Becky Sharp Trailer (film #10 on SabuCat Movie Trailers). [Category: Commercial]
This trailer has quite a bit of historical value, as Becky Sharp was the first feature film made in Technicolor. The trailer trumpets this, showing scenes in both black-and-white and color, so audiences would be wowed by the difference. Other than that, it’s a standard trailer for a period drama.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.
Cinderella (film #533 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
This is a sign-language version of Betty Boop’s Poor Cinderella. The interpretation is frequent and intense here, and I can’t help but think that perhaps the assumption here was that deaf kids are not familiar with the story of Cinderella, and that this interpreted cartoon was meant to rectify that situation. Considering that Cinderella is played by Betty Boop in this cartoon, that’ll leave ‘em with a pretty bizarre idea of Cinderella, sort of like the image I had when I was a kid of Scrooge being Mr. Magoo.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Heritage of Splendor (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #668 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
Ronald Reagan narrates this 60s anti-littering film, sponsored by a big oil company, in which he tells us that big corporations are in no way responsible for pollution, but our public lands are a mess because individual citizens are litterbugs. This is pretty much what you’d expect from this kind of film, with a mildly disturbing scene of a child dressed in a freaky-looking litterbug costume locked in a cardboard cage. Eventually, Reagan threatens to close all the National Parks if we don’t clean up our acts and stop acting like pigs already. Tell that to Exxon, Ronnie, though I will make an effort to keep a litterbag in my car.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Body Care and Grooming (MST3K Episode #510: The Painted Hills. Also, film #3 on Disc #4 of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 2 DVD (Rhino, 2003). Also in the Epehemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #227 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]
This college-level health film is not only about the importance of good personal hygiene, but also stresses the "appropriateness" of dress, meaning dress like everybody else. A great example of 50's conformity at it's most insistent. Hygiene films are almost always fun––there's something so earnest and simple about them. One wonders what its college level audience thought about being talked down to so much. The msting is great––I especially like the sound effects they add to the scene of dead skin cells shedding.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Msting: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Accident (film #1 in the Action section of Brickfilms). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
A Lego guy takes a spill from his motorcycle and gets carted off by the rescue squad. Told ya those things are dangerous!Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
BBC News Late Headlines (film #21 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
A late-night update from 1979 on the fragile medical condition of Yugoslavia’s President Tito, given by a British newscaster who doesn’t look too chipper himself. This has historical value, mainly.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Auto von Heute (film #292 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This is a 60s commercial for the Trabant, an East German car that was even more hated than the Edsel, but because they were the only car available, millions were sold. The commercial is long, with a kitschy 50s feel, though it’s a lot more campy if you know the story behind the Trabant. Still, this is quite fun, even if you can’t understand German.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 2, No. 2 (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #299 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
Another lightweight episode in the Chevrolet newsreel series. This one features a town that named itself after Chevrolets, an alligator wrestler who totes his opponent in his Chevrolet (I bet the upholstery in the back seat didn’t last long), cops who practice appearing in gangster movies by shooting out of their Chevrolets, a large boat tied to the top of a Chevrolet (I guess boat trailers hadn’t been invented yet), a humorous spot about parking meters (which seem to be a new idea, giving this some historical value), and some silly stunts at a water carnival, including an extremely dangerous-looking greased-pole contest. Silly and mildly historically interesting.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Chaplin - Mabel's Busy Day (film #35 in the Silent section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
The Little Tramp gets into a tussle with a feisty female hotdog vendor at a racetrack. This eventually escalates into a brawl involving most of the spectators at the race. This one is kind of hard to follow, but some of the physical schtick is amusing.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Les Babouches a Buddha (film #5 on Scopitones). [Category: Hollywood]
Silly French Scopitone in which a woman in a belly-dancing costume sings in French to a man dressed like a sheik about, I think, his gold Buddha slippers. This has a lot of that early 60s “sexy” feel, as well as poor sound synchronization. Add a dog who tries to steal the slippers, and you’ve got a mildly surreal experience.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Adventurer (film #48 on Feature Films (in “Charlie Chaplin Festival”)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Charlie plays an escaped convict who gets in good with a rich family by saving them from drowning. This is a very funny Chaplin outing, with especially brilliant chase scenes. Chaplin really knew how to defy expectations when being chased, and I’ve not seen funnier chase antics outside of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Highly recommended––this is one of the silent comedies to watch when you really want to laugh. A 1917 Charlie Chaplin film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: *****.
Baby Doll Trailer (film #9 on SabuCat Movie Trailers). [Category: Commercial]
Lurid but well-made trailer for a movie that looks lurid, but well-made. Carol Baker plays Southern jailbait in a movie that looks to have every Southern cliché in the book. Still, the trailer makes it look reasonably intelligent, as well as being a dark little piece of filmmaking in and of itself.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Christmas Comes But Once a Year (film #119 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Sign language version of the classic old cartoon in which Grampy cheers up some orphans on Christmas by making all kinds of clever toys from kitchen junk. This is a really fun cartoon, and the sign language interpretation is pretty straightforward and not too intrusive, so the deaf kids should enjoy this one.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Help Them Stay Safe (film #19 in the Public Info. Films section of TVArk). [Category: Public Service]
Straightforward British PSA from the 70s urging people to fix loose carpets in the homes of elderly relatives, lest they have a nasty fall. Since I have an elderly mother, this hits close to home. All I can say is, “Do it.”Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
The Adventures of Daddy McGregor (film #675 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Silly horror movie about a guy who torments bunnies, animated with pencil drawings of stick figures on typing paper. Despite production values giving new meaning to the term “low budget,” this is genuinely amusing and fun. In fact, the amateurishness of it makes it more fun somehow. Animal rights activists will be happy to know that no bunnies were harmed in the making of the film, and that PETA plays a prominent role. Animal haters will enjoy the scene with the guilloutine.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
BBC Nine O’Clock News #3 (film #11 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Another opening credits sequence and first few seconds of the BBC Nine O’Clock News, this time from 1978. We get to see footage of a prime minister who lost the majority trying to patch things up, Margaret Thatcher commenting on it all, and, for the first time, a female newscaster. For its length, this packs in lots of late 70s Britain.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Campaign in Europe (film #2 on Side A of Disc #2 of WWII: The Ultimate Collection DVD Boxed Set (Brentwood Home Video, 2004)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This WWII German propaganda film documents the German takeover of Poland in September of 1939. The Germans first portray themselves as victims of “Polish Terror,” stating that Germans in the city of Danzig were treated badly by the Poles. Although the goals of the invasion were first explained to be the “liberation” of limited areas of northwestern Poland, once it gets going, all concepts of limitation are forgotten, and we see the German war machine relentlessly blast through the entire country, decimating the Polish military in a matter of weeks. This is all portrayed in an extremely stark, deadpan style, with occasional narration in British English. This film gives you a good idea of what the Germans were saying in their propaganda, as well as showing how relentless the German war machine was in its early days.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.
Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 2, No. 1 (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #298 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
More silly “news” from Chevrolet, this time featuring the latest swimsuit fashions, ski-jumping, a ferryboat run with a Chevrolet engine, more animal abuse as hunting dogs are shoved into a car trunk, a traffic school with kindergarteners in kiddie cars a la Tomorrow’s Drivers, a Chevrolet pulling a glider made by a high school student, and a chimp driving a car, in what has to be revenge for all the animal abuse that’s gone on in this series so far. This one is even more lightweight than the others so far, which is saying something.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Battle of Mafeking (film #26 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]
An old-fashioned battle ensues, involving lines of soldiers running towards each other, swords hacking, and the cavalry galloping through the foreground. You won’t see this kind of battle footage again. Still looks pretty violent, though. A 1900 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Babette Goes to War Trailer (film #8 on SabuCat Movie Trailers). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Sexist trailer for a 60s Brigitte Bardot comedy. It seems that this was made to introduce Bardot to a wider audience of women as well as men, but with lines like calling Bardot the “cuddliest doll in the world,” or calling the women of the audience “75 million American girls,” I wouldn’t bet on it.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Christmas Circus (film #166 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
This sign-language version of a cartoon is more straightforwardly done and less weird, even though it also uses the box on top of a character effect. The cartoon itself is mildly strange, though, featuring animals who give a circus on Christmas. The way the interpretation is done seems to make more sense here, or maybe I’m just getting used to these interpreted cartoons.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Hard Shoulder (film #18 in the Public Info. Films section of TVArk). [Category: Public Service]
Straightforward British PSA warning motorists not to stop on the shoulders of superhighways unless it’s an emergency. The couple that stops to argue over the map is mildly ditzy, but mostly this is ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Air Enforcement (film #14 in the Action section of Brickfilms. Also, film #13 in the Comedy section of Brickfilms). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Simple object lesson on the dangers of speeding when “Speed Limit [is] Enforced by Aircraft.” An unpretentious little film that made me smile.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
BBC Nine O’Clock News #2 (film #10 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Another standard opening credits sequence and first few seconds of a BBC Nine O’Clock News broadcast, this time from 1974. This one is a bit more interesting, as it includes the evening headlines, giving you a snapshot of events in Britain in 1974.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Big Lift (film #1 on Side B of Disc #6 of War Classics DVD Megapack). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas star in this fictionalized account of two air force men involved in the Berlin Airlift, when the U. S. Air Force flew in food and supplies to Berlin after the Soviets blockaded the city. What is unusual about this film is that all the other American military personnel in it were played by the real GIs involved in the airlift. The story is personal, however. It involves the two main characters each getting involved with women in Berlin. Clift almost gets suckered into marrying a woman who is trying to get into the U.S. so she can hook up with her German lover there, while Douglas, who is anti-German after having had traumatic experiences as a P.O.W. during the war, becomes more sympathetic to them after teaching a German woman what democracy is all about. The film is intelligently made for the most part, showing the complexities of the situation in post-war Berlin. It shows that the roots of many of the German’s corrupt and unethical behaviors come from post-war social disintegration, the need to survive, and the corrupt values they were taught as children in Hitler’s Germany, yet it also doesn’t let them off the hook for them. It also shows that a desire for revenge, though understandable, can nevertheless have painful consequences if it is acted out, in a disturbing scene where Douglas beats up a German man who may have been a prison camp guard who tormented him (the film doesn’t totally tell us whether the man actually was the guard, or whether he just looked like him––this makes the scene far more disturbing), then discovers that he feels worse instead of better from doing that. A few other scenes are a bit farfetched and pat, especially the scene where Douglas’ girlfriend finally “gets” the Constitution, but they are outnumbered by the more intelligent sequences. An interesting, if Hollywoodized, portrait of post-war Berlin, and the American military’s experience of it.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 1, No. 3 (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #297 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
More silly “news lite” from Chevrolet, including the wonder of self-mixing cement trucks; the controversy over which house in St. Augustine, Florida is the oldest house in America; more lame yux about old car ads; a bizarre-looking experimental car that looks like it may be Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Car (or a rip-off thereof); jewelry inspired by auto design; a lame joke about car interiors that block out noise; military vehicles made by Chevrolet; and, in yet more animal abuse news, using a live Chihuahua as a hood ornament. The most interesting segments are the experimental car and the one just mentioned about the poor dog who is not only forced to be the first smashed in a crash, but must wear dorky-looking glasses as well. PETA, where were you back in the 30s?Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Bathing at Atlantic City (film #15 on America at Work, America at Leisure. Also, in the Historical section of Open Video Project). [Category: Early Film & TV]
It looks like back in ought-one, the beaches were just as crowded as they are today. But the people wore a lot more clothes in the water. A slice of turn-of-the-century life. A 1901 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Babes in Toyland Trailer (film #7 on SabuCat Movie Trailers). [Category: Commercial]
Trailer for the 30s version of Babes in Toyland, starring Laurel & Hardy. This is quite fun to watch, as the graphic design is wonderful and some of the most visually striking moments are chosen to show, particularly the stop-motion animated wooden soldiers. A great relic from the 30s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Chocolate Princess (film #69 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Sign language version of a 70s cartoon with an anti-racist message, narrated by Bill Cosby. In this one, they experiment not just with having the interpreter break in at various points, but with inserting boxes on top of the characters with interpreters, in costume, playing the various roles in sign language. This gives the film a weirdness the other interpreted cartoons don’t have. The Chocolate King looks especially strange and surreal. It’s also curious that although the cartoon has an anti-racist message, the girl playing the sign-language “Chocolate Princess” is white, as are all the other sign-language actors. They deserve points for getting creative here, though.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Guide Dogs for the Blind (film #1827 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
Newsreel clip from the 50s about the training of guide dogs for the blind. Pretty straightforward, with some nice images of the dogs.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
After the Taping Was Over (film #2 in the Lucy’s Backstage Battles section of TVParty). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Clip from an episode of “The Lucy Show” in which Joan Crawford guest-starred. In the text of the page, they mention that Crawford sounded drunk in this performance, and they’re right, though I might not have noticed it if I hadn’t been alerted beforehand. The one who really made me laugh, though, was Gale Gordon. I’m becoming increasingly convinced that he was the real comic talent in “The Lucy Show.”Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
BBC Nine O’Clock News #1 (film #9 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Opening credits and the first few seconds of a BBC Nine O’Clock newscast from 1973. Straightforward, with some historical value.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
