reviewId int64 363k 588k | userId int64 33.9k 15.9M | itemId int64 1 1.42M | rating float64 1 10 | title stringlengths 1 10.9k ⌀ | content stringlengths 81 11.6k ⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
454,239 | 11,228,318 | 217,234 | 5 | Admiral Cigarette is another fascinating document of early motion picture history | Once again , the Internet Archive site has some of the most historically fascinating pieces of film that dates back to the beginning of motion pictures themselves ! The title is also the name of the product that's blatantly advertised on both a billboard that's the background of four men sitting on a bench having a conversation and on a giant cigarette pack that's standing to the left of them . Suddenly , someone emerges out of that pack and offers all of those men some of the product . Then , those four men unfurl a sign that says , " We All Smoke " . The end . This early commercial ( in fact , probably the earliest ) was actually a moving billboard that was displayed on top of one of the New York buildings . It caused such a commotion that projectionist Edwin S . Porter was later arrested for causing a " disturbance " in traffic . Ironically , Thomas Edison would later be a rabid anti-smoker who would not hire anyone that partakes in the substance . Maybe he realized how unhealthy smoking really was . Admiral Cigarette is a fascinating document of early motion picture advertising that's worth a look for anyone seeking such rarities . |
453,991 | 11,228,318 | 699,567 | 5 | This edition of " Shindig ! " with guest co-host Boris Karloff was a fascinating find from YouTube | Coutesy of the Classic Television Showbiz site , I discovered this rare " Shindig ! " entry from the YouTube one . It's the Halloween edition from 1965 with Boris Karloff as the guest co-host to regular host Jimmy O'Neill with special guest star Ted Cassidy who appears as both himself and as his " Addams Family " character , Lurch . The show begins with O'Neill singing two Beatles songs : " Help ! " and another one whose title escapes me ( fascinating note : later Fab Four collaborator Billy Preston was a musician here ) . Then we see Boris at a table with a crystal ball doing some banter with the host before disappearing , courtesy of a trick cut . After a commercial for Streidex , Boris then does his version of " The Peppermint Twist " in a speaking fashion with the camera literally panning up and down when he goes to those words . Then there are the regular singers warbling the hits of the week , none of which I recognized except for the " Memphis , Tennesse " number . Oh , and Mr . Preston sings a little during this . I should mention that somewhere here Mr . Karloff was supposed to have performed his own version of Borris Pickett's " Monster Mash " and while that particular segment may have been lost to the ether , an audio version was found on YouTube by someone else and was later recreated with existing video footage and scenes of Universal monster movies , Frankenstein among them . Also , Ted Cassidy as Lurch performing " The Lurch " with the female dancers was also lost though there are his performances with such-like dancers from other shows on the site ( with Terri Garr among them ) . Then , after the Almond Joy spot , Boris makes both O'Neill and Cassidy as himself disappear ( again , courtesy of a trick cut ) before plugging the following weeks ' lineup . Then , O'Neill and Cassidy say their own goodnights before dancing with the other cast as the credits roll . . . The version I saw was on kinescope with washed-out visuals almost throughout . So that was a mar on some of my enjoyment though also some of the performances weren't all that . I did get a kick out of Mr . Karloff's " Pepperment Twist " number , though , as he just sat there while those dancers were gyrating around him ! Also , the Billy Preston number was off-sync here . Still , this was a fascinating chronicle of a dance-music show from a part of a decade before I was born . |
455,256 | 11,228,318 | 20,447 | 5 | Bessie Smith is the whole show in St . Louis Blues | In continuing to review the film accomplishments of African-Americans on film in chronological order for Black History Month , we're now at the start of the talkies . St . Louis Blues is the only film appearance of the legendary singer Bessie Smith . As an excuse to warble the classic W . C . Handy-composed song that's the title of this short , Ms . Smith gets two-timed and then rejected by Jimmy Mordecai . The other woman is the light-skinned Isabel Washington , sister of Fredi Washington who's in the next short I'm reviewing , Black and Tan . Anyway , when she sings , Bessie is in a class by herself though I wish the recording on the soundtrack ( which was presumably live ) had sounded sharper . Mordecai later returns for some tap-dancing before coming back to Ms . Smith only to reject her again when he gets her money from her leg garter . Then she reprises before " The End " flashes on the screen . This interesting curio also had the Hall Johnson Choir doing the chorus with James P . Johnson playing the piano . One more interesting fact : The distributor was Sack Amusement Enterprises which later handled later race movies like Spencer Williams ' The Blood of Jesus and Go Down Death . |
454,418 | 11,228,318 | 416,449 | 5 | 300 was a mildly interesting epic to me | In the interest of full disclosure , I must admit I fell asleep during some of the battle scenes ( or maybe during the preparation of said scenes ) . I did stay alert when the son of one of the soldiers was killed . The scenes I really loved , however , were the ones with the mother queen , Lena Headey , especially when a political rival of her husband's made a deal with her for his support of her views during the next day's council meeting in exchange for his sexually violating her . You'll have to see the movie to watch the twist ending . Since the film was almost over by then , I was only mildly entertained but if you love historical , or maybe legendary would be the better description here , epics , 300 may be what you're looking for . |
455,113 | 11,228,318 | 25,947 | 5 | Viva Buddy provides some amusements of the usually bland leading character | This is another Leon Schlesinger / Looney Tunes cartoon from the ' 30s that starred perhaps the blandest character that Warner Bros . ever had in their roster : Buddy . Here , he's in , I guess , Mexico playing a Latin American-flavored tune while we encounter many , I'm thinking , stereotypes of the era including a Wallace Beery-inspired Pancho Villa character . Cookie's there too , dancing as a senorita who gets both Pancho's and Buddy's attention . Filled with plenty of violent gags , Viva Buddy moves along briskly and is a little entertaining but it also seems a little rushed and the way it ends is a little bit of a cop-out . Still , I'd recommend this to any Warner cartoon completist out there and you gotta dig the caricatures of The Four Marx Brothers ( including one of them actually pronouncing himself as " chee-co " instead of the usual " chick-co " ! ) in the middle of all this . . . |
453,752 | 11,228,318 | 22,059 | 5 | Laughing Sinners is interesting as first teaming of Crawford and Gable | Laughing Sinners marks the first time Clark Gable appeared in a movie starring Joan Crawford . Crawford is the only name above the title and Gable is listed third in the cast list after Neil Hamilton ( who would be better known as Commissioner Gordon in the " Batman " TV series ) . Crawford is a singer / dancer who falls for the traveling salesman Hamilton . He abandons her while she sings a love song for him . Gable plays a Salvation Army man who saves Joan from jumping off a bridge and convinces her to join . While she performs on a street corner , Hamilton sees Crawford and convinces her to stay in his hotel room . I'll stop right there and mention who else is in this movie : Guy Kibbee , Roscoe Karns , Cliff Edwards before he became the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio , and , in a nice picnic scene with Gable and Crawford , Our Ganger Mary Ann Jackson , hair bob and all . There are some entertaining musical numbers danced by Crawford including an amusing sequence of Joan dressing as a farmer with funny nose and beard . Other than that and the picnic scenes , this is a pretty talky picture that reveals its stage origins too clearly toward the end so you may feel bored after a while . Still , an interesting curio for fans of all the above players . |
454,031 | 11,228,318 | 76,929 | 5 | Wizards has an interesting premise but partially boring execution | Maybe it was because I saw this while staying up really late but I found Wizards boring after a while and a little confused as a result . Having said that , I did like some of the humor presented here , my favorite being the " They killed Fritz ! " segment that I recognized as Ralph Bakshi's reaction to Robert Crumb's killing his beloved underground comic cat character after Bakshi's adopting Fritz for the big screen . Some of the battle scenes with footage of Hitler and his men and silhouette of various live-action movie battle reenactments of World War II mixed with animated depictions of blood also were pretty interesting . And the way the good wizard dealt with his bad wizard brother made a satisfying ironic touch to this magic vs . technology parable . It just seemed to fall apart , however , as the narration kept giving so much exposition that I just couldn't keep up . Maybe another viewing would clear my mind of all the goings on here but for now I'm giving this one a 5 . |
453,793 | 11,228,318 | 150,653 | 5 | From Dime to Dime was another Paramount Modern Madcap that I just watched on YouTube | Just watched on YouTube as linked from Cartoon Brew what was another Paramount Modern Madcap called From Dime to Dime . In this one , a poor man finds a dime on a sidewalk and decides to get a cup of coffee at a diner . It's here that his conscience tells him to use it to gamble on a slot machine . From there , the guy's luck changes for the good until . . . This being from the former Famous Studios , this cartoon has the usual cast and crew from director Seymour Kneitel and music director Winston Sharples to voice artists Jackson Beck and Jack Mercer who co-wrote the story with Carl Meyer . Nothing really funny happens and if you're familiar with this kind of story you can probably guess the ending but it's fascinating to see such an adult subject matter being treated in what was still at this time considered a kiddie medium . So on that note , From Dime to Dime is worth a look for Paramount / Famous completists . |
454,021 | 11,228,318 | 204,902 | 5 | Black Diamond Express is a fascinating piece of early cinema from Thomas Edison | Just watched this very brief depiction of a train coming as railroad workers striking on tracks start to leave as the locomotive comes nearer . At only 26 seconds , at least that was the length on Internet Archive , this was another fascinating document from the nineteenth century as captured on film from The Edison Company . Supposedly , many in the audience that were watching a moving picture for the first time also ran away as the train on the screen went toward them as had happened in France when a similar image was depicted earlier on screen as filmed diagonally by the Lumiere brothers . Well worth a look for anyone interested in early cinema . |
454,080 | 11,228,318 | 67,169 | 5 | Guru , the Mad Monk was a pretty entertaining bad B-movie | I just went on Google Video to watch this , one of a double feature presented on Torgo's Drive-In ( the other feature being I Drink Your Blood which I have yet to see ) . At 56 minutes , I found this Andy Milligan-directed horror movie fascinating with the constant pounding score and Dragnet-like stilted dialogue abounding throughout . Having said that , I actually found the story pretty entertaining and I found myself partially caring for the sympathetic characters . Many of the gore scenes , while very amateurish , were also fun to watch in a can - you - believe - their - doing - this way . And having a hunchback that sometimes speaks clearly was also a hoot ! So on that note , I'm recommending Guru , the Mad Monk to bad movie buffs everywhere . P . S . On Torgo's Drive-In , this movie was preceded by some ads for the concession stand and previews of Carnival of Blood , The Thing with Two Heads , and Teenage Mother . Oh , and the print I saw had the synchronization off by several seconds . |
455,171 | 11,228,318 | 952,640 | 5 | Alvin and the Chipmunks was an okay live-action update on ' 50s cartoon characters | After a month of purposely deciding NOT to watch this movie , I finally decided to humor my friend and see this update on Ross Bagdasarian , Snr . ' s , creations from fifty years ago . There were pretty funny scenes when they surprised Dave in the beginning and a hilarious one when their manager , Ian ( David Cross ) , gave each of them a caffeinated iced drink to give them energy . Other than that , this was a mostly by-the-numbers story of the pressures of success and the toll it takes on your health . In fact , the climatic scene when the rodent music group is revealed to be lip-syncing to their own vocals ( because of their now-hoarse voices ) seems aimed at those who go for such acts like Britney Spears and Ashlee Simpson instead of real musicians who play genuine music ( though I don't consider what David Seville-Jason Lee-had auditioned initially for Ian authentic either ) . It's obvious that Lee ( " My Name Is Earl " ) and Cross ( " Arrested Development " ) took these roles for a large paycheck though Lee , at least , grows on you after a while . The music performances of the Chipmunks themselves are variable depending on whether you like any of the songs they sing here or the way their voices completely dominate though I admit liking their performance of " Only You " , " Funkytown " , and , of course , " The Chipmunk Song " , and even the updated version of " Witch Doctor " ( though I prefer the original recordings ) . Not bad for a reboot though for my money , I think I'd love to see the original version for television from the ' 50s , " The Alvin Show " . P . S . What a treat to see the original album covers of The Chipmunks over the years during the end credits . |
454,066 | 11,228,318 | 71,548 | 5 | TV movie Get Christie Love ! is interesting for historical purposes | Based on the book , " The Ledger " , Get Christie Love was the first time a black female portrayed a detective on network TV . Teresa Graves is adequately compelling as the cop with some attitude whose superior , Captain Reardon ( Harry Guardino ) , has a major open flirtation with her that she seems to occasionally encourage . The main plot concerns the search of a drug dealer's ledger through the interrogation of the wife in order to bring him down . Despite some fight scenes and car chases that attract some attention , the pace seemed mostly dreary and I almost fell asleep before the end . The most interesting discovery for me , however , was the appearance of Ron Rifkin as a serial killer of prostitutes named Normand whom Christie catches in the beginning when she dresses as one . Rifkin would , nearly three decades later , play Sloane on one of the most exciting action series ever-Alias . Compared to that show , this TV movie that later became a series doesn't have as exciting fight scenes but I guess network censorship was more stricter then . Worth a look for historical purposes . |
