Channel surfing

The third season of Fayette County hunter Jeremiah “Jay” Voithofer’s “MTN Top Outdoors” begins airing at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 28 on cable’s Sportsman Channel. … Two new episodes of Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” air at 9 p.m. Jan. 2 and 3. … NBC will continue to program the 10 p.m. hour of prime time at least through the 2023-24 TV season, per Deadline.com. … Though we won’t see the impact until late 2023 or early 2024, #PeakTV may be coming to an end as platforms ordered 24% fewer programs in the second half of 2022 after Netflix lost customers for the first time in a decade and Wall Street turned bearish on streaming.