Atom Age Vampire Trailer (extra on Bloodlust/Atom Age Vampire DVD (Madacy Entertainment)). [Category: Commercial]

Campy, over-the-top trailer for what looks like an incredibly cheap dubbed 50s sci-fi film, Atom Age Vampire. Lots of bad special effects and bad dubbing in this one.

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

Black Belt Jones Trailer (film #3 in the Blaxploitation section of Bedazzled. Also, film #3 in the Film section of Bedazzled. Also, film #3 in the Movie Trailers section of Bedazzled. Also, film #3 in the Video section of Bedazzled). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

Incredibly campy trailer for that stalwart of afternoon tv advertising, the blaxploitation flick Black Belt Jones. Highlights include the female lead giving new meaning to the term “doing the dishes” and Jones himself fighting a bunch of baddies in a pile of suds. This has enough silly sequences in it that you wonder of they were starting to parody the genre. At any rate, if you want a fun blaxploitation trailer, this is it.

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

Labor of Thy Hands (film #812 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

This 50s film, made by Hadassa, the women’s Zionist organization, tells us about the various vocational training programs the organization funds in Israel, and how they are bringing new hope to young people who previously had none. The Holocaust casts a long shadow on this film, though it is never explicitly mentioned. But there are all kinds of hints that the young people we see learning various job skills are mostly concentration camp survivors who not long ago had no reason to believe they would have any future at all. This lends the film a hopeful quality, as we see them given help to rebuild their lives. Unfortunately, viewed from today’s perspective, an even bigger shadow is cast by the long history of war, violence, and terrorism that we now know was just around the corner for Israel. Still, you can’t blame the makers of this film for not being psychic, and viewed in the context of this time, it is one of the best, most respectful, and most realistic of the “good works” films that I’ve seen, resisting the temptation to portray the recipients of its charity as pitiful, or to constantly shill for more money.

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

Copper Beaches (film #1 on The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes DVD (Grapevine Video). Also, film #2 on Video Scrapbook #54: Sherlock Holmes - The Early Years (Hollywood's Attic, 1996)). [Category: Early Film & TV]

An abusive father locks his daughter in a stable to prevent her from eloping, then hires a look-alike governess to act as bait in a booby trap for his daughter's fiance. But the governess gets suspicious and goes to Sherlock Holmes for help and the two of them plan a little booby trap of their own. Lots of hammy acting makes this a lot of fun. There is actually a scene where Sherlock Holmes literally looks for clues with a magnifying glass! Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself supervised this production. A Warner's film.

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

AFeB (film #23 in the Comedy section of Brickfilms. Also, film #9 in the Drama section of Brickfilms. Also, film #2 in the Horror section of Brickfilms. Also, film #676 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

This very short brickfilm shows us why clay is a toxic substance in Legoland. This was submitted into the “Anne Frank in Bricks” contest––obviously the Legoland version of Anne Frank’s diary is very different from the one in this world.

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

Chief Justice Earl Warren’s Tenure on the Supreme Court (film #5 in The Supreme Court section of WPA Film Library). [Category: News]

Narrated collection of footage concerning a couple of the key decisions of the Warren court: school prayer and the Miranda decision. These clips are appropriate and fairly informative, and the narration adds context. No real surprises here, but this has some historical interest.

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

Combat Bulletin No. 36 (film #3 on tape #6 of This Film Is Restricted Boxed Set (Marathon Music & Video, 1997)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

This is one of the grittier Combat Bulletins. In "Operations in the Phillipine Islands," we see offshore naval and beach battles near Leyte Gulf. Watch for a ship that bears the large legend "FUBAR." In "Troops Land on Mindoro," we see troops cleaning out captured Japanese strongholds, including some fairly upsetting footage of the body of a Japanese soldier who committed suicide rather than be captured. In "Activities in Italy," we see a flooded-out biouvac. In "Seized German Film on Work Mobilization," we see German newsreel footage of work conscription of the civilian population (I guess you could call this ephemera-within-ephemera). In "First Phase of German Counteroffensive," we see both German footage of soldiers enjoying the fruits of recent successes in the Battle of the Bulge (like American cigarettes), and footage of American GIs clearing out places formerly held by the Germans. In "Stavelot," we see footage of street fighting and civilians fleeing for cover. In "Malmedy," "St. Vith," and "Bastogne," we see more of the same. This Combat Bulletin really gives you a feeling for how long and boring the war was.

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

Allies Open Final Drive on Germany (film #53 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

Newsreel from the last days of the European war showing the Allied advance into Germany. Also included are stories about an intense air raid on a German city and starving American POWs being liberated from a Japanese prison camp. This is pretty grisly stuff for a newsreel. On the lighter side, there are also stories about a southern California rodeo and a vocational rehabilitation program for Canadian veterans, including rather silly footage of would-be barbers shaving balloons. This is a great wartime newsreels and it’s better preserved than most of the others on this site from the war years.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *** (entirely for the shaving balloons footage––the POW and battle footage gets an N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.

Felix Gets the Can (film #7 on Felix the Cat DVD (Delta Entertainment, 2004)). [Category: Hollywood]

Felix goes to Alaska to get fish for dinner and ends up getting canned. This one is pretty ordinary, though it does have some farfetched logical twists and turns, such as Felix getting beaned by a can of salmon and deciding to go to Alaska, instead of just eating the contents of the can. Mostly, though, this is nothing special.

