The Book and the Idol (film #10 in the General section of the State of Israel section of Stephen Spielberg Jewish Film Archive). [Category: Hollywood]

In this 1960 film, archaeological artifacts from the Land of the Bible exhibition are shown. Unfortunately, the narration is in Spanish. It’s too bad I couldn’t understand the language on this one, because the visuals are quite interesting, the music is well done, and the narration gets quite dramatic in spots. Still, this has historical value for its visuals of artifacts of biblical history.

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

Charley – Mummy Should Know (film #45 on National Archives). [Category: Educational]

This time, Charley the cat not only prevents his owner from going off with some friends without telling his mother, but prevents him from going after them when they leave before he gets back from asking Mummy. This is a bit longer than usual, and has some dramatic moments, but mostly it’s typical Charley stuff, which means its cute and charming.

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

By the Sun’s Rays (extra on The Penalty DVD (Kino Video, 2001)). [Category: Early Film & TV]

In this mystery Western, Lon Chaney plays the employee of a mining company who is in cahoots with a band of outlaws to steal shipments of gold. A detective from the company eventually discovers his secret and also prevents him from despoiling the honor of a pretty female employee. This is lively and fun, with good storytelling for its time. A 1914 Universal film.

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

Barbie (film #3 in the Commercials section of Movieflix). [Category: Commercial]

This early Barbie commercial shows the doll to be the original material girl, and encourages little girls to fantasize about growing up to be just like her. So they can’t claim that wasn’t their intention––the evidence is all right here. Of course, that makes this essential for any collector of TV commercials.

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

A Day Along the Way (film #9 in the Rural Settlement and Security section of the State of Israel section of Stephen Spielberg Jewish Film Archive). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

This 1968 Israeli film features interviews with people living in various border settlements in Israel. Unfortunately, with the exception of an interview with a pair of English-speaking turkey farmers who say that their parents are none too glad to have them be there, these interviews are entirely in Hebrew, making the film pretty much indecipherable to those who don’t speak that language. It does have perky opening credits music and some interesting visuals of the rural settlements where the people being interviewed live, giving it some historical value.

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

Disused Fridges (film #36 on National Archives). [Category: Public Service]

70s British PSA warning people to not leave discarded refrigerators lying around, as children could crawl into them and get suffocated. This is done with very limited animation, but other than that, it’s pretty standard.

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

Animal Quackers (film #18 on Disc #2 of Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 1 (Warner Bros.)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

Short compilation film highlighting two favorite co-stars of Daffy Duck: Porky Pig and Marvin Martian. Interview footage provides some background for these characters and lots of great scenes from some of their best cartoons are shown. This is a pretty standard DVD extra, but it’s fun.

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

Election 1974 – BBC News (film #10 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]

Opening credits for election night coverage on the BBC in 1974. Again, this is very short and very tiny, though the video quality is better than in the 1970 clip.

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

Berlin Airlift Increased (film #87 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

Newsreel clip from the days of the Berlin Airlift with serious soundtrack problems. It starts with German narration, which is bizarre because the title cards are in English. Then it suddenly switches to English narration for a few seconds, then the sound cuts out entirely. Then it switches to footage of a UN discussion of the Berlin situation. At first, this is silent, but then we get to hear a speech from an American delegate about the reasons for the airlift. Then it goes silent again, as we see one of the other delegates looking frustrated. I wish some of these newsreels had been better preserved––this would have had a lot more historical value with a complete soundtrack.

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

Fashion’s Favorite (film #504 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

This DuPont film from 1940 tells us all about the wonders of rayon in great detail. A lot of time is spent showing us how rayon is made, including two different chemical processes for making it, and how extensive quality control is maintained. This gets a little dry after awhile, as it is just bombastic narration with no soundtrack music, but the visuals make up for it somewhat. There are lots of great scenes of scientists working with all kinds of strange equipment and scary-looking glassware, as well as scenes of all kinds of DuPont products, such as clothing, lingerie, draperies, kitchenware, paints, and even tires. I had a field day mining images from this one. One scene I particularly enjoyed was the explanation of “cross-dying.” Apparently, it’s possible to weave white cloth with two different kinds of rayon yarns, then dye it in a mixed dye bath, containing two different dyes of different colors that each react with only one kind of rayon. What ends up happening is a single piece of white cloth is dipped in a single vat of dye and comes out plaid! Proof that there really is such a thing as plaid dye! Now all DuPont needs to do is invent portable holes. I’m sure they’re working on the problem as we speak.

