A Day at the Zoo (film #68 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
This sign-language interpreted version of the hoary old Warner Bros. toon takes a somewhat more sensible approach. The cartoon is narrated, so they took out the original narration and replaced it with narration by the sign language interpreter. This avoids having the gags overexplained, though she does miss some gags, such as the “two bucks and five cents” gag. This is not always a bad thing, though, as the explanation for what made the wildcat wild is left out, and it would thoroughly puzzle anyone too young to remember 30s movie theater “Bank Nights.” Most interestingly, the interpreter plays the narrator’s role in chiding Egghead for teasing the lion. His usual line, “I’m a bad boy” is left out, but the gag comes across anyway. This is to my mind one of the better of the sign-language interpreted toons I’ve seen.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Builders of the Broad Highway (film #260 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]
Another educational film about highway building. This one goes into quite a bit of detail about the process, and it impresses you with the skill and the risk-taking of the construction workers. But it basically just goes on and on about highway building, which is interesting if you’re into that kind of thing, but boring if you’re not.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Help Needy, Says First Lady (film #1 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Public Service]
Newsreel clip of Eleanor Roosevelt speaking to the National Federation of Women’s Clubs, urging women (read: wealthy women) to do charitable work to help the poor during the Depression. This has some historical value, but it’s creaky as all get-out.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Aloha Ha Ha (film #30 on Film Chest Vintage Cartoons). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
This is one of those lame New Three Stooges limited animation tv cartoons, with live-action bumpers by the Stooges themselves. This one features the Stooges trying to avoid being eaten by a cannibal tribe, while the bumpers feature a very old, lethargic, and tame lion who is so pathetic they had to dub in a roar. There’s a real bottom-of-the-barrel feel to this, as if nobody cared about the kids at home watching, except for maybe the local hosts that showed syndicated cartoons like this. Something to watch when nothing else is on.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Al Smith Hails End of Dry Law (film #1 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: News]
New York’s governor Al Smith pontificates briefly on the end of Prohibition. This clip should be placed in a documentary about the 30s right before scenes of drunken partying to Spike Jones’ “Cocktails for Two.” By itself, it’s pretty dull.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
La Cheval Emballe (film #15 on The Movies Begin, Volume Three: Experimentation and Discovery (Kino Video, 1994)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
While a deliveryman shmoozes, his horse eats a sack of oats in front of a grocery store. The oats must be super-vitamanized, because the horse takes off at top speed, mowing down everything in its path, creating a particularly anarchic chase scene. Eventually the horse finds its way home, and its owner deals with all the pesky folks chasing it by making use of a handy garden hose. One of the better chase films. A 1907 Pathe Freres film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ****.
Akron Disaster (film #111 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Silent newsreel story documenting the crash of Navy dirigible U.S.S. Akron. Mostly this involves showing the bit of ocean it crashed into and showing the recovery of dead bodies from the deep. They do include some footage of the Akron in its heyday, though, and those scenes are quite historically interesting, bringing back the days of huge airships floating silently through the sky.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Balbo Nears American Goal (film #1 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Industrial]
Newsreel footage, some of it silent, of an armada of planes flying from Italy to the Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago. This has some cool footage of radiotelegraph signals from the planes coming in and messages typing out on a huge Western Union typewriter. Otherwise, this is pretty ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Anzac in Curious Racial Mixup (film #1 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Hollywood]
Brief newsreel story about an Australian man who was taken to China by his parents and then orphaned there, ending up being raised by Chinese villagers. The fact that he’s a white man who is culturally and linguistically Chinese is portrayed with all the awe accorded to Siamese twins and other forms of freaks. Of course, the other way around isn’t as amazing, which reveals the racism of the time. I have to admit, though, that I jumped a bit when his Chinese interpreter started speaking English with a perfect Australian accent.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Build Your Vocabulary (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #259 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]
Pete’s dad, Mr. Willis, has a problem (Pete doesn’t have a problem, which is unusual for a Coronet film). It seems that folks keep usin’ all these high-fallutin’ words around him, words like “explicit” and “anthology.” It darn near drives him nuts (in a very campy scene) until he starts writin’ in one a’ them-there vocabulary notebooks. Now he can finally understand what his wife is talking about! This is a very campy film. Its main character is pathetically stupid, so much so that you get the impression that the only thing keeping him in his job is the fact that he’s a white male. He even gets the book Fundamentals of Printing from the library to read for the first time––considering he works for a printing company this is probably a good idea. Good thing he’s not a doctor. This character, and the fact that an adult is portrayed as the clueless one for once, make this a unique and memorable Coronet film, prime for msting.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: *****.
Bob’s Electric Theater (film #3 on Early Sci-Fi Fantasy Films (Buyer’s Gallery Movie Memories)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Some kids are bored, so they start experimenting with stop-motion animation of their toys. This gets pretty weird in spots, especially when the spanking begins. It’s an interesting early experiment in stop-motion, though. A 1906 Pathe Freres film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
American Express Card (film #7 in The Most Memorable Commercials of the 1970s section of TVParty). [Category: Commercial]
Early example of the “Do You Know Me?” campaign featuring either Siegfried or Roy, I can’t remember which is which. Since American Express is still making these commercials, there are really no surprises here, though it might have a bit of historical interest.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Bubbling Over (film #1 on Side A of Disc #9 of Classic Musicals DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2005)(in Soundies Festival)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Ethel Waters stars in this bizarre musical short that involves a lazy husband, his philandering relatives, a bogus swami fortune-teller, and an uncle who they think has struck it rich but is really a nutcase. Racist stereotypes abound, and it’s a shame to see Waters, who is obviously an intelligent and very talented woman, have to struggle with such insulting material. Her songs are good, but otherwise, this leaves you with a big “huh?”Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Junior High Schools in New York City (film #794 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This early 60s film tries to explain the whole concept of junior high schools to parents who didn’t go to them, and thus don’t think they’re necessary. It does it in as stilted and controlled fashion as possible, with everything carefully scripted and acted out by people who couldn’t act their way out of a paper bag. This gives the film a geeky quality which is rather appealing after a bit. It is sure to bring back lots of memories, not all of them pleasant, in folks who attended junior high during the 50s and early 60s. Gender roles aplenty appear, including boys lining up in the front of the classroom while girls line up at the side; boys learning woodworking and electrical tinkering in shop class, while girls learn cooking, table manners, and dressmaking in Home Ec; and girls doing folk dancing in P.E., while the boys play sports. It was somewhat ahead of its time, though, in the portrayal of multi-racial classrooms and an African-American art teacher teaching white students. If it’s school footage you want, this film has it. Now close your notebooks and prepare to pass to the next film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
A Chess Dispute (film #18 on The Movies Begin, Volume Two: The European Pioneers (Kino Video, 1994)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
An argument over a friendly game of chess degenerates into punching, scratching, suspender-throwing, seltzer-squirting mayhem. Those violent chessmeisters! Amusing, though. A 1903 Robert W. Paul film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ****.
