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453,814 | 11,228,318 | 300 | 7 | The Enchanted Drawing still retains some charm nearly a century or so later | J . Stuart Blackton is an unsung pioneer in the history of animation possibly because many of his short film projects had techniques that have been improved time and time again . Having said that , The Enchanted Drawing in which he draws a face with a cigar , a glass , and a wine bottle and proceeds to take many of those objects off the drawing in split-time seamless editing has an old-fashioned charm that still resonates some 107 years later . And the various expressions of the drawn man's face whenever any of these objects are taken from him must have truly enchanted audiences of the day . With this and Humorous Phases of Funny Faces , Blackton deserves some recognition for contributing to the art of animation . |
455,221 | 11,228,318 | 654,729 | 7 | My Little Margie : Kangaroo Story is funny if contrived | Freddie managed to sneak a kangaroo into the apartment . Margie wants to get rid of it . She puts it in a usually empty room . Her father Vern is expected to meet and entertain neighbor Roberta's father from Minnesota . He sees kangaroo in empty room and goes crazy unknowingly bumping into the Minnesota father . When Roberta introduces Vern to her father , father threatens to send daughter back home with him ! Having gotten rid of kangaroo , Margie tries to get him back to prove her father's sanity . Vern pays a zoo keeper to keep zoo's kangaroo in apartment for awhile . Charlie the doorman , who Vern also couldn't convince of kangaroo presence in apartment , is now seeing with own eyes and gets a little scared . Roberta's father still hasn't seen one since either one keeps moving when Vern tries to show him ! Finally , zoo keeper comes to get his pay and Charlie is in elevator trying to calm other kangaroo down ! Plot is often silly but is pretty funny in a " let's-see-how-we-can-top-this " kind of way . Willie Best as Charlie comes off best even though some of his mannerisms may come off as a little racist today . That's Hillary Brooke from The Abbott and Costello Show as Roberta . Worth seeing if you're interested in wacky ' 50s sitcoms . |
453,957 | 11,228,318 | 105,435 | 7 | Sneakers was a pretty entertaining , if partially confusing , thriller | Having just watched this early ' 90s suspense thriller about computer hackers ( I think ) for the first time , I was partially confused about some scenes though overall , I was a little entertained by some of the comedy elements that were sprinkled throughout . My favorite was between Robert Redford and Lee Garlington as Dr . Elena Rhyskov whose room Redford broke into . He , with his gang's help talking over his earpiece , try to convince this doctor of his good intentions and how he doesn't want her paramour ( a mathematician they're trying to catch red-handed ) to know about them . I especially laughed when Redford substituted " help " for " head " ! It was also good seeing Redford and Sidney Poitier in their only team-up though technically Poitier was supporting here . Dan Aykroyd was also funny about some " facts " only he believes . And most of the supporting cast , especially James Earl Jones , provided their own moments . So while I have reservations , I do recommend Sneakers . |
454,745 | 11,228,318 | 52,225 | 7 | 1958 film version of South Pacific is a fine addition to R & H canon | Having taped this off HBO nearly 22 years ago , I finally got to see the 1958 version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific just now ( I had also seen the PBS Great Performances Carnegie Hall version with Reba McEntire , Brian Stokes Mitchell , and Alec Baldwin last year ) . Mostly wonderful film version although I agree with most posters that the color filters during the songs can be a little distracting . Mitzi Gaynor is fine as Nurse Nellie Forbush in singing , dancing , and especially acting that I don't understand the criticism against her . Rossano Brazzi is likewise ( although his singing , like the other cast members , was dubbed ) as paramour Emile de Becque . John Kerr does indeed seem stilted and the dubbed singing of him is so obvious and I can't believe completely his love for France Nuyen . Ms . Nuyen is luminous , by the way . Juanita Hall and Ray Walston ( who I first encountered as Mr . Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemount High ) also lend fine support . That all said , this is classic R & H all the way in line with The Sound of Music , The King and I , Oklahoma ! , and Carousel . P . S . Thurl Ravenscroft was the singing voice of Stewpot in the " There is Nothing Like a Dame " number . You might know him best as Tony the tiger and the singer of " You're a Mean One , Mr . Grinch " in How the Grinch Who Stole Christmas . |
454,574 | 11,228,318 | 1,114,740 | 7 | Paul Blart : Mall Cop makes a nice time-filler for fans of likable Kevin James | After previously starring with Will Smith and Adam Sandler in their hits Hitch and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry , respectively , Kevin James has his own solo success with this movie-Paul Blart : Mall Cop . It took a while for me but after the first 20 or so minutes , I was very willing to go for the ride and just laugh my ass off at the physical comedy that James provided especially as it seemed to threaten to get serious during the hostage scenes . Some of those bar scenes were especially funny . All I'll say now is , if you just want something to make you forget your troubles for a couple of hours , Paul Blart : Mall Cop makes a swell time to relax with . |
454,093 | 11,228,318 | 126,049 | 7 | So You Want to Be a Gambler is another amusing Joe McDoakes short | This was another Joe McDoakes short that I recently watched , this time on the TCM site . In this one , the character played by George O'Hanlon is a gambler who's always broke . But he keeps playing on from a pinball machine to poker to dice to roulette wheel . My favorite was the dice part where his partner gives him " Mexican jumping dice " in the guise of selling cigarettes . Boy , how those dice jump ! And then there's the poker sequence where a player there has an extra " hand " ! And dig how announcer Art Gilmore speaks of Joe's pinball playing as if it's a golf round especially when a kid almost ruins the bout ! So on that note , So You Want to Be a Gambler is another Joe McDoakes entry that's well worth a look . |
454,917 | 11,228,318 | 89,647 | 7 | My American Cousin is a fun look at ' 50s teen life in Canada | Having just seen the disturbing ' 95 teen film Kids and then the ' 71 pre-teen coming of age romance Melody , I grabbed one of my brother's tapes and watched for the first time the Canadian coming-of-age movie from 1985 that takes place in the summer of ' 59 , My American Cousin . The " My " of the title is one Sandy Wilcox ( Margaret Langrick ) , a twelve-year-old going on thirteen tired of being treated like a child by her parents . Suddenly , a cousin from California named Butch ( John Wildman ) arrives to the surprise of her parents . During the day or so he stays , Butch takes Sandy and her friends for a ride while also heavily flirting with a girl named Shirley . I'll stop right there and say this was for the most part light-hearted and fun with great performances by both Langrick and Wildman . Worth seeking out if you see it in listed in an upcoming TV section of your local paper . |
454,578 | 11,228,318 | 147,167 | 7 | Pest Pupil is an outrageous slapstick cartoon | Baby Huey is an overgrown kid duck that keeps annoying the other kids and the teacher . His mother brings in a tutor that has a German accent that made me think of Ludvig von Drake . While Huey causes trouble here too , he eventually redeems himself when he saves his tutor from a shark . On receiving his diploma , however , he cuts it to make a series of children dolls . . . This is one those slapstick cartoons that , no matter how stupid it all looks , you can't help but laugh at which I'm sure was the intention all along . So close your brain and just laugh your head off at an overgrown kid duck that reminds me of Junior in Warner's Three Bears cartoons . Oh , and to Sid Raymond , the voice of Baby Huey : Rest In Peace . |
454,388 | 11,228,318 | 920,916 | 7 | The Head and the Hair is another pretty funny episode of 30 Rock | Liz and Jenna are hot for two MSNBC employees that , because they don't know their names , are referred to as " The Head and the Hair " , Jenna for " the Hair " , Liz for . . . well , you know . Jack and Kenneth switch jobs for a day with Jack having to do such humiliating things like cleaning up Brian Williams ' dressing room after a night out . Tracy enlists two of his writers to help write his autobiography . Liz goes to the MSNBC floor to attempt to find " the Head " but finds " the Hair " walking by who asks her for a date . She agrees but finds herself uncomfortable with the place he picks out and walks . He follows her to a convenience store where they connect somehow . The next day , Liz calls Pete to fake sickness in order to make another date with " the Hair " when Jack walks by who lets it slide . Then they go back to his apartment and get intimate before . . . If you haven't seen this one I won't ruin the surprise for you . The same goes with Kenneth and Tracy . Pretty hilarious , if not gut-bustingly so , episode . My favorite scene is when Joss treats Jack like dirt and Kenneth confirms that he wasn't too rough . Oh , and congratulations to Alec Baldwin for his Golden Globe win . Maybe that will pick the ratings up a bit . Don't miss the game show gag at the end ! |
454,660 | 11,228,318 | 21,611 | 7 | Burns and Allen in The Antique Shop | George comes to an antique store to buy a statue . The salesman keeps telling him he's not buying anything . It almost escalates into a fight until the manager fires him . The fired salesman exclaims that five minutes before he had simply started walking into work without even being hired ! He then asks how he can never keep a job before slamming the door breaking the glass ! The manager then points George to Gracie . George wants to once again buy a statue but Gracie goes into a hilarious tangent beginning with her belief that Abraham Lincoln was the first president of the United States ! It goes on like this for about five minutes until George mentions that he wants an unbreakable statue . Gracie attempts to prove the statues are such by throwing one on the floor . It breaks ! The manager comes back and throws one from another section . It also breaks ! George takes one to prove his is unbreakable . It also breaks ! Short ends by this point . Once again the routines that made George and Gracie a hit on vaudeville serves them well here . This was their fourth short . After a few more they would try features where they would achieve some success . Their most successful mediums , however , would be radio and television where they would end their career together after Gracie retired in 1958 . George would continue until his death at 100 in 1996 . But Burns and Allen endures forever . |
454,718 | 11,228,318 | 151,560 | 7 | Mighty Mouse Meets Deadeye Dick was another Terrytoon short I enjoyed | Just watched on YouTube as linked from the Saturday Morning Blog this Terrytoon cartoon starring Mighty Mouse . The villain he's after this time is the title character who's a western cowboy wolf who comes into a bar to order a real tough drink that makes him spin constantly around . Quite a few funny gags involving speed as well as feminine wiles abound here with the appearance of a buxom lady mouse attracting other wolves especially amusing as we watch them just go weak at the knees at the sight of her . Having not seen too many Terrytoon cartoons as a child , it's now a treat to find what I've been missing whenever I find these rare items on YouTube or elsewhere . So for all that , Mighty Mouse Meets Deadeye Dick is worth a look is you're a die-hard animation buff . |
454,481 | 11,228,318 | 23,783 | 7 | Beau Bosko is a highly amusing Looney Tunes cartoon short | Since the previous reviewer mentioned nearly everything that happens in this cartoon , I really have nothing to add except to say , yes , this is a very amusing Bosko cartoon . And what a treat that the musical sequences is mostly limited to the beginning and not played or sung throughout ! Of course , many of the things that happen here could probably have happened to Mickey and Minnie if Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising were still working for Walt Disney ! Still , anyone interested in early Warner Bros . animation before the likes of Porky Pig , Daffy Duck , and Bugs Bunny became the studio's stars should be satisfied with many of the Looney Tunes-Merrie Melodies from the early ' 30s that appear on YouTube . That's all , folks ! |
453,998 | 11,228,318 | 149,944 | 7 | Bowery Daze is another Krazy Kat cartoon I just discovered on the internet | Just watched on Thadblog as linked from YouTube this Columbia / Charles Mintz cartoon starring Krazy Kat that was made just as the Production Code was really about to have an effect on the movie industry . This one takes place mostly at a saloon where Krazy is the bartender . Plenty of gags here involving inebriation ( that's drunkenness for those not familiar with the word ) , gambling , fighting , the female derrière ( or butt or ass for those once again not familiar with that word ) , and some gay stereotype behavior . The whole thing is put together with some enjoyable piano jazz music that brings a rollicking good time to the short . Not everything here is funny but the images are timed so compellingly that I didn't mind . So on that note , I say Bowery Daze is worth a look . |
454,804 | 11,228,318 | 43,618 | 7 | Happy Go Lovely is a highly amusing British musical comedy | A few years ago , I bought several $1 DVD's that contained two movies each . One of them had Three Broadway Girls ( an alternate title for The Greeks Had a Word for Them ) and this one , Happy Go Lovely . It's basically a backstage musical comedy that takes place in Scotland and concerns mistaken identity involving one of the dancers hitching a ride from a millionaire's limousine . Vera-Ellen is that dancer and-wow , what legs ! Ceasar Romero is her producer who takes a chance on her after the original leading lady leaves because he thinks she's dating the millionaire whose car I just mentioned . And David Niven is that rich guy who , when looking for Vera-Ellen , is mistaken for a reporter who's supposed to interview her but gets stalled by Romero . What I've just mentioned may be confusing but ( mostly ) makes sense if you're willing to check your brain while watching this charmingly screwball comedy with wonderful musical numbers as performed by the exquisite Ms . Vera-Ellen . Romero can be a bit frantic here but Niven becomes hilariously bemused throughout . The print I saw was actually pretty good considering its age and the fact that it's in public domain . And Vera-Ellen does pretty well with her lines since she's not really an actress . So on that note , I highly recommend Happy Go Lovely for movie buffs who love old-fashioned musical comedies . |
454,836 | 11,228,318 | 13,014 | 7 | This early Disney version of Cinderella is worth a look for his fans | Nearly 28 years before making the classic feature-length animated version of Cinderella , Walt Disney made a short 7-minute version for the Laugh-O-Grams studio in Kansas City . In this one , the title character is doing dishes with her cat while her stepsisters are lying around reading the papers ( there is no evil stepmother here ) . I better mention that this takes place in the ' 20s with flappers and cars . Meanwhile , the prince is out hunting for bears ( in this sequence , the bears are dancing just before the prince ties them up in one rope ! ) . After he sends his cat with the invitations , that cat gets a little injured but when someone asks if he's all right , he hits him with his stilt ! After the stepsisters leave Cinderella and the cat alone in the house , the fairy godmother gets them a car with a flapper dress for the girl . If you know the story you can probably guess what happens at this point on . I will also mention that Cinderella and the prince look similar to the characters in the first cartoon Disney made , Little Red Riding Hood . The animation here is actually an improvement from his first two that I saw on YouTube . So on that note , I highly recommend this first version of the famous fairy tale made by the legendary Walt Disney . |
