It's Murder She Says... (film #26 on The Complete Uncensored Private SNAFU DVD (Image Entertainment, 1999). Also, film #9 on disc #2 of Pearl Harbor: Before and After DVD (Triton, 2001)).

The Anopholes mosquito is portrayed as an aging party girl, who used to live the high life on soldier's blood, until the army wised up and took stringent methods against her. But she still has her way with shirtless, repellentless Private SNAFU. The concept here is fairly clever and unusual, though it could be funnier. This one makes me wonder just how many SNAFUs were about malaria prevention, though––this must have been a major sticking point with the army.

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

Andy Kaufman – Blue Moon of Kentucky (available for viewing on You Tube).

Andy does a dead on impression of Elvis singing “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” That’s it, really, but it’s not a bad impression.

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

5 Nations Seek Balloon Title (available for download on Universal Newsreels).

30s newsreel showing competitors in a balloon race taking off and talking from their balloons by radio. Also included is a story about Major Ernst Udet doing stunt flying in a biplane at an air race. This is pretty ordinary, but it does give us a taste of how flight wowed ‘em back in the 30s.

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

Akron Hulk Salvage (available for download on Universal Newsreels. Also available for viewing on You Tube.)

Brief, silent newsreel story of the wreck of the airship USS Akron being fished from the deep. The images of the wreck are striking and give you an idea why airships never quite became a viable form of travel.

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

Frigidaire Imperial Line (available for download on Open Video Project. Also available for download on Prelinger Archive).

This bombastic film from 1957, meant to introduce the new “Imperial Line” of Frigidaire appliances, is the ultimate populuxe monstrosity. Appliances are talked about in endlessly bombastic, yet reverent tones while a single, elegantly dressed housewife walks from one to the other to demonstrate them. At times, she caresses the appliances almost ecstatically, yet it is a restrained ecstasy designed not to undercut the reverence. The campiest and weirdest section involves a surrealistic montage of appliance parts that drift past the women, supposedly reprenting “a woman’s dreams.” Monderninity is worshipped here, as everything new, technological, and modernistically designed is portrayed as All Good. The appliances have the spare design of a modern glass-walled skyscraper, while the range control panel resembles the controls of an airplane. All of this is great fodder for post-modern critique, though the film’s reverent tone reduces its camp value somewhat. Still, this is a striking example of 50s populuxe thinking at its apex.

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

A Jazz Etude (film #1383 on Prelinger Archive).

A guy in white tie and tails does a tap dance to a peppy jazz tune. This soundie had my toes tappin’.

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

Ammi Belcacem (available for download on Bedazzled).

This Arabic Scopitone features an attractive female singer in Western dress singing what sounds like the Arabic version of pop music. She has flirty facial expressions, but doesn’t move her body at all, though at one point she shows us her hair, a decidedly non-Muslim thing to do. Her backup singers all sport Western dress and hairstyles, but rather than dancing, they sit politely behind her while singing their parts. This Scopitone provides a fascinating glimpse into the pop music of another culture.

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

Cheerios (available for viewing on Movieflix).

Early 50s Cheerios commercial that features an early version of the Cheerios Kid and a great 50s Cheerios box. Brief, but captures that 50s tv commercial feel.

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

The Angel Levine Trailer (extra on The Angel Levine DVD (MGM)).

Trailer from the 70s film The Angel Levine, in which Harry Belafonte plays an angel who visits Zero Mostel. Since this is the 70s, rather than the 40s (the heyday of this sort of thing), this is tough and depressing rather than charming and inspirational. It does a fairly good job of making the film look intriguing, though.

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

Drive and Survive (film #7 on Disc 2 of Hell’s Highway DVD (Kino Video, 2003)).

Gory clip from a 60s driver’s ed film that goes over the possible causes of accidents. This stands out because it doesn’t completely blame the driver, but also talks about unsafe auto design and highway engineering as possible factors. It also gives some good advice about what to do if you find yourself in a zero visibility situation. Of course, the gory visuals of corpses tell a different story.

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

Blockbuster (available for download on Bedazzled).

In this TV clip, 70s glam-rockers The Sweet sing “Blockbuster.” It’s all long hair and glitter, and the guitarist in the SS uniform and Hitler mustache is guaranteed to offend your parents. I think I know where Spinal Tap got a lot of their ideas.

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

Formations (available for download on Open Video Project. Also available for download on Prelinger Archive).