The All-New Popeye Show (film #35 in the Children’s TV section of TVArk). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Opening credits for a late-70s British Popeye cartoon show produced by Hanna Barbara. This looks like it was decently animated and true to the spirit of Popeye, so this is mildly amusing to watch.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Aloha Hawaii: Islanders Celebrate Long-Sought Statehood (film #1 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: News]
Hawaiians celebrate the attainment of statehood in this newsreel story with flag-waving, festivals, and, of course, hula dancing. This is pretty much what you’d expect, though they also throw in a Cold War jab at the Commies for good measure.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Airbase Shelled: Soviet Rockets Used in Attack (film #111 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Newsreel story showing the aftermath of the shelling of an airbase by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. It looks like it was mostly the Vietnamese civilians who suffered from this. Sad footage.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Combat Bulletin No. 17 (film #1 on tape #2 of This Film Is Restricted Boxed Set (Marathon Music & Video, 1997)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This one is fairly standard and dull. In "Invasion of Southern France", the Allies invade southern France. In "Northern France", GIs mop up the last bits of Nazi resistance and liberated French towns return to normal. In "Operations in Burma", American, Chinese, and Indian troops gain ground in Burma and restore supply lines in recovered territory. We also see footage of Chinese solidiers training. "Japs Attack Task Force" shows us footage of an aerial/sea battle near the Marianas in the Pacific. There is a stark quality about this one––music and narration is kept to a minimum and even natural sound is sometimes missing. It feels war-weary, which the filmmakers probably were.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 4, No. 3 (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #309 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
OK, folks, I’ve put up with the animal abuse in this series. I’ve put up with stuffing dogs in trunks. I’ve put up with dressing monkeys in humiliating costumes. I’ve even put up with them capturing a grand old sea turtle and tormenting it before killing it for its hide. But now Chevrolet has gone too far––they’ve taken an innocent cow and started it smoking! And then they milk her and feed the milk to children! Forget PETA––call out the Surgeon General for this one! Oh, and they also have silly stories about a parade honoring the school safety patrol, a guy who trades in his buggy for a new Chevrolet (and who now, with Chevrolet’s blessing, has no tolerance for other buggies on the road), a bunch of oil drillers playing around with nitroglycerine (don’t try this at home, kids), a guy who goes everywhere on stilts, and an archery instructor who shoots at his female students from the hood of a driverless moving car. Had enough safety violations for one film?Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Betty Boop’s Rise to Fame (film #496 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Hollywood]
A reporter interviews Max Fleischer and Betty Boop appears to show him her stuff by reprising scenes from the cartoons Stopping the Show, Bamboo Isle, and The Old Man of the Mountains. Although most of this cartoon consists of these repeated scenes, the scenes where Betty interacts with Fleischer and the reporter are lots of fun. You can tell this is pre-code, because at one point while Betty is dancing the hula in a scene from Bamboo Isle, the reporter’s pencil makes a gesture that is very close to being obscene! I love this sort of cartoon-character-comes-to-life toon, so I enjoyed this thoroughly.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Trouble with Women (film #48 on AV Geeks. Also, film #5 on The Educational Archives, Volume Four: On the Job DVD (Fantoma, 2002)). [Category: Industrial]
This should really be called The Trouble with Sexist Foremen. Brad is upset when Personnel sends yet another women into his department. He complains that women have problems with absenteeism, not giving proper notice when they're leaving, and complaining about assignments. He insists that men never give him these problems. It's pretty obvious what Brad's problem is.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Boat Race (film #16 on America at Work, America at Leisure). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Two boats manned by crew teams race towards a battleship. One of them wins. I guess you had to keep those sailors amused somehow. A 1905 Biograph film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Alka-Seltzer (film #8 in The Most Memorable Commercials of the 1970s section of TVParty). [Category: Commercial]
This Alka-Seltzer commercial from the late 70s features Speedy and Sammy Davis, Jr. singing together in a winter scene, promoting the Winter Olympics. Somehow, these two together end up a lot weirder than you might think. Sammy seems to be trying hard to be as cute as Speedy, at one point riding a tiny sled a la the Santa Claus Norelco commercials. Sometimes the combinations advertisers came up with to appeal to a broad audience ended up positively surreal in execution. The 70s in particular had a lot of these surreal moments. This is one of them.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Boogie Woogie Dream (film #3 on Side A of Disc #9 of Classic Musicals DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2005) (in “Soundies Cavalcade")). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
This has a lot more plot that the typical soundie. In a nightclub, after hours, a dishwasher, a paperhanger, and a piano tuner dream of performing in the club with Teddy Wilson and his Orchestra. They get their wish in their dreams, at least, and since the dishwasher is Lena Horne, and the two others are talented jazz pianists, they really smoke up the club. But, as they say in Hellzapoppin’, “Too bad they’re not in the show.” Or are they? Is that an agent and his wife sharing the dream with them? Lively and lots of fun.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
It’s Wanton Murder (film #775 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This strident traffic safety film from the 40s tells the story of a woman whose husband went out to fight the war and came home safely, only to be killed in a car accident, poor shmoe. It’s actually somewhat surprising for its time as it actually shows some gory footage from real accidents. It also shows the empty chairs of accident victims, making it a prototype of many other driver’s ed films to come.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Alaskan Pilot (film #1 on Side A of Disc #2 of Clutch Cargo: The Complete Series, Vol. 2 (Brentwood Home Video, 2005)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Another episode of that Adventurer Whose Mouth Is Not His Own. In this one, Clutch and his pals help a couple of old geezer prospectors in their fight against claim jumpers. The prospectors and their constant arguments amongst themselves are mildly amusing, and there are a couple of good cliffhangers here, but mostly this is standard Clutch fare.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Dying Detective (track #6 on Sherlock Holmes: The Early Years (Hollywood's Attic, 1996)). [Category: Hollywood]
Made by the same company as The Devil's Foot, this silent short shows us how Holmes foils the evil Dr. Smith by letting him believe he was successful in giving Holmes a rare tropical disease. The story is full of twists and turns, making it more interesting than The Devil's Foot. Still, adapting Sherlock Holmes to the silent cinema is cumbersome––you really need dialogue to make the story flow. And again, the print is in poor condition, making it hard to see.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Bread Lines and Soup Kitchens (film #3 in the 1929 Stock Market Crash and Great Depression section of WPA Film Library). [Category: News]
Moving silent footage, some of it in color, of desperate unemployed people, some of them homeless, getting food from bread lines and soup kitchens, scanning employment notices anxiously, and sometimes being reduced to sleeping in doorways or going through garbage cans for food. These images are quite moving and have great historical value as a document to a desperate time in our history. Particularly striking is footage of San Francisco’s Mother Jordan dishing out soup to the hungry with both hands.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Armed Forces Display U.S. Might on Observance Day (film #176 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Another 50s newsreel with Cold-War-related stories, this time about a show of weapons on Observance Day (which includes some puzzling footage of women dressed in pioneer garb) and more about the war in Algeria. Also included are stories of the surviving Dionne quintuplets opening a flower shop, doctors using walkie-talkies which buzz obnoxiously (the precursor to today’s pagers, no doubt), and two stories about horse racing. Again, this gives you a feel for what was considered newsworthy during the 50s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Brothers and Sisters (film #5 on AV Geeks). [Category: Educational]
