Living Better Cinematically

Classic Sci-Fi Trailers, Vol. 7 (Sinister Cinema). [Category: Commercial]

More and more trailers from science fiction movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. This tape seems to focus mostly on humanoid monsters, alien invasions, and scientific experiments gone wrong. Gets 5 extra points for throwing in some drive-in ephemera.

Highlights:

The trailer for Untamed Women features the classic line, "Shoot anything with hair on it that moves!" I hope that includes that creepy, unshaven guy who speculates upon the "other motives" of the Untamed Women.
The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas is coming to this theater! Maybe he has a date with the Tingler!
The Human Vapor is "the most terrifying experience in scientific history!" I'd like to read the journal article that supports that claim.
D-Day on Mars was "adapted in 1966 from The Purple Monster Strikes." That would imply that this incredibly creaky film from the 1940s was passed off to 1960s audiences as something new!
Msties, take note: contains the trailers for Rocket Attack U.S.A., The Killer Shrews (not the classic one with Radford Baines, alas), The Amazing Transparent Man, The Slime People, and Marooned (a.k.a. Space Travelers).

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

How to Hold a Husband (film #6 on Exploitation Mini-Classics, Vol. 2 (Sinister Cinema)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

Mainly it involves wearing skimpy lingerie. Like How to Undress, it's purportedly aimed at women, but I seriously doubt any women went into the kind of theaters that showed this. Quite short and very cheesy.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: .

Drive-In Werewolf (extra on Monsters Crash the Pajama Party Spook Show Spectacular DVD (Something Weird, 2001)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

Hey, folks, it's intermission time! Time to go on out to the snack bar and...TURN INTO A WEREWOLF!!!! This clip from a cheap exploitation flick looks as if it has had an "alternate" soundtrack dubbed in. I doubt if the werewolf in the original movie complained about eating Japanese food, but who knows? A fun little extra on a DVD full of fun little extras.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Universal Pictures Newsreel (intermission item on Walk-In Double Feature #3 (Sinister Cinema)). [Category: News]

The shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald and JFK's funeral are documented in this 1963 newsreel. It's hard to imagine that this was news to any of the theater-goers of the time, considering the extensive tv coverage of these events. The film of Oswald's shooting was taken from tv footage, in fact. It all just goes to show why newsreels died. It's an interesting relic of the newsreel's death throes, though.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: *.

Atomic Power at Shippingport (film #172 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

This film documents in great and technical detail the building of the first nuclear power plant at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. As such, it has lots of historical interest, but it's boring, boring, boring to anyone who's not a nuclear power geek. One slightly fun moment is at the end when the plant is first switched on and we see a series of neon signs in a local city light up. But most of this film will put you right to sleep.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: *.

Americans at Work: Barbers and Beauticians.

This film, made by the AFL-CIO, gives us a detailed view of what barber and beauty shops were like before the 60s revolution turned them into Unisex Salons. It's pretty straightforward, with a mildly campy sequence where Dad and Junior have to wait for Mom and Sis to come out of the beauty shop (Dad chainsmokes 3 cigarettes while waiting!). Still, there's a lot of historical interest here.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: .

Betty in Blunderland (extra on Drive-In Discs, Volume One: The Screaming Skull & The Giant Leeches DVD (Elite Entertainment 2000)) [Category: Hollywood]

. Betty goes through the looking glass and ends up in Alice's Wonderland. This is pretty much a hybrid of the Alice stories and Betty Boop cartoons. It starts to get away from its source somewhat when a huge dragon (who's suppoed to be Jabberwocky) comes out of the Mad Hatter's hat and attacks Betty, turning the proceedings into a typical little-guys-against-the-big-bad-guy cartoon. Not bad, but it could be weirder.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

An American Girl (film #363 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

This film, made by the same folks responsible for All the Way Home, show us the underside of the "nice, simpler time" of the 50s, this time from a teen's perspective. Teenaged girl Norma gets a pretty silver charm bracelet for her birthday from her little sister, who bought it in a second-hand store. When Norma returns to the store with her friends to get the storekeeper to decipher some foreign characters on one of the charms, she finds out it is a Jewish bracelet. When the storekeeper shows her a star of David charm that goes with it, Norma has it put on the bracelet, despite the protests of her friends, who think it is "weird." Norma does it because she thinks it's pretty, but she finds that wearing a bracelet with Jewish symbols on it is "not done" in her neighborhood and it leads to ostracism by most of the kids at school, including her best friends. One of her friend's mothers actually accuses Norma of hiding a Jewish identity and insists that she should make friends with "her own kind." Fortunately, Norma's parents are unusually intelligent and thoughtful in this matter. They realize that they cannot shield their daughter from the ugliness that is showing in their "nice" neighborhood after the bracelet scratched its surface, and they allow Norma to make her own decision about what to do about it, according to her own conscience. Norma chooses to confront the PTA with her experiences by reading her diary aloud to them. This film is a good counterpoint to the social guidance films made during this period, most of which stress "fitting in." What those other films failed to show was that some people were not even given a chance to "fit in" and that conforming to the group is not always a good thing. The fact that the filmmakers didn't actually make Norma Jewish just shows how pervasive the problem of racism was, and how it was covered up with innuendo and hints, in order to maintain the facade of "niceness." Again, this is a film that is necessary viewing in order to get a more complete version of what the 50s were like, and the price that was paid for its "niceness."

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: ***.

As Seen Through a Telescope (film #26 on The Movies Begin, Volume Two: The European Pioneers (Kino Video, 1994)). [Category: Early Film & TV]

Somebody discovered that you could simulate the experience of looking through a telescope, sort of, by filming through a black mask with a round hole in it. Of course, one of the first uses of this device is in a film about a voyeur. He spies on a woman getting fitted for new shoes, and through the "telescope" device we get to see––gasp!––several inches of her ankle! Of course, she's still wearing her industrial-strength black stockings––I told you I wouldn't be reviewing porno, after all. What we really get to see "through the telescope" is a view of what a previous era considered racy. A 1900 George Albert Smith film.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: .

Classic Sci-Fi Trailers, Vol. 6 (Sinister Cinema). [Category: Commercial]

Good grief, more trailers from science fiction movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. This tape seems to focus mostly on science fiction horror. Again, lots of fun. Gets 5 points for throwing in some drive-in ephemera here and there.

Highlights:

Tobor the Great is a great hokey robot. "Gramps, don't you do it!"
Gimmick Alert! Conquest of Space was billed as being a true story––before it happens! The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock was filmed in Wonderama and Matterscope!
Both Queen of Outer Space and Dark Star were advertised as serious science fiction!
"Your eyes will glaze! Your ears will pop!" claims the trailer for Journey to the Seventh Planet. Sounds like a typical airline flight.
The trailer for Queen of Blood promises to "turn the Milky Way into a Galaxy of Gore!" That's sure to bring in the alien tourist trade!
Journey to the Center of Time was brought to us by American General Pictures. I guess they didn't want to get too specific.
She Demons features "a power-mad genus (sic)!" Now that would make biology class interesting.
Msties, take note: contains the trailer for Beginning of the End.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (film #2 on Cartoons for Big Kids (Turner Home Entertainment, 1989)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

This is one of the all-time great Warner Brothers cartoons. Daffy Duck plays detective Duck Twacy, an outrageous parody of Dick Tracy, who tracks down a case of stolen piggy banks. This is one of the most visually amazing of any of the Warner Brothers toons––somebody must have had a whole lot of fun drawing a bunch of faux Dick Tracy villains. And on top of that, the toon is very funny. Hint: use the pause button at various points during the scene where all the villains fall over, one after the other––the animators slipped in some fun surprises. Another item for the Film Ephemera Museum of Quirky Devices: the streetcar cards marked "To the Villain's Secret Hideout". Highly recommended.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: ***.