The Battle of San Pietro (film #2 on Side B of Disc #12 of War Classics DVD Megapack (Treeline Films, 2004)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This film documents the Battle of San Pietro, one of the most bloody and difficult of the Italian campaign in WWII. For the most part this is rather slow-moving and dull. However, there are some striking images of bodies being put into body bags, and multiple graves being dug, giving you an idea of just how bloody this battle was. And the ending, in which we see the townspeople of San Pietro emerging from the caves where they had been hiding, is fairly moving. Mostly, though, this is straightforward, and it could have had at least 15 minutes of it edited out without really losing anything. Unless they were trying to show us the boredom of combat, in which case they succeeded.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Atlantic Imperial Gasoline Promo Film (film #6 on Sell Sell Sell DVD (A/V Geeks)). [Category: Industrial]
This clip from a film for gas station owners is pretty darn strange. Similar to The Battery, it combines female objectification with bizarre attempts at humor. The most jaw-dropping moment is a scene where an obviously insane woman wheels out a clean carburetor and treats it like a baby, chewing the scenery in the process. Other highlights include stock footage of Castro and Kruschev dubbed to sing the praises of Atlantic Imperial gas, and supposed “hidden camera” footage of various weirdos who pull into gas stations. I wish they had included the whole film––it looks like a winner.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
Bass Fishing (film #14 on America at Work, America at Leisure. Also, in the Historical section of Open Video Project). [Category: Early Film & TV]
A nattily-dressed turn-of-the-century dude trolls for bass in a mountain stream. Eventually, he catches a nice specimen. But you should have seen the one he caught when the camera stopped rolling. A 1903 Biograph film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman Trailer (film #6 on SabuCat Movie Trailers). [Category: Commercial]
Campy trailer for one of the all-time great bad movies. No real surprises here, but you do get to enjoy a scene with the incredibly lame giant hand effect. And the movie is so much fun that the trailer can’t help but be.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Child Bride Trailer (film #33 on SabuCat Movie Trailers). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Lurid trailer for the cheapie exploitation film about the not-so-charming redneck practice of marryin’ ‘em off young (like, about 9 years old, from the looks of the girl in this film). This actually looks like a pretty disturbing film. I’ve not seen it, but my experience with these kinds of films is that they’re a lot less offensive than their advertising makes them out to be. If that’s true of this film, then this trailer did a pretty darn good job of making it look creepy and awful. Let’s hope it is just good advertising.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Give Yourself the Green Light (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #602 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This is another 50s film about the problem of bad roads. Since it was sponsored by General Motors, the solution, of course, is to build lots and lots more roads. Huge superhighways! Huge parking lots! Everywhere! This was supposed to solve the problem of traffic jams. Well, all the roads got built and the amount of cars seemed to expand to fit them. This is a great film for learning how we got where we are today in terms of huge freeways and parking lots everywhere. It would take building all the roads encouraged in this film before people would start to notice any downside to paving paradise and putting up a parking lot.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet #6 (film #6 on Side B of Disc #1 of TV Favorites DVD Megapack (Treeline Films, 2004)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
Ozzie and Harriet discover a little ghost town in the middle of nowhere, and they meet an old-timer who tells them the town used to be named Harrietsville, after a woman named Harriet. Harriet thinks it might be her great aunt, and so she convinces Ozzie to spend the night there. In the middle of the night, Rick and about 100 of his college student friends show up abruptly for no apparent reason. Of course, this bizarre plot is really just a setup for Rick to sing a couple of country songs. It’s interesting how far the writers fell backward in order to shoehorn Rick’s performances into the shows, but it’s nothing later sitcoms wouldn’t do to accommodate celebrity guest stars.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
BBC News and Campaign Report #1 (film #19 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Standard-issue opening credits for a BBC political campaign news report. This comes live from a newsroom, a type you don’t often see anymore. Other than that, this is ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Battle of Midway (film #1 on Side A of Disc #4 of WWII: The Ultimate Collection DVD Boxed Set (Brentwood Home Video, 2004)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This battle film was obviously made for the home front, as a propaganda piece. It’s in color, for one thing, which was unusual for the period. And it features the voice over of a little old lady, who comments on the soldiers periodically, mainly telling us how she remembered them as little boys. These sequences are pretty campy today. Other narration is kept to a minimum, so we can take in the striking images of death and destruction. You really get a feel in this film that the cameraman was in mortal danger. The ending is a great piece of propaganda, featuring title cards that tell battle statistics, which are then painted over by a hand wielding a huge paintbrush dripping with red paint. This film is quite fun to watch, and is so well made you might find yourself getting caught up in the fighting spirit after awhile.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 1, No. 2 (film #296 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
More breezy, silly “news” from Chevrolet. This one would never fly today, as it contains such safety violations as driving a car on railroad tracks (on the Key West bridge, yet!), stuffing a Shetland pony into your back seat, and driving while about 50 bathing beauties are sitting all over your car. The combination bus/streetcar is pretty cool, though.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Bulleteers (film #15 on Feature Films). [Category: Hollywood]
Superman battles a gang that has a bullet-shaped rocket/car in this Fleischer toon. As usual, this has great art deco styling, and Lois Lane stupidly gets overinvolved in the situation, requiring rescue from Superman. The highlight is the scene where Superman mounts the rocket/car and opens it up like a can opener to rescue Lois. Lois, of course, gets the scoop, making me wonder how Clark Kent manages to keep his job.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
ABC Network 1971 (film #5 in the Crazy Commercials and Unforgettable Jingles section of TVParty). [Category: Commercial]
Mellow 70s “This Is the Place to Be” promo for ABCs 1971 prime time lineup. Inoffensive.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Cabin in the Sky Trailer (film #26 on SabuCat Movie Trailers). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Straightforward trailer for the all-black cast big-budget Hollywood musical. The graphic design of this has that wonderful 40s modernist look. Of interest is the fact that the two female stars, Ethel Waters and Lena Horne, are featured in the trailer, while the male star, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson is not mentioned at all!Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Face of Youth (film #485 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This stark 50s mental health film shows us the role public health nurses have in safeguarding the mental health of a community’s children. Two boys in particular are featured, Alex, a class clown and troublemaker, and Ralph, a meek, anxious, people-pleasing kid. Alex’s problems are easily solved by putting him on the school safety patrol, where, supposedly, his desire for attention is channeled in a healthy direction. Ralph’s problems turn out to be more difficult, so he is referred to the local Child Guidance Center, where, after reassuring his mother that it is not “a place for crazy kids,” he is given play therapy. Pretty soon, he gets real angry, and this is supposed to be an improvement somehow, though this is hard to buy from today’s perspective. This film is similar to Angry Boy in subject matter, but in style it is stark and depressing. Although competent soundtrack music appears intermittently, many scenes are inexplicably silent. And the narrator sounds like he’s one of the walking dead. The boy who plays Ralph does a good job of looking genuinely anguished, and his pain seems understandable in the bleak black-and-white world he has to live in, a world where darn near everybody looks depressed. And whereas the therapist in Angry Boy was genuinely warm and caring, the therapist in this film seems wooden, as if he memorized his interventions from a book somewhere. The ending is disturbing, since although Ralph has plenty to be angry about, and obviously needs to move in the direction of more assertiveness, violent acting out will hardly make things better for him. The narrator tells us that limits were set on Ralph’s acting-out behaviors, but we are not shown this, and frankly, the therapist seems so bland that it’s hard to believe he could set and enforce any limits with an acting-out child. Overall, this is a dark, depressing, yet interesting film that has lots of footage to mine for video projects, especially if you’re making a video about depression.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet #5 (film #5 on Side B of Disc #1 of TV Favorites DVD Megapack (Treeline Films, 2004)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
This mildly silly episode of “Ozzie & Harriet” features Skip Young, the TV Turkeys guy, as lazy Wally, Rick’s college fraternity brother, and his silly study system, which involves sunglasses, earmuffs, sardines, and standing on your head. Unfortunately, the other guys in the fraternity think Wally’s sudden burst of good grades has more to do with his job in the Administration Office, where the tests are stored, than his “never-fail” study system, so Rick helps him to prove himself honest by babysitting him before a big test. Silly, slightly surreal sitcom fare.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
BBC News #3 (film #22 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Well, it’s just after 6 o’clock, at time for the penguin on top of your television set––uh, I mean time for a short clip from the BBC announcing the evening news, with a world map graphic. Brief, standard, and very British.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Attack! The Battle for New Britain (film #2 on Side A of Disc #9 of War Classics DVD Megapack (Treeline Films, 2004)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This WWII film documents the invasion of New Britain, an island off the coast of New Guinea. It’s told from the soldier’s point of view, covering training, preparations for attack, landing on the beaches, and the gritty reality of combat. This soldier’s-eye-view of things makes the film a lot more interesting than it might be. Nothing about this difficult battle was prettied up for the cameras, and we get to see such harsh realities as Gis slogging all equipment through the muddy, insect-ridden jungle, hacking away undergrowth with every step; a field of Japanese corpses; doctors doing surgery in field hospitals under the most primitive of conditions (and one of the hospitals gets bombed by the Japanese); and soldiers burying their dead comrades in the jungle. It doesn’t even end with victory, which is unusual for this kind of film. The one unfortunate aspect of the film is the way the New Guinea natives were portrayed, despite the fact that they were on our side and helped the military a great deal with preparations for the attack. For this, they get called such respectful names as “Fuzzy Wuzzies” and “Blogs”. Other than that, this is an interesting, realistic look at what the soldiers of WWII had to go through.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 1, No. 1 (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #295 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
Newsreel stories are used to sell Chevrolets. That’s right, every story in this newsreel, from a giant dam-building project to ladies’ hairstyles is somehow lamely tied to Chevrolets. There are a lot of these to come, folks, though, so let’s get going. This one features the aforementioned dam project, ice-boat racing, a new kind of gas gauge, the latest hairstyles for upper class ladies, and a little girl stuffing a dog into a glove compartment, in what is probably the silliest and strangest “story.” These are all breezily and bombastically narrated, so the thing really moves. Mildly amusing.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Andy Taylor (Griffith), His Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) (film #2 in the Mayberry RIP section of TVParty). [Category: Commercial]
The highlight of this clip is a patently ridiculous commercial for Sanka coffee featuring Andy trying to convince Opie that it’s just the thing to feed his parakeet. When Opie insists that parakeets don’t drink coffee, Andy smiles wryly and says, “The sponsor don’t know that!” This is part of a larger clip that includes the last couple of minutes of "The Andy Griffith Show," the closing credits, and a brief promo for “Angel” as well. A great slice of tv-watching life during the early 60s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Bored Cuckoo (film #532 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
This is a sign-language interpreted version of one of those classic old Warner Bros. toons that feature characters from books coming alive at night and engaging in various antics. These toons were usually an excuse to make lots of topical gags, and they are essentially plotless. Nevertheless, the interpreter pops in about every three seconds and tries to explain what is going on, even though most of the gags are visual. Some of the explanations are inexplicable, such as announcing a caricature of Greta Garbo with huge feet doing a soft shoe on the cover of So Big as, “Oh! Here is a very bad dancer!” While others are merely incredibly obvious, such as announcing and slowly finger-spelling the name of Rip Van Winkle, when in the cartoon, the large legend “RIP VAN WINKLE” appears above his head. OK, I suppose the intended audience of deaf children will probably not get the topical references (hearing children don’t, either), and maybe a lot of them can’t read. But was it really necessary to explain the Thin Man gag? Of course, the idea of even attempting to sign-language interpret this particular cartoon is strange, and its even stranger in execution, making this an interesting piece of ephemera all the same.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Bargain Day, 14th Street, New York (film #4 on The Life of a City). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Huge crowds mill around a dime store. Wonder what toy their children just had to have for Christmas? Teddy bears, perhaps? A 1905 Biograph film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Vintage Intermission Cartoon (track #3 on Weird Cartoons (Special Edition) (Rhino, 1987)). [Category: Commercial]
A classic animated intermission concession stand promo featuring the Bon-Bon chefs. A cute extra on Rhino's Weird Cartoons collection.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs (film #4 on WWII Cartoons, Vol. 1 (The Authentic History Center)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This Warner Brothers toon is filled with outrageous African-American stereotypes, hot jazz, and wartime references. Almost as outrageous as the stereotypes are wildly exaggerated rubbery moves of the characters. If you can get past the stereotypes (which are pretty awful), this is a fun toon. But I’m not necessarily sure that you should get past the stereotypes. It is, though, a great piece of history, revealing both good and bad sides of WWII-era popular culture.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Empty Life (film #479 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This 50s film claims to be about boredom, but it’s actually about the depression, angst, and neuroticism that lay just under the surface of many middle class families. Hugh Marriott is bored with life, but actually he’s angry and depressed because his wife disapproves of him doing the kind of work he loves, and he’s too much of a wimp to go against her wishes. He’s the main case study here, but other “bored” people in his neighborhood are mentioned as well, including a neighbor woman who’s an alcoholic, a local grocer who’s a sex addict, and a teen hot rodder who’s headed down the road towards being a grim traffic statistic. The film is bizarre and jaw-dropping in some moments, and quite realistic and sensitive in others, especially the portrayal of how Hugh’s “boredom” affects his son, leading to problems for the boy. The narration is relentless and deadpan, and the soundtrack music is wailing, angst-ridden jazz, giving the film a dark, heavy feel that resembles the leaden pain of depression. This combination of good and bad qualities results in a film that is hard to evaluate one way or the other, being both campy and weird, and realistic and sensitive by turns. At any rate, it’s far from boring. Hope they eventually post its sequel: Boredom II: The Search for Zest (and if you think I’m making that up, watch the movie).Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