454,589 | 11,228,318 | 16,593 | 5 | Walt Disney's Alice's Mysterious Mystery is amusing | Since someone has already written a summary I'll just mention a few gags . At the beginning when we see the mouse and his boss riding in their car , they ride over smoke that came from the exhaust pipe ! The boss himself juggles smoke from his cigar . When they go to the school to get some dogs , they trick them inside by having the mouse climb to the roof and clanging the school bell after which they literally squeeze the schoolhouse out of every last drop of dog ! Alice and Julius the cat have their own car which they can fold into a suitcase . As they chase the dogcatchers , the boss and mouse come to a cliff . The mouse gets a thin string , throws it to the other end , and ties it there before carrying himself and the boss across . He loses balance partway through , however , so the car goes the rest of the way using its back tires as human feet ! Alice and Julius ' car crosses the same all the way through . Amusing if primitive , this early Walt Disney is still worth seeing if you're a fan . |
454,274 | 11,228,318 | 16,367 | 5 | Soda Jerks was an interesting Mutt and Jeff cartoon I saw on YouTube | In this silent Mutt and Jeff cartoon , Jeff puts some pep liquid instead of the usual syrup in the sodas that Mutt serves to the customers in the malt shop . As a result , they all jump up and down and act a little more enthusiastic than usual going outside . Eventually when Mutt forces the drink on Jeff , Jeff manages to chase the police away and destroys their paddy wagon before giving Mutt a literal spin over his head ! While it's a little repetitious seeing various customers and animals doing literally the same thing again and again , occasionally there's a little variety in the results like having a dog ( or cat ) having his legs elongated ! The print I watched on YouTube was actually filmed on a projected screen so I heard the whirring that went with that but otherwise it was a good presentation of this rare animated short . Worth a look for animated fans as well as those of comic strip characters Mutt and Jeff . |
454,967 | 11,228,318 | 1,131,283 | 5 | Homecoming is a little amusing first episode of " Miss Guided " | Having seen Judy Greer in movies like 13 Going on 30 , 27 Dresses , and TV shows like " Arrested Development " , " Love Monkey " , and " Two and a Half Men " , I was anxious to see her in her first starring role in the TV series " Miss Guided " . Here , she plays Becky Freeley , a former student at the high school she returns to as the new guidance counselor . Also on hand is former SNLer Chris Parnell as the vice principal , Kristoffer Polaha as the Spanish teacher Becky has a crush on , and Brooke Burns as Lisa , Becky's rival back then and now . Ms . Greer provides many amusing lines and does some good physical stuff . Parnell himself also steals some scenes . Judy's dialogue with some of the students , like the one she thinks has a crush on her , also has some moments . The whole thing seems uneven so far though , since the show can't make up its mind if we're supposed to laugh at or with the characters . Nonetheless , this seems like a good start for a promising series . |
454,527 | 11,228,318 | 762,114 | 5 | Lincense to Wed has some hilarity thanks to a supporting player from TV's " The Office " | Having read many negative movie critic's reviews of this movie , Lincense to Wed , I really wasn't expecting much . Still , since Robin Williams was the star , I expected some laughs . To me , his performance as the priest who wants to make sure the couple - about - to - marry - in - three - weeks , Mandy Moore and John Krasinski , follow his conditions for his blessing was a little hit-or-miss for me . The real laughs came from one of Krasinski's TV " Office " co-stars , Brian Baumgartner , who's hilarious whether doing a mock argument with his wife or diving for fries when they fall or dancing with a bare midriff . Krasinski's other co-stars from his series , Angela Kinsey and Mindy Kaling , also provide some humorous moments though Kaling's the funnier of those two as the nagging wife of John's best friend . I also loved Wanda Sykes as a doctor who shows expectant couples to Wiliams , Moore , and Krasinski and almost says the proper word for the female anatomy before she calls out to someone named Virginia ! The funniest parts were the bloopers at the end especially those of Baumgartner ! All in all , funny in spots ( loved the doll babies and John's treatment of them ) and maybe a little touching romantically near the end but if you want something that's consistently funny and a bit more mature ( in both humor and drama ) , I suggest Knocked Up while it's still playing in a theatre near you . |
454,378 | 11,228,318 | 31,668 | 5 | Moon Over Harlem marks Edgar G . Ulmer's rare foray into " race movies " | From director Edgar G . Ulmer came this , his rare foray in " race movies " , Moon Over Harlem . The story , about a rich widow who unknowingly marries a gangster to the consternation of her daughter , is the kind that already seemed old hat in 1939 , though Ulmer does the best he could under the circumstances with the low budget and a short schedule of only four days . The best one could say about the results is that the dialogue does keep flowing and the score mostly keeps playing . Too bad someone didn't try to keep the movie preserved enough to maybe clean up some of the wear on both the soundtrack and print . All that said , the performances of Buddy Harris as mob boss Dollar Bill , Cora Green as new wife Minnie , Izinetta Wilcox as daughter Sue who also provides a nice singing voice , and Earl Gough as Sue's crusading boyfriend Bob are pretty good despite their limited rehearsal time . And it's nice to see jazz legends like Christopher Columbus and New Orleans native Sidney Bechet perform here during the wedding reception . I was also slightly amused by Freddie Robinson as Half-Pint . Also , if I didn't read the cast list here on IMDb , I wouldn't have recognized Jacksonville , FL , native Mercedes Gilbert , who I previously saw in Oscar Micheaux's Body and Soul , in this movie . In summation , Moon Over Harlem is uneven as drama but should be interesting enough for anyone curious about these old movies made for a certain segment of the United States who were being treated as second-class citizens at this time . |
454,883 | 11,228,318 | 20,620 | 5 | Abraham Lincoln is interesting early Griffith talkie | Abraham Lincoln is D . W . Griffith's first sound film . Since this movie is only 92 minutes , it seems to divide Lincoln's life-from birth to his assassination-into fragments that are too short and hardly flow from one sequence to another . The saving grace is Walter Huston as the title character especially in a speech to an army deserter he tells to " do his duty " after he pardons him . There is also wonderful background music that occasionally serves as score whenever possible in this awkward early talkie . And the assassination scene ( which Griffith had staged before in The Birth of the Nation ) is beautifully done to gradual suspense . Then we hear a wonderful instrumental of " Glory , Glory , Hallelujah ! " as we pan first to the model woods and log cabin that we saw in the beginning and then to a model of the Lincoln Memorial ( having been to Washington recently I can tell a model from the real thing ) stopping on Lincoln himself as we fade out . This being Griffith's second to last picture , it's sad he wasn't given more of a chance to try to adjust to sound techniques but while this movie does feel creaky he still got good performances from Huston and most of the supporting cast ( although Una Merkel might have overdone it as Ann Rutledge ) . Worth a look for Griffith enthusiasts . |
455,151 | 11,228,318 | 22,528 | 5 | Ups ' n Downs is another interesting early Bosko short | Watched this Bosko short on YouTube and I agree with the previous poster that this was amusing and nothing more . Best sequence was indeed the hot dogs dancing without a care despite their intended purpose ! The " Mammy and Sonny Boy " gag may be pretty obscure for anyone who doesn't know Al Jolson , otherwise it may be considered racist by others though in this case I don't think any real harm was meant by it . If the mouse drawn here looks a little familiar , it's because the directors , Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising , once drew for Walt Disney when he did Oswald the Lucky Rabbit who somewhat resembles the future mouse that would put Disney on the map of animation history . Worth a look once for anyone interested in this sort of thing . |
454,401 | 11,228,318 | 42,512 | 5 | Golden Yeggs is a somewhat disappointing Porky and Daffy short | This is the rare Porky and Daffy cartoon in which the two characters don't communicate much , in fact , Porky just appears in the beginning as a farmer who asks which of his hens laid the golden egg . The actual hen , knowing how the last one that did this ended badly , points to Daffy . Daffy accepts the undeserved credit as Porky presents him to the press . After Porky is forced to sell the duck to Rocky and his gang , that's the last we see of him . The rest of the short has Daffy pressured to lay another one in five minutes . Some amusing gags abound in the Friz Freling short but realizing it's not going to be a satisfying ending for the leading character made Golden Yeggs one of the weakest I've seen so far in The Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD set , Vol . 1 . |
455,108 | 11,228,318 | 150,846 | 5 | Harry Happy was a fascinating late-era Paramount cartoon | Just watched this Paramount Modern Madcap cartoon on YouTube as linked from Cartoon Brew . In this one , the title character has a bad day at work but is nice to all the people on the way home despite the treatment he gets ( he lets a lady on a bus and then watches other passersby stomp on him as they go ahead of him , a lady's dog chases him , and a window washer drops a pail of water on him ) . Then he arrives home and treats his wife like a slave . Wife then hits his head with a frying pan and threatens a divorce . So Harry goes to a psychiatrist who counsels him to do the opposite of what he's been doing . So he stomps over those same passersby , barks at that lady's dog , and pours water over that lady window washer . Then at home , he attempts to do all his wife's chores with disastrous results . So once again , he gets hit on the head with a frying pan . The end . . . I didn't think this cartoon was funny until Harry turned the tables , but even then it's obvious he needs a LOT of help with his behavior . Director Seymour Kneitel's treatment of the cruel husband , frustrated wife isn't as cleverly funny as Robert McKimson's Wild Wife from several years earlier but it's still fascinating as a study of what was considered as acceptable comedy during the pre-women's lib era . One more thing , Winston Sharples takes the instrumental bridge he co-wrote for the Fleischers ' Gulliver Travels-the song " It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day " - and incorporates it here . So on that note , Harry Happy is worth a look for Famous / Paramount cartoon completists . |
454,283 | 11,228,318 | 49,128 | 5 | Roger Corman's Day the World Ended is interesting ' 50s sci-fi fare | Day the World Ended was producer / director Roger Corman's first sci-fi effort for James H . Nicholson and Samuel Z . Arkoff's American International Pictures . It centers on a house in a forest of a father and grown daughter that also borders a geologist , a gangster and his strip-tease girlfriend , an old gold prospector and his burro , and a radiated man who may die soon . The time-line is after a nuclear attack . The above characters are an assortment meant to create conflict and melodrama that becomes entertaining despite the clichés that abound . Fans of " Mannix " should have no trouble recognizing Mike " Touch " Connors as the criminal Tony who has designs on Lori Nelson , only she exclusively has eyes for Richard Denning whose best known role was as the Governor on Hawaii Five-0 ( although Lucy fans would also know him as Miss Ball's spouse on radio's My Favorite Husband ) . A bit slow for modern audiences , this movie does maintain a pace that made me care for some of the characters . In fact , I found most of the movie pretty compelling until I saw the entire monster creature who , as designed and played by Paul Blaisdell , looks even in low-budget ' 50s terms so cheesy . Still , for anyone with a keen interest in drive-in fare made by Corman for AIP , give Day the World Ended a try . |
454,624 | 11,228,318 | 150,814 | 5 | Halloween is a Toby the Pup cartoon that had an imperfect transfer on YouTube | Originally written / 07-Halloween is a weird Toby the Pup cartoon from the Charles Mintz studio . Unfortunately , what I saw on YouTube was a technical mess . First off , the soundtrack somehow went ahead of some of the frames . Then for the last 3 or so minutes , there is no sound . So it's hard for me to be real objective in this review of the cartoon . There are certainly many wonderfully weird scenes that would be typical of such cartoons from the ' 30s such the cow peeling a candle like a banana , or his eating an apple with a worm in it while the worm's taking a bath and pulls down an asbestos curtain ! Or three bird skeletons drinking with the largest one taking a first try at the punch as the liquid falls outside his neck letting the second middle sized one drink from that with the same thing happening to him as the smallest one drinks from that . . . There's also some piano playing by Toby and a little girl scolding singing , " Smarty , Smarty , Smarty " . Largely based on what I've seen from the imperfect YouTube linkage , I give this one a 2 . Maybe I'll up it if I ever see a better transfer . Update / 08-I've just seen the complete version ( Thanks , Thadblog ! ) , it's even more weirder with the " smarty " girl getting spanked by a man dressed in a toga , and Toby scaring all the ghosts by simply saying " cock-a-doodle-doo " like a rooster ! Then there's a little ghost calling him " Daddy " ! Okay , since I've now seen the whole thing clearly , I'm now giving this a 5 . |
453,965 | 11,228,318 | 22,716 | 5 | Bosko's Woodland Daze is slightly less entertaining than other Boskos | This Bosko short meanders a little more than usual compared to many of the other shorts in the series as it begins with him and his dog Bruno playing Hide and Seek . Bosko then dreams he's with elves along with a giant and a giant piano that he easily plays with his hands and feet ! There's also some princesses in flowers that sings some chorus lines and some other musical interludes before Bruno wakes up his master and the short ends . Not as entertaining as many others but still worth it for the animation and some of the climax . Wish YouTube had presented a better print . As Bosko says at the end with a dog ( early Bruno ? ) barking , " That's all , folks ! " |