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

Consumers Want to Know (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #372 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

This early 60s film gives a detailed and complete profile of Consumers Union, the non-profit organization that publishes Consumer Reports. The profile is very straightforward, reflecting the dedication to facts of the organization, an organization that does very good work. Unfortunately, this means it gets rather dull after awhile, because it goes into such detail. Still, the scenes of the various laboratory tests are pretty interesting––I want the cigarette smoking machine for the Film Ephemera Museum of Quirky Devices (Smoking Section).

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. CU Rating: Recommended with Reservations. Overall Rating: ***.

Les Boites a Go Go (film #3 in the Film section of Bedazzled. Also, film #3 in the Juke Box Movies section of Bedazzled. Also, film #3 in the Music section of Bedazzled. Also, film #3 in the Music Video section of Bedazzled. Also, film #3 in the Scopitones section of Bedazzled. Also, film #3 in the Video section of Bedazzled). [Category: Hollywood]

French Scopitone in which a young woman in an op-art minidress dances the twist at a discotheque while singing the title song. Psychedelic camera tricks occasionally intervene. This is very representative of the mid-60s in style, making it a fun nostalgia piece.

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

Carnivorous Plants (film #12 on AV Geeks. Also, film #2 on The Educational Archives, Vol. 6: Religion DVD (Fantoma, 2003)). [Category: Educational]

A creepy guy gleefully tells us all about how various carnivorous plants trap and digest innocent insects. Then he tries to sneak in stuff about how only God could have made such things, not any sort of evolutionary process. It comes off as saying only God could be that sadistic. I think God would be insulted by such a notion.

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

Bucking Broncho (film #36 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]

A cowboy rides a bucking bronk until he gets bucked off. And when I say “cowboy,” I mean the real deal, folks––this was made in 1894. The guy on the fence better watch out with that pistol, though. An 1894 Edison film.

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

Atlas Trailer (extra on Goliath and the Dragon DVD (Something Weird, 2001)). [Category: Commercial]

Mildly fun trailer for what looks to be a fairly campy sword-and-sandal flick, including lots of the standard sword-and-sandal elements, such as an evil ruler, a muscleman hero, the muscleman hero battling multiple enemies, and exotic dancing. Fun if you like this sort of thing.

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

Dingbat Land (film #412 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

This sign-language interpreted version of a Terrytoon is rather puzzling, as the vast majority of the gags are visual, so the need for interpretation is questionable. In fact, the interpreter is reduced at points to providing editorial commentary, such as, “Oh! That dingbat is so bad!” Also, there are no real dingbats in it; just a lame Tweety Bird ripoff. Dingbats are like this: **** (dingbats are replaced by asterisks).

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

The Cook in Trouble (film #10 on More Melies (A-1 Video). Also, film #2 on The Movies Begin, Volume Four: The Magic of Melies (Kino Video, 1994). Also, film #11 on The Origins of Cinema, Volume 6: Rare Films (Video Yesteryear, 1997)). [Category: Early Film & TV]

Trouble is right. A cook fails to help out a beggar, who turns out to be a magician in disguise. He retaliates by cursing the kitchen, infesting it with scads of imps who proceed to wreak havoc. And you thought those few mice in your kitchen were causing you problems! Lively fun, as usual for Melies. A 1904 Melies film. The version on The Movies Begin is the best of the bunch.

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

Know for Sure (film #35 on AV Geeks. Also, film #4 on The Educational Archives, Vol. 1: Sex & Drugs DVD (Fantoma, 2001)). [Category: Public Service]

This 40s anti-syphilis film features several case studies of various people visiting a public health clinic to be tested for syphilis. The first case, featuring an outrageously-stereotyped Italian immigrant couple whose baby is born dead because of the disease, is fairly maudlin. Other than that, the film is surprisingly straightforward and unsensationalistic in its message. It’s an interesting example of how the subject was dealt with back in the 40s, though it does contain way too many close-ups of blood being drawn for my comfort level.

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

Adventures on a Talk Show (film #22 in the Comedy section of Brickfilms). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

I guess one of the advantages of being a Lego guy is you can get away with really bad jokes. This brickfilm is full of ‘em, but because it’s a brickfilm, they come off as pretty funny, rather than the real groaners that they are. And the film somehow gets away with substituting arm-waving for the fact that you can’t make Lego guys’ mouths move (‘cause their just painted on). In fact, this Lego version of a talk show gets away with a whole bunch of stuff, and for that, I kind of admire it. It even includes a fake commercial, which ends with the worst joke of all, yet it made me laugh out loud.

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

Chairman Rodino (film #2 in the Watergate section of WPA Film Library). [Category: News]

Brief clip of Chairman Rodino advising the House of Representatives on the procedure and implications of a vote on impeachment of Richard Nixon. This is pretty important historically, though brief.

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

Allies Fight Fierce Nazi Counter-Blow (film #52 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

This WWII newsreel has some interesting captured German footage of places of amusement being closed down and Nazi women being drafted for war work. Following that is footage of Allied troops battling a German counteroffensive. Also included are stories about a rocket-firing plane, an appeal for recruits for the merchant marine, and a cute segment where children of diplomats wish us a Merry Christmas. This is one of the more interesting and lively of the WWII newsreels, giving you a real feel for the war years.

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