Boys' Club Promo (recorded off of American Movie Classics). [Category: Public Service]
Bob Hope tells us all about the good works the Boys' Clubs are doing. We see some rather scrawny kids in Boys' Club t-shirts building models, playing basketball, and one kid learning the valuable lesson of "winner take all" in a checker game. A brief blip in the history of charitable solicitations.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Alone (film #4 in the Drama section of Brickfilms. Also, film #2 in the Horror section of Brickfilms). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
A Lego guy dressed in a brown suit enters a Lego crypt and is attacked by a skull-faced Lego ghoul. This little horror flick is genuinely creepy, which is amazing for a brickfilm. This filmmaker really knows how to tell a story and create effective special effects. Shows what a little Lego and lots of creativity can do.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ****.
America's Distribution of Wealth (film #108 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
An economist lectures us on how the American capitalist system is the best in the world, morally right, and according to God's law. He's pretty boring himself, but he is interrupted by a couple of jaw-dropping scenes of "foreigners" marveling at the American system. Especially amusing is a scene of a fake Englishman who looks like Terry Jones dubbed in by Bill Clinton trying desperately to fake a British accent going all ga-ga in a supermarket. The shortages the Englishman has to put up with are assumed to be a product of socialism rather than that recent world war that everybody in the movie seems to have forgotten about. The economist also has going for him an excellent audio-visual aid in the form of a 3-D chart containing stylized human figures that he can move up and down––I really want this one for the Film Ephemeral Museum of Quirky Devices. Actually, he doesn't do too bad a job of showing that the majority of the American people are pretty well-off, but then this film was made at the height of American post-war prosperity, when such things as the GI Bill were making it possible for millions of Americans to move into the middle class at a rate not seen before, and so far not seen again. One wonders what the figures were like during the Depression, which, by the way, was also a product of capitalism. A great example of 50s capitalist propaganda.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Atomic TV extras (on Atomic TV (Video Resources, 1994). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Video Resources added some extra goodies to the Atomic TV tape, including trailers from 50s science-fiction movies, an excerpt from an unidentified animated educational film about atomic energy that just had to be titled Our Friend, the Atom (NOTE: Since originally writing this review, I've discovered that the scenes are from A Is for Atom.), and excerpts from that bug-eyed-alien classic, Killers from Space. These extra items give the tape a nice Atomic Cafe feel.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Admiral Dewey Receiving the Washington and New York Committees (film #5 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Admiral Dewey paces back and forth on the deck of a ship, probably mumbling to himself, “Where are they, already??" Eventually a bunch of top-hatted bigwigs arrive, including one guy wearing one of those over-the-top admiral's hats. Then some other stuff happens. The end. An 1899 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Betty Crocker III (film #5 in the Commercial section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Commercial]
Betty Crocker guarantees a perfect cake every time you bake. Yeah right. The chocolate cake looks pretty yummy, though. Somebody ought to hand the kid who eats it a napkin.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Cherry Knight (film #292 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Another stag film, this one with a music soundtrack and a rather cheap-looking stripper. There's lots of bouncing action and a couple of industrial-strength pasties, for those who are fans of that. It's a living, I guess.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Boy with a Knife (film #238 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