454,061 | 11,228,318 | 161,338 | 5 | The Busy Bee is a Terrytoons short from the ' 30s | As many insects happily go to work , a working bee sings and declares his love for a butterfly . A spider from a tree above who's jealous of the bee takes the butterfly and kidnaps her to a wooden place that he surrounds with his web . The bee gets help in rescuing his girlfriend from some horseradish flies ( which are horses with wings ) and the firebugs who ride the flies to the spider's lair and light his web on fire as the bee and butterfly sing like Nelson Eddy and Jennette McDonald for the conclusion . . . This Terrytoons black-and-white short shows its operatic roots that may be charming or not depending on your music tastes . Otherwise , The Busy Bee is worth a look for any animation fan especially one who's a fan of Paul Terry . |
454,698 | 11,228,318 | 95,652 | 6 | George A . Romero's Monkey Shines is interesting horror film mixing handicaps with animals | George A . Romero's Monkey Shines is a pretty interesting horror movie about a monkey's sharing a mind with a paraplegic law student named Allan ( Jason Beghe ) . Nice score by David Shire with wonderful use of Peggy Lee songs throughout . It almost loses steam at the end but there's a wonderful shock involving the monkey Ella ( Boo ) before the happy ending . Look for future TV stars John Pankow , Janine Turner , Stephen Root , and Stanley Tucci in pivotal roles . Also appearing are Kate McNeil as the love interest , Joyce Van Patten as Allan's mother , and Mrs . George Romero , Christine Forrest , as the maid Maryanne whose bird , Bogie , meets an untimely end . Makes you wonder how dangerous such harmless little monkeys can be . . . |
454,837 | 11,228,318 | 13,149 | 6 | The Four Musicians of Bremen is another of Disney's earliest cartoons | According to the IMDb list of Walt Disney's directorial achievements , this was the second earliest animated short he ever made ( the first being Little Red Riding Hood ) . In this Laugh-O-Gram , we see four animals running from bricks being thrown after them by humans . The last of them , a cat , keeps appearing and disappearing at various points in this sequence . They stop at a river where three of them play music while the cat tries to catch a fish that walks out of the river and jumps away each time the cat tries to hit him with a board . I'll stop there and say that was pretty amusing as was a later sequence where some human men shoot cannon balls at the house the four animals are staying with the cat pulling a Felix and using his tail to hit one of those balls from the roof and then riding on another of them ( or was it the same one ? I can't remember ) . Pretty primitive but worth a look for anyone curious about the legendary Disney's earliest works . |
454,011 | 11,228,318 | 72,623 | 6 | Oh , Alfie ! ( or Alfie Darling ) provides some nice distraction for an hour and a half | In this in-name-only sequel to Michael Caine's Alfie ( 1966 ) , musician Alan Price ( of The Animals ) takes over the title role in Oh , Alfie ! ( alternate title to Alfie Darling ) He's not bad and neither is Jill Townsend as Abby Summers , a magazine editor who has trouble taking time off for dating Alfie but somehow does . Not that the bloke has completely changed his ways , certainly not with Joan Collins playing one of his conquests . Alfie's encounters with her jealous husband is one of the highlights here . Having read of some topless scenes from the last comment , when I saw this on the Flick by Flick blog , I was very disappointed they were all cut out ! What was left was some pretty bawdy scenes near the end that upped the entertainment a little . In closing , while Oh , Alfie ! wasn't any great shakes , it's certainly a nice distraction for about 90 minutes . |
454,946 | 11,228,318 | 23,889 | 6 | Pals ( or Christmas Night ) was an amusing Van Beuren cartoon starring The Little King | Just rewatched this cartoon from the Van Beuren Studios on YouTube . The version I saw had the title Christmas Night which was the same title I witnessed when I first got this on VHS during the ' 80s . It stars The Little King , a popular comic strip character who is mute though other characters occasionally speak to him . Here it's Santa Claus who does the honors as he takes the King's request to deliver some presents to his palace for him and a couple of tramps he picks from a sidewalk window as they all look at the toys displayed . What they watch there is a little blackface doll tap dancing which is probably the only scene that would be offensive today in the entire cartoon though there is also a scene where all three are in a bathtub . Not too much in laughs though I was highly amused when one of the tramps revealed he wore a bra underneath his shirt ! Best scene is the climax as all three ride in their cars or plane and wreak some stuff in the palace joyfully ! So on that note , I guess I'm recommending Pals ( or Christmas Night ) . |
453,887 | 11,228,318 | 17,544 | 6 | When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam ' is interesting early sound Song Cartune | The version of this Max Fleischer Song Cartune I saw on Google Video ended when the song did so there was no final gag animation that I'm used to seeing on others made during the ' 30s . The only animation I saw here was when the conductor said , " All aboard ! " with a long line of passengers quickly filing in . Then one late passenger opens the conductor like a door before the song starts . I'm guessing the recording used during this pre-Jazz Singer short was the actual recording played in some theatres that were getting wired for sound for this and other experimental sound Song Cartunes Fleischer was making at the time . The synchronization with the singer and the bouncing ball is not perfect but I guess since this was indeed an experimental undertaking that can be excused . Certainly worth seeing once for any Fleischer completists out there . |
454,997 | 11,228,318 | 887,570 | 6 | The Plastic Blaster is a good episode of Ralph Bakshi's The Mighty Heroes | In the late ' 60s when Terrytoons was a part of CBS , Ralph Bakshi got a big break when he pitched a cartoon series that spoofed superhero groups . The Mighty Heroes was the result . The lineup consisted of Strong Man , Rope Man , Tornado Man , Cukoo Man , and Diaper Man . In this episode , the villain is called The Raven who with the help of his flying friends rob a jewelry store . He also has a gun which has the power to liquefy anyone still . While the MH manage to grab the gun , they keep clumsily aiming it at themselves allowing The Raven to get everyone captured except Diaper Man who follows his friends to the villain's hideout . Eventually , good prevails . . . It takes a while but the laughs do come at the climatic fights at the end . Loved Diaper Man's use of his baby bottle in defeating The Raven or the Rope Man saying , " I'm tied up . " after getting such with his rope skin . Bakshi probably provided Terrytoons with one last hurrah before the cartoon studio closed for good a few years later . He never forgot his roots either since about 20 years after he developed Mighty Mouse : The New Adventures . . . |
454,854 | 11,228,318 | 493,430 | 6 | Jackass Number Two is almost as disgusting ( and amusing ) as One | My friend who recently celebrated his birthday ( see my Invincible review ) asked if I'd like to see Jackass Number Two . Since it would be with his sisters , their boyfriends , and the son of one of them and we'd eat at a nearby Mexican restaurant beforehand , I said sure . Now I'd seen the first Jackass which I found funny and disgusting so I knew what to expect here . I wasn't disappointed what with the snakes , penises , fecal matter , old man scrotum , and old lady breasts , I once again laughed and cringed . There was one skit about terrorists and taxi drivers that almost killed the laughter until the end when all was revealed . There was also an amusing Busby Berkely parody that some young viewers may not get but I enjoyed immensely . So based on my enjoyment of many of the skits whether gross or not , I'm giving this one a 6 . |
454,483 | 11,228,318 | 23,832 | 6 | Bosko the Sheep-Herder should be interesting enough for anyone interested in early Warner cartoon era | Since a previous reviewer mentioned some of the gags , let me see if I can describe some he missed like when a bunch of sheep started eating the grass in unison as if they were a lawnmower . Or when a squirrel has trouble eating a whole nut and Bosko has said squirrel's head get touched by him to force the nut into several pieces so the squirrel can eat all those pieces as he thanks Bosko with Bosko saluting him . Several years after Mickey Mouse's Steamboat Willie , it seems musical cartoons were still the order of the day with many amusing , if not hilarious , gags shoehorned in . I guess it would take a Tex Avery to make gags and not music performances the main ingredient of good cartoons . Still , Bosko the Sheep-Herder should be good enough for anyone curious of the early Warner Bros . Looney Tunes-Merrie Melodies era before such icons like Porky Pig , Daffy Duck , or Bugs Bunny were created . |
454,729 | 11,228,318 | 33,121 | 6 | Swing Social is entertaining if a little politically incorrect | In this politically incorrect cartoon from 1940 , a black preacher on Sunday has caught a black fisherman not going to church . He then tells of why black fish don't bite on the sabbath as we are treated to a musical sequence of Negro fish singing about the devil and what he represents and how to defeat him . I suppose one should be relieved that the human black characters are only seen from the neck down though there's still some of the mangled English dialect to deal with . The music is for the most part entertaining and mostly avoids stereotyping ( brief fried chicken sequence notwithstanding ) . Certainly worth seeing for anyone who loves swing music and loves all ' 30s and ' 40s animation styles . Directed by Rudolf Ising who previously created Bosko with Hugh Harmon . |
454,315 | 11,228,318 | 26,154 | 6 | Buddy's Pony Express was another pretty amusing Buddy cartoon | This is another cartoon from Warner Bros . that stars forgotten character Buddy with his girlfriend Cookie . This time they're in the old west with Buddy playing the piano while Cookie sings . After that interlude , there's an announcement of a horse race called the Pony Express . But the villain who looks like Disney's Peg Leg Pete without the peg leg , seems so intent on winning that he replaces Buddy's " fastest horse in the county " with his own inflatable ( or so it seems ) one . . . There's some funny gags here and this cartoon moves at a constant pace and though Buddy himself is no great personality , he does have some charm here . With that said , I do recommend Buddy's Pony Express . |
453,986 | 11,228,318 | 151,825 | 6 | Olive Oyl for President was another vintage cartoon I decided to watch this Election Day | On this Election Day , I thought I'd look at some vintage cartoons that had popular characters running or dreaming of such . Having just watched Betty Boop for President , I checked this out from ThadBlog right after . With the same voice talent ( Mae Questel ) and some of the same music from the previous black-and-white short , this color cartoon has Olive bopping Popeye after he laughs when she expresses interest in running for the highest office in the land . Most of what Ms . Oyl would do is pretty silly and a little sexist ( like having her cabinet consist of the male Paramount contract roster ) but by the time she addresses the elephant and donkey audience in Congress and gets them to stop arguing by having Cupid shoot ( through a machine gun ! ) arrows on them , I was amused enough to find this animated short pretty entertaining in its own right . Oh , and there's a cameo of Famous Studios ' Little Audrey licking a giant ice cream cone . . . |
453,786 | 11,228,318 | 149,680 | 6 | Another Day , Another Doormat is an interesting Terrytoons cartoon from the Deitch era | Just watched this Gene Deitch-era Terrytoon cartoon designed by Jules Feiffer on YouTube . In this one , a man named John Doormat is henpecked by his nagging wife Jane especially when he smokes pipes at the table . However , when he goes to work , he becomes an aggressive boss who roars at his employees . When he finds defective pipes at his desk , John decides to go to the department store to demand replacements . Coinsidentally , Jane goes to the same store at the same time . . . Since IMDb lists Allen Swift as the only voice artist in the cast , I'm guessing he did both John and Jane ( who sounds masculine ) . Anyway , this was quite amusing with the voice changes John goes through after leaving home and going to the bus on the way to work . And when we see Jane at home watching television and imagining a real handsome man being aggressive with her , we see just how much she really loves someone who has his way with her . The way this cartoon ends is something anyone familiar with sitcoms of the time could predict but is interesting to see nonetheless with the Feiffer designs . So on that note , I recommend Another Day , Another Doormat . |
454,565 | 11,228,318 | 147,511 | 6 | Small Town Sheriff is interesting for some weird images that appear in this Paul Terry cartoon | This was one of Paul Terry's Aesop Fables cartoons he made during the silent era . In this one , Farmer Al Falfa's car breaks down while a cat in a speakeasy is selling alcoholic beverages to a mouse ( who quickly passes out ) and an elephant ( whose mouth goes on fire which the cat douses with his seltzer bottle while the trunk sprays that seltzer back on the cat ! ) . After the farmer takes his sip , he starts hallucinating like crazy . . . Having seen this twice on YouTube , this rare silent cartoon is interesting for some of the weird images that pervade during the last three minutes of this cartoon . As for the title , well , all I'll say is that reveal comes at the end . So on that note , if you're interested in many of these vintage and obscure silent cartoons , I say Small Town Sheriff is worth a look . |
454,352 | 11,228,318 | 28,323 | 6 | Sunday Go to Meetin ' Time is one of the Censored 11 that has some entertainment value | This was the second , in chronological order , of the Censored 11 Warner Bros . cartoons I've watched on Thad's Animation Blog . Sunday Go to Meetin ' Time has the stereotypical drawn caricature of African-Americans with big white lips as well as the Stepin ' Fetchit prototype in leading character Nicodemus . A really offensive scene has a mother putting shoe polish on her bald kids ' heads then the father shining them on the other side . Other than that , this was a pretty entertaining musical cartoon about the leading character going to Hell and back . That Friz Freling directed this should come as no surprise since his musical shorts are usually some of the most entertaining . Worth a look for any animation buff who's aware of certain time period acceptance of certain stereotypes . |
453,749 | 11,228,318 | 812,748 | 6 | I Married Joan : The Allergy is silly but amusing | Judge Stevens is running for Surperior Court against Judge Casper Bennington . Since Bennington makes it public how happy he is married to his wife , Steven's publicist wants Joan and Brad to look even more happy in public . At this time , however , Joan seems to be developing an allergy to her husband so Brad initially goes to a hotel during the campaign . Eventually , Brad does go home but he can only be a certain distance from his wife . This starts rumors of a breakup so Brad's publicist accepts a challenge from Judge Bennington to have the Stevens appear with the Benningtons on TV to deny the gossip . When the TV host tries to get Joan and Brad together on camera , Joan keeps making funny faces to keep from sneezing . Bennington then comes on with his wife to show how happy they are but Joan then blows pepper toward Mrs . Bennington before she appears on camera causing her to make faces ! Bennington then withdraws followed by a final gag that I won't reveal here . Funniest gags are Joan's facial reactions on camera and a sight gag involving a blanket floating up ! Pretty silly overall but amusing throughout . Worth seeing for fans of Joan Davis and Jim Backus . |