This Jam Handy driver safety film from the 30s tells us we should drive as if we are pilots flying in formation, which is just a goofy way to say we should be aware of the other cars on the road. The film goes over basic defensive driving strategies in the imitable Jam Handy style, which is lively and a bit silly. The film also gives us a good idea of what driving was like back in the 30s, an era of signaling turns with hands and fewer traffic laws. Typical Jam Handy fare with historical interest.

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

A Fire in a Burlesque Theatre (film #34 on The Art of Cinema Bagins (Video Yesteryear, 1997). Also, film #34 on The Movies Begin, Volume One: The Great Train Robbery and Other Primary Works (Kino Video, 1994)).

Firemen rescue some fancily-clad burlesque dancers from a burning theatre. Lots of uncovered bestockinged legs––hubba, hubba! The version on The Movies Begin is in better shape than the one on The Art of Cinema Begins. A 1904 Biograph film.

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

Andy Kaufman and Howdy Tell a Tale (available for viewing on You Tube).

Andy Kaufman does possibly the worst ventriloquist act ever, with the help of a tattered Howdy Doody Puppet and a flip-over Little Red Riding Hood/Grandmother/Wolf doll, but because it’s Andy, he makes it work. The story of Little Red Riding Hood is successfully told despite the fact you can’t understand a word the puppets say. A fun clip from Andy’s early days of weirdness.

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

The Blue Streak Rocket (available for viewing from National Archives).

The Blue Streak rocket was a rocket developed by the British in the 50s to be an ICBM. When if failed at that function, it was tested in Britain’s early space program as a possible rocket for satellite launching. This early 60s film shows us the rocket being built and test-launched in Australia, with a very excited and hopeful air. However, the National Archives site tells us the rocket failed tests as a space vehicle and was eventually pulled from production, so that colors the film. The film is pretty ordinary for the most part, but you can’t help but begin to get a pathetic feeling for western Europe’s collaborative space program at this time.

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

Bonn Hails Ike: Says US Will Stand by Berlin (available for download from Universal Newsreels).

50s newsreel story about a visit by President Eisenhower to West Germany to attend talks about the status of Berlin. This is unsurprising, but it has some historical value.

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

The Infantry Blues (film #6 on The Complete Uncensored Private SNAFU DVD (Image Entertainment, 1999). Also, film #7 on Private S.N.A.F.U. (Rhino, 1992)).

Private Snafu sings the blues about all the hardships he suffers in the infantry. He is sure that the other branches of the service have much cushier jobs. Technical Fairy First Class gives him his wish to change services and he learns that every G.I. has it tough. I like Technical Fairy First Class' faux auctioneer patter and the concluding song, sung to the tune of "Hinky Dinky Parlay Voo".

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

Freeze-In (available for viewing on A/V Geeks. Also available for download from AV Geeks. Also available for download from Google Video).

Man, the 60s could get weird. This sales training film for freezer salesmen at Sears features Judy Carne and Arte Johnson in a “Laugh-In” version of freezer sales. Mostly, this involves a lot of lame gags featuring Carne as a goofy housewife and Johnson as a hapless freezer salesman. These are punctuated by “Sock It to Me” freezer gags and Johnson saying “verrrry interesting!” This was supposed to encourage the Sears salesmen to pitch their product to young housewives by promising convenience, rather that pitching to farmers and promising cubic foot space, like they had been doing for years. What the salesmen thought of this film remains lost in the mists of time, but today it elicits a huge “Huh?”

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

Jack Frost (film #13 on The Cartoons That Time Forgot: The Ub Iwerks Collection, Vol. 2 DVD (Image Entertainment, 1999)). Also available for viewing in the Cartoon section of Movieflix. Also, film #4 on She (Sinister Cinema). Also, film #3 on The Cartoons That Time Forgot, Volume 3: Things That Go Bump in the Night (Kino Video, 1993).).

This cute kid's cartoon features a bear cub that dares to tussle with Old Man Winter instead of hibernate, despite the warnings of Jack Frost and his mother. This is your basic kiddy cartoon plot about a child who does something he shouldn't and lives to regret it. There are a few cute cartoony touches, but for the most part it's pretty ordinary.

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

Army Explorers in Space (available for download from Open Source Movies).

This late-50s army film documents the first successful American satellite, Explorer 1. At last, we had finally caught up with Sputnik! This has a stripped-down feel to it, unlike the high-tech films of NASA to come. Other than that, it’s pretty ordinary, but it does have some historical interest.

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