Chuck Connors plays a social worker who helps a group of troubled, potentially delinquent boys by forming them into a club at a youth center. The "boy with a knife" is Jerry, a kid with a bitchy stepmother and a wimpy father who won't stand up to her verbal diatribes against him. Jerry takes out his rage by periodically threatening other kids with a knife, when he's not using it to carve up other people's property. When he finds out through the grapevine that his stepmother is planning to send him away to live with his grandmother, he takes out his rage by carving up all the sofa cushions into ribbons. Somehow, this makes his dad finally stand up to his stepmom. "Jerry's not going anywhere," he says to her and this totally cures Jerry of his rage––he immediately goes outside and turns over his knife to Chuck. This is a well-intentioned film that makes a few valid points about delinquency, but mostly it's incredibly simplistic and cliched. Most realistic is how much time and patience it takes for Chuck to win the boys' trust, and how fragile that trust continues to be. Least realistic is the story about Jerry, especially the ending. Jerry has the classical cliched Hollywood Freudian version of a dysfunctional family––bitchy stepmom, wimpy dad who doesn't wear the pants in the family (though the actress playing the stepmom does do an excellent job of making you hate her). The ending is laughably pat and unrealistic––in any real situation like this, you just know that carving up the sofa cushions is just the thing that will get Jerry sent away, and probably to a place a lot worse than his grandmother's. And, of course, there's an instant cure––maybe the filmmakers were just running out of time after all the long sequences of Chuck's trust-building attempts. It all ends up being maddeningly unsatisfying––you want to like the film for its intentions, but it's just too much of a fantasy. For a much more realistic look at the problem of deliquency, and the "club" solution, see Ask Me, Don't Tell Me.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
A Case of Spring Fever (film #3 on Assignment Venezuela and Other Shorts (Best Brains, 2001). Also, MST3K Episode #1012: Squirm. Also, film #276 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
Hey, msties! Remember the linking bit with Crow playing Willie the Wonderful Wisecracking Waffle? It turns out that character was a direct reference to Coily, the incredibly evil sprite in this film. A poor shmoe repairing a sofa wishes he would never see another spring again. Suddenly, Coily appears and answers his wish. Now his watch doesn't work, the dial on his telephone won't function properly, and he can't even close the doors of his car, much less get it to start. Each time he discovers the consequences of a missing spring, Coily taunts him in an incredibly annoying voice. Finally, the guy cracks and apologizes to Coily, who relents and returns springs to the world, but only in exchange for the poor guy's soul. The guy becomes an insufferable spring promoter, talking endlessly about Coily's kin until he drives all his friends away. This film was sponsored by GM, but it's hard to tell why, unless they too were victims of demonic possession. Willy the Waffle appears in Season 3 of mst3k, meaning Best Brains probably had possession of this short at least as far back as that. Perhaps they couldn't find a film that was just right to pair it with. Eventually, they found themselves making the very last episode and they just couldn't pass it by. They certainly saved the best for last in that case.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: *****. Msting: ****. Overall Rating: *****.
Alligators Like Canoes (film #7 in the Comedy section of Brickfilms). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
A couple of hapless Lego guys go canoeing and get attacked by a pretty cool-looking Lego alligator. They escape to an island where they find a bunch of Lego skeletons––are those for real or were they created for the film? Some scenes, including the ending, are kind of confusing. Still, it's not bad for an amateur effort.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Bicentennial Celebration (film #4 in the Patriotism in America section of WPA Film Library). [Category: News]
A short clip of silent raw tv news footage of various Bicentennial celebrations that took place on July 4, 1976. A little carousel riding, a little watermelon eating, a little Uncle Sam, a little fireworks, a little hippies in sandals listening to an outdoor concert, and you're done.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Boo! (extra on Frankenstein DVD (Universal, 1999)). [Category: Hollywood]
Now this is a really fun and unusual short. Somebody at Universal took footage from several of its classic horror films, cut and pasted it together, and dubbed in a new silly soundtrack about how lobster gives you nightmares. This was back in the 30s, when the Universal horror films they stole footage from were at their height of popularity, making this even more of an oddity. Great fun and an excellent extra to throw on the Frankenstein DVD. Kudos to Universal for digging this up.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Amphetamines: Case Study (film #8 on The Educational Archives, Volume One: Sex & Drugs DVD (Fantoma, 2001)). [Category: Educational]
A 60s speed freak tells us what it's like to be a 60s speed freak, using lots of cool druggie lingo like "rap" and "wired." The scene of him trying to fix radios while high somehow reminds me of Dick York and his radios in Shy Guy. All that's included is this self-narrated segment about his feelings while on speed, making me think that this might be an excerpt rather than a whole film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.
