Assault from the Past (film #23 in the Action section of Brickfilms). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

Imagine all of the famous armies and warriors of the past came and attacked us all today, due to a horrible mistake made during a time travel experiment. Only imagine it happened in Legoland. The result is all-out Lego war. The animation of the battle sequences is not bad, but the silent opening sequences, in which the plot is explained are kind of lame. Still, if you like war brickfilms, then this is your movie.

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

Feast Day Procession, Potero Hill (film #20 on Shaping San Francisco). [Category: News]

Brief clips of a church festival parade in San Francisco in 1937, narrated by somebody who remembers such festivals. The woman’s drum corps forms a striking image, but mostly this is pretty ordinary.

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

Beachhead and Breakthrough (film #2 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 covers the early Allied advances after D-Day. This is one of the duller films in this series, focusing mostly on combat footage and on the takeovers of French towns. There are a few interesting moments in the liberation footage, but mostly this is very ordinary.

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

Flying Businessman (film #523 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

This 50s film shows us all about how planes and air travel are used in business. It starts with a section on airline travel, and we see lots of grey-flannel-suited white men on airline flights, back in the days when air travel was relatively comfortable and luxurious. Then there’s a section on custom-designed company planes, and we get to see similar businessmen and secretaries doing work, and also resting and watching TV on luxurious-looking company planes. Then there’s a long section on businessmen learning to fly, and we get to see just what it’s like to take flying lessons, which is pretty interesting. The final section shows us a bunch of different brands and varieties of planes, including weird ones like the Aerocar, a flying car that never caught on but is a wonderful little obscurity in the history of flight. All in all, this is a fun film with lots of great visuals, as well as historical interest in documenting business flight during the 50s.

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

Hell-Bent for Election (film #2 on The Memphis Belle (Video Treasures, 1989)). [Category: Military & Propagadna]

Chuck Jones directed this rather silly animated election promo for the 1944 presidential race. Joe the railroad switchman must throw the switch allowing the Win the War Special to get through on track 44, bypassing the Defeatist Limited, but he has to contend with a shady-looking politician from the D. Ltd. who tries to lull him to sleep. The Win the War Special has FDR's profile, while the Defeatist Limited represents the Other Leading Political Party. Of course, the Win the War Special stands for Victory, Progress, Economic Growth, Social Welfare, and everything else good, while the Defeatist Limited pulls along Depression, Inflation, Racism (the "Jim Crow Car"), Mudslinging, and even Hitler. In other words, politicking as usual, though the silliness of it makes it more palatable. Comes complete with catchy theme song with lyrics posted so you can sing along!

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

A Corny Concerto (film #7 on Cartoon Explosion, Vol. 3: Corny Concerto/Jerky DVD (Front Row Entertainment, 2000). Also, film #26 on 50 Cartoon Classics DVD. Also, film #20 on Disc #4 of 150 Cartoon Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2005)). [Category: Hollywood]

This Warner Bros. 7-minute skewering of Fantasia is a great deal of fun, from Elmer Fudd’s embarrassing attempts to mimic Leopold Stowkowski, to seeing a standard Bugs Bunny chase toon done to the Strauss waltz “Tales of the Vienna Woods.” A necessary addition to any cartoon collection.

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

Cattle Driven to Slaughter (film #33 on America at Work, America at Leisure. Also, film # 58 on Edison Film Archive. Also in the Historical section of Open Video Project). [Catagory: Early Film & TV]

Longhorn cattle are driven out of a corral and into eternity by cowboys wielding big sticks. Short, but has historical value. An 1897 Edison film.

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

Blood Alley (film #3 in the John Wayne and Television section of TVParty). [Category: Commercial]

Very cheap-looking trailer (or perhaps it was a TV commercial) for the 50s John Wayne vehicle Blood Alley. The cheapness is surprising, since by the 50s Wayne was making fairly big budget pictures. The cheapness adds to the camp value, as well as seeing Laruen Bacall push Wayne around, while the narrator tells us so. Brief and fun.

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

The Amazing World of Psychic Phenomena (Tropic Twilight)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

This 70s Sunn Classic film, narrated by Raymond Burr, presents us with lots of “evidence” of psychic phenomena, including historical accounts of same, scenes of lots of psychic researchers doing experiments, the claims of famous psychics, and anecdotal reports from ordinary folks of strange experiences. These anecdotal reports are perhaps the most interesting, since they are usually fairly dramatic and lack motives for deception. They are also fairly campy, as they are generally recreated with terrible actors. No arguments from skeptics or debunkers is shown, because what fun would that be? How entertaining you find this may depend on where you sit on the skeptics vs. true believers spectrum, though skeptics may nevertheless enjoy the movie for its camp/ironic value. All in all, the movie provides a good overview of the psychic fad of the 70s, as well as containing very 70s clothing, hairstyles, and interior decoration.

