Reviews of film ephemera, including such things as educational films, industrial films, military and propaganda films, tv commercials, movie trailers, shorts, experimental films, and movies made for non-mainstream audiences.
African Pygmy Thrills (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYvaA0Lz70A). This 30s travelogue, although very unenlightened in its narration, nevertheless impresses in its documentation of a Pygmy tribe’s building of a bridge across a crocodile-infested river. Their obvious ingenuity and bravery almost completely counteracts the unfortunate narration that calls them “little men.” There is lots of educational content and historical interest in this rather exploitatively-titled film.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Better Reading
Better Reading . Teenager Harold Wilson has a problem—he can’t read for (expletive deleted). So he has to spend all his free time studying ...
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Base Brawl (film #5 on Cartoon Sing-Along DVD (PC Treasures, 2006)). At the zoo animals’ baseball game, the elephant team is pulverizing a...
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Fools of Fate (film #12 on The Origins of Cinema, Volume 4: The Arrival of D. W. Griffith (Video Yesteryear, 1995)). Fools is right. Our h...
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American Falls from Above, American Side (film #9 on Edison Film Archive ). [Category: Early Film & TV] This is most likely the first ho...