455,037 | 11,228,318 | 910,580 | 7 | Jack Meets Dennis is another amusing episode of 30 Rock | Liz is walking with her boyfriend Dennis to work . After he leaves , Jenna asks , " How's the sex ? " " Fast . And only on Saturday night , " Liz replies . Otherwise , it's not a very good relationship since he sells out-of-date beepers and attempts to sell them to Liz's staff during office hours . Tracy Jordan is upset at a tabloid depicting him as normal with a picture of him walking out of his apartment with a dog . " That was me walking backwards and , yes , I steal dogs ! " he says . To get some " street cred " back , he wears a fake tattoo on his face for a week . Meanwhile , Jenna gets some puffy lips after she gets interrogated about her age from Jack . She replies 29 . And Josh has been impersonating Liz Taylor who later exacts some revenge on him ! While all this is going on , Jack tries to mentor Liz about how wrong Dennis is for her but she'll have none of it . Jack then shows Liz a man she thinks he's setting her up with but Jack reveals he mentored him and now he's married to a Filipino woman with two kids . After Liz comes home with Dennis sleeping on a couch with a candle on his lap , she tries to break up with him but we later find he's now living with her . . . Funny episode , though a bit of a letdown from the previous " super-sized " one . Nice to see Liz and Jenna have more of a " best friends " vibe here . Especially loved the line about Jenna's puffy face from Liz : " It looks like someone boiled the water and threw it on your face ! " Loved Lonny Ross ' Josh and his encounter with Rachel Dratch's Liz Taylor ( along with the spotlight that only highlighted Taylor's eyes ) . Dean Winters is amusing as the clueless Dennis and I loved Baldwin's line about one of his beepers : " I'm expecting a call from 1983 . " With Jenna , Tracy , and Josh looking their worst during the dress rehearsal , the producer hopes for something to interrupt their program . Then comes a blackout ! After this show aired , NBC picked 30 Rock for a full season . Good for you , NBC ! And good luck to Tina and the rest of the cast ! |
454,528 | 11,228,318 | 1,008,002 | 7 | Three-hour Live Earth on NBC had mostly enjoyable musical performances | Just finished watching the Live Earth three-hour concert version that I taped from NBC last weekend . Performance highlights include : John Mayer's " We Keep Waiting for the World to Change " , a reunited Genesis ' " Land of Confusion " , Alicia Keys ' " Mercy , Mercy , Me " which blended into Corrine Bailey Rae's version in the middle of the song , Kelly Clarkson's " Since You've Been Gone " , Roger Waters ' version of his group Pink Floyd's " Another Brick in the Wall " ( though I was surprised at it's inclusion ) and the recently reunited Police's " Message in a Bottle " . There were also good performances from Madonna , Bon Jovi , Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks , The Dave Matthews Band , The Black-Eyed Peas , and Duran Duran . Additionally , they showed snippets of musical acts in China , Japan , and Australia ( which showed an edited version of Crowded House's " Don't Dream It's Over " that I was disappointed with ) . All that plus hosts Ann Curry and Carson Daly interviewing public figures like Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Al Gore ( Curry ) and musicians like Keys and Matthews and actors like Rosario Dawson and Cameron Diaz ( Daly ) . All in all , a mostly enjoyable concert with important pro-environmental messages spread throughout ending with a clip of James Blunt singing " What a Wonderful World " . |
454,422 | 11,228,318 | 971,260 | 7 | The Source Awards is another amusing episode of 30 Rock | Liz accepts Tracy's invitation for all the " after-after-after " etc . parties . At many of these , she meets a nice African-American whose last name is Black and accepts a dinner invitation . At his office , Jack shows his new wine to Liz but after tasting it , they both get sick . Kenneth tells Tracy about encountering rap mogul Ridiculous whom Kenneth refused entry to Tracy's private parties at T . J . ' s request . Tracy gets upset just thinking of him and wants nothing to do with him . I'll stop there and say this was pretty funny though I had to rewind a few times to make sure I heard what I thought I heard during certain punchlines . Loved Wayne Brady's twist on certain black stereotypes and LL Cool J's satirical portrayal of certain rap celebrities . Nice to see Jason Sudeikis return as the flower guy from several weeks ago . The scene at the end certainly was surprising . Loved Tracy's Oprah impersonation . Hope enough viewers tuned in before the hiatus after next week . . . |
454,147 | 11,228,318 | 153,785 | 7 | Who Killed Cock-Robin was another rare Terrytoons short I was pleasantly surprised by | Just discovered this Terrytoons cartoon by Paul Terry and Frank Moser on the Saturday Morning Blog . It begins with several birds swimming in their bath bowl with one female having a long swimsuit diving from a high branch like she's Ester Williams ( even though she wasn't doing her famous dives at the time this short was made ) . We later encounter a cat who's trying to chase them away . To be effective , he drinks a dangerous potion ( that manages to unravel a skeleton ! ) that turns him into a Mr . Hyde-type creature . This creature shoots an arrow through the title character but despite this short's name , he survives while the police shoots the Hyde cat in pieces ! The end . This was a pretty amusing early ' 30s animated short with some atmospheric sequences and a nice operatic score . Besides what I just mentioned , I also was a little pleasantly shocked at the birds pulling that cat's tail when the feline was trying to invade their home just before his transformation . For all that , Who Killed Cock-Robin is worth a look for anyone interested in vintage animation . |
454,696 | 11,228,318 | 971,259 | 7 | Fireworks is another funny episode of 30 Rock | After his wife threw him out , Pete is adjusting with living in Liz ' apartment . Jack meets a West Coast executive rival ( Will Arnet ) who has a crush on Kenneth . Jack finds this out and has Kenneth ask him pertinent questions about his sexual orientation . The rival for his job has Kenneth tell him about Jack which gets Jack and rival in a showdown about who will make the better pitch in the next meeting . Tracy gets served a paternity suit Dr . Leo Spaceman ( Chris Parnell ) investigates which reveals he's a descendant of Thomas Jefferson . The other black employee , Twofer , also finds out his great grandfather fought for the south . They both recover eventually . Liz sees Floyd , the " flower guy " , going to church every Tuesday . She comes in and finds he's with Alcoholics Annonymous . . . I'll stop right there and say this was another hilarious episode with well chosen cameos by Maury Povich and Al Roker and in Tracy's dream , Alec Baldwin made a most funny Thomas Jefferson . I think it was after this episode aired that NBC announced that 30 Rock has been renewed for another season . And that it's now airing after The Office . Hope that translates into more ratings ! |
454,629 | 11,228,318 | 795,421 | 7 | I finally know why my mom loves the musical Momma Mia ! | Okay , so I finally saw what now seems to be my mother's favorite musical-her being an ABBA fan and all-in both stage and movie versions since she loved this when she saw it on her birthday last year and requested it for a Christmas present from me . Overall , it was indeed enjoyable despite the somewhat shallow characterizations and plot . Of the singing cast , Meryl Streep comes off best and Pierce Brosnan the worst . In fact , I wished he and Colin Firth had switched roles since Mr . Firth is the much better singer . Of the supporting cast , both Julie Walters and Christine Baranski had good vocal chops throughout while Stellan Skarsgard was adequate the few times he sang . Then there are the young leads Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper who both warbled in fine form . Nice cameos by both former ABBA members Bjorn Ulvaeus and , in the " Dancing Queen " number , Benny Andersson on the piano . Overall , Momma Mia ! The Movie was a very enjoyable experience . So to anyone who doesn't mind a little frothy entertainment , that's a recommendation . |
454,614 | 11,228,318 | 32,932 | 7 | Porky's Last Stand was another Bob Clampett cartoon I enjoyed | Just found this rare Porky Pig-Daffy Duck cartoon directed by Bob Clampett on the Misce-Looney-ous blog as linked from YouTube . In this one , Porky runs the title stand that claims " Our Fried Chicken Has That Real Fowl Taste " with the Special being the " Sheridan Salad with plenty of Oomph and no dressing " ! Daffy , his assistant , tries to get a customer a hamburger but the mice ate it leaving this note : " Greetings Gate , you're a wee bit late . " ( The first two words were Jerry Colonna's to Bob Hope on his radio show ) Also , one of the eggs that Porky gets out of a mother hen , spouts a chick that complains about a " hot foot " when he cracks out on a frying pan before going back to his mom ! When Daffy spots a cow as potential burger , he chases him to a barn but then gets stuck with a bull that causes havoc to the leads for the rest of the cartoon . Perhaps not hilarious like other Clampett cartoons but amusing enough for me to recommend to any Warner cartoon completists out there . And dig the musical number in the beginning ! |
453,924 | 11,228,318 | 19,959 | 7 | Hallelujah ! is King Vidor's All-African-American Opus | King Vidor had always wanted to make an all-black feature . Hallelujah ! was his chance in the early talkie era . Zeke ( Daniel L . Haynes ) , a poor cotton farmer , falls for Chick ( Nina Mae McKinney ) who's a mercenary honky-tonk girl . After his younger brother gets killed in the line of fire , Zeke repents and becomes a preacher . Chick sees Zeke perform and initially makes fun of him but when she feels alone while the rest of the congregation follows him , she also repents . Zeke falls for Chick again watching her do so . Months later , Chick goes back to her two-timing ways with her previous paramour with Zeke eventually catching them red-handed . She dies in Zeke's arms after falling off paramour's wagon . After killing paramour , Zeke goes to jail eventually going back to work and family as movie ends . The two leads are good although only McKinney got some work in small feature roles and shorts . Her last notable part was in Pinky ( 1949 ) . If you're interested in early African-American film work , by all means seek this one out ! |
455,207 | 11,228,318 | 136,324 | 7 | Ko-Ko's Harem Scarem is pretty entertaining despite some stereotypes | In Ko-Ko's Harem Scarem in the live-action portion , a man dressed in an ancient Middle Eastern outfit is waiting for his treasure . His assistant brings the chest and as it is opened , the ME man finds an inkwell inside . As he opens it , Ko-Ko and his dog Fitz come out . The man chops their heads as he exits and laughs . Feet appear under the clown and his dog's heads as the bodies get reattached . They enter the drawing above them that depicts Arabian backgrounds where they encounter a magician who makes Fitz disappear and points a palace to Ko-Ko as the dog's whereabouts . Ko-Ko goes there to retrieve him and sees through a keyhole a female dancer before getting interrupted by a black servant . He chases Ko-Ko until the clown challenges him to dice and wins . The servant points to where the palace head is as Ko-Ko disguises himself as a woman to get in . The head is fooled by the disguise so much he kisses Ko-Ko who spits the other way in disgust ! Fitz reappears at this point as he and the clown hug ! The head and another black servant ( who also shines shoes ) with a giant switch blade give chase as the leading duo go back to their inkwell leaving the others behind . . . While a pretty amusing entry in the Inkwell Imps series of Max Fleischer cartoons , there are some unfortunate stereotype characterizations that are deemed unacceptable today like the bug-eyes of the black servant when he sees dice or the other one who shoe shines , when he's sweating , has black sweats which he uses to polish a man's shoes ! Then there's a gag of when Ko-Ko's watching the female dancer through a keyhole as he's swinging his butt up and down and back and forth that almost suggests a sexual connotation that definitely wouldn't make it on Saturday morning television ! Still , worth viewing for any Fleischer enthusiasts out there . |
455,206 | 11,228,318 | 136,328 | 7 | Ko-Ko's Hpynotism is another amusing entry of Inkwell Imps for Max Fleischer | Using two special fake eyes , in this live-action segment a man uses them to hypnotise his dog into jumping in slow motion . He then gets an inkwell and , opening it , makes two drops of ink go on the drawing board and appear as Ko-Ko the Clown and his dog Fitz . He then turns Ko-Ko into a squirrel and Fitz into a nut as they give chase before the clown almost cracks the dog open with a nutcracker as their hypnotist laughs . He also turns them into two roosters fighting for a worm before turning them back and leaves . Ko-Ko and Fitz then encounter a haunted house where they're kicked by a lone shoe and bitten by dismembered teeth at the entrance before entering and finding a woman who teaches them hypnotism to get even on their boss . As they go back , they convince their tormentor to dive in the small fish bowl which gets stuck on his head as the clown and his dog go back in the inkwell . . . Among the gags I didn't mention : In order to teach Ko-Ko , the female hypnotist turns Fitz into a phonograph and her cat into a record which , when played , you hear what sounds like Cab Calloway singing as Ko-Ko dances . When the shoe kicks them and the teeth bites them , the clown and dog think they are kicking and biting each other and does likewise . And in the live-action at the end as the hypnotist prepares to dive in the fish bowl , he takes off his clothes except for shorts , puts a chair on his desk and jumps off it before his unfortunate end . Pretty amusing Inkwell Imps entry for Max Fleischer before sound made them mostly obsolete and Betty Boop would take over as the studio's main star . Oh , and the music that was added with sound effects and some voices as I watched this on YouTube was courtesy of Leroy Shield from the Hal Roach stock library as performed by The Beau Hunks from the last decade . Well worth seeing for Fleischer enthusiasts . |
454,339 | 11,228,318 | 26,468 | 7 | Hey , Hey Fever is a pretty entertaining initial Bosko outing for M-G-M | Just discovered this on the Misce-Looney-ous blog which usually posts shorts and other film and TV spots related to the Warner Bros . cartoons and characters . This M-G-M cartoon short was included because it was the first that featured a former Warner character named Bosko . He was the creation of Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising who took him with them when Leon Schlesinger wouldn't increase the budget of their animated shorts . Not only is this the first Bosko to be introduced by Leo the Lion but it's also the first time he's seen in color . Having said all that , I'd like to say that while this isn't a particularly funny effort , Hey , Hey Fever does entertain with the original way the leading character and various Mother Goose ones sing about overcoming the Depression blues . For that reason , I highly recommend this to any animation buff especially any Warner and M-G-M completist out there . |