American Women: Partners in Research (film #135 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
This 50s film, sponsored by Corning Glass, is purportedly about market research in consumer products, but it's really one long, oppressive collection of gender-role stereotypes. It starts with a campy sequence of head shots of housewives expressing their preferences, though for what, we don't know. Then our manly host Chet Huntley appears and over scenes of women shopping and drinking coffee in a kitchen says, "These women are doing research." Chet then tells us all about how companies like Corning are using the opinions of women to design household products, in a tone similar to one an animal behaviorist might use when presenting his paper on the social behavior of some rare species of jungle fauna. He does this while stroking a large phallic-looking rocket nose cone on his desk, and he is careful to specify that all the designers and engineers are MEN. He also mentions that although they are all great designers, all their hard work could come to naught because "women have minds of their own." Then we get to see the step-by-step process Corning uses to design a new coffee percolator. This includes lots of fun scenes of industrial machinery exposing Corningware dishes to various kinds of abuse. The only women employees shown are one woman whose job it is to test the coffee pot to see if it makes coffee that meets the standards of the Coffee Institute, and, of course, the "girls" in the test kitchen. All these women probably got home economics degrees from Iowa State College. In the end, the percolator is put to the ultimate test by being offered for sale in a department store. Husbands are informed that due to the sophisticated mind-control, er, I mean, "market research" techniques by Corning, their wives will demand the coffee pot despite all logic. This film is a must-see for a "ladies night" of msting––you hardly know where to start with it. Though no one instance of sexism is particularly jaw-dropping, it has a cumulative effect that just doesn't quit.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
Attack on a China Mission (film #35 on The Movies Begin, Volume Two: The European Pioneers (Kino Video, 1994)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
This film was a recreation of an actual event which took place during the Boxer Rebellion in China. A happy European family frolics in the front yard of a Victorian home when they are assaulted by a few Chinese rebels in traditional garb wielding swords. The family runs indoors in fright. Suddenly a huge group of European soldiers armed with guns appears. They kill the Chinese rebels with dispatch but go on firing at the house for some reason. One wonders on the accuracy of this recreation. A 1900 James A. Williamson film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Classic Sci-Fi Trailers, Vol. 8 (Sinister Cinema). [Category: Commercial]
Some more trailers from science fiction movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Lots of giant Japanese monsters on this one, plus both The Thing With Two Heads and The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant! Gets 5 extra points for throwing in some drive-in ephemera.
Highlights:
- Gimmick Alert! Teenage Caveman was filmed in Superama! Godzilla vs. the Thing is in Eye-Jolting Color and Terrorscope!
- Island of Lost Women stars John Smith!
- War Between the Planets is "great family film fare from Fanfare!"
- The Navy vs. the Night Monsters was released by the Standard Club of America. Cyborg 2087 was released by Feature Film Corp. of America. Such memorable names!
- "Boys! Here's a chance to see if your GHOUL friend can take it!" Yup, it's another great spook show promo for the Giant All-Color Spook-a-Thon.
- Mysteries of the Gods gives you William Shatner and Eric Von Daniken's theories all in one movie! How can you miss?
- At the end of the tape, Sinister Cinema thanks Steve Bishop for some of the trailers. My guess is that Steve was responsible for all the giant Japanese monster trailers, which are in truly stunning condition. Thanks again, Steve.
- Msties, take note: contains the trailer for Teenage Caveman.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
How to Undress (film #3 on Exploitation Mini Classics, Vol. 1 (Sinister Cinema)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
This most ridiculous example of a "Goofus and Gallant" film purports to teach wives how to undress in front of their husbands. Slinky Ethel is compared with fat Trixie, which allows the smarmy narrator to drool over one and humiliate the other. Of course, the real purpose of this film is to have a scene of a pretty woman stripping, which makes me suspect that very few women saw it in its day. Appalling.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Ed Sullivan Show (film #1 on Toast of the Town (Shokus Video)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
This 1956 episode of "The Ed Sullivan Show" is a real hodge-podge from the days when tv was supposed to be for one mass audience. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz plug their movie Forever Darling, Desi and the Ames Brothers sing the title song from same (with Lucy trying to butt in, as usual), the Ames Brothers go on to do some impressions of 50s pop singers, Rodgers and Hammerstein are interviewed and the Broadway cast of Pipe Dream (one of the lesser Rodgers & Hammerstein efforts) sings some songs from the show, Orson Welles does a scene from King Lear, Ed introduces some celebrities in the audience, and ends up not having enough time for a rather lame ventriloquist to perform. Most of the stuff is only mildly entertaining, but it does have a real 50s feel, giving you an education in what 50s audiences liked to see on tv. The most appalling part is the Pipe Dream sequence––despite the assertion on the show that this show was incredibly popular and sold out the first night, it seems to be unknown today, and frankly, the scenes here explain why. The appalling part was that this musical was supposedly based upon a John Steinbeck novel, perhaps not the top author on the should-never-be-turned-into-a-Rodgers-and-Hammerstein-musical list, but certainly in the top ten. Still, Ed almost makes up for it by cutting the ventriloquist short. Extra highlights include commercials for big ugly 50s cars and a really cheesy "next week" promo.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.
