The Company of Wolves (1984)
Article 5561 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 7-14-2018
Directed by Neil Jordan
Featuring Sarah Patterson, Angela Lansbury, David Warner
Country: UK
What it is: Fairy tale/horror/art movie hodgepodge

A girl dreams of living in a medieval village where her grandmother warns her about werewolves.

That this movie has a cult following is no surprise. I’m also not surprised that it has a bit of a lukewarm reputation; though it’s sometimes fascinating to look at and is original, in the final analysis it’s not quite satisfying. It’s basically a variation on the Red Riding Hood story with something of a horror spin to the proceedings and a strong sexual atmosphere. At times it even feels a bit like an anthology movie, as it occasionally goes off on a tangent when it reenacts a werewolf tale one of the characters is telling. The performances are solid and the medieval world and the ominous-looking forest are very well-realized. Those expecting a more conventional horror movie will not be satisfied, but even those expecting something different may be a little put out by it; I emerged from the movie with the feeling that for all it’s trying to do, it’s still missing something.

Cinderella, or The Glass Slipper (1912)
aka Cendrillon ou La pantoufle merveilleuse
Article 5548 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-2-2018
Directed by Georges Melies
Featuring Louise Lagrange, Jacques Feyder, Marthe Vinot
Country: France
What it is: Fairy tale

This is pretty standard late period Melies; he’s still glued to his tableaux style of filming, and he’s more interested in special effects and spectacle than story-telling. Granted, when the story is as familiar at this one, you don’t need to spend a lot of time in telling it, but during the scenes where he’s advancing the plot, it’s pretty dull. The special effects are fun, though not quite as tight as in his better shorts. In fact, he goes out of his way to add more special effects sequences; the creation of the carriage takes much longer than necessary, and a scene where Cinderella is terrorized by a giant clock striking midnight is also unneeded, albeit fun. As far as the spectacle goes, I notice that Melies has a favorite technique; he crowds the frame with as many characters as possible. If you’re a Melies fan, this is a passable short, but I do wonder how it would have gone if Melies had studied and incorporated the new cinematic techniques pioneered by the likes of D.W. Griffith. As it is, it’s another example of why he eventually fell out of favor as a filmmaker.

Coco (2017)
Article 5536 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-18-2018
Directed by Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina
Featuring the voices of Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt
Country: USA
What it is: Animated feature, Pixar style

A young Mexican boy dreams of being a musician despite his family’s anathema to the profession. When, on the day before the Day of the Dead, he desperately attempts to steal the guitar of a famed music star so he can play it in a music competition, he finds himself trapped in the world of the dead and can only return to the land of the living if he can get the blessing of one of his dead blood relatives.

Though this is the first time I’ve reviewed one of their features, I’ve been a big fan of Pixar for a while, and even though as a whole they aren’t quite as consistent as they were about ten years ago, they’re still able to deliver a top-notch animated feature when their quality-control department is working in top form. This one is inspired; it uses a traditional Mexican holiday as the springboard for a multi-leveled exploration of several subjects, including family, music, memory, and, of course, death. It confidently walks the line between drama and comedy, the characters are well-drawn (in every sense of the word), and it manages to be hilarious one moment and deeply moving the next without straining for effect. Furthermore, the visualization of the world of the dead is stunning, and Pixar’s push to expand the range of animation is also on full display. Whenever Pixar is in top form, I have a harder time deciding which of their features I like best; this is another one that is in the running.

Cirkus Hurvinek (1955)
Article 5527 by Dave Sindelar

Date: 1-13-2018
Directed by Jiri Trnka
Featuring the voices of Vratislav Blazek and Jiri Trnka
Country: Czechoslovakia
What it is: Puppet animated whimsy

A young child dreams he is performing in a circus with his father as the ringmaster.

I wasn’t initially sure whether I would be covering this one; I was unable to find a plot description, and a quick peek at the footage didn’t yield any immediate fantastic content. However, the fact that it was listed in Walt Lee’s guide made me decide to go ahead with it. It does have a certain amount of fantastic content; the pet dog does display a certain degree of anthropomorphism (especially during the dream sequence), and when the boy takes on the job of wild animal tamer, he encounters drawings of animals in a giant book that come to life, move, and talk. Some of the plot details are lost on me because the dialogue was in Czech, but in terms of its whimsical content, it’s fairly easy to follow. It’s not one of Trnka’s more striking works, but it’s certainly well done and quite entertaining. My favorite moment comes early on, where the young boy’s attempt to elude his father causes a certain amount of confusion to a bill poster.

Il caso Valdemar (1936)
Article 5522 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-5-2017
Directed by Gianni Hoepli and Ubaldo Magnaghi
Featuring Lav Kemanarovic, Gino Eprisi, Carlo Bissi
Country: Italy
What it is: Poe adaptation short.

A man on the verge of death is kept alive by being put in a hypnotic trance for several months. But what will happen when he’s taken out of the trance?

The copy I saw of this short was in Italian, but the Poe story is familiar enough that I was able to follow it anyway. It’s a very stylish little short, with bizarre camera angles and interesting visuals. It’s also a pretty grotesque short for its time; those familiar with the story (Poe’s THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR) knows how it ends, and the special effects for this moment do not disappoint. This one is satisfying and memorable.