454,948 | 11,228,318 | 660,859 | 6 | The Last Laurel was pretty good filler as the last segment of " Night Gallery " | Airing in the same hour as " They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar " , " The Last Laurel " is the shorter segment of " Night Gallery " . It stars Jack Cassidy as Marius Davis , a man who's paralyzed from the legs with a bad back who suspects his wife of having an affair with his doctor . When a collapsed bridge forces the doctor to stay in the house , Marius finds he has an out-of-body experience that allows him to pick objects up at will . So he picks up some scissors in order to kill his wife's alleged paramour . I'll stop there and just say that the length of about eight minutes seems just about right for this episode as one wouldn't want to spend another second with these not-so-very-nice people . So I don't think the ending effected me one way for another . And since I'm used to this kind of twist ending especially from writer Rod Serling , it really wasn't a surprise to me . Still , it was pretty good as filler goes . . . |
454,632 | 11,228,318 | 142,894 | 6 | The Tail of the Monkey was an interesting look at some early silent Lantz | Here's another Walter Lantz cartoon short I found on the CartoonsOnFilm blog . In this one , which he co-directed with David Hand , Lantz plays an organ grinder whose monkey steals a girl's lollipop in the live-action sequences . To keep the girl from crying , the organ grinder tells of why the monkey keeps moving his tail as we fade in to an animated version of the tale as the monkey fixes a horseshoe while his long tail gets burned on a grill ( why it's cooking nothing in particular is not explained ) . That tail also gets caught in a cheese-shaped mousetrap as tricked by a mouse who lives inside and holds the monkey up on a tree branch as he tries to make a giant hippo ring by 5 : 15 since his assistant went out to lunch at 5 ! The gags I just described are amusing in their primitive way in the animation and it's just fascinating just looking at what passed for movie cartoons back in the day . The Tail of the Monkey was an Unnatural History series entry for The J . R . Bray Studio where Lantz was an employee at the time . Worth a look for any animation buff out there . |
454,099 | 11,228,318 | 400,717 | 6 | Open Season is amusing enough for anyone who loves animation | Martin Lawrence voices a domesticated bear and Ashton Kutcher voices a hyperactive deer . They cause havoc at a closed convenience store in Timberline and are sent back to the woods . When open season begins , they defend themselves against hunters , especially a bloodthirsty one voiced by Gary Sinise , with the help of beavers , ducks , skunks , rabbits , a herd of other deer , and an army of squirrels led by a Scottish-tinged one voiced by Billy Connolly . What starts as fitfully amusing becomes hilarious by the time the animals vs . hunters sequence begins . Not up to Pixar standards , perhaps , but still worthy for the whole family to watch and get amused by . Additional voices by Jane Krakowski , Georgia Engel , Jon Favreau , Patrick Warburton , and as the bear's motherly ranger , Debra Messing . |
453,813 | 11,228,318 | 141,008 | 6 | Feline Follies is interesting as Felix's first appearance | In what was the earliest appearance of Felix the Cat , Feline Follies , he is called Master Tom and is more cat-like here than in most of his subsequent appearances . In this one , he's a house cat guarding some mice in the kitchen . When he gets away for awhile to rendezvous with his girlfriend , the mice make a mess of the kitchen . He serenades her with his guitar while she dances . Later , some notes appear literally and become wheels for go-carts they ride on . When he comes back and finds what the mice have done , the female head comes and throws him out . He then goes back to his girlfriend and sees other cats in a crowd look interested in her . The cat then goes to a gas site where he finds a hose and commits suicide . . . Yikes , what a downer beginning for animation's first superstar character ! Otto Messmer must have not of thought of long-term commitment when he created his famous feline . Good thing with a more appealing design , and a more lasting name in Felix , this character would eventually take over the silent animation world . So for many Felix enthusiasts out there , this is worth seeing for at least historical interest . |
454,361 | 11,228,318 | 142,925 | 6 | Towne Hall Follies is a Walter Lantz Oswald cartoon with some hilarious touches from animator Tex Avery | I found this rare Walter Lantz Oswald cartoon with some animation by Tex Avery on David Germain's animation blog on his tribute to Avery's 100th birthday . It's basically a stage slide show / vaudeville revue that features a female singer who gets chased by the villain before the Lucky Rabbit saves her and gets her love . A couple of gags that may have been created by Avery include : Oswald asking a lady to take off her hat as it's blocking his view but getting even more blocked when her hair suddenly grows into a giant afro ! Also , as the trapeze artist spins around on his swing , so too do the audiences ' heads from top to bottom ! That's all the inventive stuff I saw in this cartoon , still Towne Hall Follies is worth a look for any Avery fans out there . |
454,209 | 11,228,318 | 1,054,846 | 6 | Kindred is a slow-moving but still intriguing episode of " Heroes " | Claire apologizes for her argument with her dad in the previous episode . He accepts . At school , she tells West , the boy who watched her cut her toe , that she was just fixing her nails . He doesn't believe and asks her why she can't be who she really is . Claire leaves to go to class . In 17th century Japan , Takezo Kensei , Hiro's idol , finds he can heal from fatal wounds . He tells Hiro he wants to use them to make him rich . Hiro reveals his own powers and teleports himself and Takezo to a big battle scene to teach him a lesson . In Ireland , Peter , who still has amnesia , agrees to help commit armed robbery in order to get the box with his history inside . His mind-reading skills alerts him that one of the brothers is going to betray the gang's leader . He confronts them but gets no support . After visiting DL's graveyard in Las Vegas , Niki and Micah move to New Orleans , La . to start a new life . Waiting there is Micah's grandmother ( Nichelle Nichols , another welcome " Star Trek " veteran ) . Mohinder comes back to his apartment with cheers from Molly but doubts from Matt about the assignment Mohinder is on . After West mentions about regeneration again in class , Claire leaves with West following . After they reveal themselves , West then takes Claire up and away for sightseeing . She loves it . After the robbery succeeds , Peter sees one of the brothers pull the gun and manages to use his mind to hit him against the wall . He almost kills him but the female in the gang convinces him to stop . When he gets his box , he's reluctant because he seemed to enjoy his cold-blooded methods and thinks his past is similar . He then kisses the lady who saved him . In Hounduras , twins Maya and Alejandro are caught stealing a car with Alejandro being shipped to jail . Maya tries to get her brother out but gets arrested before she kills them all . When she meets her brother , they hold hands and everyone is alive again but they get out of jail with another prisoner before they're seen again . The car has a bumper sticker of the team of Claire's school . Hiro tells Kensei and his lady he has to go back . He has written Ando all this time about his adventures in letters in his sword that Ando has . At the last minute , he stays . A woman on a beach is serving drinks to someone waking up . It's Sylar ! We find out they're actually at a warehouse and Sylar has lost his powers . The woman vows to help to get them back and changes to various people to reveal hers . Sylar kills her and calls her Candace who was brunette instead of redhead as she is here but dead she's actually a much larger woman . Mohinder's new office is in Issac's old apartment . His superior has vowed to keep tabs on him . He finds another of Issac's old paintings and e-mails it to Noah Bennett's house . It depicts of Noah dead while Claire and West are kissing on the beach . Earlier , West had revealed of being abducted by a " Horned-Rimmed Glasses " guy . Claire comes in and greets her dad just as Noah turns his computer off . Crisis averted for now . . . Intriguing but slow-moving , this episode does answer some questions about last season . Oh , and one more thing , Niki is also still trying to find a cure for her powers and has called Mohinder's superior for help . Should pick up the pace in another week so until next time . . . |
453,753 | 11,228,318 | 26,198 | 6 | Charlie Chan in Paris is slow but enjoyable mystery | Charlie Chan in Paris is the second Warner Oland entry I've seen , the first was Charlie Chan at the Opera some twenty years before . The movie seemed a bit slow going at first but as the picture went on that pace seemed to work in its favor . Charlie goes to the French city , ostensibly on vacation , to visit a son of a banker friend and with his fiancée and another couple whose male part likes to draw pictures of people he knows , they go to a nightclub where an apache dancer , actually an assistant of Chan's named Nardi , gets murdered . Another one occurs later on . This film is notable as Keye Luke's first appearance as Chan's number one son Lee , here seen quite helpful in the case . Worth seeing for mystery fans , especially those who like ' 30-type programmers . |
453,871 | 11,228,318 | 147,123 | 6 | Opening Night is amusing pre-Code cartoon | We see Santa and his reindeer up in the night sky with Santa opening his bag . Stars come out which form the word Roxy lighting the theater's opening night . Cubby Bear is not allowed in the crowded entrance so he takes a top hat and has it push him up to where the Roxy control room is . He comes to another room , finds a rope to pull which takes him to where the conductor's spot is . Cubby is now the conductor ! As the opera is playing , one patron is obnoxiously eating peanuts and dropping them to the floor . The usher tries to shush him out only to be insulted . Control room operator sees this and ejects patron's seat below to be replaced by two seats from the entrance with replacement audience members . On stage , we see a big-breasted heroine singing to smaller leading man . Leading man is challenged to a duel by rival . A crowd gathers to watch the swordfight as rival has his head cut off . He comes downstairs replacing it with a flowerpot ! Hero bounces on girlfriends breasts ( talk about a pre-Code moment ! ) . As Cubby is finishing his conducting , a monkey musician is waiting for his ending on his big drum . As he bangs his drum once loudly , a hole forms below him causing him and everyone else to fall through . Cubby comes out as we iris out on his close-up . Pretty amusing Van Beuren cartoon with a few risqué materials that wouldn't pass the censors after 1934 . Worth a look for animation buffs . |
454,695 | 11,228,318 | 897,448 | 6 | Dial M for Laptop is another amusing episode of Andy Barker P . I . | Andy has been working on his father-in-law's ( David Huddleston ) tax return on the night before it's due . Just as he's about to finish , some men take his computer out in exchange for some " dirty " photos of a former client of Lew's . Turns out Lew forgot to inform Andy about all this . Now Andy vows to get his laptop back even if he has to meet a woman named Loretta Crispin ( Tracy Lords ) . . . Pretty amusing , if not hilarious episode . I loved some of the lines of Tony Hale's Simon and Harve Presnell's Lew the best . The Lords character also goes by the name " Geneva " who supposedly is on her way to a convention and I guess you can figure what joke goes here . . . Like I said , it was pretty amusing but about this time NBC announced there would be no more episodes after the next two airs so Mr . Richter seems to have struck out on television after previously failing with " Andy Richter Controls the Universe " ( which I liked ) and " Quintuplets " ( which I didn't ) . Maybe he'll do better in movies or even appear again as Sad Dad in " The New Adventures of Old Christine " . . . |
454,544 | 11,228,318 | 654,740 | 6 | My Little Margie : Missing Link should be amusing for early ' 50s sitcom fans | Margie goes to her father's loan company to borrow some money so she can invest wisely . She then accidentally buys a wrestler ! Vern , her father , is not too thrilled with Margie's investment . The wrestler threatens anyone who gets angry with ( her father ) or kisses ( boyfriend Freddie ) Margie . He later reveals to father he lets anyone who tells sob story to him win . Vern goes to wrestler's opponent and tells him what he just heard . That opponent tells his own sob story in ring but then Margie kisses him and wrestler throws him out into the audience where Vern is setting ! There's some other plot points in this episode but I'll let you find out for yourself . This is another silly but amusing story by the show's writers that should be funny enough for those that like this sort of thing . If you like what I just described and is interested in what filmed sitcoms were like in the 1950s , this show is certainly worth a look . |
454,208 | 11,228,318 | 21,701 | 6 | A different-voiced Betty Boop is the highlight of The Bum Bandit | Just saw this on YouTube . Bimbo tries to rob a train but is stopped by his wife , Nan McGroo , played with dog ears by Betty Boop in only her fourth appearance . She has a much tougher voice here than the more sweet one associated with Mae Questel . Typical early Max and Dave Fleischer talkie with plenty of amusing gags and a musical number between Betty and Bimbo that's the highlight of The Bum Bandit . While this was a Talkartoon starring Bimbo , it's obvious here that Betty's more the show stopper , even with the different voice , and that she'll eventually take over the series . Worth a look for early animation fans , especially those of the Fleischers . |