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

The Dude and the Burglars (track #1 on The Origins of Cinema, Volume 2: The Films of American Mutoscope and Biograph (Video Yesteryear, 1995)). [Category: Early Film & TV]

A dandy neatly and daintily routs a couple of roguish burglars. Good for a couple of snickers. A 1903 Biograph film.

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

Boo Moon (film #32 on Disc #4 of 150 Cartoon Classics DVD Megapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2005). Also, film #2 on Disc #3 of TV Cartoon Classics DVD Boxed Set (Platinum Disc, 2005)). [Category: Hollywood]

Casper the Friendly Ghost goes to the moon to see if he’ll get a better reception there. There he meets some tiny moon people who look way too much like Smurfs for comfort. They don’t like him any better than the Earthlings, but change their minds after he helps them defeat the evil Tree People (“How would you like it if somebody picked your apples?”––no, that’s The Wizard of Oz). This defies so many rules of science, not to mention theology, that it’s not funny. If you can get past their sickly sweetness, these Casper cartoons get weirder the more you think about them.

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

Charley – Matches (film #44 on National Archives). [Category: Educational]

This time, Charley knocks over his owner’s block tower in order to keep him from playing with matches. Again, this is cute and charming, and probably was effective for its intended audience.

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

Buying Stamps from Rural Wagon, U.S.P.O. (film #25 on America at Work, America at Leisure. Also in the Historical section of Open Video Project). [Category: Early Film & TV]

Uh, this doesn’t look like a person buying stamps from a rural wagon. This looks like a mailman delivering mail to a woman living in a brownstone apartment house in someplace like Brooklyn. But maybe the brownstone is out in the middle of nowhere, and the wagon is off camera. Nevertheless, this leaves me scratching my head. A 1903 Biograph film.

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

A Few Quick Facts (film #22 on The Complete Uncensored Private SNAFU DVD (Image Entertainment, 1999)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

GIs are told that too much spending on their part can cause runaway inflation, resulting in poverty for the local population, and they are advised to save their money for the future instead. Although Private SNAFU appears and illustrates these points visually, there is little of the usual humor found in Private SNAFU cartoons, making this more of a short training film than a cartoon.

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

Axe Trailer (extra on The Child DVD (Something Weird, 2001)). [Category: Commercial]

Disturbing trailer for the 70s slasher flick Axe, in which a rape victim gets revenge with the help of a handy hatchet. Not for the squeamish.

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

Castel: The Quest for Eternity (film #2 in The Arts section of the State of Israel section of Stephen Spielberg Jewish Film Archive). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

This film profiles the Israeli artist Moshe Castel, showing lots of his artworks and letting you see him in his studio creating. Unfortunately, the narration is in Hebrew, so it’s hard to follow if you don’t know the language. Still, the visuals are arresting, and that creates some interest anyway. I’d like to know more about this artist.

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

Decimal Currency – The System (film #37 on National Archives). [Category: Public Service]

British PSA explaining the decimal currency system, which went into effect in 1971. This is told in a straightforward but visually interesting way, with stop-motion animation of coins and bills. A snapshot of a bit of British history.

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

Anemic Cinema (film #23 on UBUWeb. Also, film #3 on the Light Rhythms disc of Unseen Cinema: Early American Avante-Garde Film 1894-1941 DVD Boxed Set). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]

This film, made by Marcel Duchamp, alternates rotating spirals a la Hypnovision-type movie gimmicks with sentences written in white plastic letters on a black circle, which also rotates. As you might suspect, this is fairly mesmerizing, though I wish I could understand French so I could read the sentences. Many of the spirals are quite beautiful, or maybe I just got hypnotized by them. At any rate, I liked this a lot.

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

Election 1970 – BBC News (film #9 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]

Brief clip of the opening of election night coverage on BBC in 1970. This is so small and poorly digitized that you can hardly see anything. It does have bombastic music, though.

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