Kudos to the AV Geeks Archive for starting to put up filmstrips. This filmstrip features Steve, a small boy with an older brother and sister and a baby brother. He gets frustrated with them the way all kids do, but then he has a bad dream that they’re gone, the way kids in most educational films do. This dream cures him of all sibling rivalry, leading to a wonderfully simplistic and unrealistic ending. This is pretty lively stuff for a filmstrip. The images of Steve’s dreams are great. It’s perhaps not as much fun as seeing the dream acted out for us on film, but it makes up for it by having lots of striking still images, any of which would look great on a t-shirt. More fun than you’d think a filmstrip would be.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 4, No. 2 (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #308 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
More silliness from Chevrolet. This time, it’s stories on surfing, a truck that delivers supplies to a CCC Camp in Death Valley (this has some historical interest), photography, braking tests, and, in the usual segment on animal abuse, a wild deer kept as a pet and regularly locked in a car and made to wear a humiliating hat at dinner. The usual, but do I get the feeling they’re beginning to run out of steam?Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Betty Boop’s Big Boss (film #497 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Hollywood]
It’s the height of the Depression, so when Betty Boop sees a “Girl Wanted” sign, she comes on hard to the boss in order to get the job. After she gets hired, the boss comes on hard to her, but before you can say “sexual harassment,” she’s called out not only every cop in town, but the army and navy, too. This is a wonderfully weird and silly Betty, with anthropomorphic inanimate objects aplenty, and side jokes that you almost miss, such as the cops who are determined to arrest the boss for bad acting. Great fun.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
Chaplin - The Vagabond (film #23 in the Silent section of Movieflix). [Category: Early Film & TV]
The Little Tramp is a down-and-out violinist in this one. After an unsuccessful career as a street musician, he encounters an unfortunate young woman in a gypsy camp who is overworked and regularly beaten with a whip by the gypsy boss. He cleverly rescues her, along with one of the gypsy wagons. Later, she meets and befriends an artist who paints her portrait. When the portrait is displayed in an art show, it causes a sensation. Turns out the young woman was the daughter of a wealthy family who was stolen by the gypsies a long time ago, and when her mother sees the painting she recognizes her long-lost daughter. Charlie gallantly refuses a cash reward for finding her, even though he is flat broke, and it looks like he will be left alone and destitute, but at the last minute, the young woman insists that they go back and get them. This is one of the better Chaplins on this site. It has a lot of funny moments, especially during the scene where Charlie rescues the woman from the gypsies, and the basic story is genuinely touching. A 1916 Charlie Chaplin film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Blanket-Tossing a New Recruit (film #30 on Edison Film Archive. Also, film #13 on The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Soldiers blanket-toss a new recruit, not being too careful about him hitting his head. They stop when it stops being fun. A slice of life from the Spanish-American War. An 1898 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Activision Games (film #22 in The Most Memorable Commercials of the 1970s section of TVParty). [Category: Commercial]
This is a silly commercial for Ice Hockey, where the storekeeper gets the customer all hopped up and violent before selling him the game. I guess games were so primitive in those days that they needed the retailers to incite violence in the players, rather than the games themselves.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Beggar at the Gates (extra on Blood Freak DVD (Something Weird, 2002)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
.This 60s documentary about religion focuses on the changes happening in the churches at the time, and, in particular, a new interest in the ecstatic religious experience. For some, this is speaking in tongues, for others, it’s taking LSD in the Neo-American church, and for others, it’s bonding with others at Catholic teen retreats. The filmmakers take an objective tack to all of this, showing all different kinds of ecstatic experiences, allowing various members of the clergy to comment on all of it, and including some thoughts by a religious psychologist. Nevertheless, some of it is kind of creepy. Still, this is an excellent historical document of the tumultuous 60s and how it affected religion, with scene after scene drawing you in and keeping your interest an almost mesmerizing way. It belongs next to such films as Coffee House Rendezvous, Columbia Revolt, and Greenwich Village Sunday in giving you an idea of what it was like to live during the 60s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
It Must Be the Neighbors (film #21 on AV Geeks. Also, film #12 on The Educational Archives, Vol. 8: Social Engineering 201 DVD (Fantoma, 2003)). [Category: Public Service]
When Bill Duncan gets a Health Department citation for not replacing his rusted-out garbage can, he calls up an old college buddy at the department to see if he can get out of it. The college buddy takes this opportunity to tour Bill’s yard and point out such sanitation horrors as containers of standing water, which he is sure are already breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that spread yellow fever. Bill blames it all on the neighbors, as do all the neighbors. But since the health department guy has a mesmerizing, Pied-Piper-like effect on the neighborhood kids, they all spearhead a neighborhood cleanup campaign which their parents eventually reluctantly accept. The premise of this film is just as ludicrous as it sounds, and the level of acting talent supports this ludicrousness. That, and its rather dark portrayal of 60s suburbia, make this a fun film to watch.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Air Race (film #2 on Side A of Disc #3 of Clutch Cargo: The Complete Series: Volume 1 DVD Boxed Set (Brentwood Home Video, 2005)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Well, now I’ve seen everything. The complete "Clutch Cargo" series is now out on DVD. This is that incredibly cheesy super-limited animation series using Synchro-Vox technology, which involves superimposing live-action lips on to cartoon characters’ faces. These cartoons were syndicated and shown on local cartoon shows with hosts, usually. Each story was divided into 5 episodes to run Monday through Friday. This episode features Clutch participating in a jet plane race and being repeatedly placed into jeopardy by scheming opponent Ace Condor. This is less weird than some of the other episodes, though some of Clutch’s escapes have got to defy several laws of physics. And he manages to win the race despite being seriously delayed several times, whereas Ace was not delayed at all. Meaning time must operate in his favor. I’m not even going to touch upon the child and animal endangerment laws being violated by taking Spinner and Paddlefoot along.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Bonus Army (film #5 in the 1929 Stock Market Crash and Great Depression section of WPA Film Library). [Category: News]
Newsreel footage of WWI veterans protesting their lack of promised, and badly-needed, bonuses during the height of the Depression, and being attacked by the army after the crowd started to turn ugly. This is grisly footage of a scary time in US history, and yet one that is often forgotten. The footage has a very on-the-spot feel to it, giving this lots of historical values.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Arctic Sentinels: Building Rushed on Radar Defense (film #66 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This 50s newsreel features stories on the building of radar defenses in the Arctic, the testing of new kinds of missiles, an award being given by the President to a girl for saving her mother’s life, a couple celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary, a demonstration of an experimental turbine car, a fashion show, and the Master’s golf tournament. The turbine car is kind of unusual, but mostly this is pretty ordinary. It does give you a snapshot of 50s news, though.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 4, No. 1 (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #306 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