Doctor Who: Shada (Fox Video, 1992). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

"Shada" is the Great Lost "Dr. Who" Episode––due to a strike at the BBC, it was never finished. This was a shame, because it supposedly had an excellent script by Douglas Adams. This tape rectifies that situation. "Shada" has been reconstructed here, using the footage that was shot, and filling in the holes with narration. And the narration is done by none other than Tom Baker himself. Baker, although noticeably older than in his "Dr. Who" days, does an excellent job with the narration––it really looks like he's having fun. And the episode is no disappointment. An evil alien named Skagra gets ahold of an ancient Timelord book which was in the possession of Cambridge Professor Chronotis, who is really a very old Timelord himself. Skagra has the ability to steal peoples' minds through the use of a robotic sphere, and he wants to use the book to gain access to Shada, the Timelords' prison planet. There he plans to hook up with the infamous Timelord criminal Salievin, who has the power to invade peoples' minds, and use their combined technology to steal all minds in the universe and combine them into one infinite, all-powerful Universal Mind. Professor Chronotis is a wonderful absentminded professor character, and the story has lots of great twists and turns and surprises. Baker's narration is strong enough that the episode doesn't suffer from having missing segments. "Dr. Who" fans won't want to miss this. One of the best examples I've seen of piecing together a "lost episode" of a tv series.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Admiral Dewey Leading Land Parade (film #3 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]

This film documents a military parade led by Admiral Dewey. The uniforms are amazing. An 1899 Edison film.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

NASA, Volume Two Film Reel (extra on NASA DVD (Madacy Entertainment, 1999)). [Category: News]

This is a clip of President John Kennedy giving his "we choose to go to the moon" speech, interspersed visually with clips from the 60s space missions. It's not exactly a "film reel" but it is a mildly interesting bit of news footage.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Betty Crocker (film #3 in the Commercials section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Commercial]

Betty Crocker offers a money-back gurantee on her cake mixes and gives us several serving tips for honey spice cake. A mildly fun bit of housewifey ephemera from the 50s.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

The Bronze Buckaroo (film #5 in the Black Culture section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

This all-black cast western from the 30s is incredibly cheaply made. It has a standard western plot involving Cowboy Bob saving his old pal Joe Jackson from a gang of outlaws who are trying to steal his land, and a comic-relief subplot involving ventriloquism and a "talking" mule. The comic relief characters are a bit hard to watch, as they are as stereotyped as black comic relief characters in other movies of the time. Still, at least in this one the hero and the heroine get to be black, too (though their the lightest-skinned of the bunch).

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

Better Housing News Flashes (film #208 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

A couple of short, government-sponsored newsreel clips showing how the New Deal is creating more housing and more jobs in building new houses. Construction workers are put back to work building new houses as part of a government-sponsored program, and a middle-class couple inspects a model home, now made affordable by National Housing Administration mortgages. The first scene is pretty standard, and the second is mildly cute. A fun little piece of 30s history.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

Barbie's Audition (film #5 in the Film and Video Section of Illegal Art). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

In this highly disturbing film, a young woman's movie audition turns to casting couch turns to rape, the young woman being played by a Barbie doll and the rapist being played by a full-grown man. The guy holds the Barbie doll very close to the camera throughout the film, which reduces her dollishness somewhat and he makes her respond to what is happening by moving her in various gestures. The effect is real enough to be highly disturbing, and this says something about violence against women, the way such violence is glorified on film, and how the cultural standards of beauty that are idealized in the Barbie doll make women more vulnerable. The film treads a fine line between social commentary and offensiveness. To my mind, it never actually goes over the line, but it gets awfully damn close. Close enough so that it might go over the line for others, so be warned and think carefully before viewing it.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

China Central TV (film #7 on Television Archive). [Category: News]

This is a 30-minute clip of Chinese tv on September 11, 2001. It starts with news coverage of the events of the day, which is basically a recap of images better covered elsewhere. But the rest of it is just regular Chinese tv. So if you want to know what tv is like in China, here's your clip. It includes commercials, an investigative report about education, a painting demonstration by what must be the Bob Ross of China, and a profile of an elderly couple, the woman of which may be American because she speaks English with an American accent at times. All of this is, of course, in Chinese, with no subtitles (no English subtitles anyway––many of the segments have Chinese subtitles, which may be a translation of the various Chinese dialects). Still, this is more interesting than you might think, especially the commercials, some of which are almost as annoying as American commercials.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

American Fashion and Department Stores: The Pro-Mass Production View (film #117 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

A marketing class goes on a field trip to a Montgomery Ward store and learns how the Monkey Ward system of catalog merchandising is so darn great, and how the American system of buying and selling goods is so much better than systems of doing business in those other countries. Several of the students are from those other countries, giving handy-dandy descriptions of how business is done at home that the professor can use as negative examples. None of them mind, though––they're all eager to learn the American way of doing things. One interesting thing about this movie is that it contains film footage of a Russian fashion show and of the GUM Department Store in Moscow that looks authentic, which was probably none too easy to get during the time that it was made. This adds to the historical value of the film. Mostly, though, this is the usual 50s big business propaganda film.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: .

Atomic Energy as a Force for Good (film #410 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

Rancher John Vernon is approached by a representative of the Atomic Energy Commission who wants to buy options on his land for building a nuclear power plant. Vernon is against having anything to do with "the bomb" and he gets the town to pass a resolution petitioning their congressman to stop the plant from being built. So the pro-nuke congressman comes to town, bringing along with him an atomic scientist, who shows them all a film about the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. One of those uses involves using radiation to identify the location of brain tumors, and this really gets to Vernon, because his little granddaughter has one and doctors have given her a death sentence. Suddenly, he flip-flops his stance and is all for the nuclear plant being built. This film is very earnest and tries very hard to be fair about this issue, making Vernon and the other townspeople thoughtful and intelligent instead of ignorant knee-jerkers in their opposition to the plant, but its pro-nuke stance is obvious and that in the end makes the resolution overly simplistic. Just because there are some benefits of atomic research does not really resolve the issues the townspeople originally brought up. Perhaps if the film had made it more clear what specifically the proposed plant was supposed to do it would have helped. As it is, it promotes black-and-white thinking about nuclear energy––if it's not 100% evil, if you can find even the tiniest benefit from it, then you must be 100% for it. Sorry, but I think it's a lot more complex than that. And it's disturbing to me to see the town be so easily reassured about atomic energy. The film's very earnestness and intelligence make it a much more subtle and effective piece of propaganda than the campier films on this site, and that makes it more disturbing.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: **.

Admiral Dewey Landing at Gibralter (film #2 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]

A landing boat arrives at a pier and a couple of guys get off. I'm not even sure which one is Admiral Dewey. I guess there's some historical interest here, but not much else. An 1899 Edison film.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: .

Assignment Venezuela (film #1 on Assignment Venezula and Other Shorts (Best Brains, 2001). Also, film #162 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

Aha! One of my Ephemera Holy Grails has been released! This lost mst3k short was originally intended for a Voyager mst3k CD-ROM, a project that was ultimately abandoned. The rough-cut of the short, complete with time code, was shown at the Coventio-Con Expo-Fest-a-Rama II: Electric Bugaloo, where I saw it. I despaired in Issue #0 of LBC that it would ever see the light of day on video, but it turned out that Best Brains heard my plea and responded. The film on this tape is the same rough-cut that was shown at the Con. It's much longer than most mst3k shorts, since they didn't have to deal with the time restrictions of a tv episode. Made by the Creole Oil Company (every mention of the name causes the bots to start frantically scatting in gumbo-speak), it features an incredibly dorky American engineer who gets transferred to the company oil fields in Venezuela and writes detailed letters about the country to his wife and kids back home. Of course, he only gets to see the most "modern", Americanized parts of the country. His wife's clothing and make-up are a scream––did women ever really look like that? The msting is great, especially during the scene when the guy has a night out at the bar which he fails to tell his wife about in the letter. This was worth waiting for.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Msting: . Overall Rating: .

The Best Made Plans

The Best Made Plans.

