TV REVIEWS : ‘House’: Focus on War Photographers

At some point in the 1980s, the photojournalist-at-war character became a stock one. Between the cameramen protagonists of “Salvador,” “Under Fire,” “84 Charlie Mopic” and “Full Metal Jacket,” audiences now pretty well understand that war is hell--to shoot.

The latest addition to the genre, the Vietnam telepicture “Frankie’s House” (airing in two parts on A&E; Sunday and Tuesday), has the advantage of having a pair of real and somewhat legendary photographers on the front: Tim Page (played by Iain Glen), a novice who grew to become the most notorious of Vietnam’s still-life documentarians, and Sean Flynn (Kevin Dillon), the son of Errol Flynn, who gave up an unpromising acting career to go behind the camera in ‘Nam for the real-life equivalent of swashbuckling.

Surprises about the conflict at this late date are few and far between. The horrors of battle will be artificially leavened by hedonistic indulgences in sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. Young Page’s naivete will be lost; Flynn’s jaded thrill-seeking will lose its thrill; the assumption that America will clean up as usual will gradually give way to the realization that this non-world-class skirmish is, unthinkably, a losing proposition.

The predictability factor isn’t helped by the fact that “Frankie’s House” takes four long TV hours to unfold, and never does reach much of an epiphany. (The first part airs Sunday at 5 and 9 p.m.; the second, Tuesday at 6 and 10 p.m.) More disappointingly, the filmmakers largely give us nice guy Page’s point of view when it’s cynic Flynn--who willingly went from Hollywood hedonism to finally being listed as missing in action in Cambodia--who’s inherently the more provocative character.

It has its technical irritants, too, like director Peter Fisk’s overuse of made-for-TV extreme closeups, and the overweening electric guitar score of rock god Jeff Beck, who rarely goes for period flavor.

Still, “Frankie’s House” (misleadingly named after the brothel where some of the action is set) proves intermittently absorbing, with inherently powerful enough subject matter to sometimes run roughshod over all obstacles. And the occasional combat scenes are brought off tensely and impressively enough to belie the presumed low budget of the English/Australian production.