Hot Cross Bunny (1948)
Article 5867 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-23-2020
Directed by Robert McKimson
Featuring the voice of Mel Blanc
Country: USA
What it is: Bugs Bunny cartoon

A doctor intends to perform an experiment in which Bugs Bunny will switch brains with that of a chicken.

Robert McKimson’s cartoons were often overloaded with extraneous chatter, but much of his work still holds up. This is a fairly decent Bugs Bunny cartoon with a bit of science fiction and horror to the proceedings; on top of the experiment itself, there’s a scene in which Bugs is scared by a skeleton in the closet. The best moment here is when Bugs is wheeled into the operating chamber and believes he’s there to entertain the doctors, so he does an impression of Lionel Barrymore, performs a magic trick, does his famous buck and wing dance, and performs that bizarre Danny Kaye style song Daffy performed in BOOK REVUE. It’s not one of Bugs’ best, but is still fun enough to get by.

Hoppity Pop (1946)
Article 5866 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-21-2020
Directed by Norman McLaren
No cast
Country: Canada
What it is: The Greatest Squiggles On Earth

Three abstract shapes perform to calliope music.

We’re in the world of abstract animation again, and Norman McLaren is my favorite practitioner of this sort of thing. What I admire most is that he can anthropomorphize abstract objects with apparent ease; these squiggles mutate and gyrate in such a way that they come off as clown circus acrobats. Granted, the presence of calliope music goes a long way towards making that sensation work, and I’m sure it was chosen towards that end. Nevertheless, I think McLaren goes a long way towards making abstract animation accessible to those who might otherwise have little use for it. Me, I found this one a lot of fun.

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
Article 5865 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-20-2020
Directed by Joe Johnston
Featuring Rick Moranis, Matt Frewer, Marcia Strassman
Country: USA / Mexico
What it is: Shopping cart movie, eighties style

When four children are accidentally shrunk to tiny size by a new invention, they must undertake an odyssey across the back yard.

This is the first time I’ve seen this movie, but I’ve heard about it for years. Somewhere during that time it dawned on me that it was nothing more than a late eighties revival of the Disney “shopping cart” movies. The animated opening credits certainly make it look promising, especially with its borrowing of the “Powerhouse” theme that popped up in Warner Brothers cartoons. The first ten minutes or so keep the fun going, but sadly, things start going downhill after that. Part of the problem lies in the fact that it’s neither as funny, exciting, or fast-paced as it should be. Rick Moranis is in a role he could be having a lot of fun with, but the script really doesn’t make good use of him and spends far too much time with the unpleasant father next door. It’s also paced too leisurely, and it takes itself a lot more seriously than it should, which is a problem when none of the characters are really all that interesting. Ultimately the movie needed a much better script and should have decided just what it really wanted to be; as it is, it falls short in practically every area.

Hollywood Capers (1935)
Article 5864 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-18-2020
Directed by Jack King
Featuring the voices of Tommy Bond and Bernice Hansen
Country: USA
What it is: Early Looney Tunes

Beans the Cat tries to break into the Warmer Brothers studio, but finds himself rejected. But can anyone save them when the Frankenstein monster appears?

Porky Pig first appeared with several other characters in a cartoon called I HAVEN”T GOT A HAT, but wasn’t immediately chosen as the most promising from that group. I can understand why they may have tried Beans the Cat first; he was the character who bore the greatest resemblance to a certain mouse name Mickey. However, you’d think they’d have given him something in the way of an interesting character; as it is, all they give him is a lame joke based on his name that’s not all that funny the first time and less so on each repetition. They certainly don’t give him much of a story here; the first half of the cartoon has him breaking into the studio (there are some fun Hollywood caricatures here), the second half has him battling the Frankenstein monster (here portrayed as a robot). Once the monster goes on the march, the rest of the plot goes out the window. Outside of the caricatures, the most interesting thing here is catching some of the pamphlets in the background; there are some references to the staff at Termite Terrace, and I caught at least one referring to Tedd Pierce.

Holiday Highlights (1940)
Article 5863 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-18-2020
Directed by Tex Avery
Featuring the voices of Tex Avery, Sara Berner, Mel Blanc
Country: USA
What it is: Blackout gag Looney Toon

A look is taken at the various holidays throughout the year.

