The Ex-Convict (film #19 on The Origins of Cinema, Volume One: The Films of Thomas Edison (Video Yesteryear, 1995)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
A sentimental tale, told in eight installments, of an ex-con who can't find a job but who is really a nice guy at heart, as evidenced by his selfless rescue of a little girl from being run over by a car. Finally, desperate to get some money to support his wife and sick little girl (tears jerked yet?), he resorts to burglary. By an incredible coincidence, he breaks into the house of the little girl he saved from being run down, and before the man of the house can shoot the ex-con, the little girl recognizes him as the man who saved her life. Virtue is rewarded, and the little girl's family shows up at the ex-con's house with money for the sick girl's medical treatment. This is the kind of silent melodrama that created the stereotypes of same. A 1904 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Argument Miss Mary Ann Gets Into with One of the Kids About Guns (film #4 in the Romper Room section of TVParty). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Priceless clip from a 70s episode of “Romper Room” in which one of the little kids asserts that he’s not afraid of anything as long as he’s carrying a gun. Miss Mary Ann, the host, is shocked by this and starts arguing with him about gun safety. This is memorable, to say the least, and just shows the sort of unscripted weirdness you sometimes find on live TV. Considering that few “Romper Room” episodes were preserved at all, this is a real find.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Farmers Aim to Break Picket Line (film #183 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: News]
Newsreel story from the 30s about farmers in Iowa striking for higher prices, while an anti-strike group breaks their picket line to send farm products to market, and rail lines and bridges that were destroyed by the strikers are repaired. Another example of frightening social unrest during the 30s. Lots of historical value here.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
At Japan’s Doorstep: Okinawa (film #2 on Side B of Disc #2 of the War in the Pacific section of Combat Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2006)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This documentary goes over the US invasion and takeover of the island of Okinawa during 1945. Lots of gritty combat footage is featured. Also covered are the death of President Roosevelt, and the Japanese kamikaze attacks on US ships. There are no real surprises here, but there’s lots of interesting archival footage to look at, giving the film historical value.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Fires Miscellaneous 2 (film #1397 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
This 40s firefighting film features footage of an assortment of fires, mostly in tenements, revealing what firetraps those were. One fire shown was at the Pleasant Waste Materials Company, a memorable name if ever there was one. Other than that, this is typical firefighting stuff, ending inexplicably with footage of fire burning in a rectangular pan.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Going Home (film #13 on The Complete Uncensored Private SNAFU DVD (Image Entertainment, 1999)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Private SNAFU goes home on leave and blabs confidential information about his outfit to everybody who will listen, resulting in his outfit being wiped out. This is a really cleverly-done cartoon. Every time SNAFU shoots his mouth off, his words are transformed from private conversation into some form of public broadcasting. For example, his conversation in a movie theater about a secret weapon turns into on-screen newsreel footage of the weapon in all its particulars, a conversation with his girl behind the bushes in the park gets flashed on a neon sign, and a conversation in a barber shop is skywritten with an airplane. I love this concept, especially the newsreel footage (fake ephemera-within-ephemera?) and the neon sign. Ironically enough, this cartoon was never released because the "secret weapon" portrayed was too similar to the atomic bomb, a real secret weapon at the time.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
Chick and Double Chick (film #11 on Disc #3 of TV Cartoon Classics DVD Boxed Set (Platinum Disc, 2005)). [Category: Hollywood]
Little Lulu and her dog must protect a bunch of chicks from a hungry cat, lest her father get rid of the dog. This is really a very ordinary cartoon, which doesn’t even make much use of the character and usual antics of Little Lulu. It’s an example of what happens when a particular cartoon franchise winds down, resulting in cartoons that are generic.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Carriers Leaving Building, U.S.P.O., Version 1 (film #30 on America at Work, America at Leisure. Also in the Historical section of Open Video Project). [Category: Early Film & TV]
A whole bunch of mailmen dressed in suits leave the post office. A few get on bicycles, but most are on foot. This has historical interest, but it’s not much. A 1903 Biograph film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
The Black Devil Trailer (extra on Starman, Vol. 1 DVD (Something Weird, 2002)). [Category: Commercial]
This trailer is basically for a dubbed Zorro ripoff. A masked swordsman beats off enemies, while we hear hyperbolic narration on the soundtrack. This is mildly campy because of its cheesiness, but mostly it’s pretty much what you’d expect.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Brain on Drugs (film #3 in the Hippies section of WPA Film Library). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Op-art animations attempt to simulate a hallucinogenic drug trip. This is mildly trippy, but I’ve seen better. Also, it’s silent footage––some psychedelic music on the soundtrack would have really added to it.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Mr. Finley’s Feelings (film #7 on Angry Night DVD (A/V Geeks). Also, film #29 on AV Geeks). [Category: Public Service]
Mr. Finley has an anger-management problem. He gets ticked off at his boss after being given a last-minute assignment to be completed at home. He gets even more steamed when he realizes he’ll have to miss his poker game to get it done. At home, he builds towards the boiling point when family members disturb his work. Finally, he storms off in a paranoid rampage, believing everybody’s against him, and ends up in jail on a reckless driving charge. His friend George visits him and helps him to see that he has a distorted view of other people, interpreting innocuous statements and acts as signs that people are against him. He is surprised to find out that most people think well of him, and are not even angry at him for the drunk driving charge, just concerned. This starts him on the road of change. This animated mental hygiene film is one of the more realistic and sympathetic I’ve seen. The ending is somewhat pat, but at least there is some acknowledgement that change will take time and effort. And the visuals are wonderfully creative, especially the scene of Mr. Finley’s driving rampage, which is a surreal 3-D montage of city streets, signs, and traffic lights. This is one of the more impressive films of the mental hygiene genre.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Arena (film #3 in the Miscellaneous section of TVArk). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Opening credits of a 1975 British documentary show, featuring a bottle floating in water and soundtrack music from Brian Eno’s Another Green World. Mildly weird, but mostly leaves you scratching your head.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Health Wheel (film #3 in the Makeovers, Diets & Fitness section of WPA Film Library). [Category: Hollywood]
