The Adventures of Kit Carson – The Trap (film #8 in the Classic TV section of Movieflix). [Category: Early Film & TV]

In this rather unusual episode, Kit and El Torro help a wanted criminal foil a plot to drive his wife and son off of their ranch. This is another one of the better Kit Carsons, with a plot that has some interesting twists and turns. And, amazingly enough, it has El Torro cooking instead of womanizing!

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

The Abominable Snowman (film #4 in the Trailers section of Movieflix). [Category: Commercial]

Letterboxed (nice touch, Movieflix!) trailer for The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas, that 50s classic of Yetidom. The film is not particularly campy, but this trailer is a real hoot, with over-the-top narration and carefully edited clips designed to appeal to paranoid nutcases. Great fun.

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

Naked Nudist Trailers (extra on The Beast That Killed Women/The Monster of Camp Sunshine DVD (Something Weird, 2001)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

A small group of very campy and cheesy trailers for nudie movies from the 60s. Lots of bare breasts and bottoms are shown, but no male naughty bits. Lots of leering, too. Since there are so few of these, I won’t give away the best moments.

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

The Egg and Us (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #478 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

The “egg” of the title is a nest egg of U.S. Savings bonds. This film tries to attribute the postwar prosperity of the 50s entirely to the Savings Bond program, which is laughable, to say the least. Beyond that, though, this film is a great snapshot of 50s attitudes towards its own time. Postwar prosperity is presented as a natural outgrowth of the American way of life (read: capitalism) and the optimistic idea that it will never end is not questioned. This seems particularly naïve when they talk about inflation. For all that, it’s not very campy, really, but it does give you a good look at the 50s mindset. And it has lots of that 50s cute-style animation, too.

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

The Littlest Giant (film #6 on An American Retrospective Through Animation (Moviecraft, 1994)). [Category: Industrial]

The "littlest giant" is the American consumer in this film that once again has corporate America trying to fool the little guys into thinking they have a lot more power than they actually do. This time it's consumer credit which supposedly empowers ordinary people and Makes Life Better for Everybody. Granted, legal consumer credit is an improvement over the loan shark (played by a Snidely Whiplash wannabe), but anybody who's struggled with a massive credit card debt can tell you that all this credit is a mixed blessing, and this is not even dealing with broader issues such as the environment or who gets the shaft during an economic downturn (the little guy, usually). The 50s "cute" style animation reminds me of the "Live Better Electrically" spot, which is always an advantage in my book.

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

The Acrobat’s Journey (film #42 in the Drama section of Brickfilms). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

I don’t know…I don’t think the Chinese proverb “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” provides enough plot for an entire movie. The cinematography and music are nice, though.

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

Apollo, Segment 6006 (in the Documentary section of Open Video Project). [Category: News]

This brief clip features President Nixon arranging for the joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. space mission, and preparations for Skylab. There’s some historical value here, but not much else.

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

Cookin' with Gags (film #13 on Cartoon Crazys: Sci-Fi (WinStar Home Entertainment, 1999)). [Category: Hollywood]

Popeye and Bluto go on a picnic with Olive Oyl. It's April Fool's Day, and Bluto takes every opportunity to torment Popeye with April Fool's gags, until Popeye finally gets revenge. This is a pretty standard Popeye cartoon, though the gags are mildly amusing.

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

ASROC (film #1 in the 0800044 U.S. Navy Training Film section of DOE Nevada). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

Brief introductory clip from a navy training film about ASROC surface-to-air missles. Includes a bit of that primitive animation so common in military films.

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

Breakfast in Camp (film #11 on Buckaroos in Paradise). [Category: Industrial]

Rancher Les Stewart wakes up his ranch hands well before dawn with a yell that could wake the dead, which was probably necessary at that ungodly hour of the morning. The hands, none of whom are morning people, stumble into the cook shack, mumble “Mornin’” to each other, and proceed to gobble down their breakfasts without further comment. I don’t care how many Westerns you’ve seen––this is what it’s really like to be a cowboy!

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

The Adventures of Kit Carson – Singing Wires (film #6 in the Classic TV section of Movieflix). [Category: Early Film & TV]

In this episode, Kit foils the attempt of a corrupt cattle buyer to start an Indian war. This is by far the best Kit Carson I’ve seen so far. It actually builds up quite a bit of suspense. The portrayal of the Indians, though somewhat stereotyped, is not as bad as you’d expect for the time period it was made. In particular, Kit knows the differences between different tribes, instead of lumping all Indians together, which is surprisingly enlightened for the 50s. This is one Kit Carson to see. El Torro is even shown to fail miserably in his womanizing attempts!