A 50s housewife solves all problems with Saran Wrap plastic film. Of course, all her problems are the kinds we all want to have, such as freezer burn, last-minute party favors, and an unexpected trip to visit her sister, who has just given birth. I have a special affection for 50s home economics films like these––they inhabit an unreal, spotless world where all problems are quickly and easily solved by using the correct products. My favorite moment in this one is when the friendly neighbor lady solves the party favor problem by showing the little girl how to make "flowers" from hard candies wrapped in Saran Wrap––when the husband asks if he can help, she sends him into the kitchen to boil water, as if a home birth were imminent. Lots of fun and quite mstable.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Brink of Disaster (film #252 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

College student John Smith holes up in the library while a riot is going on, armed with a baseball bat. While there, he encounters the ghost of an ancestor of his who was killed in the Revolutionary War. They are soon joined by one of the history professors, and the three of them "discuss" the recent student protests. Both the professor and the ghost are dead set against the students, equating any sort of dissent with the worst kind of violence and looting. The student responds by occasionally giving extremely lame justifications for the students' behaviors, justifications that totally play into the hands of the professor and the ghost. In the end, though, the student turns out to be one of "them"––i.e. the hippies––and is just about ready to turn the professor over to his cronies, when the ghost knocks him out with the stock of his rifle. However, this only will only delay the ultimate confrontation, as the rioters are already chopping through the locked door with axes. It ends with the lurid title “Will you let this be...THE END??" This strident right-wing film tries to address student violence using a Sid Davis approach, which ends up being laughably unsuccessful. The filmmakers show absolutely no understanding of the students point of view. Indeed, the students are portrayed as Bad Guys whose only point is wanton, pointless destruction, which misses the point that students were also supposed to be the films' audience––when was the last time you were swayed by an argument that portrays you as evil? Student dissent is equated with "filth," i.e. "dirty" books and movies, sexual promiscuity, illegal drug use, and communism, which therefore makes it Evil in the eyes of the filmmakers, leading innevitably to wanton violence and destruction. This black-and-white thinking is laughably simplistic and ignorant of the real factors playing into the violence on college campuses at the time. The film, if it had any impact on its intended audience other than laughter, probably just made it more angry and rebellious. After the professor's self-righteous harrangue, the students in the audience were probably rooting for the rioters by the end of the film.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Believe It or Not (recoreded off of Turner Classic Movies). [Category: Hollywood]

This filmed version of the Ripley's comic strip plays a lot like the strip itself. Ripley himself narrates and shows us a number of unusual things, some of rather dubious authenticity (like the two 121-year-old Missourians––ages are notoriously hard to verify), some that seem more like jokes than serious oddities (the $25-a-month apartment on Wall Street), and some that are obviously real and quite interesting (the giant steaming teapot sign in Boston, the tightrope-walking dog). The beginning is rather upsetting as Ripley makes light of 8-year-old girls in other cultures who become mothers, and the audience titters along. Yeah, buddy, you try being enslaved in a harem and giving birth with a child's body, and you'll find out just how funny it is.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Belo Horizonte (film #442 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

This film is a midcentury portrait of Belo Horizonte, Brazil's "planned city with a plan" (wonder if there's any planning involved?). It's not so much about the planning of the city as it is a promotional travelogue about how great the city is, with a heavy focus on the minerals produced in the area. Of course, all of the great things about the city are supposed to be a result of its planning, which controls everything, right down to the schools, churches, recreational facilities, social service agencies, and prisons. By the time they get to the prisons, the "planning" starts to seem a little Orwellian, especially as they end the film with the citizens marching in precise military order, while the narrator rhapsodizes about a "well-ordered Brazil". Fortunately, you just know it's not so neat and tidy in real life.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

Bank Robbery (film #11 in the Indie section of Movieflix (www. movieflix.com)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

A bank robber, running from the police, deposits his money bag in the hands of a random passerby. The passerby turns out to be a sci-fi geek and you can guess what he does with the money. This one at least made me smile a little bit.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: *.

BBC World News (film #3 on Television Archive). [Category: News]

This is up-to-the-minute BBC footage of September 11, starting with footage of the burning north tower after the first plane hit it. While the newscasters are struggling to find something to say (since they still knew very little about the cause of it), we clearly see the second plane smash into the south tower, causing a spectacular explosion. As usual with this sort of thing, it takes a few minutes for the newscasters to realize what has happened. "Obviously, there's chaos there now," one of them says in a dry, clipped British accent. Afterwards, they are able to interview by telephone several eyewitnesses to the second crash. This is gripping and essential footage of the drama of 9/11 unfolding before our eyes.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: ***.

Am I Trustworthy? (film #78 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

Eddie is upset because he wasn't elected treasurer of his hobby club––instead he was put on the clean-up committee. His kindly dad helps him to see that he needs to work on being more trustworthy. This is a typically earnest and innocent Coronet film. It's not all that campy per se, but it could be good fodder for msting. Eddie is somewhat less polished than the typical Coronet child actor and his club is one of those generic young peoples' clubs that exists only in films like this. Other than that, it's pretty ordinary Coronet fare.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: *.

American Engineer (film #345 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

Another lush Jam Handy "American" film sponsored by Chevrolet, this one singing the praises of engineers and their work. Lots of scenes of buildings, constructions, highways, factories, and miscellaneous products of science and technology are shown while the narrator gives a never-ending stream of bombastic praise for technological progress and how wonderful it all is. No downside to this progress is even hinted at for a second, not even for such things as nuclear submarines, bulldozers plowing up the landscape, or endless freeways. As usual for the "American" films, the visuals are striking and lush, the color is eye-popping, the future portrayed is a rosy World of Tommorow (complete with picturephones), and it's strongly hinted that automaking is a vital part of it all. This is more focused on industrial and architectural wonders than on consumer products, like the other "American" films, making it slightly less campy. Still, like all the films in this series, it gives a wonderful view of 50s populuxe idealism at its most bombastic. The Prelinger Archive is to be commended on both the beautiful film quality of the print they have (it looks like it was made yesterday) and the high-quality digitizing of the MPEG-2 that I downloaded and put onto VCD––it's almost entirely free of pixelization.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: .

The Artist's Dilemma (downloaded from the Edison Film Archive ). [Category: Early Film & TV]

A fat, bizarrely-dressed muse springs out of an artist's grandfather clock and proceeds to mess with his model and his mind. Woah! Gotta go easy on those hallucinogenic drugs before painting, fella. A 1901 Edison film.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: **.

Beech-Nut Baby Food (film #22 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Commercial]

Standard-issue baby food commercial from the early 60s. The claim that the food "caters to your baby's tastes" might seem a little farfetched, but this is pretty standard for the most part.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: .

Bring 'Em Back Nude (extra on The Beast That Killed Women/The Monster of Camp Sunshine DVD (Something Weird, 2001)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

A woman gets to borrow her sister's apartment while the sister and her husband are away on a jungle expedition. So, naturally, the woman immediately strips in front of the handy camera left running in the living room. Then she puts on a sheer robe and stretches out on the floor and reads her sister's diary, which tells the story of the sister's jungle expedition. Said expedition involves an African guide who inexplicably dresses like the New Year's Baby; a mysterious tribe led by two "white goddesses" who are actually naked white women; a gorilla who kidnaps the sister, takes her to the "goddesses" and strips her naked; the kidnapping of the goddesses, plus several naked native women for good measure, by the sister's husband; and lots of confusing and surreal stock footage of African natives. It all ends with the original woman being interrupted in her reading by the leering husband of her sister. This was originally a peep show––you can tell by the fact that every few minutes you see a title card demanding that you fork over another dime to see more. Even taking that into account, there's something charmingly wacky about this cheapo film, making it more watchable than these sorts of things usually are.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Babies and Breadwinners (film #421 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

This film documents the 1961 polio vaccine campaign in Columbus, Georgia. It's pretty dry and dull for the most part, going into a great deal of detail about such things as the preliminary surveys and the plans for where the mobile units would be set up. It does have historical value, though, for that very detail. One memorable scene shows Bozo the Clown getting vaccintaed on his tv show, which I like to see because it's a rare glimpse into local television, a fascinating subject that has been very poorly documented for the most part.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: *.

Classic Sci-Fi Trailers, Vol. 5 (Sinister Cinema). [Category: Commercial]

Yet more trailers from science fiction movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Most of the camp value on this tape comes from silly scenes from the movies themselves, rather than anything special about the trailers. Still pretty fun.

Highlights:

Like science fiction westerns? This tape has trailers from two of 'em: Teenage Monster and The Valley of Gwangi.
In the trailer for Teenagers from Outer Space, they couldn't even afford to show any clips from the movie! It uses stills only! This is the first time I've ever seen such a thing.
When I was a kid, I had the privilege to see the trailer for the movie Bug! in theaters. It was one of the most memorable trailers I ever saw––it just goes on and on, practically giving away the plot of the whole movie. Thanks, Sinister Cinema, for letting me relive a moment of my youth.
Msties, take note: contains the trailers for Radar Men from the Moon, The Amazing Colossal Man, and Teenagers from Outer Space.
Sinister Cinema must record over old tapes sometimes. My copy of this tape has the ending of an incredibly lame, cheap, creaky 1940s Buster Keaton rocket-to-the-moon comedy on the end of it.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

The Bachelorette Party (film #8 in the Indie Section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

OK, call me dense, but I don't get this one. It has something to do with a vomiting bride at her bachelorette party, a bitchy friend trying to get revenge on her for marrying her ex-fiance, and a Spanish cleaning woman. The story is told in bits and pieces, but they don't quite fit together coherently, at least not for me. And there's too much footage of vomiting.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Dole Air Race, 1927 (film #1818 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: News]

Newsreel story documenting a big air race from Oakland, California to Hawaii in 1927. This was in the early days of flight and a poignant note is added when the title cards tell us that a number of the competitors they show us didn't make it back alive. That, and the fact that one of the planes doesn't even make it off the ground, emphasizes how much of an adventure flying still was at that time. A historically interesting document from the early days of aviation.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

Goldielocks Goes Glamorous (film #2 on Exploitation Mini-Classics, Vol. 2 (Sinister Cinema)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

The classic fairytale is used as a flimsy excuse for leering at a blonde in a bikini frolicking about a swimming pool. The narrator sounds like a retiree from the Dead End Kids. Very similar to Beachcombing Belle. About the only thing interesting about these grindhouse shorts is their cheapness and how tame they seem today.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: .