Forget Pilates––check out the latest exercise fad of the 20s: the Health Wheel! This footage from a British newsreel shows us crazy folks from “the continent” rolling around inside of giant wheels that look like they’re made of tubular metal. Actually, this footage is quite striking, and when you consider that Futurism was also all the rage in Europe during the 20s, you almost feel as if people have finally become machine parts. It does look like fun, though.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Extra! Special! Roosevelt Inaugurated (film #170 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: News]
This lively newsreel documents the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt as president. It starts with self-congratulatory crowing about how Universal Newsreels uses an airplane to deliver the film footage, so that it will be up-to-the-minute. Then we get to see the newly elected FDR and former President Hoover riding to the capitol together, and FDR’s inaugural address, in which he asserts that if Congress fails to cooperate with his policies, he won’t hesitate to ask for executive powers similar to those given the president in wartime. It shows how desperate things were that this didn’t frighten people. Then we get to see the inaugural procession down Pennsylvania Avenue. This newsreel has a great deal of historical value, both in documenting Roosevelt’s inauguration, and giving us a taste of what it was like before TV news documented everything instantaneously.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Assault on Italy (film #2 on Side B of Disc #1 in the War in Europe section of Combat Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2006)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This documentary covers the Allied invasion of Italy during the months before D-Day. The Italians quickly surrendered, but the country still had to be taken from the Germans, who were fighting back fiercely. The segment about the liberation and rebuilding of Naples, which the Nazis horribly decimated as they retreated from it, is the most interesting part of this film. The rest is fairly dull, with not even very much good archival footage to brighten it up.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Fires Miscellaneous (film #1396 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
This 30s firefighting film is a whole potpourri of firefighting stuff. It starts with a whole bunch of demonstrations of different firefighting techniques and equipment, including a showing of what the fire chief keeps in his car. These segments have a somewhat goofy quality to them, as if the firemen weren’t taking them all that seriously. Then there’s footage from a bunch of different fires. Most of these are humongous blazes that cause tremendous destruction. One segment appears to show injured and dead firemen being pulled out of rubble. This is one of the more interesting Stillman films, with something to please just about every fire buff (not to mention pyro) out there.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
A Day in the Death of Donny B (film #402 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]
This 70s anti-drug film is one bleak trip. It features Donny B, a young black man who’s a junkie, as he makes his way through his bleak ghetto world, trying to score money for his next hit through such things as purse-snatching, panhandling, stealing hubcaps, and engaging in a crap game. On the soundtrack we hear his parents despairing over his future, former addicts describing the junkie lifestyle, and neighborhood cops informing us of the consequences of illegal drug use and addiction. This is actually one of the most realistic anti-drug films I’ve ever seen, though whether it really deterred any teens like Donny from drug use is questionable, considering the bleakness of their environment even without drugs.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Bless Them All (film #2 on Bedazzled. Also, film #1 in the Film section of Bedazzled. Also, film #2 in the Video section of Bedazzled). [Category: Hollywood]
Ah, men––can’t live with ‘em and can’t live without ‘em. So Shani Wallis blesses ‘em all in this Scopitone. It’s usually men who express this sort of sentiment, so it’s good to see the genders reversed for once. It helps that all the men here are big-muscled eye candy.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Circus Day in Our Town (film #8 on Campy Classroom Classics, Vol. 5 DVD (Something Weird, 2004)). [Category: Educational]
This Encyclopedia Britannica circus film from the 50s actually does a better job of making the circus look interesting than the other circus films I’ve seen, even though it’s in black-and-white. The performers actually look as if they have some talent, and there’s a good variety of acts, giving you a good feel for what it was like to attend the circus during the 50s. Highlights include lots of focus on the elephants and how they help put up the circus tent, and a fairly scary scene of clowns putting on makeup. This is a surprisingly lively EB film with lots of historical interest as well.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Carriers at Work, U.S.P.O. (film #29 on America at Work, America at Leisure. Also in the Historical section of Open Video Project). [Category: Early Film & TV]
A bunch of postal workers busily sort mail into bags and cubbyholes in a big post office building. This has a real feel of authenticity about it, making it a good slice of work life in 1903. A 1903 Biograph film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Bisodol Commercial (extra on Disc #1 of Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe DVD Boxed Set (VCI Home Video)). [Category: Commercial]
A very old and wrinkled Buster Crabbe pitches Bisodol, an antacid, by showing us disgusting views of antacids entering the stomach. So this is what happens to serial stars when they get old. A fun extra on the Flash Gordon set.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Eviction (film #14 on The Origins of Cinema, Volume 6: Rare Films (Video Yesteryear, 1997)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
The misadventures of a hapless landlord and some clueless cops as they attempt to evict a poor but aggressive family from their tenement. Uh-oh, watch out for the lady in the second floor window...d'oh!! It all ends in a huge melee, the cops fleeing in terror, and the landlord getting dumped in a water trough. Gee, being a property owner is harder than I thought. A 1904 British film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ****.