The Selling Wizard (MST3K Episode #603: The Dead Talk Back). [Category: Industrial]
Cheesecake is used to sell display freezers to grocers. A bizarrely-dressed but silent woman (Crow once calls her "the pizza domanitrix") points out the outstanding features of Anheuser-Busch display freezers gameshow hostess-style, while a male narrator delivers the sales pitch. Like most advertising of this type, this film is extremely sexist and objectifying. Both the woman and the freezer are referred to as "The Selling Wizard" and every effort is made to get the assumed male audiences to see them as interchangeable. Appalling, and dull to boot. The msting makes it bearable, though, especially Tom Servo's falling head over heels for the pitch: "O.K., I wanna buy it now!! Just name your price, I'll take it, I'll take it!!"Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ***. Msting: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet #3 (film #3 on Side B of Disc #1 of TV Favorites DVD Megapack (Treeline Films, 2004)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
This episode is a supremely silly tale involving a bunch of really ugly ashtrays a neighbor lady made (said neighbor played by Mary Jane Croft, who later went on to be Lucy’s best friend) and a shotgun, and what fun is had when one meets the other. This is a lot weirder and thus more enjoyable than the usual “Ozzie and Harriet” fare, and thus is recommended. I would venture to say that its “shotgun approach” to the criticism of really bad art has some merit.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
BBC News #2 (film #21 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Lemon curry?Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *** (mainly due to Python influence). Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Atom in the Hospital (film #131 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This early 60s film shows various forms of medical research and treatment using nuclear radiation. It’s pretty straightforward for the most part, with some rather striking images of patients being hooked up to various kinds of huge machines. It does provide us with a look at the state of the art of nuclear medicine in the early 60s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Chevrolet Advertising Rings the Bell (film #294 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
No, really, it does! Disembodied hands spring out of Chevrolet print ads and ring doorbells! It’s true, I swear! This film with a missing soundtrack blows the lid off of this whole conspiracy! And who’s responsible, you may wonder? Why it’s Chevrolet Man, a robot-like apparition built of wire and bits of advertising ephemera! He places an evil curse upon all ads for the 1951 Chevrolet, and suddenly billboards start walking around! Print ads show up on people’s doorsteps and demand to be taken in and made members of the family! People become mesmerized by their tv sets! And here’s the really scary part of it: the 1951 Chevrolet was not actually released until December of 2000! Take heed everyone! Lock up your children!! They’re here already!! YOU’RE NEXT!!! [Ed. Note: Sorry about that outburst. The author has been taken away for reeducation and treatment. You may now return to your regularly-scheduled Chevrolet advertising.]Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
The Angry Movie (film #2 on Angry Night DVD (A/V Geeks)). [Category: Educational]
This late-70s Coronet film is a weird pseudo-psychedelic animated romp through the mind of an angry child, including such disturbing content as death wishes against parents and moments of depersonalization. In the end, the kid suddenly gets over it when the kid who originally made him angry gives him a telephone call. No discussion of this disturbing journey through the dark recesses of a child’s mind is given. My, we’ve come a long way from such Coronet fare as Control Your Emotions or Act Your Age. This thing leaves you wondering what the justification was for actually showing it to children. Granted, it portrays thoughts that commonly occur to angry children, but without any sort of context or discussion, it’s more frightening than illuminating. A weird little film that provides you with more than you probably want to know about the mind of a child.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **** (though really you don’t know whether to laugh or cry). Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Axel and His Dog (film #3 in the Twin Cities’ Local Kid Shows section of TVParty). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Clip from an early local kid show in the Twin Cities area, featuring goony Norwegian Axel, his perpetually offscreen dog, and his magic spyglass made of two paper towel tubes. Here, he’s obviously winging it. This sort of thing is representative of early local kid shows, making this a great historical relic, as well as a lot of fun to watch.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Andy Griffith Show (film #28 in the 1964 section of TVParty). [Category: Commercial]
Commercial for Post Toasties where Barney gets Andy to exercise so he can steal his Post Toasties. Mildly amusing and quite nostalgic.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Blonde Pick Up (film #17 on SabuCat Movie Trailers). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Campy, lurid trailer for the exploitation cheapie Blonde Pick Up, aka Racket Girls (msties, take note!). Lots of great over-the-top ad lines, plus a scene featuring Timothy Farrell, always a sign of high-quality cinema! Lots of fun.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Desert Demons (film #25 in the Documentary section of Movieflix (www.movieflix.com)). [Category: Hollywood]
Here we see an ant in a life-or-death struggle with a wolf! Seriously, it's this kind of nature documentary that the Pythons were making fun of. With the exception of a few very brief shots of owls and turtles, this is all about desert animals killing other desert animals. I guess that's how they packed 'em into the theaters during the 1930s.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Crowded Out (film #373 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This 50s film exposes the problem of school overcrowding during the baby boom and how it makes it hard for teachers to teach effectively. An elementary school teacher labors over her letter of resignation after a school year in which her class size doubled, causing her to have to get rid of the piano, the class library, and tables containing class projects in order to make room for more desks, and to neglect the individual needs of her students. One little girl, Kathy, has trouble with reading, and after her incredibly bitchy and intrusive aunt complains to her single mother, the mother gets all up in arms and meets with the school principal to try to get the teacher fired. But the principal asks her to take a tour of the school before judging, and this gives her a chance to see classes being held in hallways, the school library, the auditorium, a Quonset hut, and even the boiler room in the basement! This gives her a pretty clear idea of why Kathy’s teacher has no time for her. Unfortunately, but perhaps more realistically, the film offers no solutions for this, other than perhaps getting parents more involved, but it even acknowledged that parents have lots of demands on their time already. This message of this film is still relevant today, and its still a difficult problem to solve, making this one of the more realistic of the public service films from this period. However, I can’t help but think in Kathy’s case that things would improve quite a bit if her mother would tell her aunt to shut up.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Boats (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #226 on Prelinger Archive.). [Category: Educational]
This ERPI film should have been titled Dick and Jane Go on a Boat Ride. Nancy and Roger go on a boat ride down the Hudson River and the narrator tells us all about it in a bright, simplistic fashion. For an ERPI film, though, this is pretty darned exciting. The soundtrack is full of boat whistles and water sounds and there’s even a part where characters talk to each other in synchronized sound!! This is when Nancy and Roger visit the captain of the boat, who tells them that when he turns the wheel this way, it makes the boat go to the right, and when he turns it this way, it goes to the left. This is great msting fodder, folks. See Roger and Nancy on the boat. Go, Roger and Nancy, go!Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Chaplin - By the Sea (film #28 in the Silent section of Movieflix). [Category: Early Film & TV]