453,952 | 11,228,318 | 992,570 | 7 | Julia Louis-Dreyfus ' second SNL stint is slightly less enjoyable than first | On the cold opening of SNL during St . Patrick's Day of March 17 , 2007 , we see SNL Special Report : The Road to the White House printed on screen . A figure turns around in his chair . It's Chris Rock ! Talking about the Republican side of the upcoming election next year , he says about Rudolph Guiliani : " He's like a pit bull . He can handle a crisis well enough . Otherwise , he'll just try to eat your kids . " Then in talking about Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton , he compares the difference in oppression between White Women and Black Men . Like " When White Women went on the bus to protest , who do you think gave up the back seat for them ? " Of course , Rock also mentions how loved White Women are : " White Men love them . Black Men REALLY love them . " Then he says , " Live from New York , it's Saturday Night ! " During the monologue , Ms . Louis-Dreyfus shows her Emmy-win clip ( with her kissing husband and fellow former SNLer Brad Hall ) and then when she shows the Golden Globes clip , it shows her throwing up in her drink after America Ferrera is announced as the winner . Then another clip is shown of her arriving in a limousine without any panties in a parody of recent exploits of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears . First sketch is Oprah ( Maya Rudolph ) promoting a book on positive thinking with her guests the author ( Amy Poehler ) and a divorced woman ( Julia ) who's trying to get her husband back . She's now on a restraining order but still smiling about it . Then we cut to Keenan Thompson who's in another country saying he swallowed the pages . Oprah responds , " And digest every word ! " Next , a filmed commercial parody with Kristen Wiig plugging gold you can wash your face in . Just about everything in her room has something to do with gold . Like the picture of GOLDIE Hawn . Or the orange juice from Florida GOLD . Following that , Jason Sudeikis is Julia's husband who's come home late . After arguing , he admits he has Restless Penis Syndrome . Suddenly , Dr . Thompson comes in and confirms that diagnosis . Then Bill Hader walks in front of them and announces in PSA style , which only Julia is surprised is being filmed , " a cure will take years " . " Decades " , says Sudeikis . " Decades to find . " After real commercial break , Julia as herself goes on an Italian talk show with Hader as host . Unfortunately , Ms . Louis-Dreyfus can't speak Italian as Hader argues in native tongue with his producer ( Fred Armisen ) , who's eating spaghetti , about language problems . Fortunately , he does a mean Kramer . His daughter ( Rudolph ) comes on hoping to get on Julia's " New Christine " show . She's awful . Sketch ends with a giant ostrich costumed man with beak poking at Julia's head . Snow Patrol performs their first set after this . On Weekend Update , Poehler mentions Simon Cowell's 60 minutes interview and an account of his concerning a couple making love in front of him with him judging the results afterward . " Fortunately , Randy and Paula changed their minds at the last minute . " Seth Meyers mentions a study that eating salmon can give you a good disposition . " Refuting that study , grizzly bears . " Armisen appears as Judge Larry Seidlin , the one who presided on the Anna Nicole Smith case , supposedly commenting on the Attorney General's firings but talks instead of being humiliated by escaped monkeys while walking a cart in a zoo job . Amy , in celebration of St . Paddy's Day , drinks two pints and comes on to Seth before Seth gives her some coffee . With that over , it's on to Deep House Dish , that music show on MTV 4 with Keenan and Andy Samberg presenting Legguns ( Poehler , Wiig , Rudolph ) , Dee Dee Wells ( Louis-Dreyfus ) , and DJ Quality ( Sudeikis ) . " Meat , yeah ! " Wells exclaims when she answers why she puts chili in her hot tub . Then Julia as herself again films a CBS Cares PSA with the director ( Hader ) having trouble with boom man Sudeikis . After two takes with mike seen above Julia's head , Hader suggests below her body out of camera view . On final take , with Ms . Louis-Dreyfus exasperated at this point , she gets her take as the mike see-saws up and down out of frame . Next sketch has one married couple ( Julia and Jason ) showing another married couple ( Bill and Kristen ) their robot butler ( Will Forte ) serving food and then dropping it . After he starts to make love with another robot ( Armisen ) , Bill and Kristen leave . After both robots malfunction , another one ( Keenan ) comes and offers a threesome . Following Snow Patrol's second set , Julia judges with Andy and Keenan , The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll with finalists Amy , Kristen , and Maya . " We're searching for the best singer and dancer . . . ( turns to someone off camera ) Oh , we're not ? " Credits start to roll after Julia thanks everybody . . . This was Julia Louis-Dreyfus ' second stint hosting her former stomping grounds . Not as funny as the first time , she at least is playing different characters than the mostly neurotic ones on the previous show . Her best performance was her Dee Dee Wells on DHD especially the meat comment while her best sketch was the CBS Cares one . The worst skit was the gold one which was a wasted effort the whole time . The best sketch overall was the Chris Rock cold opening which makes hilarious fun of White Women unable to elect a women president ( " What are you bitches waiting for ? " ) and Blacks wanting to elect one of their own every year ( " Obama would be president , Oprah would be president , O . J . would be president . . . " ) and , in answer to if America would be ready for a black president , " Why not , we've already elected a retarded one ! " This was a pretty good , if not great like the last JLD one , show . |
455,183 | 11,228,318 | 856,639 | 7 | I Married Joan : Country Club is pretty hilarious | Joan and Bradley have another couple at their house in which the wife talks about her golf swing . Joan feels left out because she doesn't play golf and her husband declines to join a country club because he doesn't want to leave wife alone . So Joan takes golf lessons . With Sheldon Leonard as her instructor , the lessons are disastrous at first . Then he tells her she'll never be good and Joan hits one out of the ball park ! As she continues practicing at home , Bradley calls and mentions the country club committee is coming and that they're old-fashioned . So Joan gets an antique grandfather clock , a spinning wheel , and someone's old family album to impress their visitors . She also makes some saltwater taffy that results in some sticky situations ! How this gets them into the country club membership I'll let you find out for yourself . Suffice it to say , this is one of the better episodes with hilarious scenes with Leonard and that taffy sequence that must be seen to be believed ! Worth seeing for Davis ' physical antics alone . |
453,769 | 11,228,318 | 151,657 | 7 | Mr . Money Gags is a very amusing Famous cartoon in late-'50s UPA-style | This was one of the late Famous cartoons done in the style of the UPA-inspired limited animation look . Tommy Tortoise is driving from Hicksville to New York where he encounters Moe Hare as a cheating gambler who keeps trying , and failing , to swindle Mr . Tortoise out of his money . First Moe does the shell game , then 8-Ball , then dice , and finally , horse racing bet . There's a neat twist at the end . All I'll tell you is that the Tortoise does triumph here . Izzy Sparber is credited as director but most of the animated short's look is that of lead animator Al Eugster . I saw this highly amusing cartoon with the Harvey logo attached on YouTube as linked from Thad's Animation Blog . |
454,391 | 11,228,318 | 151,661 | 7 | Mr . Strauss Takes a Walk is fine for exposing a new generation to classical music | Mr . Strauss Takes a Walk is a George Pal Puppetoon that purports to tell the story of how famous composer Johann Strauss got the inspiration to write " Tales of the Vienna Woods " . We see him going to the woods to observe all the animals doing what comes naturally to them . As all this is going on , Strauss writes musical notes on his bib . After he is finished , he conducts an imaginary orchestra in front of his animal audience and also imagines wooing an imaginary woman who looks just like him ! He then says good night to all the forest creatures ( even a skunk ! ) as he leaves and him and the narrator bid us goodbye as the short ends . . . Pretty entertaining with one big laugh at the end . I first heard " Tales of the Vienna Woods " in A Corny Concerto , Bob Clampett's spoof of Disney's Fantasia so the music here was very familiar . It's cartoons like these that exposed me and I'm sure many others to many classical pieces that probably might've faded away today , if not completely disappeared , in today's more exclusive musical tastes of certain markets . So I'm glad for the timeliness of films such as these . Definitely worth seeing for Pal and classical fans . |
455,123 | 11,228,318 | 223,622 | 7 | The Magic Lantern is enjoyable Georges Melies short | Georges Melies really outdoes himself in The Magic Lantern . We see two clown-like men assembling a giant projector lantern where we see film of some couples talking . Then it opens to reveal some dancing girls followed by one particularly athletic one . Then they close and open the lantern to reveal some more girls , this time some slow ballet dancers . Then the police come as the clowns close the box lantern again . When it opens again , we see a jack-in-the-box-like creature moving his neck up and down constantly . At this , the police run away as all the dancing girls come back as we fade out . While enjoyable , I wish the version I saw had some music scoring instead of complete silence . Well worth a look for Melies fans . |
454,623 | 11,228,318 | 151,672 | 7 | The Museum is a pretty entertaining Toby the Pup cartoon | The Museum is a Toby the Pup cartoon from Charles Mintz that I just saw on Google Video . This is one of those many typical musical cartoons made in the wake of the success of Steamboat Wille , the first successful sound cartoon that made Mickey Mouse a star and Walt Disney famous . By comparison , Toby is one of the many Mickey-inspired impostors now forgotten likewise Mintz who's most famous for taking away Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit character after Disney asked for more money allowing him to create The Most Famous Mouse of All . Anyway , this cartoon has Toby working as a janitor in a museum with ( literally ) a lion of a boss watching over him . As the cartoon goes on , the statues come to life dancing up a storm while the pup plays a harp made from a rake head which was originally a mop head . ( Animators were so creative at this time ! ) Pretty entertaining and certainly worth a look for any animation fan . |
454,878 | 11,228,318 | 18,150 | 7 | Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in The Mechanical Cow is amusing | The Mechanical Cow is the first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon I've ever seen . If the plot seems familiar , maybe because it's done by Walt Disney before he lost Oswald to the character's copyright owners and started his own studio to create Mickey Mouse . The rabbit gets waken by an alarm clock who punches him in the face . He then tries to wake the title character who takes awhile . When they're both up they ride into town and come across a hippo mother and baby . Oswald feeds the baby with a giant bottle he takes from the mechanical cow's " body " and , with a tube attached , siphons it to the baby . Oswald then visits his rabbit girlfriend and he shoos the cow away so they can be alone together . Moments later , the girlfriend gets kidnapped by some dogs ( I think ) and the cow comes back to help Oswald rescue her . They find the kidnappers who chase after them after the girlfriend is rescued . Oswald , the girlfriend , and the cow stop at a cliff and wait for the kidnappers to fall into a pit of sharks below before the rabbit , his girlfriend , and cow ride off into the sunset . The end . Amusing from beginning to end . If you're interested in Disney's pre-Mickey creations , this Oswald short is highly recommended ! |
454,881 | 11,228,318 | 12,646 | 7 | Oliver Hardy provides good support to Larry Semon in The Sawmill | I found this short , The Sawmill , on a Platinum DVD collection of Laurel and Hardy shorts . It stars Larry Semon as one of the workers . Oliver Hardy plays the foreman and chief tormentor of Semon who shares with him a rivalry for the owner's daughter's hand . Unlike the Laurel and Hardy classic Busy Bodies , not all gags take place in a sawmill , some also take place in the owner's house involving a dog and some dynamite . There are also gags involving logs , paint , falling off roofs , and water . All are perfectly executed . There's a cartoonish atmosphere that's infectious here and that would eventually serve Hardy's later partnership with Stan Laurel well . For fans of Laurel and Hardy , this is well worth seeking out ! |
455,135 | 11,228,318 | 76,543 | 7 | A Piece of the Action provides an enjoyable final teaming of Poitier and Cosby | In reviewing films involving African-Americans in chronological order for Black History Month , we're now at 1977 with A Piece of the Action . This is the third and last teaming of Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby and the fifth directorial effort of Poitier . Before I go on , I'd just like to note that this movie takes place and is filmed in Chicago , Ill . , which was where I was born and lived for the first six years of my life . The music composer , Curtis Mayfield , himself was a Windy City native . Also , since I'm now a Louisiana resident , I'd like to mention that one cast member-Eric Laneuville-is from New Orleans . Okay , here's the premise : Both Cosby and Poitier , separately since they don't know each other in the beginning , have taken large amounts of money from the bank and the mob , respectively . James Earl Jones , as a retired police detective , blackmails them to work at a community center to avoid going to jail . I'll stop there and say while there's plenty of laughs from both of the leads and some of the characters that surround them ( love the parents and relatives of Poitier's girlfriend Nikki , one of whom is played by " Good Times " Ja'net DuBois ) , this was also a pretty serious movie about getting ghetto kids to get honest jobs with Poitier acting like his teacher role from To Sir , With Love with good results . Also loved Cosby's flirtations with Denise Nicholas and the way she laughs at his lines and faces . Oh , and the janitor , Mr . Theodore is played by Sidney's older brother Cyril . While the film is pretty long and some scenes are short-cut with a line , this was a pretty enjoyable movie that made me a little sad that Poitier choose to concentrate on directing at the expense of his performing career for the next 11 years . When he did come back , however , he did manage to still entertain in various features and TV movies though he hasn't been in anything since 2001 . If what he did then was the last of his work , then at least he has a wonderful legacy . As for Dr . Cosby , his peak of success was to come with " The Cosby Show " which was one of the last enjoyable family sitcoms to come on network TV . For anyone wanting to see Poitier and Cosby as a team however , Uptown Saturday Night , Let's Do It Again , and A Piece of the Action provide plenty of enjoyment for fans of both . |
453,996 | 11,228,318 | 150,025 | 7 | Camping Out was another early Columbia / Charles Mintz cartoon that starred Scrappy | Just watched this Columbia / Charles Mintz cartoon starring a now-forgotten character . A boy named Scrappy . Here he's driving ( What ? An underage boy driving a car ? Oh , well , this is just a cartoon so anything's possible here ! ) himself with his little brother and a dog to camping grounds . All that happens here is done to a musical beat with the public domain song " Turkey in the Straw " being among the selections in the score . Quite a few bizarre things happen like when a fire goes up , it burns the skin off of some owls revealing their naked bodies and legs ( though no frontal parts are shown ! ) . Also , when the dog gets himself stuck on a chopped tree trunk lying on the ground , some squirrels play with his tail like an instrument . This was another vintage and obscure cartoon that I was glad to have found on YouTube . So on that note , I say give Camping Out a shot . |
454,110 | 11,228,318 | 146,845 | 7 | Gypped in Egypt is an entertaining early Van Beuren Aesop Fables entry | Gypped in Egypt is a Van Beuren Aesop Fables entry that features a cat duo-one tall , one short-who seem to be the precursor of the humans , Tom and Jerry , Van Beuren introduced a year or so later . They somehow get stuck in Egypt where they encounter various skeletons-one of whom plays a mean swinging " Chopsticks " on a piano with the short one playing along . There's also some dancing with some hieroglyphics joining in . The cat duo later encounter another skeleton who takes them up on an elevator up a monument only to leave them outside at the top . I'm sure you can guess what happens after that . No real plot to speak of but entertaining enough on merits of movements that dominated many of these cartoons of the ' 30s . Worth seeing for any animation buffs of Van Beuren . |
454,188 | 11,228,318 | 516 | 7 | El Hotel electrico is a fascinating early use of stop motion photography | Just saw on YouTube what must have been one of the earliest uses of stop motion animation in history . In summation , as baggage is checked in that baggage moves by itself to a room where it opens itself revealing lots of brushes that now move out . We next see a man and a woman sitting down before we see the man's boot get unbuckled by itself . With the boot off , a brush moves itself up and down on the front end . We next see the woman's coat come off by itself before her hair gets a thorough brushing-also by itself-before the hair ties itself into a bun . Then comes a scene of a man in front of a wall full of electrical switches . As he pulls one large switch down , we cut to a scene of various chairs and other furniture moving in chaotic ways as the short ends . . . Primitive but still fascinating look at trick photography in the early 20th century . Must have truly awed audiences back then . Definitely worth a look for silent film buffs . |
454,762 | 11,228,318 | 785,097 | 7 | The pilot for Andy Barker P . I . is moderately amusing | Andy Barker P . I . is Andy Richter's third try at a series since he left Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 2000 . This pilot is moderately amusing with Barker opening his own CPA office above a video store owned by Simon ( Tony Hale ) . Also occupying space is a Middle Eastern restaurant whose owner has a " Down with MSG , Up with USA " sign on his door to show his patriotism . A Russian woman played by the Orbit spokeswoman asks Barker to look for her presumed deceased husband . She leaves the card that identifies the office's previous occupant : a former private eye who's now in a nursing home . I loved the sequence that has a Sandra Bullock doll quoting her line from Miss Congeniality and Andy and Simon debating the merits of that movie and its sequel . Good support from Clea Lewis as Andy's wife and Harve Presnell as the retired P . I . who helps Andy on the cases . Can't wait for next weeks episode . Co-written by O'Brien and Jonathan Groff . |