Admiral Dewey Leading Land Parade No. 2 (film #4 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]
This gives you some idea of what a military parade was like in 1899. Mostly it involved lots of horse-drawn carraiges, marching bands, and marching soldiers. Lots and lots of them. An 1899 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Betty Crocker II (film #4 in the Commercials section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Commercial]
This commercial is for the Betty Crocker Honey Spice Cake. It's historically interesting in that it emphasizes that "fresh eggs give the cake a fresh taste." Actually, cake mixes were formulated to add eggs because housewives felt too guilty to serve "just add water" cakes to their family––adding eggs made them feel like they were really cooking. An interesting piece of 50s housewife history.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Brunette (film #257 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
A pretty brunette strips for our pleasure in this short silent vintage stag film. She wears several layers of sexy undies, the better to tease you with, my dear. Mildly erotic, with the innocence of yesterday.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Birth of a City (film #222 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This really should be called Birth of a Suburb. The planning and building of Broomfield Heights, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, is shown. You know what you're in for when you find out that the "city" is planned around a giant shopping mall. Now I don't live anywhere near Denver, but I just bet Broomfield Heights is just another neighborhood in its urban sprawl by now. After all, it is a "suburban dream of yesterday." Still, this movie is fun to mst, as it has bombastic, newsreel-style narration.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
We Interrupt This Program (MPI Home Video, 1990). [Category: News]
This tape presents ABC news footage from three major stories: the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the 1984 highjacking of an American airliner in Beirut by Lebonese terrorists, and the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. No explanation is given as to why these three stories in particular were chosen––perhaps they're the ones that have the most footage saved from them, or maybe it was a rights issue. Unfortunately, despite the title of the tape, we don't actually get to see "we-interrupt-this-program" footage, but we do get to see unedited news broadcasts from when the stories were breaking, including occasional slips of the tongue by newscasters and clumsy shifts from one news feed to another. Some of the footage is quite emotional, such as King's musical director being interviewed minutes after the shooting and obviously still in shock from it; a very frightened pilot of the highjacked plane shouting over the radio "We must have that fuel right now! Immediately!" after the highjackers threatened to start killing the passengers; the flight engineer of the highjacked plane sending a message to his family, including his father, followed by Peter Jennings telling us that the man's father had just died from a heart attack after hearing about the highjacking; a flight attendant from the highjacked plane describing the brutal murder of a Navy diver by the highjackers; a reporter standing on the very edge of a collapsed section of the Bay Bridge after the earthquake; and confused, panicking people running through the streets of the harder-hit San Francisco neighborhoods. I'd like to see more collections of such footage––it really defines the concept of historical interest.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Bathroom Boardroom (film #9 in the Indie section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
In this updated version of Ellis in Freedomland, a junior executive, after enduring the Performance Review from Hell, encounters another kind of nightmare when the fixtures in the men's room begin talking to him. Actually, I thought this would be another lame Movieflix Indie "cool", "ironic" comedy, until DISPENSOR began talking, which made me laugh out loud. I found the prissy British urirnal mildly amusing as well. It all ends as some sort of warped demonstration of Positive Leadership(tm), making it more of a present-day version of Ellis than you might think. Long live DISPENSOR!Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ****.
Berlin Wall (film #4 in the Landmarks Around the World section of WPA Film Library). [Category: News]
A short clip of raw tv news footage of the erection of the Berlin Wall. A short but necessary bit of Cold War history.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Armistice in Korea (film #12 in the Korean War section of WPA Film Library). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
A Soviet representative announces the possibility of peace talks, then we see newsreel footage of the final days of the Korean War and President Truman talking about military successes and peace talks. A short, well-preserved document of the end of the Korean War.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The American Road.