Another rather dull installment of Chevrolet Leader News, featuring magazine models, an offensive story about using a statue of an Indian as a target for braking tests, dull facts about industrial diamonds, a small town rebuilding after being wiped out by a flood, and, in the usual segment on animal abuse, rats being forced to perform on tightropes and jump through flaming hoops. Yawn.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Betty Boop and the Little King (film #293 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Hollywood]
The Little King finds opera boring, so he sneaks out to the local vaudeville house to watch, and eventually participate in, Betty Boop’s trick horseback riding show. This is another later Boop, so it’s not very weird, but it does have some charming moments with the Little King and a pretzel salesman, and the Little King jumping rope with Betty and her horse. Mildly amusing.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: ***.
Combat Bulletin No. 6 (film #3 on tape #1 of This Film Is Restricted Boxed Set (Marathon Music & Video, 1997)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
"Beachhead Operation" is a celebration of the various support personnel who make it possible for the GIs to fight at Anzio. Like bakers! Army bakers who knead huge vats of dough while bombs fall around them and produce hundreds of huge loaves of bread which are loaded into big cotton sacks and transported to the front where they are devoured by hungry GIs! Or accountants! Army accountants who toil away in a bombed-out basement at their huge manual adding machines to get the GIs' pay out on time! Or mapmakers! Or telephone operators! Or those guys who stretch out those long coils of barbed wire over the countryside (can't have a war without 'em!)! This is one of my favorite films in the whole This Film Is Restricted series. Because it focuses on the jobs in the "unsung hero" category, it's full of unusual and fascintating images. There's something almost poetic about it after awhile, a sort of Master Hands quality, especially the ending, done to the tune of anti-aircraft guns blasting away into the night. What a lost treasure this film is.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Blacksmith (film #1044 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Three blacksmiths pound on a piece of metal, then pass the bottle around. I guess this was before employee drug tests were common. A slice of working life from 1893. An 1893 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Amphibian Man Trailer (extra on The Amphibian Man DVD (Russian Cinema Council)). [Category: Commercial]
Trailer for the early-60s Russian movie The Amphibian Man. This is somewhat unusual as they used very little of the film’s soundtrack in the trailer, substituting classical music instead. This looks like Russia’s answer to The Creature from the Black Lagoon, except later you find out it’s just a guy in a suit. Hey, I didn’t give it away––the trailer did!Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Answer to Open the Door, Richard (film #2 on Side A of Disc #9 of Classic Musicals DVD Magapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2005) (part of Soundies Cavalcade)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
This soundie could be called "The Steppen Fetchit Rap", which gives you an idea of how enlightened the portrayal of its main character is. The song and the soundie both involve the attempts of a band to get a very lazy African-American man to get up and open his front door (why, they don’t say). Turns out he’s on his honeymoon, which gives the film a whole new bizarre twist I’m not going to touch with a ten-foot pole. Weird.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
A Touch of Magic (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #7 on Our Secret Century, Vol. 1: The Rainbow Is Yours CD-ROM (Voyager). Also, film #1539 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
Nuveena's at it again in this sequel to Design for Dreaming. This was made in 1960, near the end of the populuxe era, and you can tell––the magic seems to be fading from this sort of film. Nuveena and her beau dance a tribute to medieval chivalry, but when the audience shows up, they actually look embarassed (that was certainly not a problem in Design for Dreaming). The time shifts to the present and the couple displays the 1961 GM cars. Then they get married, move into a new house (and not a Home of Tomorrow, just an ordinary new house), and have a housewarming party. Instead of fixing all the food by pushing a few magic buttons in the Kitchen of Tomorrow, Nuveena sends her beau into the Kitchen of Today to do all the cooking while she gets on the phone and invites all the guests (which, let's face it, is almost as good). The guests turn out to be all invisible imaginary friends, though they have real cars and eat all the real food. Then Nuveena and her beau demonstrate proper dishwasher loading by literally throwing all the dishes in the general direction of the dishwasher (they all land in perfect order and the dishwasher starts itself). Not as otherworldly as Design for Dreaming, but still pretty weird.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
It Happens Every Noon (film #772 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This mid-60s film encourages all schools to sign up for the Federal School Lunch Program. Different kinds of lunch programs are shown, from fancy hot lunches down to sandwiches in snacks, in different kinds of schools. Most striking is the clueless racism (while the white schoolkids get a hot lunch in a nice cafeteria, the black kids get sack lunches) and sexism (in the rural schools, the girls have to make the lunch so the teacher can “work with the younger children”, boys no doubt) and the portrayal of southern rural one-room schoolhouses, one where the teacher has to pick up the food from the local general store, which looks like it’s out of the mid-19th century, and where the kids have to wash up at the pump before eating. To see this in a mid-60s film is surprising, but it only shows how there are some parts of this country that live very different lives from the mainstream. The film has great historical value for that reason––it really gives a comprehensive portrait of the mid-60s school lunch program. The food, of course, looks just as bad as you remember it, even though it’s supposed to be a “type A” lunch. No wonder the teens would rather eat greasy chili dogs. A quintessential government film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Don Quixote (film #22 on The Cartoons That Time Forgot: The Ub Iwerks Collection, Vol. 1 DVD (Image Entertainment, 1999)). [Category: Hollywood]
The more you think about this one the weirder it gets, despite the fact that it's based on a well-known literary work. Don Quixote, a certifiable looney, gets a lot of crazy ideas in his head from books about knights and stuff, and he manages to break out of Ye Olde Bugge House, with his guard hot on his trail. Now he's off to do crazy stuff, but the problem is the whole idea of craziness is questionable when you live in a cartoon universe, where absolutely anything can happen. What is "reality" then? This is never more evident than in the tilting-at-windmills scene. Don Quixote is supposed to be "crazy" because he mistakes a windmill for a giant and begins battling with it. But the actual windmill turns anthropomorphic and begins battling Quixote in a way that's about as realistic as most anthropomorphic inanimate objects in cartoons are wont to be. So what's really "crazy" here––Quixote or his crazy cartoon "reality"? The ending is particularly bizarre––Quixote mistakes a woman's bad singing for cries of distress, but when he comes to rescue her, she turns out to be ugly and man-hungry. At this point, the guard from the Bugge House catches up with Quixote and she begins chasing them both. They both run back to the Bugge House, put about a million locks on the door of Quixote's cell and start burning Quixote's books and the guard's keys, respectively. I don't think the original novel ended that way. This is a great obscure piece of cartoon weirdness that raises a lot of interesting philosophical questions.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ****.