454,247 | 11,228,318 | 152,458 | 7 | Woody Woodpecker gets his comeuppance in Ski for Two | Having been watching many cartoons on the Saturday Morning Blog , I rediscovered this Woody Woodpecker cartoon there . In this one , Woody goes to a lodge to get some food . That lodge is owned by one Wally Walrus and he is strict about no trespassers unless by reservation . But of course , that doesn't stop Woody who even dresses as Santa Claus in the month of October to fool Wally . . . In many of these cartoons that star this obnoxious woodpecker , he usually wins in the end but while many of the tricks he does to Wally are funny and one might cheer for him even here , Wally does get even and Woody does deserve it . So on that note , I highly recommend Ski for Two . |
454,858 | 11,228,318 | 1,055,416 | 7 | Gracie's Bully is another funny episode of " Back to You " | Kelly takes her daughter Gracie to the TV station for her class field trip since Gracie doesn't like the bus especially not with a boy who keeps pulling her hair there . Montanna wants to avoid a report on a flood since she can't pronounce the river's name . Gary bets Marsh he can't go through with " Casey at the Bat " in front of the class without crying for $150 dollars . And Chuck tries to threaten the bullying boy after he once again pushes Gracie but Kelly puts a stop to that before she herself gives the boy an ultimatum . That boy calls his mother ( Charisma Carpenter ) who confronts Kelly while Chuck , seeing how hot she is , shamelessly flirts with her . And Gary almost finds out about Gracie's connection to Chuck and Kelly . . . A pretty funny episode of " Back to You " that improves from the one that aired two weeks ago . Especially liked the ways Montanna kept mispronouncing the river's name and her jealousy of a young girl from the field trip constantly getting the word right when she practices her weather reporting duties ! Also liked the large kid that reminded Ryan of himself and Charisma's character naming her son " Xander " after the character on " Buffy the Vampire Slayer " whom Cordelia sometimes had an affair with . Also loved the constant hitting in the ears between Chuck and Kelly . Hope enough viewers have seen " Back to You " to ensure a continued run past this just-started writer's strike that threatens to halt production of all scripted shows for the rest of the season . . . |
455,205 | 11,228,318 | 14,811 | 7 | The Cure is amusing old hat animation from Max Fleischer | As Ko-Ko and a rabbit are drawn in a forest , Ko-Ko has a toothache . When he asks why , Max says , " Shut up ! " as we see him also have one . The rabbit then tries to pull the tooth manually before he asks for help . Max obliges by drawing an instrument that pulls teeth . When the rabbit uses it as he pulls , he notices a big bump form on the top of Ko-Ko's head . He pushes it back only to form on the clown's back . Then he pushes it only to form on the clown's face where his lips are ! Finally , he pulls a whole apple out of the mouth curing Ko-Ko . They then turn to Max who is using laughing gas on his mouth as they tie a rope to the bad tooth . Max doesn't want them to do it till he's asleep so as Ko-Ko and the rabbit pull , Max draws on his paper that , when the clown and rabbit are in the dentist's office , is revealed to be a lion they've been pulling into ! The lion wants his tooth pulled out . As Ko-Ko looks on , the rabbit goes to the waiting room where a worm asks to be next . He changes his mind , however , when he hears gunshots ! Turns out Ko-Ko killed the lion and made him into a rug when the lion threatened to eat him ! Next , comes a dog whose weak eyetooth gets glasses and a cap , a bird who gets an actual plate on his beak , a clam who gets some dismembered teeth , a walrus that gets an actual miniature bridge between his two teeth , and a rhino that gets a small actual crown on the spot where Ko-Ko pulled his nose tooth down ! Max , watching all this , puts the laughing gas in the drawing where everyone laughs uncontrollably . Ko-Ko then comes out of the board and goes with the hose inside Max's suit sleeve and points it at Max as he is now laughing along with the furniture , his car outside , and the building he inhabits ! Before his employees come back to work , Ko-Ko pulls the rope on Max's tooth with him attached as he's being moved through the floor until he bumps at a wall and finally gets his tooth out ! Ko-Ko and the rabbit now go back in the pen which Max closes . . . Pretty amusing excuse to put gags that have double meanings , The Cure is probably old hat for today . Still , it's worth a look for anyone interested in seeing the early stages of mixing live-action and animation in the early 20th century . |
454,207 | 11,228,318 | 1,055,414 | 7 | A Gentleman Always Leads is another funny episode of " Back to You " | As Chuck waits for a ride on an elevator at his hotel , he meets a couple of network news guys who are having a meeting at Carnegie Hall . They complement him for getting back his anchor job at his old stomping grounds before parting as Chuck goes to his ride . Once the elevator goes back up , those same guys come on and Chuck overhears what they really think of him : They think he's reached bottom . So Chuck becomes determined to scoop Kelly on the top story that evening . Meanwhile , Montana's intern spends too much time with Marsh . Marsh resolves to get a new one for her . He turns out to be a very old man . . . The one-upmanship is pretty hilarious between Chuck and Kelly . Kelly's line about the dingoes especially made me laugh . And wait till you hear the voice of the camping victim on the live newscast ! The intern subplot was mildly amusing though it's nice to see Bill Macy as the old man . By the way , where's Gary ? Better episode than last weeks , though the show could see some more improvement . Glad Fox is still sticking to it ! |
454,258 | 11,228,318 | 30,089 | 7 | The Duke Is Tops is noted for being Lena Horne's film debut | The only reason The Duke Is Tops , one of several " race movies " made during the times of segregation , would be worth noting today is because it made the film debut of a 21-year-old singer named Lena Horne . She plays Ethel Andrews , a singer who has to leave her producer mentor Duke Davis ( Ralph Cooper ) in order to branch into the big time . Davis , however , has to fake having taken the money for her services in front of her so she won't feel sorry for having done so . He then teams up with Doc Dorando ( Lawrence Criner ) for a series of medicine shows throughout the south . Meanwhile , in New York , her new producers have bombed big time because they made her the whole show instead of simply the specialty act . Davis finds out from the radio and offers his services as producer and band leader to bring his lineup of other specialty acts , many of whom make their one of their few or only film appearances here , for his chance at the big time with Ethel next to him . Guess what happens ? While the plot is the kind you've seen in thousands of other movie musicals during this time , the fact this was made for a certain audience makes this one of the more fascinating features I've seen during this Black History Month . Ms . Horne's singing is on good display here and it's interesting seeing her so young before her professionalism takes full hold later in her career . Among other supporting players there's an unconfirmed , according to IMDb , appearance by Lillian Randolph , Annie in my favorite movie It's a Wonderful Life and sister of Amanda Randolph who I just saw in the musical short The Black Network , as the woman with Sciatica who complains of not being cured after taking the Doc's medicine before Duke explains it's for the feet ! And as a longtime Louisiana resident , I'd like to take note of two players from here in this movie : Joel Fluellen from Monroe as a tonic customer and Marie Bryant from New Orleans as the sexy dancer who appears near the musical climax . So for just Lena Horne alone , The Duke is Tops is worth seeing at least once . |
453,967 | 11,228,318 | 22,506 | 7 | The Tree's Knees is interesting early Warner Bros . cartoon | Since the previous reviewer mentioned most of the story and gags , I'll just mention once again that the two mice in this short-as in many Harmon-Ising cartoons-bear a resemblance to a certain Famous Mouse from Disney except this time , besides the fact they are so small , they also wear no clothes ! Most of the gags are indeed pretty unusual by today's standards though many of these types were common in many ' 30s cartoons particularly the musical ones . Watching this , I was reminded of Flowers and Trees , Disney's first three-strip Technicolor cartoon that won the Oscar two years later . Mainly because of the human-like trees and the way they made music . So , in summation , The Tree's Knees is highly recommended for anyone interested in early Warner Bros . animation before Tex Avery and many of the characters created in his wake gave the studio a new attitude . . . |
454,649 | 11,228,318 | 1,055,411 | 7 | The pilot of Back to You brings Grammar and Heaton back to familiar turf | At the start of the pilot episode of " Back to You " , we're in Pittsburgh-1996 , at a news desk on New Year's Eve where anchorwoman Kelly Carr ( Patricia Heaton ) says goodbye to her partner of six years , Chuck Darling ( Kelsey Grammar ) . Sportscaster Marsh McGinley ( Fred Willard ) is also there . 10 years later , Darling is in L . A . and-as revealed on YouTube-commits a profanity-laced blooper on live television . Now , he's back at his old station where he reunites with McGinley and Carr . It's an uneasy one with the latter . There's also a young news director who previously worked the news ' online division ( Josh Gad ) , a Hispanic weathergirl who prefers to be called a meteorologist-even though she's not really one ( Ayda Field ) , and a reporter who wants to be anchorman so he can avoid going on camera in front of empty buildings in bad weather ( Ty Burrell ) . There's also a twist at the end that I hope doesn't dominate the series premise throughout the season . Nice chemistry between pros Grammar , Heaton , and Willard and the rest of the supporting cast with a special mention of Burrell whom I previously liked on " Out of Practice " . Pretty funny pilot that I hope leads to more hilarious episodes and better ratings for this Fox sitcom . |
455,199 | 11,228,318 | 130,629 | 7 | Don't Tell Everything is a funny Max Davidson short from Hal Roach | Max Davidson is an unsung comedian of silent movies from Hal Roach Studios . Maybe the fact that he was obviously Jewish and therefore not very appealing to much of America at the time might have been the reason he wasn't very popular then and is pretty much forgotten now . Maybe some of his characterizations tended to be on the stereotypical side ( though I'm not too familiar with that to know what stereotypes there were about Jews ) . Anyway , Don't Tell Everything has Mr . Davidson and his teenage son , Spec O'Donnell , attending a party where he meets a rich widow . Because Spec plays some pranks ( such as using a rubber band to ruin James Finlayson's tricks ) , Max doesn't reveal his son to the widow . They get married ten days later and the son reveals in a note to his father that he's going to dress as a girl and become the maid in order to live with them . I'll just stop here to say there's plenty of funny set pieces like when Max gets his supposedly fixed car from a mechanic and finds out it's now falling apart , or his embracing his son while in ladies ' underwear while his wife-unbeknownst to him-is watching , or an earlier scene when Max and the widow are sitting on the couch and the son-through the back window-touches his father's face and Max thinks it's the widow touching him so he touches her face and she doesn't like it ! And , yes , Fin does his famous double takes that always make me laugh ! So on that note , I highly recommended Don't Tell Everything . |
455,142 | 11,228,318 | 609,422 | 7 | Second episode-A Cup of Kindness-was a pretty good one of " I Spy " | Continuing my reviews of African-Americans in film and television for Black History Month in chronological order , we're now at 1965 with the second episode of " I Spy " , A Cup of Kindness . In this one , Kelly Robinson's ( Robert Culp ) former mentor ( David Friedkin ) comes to his old pupil in Hong Kong for help in getting a component for him to avoid getting killed . Alexander Scott ( Bill Cosby ) lends a hand in helping Kelly distract some hotel proprietors from the safe that Scott and the former mentor are trying to steal from . . . It takes a while but there are some good action scenes and some humorous ones concerning Culp and a lady ( Irene Tsu ) that I found pretty amusing . Cosby doesn't really do much here except some small talk and setting up some explosives but does show some charisma for a person whose main profession at the time was stand-up . And there is one cute scene where he talks to a little Hong Kong girl ( Robin Lee ) in her language . " I Spy " marked the first time that a man of color shared a starring role in series television with his white counterpart . This particular episode I watched on the Net Nights section of the From the Archives blog . I've seen at least 4 more episodes on DVD that I checked from the library years ago . One with Don Rickles and one with Wally Cox from there were pretty funny . I'd have to see a few more episodes to really judge how good " I Spy " was but I liked what I saw so far . By the way , vintage commercials of the time were inserted between the scenes when I watched this . |
454,323 | 11,228,318 | 56,851 | 7 | Banty Raids was a pretty amusing final Foghorn Leghorn cartoon | Just watched this last Foghorn Leghorn cartoon on Daily Motion as linked from ThadBlog . In this one , a beatnik rooster-having been literally kicked out of one chicken coop-disguises himself as a baby chicken to get through Leghorn's place of residence which has lots of hens for the new guy to woo . . . Many amusing lines from the beatnik fowl on the order of " daddio " and the like . Also liked his familiar " Gee Whiz Willikens Golly Gee " that I originally heard Bugs do on " The Bugs Bunny / Road Runner Hour " ( with the same voice ! ) and the way that barnyard dog got knocked to pieces ! Well worth seeing for any Warner cartoon fan enthusiast . |
453,756 | 11,228,318 | 69,994 | 7 | Don't Look in the Basement is a pretty entertaining ' 70s B-horror film | I just discovered this obscure ' 70s horror movie while browsing on YouTube . For a low-budget effort , it has plenty of compelling moments in gradual pacing in leading to the surprisingly shocking finish . While there is one woman who takes off her shirt constantly , the fact that she's a nymphomaniac makes those scenes important to the story and there's one scene with the curly-haired young man as he attempts to seduce her that turned me on before his pulling back made her screaming mad . The young nurse who comes in and gets hired is alluring herself and I'm not surprised she posed for the cover of Playboy . Some characters are very irritating and some scenes do seem ridiculous . For the most part , however , Don't Look in the Basement ( That's the title I saw on YouTube ) provides enough drama and chills for an entertaining B-movie . |
454,752 | 11,228,318 | 917,146 | 7 | Distractions improves on the last episode of Heroes | After Claire's dad finds Sylar still alive in his jail cell , Sylar knocks his glasses out and manages to lock him inside . He then shows him his driver's license ( which I tried to slow down to find his first name but it was too blurred . I read some other comments on this show and one of them said it only printed " Bennett " ) before escaping . Peter and Claude Rains the invisible man are walking down the street as Rains tests Peter by stealing a woman's purse and giving it to him to see if he can stay invisible . Unfortunately , the woman sees Peter with her bag and calls police . Claire asks her mom for permission to go to the aquarium with Zach covering up her real mission : to meet her real mom , who's living in a trailer park . While they're gone , Mrs . Bennett finds Sylar sneaking in the house but Sylar manages to sweet talk her into being friendly with him ( It's here that we almost find out her husband's first name but then starts addressing her dog's behavior ) . Hiro's father and his sister , Kimiko , want Hiro to become CEO of his father's company . Hiro manages to fix it so that his sister gets the job instead . Simone and Issac seem to rekindle feelings for each other as Rains and Peter discover them embracing which confirms Rains cynical view of people in general while Peter still believes in family connections . In jail , Niki's psychiatrist tries to get Jessica out and has the chair chained to prevent escaping . Unfortunately , Jessica breaks free and knocks out the doc possibly killing her . Niki is later told someone else confessed to Jessica's crimes with matching DNA so she is now free . However , Jessica has locked Niki in the mirror at home while she starts spending time with Micah . Mr . Bennet and Haitian man make a surprise return home before Sylar can kill Mrs . Bennet who once again has her memory wiped . Rains throws Peter off a 30-story building to test his powers . Peter lands on a yellow car but does survive perhaps because he was channeling Claire's indestructible powers then . He then is overwhelmed by the other abilities before Claude punches him . Finally , Claire's bio-mom calls her bio-father and we find out he's . . . Nathan Petrelli ! Wow ! A little better than the last episode as we get closer to the city explosion that will come later . So I'm guessing at this point , it will be awhile before we find out Clarie's father's real name . Not unlike the Janitor character on Scrubs . I think Ando's lines concerning his crush of Kimiko to be amusing . " I think she is starting to like me , " he exclaims . " What ? " , asks Hiro . Will Niki and Jessica ever co-exist cooperatively in the same body ? How long will Hiro fully regain his powers ? And where has Sylar escaped to and for how long ? All this and more should make next week even more interesting . Until next time . . . |