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

Bee City (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #193 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

This is like Ant City, only about bees. It's a little more interesting than the other film, probably because bee life is somewhat more interesting than ant life. Like the other film, though, it has a questionable narrator who sounds like he's winging it. And he never tells us exactly how honey is made, which to my mind is missing the point. Mostly, though, this is an average nature film with slightly weird narration.

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

ABC Was Still the One in 1977 (film #20 in the Fall Season Jingles section of TVParty). [Category: Commercial]

Long network promo from the 70s, done to the song “Still the One”. This is pretty well-done and memorable, especially the beginning, which features clips from ABC shows from the 50s to the 70s. I also find the song to be pretty catchy. This will definitely bring the 70s rushing back to you, so be warned.

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

Murder in Harlem (film #23 in the Black Culture section of Movieflix). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

This very primitive 1935 movie for African-American audiences features a black lawyer and novelist who helps out a young woman whose brother was charged with killing a white secretary in the chemical plant where he works as a nightwatchman. The script has some interesting ideas, and deals with issues such as sexual harassment in the workplace, racist treatment of African-Americans by police and the courts, and domestic violence, that were usually swept under the rug back in the 30s. But the story is turgidly told and the acting is uniformly awful. It also has that stagey feel of early talkies, though it was made in 1935. It’s too bad, really––this could have been a really great film if it had been more competently done. It does deserve some commendation for inserting some actual plot development into the obligatory nightclub scene.

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

Education Is Good Business (film #477 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

This film, made by the National Chamber of Commerce, tries to sell the idea that education is good for business. A high school girl who studies art might grow up to be a housewife who has a taste for “the finer things in life,” a boy who learns better farming techniques in high school will eventually run a farm that has better yields, and a girl who takes a typing class in high school will be able to find a good job after graduation and thus have more spending power, at least until she finds a good husband. Communities that support education sell more magazines! Though I agree that higher education levels tend to improve the economy, there is something incredibly lame about this film and its tendency to reduce people to “tax-supported community assets.” I shudder to think what kind of education the people responsible for this film would like to support. The more you think about this film, the more appalling it becomes. But mostly, it’s just dull and poorly-made, which frankly doesn’t reflect well on the education of the filmmakers.

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

Abducted (film #10 in the Comedy section of Brickfilms. Also, film #5 in the Drama section of Brickfilms. Also, film #1 in the Horror section of Brickfilms. Also, film #3 in the Sci-Fi section of Brickfilms). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

This film blows the lid off of the whole alien abduction of Lego men conspiracy. And it’s very well-made, suspenseful, and funny to boot. This is one of the best Brickfilms I’ve seen––it showcases what can be done with the medium.

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

Apollo, Segment 6005 (in the Documentary section of Open Video Project). [Category: News]

Brief clip from a NASA film highlighting aeronautical research in wind tunnels. Unfortunately, there are no soundtrack woes here, but some of the visuals are kind of unusual.

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

Amchitka Program (film #1 in the 0800038 The Amchitka Program section of DOE Nevada). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

Brief clip from a film documenting an atomic bomb test on Amchitka Island in the Aleutians, near Alaska. The film claims that the explosion caused minimal damage. As usual, I’m skeptical.

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

Bridge for the Yaque (film #248 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

Boring film about building a bridge in the Dominican Republic. Those who are really into bridge-building might enjoy this, though, as the process is described in detail. And since the film was sponsored by U.S. Steel, no opportunity was missed to point out how strong and what a great material in general the steel used to build the bridge was.

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

The Boy Detective (film #9 on The Origins of Cinema, Volume 3: The Films of American Mutoscope and Biograph Mature (Video Yesteryear, 1995)). [Category: Early Film & TV]

A plucky newsboy brings two guys to justice (for what crime is not made clear) by, among other things, skulking about, sending another guy to check up on them, and, oh yeah, dressing up in drag. Strange? Uh-huh. Gives new meaning to the word "mature". Oh yeah, and that gun he's playing with at the end is really only a cigarette holder––be sure to try that one at home, kids! A 1908 Biograph film.

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