Alien TV (film #107 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Experimental film involving psychedelic-looking altered film footage of people with a crawling superimposed title telling us about aliens or something. It gets mesmerizing after a bit, with some striking visual imagery, though for me it resembles a little too much the obligatory “trip” scene found in youth-oriented movies from the late 60s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdnessmode***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Brazil: South American Medley (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #244 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]
This National Geographic film is a standard, though fairly well-made, educational travelogue about Brazil. A few isolated spots of weirdness include some guys in drag in a Mardi Gras parade and venom being harvested at that weird snake ranch in Sao Paulo. But mostly this is just what you’d expect.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Beatles (film #1 in The British Invasion section of WPA Film Library). [Category: News]
Newsreel clips documenting the Beatles’ arrival in America, including huge crowds of screaming girls and amusing press conference footage. This gives you a good idea of the impact of their arrival, giving this quite a bit of historical interest considering how short it is.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Chaplin - The Rounders (film #37 in the Silent section of Movieflix). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Looks like the Little Tramp married into money. This time he's a rich fellow with a habit of coming home drunk to his feisty wife. His wife throws him out, where he encounters Fatty Arbuckle, who is also in the habit of coming home drunk to a feisty wife. Together they stumble off to a restaurant and are thrown out for trying to go to sleep on the floor. Their wives in hot pursuit, they end up stealing a rowboat and drown in it when it fills with water. I'm not particularly a fan of drunk humor and I have to say that even with the presence of Arbuckle, this is one of the weaker Chaplin efforts. A 1914 Charlie Chaplin film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Algeria (film #11 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Newsreel clip of street violence in Algiers during the struggle for Algerian independence during the 50s. A bus wreck is a striking moment in this. Has historical interest and some striking scenes of violence, but not too much else.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Combat Bulletin No. 5 (film #2 on tape #1 of This Film Is Restricted Boxed Set (Marathon Music & Video, 1997)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This Combat Bulletin focuses mainly on the resourcefulness of GIs. In "Stop That Tank!", we're shown the strengths and weaknesses of a captured Japanese tank and how to take one out in battle. In "Something New Has Been Added" we get a good look at the then-brand-new B-29 bomber. In "No Field Cable?", Signal Corpsmen improvise a cable wrapper out of some wire spools and gears. In "Home-Made Gadget Steps Up Bazooka Power", GIs quadruple bazooka power by simply connecting four bazookas together. Clever? You bet! But the enemy can be clever, too. In "A New Land Mine Problem", we're shown a new German land mine made in a simple little wooden box. Finally, "Modern Day Specialists" is a tribute to the infantry and their extensive training. I love resourcefulness and improvising useful gadgets from junk, so I think this bulletin is pretty fun.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.
Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 3, No. 4 (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #305 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
(Sigh!) More silly “news” “stories” from Chevrolet. There’s a traveling barber that serves trailer folk, a combination bus-train, more animal abuse in the form of a fire dog that gets sent into flames to rescue a little girl’s dolly, an early version of eye-in-the-sky traffic reports, and model boat races. (Sigh!) I need to go to bed now…Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
To New Horizons (film #1 on Lifestyles, U.S.A., Vol. 1 (Somthing Weird, 2000). Also in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #1529 on Prelinger Archive. Also, film #15 on Ephemeral Films CD-ROM (Voyager) (excerpts)). [Category: Industrial]
The 1939 New York World's Fair is a source of endless fascination for me. So I was delighted to find this film made for the GM Futurama available from these sources––it's the next best thing to a time machine. The Futurama was the most memorable exhibit at the fair––it contained a huge miniature replica of a "typical" city of 1960. This film documents that exhibit and the boundless optimism behind it. What's amazing is that it really wasn't that far off the mark, especially in the case of the superhighways, which look a lot like modern Interstate highways. And it's just a really fun piece of ephemera, from the cheesy organ soundtrack, to the assertion that "we are all interested in the future, for that is where we will be spending the rest of our lives"––so that's where Criswell got that phrase!Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
Betty Boop and Grampy (film #295 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Hollywood]
Betty goes to a party at Grampy’s house, bringing along with her any and all passers-by, who immediately abandon their jobs, no matter how important. Grampy entertains them by turning kitchen gadgets into an elaborate music-making machine. This is one of the later Bettys, so it’s not as weird, but I always love Grampy’s clever inventions, so this is pretty fun anyway.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Dick Whittington's Cat (film #32 on The Cartoons That Time Forgot: The Ub Iwerks Collection, Vol. 1 DVD (Image Entertainment, 1999)). [Category: Hollywood]
This seems a lot more like a typical cat-and-mouse cartoon than a fairy tale. A cowardly cat gets accidentally sent to a foreign land where there are no cats and the mice have essentially taken over. The cat manages to defeat the mice by developing a cat version of Dissociative Identity Disorder––when he is tied up by the mice onto a mini-guillotine and frightened into unconsciousness, his nine lives take over and beat the crap out of the mice. This particular part of the cartoon is pretty strange, but the rest of it is pretty predictable.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Black Diamond Express (film #29 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Some guys work on the railroad all the livelong day, that is, until the train comes. A slice of workingmen’s life from the 1890s. An 1896 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Boys Beware (film #239 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]