Certuv mlyn (1949)
aka The Devil’s Mill
Article 5521 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-25-2017
Directed by Jiri Trnka
No cast
Country: Czechoslovakia
What it is: Animated fairy tale

A beggar wanders the countryside, trying to entertain the animals with his out-of-tune music box, but he only drives them away. One little boy takes pity on him and offers him a crust of bread, which the hungry wanderer nevertheless gives away to another beggar who magically disappears. When a storm breaks out, the wanderer takes refuge in an old mill, which is inexplicably full of amenities. However, the mill is the abode of a devil…

Here’s another gem from the oeuvre of Jiri Trnka. One of the joys of Trnka is that he eschewed dialogue in favor of visual story-telling, thus rendering them enjoyable in any language. As usual, there is a great deal of wit to the story, and Trnka’s ability to instill his puppet stop-motion animation with a real cinematic sense; they don’t feel like animated puppet movies. I’m really enjoying my forays into his work.

The Cavalier’s Dream (1898)
Article 5510 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-30-2017
Directed by Edwin S. Porter
Cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Special effects short

A cavalier dreams that he is surrounded by ghostly shape-changing figures.

Here’s another movie that has been rescued from the limbo of my “ones that got away” list, and the person who pointed me in its direction made the point that it may well have the claim to being the first American horror movie, and the argument is sound. There’s really not a whole lot to it (after all, it’s less than a minute long), but it does have the sense that it’s not being played for laughs and is to be taken more or less seriously. Granted, with silent movies, the general feel may be altered by the choice of musical soundtrack, so it’s possible a light-hearted soundtrack might make a difference, but in the state I saw it (which was without music), it doesn’t feel comic, nor do the phantoms or the cavalier play for laughs. As such, it has some genuine curiosity value and is well worth watching.

Canards Parisiens (1903)
Article 5509 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-24-2017
Director unknown
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: A little piece of strangeness

A little boy gets sick from eating a duck egg and turns into an egg-laying duck. Other events occur.

This short found on YouTube was directed to me by Doctor Kiss; it doesn’t have a listing on IMDB and I have very little information about it. However, it is one strange little short; it’s mostly a series of trick effects surrounding ducks, eggs, nests and various individuals. It’s quite unlike most of the other early surreal shorts, though I think it’s a little closer in style to Segundo De Chomon then Georges Melies. It will make you think twice about eating raw duck eggs, though.

The Crater Lake Monster (1977)
Article 5507 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-13-2017
Directed by William R. Stromberg
Featuring Richard Cardella, Glen Roberts, Mark Siegel
Country: USA
What it is: Dinosaur on the loose

A meteor causes a plesiosaur egg to hatch at the bottom of Crater Lake, and the monster begins chowing down on vacationers on the lake.

I found several odd touches in this one, the first of which was even before the movie started; on the DVD menu, I couldn’t help but notice that the music underlying the menu was muted and somber, hardly the usual choice for a “monster on the loose” movie. It certainly wasn’t what I would have expected for a low-budget movie with a poor reputation (3.1 on IMDB) and a (mostly) stop-motion dinosaur. And, for the most part, its reputation is earned; the script is slipshod and clumsy at times, the stop-motion animation is competent but uninspired, the acting is uneven, many of the plot points are way too familiar (it’s a rare scientific discovery that should be preserved, but it’s also a monster eating people), and it’s not the least bit scary. Furthermore, even though it does dovetail with the main story, the subplot about the liquor store killer feels like it’s in the wrong movie. The biggest question I had was why it was that the comic-relief characters (a pair of doofuses that run a boat rental business on the lake) took over the movie. Still, it struck me as curious that the comedy bits with these two characters were driven by character rather than slapstick, but there’s a reason for this; as unlikely as it seems, these two are the emotional center of the movie. And, for all its flaws, I have to admit that I was struck by the poignant end to the movie, a touch that is quite surprising and far more effective than I ever could have guessed. For this reason alone, I feel a great fondness for this one.

Cookin’ with Gags (1955)
Article 5490 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 8-3-2017
Directed by Izzy Sparber
Featuring the voices of Jackson Beck, Jack Mercer and Mae Questal
Country: USA
What it is: Popeye cartoon

Popeye is the target of a series of April Fools’ Day pranks from Bluto. Can he beat Bluto at his own game and win back Olive Oyl?

This Popeye cartoon has a lot in common with the previous one, in that once again, spinach isn’t used (its one appearance in the cartoon is part of an April Fools’ joke), and the fantastic content in this one is that the final gag hinges on the appearance of a sea monster. Yes, the monster is faked (as were the ghosts in FRIGHT TO THE FINISH), and there’s no denying that this cartoon is more marginal than the previous one. The cartoon is so-so, but one thing I’ve definitely noticed about the fifties Popeye cartoons is how often they recycled the same plot – Popeye and Bluto fighting for Olive’s attentions, Bluto coming out on top initially but Popeye finally prevailing, usually (but not always) with the help of spinach. One really gets the sense that they were just churning these out by this time.