Bop Girl Goes Calypso Trailer (film #67 in the Film section of Bedazzled. Also, film #197 in the Video section of Bedazzled). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
This 50s trailer tries to sell calypso music as the next big thing, and with the likes of the Goofers and the Mary Kaye Trio, how could they go wrong. Wait, those were the acts for white people. They did have Lord Flea, the only genuine-looking calypso act in the bunch. And allegedly, “Hollywood’s Grooviest Rock and Rollers,” though you can’t tell by what you see on screen. As you might suspect, this trailer has quite a bit of camp value.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Mirror on the Motorway (film #20 in the Public Info. Films section of TVArk). [Category: Public Service]
This 70s British PSA urges drivers to use their mirrors often when driving on high-speed motorways. It repeats this message several times during its short running time, I guess trying to beat it into drivers’ heads. With all the crazy drivers there are out there, I’m not surprised.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
The Arctic Bird Giant (film #2 on Disc #1 of Clutch Cargo: The Complete Series, Volume 1 DVD (Brentwood Home Video, 2005)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
This episode of the very limited animation series features Clutch & Co. tracking down and capturing a giant arctic bird that’s been stealing the cargo of a trader who is trying to build an igloo housing development for the Eskimos that includes a TV in every igloo. That’s about as enlightened a portrayal of Eskimos as it gets. This is one of the sillier Clutch episodes, with an Eskimo character that will make you cringe at times.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Explorer VI Paddle-Wheel Moon Puts Eye in the Sky (film #168 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: News]
Early 60s newsreel about the launch of Explorer VI, a research satellite. This has some good launch footage, but mostly it’s pretty ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Gas (film #12 on The Complete Uncensored Private SNAFU DVD (Image Entertainment, 1999)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Private SNAFU is late for a gas drill because his gas mask is at the bottom of his duffel, under huge amounts of junk. He is punsihed by a huge-mouthed sergeant who puts SNAFU through so many drills in his mask that he ends up throwing it into the trashcan the first chance he gets. Of course, that's when the real gas arrives. This cartoon was directed by Chuck Jones and it's one of the funniest and best animated SNAFUs I've ever seen. The sergeant is just one huge mouth and he's wonderfully animated. The anthropomorphic gas is great too. And watch for a very funny cameo by Bugs Bunny himself.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: *****.
America’s Unpreparedness (film #2 on Side A of Disc #1 in the War in Europe section of Combat Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2006)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This documentary covers the gradual preparations for war made during the months before Pearl Harbor. The basic training of newly-drafted soldiers gets lots of attention, and there is some great archival footage here of that training. The Pearl Harbor attack is also covered, including footage of President Roosevelt’s declaration of war speech. Lots of historical interest here.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Citrus, the Golden Fruit (film #3 on Campy Classroom Classics, Vol. 10 DVD (Something Weird, 2004)). [Category: Industrial]
This film, sponsored by Sunkist, shows us in great detail how citrus fruits are grown, harvested, and shipped. The process is very similar to the one shown in Apples, but because this is a sponsored film, the narration is much more bright and breezy, trying to convince us that citrus fruits are just about the best things you can eat, ever. This gives the film more energy, and makes it more fun to watch. It also has a section at the end on cooking with and eating citrus fruits, featuring bizarre-looking concoctions that are not too unappetizing, since it’s hard to make citrus fruits look bad. Overall, this is a prime example of a sponsored film that tries to build good feelings for an agricultural product.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Cheese Burglar (film #37 on Disc #2 of 150 Cartoon Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2005). Also, film #15 on Disc #1 of TV Cartoon Classics DVD Boxed Set (Platinum Disc, 2005)). [Category: Hollywood]
A cat and a dog are best buddies, loving nothing more than to torment the resident mouse. That is, until the mouse turns them against each other. This is a pretty ordinary cartoon, though it does have a mildly weird ending involving the effects of wine.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Apples (film #6 on Campy Classroom Classics, Vol. 5 DVD (Something Weird, 2004)). [Category: Educational]
This 50s film tells us all about how apples are grown, harvested, and shipped. It’s all told in a straightforward way which is not too boring, but has no surprises, either. I liked looking at the fruit crate labels that appeared in the section on packing the apples for shipment. Otherwise, this is very ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Carmencita (film #56 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]
A rather hefty woman in a twirly skirt dances for our amusement. Some of the steps seem rather difficult for her, but she tries hard. More turn-of-the-century entertainment. An 1894 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
The Bishop’s Wife Trailer (extra on The Bishop’s Wife DVD (MGM, 2001)). [Category: Commercial]
I found out from this trailer that David Niven, Loretta Young, and Cary Grant decided not to make a trailer for The Bishop’s Wife. So I decided not to review it. Have fun reading this review.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Black to Comm (film #270 in the Video section of Bedazzled). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
The MC5 jam for a good long time in this 60s TV clip. Lots of psychedelic camera tricks enhance the trippiness of the proceedings. At the end, the middle-aged host doesn’t quite know what to make of the performance, but the band loved all the camera tricks. An obscure blast from the 60s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Headless Horseman (film #18 on The Cartoons That Time Forgot: The Ub Iwerks Collection, Vol. 2 DVD (Image Entertainment, 1999). Also, film #8 on The Cartoons That Time Forgot, Volume 3: Things That Go Bump in the Night (Kino Video, 1993)). [Category: Hollywood]
Tom Bones scares off Ichabod Crane by pretending to be a headless horseman, so he can win the hand of fair (and chubby) Katrina. But who's that unexpected wedding guest? Does this bear any resemblance to the original Legend of Sleepy Hollow? I don't know, because I haven't read the story. At any rate, this cartoon is pretty ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Mine Eyes Have Seen (film #26 in the General section of the State of Israel section of Stephen Spielberg Jewish Film Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This 1960 film documents a trip to Israel made by an American delegation from the B’nia Brith organization to see where its donated money is being spent. Apparently, it was being spent on everything, for the film goes into a great deal of detail, covering practically all aspects of Israel’s development, from agricultural development to industry to social services to honoring those killed in the Holocaust. The film has a set-up gimmick that is unique: it is told from the point of view of the movie camera, which lends a mildly strange Mr. Product-like air to the proceedings. Mostly, though, this is just what you’d expect. It does have lots of historical interest in documenting in detail Israel’s various development programs as they stood in 1960. It ends coming to the conclusion that Israel’s children are its biggest hope for the future, and when they start talking about how these children are growing up in peace, it becomes hard to beat back the irony when you consider how much war has taken place in Israel since 1960.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Archie’s TV Funnies (film #80 on ToonTracker Cartoon Showcase). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Opening of “Archie’s TV Funnies,” a Saturday morning cartoon show that is another blast from my childhood. Popular comic strip characters were animated on the show, and the opening gives you a rundown of what comic characters were popular in 1971. Remember Moon Mullins or Nancy and Sluggo? Lots of historical interest here.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Eugene McCarthy (film #2 in the Featured Clip Archive of WPA Film Library). [Category: News]