This memorable Sid Davis film about homosexuality rates high on most people’s camp list, as it is chock full of juicy tidbits of misinformation, the main one being that homosexual equals child molester. In fact, I wonder if this precise cognitive distortion is what lays behind much homophobia. But this is not even the most jawdropping of this film’s assertions. That comes at the end of its first case study, when we find out that Jimmy, after telling his parents about being sexually abused by Ralph, and his parents told the police, was placed on probation and “released into the custody of his parents,” implying that criminal charges were brought against him as well as Ralph! I’m sure that encouraged lots of boys to turn in their molesters (NOT!). What is really sad about this film is that it so totally failed to address the real dangers of sexual abuse children face, while inciting homophobia and giving vague warnings about not going anywhere with strangers (warnings I’m sure most of its audience members had heard a million times). The only sensible part of the film comes when a paperboy copies down the license number of a car driven by a stranger, after one of his friends got into it. He later gives the license number to his friend’s mother, who calls the police, who track down the stranger. This little bit of advice just might come in handy in those rare cases of stranger abduction of children. But even then, it’s pretty unrealistic, as the boy waits until he happens to be delivering a paper to his friend’s mother before telling her about the stranger in the car. In the real world, especially in the pre-Amber-Alert world this film takes place in, the guy would have been long gone and the kid dead by then. Of course, all this makes for great ephemera, and this film is a must-have for educational film collectors.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
Alucarda Trailer (extra on Alucarda DVD (Mondo Macabro)). [Category: Commercial]
Trailer for a late-70s Mexican horror movie that features lots of blood and sadism. This has some pretty disturbing imagery, though it looks like it’s from a well-made horror film. The trailer seems to pack in all the most disturbing imagery into its couple of minutes, though I haven’t seen the film, so I don’t know if there’s even worse stuff they didn’t show. This is not particularly recommended unless you really like this sort of thing, or are interested in the movie.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Chaplin - The Masquerader (film #36 in the Silent section of Movieflix). [Category: Early Film & TV]
The makers of the film Tootsie stole the plot from this movie. The Little Tramp is, amazingly enough, a movie actor who soon gets fired for behaving like the Little Tramp. He returns to the studio in drag and makes fools of all the men. Chaplin is a most convincing woman in this one, so convincing he might fool you, too. And there are some wonderful slapstick moments here, too, like when he tries to steal another actor's beer. A fun outing for the Little Tramp. A 1914 Charlie Chaplin film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Arrests at HUAC in City Hall (film #2 on Shaping San Francisco). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Brief clip from 1960 of police officers removing protesters forcibly from the steps of San Francisco’s city hall, where House Unamerican Activities Commission hearings were going on. A historically interesting blip from the first rumblings of the 60s protest movement.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value; N/A. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Invitation to the Nation (film #764 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This 40s travelogue about Washington, DC, narrated by ol’ George himself (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), is pretty standard, with no real surprises. It does provide lots of color footage of Washington in 1946, which gives it some historical value. But mostly, this is ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Alien Factor Blooper Reel (extra on The Alien Factor DVD (Retromedia Entertainment)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Blooper reel for an incredibly cheap monster movie called The Alien Factor. Proof that such films actually are edited! Though this production crew is so incompetent that even the guy with the clapboard bloops twice!Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Beatlemania (film #7 in the British Invasion section of WPA Film Library). [Category: News]
Silent newsreel footage of the huge crowds of people, especially teenage girls, that mobbed the Beatles wherever they went. These are scenes that are an unforgettable part of the 60s, so that gives this historical value.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Akron, Ohio (film #125 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Short newsreel clip showing a huge Navy blimp which carries a radar antenna, “a valuable addition to America’s airborne early warning system.” Other than a brief campy moment involving the words “gas bag,” and the msting possibilities of blimps, this is pretty ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
A Wonderful New World of Fords (film #38 on Ephemeral Films CD-ROM (Voyager). Also in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #1692 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Commercial]
This short film introduced to the world the 1960 model Fords. And it's not so much an introduction as a society girl's debut. The three cars are in virginal white and surrounded by rich folks in formal dress singing about the "wonderful new world of Fords". Somebody at Ford was taking the new model year way too seriously. This was made in 1960, near the end of the populuxe era, and so was a kind of swan song for this sort of thing.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 3, No. 3 (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #304 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
This fairly standard edition of Chevrolet Leader News features an ROTC marching band, the first drive-in bank, complete with offensive Italian stereotype, a Boy Scout Jamboree in which the foreign scouts are all fascinated by American cars (yeah, you wish, Chevrolet!), the usual lawsuit invitation in the form of a really strange and dangerous –looking contraption that allows acrobats to swing in circles while on top of a moving car, and the usual animal abuse in the form of dressed-up and made-up performing monkeys. Just a typical day at Chevrolet, I guess.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Bargain Counter Attack (film #5 on Film Chest Vintage Cartoons). [Category: Hollywood]
Little Lulu wreaks havoc in a department store, stimulating the ire of its prissy manager. In addition to the general anarchy, this has some wonderful ironic moments, including the manager being transformed into a baby, and the manager floating through the flooded store just in front of a sign that says “THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.” Dennis the Menace pales next to Little Lulu!Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Combat Bulletin No. 4 (film #1 on tape #1 of This Film Is Restricted Boxed Set (Marathon Music & Video, 1997)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
The Combat Bulletins of World War II were made by the Army Pictorial Service to inform officers on the progress of the war. In general, they are a hodgepodge of all kinds of military footage from the front, some of it boring, some of it fascinating, some of it typical, some of it highly unusual. All of it is very gritty and real––since these were made strictly for viewing by military officers and not the public, no punches were pulled. We get an uncensored soldier's-eye-view of the war with all its horrors, heroism, and boredom. This one starts with "Cassino", a report on the taking of the Monte Cassino Abbey and the town of Cassino in Italy, a difficult job since the Nazis were heavily entrenched in the surrounding hills. Highlights include lots of animated map sequences and a bizarre shot of a giant Nazi soldier's head looking through binoculars superimposed over a shot of the hills behind Cassino. In "Japs and Jungle: Southwest Pacific" we see gritty footage of infantry soldiers slogging through south Pacific jungles, taking territory from the Japs inch by inch. The highlight is a reenactment of a couple of scared GIs talking in the dark.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.