454,455 | 11,228,318 | 41,513 | 6 | Intruder in the Dust was somewhat interesting to me | Having read the William Faulkner novel and now seen the movie version twice , I have to admit Intruder in the Dust leaves me a little underwhelmed . Perhaps it's the lack of real tension as well as that of a music score ( though it's interesting that a movie made in the late ' 40s would-except for the beginning and end credits-have no score at all since I always thought that started in the ' 70s ) . I personally found the novel a bit pretentious with all the run-on sentences . The most tension for me came when one of the murdered man's brothers poured gas near an old lady's rocking chair in the building that's jailing accused man Lucas Beauchamp and started lighting a match only to blow it out when that lady ( Elizabeth Patterson ) refused to move an inch . Other scenes , like the digging of the grave , seemed to take too long . Other than that , I did like the performances of Claude Jarman , Jr . as the teenage boy who's trying to pay back Lucas for saving him a few years ago , David Brian as the lawyer uncle of Jarman reluctantly defending Beauchamp , and Juano Hernadez as the accused man who bows to no one . This being Black History Month , I'd also like to mention other performers of color to appear here : Julia S . Marshbanks as Beauchamp's wife , John Morgan as a black convict , and Elzie Emanuel as Jarman's friend . And I recognized Will ' Grandpa Walton ' Geer's voice as the sheriff . I guess what I really found a little puzzling was , when the truth came out , everyone seemed to just walk away as if nothing happened . The fact that Jarman and Brian provide some explanation at the end makes the movie somewhat satisfying . For all that , I guess I'm recommending Intruder in the Dust . P . S . I'd also like to mention that two of the performers-David Clarke and Harry Antrim-were both born in the same place I was : Chicago , Illinois . |
453,743 | 11,228,318 | 19,714 | 6 | Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid is interesting pilot for Warner Bros . cartoon series | Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid is Hugh Harmon and Rudy Ising's pilot film for an animated series they were shopping to various studios after working on the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts for Disney and Mintz . Independent producer Leon Schlesinger accepted the pilot and commissioned a series of Bosko Looney Tunes shorts for distribution by Warner Bros . In this initial entry , Ising is at the drawing board drawing a little black figure . This figure's first line is , " Well , I'm glad to be free now that I'm out of the pen . " He then whistles and tap dances . He then asks for a piano which Ising obliges . Bosko plays and sings " Sonny Boy " but awfully ! Having covered his ears , Rudy can't stand it anymore and sends Bosko back into his pen with the piano and stool . After putting the ink back in the inkwell , Bosko comes back out and says , " So long , folks ! " The end title also says what Bosko just said starting the Warner Bros . tradition of ending the shorts with something other than The End . Amusing pilot for the Bosko series and an interesting start for the Warner Bros . cartoon studio . While the title character has something of a Negro dialect , there's nothing really offensive about him unless you consider a young black boy tap dancing as such . Certainly a nice tribute to Max Fleischer's Koko the Clown series . Worth seeing for animation buffs especially those of Warner Bros . cartoons . |
453,966 | 11,228,318 | 21,687 | 6 | Bosko the Doughboy is partly grim / partly funny | Bosko the Doughboy is a bit more grim than usual and since the previous reviewer discussed the short in much detail , I'll mention some gags that haven't been discussed yet . Like the one where the bullets take some of the body of another soldier to make him much smaller instead of killing him . Or the one where after a friend of Bosko's gets a cannonball stuck in his stomach , Bosko gets it out by simply zipping down his front part and taking the ball out of there ! Or the one where the dog soldier has fleas so Bosko solves the problem by getting his metal hat riddled with bullets so with the holes filled in the dog uses it to scratch his back ! Like I said , pretty grim with " gallows " humor abound . Still , worth a look for any early Warner Bros . animation enthusiast . |
454,867 | 11,228,318 | 151,770 | 6 | No Place Like Rome is another one of those sing-a-long cartoons Famous Studios is known for | This was a Famous Studios Song Kartune ( though this version has the Harveytoons logo ) that I just watched on YouTube . It all takes place in Italy with various amusing gags concerning the country's shape ( the obvious boot and foot one ) , the Leaning Tower of Pisa ( where people going in come out in a different position ) , abstract modern painting , spaghetti eating , and a singer trying to break a wine glass ( which results in all the other window glasses broken instead ) . It's here that he tells us to " Follow the bouncing ball " as the song , " Oh , Ma , Ma , ( The Butcher Song ) " is played . After that , a train carrying a just married couple comes through a long tunnel . You can probably guess the punchline for that one . . . I didn't find myself laughing out loud at this one but I was fascinated by the gags just the same . No Place Like Rome is worth seeking out for anyone that loves animation especially for those Famous Studios completists out there . |
454,193 | 11,228,318 | 21,689 | 6 | Bosko's Holiday is an okay cartoon with some inventive gags | Since the previous reviewer and the summary mentioned some of the gags and the story , I'll mentioned some that haven't been discussed yet . Like the one where Bosko summons someone from a big doghouse . Out comes not a dog but a car with a personality of its own with some little car children following him before Bosko sends the kids back home before saying , " Ain't that cute ? " ( He says that a lot in the cartoon ) . Also , at the end Honey turns her back on Bosko when he whispers something in her ear . He successfully tempts her with a sandwich . She goes back to him . Then the dog that had been following them all this time ( was that an early version of Bruno ? ) lifts Honey's skirt . Honey thinking that was Bosko , leaves with Bosko saying , " Aw , nuts ! " . . . I loved the beginning gag with the telephone and alarm clock making movements to wake Bosko up in the beginning and the one where the dog bites into the tire and blows himself up as a result . The rest was eh . Still , recommended for anyone with an interest in early Warner Bros . animation . |
453,955 | 11,228,318 | 126,048 | 6 | So You Want to Be a Detective was my first look at the shorts series character Joe McDoakes | On the Matinée at the Bijou site , there was an article about a series of short films that featured a character named Joe McDoakes . George O'Hanlon-later known as the voice of George Jetson on Hanna-Barbera's " The Jetsons " - played this character . In this version , he becomes private eye Philip Snarlow as he and narrator Art Gilmore search for a killer . Many of the visual and verbal gags got some chuckles if not big guffaws from me . Maybe I was a little distracted by the feminine charms ( not to mention the shapely figure ) of Veronica Vacuum , played here by exquisitely sexy Lila Leeds . It's a wonder the Production Code let her on the screen ! Anyway , while no great shakes , So You Want to Be a Detective is worth a look . |
454,182 | 11,228,318 | 4,189 | 6 | Kid Auto Races in Venice is interesting first look at Chaplin's Tramp character | Kid Auto Races in Venice is historical in that it marks Charlie Chaplin's first appearance as The Tramp . In this short film , The Tramp is a spectator in a soap box derby race that is being filmed . Throughout the short , Charlie keeps getting in front of the camera and getting pushed off by either the cameraman or other spectators . In addition , he almost gets knocked off by some of the kid racers ! Obviously not much to mention of the plot of this six minute short but for some reason I was constantly amused by Chaplin's constant wandering in and out of the path of where the race cars were going as well as the cameraman's attempts to get him out of the way . Worth a look for film history buffs and the easily amused . |
453,765 | 11,228,318 | 151,799 | 6 | Of Mice and Menace is an amusingly violent cartoon from Famous Studios | This is a Herman and Katnip cartoon made for Famous Studios during this time . Herman the mouse brings his cousins ( or nephews ) to the penny arcade by sitting on the trunk of a moving car . Katnip the cat is discovered sleeping on one of the machines . Herman gets some balloons and has the cat floating away through an open roof . Katnip comes back , however , and gives chase after the mouse though Herman has a few more tricks up his sleeve . . . Pretty amusing cartoon with some violent gags that make Tom and Jerry gentlemen by comparison . My favorite gag is more sexually-oriented , however . It concerns the cat looking through a kinetoscope ( an early moving picture machine that shows photos running through a peephole window that simulates movement ) watching a hula girl dancing . It's actually Herman in disguise but Katnip doesn't care ( or is too dumb to know ) ! LOL ! While violent , it's of the most absurd kind that's depicted in this cartoon . So on that note , Of Mice and Menace is worth a look . |
453,931 | 11,228,318 | 1,029,440 | 6 | Madame Tutli-Putli is imagination run amok for an acquired taste | Madame Tutli-Putli is one of five Oscar nominees for Best Animated Short of 2007 . I saw this Canadian effort on a link from Cartoon Brew . It basically tells , in silent form with luminous musical scoring throughout , a story of a young woman with plenty of baggage , both literally and figuratively , on a train as it travels during the day and night with other people and insects who may or may not be figments of her imagination . I admired many of the images and the way various cuts and movements were made yet there was a confusing air that wasn't entirely satisfied by the end . It's obviously supposed to be dreamlike in a kind of abstract quality but that wasn't enough for me to think this was one of the best animated efforts of the previous year . Still , it was certainly unique so on that note , I'd recommend Madame Tulti-Putli to anyone with a real sense of imagination . |
453,904 | 11,228,318 | 1,000,400 | 6 | The Hard Part is interesting filler before final two episodes of Heroes | Hiro and Ando arrive at Issac's apartment to find him dead . They overhear Sylar ( he had just talked to Mohinder on the phone about his worry of killing thousands of New Yorkers he just painted of ) coming and hide behind a painting . Sylar hears their heartbeats and quickly closes in on them but they disappear just in time . As he leaves , Hiro and Ando follow him to his mother's ( Ellen Greene ) house in New Jersy . Comforting at first , when Gabriel ( Sylar's actual name ) gives his mother a New York snow globe and makes it move around her , it violently hits her and she rejects him as her son . He then stabs her which makes Hiro freeze the moment as he uses his sword to kill him but then Sylar unfreezes back and attempts to kill Hiro at which point Ando rushes to his friend as he and Hiro disappear leaving Sylar alone . Back to where they were in the start of the episode , Hiro sword is now broken . Peter attempts to change Clarie's mind about going to Paris as he tells her about how he ends up destroying New York with his fire making methods and Claire tells him about Ted who has the same abilities . Peter didn't know about him and he and she tell Nathan who promises to contact the FBI . Instead , he calls Linderman and goes to Thompson as they're unknowingly discovered by Peter and Claire . D . L . and Jessica phase into Las Vegas to rescue Micah who is slowly realizing he's not with his mother . As he attempts to escape without detection , he keeps coming to the same apartment in different places as the shape-sifting Candace reveals herself and threatens Micah to stay . Thompson leads Mohinder to a girl named Molly who has the same abilities as Mohinder's late sister : that of tracking down other special-powered people . His father had discovered a cure for a disease that was too late to save his daughter so Mohinder hopes to use it in time to save Molly . As Peter and Claire walk through New York , they encounter Parkman , Ted , and Claire's adopted father HRG as Peter's hands start to light up . . . Interesting if not always very exciting , this episode seems to partially be filler for the final two seasonal installments . The most interesting parts concerned Sylar , Hiro , and Ando . Hope the D . L . / Niki-Jessica / Micah connection comes soon . There's gotta be some real action in the final two eps . Still , I can wait for a while . . . |
453,744 | 11,228,318 | 292,458 | 6 | Boy Meets Dog is pretty entertaining Walter Lantz " cartune " | I saw Boy Meets Dog on Refederator . com and I saw no sign for Bristol-Myers both times I saw it . Based on the " Reg'lar Fellers " comic strip by Gene Byrnes , this short concerns a boy whose dad abuses him . And the boy's new dog is making it worse . As the dad falls asleep , he dreams of being in court for not treating his boy well . This dream is a musical sequence filled with dwarfs singing whether he's guilty or not . The judge acts like Curly Howard of the Three Stooges while the defending lawyers act like Moe and Larry . Judge later takes off beard revealing to be his son ! Dad gets sentenced to the youth machine where he is turned into a baby . It's at this time that he wakes up with puppy licking him as he turns a new leaf and gets along with his son and his friends . The end . The turn-around seems a bit much for the father but otherwise this is a pretty entertaining short for producer / director Walter Lantz . And besides , in a couple of years we'll meet two of his most famous creations : Anda Panda and Woody Woodpecker . . . |
454,398 | 11,228,318 | 32,439 | 6 | Elmer's Candid Camera provides amusing preview of Elmer and Bugs relationship | This early cartoon directed by Charles M . Jones ( better known as Chuck Jones ) features the first appearance of the short's title character with the voice and facial features though he's a little heavier here and still has traces of his predecessor , Egghead . His nemesis is a rabbit who looks a little like Bugs Bunny except his face is pink and he sounds more like Goofy with a laugh like Woody Woodpeckeer ( no surprise since Mel Blanc also did that bird during this time ) . Elmer's trying to take wildlife pictures but keeps getting pranked on by the rabbit . A pretty amusing dry run for the hunting pictures started by Tex Avery's A Wild Hare , this cartoon should be seen at least for historical value . It's on disc 3 of The Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Vol . 1 . |
454,198 | 11,228,318 | 396,555 | 6 | Meet the Robinsons is amusing in 3-D from Disney | Containing some elements you'll recognize from Back to the Future and The Wizard of Oz , Meet the Robinsons is a charming and amusing 3-D computer animated movie . A 12-year orphan has failed to get adopted more than 100 times because he keeps inventing things that always result in disaster . Then one day , someone a year older from the future takes him on a journey there in a time machine as he meets the Robinson family who provide him all the joy lacking in his present time . I'll stop right there and say while there is a rushed quality in the first 30 minutes , things slow down eventually to the point that you're left feeling inspired at the end . Wish the movie could be funnier but I wasn't completely disappointed . By the way , there is a punchline involving a Famous Celebrity that pays off at the end that I don't want to spoil here . And it's preceded by Working for Peanuts , an amusing Donald Duck / Chip ' n ' Dale cartoon that was also in 3-D when it first came out in 1953 . What awesome visuals both films had ! |