The Little Tramp gets into a tussle with two married couples, some cops, and an ice cream stand at the beach. As usual, the Tramp leaves chaos wherever he goes. A mildly amusing Chaplin outing with some brilliant moments of physical schtick. A 1915 Essanay film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet #2 (film #2 on Side B of Disc #1 of TV Favorites DVD Megapack (Treeline Films, 2004)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
In this episode, David has to work at home for a couple of days and keeps getting annoyed by his wife June. June is usually portrayed as pretty sensible, but in this episode she’s so annoying it makes you want to scream. Apparently, housewives have nothing more to do but hover around their husbands when they are working at home, or so this episode seems to imply. Since this is not very true to June’s character, it just screams sexism. Still, this is so bland that it’s not as annoying as it might be. And it ends with Ricky singing with his band, which is not too bad.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
BBC News #1 (film #17 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Opening credits and a brief clip from a 60s BBC newscast. Gives you some idea what newscasts were like in England back in the days of black-and-white tv.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
The Atom and You – Second Episode (film #132 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Breezy 50s newsreel documenting various peaceful uses of atomic energy, mostly in research. This mostly involves exposing animals to radiation in various ways and studying its effects, though everybody’s favorite use of atomic energy––radiation treatment of cancer––is also gone over in detail. The presentation of research on the safety of nuclear power plants at the Hanford Nuclear Facility in Washington is ironic when viewed from today’s perspective, since Hanford turned out to be one of the worst nuclear facilities in terms of leaking radiation into the environment. Overall, this is fairly straightforward, with just enough irony to keep it interesting.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Butcher, the Baker and the Ice Cream Maker (film #5 on Sell Sell Sell DVD (A/V Geeks)). [Category: Industrial]
The butcher and the baker have been abandoned by the candlestick maker, who would rather make more candles than sing at the Mother Goose Festival (workaholism, anybody?). So they travel around Mother Goose Land until they find a friendly ice cream maker who is willing to join their trio, after giving them a tour of his ice cream factory and expounding on the virtues of square cartons for ice cream. All of this is animated with rhyming dialogue, but for once, children are not the expected audience for this torture, but other ice cream makers, in order to sell them square ice cream cartons. I’m not sure who thought this was an effective way to sell to these customers, but it does leave us with a film with a fair amount of camp value, especially the song about the helicopter they use to toodle around Mother Goose Land, which contains lyrics that tell us all about how high they are, and when they get high enough, they gently come down. Maybe ice cream is an improvement for these two. Of course, since I am an ice cream fanatic, I enjoyed this film from beginning to end.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Christmas Comes But Once a Year (film #5 in the Christmas Specials of the 60s and 70s section of TVParty). [Category: Hollywood]
Clip from the cute Fleischer cartoon about Christmas in an orphanage. The children wake up on Christmas morning and grab their stockings. That’s it. Wish they had included all of it.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Alive and Kicking (film #1 in the Schools section of TVArk). [Category: Educational]
Opening credits and first few minutes from a 70s British educational show. Ironically enough, this actually has more the feel of an educational film, since the soundtrack wavers a bit and we hear the clackety-clack of film going across sprockets. The show features a British mom getting her two young children up in the morning, and it’s charmingly realistic and very British. One of the more interesting TVArk Schools clips.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Animated Buffers Featuring Ricky and Lucy (film #1 in The Lost Lucy Themes section of TVParty). [Category: Early Film and TV]
First we see the cute animated buffers that appeared as transitions to commercial breaks in the original run of “I Love Lucy.” Then we get to see a great campy commercial for Fluffo Shortening. We’re supposed to admire the golden brown color Fluffo gives fried chicken compared to chicken fried in The Other Leading Brand, but in grainy black and white, what’s the difference? Then it goes to the closing credits for “I Love Lucy,” featuring a bizarre animated guy in pajamas. A great sampling of mildly weird early tv.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
Anastasia (film #5 on SabuCat Movie Trailers). [Category: Commercial]
Fairly standard trailer for the big budget 50s movie about the woman who would be the Russian princess. The movie looks competent but unsurprising.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
The Black Gestapo (film #29 in the Trailers section of Movieflix). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
OK, get this. A “Watts Army” of African-Americans fighting against crime, drugs, and corruption is ineffective until it turns into “the Black Gestapo.” I guess it’s classier than the Black KKK would be. Seriously, though, there is something pretty disturbing about this ultra-violent blaxploitation film from the 70s, though I can understand the anger behind it. Actually contains the line, “You stinkin’ honky!”, though the rest probably won’t make you laugh.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Three Smart Daughters (track #9 on Ephemeral Films CD-ROM (Voyager). Also in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #1513 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Commercial]
Another "minute movie"––really a 60-second commercial––made to show in movie theaters of the 1930's. Three teen-aged girls are upset when Daddy won't pay for new dresses for the big party––a friendly Singer salesman takes them to the local Singer Sewing Center where they learn to sew––they are the belles of the ball in their new homemade dresses and everybody lives happily ever after. Already the condensed story form of the commercial is down. Though one wonders how many in those Depression-era movie audiences could relate to this at all other than as pure fantasy.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Community Health in Action (film #325 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This 50s film exhorts communities to beef up their health departments, by showing all the things an ideal health department does, ranging from keeping statistics on births and deaths, regulating milk production, inspecting the sanitary conditions of restaurants, holidng well-baby clinics, vaccinating pets against rabies, getting farmers to replace their outhouses with indoor plumbing, running a child guidance clinic, and more, more, more! This results in a detailed document of public health practices during the 50s, and a fairly interesting one to boot. And although it’s not particularly campy in and of itself, it does present many opportunities for msting, as the narrator often pauses at significant points, which just beg to be filled in with smart-ass comments.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Close Harmony (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #352 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
General Motors made this wartime film to explain to the general public why it was taking so long for factories to retool for war production. A guy in a barbershop explains to everybody in the shop that retooling involves not only installing new machinery, but getting new materials, drawing up new manufacturing plans, and retraining workers. In case this gets boring, there’s an African-American porter present to provide comic relief in the form of racist stereotypes. This film has the breezy Jam Handy style applied to wartime content, which means its fairly campy, though the main character’s lecture gets tedious after awhile. It does have quite a bit of historical interest in that it gives you an idea of some of the rumors going around about war production in the early days of the war.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.