Bird’s-Eye View of San Francisco, Cal. from a Balloon (film #3 on Before and After the Great Earthquake and Fire. Also, film #28 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]
This one really is a bird’s-eye view of the rooftops of 1902 San Francisco. It would have historical interest if it wasn’t so dark and blurry. A 1902 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: **.
The Alligator People Trailer (extra on The Alligator People DVD (Fox, 2004)). [Category: Commercial]
Campy, fun trailer for The Alligator People, that classic of silly 50s sci-fi horror. You’ll be pulled down into the quicksand of terror, in Screaming Horrorscope! Or die laughing, you decide. Great fun.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Technicolor for Industrial Films (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #2 on Our Secret Century, Vol. 1: The Rainbow Is Yours CD-ROM (Voyager). Also, film #1481 on Prelinger Archive. Also, film #23 on Ephemeral Films CD-ROM (Voyager) (excerpts)). [Category: Industrial]
In the 1950s, people went color crazy. New technology allowed advertising and products to be made in all kinds of bright colors and consumers ate it up, which is why so much 50s stuff seems so garish today. This industrial film was made for industrial filmmakers (even they weren't exempt from watching this stuff) to try to get them to make their films in Technicolor. All kinds of brightly-colored products are shown while the narrator tells us how they can only properly be portrayed in Technicolor. Strangest moment: While the narrator talks about "family dinners we all know and love", we see the mixing of a scotch and soda. Most mstable moment: A black maid helps her white mistress get dressed––in a film about color this really begs for msting! Most unbelievable moment: The claim that Technicolor reproduces fabrics so accurately that films could replace swatch books.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Cupid Gets His Man (film #66 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
There’s lots of sign-language interpretation in this one, but for once, I think it’s necessary, since the story involves cultural conventions that deaf kids may not be familiar with. Of course, the idea that deaf kids need to be exposed to such bizarre concepts as a cupid firing squad is not questioned. But I guess hearing kids get plenty of exposure to these bizarre old cartoons, so we might as well not leave the deaf kids out. I just hope the kids watching this won’t come away with the idea that human reproduction somehow involves a roulette wheel and rubber stamps.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Inner City (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #754 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This pitch for the United Fund in St. Louis focuses on how the United Fund agencies help people with disabilities and orphaned children. It’s fairly tearjerking, especially the soundtrack, yet I didn’t find it to be insufferably so. Of course, it was made in the days when people with disabilities were portrayed as pitiable creatures, yet the often well-shot visuals often don’t bear this out. This gives you a good idea about how charitable funds were solicited back in the 50s, and how those funds were used.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Aladibababad (film #15 in the Action section of Brickfilms. Also, film #14 in the Comedy section of Brickfilms. Also, film #1 in the Fantasy section of Brickfilms). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
This is one of the most entertaining brickfilms I’ve ever seen. It features Ali Baba and several of his 40 thieves, a cave of treasure that is opened with a Burger Doodle jingle, treasure that is ignored in favor of a rare Pokemon card, a plucky hero that keeps fooling an evil bottle genie with the same trick over and over, and a very brief “action” sequence. The biggest strength of this brickfilm is its script, which is very funny, but it also has well-done animation, funny special effects, and a folksong for the end credits. This is one brickfilm not to miss.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: *****.
BBC World News – Live Coverage (film #25 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Cut-in bulletin from the BBC announcing a 2003 terrorist alert. This is a little recent to have much interest, but should have more interest as time goes by.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: **.
Air Force Gets a New Theme Song (film #110 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
A chorus sings an air force theme song I’ve never heard of, while lots of different planes fly. A slice of mid-50s patriotism.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 3, No. 2 (film #303 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
Warning to all animal lovers! This edition of Chevrolet Leader News takes animal abuse to new heights! No more dogs packed in cars––this quote-newsreel-unquote has two very upsetting scenes of animal abuse. The first involves the capture of a beautiful old sea turtle, who is strapped upside down to the boat for purposes of humiliation, then strapped to the top of a Chevrolet (remember the name, folks!) while the narrator gleefully delights in telling us he is going to be turned into turtle soup and eyeglass frames. The other segment involves two cats who are forced to fight each other in a miniature boxing ring with mittens on until one gets knocked out (though I must admit the doggy journalists look like they are enjoying themselves––must be the liquor). In between are stories of a deluxe horse trailer for police horses, an invitation to a lawsuit involving a golf instructor hitting golf balls at bathing beauties, and an inexplicably serious story about the Dust Bowl, in which car engines are purported to be the solution. It looks like the folks at Chevrolet (remember that name, PETA!) were hitting the sauce when they wrote this one.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: *****.