454,744 | 11,228,318 | 45,063 | 7 | Rabbit's Kin is a partly amusing Bugs Bunny cartoon | Robert McKimson's Rabbit's Kin is not a great Bugs Bunny cartoon but it does have a great voice for Bugs ' adversary here , Pete Puma , that of Stan Freberg's with that screeching laugh ( or maybe it's just some kind of disgust reaction ) . A little rabbit with a highly-speeded up voice is afraid of this puma and goes to Bugs for help . The rabbit manages to trick Puma to accept various number of lumps hit on his head whenever he asks him , " How much would you like ? " when referring to coffee or tea . Those scenes and that aforementioned screeching laugh were the most memorable parts of this short . The little rabbit himself named Shorty is pretty irritating . Glad he was a one-shot . Pete Puma would subsequently appear in a Foghorn Leghorn cartoon made in the ' 90s . Would like to see that one . Anyway , this is on Volume one of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection . |
454,987 | 11,228,318 | 76,416 | 7 | The Mouse and His Child was a very interesting non-Disney animated feature | After 30 years of knowing about this non-Disney animated feature , I finally decided to watch The Mouse and His Child on YouTube . The animation is both haunting and beautiful in many places . The characters are appealing when they concern the " wind-ups " and some forest animals and suitably creepy when displaying most of the rats . The story seems simple but some characters go on tangents about life that threatens to become pretentious after a while though that happens only for a few minutes . Not much of humor happens here though it was amusing hearing Frank Nelson as a crow , Andy Devine ( in his last role ) as a frog , and Cloris Leachman as , I think , a bird . I was pleasantly surprised to see in the end credits that of Charles Schulz Creative Associates as one of the companies involved . Oh , and one of the wonderfully weirdest scenes involved seeing the Bosco can show the dog posed with a picture of him looking the same in position ad infinitum ( to illustrate infinity ) . On that note , I guess that's a recommendation for The Mouse and His Child . |
454,990 | 11,228,318 | 981,227 | 7 | Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is one of the most sweet teenage romantic comedies of the year | When I was in Maryland to see my sister's firstborn get baptized , we both decided to see this movie when I was there . This was a nicely cutting edge teenage romantic comedy about two strangers played by Michael Cera and Kat Dennings who find out about their similarities only after their friends accidentally put them together . Cera still is pining for an ex he puts a mixed CD for while Dennings is friends with that ex . Michael's character is also a member of a band whose other members are gay while Kat's character has a girlfriend who likes to drink . And all this happens while Cera and Dennings and their friends ride around New York City all night looking for their favorite indie band . Plenty of sweet and funny ( and a little gross ) moments abound and while my sister and I might have a little problem with a sex scene with the leads , the romance was good enough to overcome that . So on that note , I recommend Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist . P . S . There are cameos of a couple of current SNLers I pleasantly noticed right away . . . |
454,939 | 11,228,318 | 148,216 | 7 | Gifts from the Air is a quite charmingly sentimental Columbia cartoon from the late ' 30s | In this Columbia Rhapsody cartoon , an orphan boy is looking at a toy store window and sees a toy soldier dancing whose limbs are so loose , the owner throws him in the trash . The boy then takes that toy soldier as his own and tells him how much fun their going to have when they get home . After the boy falls asleep , the wooden uniformed man turns on the radio as it plays music and we see Santa bring a bag of more toys to the home . Among them are a goat that sounds like Bing Crosby , an Ed Wynn-like fire chief , and a man inspired by long-forgotten comedian Joe Penner with a duck who asks Penner's catch phrase , " Wanna buy a duck ? " The boy , the wooden soldier , a cat who also lives in the house are having a swell time frolicking among the new presents as the cartoon ends . . . This obscure ' 30s cartoon is quite charming that I found on Uncle John's Crazy Town blog . If you like sentimental Christmas cartoons , Gifts from the Air should be right up your alley . |
453,774 | 11,228,318 | 443,299 | 7 | This was another wonderfully bizarre ' 30s cartoon from Japan | This was another weird and wonderfully bizarre Japanese cartoon from the ' 30s . In this one , planes stop at traffic in the sky like the cars below . And one of these planes is a cab that takes passengers . This cabbie , though , doesn't seem to be very good for humans since one of them has a bad encounter with this one after the cab goes into a black cloud that shakes all it's other victims out ! Instead , the cabbie seems more kind to animals like an eagle with a bad foot or a bear that also seems to be a bit handicapped . Other bizarre stuff happens here but I'll just say look this one up on YouTube . Oh , and there are no subtitles , just a Japanese woman narrating in her own language on a silent short with added music . It's under the title " The Plane Cabby's Lucky Day " . |
454,130 | 11,228,318 | 878,090 | 7 | The Proffer moves Vanished plots along | With Judge Wallace Rainer now confirmed , Senator Jeffery Collins waits for Sara to come home . Marcy , recovering from her miscarriage , asks her doctor to test her blood to find out if her condition was induced . At FBI , Agent Daniel Lucas gets a call from someone who contacted the late Agent Graham Kelton before his unfortunate passing . He asks Lucas to appear in a church confessional alone . Lin Mei comes as the only backup . At the place where Sara is held , she is watching video of her stepson blaming her for his-and by extension , his family's-unhappiness . Sara demands the set be turned off before she knocks it down . The woman in the next cell , a Deborah Hensley , wife of death row inmate Dr . Aaron Hensley , tries to console Sara before she gets taken out . At the church , Lin Mei recognizes blood on a painting as the same way it looked at the place where Sara was supposedly killed when she and Graham checked there weeks before . Lin Mei listens via earpiece to Lucas ' conversation with this contact who wants the circular piece Lucas found . Lucas only agrees to this when Sara is found . He furthermore states that his partner has a gun pointed outside . After deal is made , Lin Mei tries to indeed to arrest the contact only to find him quickly gone . Marcy's doctor calls and says that indeed her miscarriage could have been induced but offered no proof . Marcy tells Ben about her affair with Rainer included her rape by him two months before on the day of his nomination . We find out Sara's kidnappers wanted Rainer confirmed so he could possibly help overturn a case which , if this happened , would help free several convicts , including Dr . Helnsley . Senator Collins asks a female judge he also helped confirmed to say no to overturning said case . Instead , she recuse herself bringing the motion to a possible standstill . Roperter Judy Nash goes to Marcy hoping to get some info Marcy was supposed to give her but Marcy goes back at her word without explanation . At FBI , Lucas and Lin Mei have found on computer the whereabouts of Sara and arrive in a forest only to be caught in the crossfire while Sara escapes unnoticed . Lucas and Lin Mei hold up a couple of hunters who seem to have done nothing wrong . Then under the sheet in the back of the truck behind a dead deer , we see Sara . Before wrapping up , let me mention that Seantor Collins found out from his handler that his ex-wife left because she got more than a thousand dollars from the handler to do so , so the ex-wife has left no trace . This turns into a relief to Marcy who thought she simply abandoned her . As the hunters ' truck gets stopped in traffic , Sara gets out and identifies herself to the cop on duty . . . With only two episodes left , we are closer to finding out what the kidnappers ' intention is . And Ming-Na's character really was necessary this time in IDing certain past clues from when she was with Kelton . Now that Ben knows , is he looking to kill Justice Rainer ? And where did Mrs . Henlsley go ? I can't wait to find out ! Until next time . . . |
454,075 | 11,228,318 | 1,083,965 | 7 | Swingtown : The Pilot got me really intrigued by episode's ending | I just finished watching " Swingtown : The Pilot " four weeks after it aired . The ' 70s setting intrigued me from the start along with all the free love and music that came with it . I'm surprised IMDb didn't also mention a couple of songs that played here as anachronisms : both Rita Coolidge's " Your Love is Lifting Me ( Higher and Higher ) " and Fleetwood Mac's " Go Your Own Way " came out the summer after the ' 76 one depicted here . While the three adult couples were the main focus , I was more intrigued by their teen offspring . There's also a woman who snorts coke and her daughter who is planning to run away . It took a while during the hour but by the end I was hooked . Bottom line , I liked this pilot episode of " Swingtown " . I don't really feel like recapping here but I may when I watch the second episode so until then . . . P . S . CBS showed their old network promo of " Turn Us On , We'll Turn You On " before the program which was obviously a double entendre meant to raise a giggle though that slogan actually came from 1978 . |
455,127 | 11,228,318 | 1,001,594 | 7 | Ludachristmas ( or Episode 209 ) is another funny episode of " 30 Rock " | Liz ' parents and brother Mitch ( Andy Richter ) are coming over for Christmas as well as Jack's mother ( Elaine Stritch ) . Due to too much drinking , Tracy now has an ankle on him . While Liz seems to get along well with her family , even Mitch whose skiing accident at 17 causes him to relive the previous day over and over , Jack can't stand his mom and tries to ditch her at every turn . Tracy tries to join the rest of the gang for " Ludichristmas " but is stopped by Kenneth with a reverend in order to show the true meaning of the holiday . At the end , Jack's mom's attempt to show how dysfunctional even Liz ' family could be succeeds when a mention of The Goonies sends the entire reunion into a tailspin . . . Seeing veteran SNL host Buck Henry as Liz ' dad was a treat as was seeing Richter and the return of Ms . Stritch . Ms . Stritch , especially , was hilarious here . Was also amusing seeing Tracy Morgan use his real-life arrest for drunken driving come into play here . Of course , I do hope he's more careful next time . In the prologue , Jack shows Liz his new invention : a Photo Scanner / Paper Shredder . Since both have initials PS / PS , it's useless and everyone who gets it as a present throws it away even the children in an undeveloped country ! One more episode is left before the strike closed down production . Hope it gets settled by January . Glad to hear of Golden Globe noms this morning for the show , Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin . Good luck all ! |
453,909 | 11,228,318 | 27,776 | 7 | I Don't Want to Make History is another amusing Screen Song cartoon from Max and Dave Fleischer | The setting is the New News Theatre with a sign saying " News Reel Scoops " with the awning literally scooping customers inside ! From there we see the newsreel with items from places like Wishy , Wash . Spot gags abound like a giant bullet inside a likewise gun taking travelers around the world to an easy parking car that squeezes other cars out of the way to make space ! There's also a Rube Goldberg-like device that wakes up the inventor among other visual vignettes . Then it's on to the title song performed by an unknown vocalist with castanets followed by bandleader Vincent Lopez telling us to follow the bouncing ball as the lyrics print on screen with that ball following along to when we should sing ( the whole thing is instrumental at this point ) . The entire cartoon short from Max and Dave Fleischer made smile from ear to ear as well as brought a few giggles . I found this on the Matinée at the Bijou site which linked this to YouTube . Well worth seeing for animation and Fleischer fans . |
454,958 | 11,228,318 | 39,429 | 7 | The Golden State is another amusing Famous Studios Screen Song cartoon | I went to the Matinée at the Bijou blog and found this rare Famous Studios cartoon short that had a " follow-the-bouncing-ball " line attached to it since this is a Screen Song short that features the song , " California , Here I Come " . Among the gags are the Big Chief train that briefly turns into a head of an Indian Chief , skeletons meant to represent " Spike Jones and Boys " dancing in Death Valley , horns playing when we get to Cape Horn ( to show how some South Americans also came to California ) , and Harpo Marx's footprints at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre chasing a woman ! Pretty amusing and worth a look for anyone who loves vintage animation . Oh , and in this one , " citrus " replaces " ball " . |
454,966 | 11,228,318 | 1,204,544 | 7 | Hot Sub with guest ( who's also the show's producer ) Ashton Kutcher improves on previous first episode of " Miss Guided " | In this episode , executive producer Ashton Kutcher guests as " educational wanderer " Beaux who's teaching Spanish during his stay . Regular Spanish teacher Tim O'Malley is worried about going back to teaching shop so when the principal and his vice check on him a day or so early , Tim calls Becky for help . Unfortunately , she gets interrupted by Beaux who kisses her ( this being one day after Becky found out Beaux likes her and not rival Lisa ) with the result being Tim got a D on his teaching skills . Looks like he's going back to his old class but Becky then finds out student Mandy ( Jamie Lynn Spears ) is deciding to not go to college after talking to Beaux . When Becky and the school heads find out he didn't go to college , Tim's job is safe ( though we find out he's two credits shy of an actual degree ) . . . This was a little better than the first episode and Kutcher is perfectly charming in his role here . Loved the way vice principal Terry keeps sucking up to him even after Beaux's firing ( Chris Parnell does it again ! ) . As Becky , Judy Greer shows both her venerability with Beaux and her support with Tim who she likes immensely . " Miss Guided " is shaping up to be a pretty quirky show about what it's like to be employed at the same high school that you went to working with some former fellow students . I think this one's a keeper . Now I'm going to review episode # 3 . . . |
454,440 | 11,228,318 | 148,001 | 7 | Cockatoos for Two was a not bad Columbia cartoon from an idea by Bob Clampett | This Screen Gems-Columbia cartoon was written by Bob Clampett after he left Warner Bros . The director , however , was Bob Wickersham . In this one , a Peter Lorre caricature is awaiting the arrival of a $6 , 000 parakeet from a friend . " Lorre " has just gotten tired of the same kind of dinner every night and wants a " new taste " so he thinks this bird is his answer . Just before this parakeet arrives , a thin yellow canary that was thrown out by " Peter " takes it's place in the delivery cage and asks for the " best of what I get " . " Lorre " obliges and when the canary sees her " new " figure she realizes what the purpose was as she's put in the oven . . . Plenty of verbal and sight gags worthy of Clampett abound here and while not as great as many of his Warner ones , it's much better than many of the mediocre and poor ones usually associated with Columbia . Found this on Thad's Animation Blog as linked to YouTube . Worth a look there . |