Round and Round (track #11 on Ephemeral Films CD-ROM (Voyager). Also in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #1275 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
Capitalism is explained extremely simplistically via primitive puppet animation. Little toy workers make little toy widgets in a little toy factory. Other little toy puppets buy the widgets with large coins, then those same puppets sell little toy raw materials to the factory, so it can make more widgets. It's hard to tell who this movie was made for. I don't think it's a children's educational film, but it's certainly on a kindergarten level. Again, it tries to convince us that capitalism is a perfect system that makes everybody happy. But if that were so, why did they need films like this?Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet #1 (film #1 on Side B of Disc #1 of TV Favorites DVD Megapack (Treeline Films, 2004)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
In this episode of the bland sitcom, David goes back to work after his honeymoon and spends the day playing telephone tag with his wife. Nowadays cell phones would have solved this problem. This is a particularly lightweight episode of “Ozzie and Harriet.” Mild tension is supposed to be generated by David’s fear that June will be angry at him for not being able to get ahold of her, but you just know she’ll be understanding, and she is. Still, this is so inoffensive that it’s not even annoying, and the blandness becomes mildly enjoyable after awhile.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
BBC Election ’97 (film #23 in the News section of TVArk). [Category: News]
Brief opening credits sequence to coverage of the 1997 British elections. Not much here to even comment upon.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: **. Overall Rating: *.
Daydreams (film #4 on Side A of Disc 2 of Comedy Classics DVD Megapack (Treeline Films, 2004)). [Category: Hollywood]
Buster Keaton loves his sweetie. Sweetie loves Buster. Buster and Sweetie want to get married. Problem: Sweetie’s father doesn’t think Buster can support her. So Buster takes off for the big city to make his fortune. There he screws up various jobs in that brilliantly incompetent way that only he can, while sending back glowing letters to Sweetie that only stretch the truth a little bit (OK, a lot). This is another wonderfully funny Buster Keaton short, with brilliantly timed slapstick gags, including a chase scene that gets more and more ridiculous as it goes on (they really knew how to do ‘em back then). Loads of fun.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
Army Transfer to NASA (film #814 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Silent footage of the dedication ceremonies of the U.S. space program’s official transfer from the military to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This mostly involves bigwigs making speeches, which lessens the usefulness of this as a document, since it is silent. There’s also a marching band and a milling-around festival we don’t get to hear. Somebody making a documentary on the history of NASA may find this useful, unless there’s footage of this with sound still around somewhere. For others, it’s just a random historical blip.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Artificial Respiration (film #5 on AV Geeks). [Category: Industrial]
A very 70s film made for miners on artificial respiration. It’s pretty straightforward for the most part, though there are a few campy moments where they show examples of situations where artificial respiration may be required, such as showing drowning person as a hat floating on the surface of the water (Bing Crosby––oh no!!) or showing an incredibly stupid auto mechanic working on a running car in a closed garage until he becomes overwhelmed by carbon monoxide. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was the standard by the 70s, so it’s surprising to see several older methods demonstrated, though briefly. Mostly, though, this is your standard first aid film, with surprisingly little mining content.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Blasting Cap Danger (film #222 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]
This cheaply-made film tries to warn kids away from playing with blasting caps. Tag and Chuck, after bullying Kathy, who bragged about a cookout her family was going to have for her father’s birthday, ride their bikes up to visit Mr. Barrow, the local bicycle repairman and demolitions expert. While they wait for Mr. Barrow to fix Tag’s bike, Chuck finds a blasting cap and decides to sneak into Kathy’s family’s cookout and throw it into the barbecue grill. Tag doesn’t like the idea, so Chuck takes off in a huff, vowing to do it by himself. Tag lingers behind to help Mr. Barrow load his truck with various items you can use to blow things up, and this gives Mr. Barrow the opportunity to lecture Tag on the dangers of blasting caps. Tag suddenly realizes that Chuck’s little prank could result in serious injury, so he races his bike back to Kathy’s house, only to see her lying on the patio, apparently unconscious. But she was only playing cowboy with her father, so Tag takes the opportunity to wrestle the blasting cap out of Chuck’s hand before he can throw it into the fire. This gives Kathy’s dad the opportunity to give another lecture on the dangers of blasting caps. This is a cheap film with uniformly bad acting, which actually makes it a lot of fun. The kids in particular are terrible actors, but they seem real nonetheless, especially bullying Chuck. The film repeats the words “Don’t touch it!” more than the mother of a 2-year-old, and the montage sequence of Tag riding his bike back to Kathy’s while seeing images of injured kids is a classic. Where they thought kids would get ahold of blasting caps is not explained, though. A classic in the cheesy safety film genre.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Chaplin - A Woman (film #26 in the Silent Section of Movieflix. [Category: Early Film & TV]
The Little Tramp gets into some farsical situations with a family he meets in the park, consisting of a mother, an adult daughter, and a father with a roving eye. After knocking Dad into the pond, he goes home with Mother and Daughter. After some silly things happen, he ends up putting on Daughter's best dress and passing himself off to Dad as her old college chum. Dad, of course, cannot keep his hands off the merchandise, at least until he figures out who he's trying to woo. This is not quite as funny as it sounds, but Chaplin does make a surprisingly attractive and convincing woman. A 1915 Charlie Chaplin film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid (film #19 on Disc #4 of Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 1 (Warner Bros., 2004)). [Category: Hollywood]
Bosko was the first Warner Bros. cartoon character and this is his first cartoon, so this is a historical landmark. A live-action cartoonist draws Bosko, who comes to life on the page and attempts to entertain the audience with piano-playing, lame jokes, and tooney antics. Unfortunately, he’s a black stereotype, though he’s drawn pretty abstractly. Beyond that, his tooney antics are fun to watch, though his jokes are pretty bad and his singing is excruciating. No wonder the cartoonist decides to put him back into the inkwell.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Aggressive Impulse (film #8 on Angry Night DVD (A/V Geeks). [Category: Educational]