Atomic Alert.

This is Encyclopedia Brittanica Films' answer to Duck and Cover. As you would expect, its somewhat more staid than the other film, but it has its moments. The opening graphic is quite cool and disturbing, with an atomic symbol superimposed on the iris of a human eye. The rest of the film, though, is a lot more prosaic, though it does have an incredibly sarcastic-sounding little sister character, and a scene where a boy doesn't know where to go when the siren goes off, and rather than go to one of his friend's houses as he is encouraged to do, he takes refuge in the home of a total stranger (with the blessing of the narrator––this just begs to be msted). As usual, the atomic threat is laughably minimized.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

America on Wheels (film #349 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

This short, lightweight featurette skims over the story of the development of the automobile in America. Lots of antique car footage is shown, and we get to see lots of mildly amusing moments of early 20th-century folk struggling with the problems of early cars, but almost no historical information is given––the makes and models of the cars shown are not even mentioned! Strictly for lightweights.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Dinosaurs! (Simitar Entertainment, 1993). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

This documentary history of dinosaurs in the movies is quite fun, with a number of things to interest ephemera collectors. Not only are there lots of scenes from feature-length dinosaur movies, but there's also lots of trailers, clips from shorts (especially early silents), and outtakes and clips from movies that were never completed (such as Willis O'Brien's Creation). You can tell that the hosts, Donald F. Glut and Christy Block, are real dinosaur buffs. There's also interviews with luminaries such as Forrest J. Ackerman and Ray Harryhausen. If you love dinosaurs, you'll love this tape, and even if you're not particularly a dinosaur fan, you'll find enough miscellaneous obscurities here to hold your interest. Simitar added three extra early dinosaur shorts to the end of the tape: Gertie the Dinosaur, The Dinosaur and the Missing Link (see reviews of both of these posted seperately), and clips from Creation, an unfinished dinosaur feature that Willis O'Brien worked on (also see review posted seperately).

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: **.

NASA, the 25th Year (film #6 on NASA DVD (Madacy Entertainment, 1999)). [Category: News]

This 1983 film documents the history of NASA up to that point. Although the narration and soundtrack is only average, visually the film is a treasure trove for ephemera fans, containing interesting clips-aplenty from NASA's vaults. Highlights include brief clips of the first satellite tv broadcasts; tons of footage of bizarre astronaut training manuevers and experiments; lots of space footage from the most well-known of NASA's missions; a large assortment of space photographs, including those of the outer planets of our solar system taken by the Pioneer and Voyager space probes; and footage of lots and lots of odd-looking experimental aircraft. Historically fascinating and fun to watch as well.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: ***.

Baggies Food Wrap Commercial (film #425 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Commercial]

Arrgghhhh!!!!! This commercial says it's presenting "the sounds of freshness," but actually it's the sounds of people chewing!! I hate hearing people chew!!

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Annoyance Factor: . Overall Rating: *.

Boudoir Buccaneer (film #11 on Blood of Floor Sweepings (LS Video)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

A naked lady trims a set of long underwear (with a pair of scissors she must have borrowed from Harpo Marx) into a stylish two-piece set from the Daisy Mae Collection. This is the first stag film I've seen where the woman starts out naked and gets dressed.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

American Cowboy (film #352 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

A city-slicker reporter from Detroit spends a year on a cattle ranch in order to find out what the life of a cowboy is like. This film provides an interesting and quite complete snapshot of the life of cattle ranchers and ranchhands during the 50s. By that time, some aspects of ranching had been modernized, but others were virtually unchanged from the 19th-century days of the open range. A full year's worth of cowboy activities are shown, including branding, driving cattle to the upper ranges, rodeos, haying, and driving the cattle to market. Cowboy buffs and anyone geniunely interested in what real-life ranching is like (or was like during the 50s, at least), should enjoy this film immensely.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: .

The Atomic Dilemma: Challenge of Our Age (film #4 on Atomic Memories (Video Yesteryear)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

This short, possibly incomplete film documents an atom bomb test in the Utah desert in which a model town called "Survival City" was built and nuked. The city contained fully furnished houses, complete with mannequins and real food. There's lots of striking, somewhat surreal scenes of the houses blowing up, mannequin parts flying everywhere. It's similar in feel to the crash test scenes in Safety Belt for Susie. An oddity.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: *.

The Artwork in Its Age of Mechanical Reproducibility (film #15 in the Film & Video section of Illegal Art). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

A large variety of FBI warnings flash by to the strains of "Mack the Knife." The concept of whether or not this video maker will be prosecuted for copying all those FBI warnings gets aburd with only a moment's thought. And adding "Mack the Knife" gives the project a nice Kovacsian feel. And the FBI warnings themselves count as ephemera flotsam and jetsam.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Chasing OJ (track #22 on Stay Tuned: Television's Unforgettable Moments DVD (Garner Creative Concepts, 2002)). [Category: News]

This track documents perhaps the most famous tv car chase in history––the real-life chasing of O. J. Simpson's Ford Bronco by the police after he was charged with his wife's murder. Unfortunately, the chase was somewhat less than exciting. Interviews with the first reporters to find Simpson's vehicle add interest somewhat, but I guess you really had to be there with this one.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Atom Bomb (film #408 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

Newsreel clips from the 50s heyday of atmospheric atomic testing. Some of the more famous test are shown here, including the tests at Bikini Atoll and the Nevada tests where houses of various types were nuked. Lots of spectacular blast footage here, as well as footage of soldiers and sailors being exposed to radiation. Wonder how many of them died of cancer later?

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

American Thrift (film #5 on Lifestyles, U.S.A., Vol. 1 (Something Weird, 2000). Also, film #375 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

This third General Motors "American" film puports to be a tribute to the "Woman American" and her thrifty ways. Basically, the point being made is that Americans are so darn thrifty, especially American women, and our country thrives because of it. The problem with this idea is that this was made in the early 60s, a time when throw-away consumer culture had pretty much taken over, and economic wealth was (and is today) not based on thrift, but on spending, spending, and more spending. The emphasis on savings in the film will particularly make you snicker. Well-dressed wives are shown carefully saving for the things they want in little budget envelopes, not whipping out credit cards like in reality. The point of all of this is not clear––you'd think that a big company like GM would make a film singing the praises of spending and credit instead of saving and thrift––unless it was to lull the indebted public into a false sense of security, at least until the bills come. Apart from that, this film is a wonderful slice of idealized early-60s middle-class life, complete with spotless homes, perfect families, people dressing up for church, women and girls wearing little white gloves when they go shopping, and even a token black family. It's not nearly as sexist as you'd expect given its theme––it's even admitted that some women have careers (though these are made possible by innovations in household appliances) and some families can actually afford to send their daughters to college! It's also much less car-oriented than the other "American" films, perhaps because cars were more associated with men at the time.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: .

America for Me (film #341 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

A woman gives up her teaching career and her hope of earning a master's degree (for which she is writing a "theme" instead of a thesis––I wonder if there are book reports involved, too?) in order to marry a guy from Texas that she meets on a Greyhound bus. Of course, said bus exists in a 50s Jam Handy universe, where every passenger is pleasant, white, and middle-class, and there are no stinky guys, but that only makes it slightly less appalling. More appalling is the fact that everyone the woman meets tries their level best to get her interested in the cowboy, even though it's obvious that she can't exchange two words with him without feeling waves of disgust. Even more appalling is the fact that this peer pressure sinks in after the guy leaves––you can gauge the woman's slow, tragic slide into total mind control by the way her fashion sense, which was no great shakes to begin with, deteriorates throughout the movie. It's enough of a shock to the eyes in the beginning to see the woman's baby-blue eyeglass frames, which are a size usually associated with clowns and novelty stores, and shocking red lipstick that was applied with a trowel, but by the end of the film she is reduced to donning an artificial rose that is the size of the average head of cauliflower, and wearing a black dress with huge red polka-dots, a red hat that matches her lipstick, and little white gloves. And I don't even have any fashion sense, so it must be bad if I mention it! This is not the most appalling thing about the movie, though. The most appalling thing is after the woman throws her future away for the sake of Tex the Drifter, the bus driver, and then the entire bus, breaks into song. Don't say I didn't warn you about this one.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Bargain Madness (recorded off of Turner Classic Movies). [Category: Hollywood]

30s housewives battle over bargain merchandise as if it all was the Cabbage Patch version of Tickle Me Elmo. A narrator makes fun of them, but he saves his biggest taunts for a fat lady who tries on girdles who are too small for her. This is much too sexist for today's audiences, though we've hardly outgrown the illness being depicted. It is an amusing snapshot of 30s culture, though.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: **.