TV news clip from the 60s of Eugene McCarthy criticizing President Johnson’s policies, especially on the Vietnam War, and announcing his plans to run for president. This has historical interest, but it’s very ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
America Goes to War in the Pacific (film #4 on Side A of Disc #1 in the War in the Pacific section of Combat Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2006)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This documentary covers the Japanese takeovers in the Far East following Pearl Harbor and America’s preparations for war in the Pacific. There’s some really interesting footage of military training here, as well as footage from Japanese films about their military victories early in the war. The rest is pretty ordinary, but this has lots of historical value, as do most of the films in this series.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Fires Miscellaneous (film #1395 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
More fires and firefighting, courtesy of the Stillman Fires Collection. This film is from the 40s and it’s in color, but still silent. It shows firemen setting up to fight a fire, then footage of several different fires around the New York City area, including spectacular footage of flames leaping out of a window. The rest is pretty ordinary, though. Still, this has historical interest in documenting 40s firefighting practices, as well as some great 40s signage.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards (extra on The Wizard of Oz DVD (Warner Bros.)). [Category: Hollywood]
Excerpts from a short about the 1939 Academy Awards, featuring the awards won by The Wizard of Oz. Judy Garland is presented with the award for Best Performance by a Juvenile Actress, and she is asked to sing “Over the Rainbow,” but instead of continuing to her song, the film switches to Garland singing the song in the movie, which is curious. I sure wish they had put the whole film on the DVD, rather than just these brief excerpts.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
A Day at the River: A Film Lesson in Nature Study (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #401 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]
This 20s silent educational film looks at various kinds of water life in a river. It’s pretty standard for the most part, but some of the photography is nice, and it has a charming 20s feel to it, including a Tom Sawyer-like kid going fishing.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Capture of Trenches at Candaba (film #55 on Edison Film Archive. Also, film #15 on The Spanish American War in Motion Pictures). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Some soldiers, probably Cuban, fire from a trench until it is overrun by American soldiers. How did Edison’s cameraman get into the trench before the Americans took it? At any rate, this has historical interest as documentation of the Spanish American War. An 1899 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Bird’s Eye Beefburgers (film #2 in the Adverts section of TVArk). [Category: Commercial]
Utterly charming British TV commercial from the 70s for Bird’s Eye Beefburgers featuring two kids with thick regional accents. One kid tries to palm off his bargain brand beefburgers on to the other kid, but the other kid will have none of it. The accents really make this, upping the cute factor several notches. You also get to see kids eating their burgers with a knife and fork, which would never happen here in the States.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Anarchy in the UK (film #115 in the Video section of Bedazzled). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
I didn’t know they let the Sex Pistols on TV back in the mid 70s. But here they are, being as offensive as they can while singing rousing rock and roll. When you consider the state of pop music in 1976, this certainly shook things up, making this a great piece of rock and roll history.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Mindbenders (film #1 on Mindbenders, Vol. 1 (Something Weird, 1996)). [Category: Public Service]
This FDA film from the 60s gives information on hallucinogenic drugs, particularly LSD. Although generally cautionary in tone, it’s a lot more intelligent than most anti-drug films, focusing on the results of research and admitting that not much is known yet about these drugs. There are lots of testimonies from people who have used hallucinogens, not all of them negative, though some have disturbing implications. Accounts of drug trips are shown visually with trippy psychedelic footage, making this one of the better “trip” films. The film also covers some of the controlled studies that have been done on LSD, including one in which alcoholics were given the drug as part of a treatment program, leading to breakthroughs for some (the scenes of men in their 50s downing glasses of water containing the drug lead you to wonder what they were like when they were tripping, imaginary images that blow the mind). The overall message was that much is not known about these drugs, but there is some evidence that they could cause long-term harm, so extreme caution is advised, a much more reasonable message than many other films of the period were promoting. An interesting example of a different kind of drug film from the 60s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Archie Show (film #71 on ToonTracker Cartoon Showcase). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Opening to the late 60s Saturday morning favorite, “The Archie Show.” Man, this really brings back those Saturday morning memories! Nothing spectacular here, but if you are the right age, this will bring you zooming back to childhood.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Elizabeth Is Queen (film #5 in the Featured Clip Archive of WPA Film Library). [Category: News]
Clip from a grand and reverent film about the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. We get to see paintings of various members of the House of Windsor, ending with a painting of Elizabeth, then footage of the coronation. Boy, those English sure take their royalty seriously.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
America Goes to War (film #3 on Side A of Disc #1 of the War in Europe section of Combat Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2006)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This documentary covers the preparations for war the United States made in the months following Pearl Harbor. There’s lots of detail here, and lots of interesting archival footage, including German footage of scenes inside a U-boat. It gets a little dry in spots, but this has lots of historical interest.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
European Rest Cure (film #94 on Edison Film Archive. Also, film #18 on The Origins of Cinema, Volume 1: The Films of Thomas Edison (Video Yesteryear, 1995)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
A rather silly fellow takes a grand tour of Europe and has various comic misadventures. He gets seasick on the boat, gets dropped on the Blarney Stone, gets caught in a compromising position in Paris, falls into a crevasse in the Swiss Alps, gets robbed in Italy, etc. All this is supposed to be good for his health, you understand. A good argument for those who prefer to stay at home on their vacations. A 1904 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Fire Destroys Staten Island Ferry (film #1394 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
This silent firefighting film from the 30s starts with newsreel footage of a fire that burned down the Staten Island Ferry Station. Then it moves on to several other fires around New York City. The last segment, on the Sky Line fire at Sherry Netherlands, features spectacular footage of the top floors of a skyscraper burning and raining down debris. Mostly, though, this is a very ordinary firefighting film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Case of the Missing Hare (film #13 on 50 Cartoon Classics DVD. Also, film #31 on Disc #1 of 150 Cartoon Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2005)). [Category: Hollywood]
This is the classic old Warners toon that features Bugs Bunny tormenting a magician who’s full of himself. This has lots of great gags, including one of the first instances of Bugs declaring “Of course, you realize this means war!”, Bugs pulling himself out of a hat, the “Try tempting me with a carrot” sign (which I want for the Film Ephemera Museum of Quirky Devices), and Bugs finishing the magician off by giving him the one kind of cigar that appears in these cartoons, an exploding one. Even though I’ve seen these public domain Warners toons a million times, they still make me laugh.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ****.