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

Hollywood on Parade (track #1 on Studio Snapshots (Kino Video, 1998)). [Category: Hollywood]

Uh, I don't know what this is supposed to prove. This was supposed to be a "screen magazine", but the only magazine it resembles is one after it has been attacked with a pair of scissors by a collage artist. It features lots of Hollywood stars and also-rans doing lots of, well, stuff. The only requirement for each segment seems to be that it fill a certain amount of screen time. Some of it is rather silly, some of it is weird, a few segments have disturbing implications (Gary Cooper flirting with a chimp?!), some are lame, and many are inexplicable. It does solve one mystery, though––it is in this film that Bela Lugosi tells Helen Kane, "You have booped your last boop!" Leaves you scratching your head.

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

Motorboat Explosion (film #24 in the Public Info. Films section of TVArk). [Category: Public Service]

Brief 70s British PSA that warns motorboat owners to check for gas leaks before setting out. They do this by, as you can guess, showing a boat blowing up real good. Brief, but effective.

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

The Aggressive Brown Water in the Tubes of the Professor (film #12 on German Cinema). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

Early 70s German experimental film that appears to be about mass apartment evictions, possibly for urban renewal. A middle-aged white man argues with a group of women, possibly about the evictions. This alternates with more experimental scenes, such as a scene of a drawing of the man spewing blood from his mouth. The theme music from Shaft is somehow involved. It’s hard to make sense of this without understanding German, but there are some striking images here.

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

Apollo 9: Three to Make Ready (film #4 on Open Source Movies). [Category: News]

This NASA film documents Apollo 9, the mission that tested the Lunar Module and spacesuits later used in the moon landings. This is told straightforwardly, with few surprises, but in an interesting way nonetheless. There are some lovely images of the earth from space in the film, which also adds to its value. This was an important, but not very exciting mission, so the film did a good job in keeping it from being boring.

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

The Battle of the Bulge (film #7 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 covers the Battle of the Bulge, when the German lines bulged outward into northwestern Europe, slowing the Allied advance. The film covers the battle straightforwardly, with lots of compelling archival footage. There’s also an interesting section on the attempts made to allow the beleaguered GIs occasional opportunities for rest and recreation––I would like to see the original films the archival footage was taken from.

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

Flitful Flashes of First Alarms (film #22 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

This 30s film shows us a great variety of the everyday tasks of New York’s firefighters, from putting out vehicle fires to stopping an ammonia leak to pulling a horse carcass out of the sewer to putting out prank fires kids set on election day. Lots of great scenes of vintage firefighting equipment are in this film, including scenes of old-time steamers. Lots of historical value here, and firefighting fans should find this interesting.

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

Developing Self-Reliance (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #429 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Eductational]

This Coronet film stars Woody from Dating Dos and Don’ts, though it’s not nearly as campy as the other film. Now that he’s got dating under control, his next problem is being too dependent on others, so a teacher gives him a set of simple steps to self-reliance, and soon Woody is so self-reliant he’s taking over whole projects at the Student Council. Of course, the adults responsible for this film didn’t really want teens to “make their own decisions,” or rather, they only wanted them to make their own decisions if their decisions were ones the adults would have made for them. Still, this film is not quite as farfetched as the usual Coronet outing. If we take its premise at face value, the “Steps to Self-Reliance” seem reasonable, though somewhat simplistic. But the teacher even admits that, saying that it takes a long time to develop self-reliance. For the most part, though, this is pretty standard Coronet stuff, meaning it’s charming in its own innocent way.

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

Cops (film #7 on Feature Films). [Category: Hollywood]

Buster Keaton’s snooty girlfriend won’t marry him unless he becomes a rich businessman, so after convolutedly stealing a guy’s wallet, he makes his first big investment, buying a load of furniture off of a con-artist who tells him a sob-story about being evicted. Unfortunately, the furniture actually belongs to a family that is waiting for the movers. But Buster doesn’t know this, so he drives the furniture away in a huge wagon. Eventually, after having some trouble with his horse, he ends up in a policeman’s parade, and if that wasn’t bad enough, he ends up catching a bomb thrown by the local anarchist, using it to light his cigarette and then casually tossing it into the massed policemen. This gets the whole force angry at him, and it all ends with a wonderfully clever chase scene, as Buster takes on and prevails over every cop in town. This is a fun Buster outing, with lots of great off-the-cuff gags, and some amazing stunts that show you just what an acrobat he was.

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

Extraordinary Cab Accident (film #19 on The Movies Begin, Volume Two: The European Pioneers (Kino Video, 1994)). [Category: Early Film & TV]

A man gets run over by a horse-and-buggy cab but emerges unscathed due to the magic of special effects. Nya! Fooled ya! A 1903 Robert W. Paul film.

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

Catching an Early Train (film #57 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]

A guy gets dressed in the morning with lightning speed thanks to the magic of running the film backwards. It’s fun to watch filmmakers discover all the neat little camera and editing tricks you can play in these early films. A 1901 Edison film.

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

Handbook for Air Raid Wardens (film #6 on WWII V for Victory War Bonds & Rallies Show (Something Weird, 1996)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

This training film for air raid wardens and the general public on how to deal with air raids is quite quaint when you consider that the U.S. never had to deal with any. It has a stark, educational-film quality about it that gives it a real wartime feel. It's hard to remember that in the days after Pearl Harbor people were really afraid of being bombed. This is a great wartime relic with much historical interest and a bit of campiness as well.

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