The Alphabet Conspiracy (Rhino, 1991). [Category: Educational]

This Bell Science film introduces the viewer to the science of linguistics, a topic not widely known to the general public, in the partly-animated, slightly silly, slightly trippy Bell Science way. Judy, a schoolgirl with too much English homework to do, falls asleep at her desk and dreams that Hans Conreid as the Mad Hatter tries to involve her in a conspiracy to destroy the alphabet. Before he can get too far, though, friendly old Dr. Frank Baxter, a.k.a. Bunson Honeyd...I mean Dr. Linguistics, comes along and takes Judy under his wing, telling her just about everything she needs to know about language and then some, with the help of animated segments and film clips. Much of the material is quite interesting and even the dry stuff is presented in an interesting way. Conreid is a lot of fun and I only wish his speech patterns had been analyzed by Dr. Linguistics. Like most Bell Science films, this is a lot of fun. As well as being incredibly populuxe and containing the benign presence of Dr. Frank, the film has incredibly huge, clunky-looking "state-of-the-art" computer technology and one of the most fake beatniks in film history (though he's overshadowed when Dr. Frank himself starts talking in beat lingo). The film is both campy and genuinely engaging, which is a great combination for film ephemera. Every educational collection needs at least a few Bell Science films.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: **.

Aurora Stunt and Drag Race Set Commercial (film #416 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Commercial]

Mildly cute commercial from the 60s for a Hot-Wheels-type racing car set featuring two boys talking in awed tones about same. One of the boys seems to have a cute speech impediment. I think I vaguely remember seeing this one on tv as a kid.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

Blonde (film #26 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

Short, silent stag film of a blonde stripper who takes her undies off for our pleasure, but leaves her garter belt and stockings on. She's also careful not to show us her naughty bits, though she is topless. Actually, this is fairly erotic, more so than this sort of thing usually is.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: ***.

Ask Me, Don't Tell Me.

This film documents the Youth for Service project in San Francisco during the 50s; a project that recruited youth gangs to do various community service projects, usually involving construction, maintenance, or environmental work. The project itself looks quite successful in channeling the gangs into constructive activity; one wonders if it is still going on today and if not, why not. But beyond that, this film is a wonderful document of 50s gang life and teen culture. Gang members narrate certain parts of the film themselves, using almost unintelligible gang lingo. We get to see inner city youth in their own environment, hanging out at various places and amusing themselves in various ways, both acceptable and not acceptable. A whole host of gang jackets and insignia are shown and the film even has a cool homegrown rock-and-roll soundtrack. The adult narrators speak about the youth in surprisingly respectful terms, yet they are not overly idealistic about their project. Their attitude is refereshingly free from either fear or pity. Overall, this is one of the most realistic and best juvenile delinquent films I've ever seen.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: ***.

Arrivee des Congressiates a Neuville sur Saone (film #5 on The Movies Begin, Volume Two: The European Pioneers (Kino Video, 1994)). [Category: Early Film & TV]

Some people disembark a riverboat. Obviously made in the days when film was so new and exciting that people would watch anything. An 1895 Lumiere film.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

And the Curtain Closed (film #4 in the Indie Section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

A young man waits anxiously for the results of his HIV test and we get to hear his innermost thoughts, which tell us that his possible exposure was due to cheating on his wife. Talk about regrets. This is rather gutwrenching to watch, yet my empathy was undercut somewhat by the fact that the guy seems so priveleged and his transgression was an act of gross irresponsibility. It also is rather obvious in spots. Still, it does stir some emotion, which is more than I can say for a lot of the other Indie films on Movieflix.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: **.

California State Highway 101 Opening (film #1808 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: News]

Silent newsreel footage of 20s California bigwigs cutting the ribbon on Highway 101, otherwise known as the Bayshore Highway. There's not even much historical value here, as much of the footage is washed out and what there is is mostly self-congratulatory footage of bigwigs anyway.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

The Army Nurse (film #393 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

This excellent film from WWII is a tribute to the army nurses who worked tirelessly at the front and at home to care for wounded soldiers. Their experiences are shown in a complete way, from basic training to shipping out to long hours on duty to taking up and putting down field hospitals to using their combat helmets for all kinds of household chores to recreational activities to writing home. We get a real appreciation for how hard they worked and how they really helped ease the suffering of the sick and wounded. This film is an excellent historical document of one aspect of the war that should not be forgotten.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: ***.

Classic Sci-Fi Trailers, Vol. 4 (Sinister Cinema). [Category: Commercial]

Even more science fiction movie trailers, most from the 50s, with a few from the 60s and 70s. More campy fun. Ends with the trailers for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, which is fitting, somehow.

Highlights:

The trailer for Invasion of the Body Snatchers features Kevin McCarthy as a raving lunatic shouting, "You're next!!" A must.
Bride of the Monster is not only "Horrorific and All New!", but "You'll Never Believe It!" I certainly didn't when I saw it.
Creature With the Atom Brain is supposedly "based on scientific fact". This assumes an awfully loose definition of either "based on" or "scientific fact" or both.
The trailer for I Was a Teenage Frankenstein features a scene that is identical to a scene in the trailer for How to Make a Monster.
Gimmick Alert! The Fabulous World of Jules Verne was filmed in Mystamation. The Alligator People is in Screaming Horrorscope! The trailer for The Angry Red Planet repeatedly touts its Cinemagic process, which is really just a red filter in the camera lens.
Seeing the trailers for The Fly and Return of the Fly back to back really shows how much higher class the first film was than its sequel.
I learned from the trailer for King Kong vs. Godzilla that Godzilla has the proverbial brain the size of a walnut, "while Kong is a thinking animal."
The trailer for The Green Slime (pronounced "Greeeeeeennnnn Sliiiimme!") features a little bit of the outrageous faux Jimi Hendrix theme song.
Flesh Gordon, though "a parody of yesterday's superheroes", is "not to be confused with the original Flash Gordon."
Msties, take note: contains the trailers for Bride of the Monster, The Astounding She-Monster, and The Black Scorpion.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Aluminum on the March (film #325 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

This lush 50s film, sponsored by Reynolds Aluminum, may be the quintessential industrial film. It tells us everything we'd ever and never want to know about aluminum, its production, and its uses. Aluminum bars, ingots, and products of various types march in stop-motion animation at various points in the film, led by a little Reynolds Aluminum guy made from aluminum bars. Lots of very well-shot scenes of aluminum production and manufacturing are shown, which should satisfy factory-tour fans. And the scenes of all the different types of aluminum products are a 50s populuxe-lover's dream, with 50s cars, appliances, household products, an extended scene of a 50s housewife in a bright red dress and a chiffon apron in a 50s kitchen using aluminum foil in many different ways, and another long scene of a whole bunch of 50s brand-name grocery products that used foil in their packaging. This is all shot in glaring 50s color and with a bombastic, triumphant soundtrack. I especially love the stop-motion animation, the Reynolds Aluminum guy, and all the 50s grocery products. This is an essential film for industrial film collectors.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: *.

Glen or Glenda? (acquired through trading) [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

This exploitation "documentary" about transvestitism, made by the legendary Edward D. Wood, Jr., is one of the weirdest films ever. Producer George Weiss was just trying to cash in on the Christine Jorgensen brouhaha, but Wood, being a transvestite himself, made an impassioned plea for understanding, marred or enhanced, depending upon your point of view, by Wood's trademark loony dialogue. And in this case, the dialogue is only the beginning of the strangeness. There's Bela Lugosi as a bizarre "puppetmaster" character ("Pull the strings!" he shouts). There's Wood himself playing the title character in and out of drag. There's the bizarre use of stock footage (in this movie, "buffalo shot" means a herd of stampeding buffalo). There's Delores Fuller's Great Moment in Bad Acting as she passionately emotes after her fiancee Glen tells her about his little hobby. And all of that is topped by an absolutely incredible dream sequence––again, experimental filmmakers can only aspire to make something this weird. It all adds up to one heckuva movie. And despite all the laughs, you gotta admire Wood for the guts it took him to make such a personal film with such a nonconformist message, and during the 50s, no less. Highly recommended.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: +. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: ***.