Capture of Boer Battery by British (film #54 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Another bunch of Boers shoot at the British until the British overrun them. This one features a whole bunch of Scotsmen in kilts. I didn’t know the kilt was used as a battle uniform. A 1900 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Trailer (extra on Horrors of the Black Museum DVD (VCI Entertainment)). Also, film #32 in the Trailers section of Movieflix). [Category: Commercial]
This trailer for the Italian horror movie The Bird with the Crystal Plumage actually makes the film look pretty scary and suspenseful, making it one of the more successful trailers I’ve reviewed. Of course, it looks like they had a pretty good film to begin with, but that doesn’t always make a good trailer, so I give this one credit for making me shiver.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
The American Ruse (film #172 in the Video section of Bedazzled). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
That great early 70s band, the MC5 play “The American Ruse” on a TV show called “The Lively Spot.” The lyrics have great counterculture angst, the lead singer’s afro is a sight to behold, the lead guitarist has some great facial expressions, and the dorky host announces Anne Murray at the end. A great blast from the early 70s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Millions of Us (film #916 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This 30s film tells the story of a homeless unemployed worker and his depressing life on the street. Relief is not available to him because he’s a transient, he sees rich people feeding their pets while he goes hungry, and even the mission is closed for the day. Eventually, he responds to a job notice for a factory where the workers are on strike. He tries to cross the picket line, but is knocked down by the angry striking workers. One of the workers understands the guy’s plight and he takes him back to the outdoor kitchen that fixes meals for the striking workers and gives him a good meal. While the homeless guy eats, the sympathetic worker explains why the strike is necessary and why scabbing hurts everybody. His pitch is effective, for the homeless guy decides to join the picket line afterwards. This film is unfortunately missing its soundtrack, but it’s so well made you have no trouble following the story without it. It’s a good thing it was preserved anyway, because it is a moving film that makes its points well and doesn’t overplay its hand. It’s a rather tall order to convince homeless desperate people not to take jobs in order to avoid “scabbing,” yet I found the film to be pretty convincing anyway. The film is also a great historical document of the labor movement of the 30s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
The French Campaign, 1944 (film #24 in the WWII section of Movieflix. Also, film #3 on World War II, Vol. 8: D-Day, the Normandy Invasion (Madacy Video)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This March of Time short documents the Normandy Invasion and the campaign across France to Paris. Pretty standard.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Anyone’s Milk (film #36 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
This film documents a random act of kindness. Somebody marks a bottle of milk with the legend “THIS IS THE MILK FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE NONE – ANYONE’S MILK” and a box of tea bags with “THIS IS FOR EVERYONE & PEOPLE WHO DON’T HAVE ANY TEA.” Then he puts the milk in the refrigerator and the tea in the cupboard of an employee breakroom full of food packages marked with peoples’ names. We don’t see what happens to the milk and tea, but I bet they didn’t last long.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Hawaiian Hula Song (film #1386 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Hollywood]
This is fairly subdued for a soundie. It features a singer with a guitar singing a hula song while a woman in a grass skirt dances the hula and a steel guitar player provides backup. That’s it, really. Play this at your next tiki party.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
England (film #165 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: News]
Brief newsreel story about the retirement of the grand old ocean liner, the Queen Mary. This has some historical interest for nautical fans, but it’s pretty ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
The Air War on Japan (film #3 on Side B of Disc #2 of the War in the Pacific section of Combat Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2006)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This documentary covers the US bombing of Japan, focusing on B-29 attacks and ending with the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. This is mostly combat-focused, but there are lots of striking visuals of bombing raids, burning buildings, strategic briefings of pilots, and of a huge map of the Pacific in a strategy center. Again, this has lots of historical interest, primarily because of its visuals.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Crossroads U.S.A. (film #7 on AV Geeks). [Category: Industrial]
This oil-industry sponsored film from the 50s shows us a group of people who are stranded by a storm in a gas station. One of them is Andy, a young man who just turned down a job offer by the gas station owner because he is disillusioned by the opportunities available to a young, working-class person like himself. Another stranded person just happens to be an oil prospector who just made a big strike. When Andy calls him “lucky,” he disagrees, telling him that it took a lot of hard work, money, and discouraging failed attempts before he made the big strike. Just when the storm clears up, another stranded person who just happens to be a hold-up man, gets out his gun and prepares to get money the easy way. He attempts to recruit Andy to a life of crime, but Andy attacks him rather than cooperating. The hold-up guy is eventually overpowered and turned over to the police, and this somehow convinces Andy to take the gas station job and to have faith in individual initiative again. This is another attempt to sell the idea of individually-based capitalism to the masses, and a rather lame one at that. Although the oil prospector’s tale sounds fairly convincing, it’s hard to translate all the money he must have had at the outset to engage in such a speculative venture to Andy’s minimum wage job at the gas station. I don’t wholly object to the idea of individual initiative, but when you consider the source of a film like this, its message becomes hard to swallow.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Une Boom Chez John (film #195 in the Video section of Bedazzled). [Category: Hollywood]
This French Scopitone features a rockabilly singer, and believe me, you haven’t lived until you’ve heard French rockabilly. There’s a reason Elvis wasn’t born in France, and this guy is gleefully unaware of it, which only makes this more entertaining. It is lively, though.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Anti-Drug Film (film #4 in the Hippies section of WPA Film Library). [Category: Educational]
This excerpt from an unnamed 60s anti-drug film is well chosen, for it contains most of the elements necessary for such a film, such as a narrator who tells us the different street names for marijuana and LSD, scenes of teenagers partying, a bad trip, and a boring guy in a lab coat telling us about the dangers of LSD for teenagers. Since the WPA Film Library never posts whole films, this is about as good of an excerpt you’re likely to get of this genre, though I wish they had named the film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
A Day at the Fair (MST3K Episode #608: Code Name Diamond Head. Also on Disc #4 of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 3 DVD (Rhino). Also, film #400 on Prelinger Archive.). [Category: Educational]