Here we see an ant in a life-or-death struggle with a wolf! Seriously, this is the type of film the Pythons were spoofing in that sketch. Aggressive animal behaviors are compared with human aggression in this 70s film, the point being that aggression can be controlled. This is actually quite a mild film, considering its subject matter. There’s a 70s “niceness” to it. There’s nothing blatantly unrealistic about it, but its overall tone has an idealistic feel to it. It feels sort of like the filmmakers thought that violence could be eliminated by having everybody watch this film. How quickly that kind of idealism would die! A mild, feel-good 70s kind of film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet #4 (film #4 on Side B of Disc #1 of TV Favorites DVD Megapack (Treeline Films, 2004)). [Category: Early Film & TV]
In this episode of the low-key sitcom, Ozzie decides to stay in bed all day, just because he wants to do whatever he wants to for once. Of course, he lives to regret this decision, as lots of interesting things happen that he would have to get out of bed to participate in, and people start to treat him like he’s sick. The best part is when a guy from his lodge, representing the “Cheer Up Committee,” depresses him to no end with talk of illnesses and death. As usual for this series, this is mildly amusing.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Across 110th Street (film #5 in the Trailers section of Movieflix). [Category: Commercial]
Fairly standard trailer for a very violent 70s gangster movie that seems to be heavily influenced by The Godfather. Anthony Quinn stars as a cop who won’t play by the rules, making the clichés as thick as the violence. No surprises here, really.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
Au Pair Girls (film #15 in the Trailers section of Movieflix). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
Trailer for an early-70s British softcore film, in which sexy miniskirted au pair girls take care of all their male employers’ needs, to bouncy, annoying theme music. This is about as leering as it gets without crossing the line into parody, making it pretty campy.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Chance to Lose (film #275 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
This campy driving safety film from the 30s is breezily narrated like a newsreel featurette and features drivers who end up in humorous pratfalls as a result of their unsafe driving habits instead of tragedy, though the narrator gives plenty of stern warnings about such. The highlight is a young couple who end up crashing into a pigpen because of the young man’s tendency to associate manhood with speeding. Obviously, this humorous tack didn’t work, for driver safety films were to get more and more horrific as time went by, culminating in the gore films of the 60s. Although this was made by the National Safety Council, the ending exhortations about how cars are built entirely safe (so the fault of accidents must lay entirely on the driver) makes me wonder if the auto industry might have gotten their fingers into this.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Those Crazy Ol' Commercials (Goodtimes, 1986). [Category: Commercial]
Despite its lame title and $2.99 bin packaging, this is a pretty good collection of interesting commercials. There are quite a few fun moments here and a couple of real jaw-droppers (listed below). It gets docked 5 points for including one commercial with inaudible audio (the Tony Randall Libby's Fruit Juices one––don't panic when you get to it, it's the only one affected).
Highlights:
- The ad for "Old Happiness" liquor is a parody, not a real commercial. But it's so well done and amusing, I'm not going to dock the tape any points for including it. It looks like it's from "The Twilight Zone" series––I wonder if any of the videos from that series bother to include it. If not, it's a great obscurity.
- "Put Royal Triton in Cynthia's little tummy," coos Marilyn Monroe, camping it up even more than Edie Adams.
- There's a really great example of early TV in the form of a commercial for the 1950 Ford Victoria. It's the slowest-paced commercial I've ever seen. Life must have been really slow paced back in the 50's for a commercial to be that slow.
- The real jaw-dropper is a public service announcement about highway safety featuring James Dean. Jimmy urges us not to drive too fast on the highways: "Take it easy on the highways, folks. The life you save may be mine." Unfortunately, it was not to be.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Adventures of the Road Runner (film #16 on Disc #2 of Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 2 DVD (Warner Brothers, 2004)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
This is the pilot for the Road Runner tv show, made by Chuck Jones by stringing together footage from various cartoons and making linking bits featuring Wile E. Coyote analyzing his failures, and two young viewers of the show making comments about it. This was later split apart and made into several different cartoons. It’s better seen all of a piece––you can see how cleverly it was put together. The scenes of Wile E., in particular, are a lot stronger than I remember them from the hacked-up cartoons. Of course, the scenes from the original cartoons are great, especially the classic catapult gags. A great relic from the vaults for Warner Bros. fans.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Assignment: Shoot the Moon (film #1 in the Science section of Movieflix). [Category: News]
This NASA film documents the many unmanned spacecraft built to photograph the lunar surface to determine if a manned lunar landing was possible. The film is well-made and full of pre-Apollo 11 photographs of the moon, as well as the first photographs of the earth from space. This provides an interesting historic backdrop to the Apollo missions, as well as some striking images.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Cleanliness Brings Health (film #25 on disc 1 of Walt Disney on the Front Lines DVD (Disney, 2004)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
Disney made this educational film for South American audiences as part of the governments “good neighbor” policy during World War II. It appears to be aimed at poor rural folk, encouraging them to engage in proper hygiene practices to prevent the spread of disease. This is competently made, but one wonders who actually saw it, considering it was made in English rather than Spanish. It’s basically a Goofus-and-Gallant film, featuring the Clean Family, who relieve themselves in a latrine, wash before eating, and keep flies off their food with mosquito netting (and thus don’t get sick); and the Careless Family, who relive themselves in their cornfield, never wash, and let their farm animals wander all over the place, even into the house. They also look vaguely like “lazy Mexican” stereotype, which is unfortunate. The message is valid, though after seeing Forgotten Village, I wonder whether it really resulted in much change in traditional practices among rural peoples.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
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