454,588 | 11,228,318 | 14,656 | 7 | Alice Gets in Dutch is highly amusing live-action / animated hybrid | Alice Gets in Dutch begins in live-action with the title character in a classroom with a lot of other kids , one of whom looks like Mickey Daniels of the Our Gang shorts , singing off-key . The teacher seems stern with her hair bun and glasses . The freckle-faced child who looks like Mickey starts to blow a balloon which he passes to Alice . Teacher notices Alice with balloon and takes it from her . When she pops it , it spreads ink on her face . Alice is sent to corner with dunce cap . She daydreams having animated fun dancing with musical animals . Teacher , with horns , comes out of school with books of reading , ' riting , and ' rithmatic walking behind her . They shoot cannonballs that hit Alice and her friends ( no real harm though , as this is just a cartoon ) . Alice and pals retaliate by shooting cayenne pepper from their cannon which causes the books to sneeze their cover and pages out ! When teacher retaliates by shooting pepper back , the cat on Alice's side accidentally sneezes his face off ! The animated teacher eventually pokes Alice with a cane as we fade back to live-action one doing the same as Alice wakes up . The end . Highly amusing short worth seeing if you're a Walt Disnty enthusiast . |
455,212 | 11,228,318 | 126,879 | 7 | Bug Vaudeville is a slightly fascinating Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend animated short | Bug Vaudeville is just that : a series of insects performing various acts ( boxing , dancing , acrobats , etc . ) while a man watches . Give Mr . Winsor McCay credit for detail in the insect drawings and , unlike his mosquito short , there's nothing frightening here . Well , except maybe near the end when a spider appears and seems to tear the man apart before our eyes but then he wakes up . . . Pretty fascinating of a bit more conventional for a McCay animation . Loved some of the humorous touches like the potato bugs " boxing " or the somersaults of a couple of other insects . Anyone who has major interest in all animation history especially that of McCay's should check this rare short film at least once . |
454,122 | 11,228,318 | 29,969 | 7 | While chaotic , The Captain's Christmas was a pretty enjoyable holiday cartoon starring The Captain and the Kids | Having just discovered this Christmas cartoon starring The Captain and the Kids on YouTube , I have to say-the plotting is all over the place what with peg-leg John stealing The Captain's disguise as Santa Claus , breaking into Mama and her boys'-Hans and Franz-house not to mention their toys and then vowing to make amends because of a crisis of conscience and not getting arrested for his previous doings ? Well , it is Christmas and forgiveness is ample here . Having said all that , there are some pretty funny gags here and I loved seeing John and his co-horts sing with their tongues moving up and down in rhythm and with Friz Freleng as director-having temporarily left Leon Schlesinger for M-G-M-you know you're getting some good musical animation . So with all that , I'll just be generous and recommend The Captain's Christmas . |
454,353 | 11,228,318 | 24,555 | 7 | Shuffle Off to Buffalo is another pretty entertaining Merrie Melodies cartoon short | Another Warner Bros . Harmon-Ising Merrie Melodies cartoon short produced in association with Leon Schlesinger that I found on YouTube . Using the title song for inspiration , Shuffle Off to Buffalo is a series of gags surrounding a baby making factory with storks delivering various nationalities ( and their representative stereotypes ) to the proper homes . There's also caricatures of Maurice Chavalier , Eddie Cantor , and Ed Wynn animated here . If you're of a certain race who's easily offended by the way certain characteristics of them are emphasized , you may want to stay away from this but be aware they're only used here for humor purposes with no malice intended . This was a mostly moderately humorous short that mixed fairly tales with modern conveniences and popular music to usually entertaining results . |
454,256 | 11,228,318 | 32,158 | 7 | Zenobia is a mostly entertaining Oliver Hardy vehicle with Harry Langdon in fine support | Since this is Black History Month and I'm reviewing African-Americans on film in mostly chronological order , let's start my review of Zenobia by mentioning three of the players : Stepin Fetchit , Hattie McDaniel , and Philip Hurlic . Stepin ( spelled Step'n in the credits ) is Zero-the butler . He's quite funny with his talking under his breath about his thoughts every time he gets ordered . Having seen quite a few of his performances now , I have tolerated his presence a bit more because of some of the subtle brightness he brings to his parts . Hattie ( whose last name has an ' s ' added in the credits ) brings the same commanding presence that I last saw in Show Boat , which I just watched this morning . And Philip , the kid here that I just saw in The Green Pastures , as Zeke proves to be the most intelligent one in the movie when he recites The Declaration of Independence with the reward being a quarter from Oliver Hardy's character of Dr . Tibbett . They all were fine performances here despite some of the stereotypes they're forced to play . Now , with Hardy briefly split from Stan Laurel ( because of the latter's dispute with Hal Roach ) , he's the carrier of this movie and he does just fine especially in his scenes with Harry Langdon and an elephant , Zenobia , that Langdon-as Professor McCrackle-owns . Those scenes are the most " Laurel and Hardy " - like in the film . Also in fine form were Billie Burke as Hardy's wife , Bessie Tibbett , Olin Howard as Attorney Culpepper , and J . Farrell McDonald , another supporting player from my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life ( he played the old man whose tree was hit by George Bailey's car ) , as the Judge . One other note : Jean Parker who plays Hardy's daughter Mary Tibbett here , would later in the year play his potential fiancée in The Flying Deuces which marked Laurel and Hardy's re-teaming . So on that note , I highly recommend Zenobia . Oh , and having just seen the Hall Johnson Choir in The Green Pastures , it's nice hearing them here too . |
454,349 | 11,228,318 | 24,569 | 7 | Sittin ' on a Backyard Fence was another Schlesinger Merrie Melodies short from the early Warner Bros . cartoon years | This was a Merrie Melodies cartoon short from Leon Schlesinger incorporating a song owned by the Warner Bros . publishing company with its title being the one here . It involves a couple of male cats fighting for the love of one female feline . Loved scenes of the cats ' skeletons appearing when they cross a full moon , some sequences involving a rolling pin and telephone wires , the male cats ' fight with a bulldog , and the final scene . This early short was directed by Earl Duvall who helmed some bland Buddy cartoons after Harmon-Ising left Schlesinger and took Bosko with them to M-G-M . Worth a look for animation buffs , this was on Daily Motion . |
453,865 | 11,228,318 | 402,593 | 7 | The Wrong Type is hilarious | A lady comes to Supertemps applying for a job . The Supertemps lady , Roxanne , asks if she can type . " A bit . " comes the reply . Roxanne tests her on the typewriter . The lady typist can't find the ON button before she starts and by the time she finds it , types the letter T , and uses liquid paper on it , times up . Roxanne lies to potential employer about typing " 45 words per minute " for the woman . The woman accepts but has trouble keeping up with typing instructional recording on headphones and forgets to take them off when Roxanne calls . The boss dictates letter which the woman has trouble keeping up with and can't find file the boss wants her to put letter in . Roxanne calls again to ask how she's doing and she says not fine so Roxanne tells her to take lunch and never come back . The lady looks up boss from outside and waves goodbye even though boss is not looking . " That'll show him . " she says . The end . Although what I describe doesn't sound like much , this was a very funny short about a woman's inability to even slightly improve at her assigned job . Plus the overly enthusiastic Roxanne is hilarious in her British accent ! A worthy entry in Volume 5 of The International Tournee of Animation from 1992 . |
454,736 | 11,228,318 | 791,312 | 7 | Jackie Gleason : Genius at Work is a fairly good compilation of Gleason sketches | This special about The Great One is hosted by Jeff Garlin of " Curb Your Enthusiasm " . He basically just stands there and mentions many things about what makes Jackie Gleason what he was . His widow , Marilyn Taylor Gleason , is also interviewed about her late husband's work habits-such as his refusal to rehearse more than once-and about his characters that he showcased on " The Jackie Gleason Show " during the ' 50s . Among his characters that we see clips of : The Poor Soul , Fenwick Babbitt , Joe the Bartender , Rudy the Repairman , Charlie Bratton the Loudmouth , Reginald Van Gleason III , and , of course , Ralph Kramden . Of course , many of those clips also have second banana Art Carney in them especially the Kramden ones where he plays the scene-stealing Ed Norton . There's also an Audrey Meadows one in which she doesn't play Alice Kramden : a Reginald Van Gleason where she plays his girlfriend Monica who wants to marry him . Reginald responds by literally sending her to the moon ! Many other funny sketches abound though both Rudy and Charlie may be a little too obnoxious for my tastes . While I do love " The Honeymooners " , the scenes picked for this special seem to emphasize the arguments of Ralph and Alice too much and not enough on the great chemistry of Ed and Ralph and , by extension , Art and Jackie . I did love the " Can You Do This ? " game show sketch that Fenwick enters and many of the Gleason dances especially one where he danced with Marilyn . I also loved The Poor Soul sketch where he fails at bowling and the various Joe the Bartender monologues . And I admit liking one story Charlie told Clem ( Carney ) about his uncle , a garbage man . This special only showcased Gleason's work on his ' 50s TV variety show . Maybe someday someone with make a DVD box set of whatever surviving episodes from that era exists . |
454,073 | 11,228,318 | 944,245 | 7 | Up All Night is another funny outing for 30 Rock | Jack and his ex-wife , after being formally separated for 18 years , are getting a final divorce . Liz and the staff have to pull an all-nighter on Valentine's Day because Jack sent some food that poisoned many the previous night . It's during this time that many staff members do a Kill / Boff / Marry game about various celebrities before Frank says that he'd kill Jenna several times which insults the target who keeps overhearing . To celebrate his divorce , Jack tries to invite several individual staff members to party with him but only Tracy agrees to go as he hopes to spend some time with his wife later on . Tracy later leaves Jack alone at a bar when he gets a call from his wife . Jack finds a loose woman and invites himself and her to Tracy's just as he is getting it on with his wife . Pete has forgotten what day it was and tries to get balloons for his spouse . Liz receives some flowers and tries to find out who sent them . And the staff convinces Kenneth that Cerie is into him . . . Another funny outing written by star / creator Tina Fey is not as hilarious as Tracy Does Conan but comes close in some scenes . Loved the " pooted " line from Jenna after she farted just as she and Frank start to become friends . And Isabella Rossellini slays me with her " Damn it , Johnny , you know I love my big beef and cheddar " line when Jack threatens to sells his stock in the Arby's restaurant . Then there's the appearance by SNLer Jason Sudeikis at the end that explains where Tina's flowers and candy come from that I won't reveal here . . . |
454,636 | 11,228,318 | 1,001,508 | 7 | He's Just Not That Into You was a nice rom-com surprise to me ! | If you were fans of the following television shows : " My So-Called Life " , " Freaks and Geeks " , " Friends " , " Alias " , " Ed " , and " Dawson's Creek " , then I'd highly recommend this movie to you as a player or two from each of those series are in this movie ! Among them : Wilson Cruz ( MSCL ) , Busy Philipps ( F & G and DC ) , Jennifer Anniston ( Friends ) , Bradley Cooper ( Alias ) , Justin Long and Ginnifer Goodwin ( Ed ) , and Sasha Alexander ( DC ) . Add Drew Barrymore , Jennifer Connelly , Scarlett Johansson , Ben Affleck , and Kris Kristofferson and you get a nearly all-star cast of this pretty amusing yet mostly entertaining multiple-character romantic comedy . Ken Kwapis as the director manages to mostly balance the various stories to their natural conclusions with not everyone getting the " happy ending " but some satisfied with their " life goes on " fate . And Long and Goodwin , both of whom had played characters romantically involved on " Ed " , are two of the most appealing players here . So on that note , I highly recommend He's Just Not That Into You . |
454,982 | 11,228,318 | 512,020 | 7 | Leroy's Suits is a pretty funny early episode of " Amos ' n ' Andy " | This " Amos ' n ' Andy " episode , Leroy's Suits , was the third in the show's television history . Kingfish's brother-in-law Leroy is moving out of his apartment and he wants all his suits there sold with the profits going to him . When the not-too-bright Lightnin ' gets the address on the phone from Sapphire , he inadvertently mixes the numbers . So when Kingfish and Andy go to the apartment number that Lightnin ' said to them , they unknowingly rob a police detective ! I'll stop there and say that the most hilarious scenes were when Kingfish and Andy read the paper of the robbery not knowing it's about them and then realizing it is them after the detective comes to Kingfish's place pretending to be a customer ! Seeing Algonquin buying a suit that's clearly too big for him is also good for some laughs . Another pretty funny episode of " Amos ' n ' Andy " . P . S . This one had a commercial from their sponsor , Blatz Beer , in the middle . |
454,376 | 11,228,318 | 1,252,355 | 7 | Voice of Hollywood pleased this fan of the silent " Our Gang " | We begin with Don Alvarado at the STAR radio station introducing various stars walking to the microphone outside of presumably a premiere . Among them : John Boles , Betty Compson , Bebe Daniels , Louise Fazenda , Ruth Roland , and Tom Mix without his horse Tony who's back in Peru , Indiana . Then Alvarado gets a fan letter requesting to see Original Our Gang members Mary and Mickey . They appear-16-year-old Mickey Daniels and 15-year-old Mary Kornman-ready to " fight " over who goes on first as we hear sound effects while camera cuts to Alverado . Back to them , Mary goes first with her adequate tap dancing ( part of this is filmed with her body and head with her feet off-screen ) . When Mickey starts to sing , he's told by Don they're out of time as they leave peacefully . Finally , Lupe Velez sings a song in Spanish from her then-current picture Cuban Love Song . This was a pretty entertaining short that must of pleased some moviegoers who were nostalgic for the old " Our Gang " shorts they saw when they were Mickey and Mary's age . I myself just discovered their episodes on YouTube and was pleased to see them in all their adolescent glory . This short , Voice of Hollywood , I also saw on YouTube as linked from Matinée at the Bijou . Worth a look for other old film buffs out there . |
455,134 | 11,228,318 | 58,725 | 7 | Silly Viva Las Vegas showcase Elvis and Ann-Margret to great effect | Of all the lightweight musical movies Elvis Presley would make throughout the ' 60s , Viva Las Vegas is possibly be the most tolerable of a very silly group that became more ridiculous as the decade wore on . The plot has Elvis playing a race car driver named Lucky falling for swim instructor Rusty played by Ann-Margret who more than proves herself Presley's equal as his co-star compared to Elvis ' previous and subsequent leading ladies . Together they're dynamite whenever they dance close to each other side-by-side . Besides the title number and some of their duets , I especially enjoyed Rusty's " My Rival " about her jealousy over Lucky's car and the " What'd I Say " number with some other dancers ' moves highlighting the sequence . There's also a very exciting car race climaxing the picture . With the exception of William Demarest who I fondly remember as Uncle Charlie on " My Three Sons " , the supporting cast isn't all that compelling . But with veteran movie musical director George Sidney ( Anchors Away , 1951 Show Boat , Bye Bye Birdie ) at the helm , Viva Las Vegas becomes the kind of movie starring Elvis Presley singing that feels like a real musical as opposed to a comedy or drama with Presley songs put in for showcase purposes ( though that's sometimes the case here too ) . Final note : With the chemistry they displayed on-screen together , it's no wonder Elvis ' young girlfriend , Priscilla , got jealous whenever she read about him and Ann-Margret ! |
453,822 | 11,228,318 | 41,380 | 7 | For Scent-imental Reasons is the Oscar-winning Pepe Le Pew cartoon | Like just about every Pepe Le Pew cartoon , there's a female cat who's mistaken for a skunk because of white paint that conveniently forms a straight line on the cat's back . As a result , Pepe falls madly in love with her while she is repelled and tries to escape with her running frantically and he just hopping along without a care in the world . That's the premise of the nearly whole series in a nutshell but this one has a twist at the end that makes For Scent-imental Reasons somewhat worthy of the Oscar it eventually won . In fact , I was pretty amused throughout most of the cartoon . And I always wonder how much of the French was real and how much of it was gibberish ! Ah well , Say la vie ! |