O.K,, class, because of the rain, we're not going outside for recess today. Instead, we're going to watch this fun film about a farm family that goes to the county fair! Just as fun as it sounds. The msting improves things somewhat, though.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Msting: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
The Big Idea (film #1 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Segment from an early TV show that presents and pitches the Wuerth Tube Saver, a device that attaches to a TV set and extends tube life. This is very creaky and slow-moving, and it advertises a dead technology, but that just makes it more fun. An interesting blip from TV’s past.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Enoch Arden (film #3 on The Origins of Cinema, Volume 5: Griffith and Lubin (Video Yesteryear, 1997)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
This romantic tale, based on a Tennysson poem, is a lot better than you'd expect it to be, given its period. Enoch Arden must compete with Philip for the affections of pretty Annie, but Philip eventually relents when it becomes clear to him that Annie really loves Enoch. Annie marries Enoch and they have two children, but Enoch is unable to provide for his family very well, so he takes up an opportunity for finding riches on a sea voyage. Unfortunately, he ends up shipwrecked on an island. Annie waits valiantly for her man for many years, but eventually agrees to marry Philip for the sake of her children. At first it is only a marriage of convenience for her, but she eventually develops affection for Philip after she bears a child with him. Not long afterward, Enoch is rescued from the island, overjoyed that he can be reunited with his family. But he is a bedraggled old man with a long white beard and some unpleasant surprises to face on the homefront. He is heartbroken to find out that Annie has wed another, but when observes how happy she is with her new family he gallantly decides not to tell her of his return. Instead he dies alone in a cheap room (sniff! sniff!). Really, it's surprising to find out how genuinely touching this film is when so many others of its time were so over-the-top with the melodrama. The acting is excellent and Griffith seems to have gotten down the basics of clear storytelling. This film is a good example of D. W. Griffith at his best. A 1911 D. W. Griffith film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
Freedom Comes High (film #4 on Americans in War (NFV, 1990). Also, film #10 on The Educational Archives, Vol. 5: Patriotism. Also in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #560 on Prelinger Archive.). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
A Navy wife worries about her husband, off fighting the Axis. He is eventually killed in battle, but not before sending her a message that defending freedom sometimes requires that lives be sacrificed, and that he will always be with her in spirit, whatever happens. When she gets the dreaded telegram from the Navy Department, she holds back her tears and carries on. This seems to be targeted at people who have lost loved ones in the war, telling them to keep going despite their loss. One wonders how well it was received by that audience––the makers were lucky that most Americans supported the war and knew why such sacrifices had to be made, because this is an awfully large and bitter premise to swallow. And although the young wife depicted bravely chokes back her tears and reassures us that she and her baby will be O.K., we're not totally convinced of that––they seem awfully vulnerable. Not maudlin enough to be campy, though it is somewhat unsettling.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.
Billy Blastoff TV Commercial (film #1 in the TV Commercials section of Bedazzled. Also, film #30 in the Video section of Bedazzled). [Category: Commercial]
TV commercial from the 70s for Billy Blastoff, an electronic astronaut toy. “Now he walks!” the narrator crows, and we see him walk just as slowly as astronauts on the moon. He also has several different moon vehicles his battery pack can propel. The focus is on showing the toy, which is good, because the toy is very cute.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Big T.N.T. Show Trailer (film #70 in the Film section of Bedazzled). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Trailer for one of those mega-concert movies they were so fond of making during the 60s. This one features a wide assortment of artists from Petula Clark to Ray Charles to the Byrds to Bo Diddley. And is that Frank Zappa in the audience? A fun blast from the 60s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Mental Hospital (film #915 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This 50s film, made by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health, tries very hard to make its state mental hospitals look friendly and not intimidating, but it doesn’t wholly succeed. It tells the story of Fred Clanton, a guy who began to believe his wife and brother-in-law were conspiring against him. He is committed to the state hospital in short order by a judge, where he is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and given insulin shock treatments. He gets better eventually, begins to participate in the hospital’s recreational therapy programs, gets a hospital job as a groundskeeper, and eventually gets to go home, where he is no longer suspicious of anyone and is grateful to the hospital for his treatment. Much is made of the hospital’s facilities, which are all huge and institutional. Much is also made of the therapeutic benefits of patients working at various jobs at the hospital, enough so that you start to wonder after awhile whether or not some exploitation might be going on. The positive-sounding narration fails to overcome the visuals, which tend to confirm most stereotypes about mental hospitals. The film does give a fascinating portrait of mental health treatment during the 50s, which was the heyday of treating mental patients in big institutions.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Havana-Madrid Show (film #646 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Hollywood]
There's Latin rhythms aplenty on this lively series of two soundies featuring Maya's Pan-American Orchestra. The first features a floor show Ricky Ricardo would have been proud of and the second features the lady from Fiesta Soundie singing about Cuban Pete, the King of the Rhumba Beat. Get out your maracas and prepare to rhumba, folks!Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
All the Kind Strangers (film #2 on Side B of Disc #7 of All Stars Collection DVD Megapack (Treeline Films, 2004)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
This 70s TV movie features Stacey Keach as a guy who picks up a little boy on a lonely country road and ends up in a creepy farmhouse with a family of parentless kids who, with the help of some guns and vicious dogs, force him and a woman who stumbled upon them earlier to be their “parents.” The movie manages to create a suitably creepy inbred feeling, yet it never quite comes up with anything really scary, in that TV movie wimp-out fashion. The basic concept is compelling, yet it doesn’t really seem to be well thought out. The kids seem to want parents, even in the sense of having them discipline them, yet they can’t have that and be in charge as well, which also seems to be the case. The ending is schmaltzy and unrealistic, but what do you expect? The movie is drenched in 70s clichés, including a musical interlude where we hear a 70s folkie song on the soundtrack as the oldest kid wanders through a cornfield, a polyester shirt that Keach wears in the first scene that could stop traffic or inflame bulls, and Robby Benson in overalls with no shirt, playing an inbred farm teen (he’s also the one who sings the folkie songs on the soundtrack). All in all, this is a very typical 70s TV movie.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.