A Date with Your Family Outtakes (reference item on A Date with Your Family, film #4 on Our Secret Century, Vol. 3: The Behavior Offensive CD-ROM (Voyager). Also, film #603 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

Silent outtakes from that classic of suburban horror, A Date with Your Family. Watch how hard those actors had to practice in order to follow the "few simple rules" of harmonious family dining. Watch how hard it was for the actress who played "sister" to keep from cracking up.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

AMC Jeep Commercial (film #340 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Commercial]

White water rafting! Hot air balloons! Cowboys! This is actually the opening credits for a 70s tv show called "The American Adventure," sponsored by Jeep. At least there's a little Jeep footage at the end.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: *.

Beware (film #1 in the Black Culture section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

This 40s all-black cast film starring Louis Jordan is really just a Louis Jordan delivery system. Jordan gets waylaid at his old alma mater, Ware College, where he foils a plot by evil Benjamin Ware III to bilk the college out of its endowment and trick a pretty former classmate of Jordan's into marrying him. Jordan does all of this in about 5 minutes, because the rest of the 55-minute film is music. Literally. Fortunately, Jordan can really swing, so the songs are great fun, especially "Beware, Brother, Beware!", which is one of my favorites. A thoroughly charming bit of swingin' fun.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: **.

Always on Call (film #327 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

A policeman visits a sick old lady and tries to get her to accept help from the Community Chest. This gives him a chance to give a spiel that's really designed to get all the audience members to give to the Community Chest. Still, this is a charming film with a message that's not too heavy-handed, focusing on all the good the charity does. This was filmed in St. Louis and it gives you a nice historical snapshot of that city's social services during the 40s.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: .

Audio Test #4 (film #7 in the Indie section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

A guy who makes videos tries to seduce a woman by asking her to do an audio check with him. He is unsuccessful until he makes the claim that fat women are better lovers. There's some talent evident here but it probably won't come into fruition until the guy's hormone levels go down.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Black Power: The Protest at the 1968 Mexico City Games (track #28 on Stay Tuned: Television's Unforgettable Moments DVD (Garner Creative Concepts, 2002)). [Category: News]

This "unforgettable moment" of athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos giving the Black Power salute when receiving their medals at the 1968 Olympic games has been greatly enhanced by interview footage from Smith, who tells us why he did what he did, the fallout of it, and what he thinks about it now. All I can say is that Smith is one courageous person. One of the best tracks on the Stay Tuned DVD.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: **.

The Arm Behind the Army (film #392 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

The "arm behind the army" is Industry! Working to make the world safe for democracy! This is the quintessential WWII industrial incentive film. Stirring narration and rousing music tell the story of how workers in Allied nations are playing a vital role in winning the war, which will free the enslaved workers of Axis nations. The pro-worker line is a tad bit hypocritical when you consider how "pro-worker" American business was before the war. Still, even that was a lot better than the way the Axis was treating its workers, which was little better than, and sometimes not better than slave labor. An interesting bit of probably effective wartime propaganda.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: .

All in One (film #317 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

This Jam Handy production for Chevrolet has one of the flimsier premises. It starts out as a salute to dogs and how they serve human beings in various ways. Then it segues to a story about a kid with a dog cart and how he and his buddies adapt the cart for better speed and performance––the finished cart looks incredibly silly. All this is supposed to have something to do with how great Chevrolets are but the connection is really stretching it. It must have been a slow idea day at Jam Handy when they came up with this one.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Mt. Rushmore Newsreel (extra on Mt. Rushmore-Crazy Horse & the Black Hills DVD (Holiday, 2001)). [Category: News]

This is actually not a single newsreel, but a collection of newsreel clips documenting the carving of Mt. Rushmore, starting in the 20s and ending in the 50s. The clips are unedited, except for the addition of a dorky MOR soundtrack to the silent clips. The clips form an interesting document of newsreel coverage of the monument's creation. But what happened to the soundtrack of the 50s clip of President Eisenhower dedicating the memorial? Film quality is not too good, but still watchable. Despite its flaws, I think this was worth including on the Mt. Rushmore-Crazy Horse DVD.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

The Atomic Cafe (The Archives Project, 1982). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

This classic montage of Cold War ephemera was one of the first things to whet my interest in the subject. There's no narration here––just clips from Cold War ephemera from the late 40s and early 50s strung together to create a fascinating portrait of the era. As far as I know, there are only two other films that are similar montages: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (about the Depression) and Swastika (about Nazi Germany) (though if anybody knows of any others, be sure to let me know!). The soundtrack contains lots of popular songs with Cold War and atomic themes, such as "Jesus Hits Like an Atom Bomb" or "Atomic Cocktail". There's tons of jaw-dropping moments here, such as the residents of St. George, Utah, who were accidentally hit with radioactive winds after a bomb test, being told to close their windows for an hour; the assertion that the native residents of Bikini Atoll welcomed having their island destroyed by an a-bomb test because it provided them with a break in their dull, drab routine; or the assertion that Japan may have to be hit with 4 or 5 atomic bombs before they will believe that the U.S. has such a weapon. There's so much stupidity here (we're told that the "simple" Bikini natives "know as little about the atom bomb as we do") that I'm amazed we didn't blow up the world back then. A must.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: ***.

American Look.

This lavish, Technicolor, widescreen film, sponsored by General Motors, purports to be a salute to "stylists" (read industrial and graphic designers), but it actually had an ulterior motive––to justify GM's annual model changes. It doesn't get any more "modern" than this––using the word to mean both design influenced by Modernism in art and what was the "latest thing" in the 1950s. Images of one brightly colored, modernistic gadget or home furnishing after another are shown, while the narrator tells us how modern Americans (meaning attractive, upper middle class white Americans) are concerned more than ever before with the look of things. The people, though, definitely take a back seat to the "stuff" in this film. And all the stuff is shown as existing primarily for looks––even the items with practical functions are not shown being actually used. A few items are demonstrated, but only like they would be in a store, i.e. an electric mixer is shown spinning in an empty glass bowl. The film concludes with a "behind the scenes look at the design process", as we see designers working on the 1959 Chevrolet behind locked doors. We get to see that it was essentially designed by a committee and that the "best elements" from every designer's work were combined to make a composite that was supposed to be greater than the sum of its parts. This car was the one with the back end that was one big set of tailfins––it's hard to believe now that this was considered "great design" in its time, though it was (at least in this film). The incredible populuxe attitude that infuses this film, and all the examples of modern design, make this a real 1950s time capsule.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: **.

Bambi Meets Godzilla (film #1 on Weird Cartoons (Rhino, 1987) Also, extra on Godzilla and Other Movie Monsters (Passport Video, 1998). Also, film #7 on Godzilla Trailers & Sci-Fi Monsters (Simitar Entertainment, 1998)). [Category: Hollywood]

A classic. I won't give away the ending, but if you haven't seen this, you definitely need to. Interesting trivia: Apparently, Marv Newland made this as a class assignment at the last minute! Shows what a little deadline pressure can do.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: *****.

Allen Carpet Commercial (film #323 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Commercial]

A housewife is served coffee and mints by a solicitous carpet salesman who wants to please her so much it hurts. And it hurts to watch him. A mildly amusing bit of commercial flotsam from the 60s.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Because of Eve extras (extras on Because of Eve (Something Weird)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

To complete the "roadshow" theme, I guess, Something Weird threw on a bunch of really weird psychedelic stripper footage to the end of this tape. Strippers switch back and forth between positive and negative film images, get tormented by black blobs drawn on the fim stock, interact in a disturbing way with snakes, and generally behave in a trippy fashion. Weird, man, weird.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: *.

Along the Way (film #324 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

This 60s film gives a glowing report on the progress of building the BART (Bay Area Rapid Trasit) subway and interurban train system in the San Francisco bay area. Endless footage of construction is shown while the narrator tells us how wonderful it and good for the city it will all be. Whether or not it fulfilled this rosy promise is not for me to say, since I've never been to San Francisco. I guess this film has some historical value, though.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Alphabet Antics (MST3K Episode #307: Daddy-O). [Category: Educational]

Kindergartners are taught the alphabet through the use of stock footage. Seriously, it seems like the only criteria used for choosing what will represent each letter is what stock footage they had lying around, and if they didn't have anything good for a particular letter, they just used what they had and stretched it (example: "T" is for "trying terribly hard" and the visual is some bear cubs trying to reach baby bottles hung from a string just out of their reach––Tom Servo says "T is for tormented, tortured, and teased!" which would fit just as well). Some of the stock footage looks positively ancient. The msting is pretty good.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Msting: . Overall Rating: *.