453,903 | 11,228,318 | 988,308 | 7 | Landslide is appetizer to the Heroes season finale | In the last episode , Peter had given Claire a gun so she can shoot him when Peter's hands heat up . It had ended just like that so we now see Claire get her weapon but Peter now says , " Stop ! " Seems he can control his powers . Ted goes with them while Matt and HRG look for the tracker of special-powered people . Hiro is still examining his broken sword when Ando finds a sword repair shop in the Yellow Pages and calls the number . When they arrive there , Hiro's father is waiting and summons his son to a secret room while Ando waits . It turns out Hero's father knows about his son's abilities and trains him on sword fighting in order to more effectively kill Sylar . Unfortunately , Ando left to find Sylar by himself so Hiro searches for him before he gets killed . Micah seems to get along with Candace now though they still have differences over Cruel World ( Candace's view ) vs . mostly Wonderful ( Micah's view ) . Linderman comes and says he wants Micah to fix the voting polls to give Nathan Petrelli a landslide victory . Candace morphs into a black woman so she can pass Micah as her son at the polls to convince the pollsters of taking him to educate about the election process . Linderman also arrives at the Petrellis and cures Mrs . Nathan Petrelli's paralyzed legs in exchange for her support . Finally , he appears where Jessica and D . L . are and offers lots of money to agree to his plan but Jessica turns back to Niki who refuses . Linderman then shoots as D . L . stands in front of Niki to protect her then phases his hands to the back of Linderman's head as he takes his brain out . Sylar had overheard the conversation of Ted , Claire , and Peter and rats Ted to Agent Audrey Hanson as she arrests Ted who later gets his brain sliced by Sylar after Sylar makes the vehicle he's in turn over . In searching for the tracker , Matt and HRG find Thompson who threatens HRG . HRG shoots him . They then encounter Mohinder who knocks Matt down then pulls a gun on HRG who keeps his pointed at him while the tracker-little girl Molly-fears for her life . All this while Sylar's on the roof saying , " Boom ! " . . . Wow , a lot to ponder in the next-to-last episode of the season . All intriguing stuff but I want some action now ! Next week better be good , that's all I have to say . . . |
454,279 | 11,228,318 | 24,151 | 7 | Claudette Colbert fans should enjoy I Cover the Waterfront | With the title I Cover the Waterfront , I expected a social-conscience picture on the order of Warner Bros . ' then contemporary I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang . What I got was a part screwball comedy , part romance , part soap opera . Ben Lyon is the " I " in the title , a Joe Miller who hates his reporting job for a San Francisco paper because of non-event stories his boss keeps getting him . One of them is about a skinny-dipping woman named Julie Kirk ( Claudette Colbert ) who is the daughter of Eli Kirk ( Ernest Torrence ) , a man Miller is interested in because he believes Eli has smuggled some Chinese immigrants illegally . This being pre-Code , there are some scenes that wouldn't have made it past the censors after 1934 like the one where Lyon and Colbert tour an old torture ship and Ben tricks Claudette into getting chained into one of the ship's devices just so he can kiss her without resistance ! And she likes it too ! There's also a brief picture of a nude woman in another scene . Witty lines dominate the first half with the two leads while the conflict between Colbert , Torrence , and Lyon takes part in the next in mostly compelling fashion resulting in a pretty satisfying denouement for those who believe in heartfelt conclusions . Well worth seeing for Colbert enthusiasts . P . S . This was Ernest Torrence's final movie . |
455,254 | 11,228,318 | 22,219 | 7 | Ol ' King Cotton was my first look at singer George Dewey Washington | Having just discovered this obscure singer named George Dewey Washington on Ol ' King Cotton from a series of shorts compiled for the DVD " Hollywood Rhythm , Vol . 1 : The Best of Jazz & Blues " , I must say he's a fine singer ! The first part takes place in his yard near a shack in the South as he sings a song that seems inspired by Kern & Hammerstein's " Ol ' Man River " which I think is the title song . After his wife sends him away to a delivery job on a train , we see him there talking with his co-workers about the South and how much he misses it . He then sings about levees breaking and the sun shining afterwards that made me think he could've been referring to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans but was possibly actually singing about the Louisiana flood in 1927 . The short ends back where we started before the fade out . Largely because of the singing , I found this pretty entertaining . |
454,474 | 11,228,318 | 146,563 | 7 | A Close Call is good early sound Aesop's Fables short | The short starts with a mouse playing some bell-like tulips like musical bells . He then dances with his girlfriend whose skirt falls in the middle of the number ( leaving only her panties ) . Her partner plays that skirt like an accordion until she takes it back ! A cat is driving on the highway and stops to try to get alone with the girlfriend mouse . When the cat chases her to an abandoned barn he offers her pearls . The girl mouse throws them back in the cat's mouth . The boy mouse crashes through the locked doors and attempts to fight the cat but the cat manages to tie the boy mouse to a log about to be sawed . The girl mouse calls for the Northwest Mounted Police mice ( on regular sized horses ! ) to come to rescue her boyfriend . They manage to defeat the cat and one of them pulls the lever that operates the saw and it breaks ! Don't worry , he pulls an extra one out of thin air . Boy and girl mouse are reunited and they get married as we hear the strains of " Oh , Promise Me " . The reverend mouse silently marries the couple as each says " I do " ( the boy mouse sounds a little like Mighty Mouse when he says his only line ) . The reverend then ties the married couples tails together as the choir now sings " You're In The Army Now " . The boy mouse is frowning during this number until his wife kisses him . They embrace for a long clinch as we iris out heart-shaped style . Then a little mouse with a big dog next to him gives us the moral : " All's Well That Ends Well " before the dog elongates his tail and beats the mouse down the ground forming a hole . Then the still picture of cartoon character dogs with the " suger coated pills of wisdom " sign in place of " The End " appears . This was one of several Aesop's Fables cartoons made by John Foster and Harry Bailey after series creator Paul Terry left the Van Beuren Studio to start his own Terrytoons . If the mice bear some resemblance to Walt Disney's Mickey then it should be noted that Disney based his beloved character animation on many of Terry's Fables . Nevertheless , it is possible that Disney sued Van Beuren ( and possibly other cartoon studios ) for copyright infringement when mice like the ones in this cartoon appear with some resemblance to Mickey . It is still a good and amusing short that should entertain some animation buffs that are interested in all animation from the early sound era . The synchronization is good for this period for both sound and music . By all means , check this one out ! |
454,801 | 11,228,318 | 349,352 | 7 | Dim Sum Take Out is a short of outtakes from Wayne Wang's feature Dim Sum | Dim Sum Take Out is outtakes from Wayne Wang's Dim Sum : A Little Bit of Heart . That 1985 film originally was supposed to focus on the lives of young first generation Chinese-American women before Wang chose to focus on the mother ( Kim Chew ) of one of them ( real-life daughter Laureen ) . Of note here : Joan Chen , who had a cameo as one of the young mah-jong players in the theatrical feature version , here is expanded as a nightclub performer who wears a blond wig . There's also some more scenes with Amy Hill , looking much younger than the Grandma role she took in Maragaret Cho's " All-American Girl " 10 years later . Basically , many of the women talk about dating and relationships including a scene comparing Chinese men and other ( usually white ) men that was also in the feature version . There's also some lip-syncing of The Angels ' " My Boyfriends Back " which later transitions into one of the women performing her own Chinese-language , ' 80s rock-style version complete with a couple of androgynous male backup singers in a weird and entertaining set piece . This was included in the Dim Sum DVD along with the short's brief introduction and A Conversation with Laureen Chew segment . Worth a look for anyone who loved the movie . |
454,333 | 11,228,318 | 910,936 | 7 | Pineapple Express is another quite funny Judd Apatow production | Since tomorrow is the birthday of my friend who works at a movie theatre , I let him pick the movie we were going to see today . He picked this one ( I'm just glad he didn't pick the third Mummy movie ) . Once again produced by Judd Apatow , this is star Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg's second screenplay after Superbad from last year . I actually liked this one better than that especially when the " witnessing the murder " sequence kicked in . There are some scenes though that , while they might be funny , later makes me wonder what relation they have to the plot . Like the beginning black and white scene that takes place in 1937 with Apatow regular and current SNLer Bill Hader . He is indeed funny in his scene but before that , I wondered if I stumbled into the wrong movie . Rogen himself , though , is throughly deadpan hilarious whether nonchalantly romancing his 18-year-old high school girlfriend at her learning center or straight-out telling her parents ( Ed Begley , Jr . and former SNLer Nora Dunn ) during dinner about being chased by some hit men . And his former co-star from " Freaks and Geeks " , James Franco , matches Seth in offbeat humor whether driving a police car with his foot stuck in the windshield or helping his buddy in untying while he's also in likewise situation . And then there's a third party that manages to stay alive despite being shot at a lot . The stuff with the Asian hit men and Gary Cole and cop Rosie Perez as lovers seems so much filler though they have their moments too . So in summation , Pineapple Express may be a little long but that length provides a pretty satisfying whole for me to recommend . |
453,800 | 11,228,318 | 1,127,274 | 7 | The Car was another amusing episode of " Samantha Who ? " | In this episode , Samantha convinces her father to use his car for the first time since waking up from her coma . As she drives with Dena , Sam is being reckless on the road . So much so she manages to avoid hitting a raccoon but crashes into a tree . With Dena reluctantly helping , Sam pushes the car into a lake with the intent to report it as stolen so her dad can get the insurance money . This results in Sam's dad not only getting an alarm system for alerting him in more burglars but also giving Sam a new car in proving he can now trust his daughter . Uh-oh ! Sam , sitting in her new car , sees her bad old self in the upper windshield mirror winking at her as she feels guilt . At that point , her mom comes over . Sam confesses everything . Mom uses this knowledge to make her daughter model some clothes for some neighbors , especially for the mother of an upcoming actress she's jealous about . Meanwhile , Andrea , upset about being stood up by Sam and Dena the previous night during the accident she doesn't know about , finds out the truth after confronting Dena and her dogs ( she was told the reason she was stood up was because Sam was on the phone for hours with a vet ) . As she and Dena go to Sam's house and Sam confesses her story , Andrea shakes her up to make her remember a previous night long ago-when Sam and her mom had pushed Mom's car in the same lake for the same purpose also for insurance money . Sam then resolves to get even with her by bringing that car on the driveway and ripping the tow-truck yellow pages from the phone book Mom looks in . As the father learns the whole truth , his wife denies her part of the story . Sam is allowed to keep her car anyway and helps her dad push the car back in the lake since he doesn't want trouble from the insurance company . They hug and the episode ends as Sam drives away . . . Not as funny as the others but still very amusing throughout . My favorite line came from Sam's mom about Andrea : " There's one dress that would make you look as good going out at night as when you're stumbling in the morning . " Interesting to see Sam turn a little into her old self but still thinking she's changed for the better before realizing how much of her old behavior was the result of her mother's attitude . Too bad with " Dancing with the Stars " absent as a lead-in , " Samantha Who ? " ratings went a little down . Still , I'm guessing they were strong enough for ABC to still have faith in extending the show's season through to the end . Now if only the writers ' strike were settled soon . . . |
454,081 | 11,228,318 | 204,027 | 7 | Pete Smith's Victory Quiz provides questions that must have fascinated World War II-era viewers | In this short from Pete Smith , Mr . Smith asks questions pertinent to World War II . He asks what a " Bubble Dancer " is , and when tanks , planes , parachutes , and submarines were invented . Also , who invented them . There's some amusing visual gags accompanying many of the answers . You're given 10 or 15 minutes to answer while the clock is ticking and 4 multiple choices are printed on the screen . I discovered this on the TCM site on page 8 of various trailers , clips , and some shorts presented there . This site has various interesting gems just waiting to be discovered by anyone who seeks this out . So on that note , Victory Quiz should satisfy anyone curious about what played before the main feature back in the day . |
453,936 | 11,228,318 | 33,406 | 7 | The Blood of Jesus was a pretty good drama from writer / director / actor Spencer Williams | Before I comment on the movie , I'd like to mention two cast members from my current home state of Louisiana : Reather Hardman-Sister Ellerby-was from the St . Landry Parish and writer / director / actor Spencer Williams-Razz Jackson here and later known as Andy Brown on the TV version of " Amos ' n ' Andy " - was from New Orleans . In this film , Razz's just married wife , Sister Martha Ann Jackson ( Cathryn Caviness ) , has just been baptized . When she comes home , she tells her husband how she wishes he was just as religious as she just before she looks lovingly at a wall picture of Jesus Christ . At that point , Razz puts his rifle down which shoots into Martha Ann's body and fatally puts her to sleep . An angel takes her to show the way to heaven but Martha Ann gets tempted by a devil's associate named Judas as he takes her to the city and they watch nightclub acts like a female contortionist and a girl singer . Judas then introduces her to someone who offers her a job . I'm guessing it involves dancing with strange men and picking their pockets since that's what one of these women does . As Martha Ann escapes , many of these men chases her mistaking her for the one who did the deed who's last seen sharing the riches with the boss that previously offered Martha Ann's job . As she comes to the fork in the road with opposite signs for Hell and Zion , Martha Ann gets pulled by the devil before the Lord says , " Get thee behind me , Satan ! " As blood drips on her face , Martha Ann wakes up back in her bed calling to Razz who gets out of his depression and gets the congregation back in the room and singing again before the cut back to the cross that began the movie as we fade out . . . For a man best known for playing the naive-but-not-completely Andy Brown , Spencer Williams shows his range here from neglectful to saddened to joyful during the whole hour . But it's Ms . Caviness who's the real find as her reactions from concerned after her husband doesn't share her joy in her conversion to blissful during the nightclub acts to hysterical after thinking she's trapped concerning escaping from the nightclub job offer shows her range and the camera captures her in all her natural splendor . It's too bad this turned out to be her only film . While low budget , Williams got good performances out of his cast and provides some interesting edits and camera tricks occasionally . I especially liked the devil's laugh since the actor who played him-Jas . B . Jones-seems to really enjoy his part . So on that note , I highly recommend The Blood of Jesus . |