453,877 | 11,228,318 | 876,072 | 6 | Vanished : Aftermath certainly moves along smoothly despite transition | Seems I was a little premature both on Agent Kelton's death and the previous episode being Gale Harold's last . After Kelton got shot , he was taken to a hospital . When Judy Nash went live a few minutes later , it was she who pronounced Kelton dead . Later , his ex-wife identifies his body in the morgue and grieves as she puts his ring with hers on her finger as Lin Mei looks on and offers her condolences . Except near the end when his picture is hung in a bulletin board of martyrs , that scene marks Harold's last appearance . Daniel Lucus is introduced as the new agent in charge of Sara's disappearance as he and Lin Mei try to identify Kelton's assailant . Meanwhile , Senator Jeffery Collins takes a private plane that turns out to be controlled by the man who wants him to help swear his choice in the supreme court . As the plane takes a layover to North Carolina , Collins finds himself surrounded by this guy's men and a woman who's tied up . It's Sara ! This guy tells Collins since he didn't do what he wanted , he'll shoot his wife . He pulls the trigger as Jeffery tries to break free of his captors . No bullets come as the senator breaks down and Sara , mouth gagged , watches helpless . This guy warns Collins the next one's gonna be real . At home , Marcy tries to get her grandfather to give her a thousand worth of her trust fund money . Knowing it's for Ben Wilson's bail , he refuses . Marcy's mother overhears and agrees to help her daughter after accepting a bribe from her ex-husband's handler . At FBI , Lin Mei and Daniel's computer expert ID's the picture of Kelton's assailant to about 30 aliases and finds his North Carolina address . Lin Mei and Daniel take action and hold up his house . As they get in , they find a bomb that is attached to the phone so they get out as fast as they can as house explodes . Assailant escapes but quickly gets caught as Daniel forces him at gunpoint to get out . As assailant does he takes a small knife and slits his throat . As the agents search his trunk , we find pictures of Sara throughout her life . . . Delayed last week by a rain-delayed World Series , Vanished returns after four weeks in a new Friday time slot . Since Fox has told the producers to wrap up the storyline by the 13th episode , there doesn't seem to be any cluttered subplots like there have been the last few episodes . Eddie Cibrian seems to adjust himself nicely in his new role as Gale Harold's replacement . Ming-Na has a few nice scenes concerning her late partner's death . Drama moves along smoothly . Previews of next week certainly look exciting . I guess we'll see next week if it gets any better . . . |
455,012 | 11,228,318 | 849,809 | 6 | 30 Rock : Pilot is an uneven but still amusing showcase of Tina Fey's talents | Liz Lemon ( Tina Fey ) is the head writer of The Girlie Show , a late-night comedy show . It stars her good friend Jenna Maroney ( Jane Krakowski ) . Jack Donaghy ( Alec Baldwin ) is the new network exec in charge of production who suggests putting in movie star Tracy Jordan ( Tracy Morgan ) in TGS to appeal to 18-34-year-old males . Liz gets Tracy to agree to come aboard . That's the basic plot of the pilot episode of 30 Rock amid some jokes about mergers ( I like the one about NBC-Universal-GE-KMart ) , black nerds ( a black writer gets compared to Urkel by a fellow white male writer ) , and urination ( Jenna can't open one eye wide because her little sister once peed in it ) . Fey's fellow SNL / Second City castmate Rachel Dratch appears as a cat wrangler and will appear in different roles each week . Fey is a wonderful comedy writer though the pilot is a pretty uneven showcase for her talents . The entire cast is wonderful , however , so I shall look forward to see how it improves next week . |
454,145 | 11,228,318 | 136,325 | 6 | Ko-Ko's Haunted House was another fascinating live action / cartoon hybrid from Max Fleischer | This was another entry I found on Saturday Morning Blog that was focused on Halloween . In this Max Fleischer-Inkwell Imps episode , we see Max and another cartoonist next to him ( probably his brother Dave ) at the drawing board with the other artist stealing Max's inkwell . That inkwell becomes a big house ( well , big enough for the board ) that Ko-Ko and his dog Fitz go into . They encounter several ghosts and skeletons ( many of those in chalk white drawings on black paper-supposedly construction ) . Plenty of weird gags abound like seeing a tiny ghost using a pickaxe on Fitz ' tail or a person being human on the back and skeletal on the front ! Then there's some statues moving that scares the other cartoonist at the end that makes Max laugh . The print I saw on YouTube wasn't in great condition and the score that was picked seemed a little cheery . Despite that , Ko-Ko's Haunted House is well worth a look . |
455,233 | 11,228,318 | 1,032,855 | 6 | Beim Fotografen was another " nudie " made by Austria's Johann Schwarzer | Once again on the Europa Film Treasures blog , I discovered another " nudie " from the silent era made by Austrian Johann Schwarzer . In this one , a photographer has a studio in which he has women come in and pose in the nude with occasional clothing . Then we see male customers come in and watch the results ( with inserts of many of those posed pictures provided ) just before a previous customer who refused to take off her clothes busts them all with the police in tow . The end . The last scene was pretty funny even now and I could have swore that woman who barged in was smiling as they all got out of the frame ! With all that said , I highly recommend Beim Fotografen to anyone curious about adult film entertainment from Europe during the silent era . |
454,285 | 11,228,318 | 1,076,980 | 6 | This Hollywood on Parade short was a fascinating obscure item for me | I recently discovered the Matinée at the Bijou blog which is about the vintage movie theatre programs from the ' 30s and ' 40s as presented on a two-hour program uninterrupted by modern commercials as revived on PBS . Among the rare shorts presented there was this Hollywood newsreel from Paramount introduced by singer Cliff Edwards on ukulele warbling the theme song . He's best known now as the voice of Jiminy Cricket on Walt Disney's Pinocchio but was just a song-and-dance man during this time . Among the items : Jean Harlow learns golf , and several stars go to the horse races : William Powell and his then-wife Carole Lombard , the comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey , Polly Moran , Joan and Constance Bennett , and Mexican star Raquel Torres . Cliff appears in between these segments and gets interrupted by a Mexican band singing the praises of another star of their country-Lupe Velez-as we see a film clip of her dancing with someone . Then they and Edwards join in for the theme finale as the short ends . This was another fascinating obscure item from back in the day that sustained my interest throughout . Well worth seeing for anyone interested in this sort of thing . |
454,227 | 11,228,318 | 327,597 | 6 | Coraline was an interesting , if not truly thrilling , suspenseful stop-motion animated film | With Henry Selick as the director , you know , the man behind Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas , I expected a special treat when I watched Coraline especially in 3-D . Don't get me wrong , I did like the images that were presented throughout the movie in the rare stop-motion animation style in an era where everything else that's animated is usually done by computer . And there were interesting characters that made one want to get involved for the whole picture . It's just that after a while , there seemed more style and not enough substance to really keep you involved in the story with your eyes and ears thinking awesome the whole time but your heart wondering if there could have been more to the characterizations . In fact , since this was based on a novel , I'm sure there were some cuts that had to be made to make a certain running time . But like I said , while there wasn't enough intensity to make this truly thrilling , Coroline still was pretty exciting at certain points and many young children watching this will not get bored when the climax comes . So on that note , I am recommending Coroline for animation buffs and anyone who doesn't mind if their under-12 children holds on to them for a while . . . |
454,769 | 11,228,318 | 4,288 | 6 | Making a Living is a very interesting debut for Charlie Chaplin | In Making a Living , Charlie Chaplin's film debut , he is not yet dressed as The Little Tramp . Instead , he sports a monocle , top hat , dapper suit , and a more drooping mustache . And he's basically more of a swindler than a gentleman with his penchant for stealing another person's credit ( in this one , he sees someone take a picture of a car accident and takes the camera to pass the picture as his own in the newspaper building ) . Still , the fight scenes are pretty hilarious especially when Chaplin uses his umbrella to hold back his tormentor ! And the last scene when they end up on a train car should tell you how actors seemed more willing to perform their own stunts then than now . So , on that note this is still worth a look for any fans of Chaplin and silent comedy history . |
454,798 | 11,228,318 | 32,504 | 6 | Gallopin ' Gals is an interesting early Hanna-Barbera cartoon short sans Tom and Jerry | This is one of those rare MGM / Hanna-Barbera cartoon shorts that doesn't involve Tom and Jerry . In Gallopin ' Gals , all the racehorses are female who dress in the fashions of the day gossiping about some of the other female racehorses behind their back . One female horse who's all alone is named Maggie who's shy and has hay fever . She has yet to win a race . Many witty lines about makeup and men horses abound as an announcer introduces many of them during this six-minute animated short . If you're familiar with many of these vintage cartoons from the ' 40s , you'll probably guess what happens here when the race is over . So on that note , I'll just say Gallopin ' Gals is worth a look for animation fans of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera . |
454,592 | 11,228,318 | 147,029 | 6 | Makin ' ' em Move is interesting early Van Beuren | Makin ' ' em Move takes us inside an animation studio where we see one animator draw a head , the next one draw a foot , and next one a hand , etc . Someone records music on the soundtrack by putting a record needle on the edge of the film while the band plays . Another animator draws various model poses then flips the drawings to see her dance . And a live human camera records these drawings as they are flipped . Then we see the finished product as the audience watches a melodrama with the boy's girl taken by villain to be sawed , only girl escapes by moving to front with legs on log as her arms are tied up ! As movie ends , the boy and girl take a bow to applause while the villain , who's been booed and hissed all through gets " thrashed " as the audience attacks the screen which gets destroyed ! There are some good gags such as the animal animators getting blown as the musicians are playing real loud but since this is a 30's musical cartoon , nothing hilarious . Worth seeing for an early Van Beuren , however . |
454,329 | 11,228,318 | 58,953 | 6 | Beach Blanket Bingo was a slightly better Frankie-Annette movie than Bikini Beach | Having previously seen Bikini Beach and found it very silly , I partly dreaded wondering if Beach Blanket Bingo was going to be the exact same way . While there are plenty of similarities , there were some differences that I appreciated like seeing Annette actually deciding to go skydiving with Frankie instead of trying to talk him out of it like she tried to in BB when it was about drag racing and also that Frankie , while initially not wanting Dee Dee ( Annette's character ) to do such a dangerous stunt , liked her even more when she did . Also , Jody McCrea's Bonehead-who was too stupid for my tastes in BB-is quite touching here with his romance with the mermaid Lorelei ( Marta Kristen ) . I especially found funny the way he measured her body for a dress and the way she said , " Do it again ! " There's also some amusing physical bits from Buster Keaton , some witty lines from Paul Lynde , another nice song from Donna Loren , a couple of good duets from Frankie and Annette , a pretty good solo from Frankie ( though I wonder why Annette didn't have one this time around ) , and a charming number from Harvey Lembeck as Eric Von Zipper with his rat gang . Lembeck himself is hit-or-miss with his shtick though Timothy Carey provides some hilarity as occasional nemeses , South Dakota Slim . Then there's Linda Evans as singer Sugar Kane ( did writer / director William Asher intentionally steal that name from Marilyn Monroe's character in Some Like it Hot ? ) . Her innocent sexiness comes through in each of her scenes especially when she gets " kidnapped " by Von Zipper and says " Marvey " when he teaches her to play pool ( Puss and Boots also provide some amusement when they make fun of her ) . And her mouthing the singing of Robin Ward sure fooled me ! That said , Beach Blanket Bingo is only slightly better than Bikini Beach as once again , Don Rickles seems wasted here even when he's allowed to do a brief insult act in front of Frankie and the gang . Deborah Walley faking a rape was also pretty tastless here . And the speeded-up chase at the end is only slightly more amusing here due to Keaton and some water gags done on Lembeck . And I wish the Bonehead / Lorelei romance had ended like Splash but I guess that wasn't to be since Bonehead would appear in another sequel . All that said , I enjoyed Beach Blanket Bingo a little more than Bikini Beach and seeing Buster and dancer Bobbi Shaw at the end with some other girls doing their moves marked a very cute way to end this silly A . I . P . beach movie musical . . . |
454,583 | 11,228,318 | 34,913 | 6 | Japoteurs is another World War II era Superman cartoon | Despite some racism , Japoteurs is another pretty good Superman cartoon . Clark and Lois are invited to inspect a new bomber . A Japanese spy has stowed away in one of the bombs . Lois , having stayed on after everyone left , informs the control tower . The enemy spy manages to sabotage opponent by bombing it . Clark turns into Superman and quickly manages to save Lois from being ejected before defeating spy after spy destroys instrument panel . Supes then flies Lois to safety before going to plane's head and slowing its rough landing ( just like he did in the recent Superman Returns ) . All is well in the world again as Clark and Lois ride on an amusement park plane . . . Like I said , the pidgin English spoken by the Japanese spy borders on the offensive but worth a look for anyone interested in World War II propaganda . Or for anyone interested in all things Superman . |