Election 2005 – ITV News (film #13 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Opening credits for 2005 British election night coverage on ITV News. More fancy graphics, more breathless pronouncements, and a even a Swingometer! Still, this is nothing that we haven’t seen before.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
The Air War (film #6 on Side A of Disc #2 of the War in Europe section of Combat Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2006)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This documentary chronicles the air war in Europe, especially the US involvement in it. There’s lots of great archival footage here of air battles and briefing sessions of air corps units. The narration is somewhat disjointed, but the visuals here tell the real story, and it’s a compelling one.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Fire Dept. Demonstrations (film #1393 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
Various firefighting methods and devices are demonstrated in this silent firefighter’s film from the 1920s. Fans of fire, firefighting, and squirting water should like this. I liked the cool model 10-story building they used in one segment and want it for the Film Ephemera Museum of Quirky Devices.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Dating Do's and Don'ts (film #7 on Exploitation Mini-Classics, Vol. 1 (Sinister Cinema). Also, film #7 on Mental Hygiene (Blast Books). Also in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #399 on Prelinger Archive. Also, film #25 on Ephemeral Films CD-ROM (Voyager) (excerpts)). [Category: Educational]
A classic of film ephemera, not least for its title. Woody (stop that sniggering!) has the hots for Ann, so they go on a nice wholesome date to the Hi-Teen Carnival and have a swell time. They also show us what not to do on a date. Lots of mileage has been gotten from clips from this film. A less well-known section I think is worth mentioning is the part where Woody decides who he is going to ask on his date. He considers two other girls before Ann––one is rejected for being too snobbish, while the other is considered to be "not much fun". But you can't help but get the feeling that they are actually being rated according to social standing––the first being too high on the social ladder for an average guy like Woody, and the second being too geeky for Woody to be seen with. Loads of fun.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
Carousel Boreal (film #1 on The Cameraman’s Revenge and Other Fantastic Tales (Film Preservation Associates, 1993)). [Category: Hollywood]
A bear and a rabbit, who are obviously in love, ice skate and frolic in a winter scene, interacting with various other animals and a strange snowman. Eventually spring comes, and the scenery changes, along with the animals they interact with. Not much plot here, but the puppet animation is delightful to watch, with lots of neat little details and wonderful characterization.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (film #1 on Side A of Disc #12 of Historic Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2005)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
This episode of the drama series “Climax!” is an adaptation of the Mark Twain novel. It looks like they had to cut out a lot to fit this into a 60 minute TV drama, but what remains is a fairly exciting and fun story, involving Huck escaping from his drunk and abusive father, going down the river on a raft, meeting a couple of con artists calling themselves the Duke and the Dauphin, and foiling their plans to steal the fortune of a young woman he’s acquainted with. Considering this was live early TV drama with minimal sets, this was pretty well done, with John Carradine giving a rousing performance as the Duke. This also contains the original Chrysler commercials which introduce “The Forward Look” in car design. These are great fun, featuring stilted interviews with ordinary drivers, an animated calypso sequence, and the introduction of transistors to car radios. All in all, this is a great example of early TV.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Big Valley (film #7 in the 1966 ABC Fall Preview section of TVParty). [Category: Commercial]
Fairly standard promo for the western soap opera “The Big Valley”. Though it claims the show is in color, the promo is in black-and-white. This has some historical interest, but it’s pretty ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls Trailer (film #91 in the Film section of Bedazzled). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Campy, over-the-top trailer for the exploitation flick Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. No clip is longer than a few seconds and the narrator throws so much groovy lingo at you, he sounds like he’s totally winging it. Fun, but actually not surprising given the film it was advertising.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
An Englishman's Trip to Paris from London (film #16 on The Origins of Cinema, Volume 6: Rare Films (Video Yesteryear, 1997)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
An English tourist sees the sights of Paris and we get to see his home movies. Still, as these are home movies from 1904, they're pretty interesting historically. A 1904 Hepworth film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Mayor La Guardia Opens Red Cross Drive (film #318 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Public Service]
Mayor La Guardia urges, no, commands all New Yorkers to join the Red Cross in a voice that could peel paint. Then he signs a proclamation to that effect and hands it to Miss Red Cross, a nurse wearing one of those cool old nurse’s uniforms. A blip from charity solicitations of the 30s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Formal Japanese Surrender (film #3 on disc #2 of Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941 DVD)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Newsreel coverage of the formal Japanese surrender on V-J Day, ending World War II. It's pretty much what you'd expect, though it's also an important historical document.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Ants on a Banana (film #35 on Open Source Movies (in “100 Second Film Festival Entries”). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Some ants crawl on a banana while we overhear one side of a phone conversation. The conversation might have to do with a breakup, so there may be some symbolism involving the ruined banana, but mostly this elicits a “huh?”Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Election 2005 – BBC News (film #12 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Opening credits for British election night coverage in 2005 on BBC News. This is dramatic and slick, but mostly pretty ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Africa: Our First Offensive (film #5 on Side A of Disc #1 of the War in Europe section of Combat Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2006)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This documentary about the first US invasion during World War II may have been recently produced, though it’s kind of hard to tell. It does contain lots of great archival footage of the invasion of North Africa, as well as production and transport of war materials on the home front. The story is rather starkly told, without background music, but it goes into quite a bit of detail, giving this historical interest.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Happy Days (film #14 on The Cartoons That Time Forgot: The Ub Iwerks Collection, Vol. 1 DVD (Image Entertainment, 1999)). [Category: Hollywood]
A bunch of kids buy an old clunker car from a con-artist for 50 cents and it gives them a fair amount of adventure. The highlight is when they stop at a gas station and order the runt of the bunch (who they call "Pinhead”) to fill the tires with the air hose. Pinhead uses an air hose from a device marked "HELIUM––FOR DIRIGIBLES ONLY" (another item for the Film Ephemera Museum of Quirky Devices!). This, of course, causes the car to fly. Other than that it's an ordinary, mildly amusing cartoon.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Fire and Police Service (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #517 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
This vocational guidance film from the 30s goes over careers in firefighting and police work. The first half goes over how firefighters are trained, while the second half talks about the different kinds of police work available, such as walking a beat, traffic control, criminal investigation, and crime prevention (this last being touted as something that requires “policewomen as well as men”). This is all pretty straightforward, but it does give you an interesting snapshot of how police officers and firefighters were trained back in the 30s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
A Car-Tune Portrait (film #5 on Disc #12 of 100 Cartoon Classics DVD Megapack (Treeline Films, 2004)). Also, film #5 on Disc #3 of 150 Cartoon Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2005)). [Category: Hollywood]
A lion orchestral conductor tries to tell us that his animal orchestra will perform serious classical music, eschewing the silly tomfoolery we’ve come to expect from cartoon characters, but you just know this won’t last. Fortunately, it doesn’t. An amusing Max Fleischer toon.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ****.
