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.

The Haunted Mouth (1974)
Article 5857 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-4-2020
Director unknown
Featuring the voice of Cesar Romero
Country: USA
What it is: Real-life dental horror

In a haunted house, an invisible figure known as B. Plaque plots to take over and destroy your mouth.

This short comes from the world of ephemeral film; it was produced by the American Dental Association to scare you into caring for your teeth. Our narrator is an invisible creature known as Bacterial Plaque who lives in your mouth, and is so cocky about his ultimate victory that he even gives you the instructions on how to defeat him because he knows you won’t do it. I have to admit this one is pretty amusing, and Cesar Romero seems to be having a lot of fun doing an imitation of Claude Rains. I just love covering off-the-trail obscurities like this.

The Haunted Cat (1951)
Article 5856 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-4-2020
Directed by Eddie Donnelly
Featuring the voice of Tom Morrison
Country: USA
What it is: Terrytoons cartoon

When Little Roquefort the mouse plays dead after an attack from the cat, the latter grows to believe that he is responsible for the mouse’s death. Roquefort then torments the cat by playing on his guilt and fear.

Though they’re obviously faked, ghosts and supernatural events provide the fantastic content here. As for the cartoon itself, it’s from Terrytoons, and I’ve come to suspect that these cartoons are at their weakest when they come across as merely chintzy versions of cartoons from other studios. This one, for example, comes across as a cheap Tom-and-Jerry knockoff, and it never rises above that to find a voice all its own. All in all, this is another forgettable obscurity.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Article 5855 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-3-2020
Directed by Mike Newell
Featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
Country: UK / USA
What it is: Harry Potter movie

Harry Potter is unexpectedly chosen to take part in The Triwizard Tournament. Who placed his name into the tournament…and why?

I have largely avoided the Harry Potter movies up to this point, not because I suspect that I wouldn’t like them, but rather because the Harry Potter phenomenon began with the J.K. Rowling books, and I decided that if I ever wanted to get into this universe, I would start there. However, since I’ve got a whole backlog of other books to read first, I’ve only read the first novel of the series, which I liked well enough. However, I had a copy of this movie hidden in the nooks and crannies of my movie collection, and it’s number came up, so here I am reviewing it.

I’m glad I at least had the first book under my belt before watching this, which is based on the fourth novel of the series. The movie is a little unforgiving to newbies; it assumes you know the basic premise, most of the characters, and the universe it takes place in. If you’re not up on all that, the movie can be bewildering, and even with what I did know, I found myself lost for parts of the movie. Still, I found it enjoyable enough, and I do really like the portrayals of some of the characters, particularly Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid and Alan Rickman as Severus Snape. There are a quite a few other familiar faces, including Robert Pattinson and David Tennant. Still, though I do find the movie entertaining enough, I suspect that ultimately I would prefer the original novels to the movie series.

The Happy Cobblers (1952)
Article 5854 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-1-2020
Directed by Eddie Donnelly
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Terrytoons takes on “The Shoemaker and the Elves”

Elves come out at night to make shoes for an aged cobbler, but the cobbler thinks the shoes are being made by his pet dachshund.

You know, I rather like that this cartoon throws a twist into this familiar story by incorporating the plot point that the dachshund gets the credit instead of the elves; it shows someone at Terrytoons was trying to be creative. And this isn’t the only Terrytoons cartoon that has thrown me a curve in the plot department. But that doesn’t change the fact that the animation is subpar in comparison with nearly all the other animation studios. Nor does it make up for the fact that the plot twist really doesn’t lead the cartoon in any interesting direction after it is used. Sadly, I’ve come to realize that the majority of the output from Terrytoons is dreary and uninspired. There’s a reason why most of their output has fallen into obscurity.

Huey’s Ducky Daddy (1953)
Article 5704 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-13-2020
Directed by Izzy Sparber and Dave Tendlar
Featuring the voices of Mae Questel and Sid Raymond
Country: USA
What it is: Oversized animated baby antics

Baby Huey’s daddy is forced to take his son fishing. Disaster ensues.

By my usual rules of cartoon fantastic content, I might not have covered this one (since most of the fantastic content falls under the categories of talking animals and comic exaggeration, which are animation traditions rather than real fantastic content), but since the Walt Lee guide mentions this one, I’ll cover it. Baby Huey certainly exhibits super strength a few times in this one, and the presence of a shark at one point gives us a bit of horror as well. As a cartoon, it’s mostly pretty so-so, but the occasional gag works all right; my favorite is finding out how a lighthouse works. At any rate, it’s fun to finally have gotten around to writing another review after a long gap.