Arrival of Express at Lyons (film #2 on Pioneers of the French Cinema (Hollywood's Attic, 1996). Also, film #6 on The Movies Begin, Volume Two: The European Pioneers (Kino Video, 1994) (titled "Arrivee d'un Train")). [Category: Early Film & TV]

A train pulls into a station going 15 miles per hour. A bunch of people get off and get on. No other train pulls into no other station on no other track. How long is your interest held? Show your work. An 1895 Lumiere film. The version on The Movies Begin is in much better shape than the version on Pioneers of the French Cinema.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

The Auction (film #6 in the Indie Section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

This film features a high-class art auction in which some of the participants are dangerous psychos and most of the other participants are merely annoying psychos. Natually, things degenerate into chaos eventually. This mostly elicits a big "huh?", but it is a lot better than most of the other Movieflix Indie films I've seen so far. Some of the characters are pretty interesting and the humor is generally above college freshman level, which it deserves some credit for. Still, I think it would be better if it were just a little bit less obtuse.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: ***.

The Big Bounce (film #450 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: News]

This film, made by Bell Labs, documents the first satellite telephone transmissions, using a satellite balloon named Echo. Considering how ubiquitous satellite communications are today, this is rather quaint to watch. It's pretty straightforward and well-made, with some mstable moments. President Eisenhower's recorded message, back with "America the Beautiful" is schmaltzy as all get-out. Overall the film is a mildly interesting bit of history.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

Appointment in Tokyo (film #2 in the WWII section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

This film documents the war in the Pacific during the last months of WWII, especially the drive to re-take the Phillipines. Battle and tactical footage is interspersed with interesting sequences that dramatize the GIs' thoughts, as well as fairly grisly footage of the dead, the wounded, and the suffering. The film ends with scenes of the formal Japanese surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri. All in all, it's an interesting document of the last days of the war, from an American perspective. Especially interesting is some of the footage of the infantry slogging away through the mud––you really get a sense of what it must have been like to have been one of them.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: **.

The Alchemist in Hollywood (film #312 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

Hollywood film processors try to show us how exciting their career is by making the most boring film ever. They start by writing a script that tells us in excruciating detail the exact chemical processes of film development. They hire boring narrators to carefully and slowly read the script word-for-word (at one point, you actually hear one of them turning the pages!). They illustrate this science lecture with such exciting visuals as plain title cards with chemical formulas on them, disembodied hands mixing things in beakers, and bored-looking technicians doing their jobs with grim determination. Isn't Hollywood an amazing land of dreams?

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: .

Classic Sci-Fi Trailers, Vol. 3 (Sinister Cinema). [Category: Commercial]

Still more science fiction movie trailers from the 50s and 60s. This tape contains a lot of trailers from particularly campy movies, so lovers of cheese should enjoy it. Ends with a bang with the trailer from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Highlights:

Did you know that Them! is an acronym for Terror, Horror, Excitement, and Mystery?
The trailer for The Giant Claw actually shows the monster! What were they thinking? (And if you've never seen this, the single most ridiculous-looking monster in screen history, you are sorely deprived and need this tape!)
The Brain Eaters will "burst your blood vessels with suspense"! And if that's not enough, see Attack of the Giant Leeches, where "fear will pierce your flesh"!
Journey to the Center of the Earth stars Pat Boone and Gertrude the Duck! See their journey through the Mammoth Mushroom Forest!
The Hideous Sun Demon breaks into the lab of "Atomic Research, Inc." Gee, I wonder what that company's business is?
Gorgo is as "incredibly realistic" and "shockingly convincing" as Robot Monster.
Gimmick Alert! Mysterious Island is filmed in Superdynamation!
Msties, take note: contains the trailers for Revenge of the Creature, This Island Earth, The Crawling Eye, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, The Unearthly, Attack of the Giant Leeches, Gorgo, The Horror of Party Beach, and Thunderbirds Are Go.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

The Flying Saucer Mystery (Sinister Cinema). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

This short exploitation "documentary" about flying saucers is pretty much what you'd expect, and that means it's pretty campy. There's the usual array of blurry photographs of barely visible round objects in the sky, local yokels giving eyewitness reports, scientists pooh-poohing it all, and air force generals reassuring us that they found no threat to national security from all this. An extra element of weirdness is provided by the aerodynamically-sound ears on most of the people in the film, including a real pair of whoppers on UFO expert Donald Keyhoe. Lots of fun. Sinister Cinema rounded out the tape with a selection of 50s sci-fi movie trailers with an alien invasion theme.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

The Airport (film #308 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

This straightforward Encyclopedia Brittanica film about airports is pretty dull in and of itself, but it has tremendous msting potential. With lines like "Here is the pilot. He is high in his plane," and "The passengers are waiting to get off," how can you resist? And when you see how small and low-tech the airports are and how easy it is for passengers to get on a flight, you will probably have a lot of post-9/11 hostility to vent.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: *.

America Goes Over (film #343 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]

This is a sort of This Film Is Restricted for World War I, which is surprising, because I didn't know such a thing existed. This 1918 U.S. Government war newsreel tries its best to give the viewer a complete picture of what it was like Over There. The usual battle scenes are interspersed with fascinating human interest stuff, such as recruits getting their teeth inspected, Salvation Army volunteers handing out doughnuts, doughboys getting their heads shaved, KP, slop buckets, trench digging, interrogating German prisoners, animal mascots, and yes, dead bodies (though shown only briefly and without a lot of blood). Many of the title cards have cartoon drawings of doughboys in various humorous situations (for example, check out what the cartoonist counts as "decorations"). Kudos to the Prelinger Archive for preserving this––it has incredible historical value.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: +. Overall Rating: ***.

Alexis Lichine Wine Commercial (film #338 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Commercial]

Standard, unremarkable early 60s wine commercial. It does have a good shot of a cork coming out of a bottle with a loud pop, if you're looking for footage of that.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

Beauty and the Beast (extra on The Beast That Killed Women/The Monster of Camp Sunshine DVD (Something Weird, 2001)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

Hey! I've got an idea! Wouldn't one of these burlesque dancing shorts be a lot better if a guy in a gorilla costume came out and ripped the woman's clothes off? A guy in a really bad gorilla costume?? This definitely goes into the "I can't believe I'm watching this" category. I'm sure this is what the woman in the film went to dancing school for.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: **.

All the Way Home (film #319 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

Remember the 50s, folks? Remember what a better, simpler time it was? Remember how people lived in nice safe neighborhoods where it was safe for children to play? Unless, of course, you show the house you are selling to an African-American family. Then tongues will wag, telephone harassment will ensue, and your grandchild will get a can of black paint thrown at her from a moving car. Ah yes, racism. That was a part of the 50s, too. This film about housing discrimination serves as a reminder that it really wasn't so long ago that most white people were sure that the presence of a single black family in their neighborhood would turn it into a slum, realtors made under-the-table agreements with banks to turn down mortgages from African-Americans who wanted to move into the "wrong" neighborhood, home sellers were harassed for even showing their houses to persons of the wrong skin color, and it was all because of ignorant stereotypes on the order of "they smell" or "I've got two daughters to protect!" One interesting point the film makes is the implication that the local realtor may be stirring up racial fears in order to drum up more business. It also shows how courageous you had to be to buck this tide. An excellent, intelligently-made document of a 50s social problem that is worth watching now, lest we allow ourselves to slip back into those old ways.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: ***.

Creation excerpts (film #7 on Creature Silent Feature (Creepy Classics). Also, extra #3 on Dinosaurs! (Simitar Entertainment, 1993). Also, film #6 on Willis O'Brien Films (LS Video)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

Scenes from Creation, an unfinished 1931 film with stop-motion animation done by Willis O'Brien (the man who animated King Kong). Stop motion dinosaurs frolic on a jungle set along with various zoo animals. The highlight is a very upsetting scene of a really cute baby triceratops getting shot by a Great White Hunter. The final scene is of the mama triceratops chasing the hunter, and you will definitely be rooting for the dinosaur all the way. An interesting relic, especially for animation fans.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

The Antiques Toadshow (film #4 in the Indie Section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

This parody of "The Antiques Roadshow" would have probably been a lot funnier if it had been written by somebody over the age (or mental age) of 20. As it is, one segment makes fun of dumb blondes, one segment makes fun of old women, and one segment makes fun of people from South America. This would be offensive but it's just way too lame. And where are all the toads?