Bamboo Isle (film #521 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Hollywood]
This early Betty Boop features the Royal Samoans for some real island flavor, plus lots of racist depictions of island natives, again in a frustrating mix. Still, there’s the usual weirdness and anthropomorphic inanimate object, making this pretty fun to watch anyway. View it in the context of its time period and have fun. By the way, Betty Boop dances a hot hula.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: *oX
a Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Devil's Foot (film #7 on Sherlock Holmes: The Early Years (Hollywood's Attic, 1996)). [Category: Hollywood]
In this 1921 British short, Sherlock Holmes solves the mystery of a couple who are mysteriously found dead in their home without a sign of struggle. Interestingly enough, once he figures out the who the real killer is and his motive, he covers up the crime and lets the police believe another man did it. It's an interesting premise, but it's rather dull in execution and the print is of poor quality, so it's hard to see.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Bird’s-Eye View of Dock Front, Galveston (film #29 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]
This is not a bird’s-eye view, but a panoramic view of the Galveston docks, which look pretty darn primitive by today’s standards. This would have some historical value, but it’s hard to see. A 1900 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
The Abominable Dr. Phibes Trailer (extra on The Abominable Dr. Phibes DVD (MGM, 2001)). [Category: Commercial]
Classy trailer for the classic hamfest The Abominable Dr. Phibes, starring Vincent Price, who leaves no piece of scenery unchewed. This trailer is well-made and a lot of fun, like the movie. Ah, Vulnavia!Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Bottle and the Throttle (track #4 on The Educational Archives, Volume Three: Driver's Ed DVD (Fantoam, 2002). Also, film #232 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]
Bill has a few too many "beach party beers" before driving, and ends up running over a woman and her little girl, killing the girl and paralyzing the woman for life. His punishment: he is relentlessly harangued by Sid Davis' narrator for the rest of the film. Fortunately, he doesn't have to watch any gory footage, but then, he's only 18.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
The Crazy Firehouse (film #67 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Another sign-language interpreted cartoon, and it’s a pretty silly one, featuring a pathetic group of animal firemen who are no match for anthropomorphic flames. The flames are actually pretty scary, as they are shown actually burning up some of the firemen, though in a humorous way, turning a pig into a smoked ham and a wiener dog into hot dogs. The sign language interpretation, though frequent, is not particularly intrusive, and does seem to clarify the action for the deaf kids. I’m just surprised this one was chosen for interpretation, considering it is more violent than what is usually considered acceptable for children today.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
How to Buy Meat (film #710 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This is actually a series of short segments on meat buying, made by the USDA and featuring a bland early 70s housewife who wears wonderfully outrageous early 70s housewife fashions. I love this sort of home economics thing, of course, though this is a little drier than most. Still, you would expect that from a government film, and it’s fun to groove on the housewife’s changing fashions, the huge cuts of meat she caresses so lovingly, and the “early American” kitchen she inhabits. Don’t forget to write for your free pamphlets on meat grading!Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Ahead of Time (film #2 in the Action section of Brickfilms. Also, film #124 in the Comedy section of Brickfilms. Also, film #43 in the Drama section of Brickfilms). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
This brickfilm is very hard to follow. It seems to involve a pair of burglars who defy the police and death itself. But it’s hard to tell. The sound is very bad, though that may be an artifact of my avi player, and the lighting is murky. Too bad––it looked like there was an interesting story here, just told badly.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: **.
BBC Evening News (film #24 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Extra BBC news report on the death of Pope John Paul II, showing the body lying in state in the Vatican. It sure doesn’t take long for these kinds of news reports to make it to the Internet, does it?Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Air Defenses (film #2 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
50s newsreel featuring lots of cold war-related and conflict-around-the-world stories, including the testing of Nike Missiles, protests in South Korea, passive resistance protests in India, and the training of military helicopter pilots in France. In case this is too much war for you, they also included a “heartwarming” piece about a dog who saved a boy’s life. By the time 50s audiences got through this, they needed movies like The Blob for escapism.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 3, No. 1 (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #302 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
In other Chevrolet news, bathing beauties throw baseballs at each other on the beach, then drive up into the mountains and throw snowballs at each other; the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic; people live in trailers; lobsters are trapped and sold to fancy restaurants; and dog food is made fresh and delivered to dog owners’ doors by the Dog Food Man. Must have been a slow news day at Chevrolet. No animal abuse this time, but two of the bathing beauties ride on the hood of the car all the way up into the mountains in those wacky carefree days before seatbelt laws.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Chaplin - The Immigrant (film #22 in the Silent section of Movieflix). [Category: Early Film & TV]
The Little Tramp takes a ship to America, in steerage, of course. On the ship he encounters a pretty woman and her sick mother and helps them out after winning some money in a card game. After they all make it to the States, he meets her again in a restaurant and treats her to lunch, only to find that the coin he found in the street that he was intending to use to pay for lunch has fallen through a hole in his pocket. This is a charming film with some great slapstick moments, such as our opening glimpse of the Little Tramp, and some shennanigans involving the coin mentioned above and a huge surly waiter. A 1917 Charlie Chaplin film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Ancient Fistory (film #17 on Film Chest Vintage Cartoons). [Category: Hollywood]
Popeye plays Cinderella in this gender-reversed version of the tale, with Olive Oyl as the princess giving the ball, and Bluto as Popeye’s employer and rival. Popeye’s fairy godfather changes a can of spinach into a limousine that will change back at midnight. Popeye wins Olive’s heart, but Bluto butts in and foils Popeye with a cannon. Fortunately, at midnight, Popeye’s limo turns back into a can of spinach, which Popeye is able to use with the usual results. As it sounds here, this is a pretty wacked-out version of Cinderella, but that’s the great thing about cartoons––they can do this sort of thing and get away with it.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ****.
Bicycle Trick Riding No. 2 (film #2 on American Variety Stage: Physical Culture. Also, film #27 on Edison Film Archive. Also in the Historical section of Open Video Project). [Category: Early Film & TV]
A guy does some not-very-impressive stunts on a bike, such as riding backwards and propping himself up unsuccessfully on the handlebars. Sid Davis would later make a fortune making films telling kids not to do this sort of thing. But back in 1899, it was entertainment. Hey, what did they have back then, RKOs? An 1899 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (extra on Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein DVD (Universal, 2000)). [Category: Commercial]
Straightforward trailer for Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Other than the rather silly assertion that the film is “SCARE-ewy!”, this is ordinary and unsurprising.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Brad Grinter, Nudist (extra on Blood Freak DVD (Something Weird, 2002)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
A husband whose wife has a phobia about being nude brings her to a nudist camp as a form of “shock therapy.” There she sees lots of ordinary-looking folks with very noticeable tan lines frolicking and relaxing in the nude, and despite the fact that she originally had some bizarre voice running through her head saying something like, “Cooperate with your lover,” (or something, it’s hard to tell), indicating some incipient PTSD, she is quickly and totally cured of her phobia. This short features lots of bad acting, pathetically cheap-looking sets, and, unlike most nudist shorts, full-frontal nudity, men included. This makes it somewhat less sleazy than most, but it’s still pretty cheesy. The acting, in particular, is laughable, and the premise is far-fetched, smacking of sexual fantasy, which lessens any realism it might have considerably and indicates it probably had little audience outside of grindhouses.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Walk-In Triple Feature #1 (Sinister Cinema). [Category: Commercial]
Since this is a triple feature, it has two intermissions. Also since it's a triple feature, the intermissions are quite short, which is somewhat more justified in this case, since they needed to make room for another whole feature-length movie on the tape. Still, it makes it less interesting from an ephemera standpoint, although there are a few good moments, such as a nice print of "Let's All Go to the Lobby", an amusing "Giant Comedy Spookero" promo, and the "nutritious" Hollywood Candy Bars ad.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
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Better Reading
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Better Reading . Teenager Harold Wilson has a problem—he can’t read for (expletive deleted). So he has to spend all his free time studying ...
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