This 70s film shows us the early history of the automobile and how it changed America's way of life. Since it was sponsored by Ford, it focuses a lot on the Model T and it has an optomistic bias (cars have obviously improved things and there's no downside, is there?). The movie ends with optimistic, populuxe proclamations that the future will be better than ever, which is curious in a 70s film. Still, this is quite well-made and it has a real human feel to it. You really get a sense of what it must have been like to live in the pre-auto world and also what it was like to whether the changes that cars brought on the scene. The film contains lots of great archival footage of old cars and also lots of historical footage of Henry Ford, his family, and his cronies (is that Edison in the background?). Like many of the better industrial films, it hooks into your emotions at times, especially the feeling of freedom that car ownership provides. An interesting document of automotive and cultural history.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Atomic Tests in 3-D (extra on Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie DVD (Goldhil Home Media, 1999)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Did you know that they filmed some of the 50s atomic bomb tests in 3-D? The makers of Trinity and Beyond made this speical little mini-documentary showcasing this footage. The narration makes it sound like a travelogue for the Nevada Test Site (and indeed, you can take tours of it today). The footage, though, is the real attraction of this film. How much more 50s can you get than watching atomic explosions in 3-D? They of course include a pair of 3-D glasses with the DVD. This footage is a great find and it's one of my all-time favorite DVD extras.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Battery (film #4 on Campy Classroom Classics, Vol. 4 (Something Weird, 2000)). [Category: Industrial]
This may be the stupidest sales training film ever made. It's as if Union 76 gathered together a bunch of drunk salesmen at a convention, divided them into small groups, and asked each group to make up a skit about a particular historical period and loosely connect it to the sale of Union 76 car batteries. Of course, the salesmen threw in lots of objectification of the female body––gotta please those crowds, after all. So let's hand out some awards to these drunk salesmen, shall we? The Silliest Skit award goes to the caveman sequence, hands down. The Most Appalling Sexism award goes to the Ancient Rome sequence, in which we're supposed to assume female slaves are car batteries, and all that that implies. The Weirdest Imagery award goes to the scene of Merlin's assistants working in the Union 76 R & D lab. And the Least Informative Sequence award goes to the film as a whole––it makes you constantly scratch your head and say, "And what does this have to do with car batteries?" Appalling, but, of course, great ephemera.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: *** (this gets docked for its overall lack of historical relevance). Overall Rating: ****.
Bongo Boards (film #1154 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Hollywood]
A short newsreel featurette from the mid 60s showing girls on the beach exercising with "bongo boards"––short boards balanced on cylinders on which the girls rock back and forth. Oh those kids and their fads! What will they think up next––pet rocks?Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
America's Presidents (film #351 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]
This film quickly (sometimes very quickly) summarizes the careers of America's presidents from Washington to Eisenhower. For most of them, this is done in voice-over, over a picture of the president in question, but from McKinley onward, film clips of the presidents are shown. It's kind of fun, actually, to trip down the line, especially if you're a person who likes lists. Mostly, though, it's just what you'd expect.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
At the Altar (film #11 on The Origins of Cinema, Volume 4: The Arrival of D. W. Griffith (Video Yesteryear, 1995)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
A suitably melodramatic tale in which a pretty Italian-American woman almost has her wedding ruined by a dastardly cad of an old boyfriend who, rather than see the love of his life wed another, boobytraps the altar with a hidden gun, then kills himself by drinking poison. Fortunately, a servant discovers his body and suicide note (in which he tells all) and sends a cop down to the church to warn everybody. But will he make it in time? Will a stray chicken thwart him? Loads of fun with plenty of good old-fashioned scenery-chewing, especially the villian's death scene. A 1909 D. W. Griffith film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest:***. Overall Rating: ***.
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: ****.
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Better Reading
Better Reading . Teenager Harold Wilson has a problem—he can’t read for (expletive deleted). So he has to spend all his free time studying ...