453,944 | 11,228,318 | 475,127 | 6 | This early De Forest Phonofilm is a worthy look of the first presidential speech on film | Just discovered on Internet Archive this Lee De Forest Phonofilm of the first time a U . S . president had spoken in a moving picture . The crux of Calvin Coolidge's four minute speech seems to be how the people would benefit more working for themselves than for the government ( i . e . paying less taxes ) . As you can see from the title , he's speaking from the lawns of the White House . He does this , with glasses on , reading from a prepared sheet he's holding . He then starts to leave as the film fades . All I can say is this was a pretty fascinating document to watch of an important figure embarking on a new medium for the first time with no slick production values at his disposal , just him reading off a piece of paper his views of the current condition of the country . For anyone interested in both early sound film and U . S . presidential history , President Coolidge , Taken on the White House Grounds is definitely worth a look . |
454,185 | 11,228,318 | 554 | 6 | Humorous Phases of Funny Faces is a historically interesting early animation effort | I don't think there's anything more about this pioneering animation effort that hasn't already been said before by many of the other reviewers except maybe only the very young who haven't been exposed to cartoons previously would find this the most charming thing they have ever seen yet ! Certainly we all recognize how primitive these chalk drawings are now having been exposed to Disney , The Simpsons , hell , even Beavis and Butthead is more sophisticated than this short Humorous Phases of Funny Faces ! That said , anyone with an interest in animation's history should watch this at least once to see where it all began . . . |
454,272 | 11,228,318 | 62,653 | 6 | The Alphabet is another weird early Lynch short that showcases his uniqueness | Just saw this , another weird short directed by David Lynch early in his career , on YouTube . In it , you hear kids saying loudly in unison , " A-B-C ! A-B-C ! " Then there are some animation that turns bizarre like when a tube gives birth to a couple of A's as you hear a baby crying . Then there's this woman ( played by Peggy Lynch , David's first wife ) who recites the alphabet singing who suddenly bleeds through her nose after she's done . Oh , and it's dark and she's in her bed the whole time . The end . There are some other bizarre things here but I'll just leave you to search this on YouTube . After all that , I'll say this for David Lynch : He's certainly like no one else on film ! |
454,022 | 11,228,318 | 309,402 | 6 | This brief Buffalo Dance from the kinetoscope of Edison was a fascinating find on Internet Archive | Well , here's another early film from The Edison Company that depicts something that was popular during that time . In this case , it's the " Buffalo Dance " as we see three American Indians dancing in the Black Maria studio seemingly conscious of being on camera the whole time while two other of their tribe are playing instruments-drums-as accompaniment . They're all from " Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show " , the one chronicled in Irving Berlin's Broadway show and movie Annie Get Your Gun where Annie Oakley and Frank Butler fight and fall in love . Since this is only a few seconds , my rating is mainly based on how fascinating a document this was and how audiences might have reacted when they watched this on their kinetoscopes-those peepshow machines that you twirl on one side that are probably still available for viewing at Walt Disney World for a penny . I just found this on Internet Archive . Probably the earliest thing I've reviewed here on IMDb . |
454,817 | 11,228,318 | 1,055,413 | 6 | Third episode of " Back to You " is funny if bland | Marsh mentions in his sports segment that a Steelers player had spent some time with a model . He then mentions that he'd like to switch places with one of them for 3 hours . He then says he meant with the football player . Chuck goes to a restaurant that happens to already have seated Kelly and daughter Gracie . Gracie invites Chuck to sit with them which becomes awkward with Kelly but fun for Gracie . Montana's less than enthusiastic performance on air was the result of her breakup with the player Marsh mentioned so news director Ryan , who has a crush on her , tries to cheer her up before the next newscast . And Marsh tries to prepare Gary for a weekend anchor spot . . . Many funny moments happen from the synopsis I just described like an audition tape of Gary's that's pretty cheesy or Marsh's failing attempts to get a more than lethargic audition performance from him . There's also some sweet moments from Ryan and Montana . As for the restaurant performance between Chuck , Kelly , and Gracie . . . well , I loved the drinking game between Gracie and Chuck but it was mostly blah otherwise . Still , I'm willing to give this show a pass since I've always loved Kelsey Grammar from all the years as Fraiser Crane . Now if only the ratings could improve from fourth place on Fox . . . |
454,335 | 11,228,318 | 150,100 | 6 | Chew Chew Baby is one Famous Studios cartoon that should probably have a " parental guidance " caution | Just saw on the Something Old , Something New blog this Famous Studios Noveltoon , Chew Chew Baby ( not to be confused with the same-named Woody Woodpecker cartoon ) . In this one , a hunter from Cincinatti encounters a little pygmy in a jungle , takes his picture , and tells him to look him up if he ever goes to his hometown . He does and , oh , what a surprise he pulls on him . . . The author of the blog I just mentioned says this traumatized him as a kid and he's had no desire to see this again . Having now watched this as linked from YouTube , I must say I was mostly amused by the bizarre chomping of this small cannibal especially when he upchucked that mannequin ! Then there's a twist at the end that you'll probably guess right away just as it's about to happen that was a perfect end of this short . This probably wouldn't be suitable for anyone under-12 but anyone older than that who's seen The Silence of the Lambs and was entertained by that will probably enjoy this as well . P . S . Jackson " Bluto " Beck was the voice of the hunter and Jack " Popeye " Mercer was the dentist who was the first of the pygmy's victims . |
454,597 | 11,228,318 | 45,100 | 6 | The Romance of Transportation in Canada was an interesting Oscar-nominated animated short from up north | Produced by Tom Daly for the National Film Board of Canada , directed by Colin Low , narrated by Guy Glover with music by Eldon Rathburn , this animated short was nominated for an Oscar for Beat Short Subject , Cartoon , 1952 . It humorously tells the history of how transportation advanced from canoing to trains to automobiles and planes simultaneously . Rathburn's score and Glover's narration are perfect here . My favorite parts are seeing how " comfortable " passengers are when riding stagecoaches and the end when . . . oh , just watch the short . Not hilarious , just a little amusing but this short helped many animators reap some creative benefits and gave the NFB their quality reputation . |
453,947 | 11,228,318 | 35,777 | 6 | The Dancing Masters is pretty entertaining , if uneven , Laurel and Hardy comedy | In a remarkable coincidence , I found out in the morning paper that today is the day Oliver Hardy died 50 years ago . That made me want to watch The Dancing Masters right away since I checked that out of the library last Sunday . Since this was one of Hardy's and partner Laurel's latter-day features they made for , in Stan's words , " those Fox people " , there isn't much in the way of logic in the comic set pieces that are depicted here but for the most part the movie is pretty amusing with many laughs and smiles from me when the boys are by themselves or whenever they have someone new , like leading lady Trudy Marshall , participate in one of their routines . In fact , Ms . Marshall recounted to one L & H biographer how she told Stan and Ollie how she'd love to do comedy so they let her in the " Mixed Hats " routine in which she also incorporated plates . She became known as " One-Take Marshall " from that incident in her cherished memory ! Also appearing , without credit , was Robert Mitchum in one of his early thug roles , here talking a little fast for his usual character . Also , Margaret Dumont , usual Marx Brothers foil , provides some amusing moments . Alas , the movie falls apart at the end with a really illogical bus chase that mixes obvious back projection scenes with obvious model scenes to uneven results . Stan's line at the end does partially make up for that . So while The Dancing Masters is not an L & H classic , it's certainly worth a look for die-hard fans of the boys . Rest in eternal peace , Mr . Hardy . |
454,171 | 11,228,318 | 148,197 | 6 | The Fuz was another interesting Ralph Bakshi cartoon from Paramount Cartoon Studios | Just found this Ralph Bakshi-directed cartoon from Paramount Cartoon Studios on the Saturday Morning Blog as linked from Daily Motion . A lady is scared of a little furry person all covered in hair who seems harmless ( must be a comment on normal people fearing hippies since this short was made in the late ' 60s ) . Superblaster and his sidekick Bob overhear this as Superblaster tries to get out but the landlady stops him at the door to get her money . When the superhero tries to feign being broke , the landlady pummels him until he pays all the money . When he reaches the little furball , Superblaster keeps bumping into things while the furball just stands still and goes its own way . . . This being another Bakshi cartoon made in the waning days of Paramount's animation unit , this take on another possible variation of Ralph's " Mighty Heroes " from Terrytoons starts pretty funny enough with the hysterical woman's screams , her small husband , and that furball character and continues with Superblaster's inept ways of handling himself initially but it runs out of steam before the amusing surprise ending which redeems the short a bit . On that note , The Fuz is worth a look for Bakshi enthusiasts . |
454,252 | 11,228,318 | 53,241 | 6 | This original version of the Mexican Santa Claus movie is not bad despite some obvious flaws | Last year about this time , I reviewed the U . S . - dubbed version of this Mexican-made holiday movie as shown and commented on by Mike and the ' bots on " Mystery Science Theater 3000 " . I remember thinking it was hilarious and give it 10 stars because of all the commenting by them . I've now seen the original version from its native country and I've got to say that despite the still creepy laughs from both Santa and especially his mechanical reindeer , that prancing devil , that machine with the red lips , and all those children from different countries illegally in labor under the red-suited man , this is a mostly touching tale of the wishes of a rich boy and a poor girl coming true because of Santa . With both the native language intact ( and the version I saw on YouTube also had no subtitles ) , and no edits for commercials , this wasn't a bad movie to watch during this holiday season . I did admit , however , to laughing at some wrong places simply because of my memory of " MST3K " or doing so because some scenes were so obviously broad that you're giggling not because it's naturally funny but because you know they want you to laugh so you do . I mean , who wouldn't laugh at the devil getting his butt shot at with an arrow ? So for all the reasons I cited , I'm giving this version of the Mexican Santa Claus a 6 . |
454,057 | 11,228,318 | 1,001,589 | 6 | The last part of Rosemary's Baby with Baldwin was the best one of " 30 Rock " | Liz reluctantly accepts a literally large check for " Follower of the Year " though she doesn't consider herself as such . She and Pete later go to a bookstore where she meets her writer idol who's named Rosemary ( Carrie Fisher ) . Rosemary gets hired as the guest writer who alienates everyone with her really far-out ideas . After meeting her , Jack wants her fired which Liz refuses to do . Liz gets fired as well as a result . Jenna accidentally burns Kenneth's jacket so she goes to the head page and tries to get another one for him only to get the head page to challenge Kenneth for a " Page-Off " in which they ask NBC trivia questions . Unfortunately , Pete calls this off after mentioning " there's no one at Conan's show right now " . Tracy has daddy issues since anything Jack tells him not to do , he does the opposite ( which explains Tracy's trying dogfighting ) . So Jack takes him to a psychiatrist but then Jack does several impersonations of Tracy's family ( including a father that sounds uncannily like Redd Foxx ) that Tracy responds to him instead and problem is now solved ( for now ) . After being sacked , Liz goes with Rosemary to her apartment and finds she lives alone with a rat and a train that runs by her window . Liz ' last straw comes when Rosemary proposes a movie about someone her age doing it with an 18-year-old that she believes with be a hit . As Liz leaves , Rosemary says , " Help me , Liz Lemon , you're my only hope ! " As Jack gives Liz her job back , he tells her about G . E . ' s problem with the " dog penis " sketch . Liz asks , " How about ' cat penis ' ? " . . . While this wasn't the normally funny show " 30 Rock " usually provides , I did think Alec's characterizations at the end were the most hilarious things I saw so far in this show . Reminds me how he got me in stitches whenever he was on " Saturday Night Live " ! Also wish the " Page-Off " got on a little longer . Carrie Fisher was a little uneven to me but love her references to both her marriage to a gay man and her famous Star Wars role of Princess Leia . Glad the ratings picked up this week . Will review again next week . |
453,768 | 11,228,318 | 148,005 | 6 | Comic Book Land is a pretty good Terrytoons short starring Gandy Goose and Sourpuss | This was a pretty entertaining Gandy Goose / Sourpuss cartoon that has the Goose and Cat dreaming of being inside of a comic book with some musical entertainment that reuses a female dancing mouse from another Terrytoon short . They also encounter a giant that steals all the comics . One of the characters that stars in these picture magazines is Mighty Mouse . Guess who saves them from the giant ? Not much that I found funny but it moves well and picks up in the last 3 minutes . I stumbled upon this on YouTube which has a lot more Mighty Mouse cartoons available there . If you're a Terrytoons enthusiast who's long seeked many of these vintage animated shorts , YouTube is probably the perfect place to go . |
455,040 | 11,228,318 | 24,547 | 6 | The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives is enjoyable Merrie Melodies cartoon | This Hugh Harmon-Rudy Ising Merrie Melodies cartoon short produced by Leon Schlesinger for Warner Bros . tells the story of a poor boy who gets invited by Santa to go with him to his shanty to watch all the toys come to life . That's basically the plot of the story with some unfortunate blackface stereotypes in some scenes . Still mostly enjoyable with some entertaining musical sequences like the title song and a Kate Smith doll singing , " Shine on Harvest Moon " . It was during this period that the Merrie Melodies shorts ' purpose was to showcase a song that was published by the Warner Bros . publisher in each short with the showcased song's title the name of the film . That's the case here . Recommended for anyone who are Warner cartoon completists . |