A Date with Your Family (film #27 on Ephemeral Films CD-ROM (Voyager). Also, MST3K Episode #602: Invasion U.S.A. Also, film #5 on Disc #4 of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 2 DVD (Rhino). Also in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #4 on Our Secret Century, Vol. 3: The Behavior Offensive CD-ROM (Voyager). Also, film #395 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]
Are you afflicted with 50s nostalgia? If so, this film is a good cure. 50s kids are told in no uncertain terms that family harmony is their responsibility and is dependent upon good manners and "appropriate" behavior at the dinner table. A standard of perfection in family dining is shown that kids are expected to live up to every night! There is no room in the perfect family dinner for emotions, child requests of any kind, or any other kind of talk likely to stir the emotions. This kind of repression was the dark side of the "nice" families portrayed in sitcoms of the period. In fact, it's a lot like watching one of those sitcoms, only with a narrator constantly telling you that this is the only good way for families to be and if your family doesn't meet this standard, it's your fault. Appalling, and therefore fascinating. The msting is quite good––it couldn't help but be, considering the material they had to work with.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Msting: ****. Overall Rating: *****.
Capture of Boer Battery (film #53 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]
A bunch of soldiers, who look to be the Boers, shoot at an advancing enemy from a hill, until they are eventually overtaken by that enemy. One of the Boers gets shot and falls dramatically while a Scotsman in a kilt runs by. A historically interesting slice of the Boer War. A 1900 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
ABC (film #23 in the 1972 section of TVParty). [Category: Commercial]
Promo for the 1972 fall season on ABC, featuring kaleidoscope graphics and the “This Is the Place to Be” jingle. No scenes from the shows, though. The jingle is mildly catchy, but mostly this is ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
The Enchanted Well (film #4 on Marvelous Melies (A-1 Video)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
A dorky guy spurns a beggar from drinking from his well, so the beggar casts a spell on it. Soon the well is behaving in a most un-well-like way, such as spouting flames, growing to twice its size, and spewing forth pitchfork-weilding demons. Then things get really unbelievable as our hero is attacked by an early version of Cecil the Dragon (as in Beany &...). Melies was at his best with this kind of thing, especially when he focused on unbelievably silly hellspawn. A 1903 Melies film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Bedazzled Video Show #2 (film #21 in the Film section of Bedazzled). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Fun collection of youth-oriented ephemera, including several TV commercials featuring the Monkees; an interview with the Sex Pistols on British TV in which they say things that wouldn’t have been allowed on American TV; a thoroughly appalling toy gun commercial which features gunslinging heroes on TV giving kids toy guns through the TV set and cops marveling at how realistic the toy guns are; a dorky Scopitone of Gary Lewis & the Playboys singing “Little Miss Go-Go”; the campy opening sequence from the AIP movie Riot on Sunset Strip, a commercial for the game Slap Trap (I remember that one from when I was a kid); and the Only Ones performing on BBC television. This collection of stuff is great fun for anyone who was a kid or teenager during the 60s or 70s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Man of Action (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #886 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This animated film features an “average fellow” who meets the Devil (or his envoy, anyway), who has a plan to turn his nice neighborhood into a slum. The devilish character tells the homeowner all about the recent transformation of Paradise Gardens, a housing development that the homeowner’s grandfather used to live in, from a suburb to a slum, and how the homeowner’s neighborhood is right on schedule in his slum transformation book. The homeowner bucks the devil’s urban planner by stealing his book and going to the city council to try to get them to take steps to prevent the creation of further slums. Predictably, the council thinks the guy is a crackpot and throws him out, while the landlords buck for no change at all. However, when the homeowner uses the stolen book to accurately predict the fall of an old decrepit factory chimney, he gets public support, and the whole town ends up working together to drive the devil’s envoy out of town by fixing up their neighborhoods. This is a fun film to watch because the animation is well done, the visuals, especially of slums, are dark and striking, and the story is lively. It predictably oversimplifies the problems of urban renewal, but at least it emphasizes the importance of collective action being essential for any real change to happen, which is a change from many films of its period, which tend to blame individuals. The film has historical value in documenting the attitudes promoted by the early urban renewal movement. And, like I always say, you can’t go wrong with supernatural visitors.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
American Sportsman (film #25 in the 1972 section of TVParty). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Blooper from the TV fishing show “American Sportsman,” in which our host contentedly eats his catch, talking about how good it is, until he orders the shot to be cut, because he can’t eat any more really bad fish. Mildly amusing, and will probably confirm suspicions about TV food.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Election 2001 – ITV News (film #11 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Long clip from the opening of British election night coverage on ITV news. The anchor, Jonathan Dimbleby (think that name would fly in the US?), tries hard to wow us with all the techno-goodies on the huge election night set, including a pretty cool-looking virtual reality setup where the announcer gets to wander around inside the charts that show the polling results. One of the more interesting recent election-night clips on TVArk.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Fighting Tools (film #7 on The Complete Uncensored Private SNAFU DVD (Image Entertainment, 1999). Also, film #11 on V for Victory WWII Cartoons & Shorts Show (Something Weird, 1996)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Private SNAFU is no match for a huge Nazi, for although he has superior weapons, none of them work properly because he failed to take care of them. This story is told, amazingly enough, musically, making this one of the wilder and funnier SNAFUs.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 ...
