Operation White Shark (1966)
aka A.D.3 operazione squalo bianco
Article 6091 from Dave Sindelar
Directed by Filippo Walter Ratti
Featuring Rodd Dana, Franca Polesello, Janine Reynaud
Country: Italy
What it is: Spyghetti

A secret agent has his hands full dealing with two groups of rival spies to keep them from getting their hands on an atomic detonator.

The atomic detonator is a gizmo maguffin of the most extreme type, and when you combine that with the total lack of gadgetry, you will realize that the fantastic content of this movie is nearly nonexistent. In fact, I suspect most Eurospy fans would find this one a snoozer as well; yes there’s pulchritude, action and humor, but the dead space takes up nearly half the movie. Unless you’re a Eurospy completist, you can safely leave this one on the shelf

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The Real Schlemiel (1995)
aka Die Schelme von Schelm, Aaron’s Magic Village
Article 6090 from Dave Sindelar
Directed by Albert Hanan Kaminski
Featuring the voices of Tommy J. Michaels, Ronn Carroll, Tovah Feldshuh
Country: France, Germany, Hungary
What it is: Hodgepodge of Jewish children’s stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer

An orphan Jewish boy moves in with relatives in Chelm, a town rumored to have more than its share of foolishness. Among other adventures, he encounters a golem and a Lantuch.

About halfway through this movie, the plot involves a boy and his goat taking refuge in a haystack from a blizzard, which I recall having seen as a separate short. It was only then I realized that I wasn’t watching an adaptation of a separate work but of an assortment of different stories, most of them from Singer’s STORIES FOR CHILDREN. Though I found the movie entertaining enough, it was also unfocused; in particular, the story of the sorcerer who creates a Golem feels like it doesn’t belong here, as it is at odds with the whimsical comedy of the rest of the movie. My favorite sequence has the title character getting turned around on his trip to Warsaw and returns home thinking this is a new village that bears an uncanny resemblance to his own home. It’s a mixed bag, but far from worthless.

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