454,056 | 11,228,318 | 492,956 | 6 | The Game Plan is a pretty good Disney family comedy for fans of The Rock | When I first saw the preview of The Rock in this formula Disney movie meant to attract families , I sorta cringed . My friend , on the other hand , who loves wrestlers and Disney stuff was very excited to see this one . So it was that we both decided to see this one after playing for several weeks . While watching during many parts of the first hour , I did feel a little wincing during many of the cutesy scenes between the lead character and the little girl who reveals herself as his daughter and thought many of the slapstick scenes were so obvious . But as the story went on and many entertaining set pieces like The Rock and the girl doing ballet in front of nearly all of his teammates , his singing his idol Elvis ' " Are You Lonesome Tonight ? " to her , or his teammates with the little girl playing super soaker with him were coming on , I was thoroughly enjoying myself to the point that I was thinking , " Hey , this is not so bad at all ! " So on that note , for anyone with families or who just want a good clean comedy , I highly recommended The Game Plan ! With sportscaster Marv Albert and Kyra Sedgwick who's a little amusing as The Rock's agent . |
454,981 | 11,228,318 | 512,028 | 6 | Society Party is another amusing episode of " Amos ' n ' Andy " | Sapphire wants a new dress for the party she and husband George " Kingfish " Stevens are invited to . The Kingfish gets it with the money he got selling his wife's fur coat to Andy for his girlfriend . Sapphire knew nothing about this and asks for the coat to go with the new dress . " Holy Mackerel ! " exclaims the Kingfish . . . This was more amusing that hilarious though I did like a later scene of Algonquin , who Andy's girlfriend had never seen before , attempting to rob the coat from her with Andy's knowledge and getting a hit on the head after revealing his " gun " as his finger ! Then there's a twist at the end that I won't reveal here . Like I said , this was a pretty amusing " Amos ' n ' Andy " episode . |
454,390 | 11,228,318 | 477,347 | 6 | Night at the Museum is an amusing enough family film | On Martin Luther King Day ( which this year actually fell on his birthday , January 15 ) , my friend and I , both on our off day , took in a matinée show of this Ben Stiller movie that had been No . 1 at the box office for the last three weeks . My friend had also wanted to take his nephew but the nephew had already seen it and he rarely sees something more than once . We both enjoyed it though I have to admit it does get a little silly some in the night museum scenes with nary any real laughs . The funnest lines and performance comes from Mickey Rooney when we first see him and he gives Stiller an attitude on his first day as a night watchman . There's also some funny slapstick scenes involving Stiller even before he gets his new job . Surprisingly , the same can't be said about Dick Van Dyke , usually known for his physical antics though it was nice to see him and Rooney together again since The Comic in 1969 . Also pretty good were Owen Wilson , Ricky Gervais , and as Teddy Roosevelt , Robin Williams , more subdued than usual . Also appearing were Kim Raver from " 24 " and " The Nine " playing Ben's ex-wife and the stunning Carla Gugino as the museum tour guide who seemed like a possible love interest for Stiller ( maybe that would be explored more if there were a sequel ) . So , in summation , I found the beginning pretty funny , the middle uneven , and the end mostly enjoyable with a pretty good mix of laughs , heart , and wonderment that the whole family can enjoy . And stay for some of the closing credits for some wonderful extra scenes with Rooney , Van Dyke , and Bill Cobbs . Also look for Stiller's mom , Anne Meara , as a woman trying to get Ben a job . |
454,189 | 11,228,318 | 245,364 | 6 | Policy and Pie is an interesting Katzenjammer Kids cartoon from silent era | Let me mention some gags that haven't been discussed yet : After the Captain finds the black cat under his hat on the floor after the hat moved , he hits the cat with a brush at the exact time Mama's flour in her pie hits her and makes her white ! Like the others here , I loved it when the cat rose from the dough and-staying white-went to the saucer of milk that conveniently happened to be there and drank it as if it was his all along . I also loved the frog in the pond balancing the mushroom on his webbed foot impressing the other frogs in his pond . The only real problem here is that Hans and Franz-the Katzenjammer kids-don't have any contact with the Captain or Mama til the end and that it ends before they run from what I'm sure would be another comeuppance from the Captain . So to anyone who's curious about silent cartoons , I'd recommended Policy and Pie . |
454,979 | 11,228,318 | 512,034 | 6 | The Chinchilla Business is an amusing final episode of " Amos ' n ' Andy " | Sapphire's mother won't move out of her daughter and husband George " Kingfish " Stevens ' house unless she gets the $50 owed by her son-in-law . When he hears Andy mentioning trying to buy his girlfriend a fur coat for that amount since that's all he has , the Kingfish offers to take that money in exchange for Andy's going in the chinchilla business of making one from them . Then he gets Algonquin to get a couple of rabbits to pass off to Andy as chinchillas . . . This being the final episode of " Amos ' n ' Andy " , it's a shame the controversy over the character portrayals have carried to this day since compared to today's depiction of pimps and other street thugs , the characters here are less offensive in comparison . Anyway , this wasn't as funny as previous episodes I've just seen the day before but it's amusing enough . Nice final look at a show created on radio by writers / actors Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll nearly 23 years before . |
454,019 | 11,228,318 | 249,956 | 6 | Educational short Shy Guy is interesting as the debuts of Dick York and narrator Mike Wallace | Just found this obscure educational short on Internet Archive . It marked the film debuts of actor Dick York-the original Darren Stevens on " Bewitched " - when he was just 19 and narrator Mike Wallace-later to be best known as a moderator on " 60 Minutes " but was just a radio / TV announcer during this film's shooting time . Mr . York plays a high school student who's new at his place of learning and who spends most of his time fixing his radio at home when he's not wandering around the school's halls observing fellow students he's awkward around . His father gives him some advice and when one of those fellow classmates motions him to a table at the drugstore hangout , Phil ( York's character ) comes around and starts feeling sociable . Wallace makes the short's points at the end but he's not the only off-screen voice I heard here since the Internet Archive version had another one that made snarky comments throughout ala Joel / Mike and the ' bots on " Mystery Science Theater 3000 " . These were quite hilarious and offset whatever boring parts that threatened to dominate with the partially stilted dialogue courtesy of the script and many of the performances though Mr . York acquits himself nicely here with his natural presence . Since he's young here , he does sound a bit different than his voice on the later sitcom he's best known for . For all that , Shy Guy is worth a look for anyone curious about this sort of thing . |
455,211 | 11,228,318 | 126,913 | 6 | Flip's Circus is a jumbled mess of fragments from Winsor McCay | From what I saw on Google Video , this seemed to be another Winsor McCay project that he never got to completing since on the title it says in parentheses " 1918-21 " . Anyway , here are the contents : Flip is balancing his hat on his face while leaning forwards and backwards . He eventually falls face forward . Flip opens the tent flap to reveal a lot of large animals behind him . A large animal creature-I have no idea what it is-comes out and starts to interact with Flip . Flip keeps hitting him . Flip puts his head in the animal's mouth . At one point , the animal swallows him as we see moving bumps on the stomach . He then spits him back out ! And in a couple of scenes , a car comes by with the driver communicating with Flip via a chalk board that keeps appearing throughout the short . That's all I remember of that . Fascinating to watch but because of the unevenness of the sequences , I'd only recommended this to McCay enthusiasts . |
454,450 | 11,228,318 | 148,088 | 6 | The Dream Kids is another Fox and Crow cartoon worth a look | In The Dream Kids , the Crow is suffering a long winter's night along in the blizzard . Then he notices a house and invites himself in . The Fox who was reading peacefully until then quickly sends the Crow to what he says is the bedroom but is actually back outside as the door gets slammed on Crow . Crow quickly finds a Dream Book which says that foxes are afraid of barking dogs . So the Crow impersonates a barking dog that scares the Fox to jump on the ceiling where he sees the Crow with an inflatable seahorse who is asked by Fox what he is . " I'm your nightmare . Huh-huh-huh-huh , " comes the reply whose voice sounds like Goofy ( but probably not Pinto Colvig ) . Crow then blows his trumpet as the Fox says , " Don't shoot ! " Too late as everything explodes . Crow is then sitting down as he says to Fox , " What you need to get rid of your nightmares is some companionship , " but the Fox still throws him out . Later on , Fox dreams of a beautiful fox lady in a dress who starts to kiss him as the Crow breaks the window and convinces him he's still dreaming as Crow is now in band uniform playing drums and giving a note from dream girl to meet her under the cheery tree as Fox obeys and Crow now has the bed to himself ! When the same dream girl appears before the Crow in bed , the Fox witnessing this gets jealous and confronts dream girl only to be told by her in a Mae West impression that she's in Crow's dream ( and remember she's a literal fox ! ) . Fox , even more jealous now , nails Crow's feet down , brings train tracks on him and has train go through when all is left afterwards is a shirt as Fox then mourns Crow's death . But then another train goes through with Fox now down and inside is the Crow holding hands with the foxy lady ! ( Yes , I just said that with apologies to Jimi Hendrix ! ) . . . A little confusing with the way the dreams is handled at the end but a pretty funny short nonetheless . Loved the sequence with the Crow riding the inflatable seahorse and with funny voice and laugh that went with it . Worth a look for anyone interested in Columbia cartoons starring the Fox and Crow . |
455,103 | 11,228,318 | 402,809 | 6 | At One View is interesting if a bit pretentious | At One View is one of two shorts in Volume 5 of The International Tournee of Animation directed by Paul De Nooijer . The other one is I Should See . Two men are sitting in a chair reading newspapers . Then , through stop-motion photography , we see the chairs moving with the men still sitting down . The men stop to face us . They are now showing photos of each others faces in front of their own . The photos are now moving , again through stop-motion photography . Then we see slides of these photos shuffling automatically . This and the other scenes mentioned above continues for about 5 minutes . Then , at the end , the narrator , who's been speaking all this time , mentions how photography is basically trickery as we see the two men disappear in thin air . The end . Interesting if a bit pretentious , At One View is certainly worth seeing once as an experiment in stop-motion . |
453,899 | 11,228,318 | 33,326 | 6 | All's Well is a pretty amusing Gabby entry for Fleischer Studios | Just saw this-the third Fleischer cartoon featuring Gabby from the Gulliver's Travels animated feature-on Mark Evanier's site . This pretty amusing short has the leading character singing the title song that originally appeared in his feature debut I just mentioned when he encounters a carriage with a baby in it ( where are his parents ? ) . For the rest of the short , Gabby tries-and mostly fails-to diaper this baby who keeps getting one step ahead of him . Like I said , pretty amusing if not hilarious short with good animation throughout . Pinto " Goofy " Colvig is Gabby's voice . Mainly recommended for any Fleischer completists out there . |
454,016 | 11,228,318 | 910,956 | 6 | This Charming Couple provides an interesting look at a divorced couple's early courtship | This was an educational short from the McGraw-Hill Company about a couple about to divorce as we flashback to their courtship as a young couple just enjoying themselves in the forest without a care in the world . He-Ken-is an aspiring novelist who teaches literature in college . She-Winnie-is an assistant to a dean who thinks her fiancée will be famous which might make her life more exciting . While they're attractive and seem to get along well , neither believes in compromise . In fact , Winnie thinks Ken's friends are snobs while Ken wonders if he can live up to his wife's ambitions of him . We also hear views-via voice-over-from Winnie's roommate and one of Ken's students of each , respectively . And Ken also has a hobby of recording folk artists in their natural environment such as an elder woman singer in the forest that brings to mind the real-life Alan Lomax who did such things . Then there's the marriage at the end that the narrator tells of why it's doomed when he emphasizes the personality differences between them . Perhaps a little dated because of the way it's filmed and scored but This Charming Couple does provide some insights of why not all marriages live " happily ever after " . Oh , and as a Louisiana resident , I have to note that " Ken " is from New Orleans . To anyone wanting to seek this out , This Charming Couple is on the Internet Archive site . |
454,815 | 11,228,318 | 146,565 | 6 | Title of Closer Than a Brother makes no sense in this Paul Terry cartoon | I'm not sure what the title has to do with the plot which is this : An alarm clock ( with arms and legs ) rings loudly to wake up a cat in pajamas . Cat gets up and dances to some music on his stereo . His head comes off , then goes back on during this sequence . He then shaves and makes pancakes at the same time ( he uses his tail to flip the pancakes ) . After eating , he kisses his girlfriend's picture before going to his job checking hens ' eggs under them . One who was missing turns up drunk but when the cat checks her out , she has more than a handful under her ! He then brings a large mobile empty egg box to a large row of slides on which one hen up above provides tons of eggs with this action repeating constantly with each large egg box . At this point , Farmer Al Falfa and his secretary-the cat's girlfriend-arrive . Cat kisses her while the farmer is sitting looking the other way . When Al Falfa catches them he shoos the cat but the cat then takes her away jump roping while the eggs are overflowing in one big box left alone . This gets the farmer angry as he banishes the cat from the premises and he scolds the secretary . Cat gets revenge as he rides on one of the egg boxes as he jumps down from way above , with the result of tons of eggs hitting Farmer Al Falfa as the cat and his girl escape from his anger . . . This was a silent Paul Terry cartoon I just discovered on YouTube among other silent cartoons from the same guy . Many of the gags are pretty amusing if primitive today . Worth a look for any animation fans especially those of Paul Terry . |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.