Cartoons are rarely at their best in blackout-gag style cartoons, but they’re usually at least mildly entertaining. The appearance of a witch and Santa in their respective holidays adds the fantastic content to this one, though I should like to point out that their respective blackout gags are a little too similar. Furthermore, I’m pretty sure there’s an aesthetic limitation to the number of dog-and-tree gags you can have in a cartoon without it starting to feel like a lazy gag (one), and this one breaks that rule. Overall, this one is par for the course, neither much better or much worse than others of its type.

Hittin’ the Trail for Hallelujah Land (1931)
Article 5862 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-17-2020
Directed by Rudolf Ising
Featuring the voice of Rudolf Ising
Country: USA
What it is: Early Merrie Melody

Piggy and Fluffy take a ride on a riverboat.

Though they would eventually emerge as one of the great theatrical cartoon companies, the early Warner Brothers cartoons were extremely forgettable. This one is mostly song and dance, followed by an unexpected horror sequence and then finishing up with a bare smidgen of plot. The horror sequence has a character named Uncle Tom ending up in a graveyard and being frightened by ambulatory skeletons, who are, of course, ready to do their own singing and dancing. I don’t know if Piggy and Fluffy were regular characters for the series (their big star at that time was Bosko), but they serve here as little more than ersatz Mickey and Minnie. Routine.

Hey Diddle Diddle (1935)
Article 5861 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-12-2020
Directed by Frank Moser and Paul Terry
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Terrytoon

Nursery rhyme characters sing and dance.

Because this cartoon has several nursery rhyme characters (including the various characters in the title poem), it qualifies as far as fantastic content goes. However, I wish they did something more than just sing and dance, but what do you expect from Terrytoons? They all gather together at a school inside a big shoe, and the only break it takes from the routine is when a prissy group from the PTA shows up, but things return to the routine soon enough after that. It’s cartoons like this which were probably immediately forgotten after being viewed. Filler.

Hercules Against the Mongols (1963)
aka Maciste contro i Mongoli
Article 5860 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-10-2020
Directed by Domenico Paolella
Featuring Mark Forest, Jose Greci, Maria Grazia Spina
Country: Italy
What it is: Sword and Sandal

Hercules (actually Maciste) sets himself agains the three sons of Genghis Khan.

For some reason, most of the movie guides for fantastic movies omit this title, though it’s understandable why; outside of the hero’s great strength, there isn’t any other fantastic content. However, those books have listed other sword and sandal movies that have even less fantastic content, and at least in this one, we get a real show of super-strength, especially when Hercules goes into battle with a tree as a weapon. Nevertheless, this is a very dull example of the sword and sandal films; it throws in all the usual stuff, but they never build a decent story around it. It’s for sword-and-sandal completists only.

Hen Hop (1942)
Article 5859 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-9-2020
Directed by Norman McLaren
Voice cast unknown
Country: Canada
What it is: Abstract chickens

Hens (and parts of hens) boogie to square dance music.

It’s another exercise in abstract animation from Norman McLaren, but this one is somewhat less experimental in that much of the visual content clearly resembles dancing chickens, even if sometimes they’re still in the egg or just consist of chicken legs. Sometimes it’s just parts of chickens, but they’re recognizable nonetheless. The opening credits make it clear that a camera was not used to make this film; McLaren painted directly on the film to achieve the effect. I don’t know if the square dance song is actually “Turkey in the Straw” (it sounds like it, but the lyrics don’t match), but it might as well be. And at only four minutes of length, it doesn’t wear out its welcome. Actually, this is one of the most enjoyable of his shorts to date.

Heading for Heaven (1947)
Article 5858 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-6-2020
Directed by Lewis D. Collins
Featuring Stuart Erwin, Glenda Farrell, Russ Vincent
Country: USA
What it is: Comedy

The patriarch of a family is convinced that a tract of land he owns will prove valuable some day, so he refuses to sell it. However, when he mistakenly believes he is going to die in four months, he decides that he needs to find some way to provide for his family…

The above plot description doesn’t touch upon the fantastic content; there’s a subplot involving a swami, and there are scenes in seances where people believe they are speaking with the dead. Yes, the mysticism is being faked, but I’ve seen so many fake haunts for this series that I didn’t see how I could ignore this one. It’s a middling comedy that takes a while to get going; it’s almost half over before the protagonist hears the wrong patient’s prognosis and believes he’s going to die, which drives the rest of the plot. I’ve seen a few episodes of ” The Stu Erwin Show”, and between them and this movie, I find Stu to be a pretty minor talent. Much more fun is the presence of Irene Ryan as a maid who keeps trying to quit. Milburn Stone is also present as an executive seeking to buy the land.