454,880 | 11,228,318 | 12,347 | 7 | Kid Speed has Larry Semon with Oliver Hardy in good support | Kid Speed is another Larry Semon short with Oliver Hardy in support that I found on a Platinum DVD Laurel and Hardy collection . This time Hardy and Semon are car race rivals for a girl's affection . Since Hardy is the heavy , he's the one who tries to keep Semon from winning with help from various friends . One of my favorite gags involves Hardy and pals washing themselves with water from a barrel when another barrel on the roof spills tar through a roof hole into the water barrel causing Hardy and friends to look pitch black ! There's also plenty of laughs involving people slipping into and out of automobiles and one more involving the winner and girl with white paint on the winner's face ! Larry Semon is funny throughout and Hardy once again displays mannerisms that would come full fruition when he eventually teamed with Stan Laurel . By all means , seek this one out ! |
454,028 | 11,228,318 | 29,950 | 7 | Cecil B . DeMille's The Buccaneer is a rousing historical epic | Having just moved back to Baton Rouge , La . in 2003 after living in Jacksonville , Fla . for the previous 16 years , I started getting reacquainted with the history of the state I had first lived much of my life from age 7 to 19 . One of those sources was from this Cecil B . DeMille account of Louisiana's pirate-hero Jean Lafitte . It was he and his men who helped General Andrew Jackson with his troops defeat the British at The Battle of New Orleans . This was in exchange for a full pardon for him and his men after originally getting a price on his head from the Governor of The Pelican State . Fredric March makes a dashing Lafitte with Akim Tamiroff splendid as his sidekick Dominique . Margot Grahame is Lafitte's fiancée while Franciska Gaal is the Dutch girl Gretchen who falls for Jean after walking the plank from another ship that was lead by a man who betrayed Lafitte . Walter Brennan is funny here as Peavey , a sidekick to General Jackson ( Hugh Sothern ) . Watch what happens when he and Tamiroff have a scene together ! Because of some of the accents and the speed of some of the dialogue , I couldn't understand everything that was said but most of the time it was the action that got to me , especially when the American military men initially were attacking Lafitte's men as they were about to welcome them . Grahame and Gaal had their own feminine charms that made either one good chemistry with March so whichever one ended up with him would have been fine . I think I've said enough so I'll just say for anyone who loves a good old-fashioned story with some history thrown in , I highly recommend Cecil B . DeMille's The Buccaneer . |
455,258 | 11,228,318 | 234,787 | 7 | Spook Spoofing is a thrillingly funny " Our Gang " short | This Hal Roach comedy short , Spook Spoofing , is the seventy-first in the " Our Gang / Little Rascals " series . Superstitious Farina carries a special charm on him to ward off goblins . Joe , however , loves playing practical jokes so he plans with the gang , assisted by the undertaker's son Jay R . , many elaborate ones on Farina . When the black kid threatens to rub one of them so he falls dead , Harry plays along to Farina's surprise . As Farina carries Harry to the grave with the gang following with even more tricks up their sleeve , an eclipse comes with with strong stormy winds that makes the entire gang run for cover with the sand clouds following right behind them . . . Despite some cruel treatment of Farina ( I did not like the joy buzzer that Joe put on Farina's chair ) , this was quite a thrillingly funny short once the gang wound up at the cemetery during the eclipse . And how happy was I to see the tables turned once Farina accidentally gets a face balloon stuck on his head with his coat covering his face . And kudos to Gaylord Carter for providing the organ music that entirely scored this Blackhawk Films print . So once again , I'm recommending Spook Spoofing , another thrillingly funny " Our Gang " short . |
455,182 | 11,228,318 | 858,124 | 7 | My Little Margie : Meet Mr . Murphy is pretty hilarious animal show | Margie's father Vern refuses to give his daughter a $50 raise in allowance just so she can give it to boyfriend Freddie . He has enough troubles not being let in on boss ' deal with a movie producer . So Margie goes behind father's back at Honeywell and gets a job to housesit the movie's star : a chimp named Mr . Murphy ! All the expected shenanigans that occur are funny in often hilarious entry . Vern eventually makes a deal with Freddie to get rid of monkey . Margie finds out and asks Freddie to keep Mr . Murphy for awhile to teach father a lesson . With Vern kept in the dark , when his boss and the producer arrive they ask for Mr . Murphy and are upset when he is gone ! All's well that end's well except for Vern being chased by the chimp . Like I said , pretty hilarious and it was nice to see Willie Best as elevator man Charlie do his pop-eyed expression when he saw the monkey ! Worth seeing for fans of ' 50s TV sitcoms . |
454,844 | 11,228,318 | 898,023 | 7 | Pilot of " Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles " is pretty good start of new series | It's 1999 and Sarah Connor ( Lena Headey ) has a nightmare that her teenage son , John ( Thomas Dekker ) , gets killed and a terminator robot chokes her . She wakes up at this point in bed with her fiancée who is offering her a ring . Next day , she tells John they're moving . John is puzzled . At the new school , he meets a girl named Cameron ( Summer Glau ) . Each tells about their parents which they both later reveal were lies . Both John and his mother figure out Cameron is an android from the future . It's in the new classroom that a new teacher is presiding . As he goes through the roll call , when he comes upon the name John ' Reese ' and John raises his hand as that alias is called , the " teacher " ( who's actually a cyborg ) starts shooting , " wounding " Cameron and making John run through a window . When a truck violently backs into this teacher , the driver , Cameron , says those famous seven words , " Come with me if you want to live " to John as another Terminator adventure begins . . . Nice continuation of T2 ( T3 being ignored at this point ) . Cool to see three cult actors ( Headey from 300 , Dekker from " Heroes " , and especially Glau from " Firefly " / Serenity ) . All are pretty good , if not great , in their roles . Good sprinkling of action and humor throughout . Can't wait to see the next episode . . . |
454,255 | 11,228,318 | 31,828 | 7 | The Proud Valley is one of Paul Robeson's finest achievements | In reviewing the achievements of African-Americans on film in chronological order for Black History Month , we're now at 1940 with the entry of The Proud Valley , considered by star Paul Robeson as his favorite . In this one , he's an American named David Goliah coming to Wales to find a job . After hearing his voice from outside the window while conducting his chorus in rehearsal , Mr . Parry ( Edward Chapman ) manages to convince David to sing in his choir and gets him a job at the mines where he also works . His son , Emlyn ( Simon Lack ) also works there and is engaged to Gwen Owen ( Janet Johnson ) . I'll stop there and mention that Robeson is in fine form musically especially when he sings " Deep River " that sends chills down the spine . Perhaps because of his color , his character is sometimes in the background but by the end he does become essential . So for him , I'd definitely recommend The Proud Valley . |
454,127 | 11,228,318 | 152,285 | 7 | See Little Audrey's debut in Santa's Surprise | Santa's Surprise is a charming Christmas short from Parmount's Famous Studios cartoon division that features the first appearance of Little Audrey . Santa sings of bringing presents to children around the world . We see him stop at various children's houses in countries such as Russia , China , Holland , and America as represented by Little Audrey whose stocking has a hole at the bottom so when the presents fall out , they land in a wagon below ! We then see Santa stop at his house in the North Pole where , since there are no elves or a Mrs . Claus , it is messed up beyond recognition . Audrey and her diversified playmates sneak in and clean it up . After they leave , Santa finds a present under his tree which has a circular music box that shows through a small screen inside , all their faces passing through . . . While some of the ethnic characterizations of the kids do come close to being stereotypical ( the young Negro kid offers to shine shoes , the Dutch boy wears wooden clogs that are too loud ) , there's no real harm involved in such depictions and besides , they're all working for the greater good . So if you're looking for some Christmas cartoons that isn't Charlie Brown , the Grinch , or the Rankin / Bass Rudolph , put in a tape or DVD that has this and other public domain cartoons and marvel at the charms you'll get from something made 50 years ago ! |
454,449 | 11,228,318 | 219,251 | 7 | Plastilinovaya vorona segment I saw was charming | Just saw the last 4 minutes of this Russian clay-animated short from Alesandr Tatarskiy on YouTube . In this one , Russian folk singers sing about a cow , or a crow , or a dog getting watermelon . There's also a fox , or an ostrich , or a sweeper running some track race . And the moral is something about don't sing or dance under a construction site . You also hear some kids adding their own interpretations . I guess this was one of those make-it-up-as-it-goes songs that made it into this charming short that I hope to see the rest of real soon . Thanks to whoever shared this on YouTube . That site is the best place to see many of these unique animation shorts . And there's lots of Russian animation to see there ! |
454,244 | 11,228,318 | 35,527 | 7 | The Wabbit Who Came to Supper is another Bugs-Elmer cartoon I recommend | In this Friz Freeling directed cartoon short , Elmer stops trying to hunt for Bugs in the forest with his dogs after receiving a telegram telling that his Uncle Louie will give him three million dollars if Elmer stops harming animals-especially " wabbits " . Well , when Bugs hears of this , you know he'll annoy the " fat boy " constantly ! ( Mr . Fudd was drawn on the heavyset side during this period ) . . . If you love to see Bugs at his most obnoxious , this is the cartoon for you ! Many gags are probably familiar to you if you've seen a ton of Warner Bros . cartoons . There's one scene when Bugs gets thrown out and he does a hysterical routine that has him breaking the fourth wall and saying , " This could get me the Academy Award ! " On that note , I highly recommend The Wabbit Who Came to Supper . |
454,218 | 11,228,318 | 1,127,384 | 7 | The Loobenfeld Decay was a mostly amusing episode of " The Big Bang Theory " | Sheldon and Leonard are arguing the logic of the Terminator movies and TV series when they hear some awful singing . It's Penny who tells them she's performing in a local production of " Rent " for one night only and invites them to see her on stage . Leonard mentions that he and Sheldon are going to a symposium that night though Sheldon almost ruins that lie by nearly mentioning the real night of that . After she's gone , Leonard mentions to his roommate why he lied to Penny and the necessities of doing so for social purposes . Sheldon decides to replace that fib for a more complicated one about a cousin who's in rehab . That " cousin " later appears in the form of a fellow colleague / aspiring actor who argues about characterization with Sheldon . Hardly matters since Penny taped her performance and gets Leonard to watch while he leaves Sheldon and the " actor " alone with their bickering . . . Pretty funny , if not hilarious episode of " The Big Bang Theory " . As usual , Sheldon has much of the best lines though D . J . Qualls as the fake cousin steals the few scenes he's in with his constant embellishments . Penny herself has her moments when trying to explain to Howard and Raj the story that Sheldon told about his " cousin " . Oh , and as a Filipino born in this country , I was not offended by Qualls " childhood abuse " from a chaplain from that Asian country . Though according to Chuck Lorre's censored vanity card , it was originally supposed to be a Catholic priest ! ( Again , while Catholic , not offended . ) Very glad this show is back . |
454,999 | 11,228,318 | 756,960 | 7 | The Crawling Eye is a good national cable start for MST3K | Eight years after seeing the last episode , " Diabolik " on the Sci-Fi Channel , I've discovered on YouTube the very first MST3K shown on national cable-specifically on Comedy Channel ( which eventually merged with rival Ha ! to form Comedy Central ) , " The Crawling Eye " . The main cast includes creator Joel Hodgson , Trace Beaulieu , and Josh Weinstein with the ' bots Cambot , Gypsy , Tom Servo , and Croooow . Loved the invention exchange with the vacuum instrument playing " Whole Lotta Love " . Then comes the movie starring Forrest Tucker ( " F Troop " ) and Janet Munro ( Swiss Family Robinson , Darby O'Gill and the Little People ) . Loved the running fat jokes ( " He's too fat to climb " ) concerning a heavyset character , some Popeye lines ( about another character who's eye is squinting while resting ) , and a lot of bad eye puns after the title monster appears ( " The sequel will be The EYE-ger Sanction starring Burl EYES " ) . The riffing seems to be a little slow in the beginning but picks up considerably by the last 30 minutes . I was a little disappointed , though , when Forrest mentioned something about a fort that Joel and the ' bots didn't ask in unison , " Fort Courage ? " Otherwise , a good national start for a formerly local show from independent station KTMA in Minneapolis , Minnesota . |
454,203 | 11,228,318 | 911,101 | 7 | The Big No Sleep is the second-to-last episode of Andy Barker P . I . | This is one of the two last episodes of Andy Barker P . I . that aired on April 14 , 2007 on a Saturday . After constantly getting dunked in a water tank at a carnival , Andy and his wife Jenny have trouble sleeping because their little daughter Molly has lost her stuffed toy elephant , Snowball . At work , Lew has Barker on a case to find a woman with a cane who her stepdaughter suspects is having an affair . Turns out the stepmother has also faked her illness . . . Very amusing , occasionally hilarious episode with the way Lew surprises Andy while he dresses or Simon's leading Barker to someone who can sell Snowball who turns out to be a drug dealer with " snowball " being cocaine . Nice cameo by Jesse L . Martin as his " Law and Order " character and , yes , that's former " Suddenly Susan " star who's now on " Lost " player , Nestor Carbonell as the adulterous doctor . One more episode of this lamented short-lived series to go . |
455,041 | 11,228,318 | 156,031 | 7 | Max Fleischer's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is enjoyable animated Christmas short | Long surpassed by the 1964 Rankin / Bass version , this 1948 animated version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer directed by Max Fleischer is enjoyable in its own right . Narrated by Paul Wing , the story begins with the lead character already not allowed to skate on ice with the others ( all of whom wear pillows on their backs to break their falls ) . His mother then calls him ( there's no father here ) and as Rudolph sleeps in his bed , Santa has trouble with his eight reindeer ( who he calls by name as they pass him ) with the fog and blizzard in his way . If you know the song by heart ( and who doesn't ? ) , you can figure out what happens next and I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't heard of this story yet . Nice animation throughout and good pacing for a 7-minute short . Worth seeing for Fleischer , Rudolph , and animation fans . |
454,202 | 11,228,318 | 911,102 | 7 | The Lady Varnishes is the final episode of Andy Barker P . I . | This is the second of the last two episodes of Andy Barker P . I . that aired on a Saturday , April 14 , 2007 . Andy and Lew visit Lew's former detective office which is being torn down . Andy finds in the mail slot a 45-year-old letter from a Rita Spaulding ( Amy Sedaris ) addressed to Lew about her innocence in the murder of her gangster boyfriend which got her life . Andy visits her and finds she has a wooden leg . He and Simon go to a photographer named Johnny Leibowitz who was at Gene Kelly's birthday party the night of the murder . The photos taken there place Rita at the scene which becomes her alibi . Andy gets the pictures but gets beaten by Mickey Doyle ( Ed Asner ) , Lew's former partner and the real killer . The next day Andy meets Doyle at Wally's restaurant where Simon attempts to record the confession but keeps having technical difficulties . Eventually , all is cleared . . . Another funny episode that , unfortunately , is the very last that was filmed . Great reveal of Leibowitz as an Asian who changed his name because , " Everyone loves a Jew ! " Also loved the way Simon had to tell Andy without telling Mickey about his trouble recording their conversation and a subplot about Wally's having to hire some bikini-clad girls that he later ends up firing . As for Andy Richter , good luck on whatever comes in the future ! |
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