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

ABC News Good Morning America (film #2 on Television Archive). [Category: News]

Why has a recent episode of "Good Morning America" been preserved on the internet? Well, the date of broadcast was 9-11-01––does that give you a clue? The Television Archive contains streaming videos of 9-11 "we interrupt this program" footage from around the world. This 30-minute clip of "Good Morning America" is mostly ordinary and uneventful: a veterenarian talks about special pet food that increases the lifespan of dogs and cats, the lead actor of "The Mind of a Married Man" talks about the premiere of that show, the weatherman makes silly comments about audience members (this segment just screams "slow news day"), Sarah Ferguson talks about Weight Watchers, cut to commercial. And then the biggest news story in years breaks. This doesn't happen until about 3/4ths of the way through the clip, so be patient. This is real "we interrupt this program" stuff, as the GMA hosts are totally confused about what has just happened and are flailing around to find things to say. They make contact with an ABC reporter on the scene, who tells them he heard the initial explosion and is sure it wasn't a prop plane that crashed into the building, but thinks it might have been a missle. This is exactly the sort of thing I really want to collect for the News category––breaking news stories exactly as they were originally broadcast. The Television Archive deserves a lot of credit for preserving this stuff. Unfortunately, the site is rather undependable––sometimes you can watch the footage and sometimes you can't. I encourage readers who are unsuccessful with the archive to keep trying at other times. Eventually, you'll pick a day when the site is working properly and the footage is worth the effort.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: . Historical Interest: +. Overall Rating: ***.

An Answer (film #385 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

JFK, along with LBJ, members of Congress (is that Gerald Ford having breakfast with the enlisted men?), NATO representatives, and other bigwigs, inspects the Navy and Marines, who do their best to give him the best show possible. Military buffs will probably enjoy this, as it contains lots of ships, planes, and things blowing up, but others will probably find it rather dull, though there is some eerie footage of JFK riding in an open car. And it does have historical value as a document of state-of-the-art military hardware and techniques from the early 60s.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

Life Looks Back (Goodtimes, 1989). [Category: News]

Another "photo album" of news-bites, coincidentally starting just about where Headline Stories of the Century leaves off––early 60s––and going on through the 70s and 80s. This time it's tv news footage we're seeing, but it just isn't as interesting as the other tape, mainly because they focus on the big news stories instead of the silly pop culture stuff of the other tape. And they deal with each story so briefly that it really doesn't tell you anything new about it. Only of marginal interest.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: . Overall Rating: .

Alaska's Silver Millions

Millions of salmon, that is. This well-made film, sponsored by the American Can Company and narrated by "the glacier priest," first gives an overview of Alaska's geography, then shows us the life cycle of the salmon from birth to spawning, then shows how the salmon are caught and canned in Alaska's biggest pre-oil industry. It's part travelogue, part nature documentary, and part industrial film, and all three parts are quite well done and interesting. Some of the more spectacular scenes include glaciers breaking apart, salmon fighting their way upstream, thousands of salmon being caught in huge nets and traps, and the amazing, fully-automated canning process, where salmon go from live ocean fish to canned food product in the space of 12 hours. This film has a great deal of historical value and is also one of the better factory-tour-type industrial films. Corporate propaganda is kept to a minimum, probably because the visuals speak for themselves.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: . Historical Interest: *. Overall Rating: **.

American Harvest.

This slick, GM-sponsored film, part of the series which produced American Look, at first seems to be a tribute to farmers and miners and all others who produce raw materials. But there's something a little off about the tribute--corn is for making plastics and synthetic rubber, sugar is for carbon and lampblack, cattle are for producing leather--none of these raw materials seem to be for the purposes we usually think they are for. And then it becomes clear after awhile--these are all materials that are used to make cars. And the uses the auto industry makes of these materials are shown to be the only really important uses. Just about when we figure this out, the film turns into a sort of 50s version of Master Hands, only with much less effective visual imagery and lots of bombastic narration to tell us what we're supposed to think. And what we're supposed to think is that what's good for General Motors is good for the country. This becomes all too clear in the final segment of the film, in which we get to see how much the automobile has changed our lives and how wonderful it all is. I mean, isn't it great that we get to go to drive-ins and eat in the car instead of going to eat at a stuffy old sit-down restaurant? Or that rural children are bused to large consolidated schools with lots of other children instead of walking to small one-room schoolhouses? Or that boring old downtown business districts have been replaced with shiny new shopping malls in the suburbs? There's a large dose of the kind of corporate religion spouted in Round and Round, too--the word "interdependent" is used in practically every sentence. This film is rather boring and ordinary on the surface, but the more you think about it, the more appalling it becomes.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: . Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.

Balloon Land (film #20 on The Cartoons That Time Forgot: The Ub Iwerks Collection, Vol. 2 DVD (Image Entertainment, 1999). Also, film #10 on The Cartoons That Time Forgot, Volume 3: Things That Go Bump in the Night (Kino Video, 1993)). [Category: Hollywood]

It doesn't get more "toony" than this, and that's great. Imagine a land where everybody is a balloon. Who would be their arch-enemy? Pincussion Man, of course! A delightful example of 30s wacky, rubbery animation at its best.

Classic Sci-Fi Trailers, Vol. 7 (Sinister Cinema). [Category: Commercial]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

How to Hold a Husband (film #6 on Exploitation Mini-Classics, Vol. 2 (Sinister Cinema)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.

Drive-In Werewolf (extra on Monsters Crash the Pajama Party Spook Show Spectacular DVD (Something Weird, 2001)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

Universal Pictures Newsreel (intermission item on Walk-In Double Feature #3 (Sinister Cinema)). [Category: News]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Atomic Power at Shippingport (film #172 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.

Americans at Work: Barbers and Beauticians.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.

Betty in Blunderland (extra on Drive-In Discs, Volume One: The Screaming Skull & The Giant Leeches DVD (Elite Entertainment 2000)) [Category: Hollywood]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.

An American Girl (film #363 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.

As Seen Through a Telescope (film #26 on The Movies Begin, Volume Two: The European Pioneers (Kino Video, 1994)). [Category: Early Film & TV]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.

Classic Sci-Fi Trailers, Vol. 6 (Sinister Cinema). [Category: Commercial]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (film #2 on Cartoons for Big Kids (Turner Home Entertainment, 1989)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: *****.

Doctor Who: Shada (Fox Video, 1992). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

Admiral Dewey Leading Land Parade (film #3 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

NASA, Volume Two Film Reel (extra on NASA DVD (Madacy Entertainment, 1999)). [Category: News]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Betty Crocker (film #3 in the Commercials section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Commercial]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

The Bronze Buckaroo (film #5 in the Black Culture section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Better Housing News Flashes (film #208 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Barbie's Audition (film #5 in the Film and Video Section of Illegal Art). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

China Central TV (film #7 on Television Archive). [Category: News]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

American Fashion and Department Stores: The Pro-Mass Production View (film #117 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.

Atomic Energy as a Force for Good (film #410 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.

Admiral Dewey Landing at Gibralter (film #2 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.

Assignment Venezuela (film #1 on Assignment Venezula and Other Shorts (Best Brains, 2001). Also, film #162 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Msting: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

The Best Made Plans

The Best Made Plans.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

Brink of Disaster (film #252 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

Believe It or Not (recoreded off of Turner Classic Movies). [Category: Hollywood]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Belo Horizonte (film #442 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Bank Robbery (film #11 in the Indie section of Movieflix (www. movieflix.com)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: ***.

BBC World News (film #3 on Television Archive). [Category: News]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.

Am I Trustworthy? (film #78 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.

American Engineer (film #345 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.

The Artist's Dilemma (downloaded from the Edison Film Archive ). [Category: Early Film & TV]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

Beech-Nut Baby Food (film #22 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Commercial]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.

Bring 'Em Back Nude (extra on The Beast That Killed Women/The Monster of Camp Sunshine DVD (Something Weird, 2001)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

Babies and Breadwinners (film #421 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.

Classic Sci-Fi Trailers, Vol. 5 (Sinister Cinema). [Category: Commercial]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

The Bachelorette Party (film #8 in the Indie Section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: **.

Dole Air Race, 1927 (film #1818 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: News]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Goldielocks Goes Glamorous (film #2 on Exploitation Mini-Classics, Vol. 2 (Sinister Cinema)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.

Atomic Alert.

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