THE MAD BUTCHER (1971)
aka Lo strangolatore di Vienna
Article 4900 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 8-14-2015
Directed by Guido Zurli
Featuring Victor Buono, Franca Polesello, Brad Harris
Country: Italy / West Germany
What it is: Cannibalism comedy

A Viennese butcher is released from an insane asylum to continue his trade, but decides not to go home to his hated wife but to live in a furnished room over the butcher shop instead. When he kills his wife in a fit of temper, he disposes of the body as one would expect a butcher to do so. However, the resultant sausages turn out to be extraordinarily popular…

Usually with foreign movies, it’s best to watch them in their original language with subtitles, but there are exceptions. When the big star of a foreign movie is American and performs his role in English, it can be better to see the English dub, as is the case here. The best element of this movie is Victor Buono’s performance in the title role; his measured delivery and assured use of gesture and business make him a delight to watch, and he remains the primary reason to catch this one. However, even that delight starts to dissipate as the movie progresses; his character has a streak of sexual perversion that turns unpleasantly ugly (rather than blackly comic), and by the end of the movie, those elements begin to dominate. It’s a bit of a shame, as the movie’s humorous touches were largely working quite well up to that point. If you’ve seen other cannibalism comedies (and there are a few out there), there won’t be a whole lot to surprise you as far as the story goes, but that’s a minor quibble. In truth, I found this movie to be better than I was expecting it to be; I just wish it hadn’t turned sour at the end.

MALOMBRA (1942)
Article 4898 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 8-12-2015
Directed by Mario Soldati
Featuring Isa Miranda, Andrea Checchi, Irasema Dilian
Country: Italy
What it is: Gothic thriller

A noblewoman stays with her uncle under the agreement that she will not leave until she is married. She comes by a letter from her grandfather’s first wife, who was held prisoner in the same castle. The gist of the letter is that the noblewoman is the reincarnation of this woman, and is given several predictions for the future, and instructions to take revenge for her death by killing off the descendants of her grandfather. The noblewoman laughs it off at first, but then the predictions start coming true….

This is an interesting if overlong Gothic thriller made in Italy during the Axis years, and Isa Miranda, though largely forgotten nowadays, was considered one of the finest actresses of that era. Her performance as a woman who may be mad or possessed is one of the most effective things about the movie, and it’s quite interested to watch the way she manipulates and uses those around her to accomplish her aims. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t really start moving until about two-thirds of the way through, and though the acting is strong and visuals are interesting, the first two-thirds of the movie (which sets up the characters and situations) does go on a bit too long. However, it’s very effective in the climax, and it has one of those twists that I really like, in that they catch you by surprise at first and then you realize it was a logical extension of the story. It’s a solid, satisfying movie, and several of the comments I read about it compare it to Hitchcock’s REBECCA. It’s worth a look.

MURDER BY DECREE (1979)
Article 4879 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 7-23-2015
Directed by Bob Clark
Featuring Christopher Plummer, James Mason, David Hemmings
Country: UK / Canada
What it is: Holmes meets Jack the Ripper

Famed consulting detective Sherlock Holmes is hired by private citizens to solve the Jack the Ripper killings. Holmes agrees to do so, but a nagging question remains – why hasn’t Scotland Yard sought his help in solving the case?

This isn’t the first cinematic encounter between Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper; that would be A STUDY IN TERROR from 1965, and I was quite startled and delighted to find out that that movie and this one share two actors – Anthony Quayle and Frank Finlay, with the latter taking on the same role in each film. The earlier movie was quite good. This one goes it one better by adding a conspiracy that embraces the government, the police force and the Freemasons into the mix. Christopher Plummer is excellent as Holmes, while James Mason is also very good as Watson; the latter manages to channel Nigel Bruce while managing to keep the buffoonery of Bruce’s performance in check (though there are a few laughs). Great performances abound; both Finlay and Quayle do fine jobs, as do David Hemmings, Susan Clark, John Gielgud and Donald Sutherland (the latter as a medium whose presence adds to the fantastic content of the story). Still, the pivotal performance in this movie is Genevieve Bujold’s performance as Annie Crook; she has only one real scene, but she does it so powerfully that it kicks the movie to a whole different level where it becomes much more than a mere Holmes pastiche and adds an emotional center to the film. I didn’t expect a Sherlock Holmes movie to do so, but this one had me tearing up towards the end. This one is complex, powerful and emotionally satisfying; I recommend it.

THE MANIAC BARBER (1899)
Article 4854 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-25-2015
Director unknown
Cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Early trick short

A barber has an eccentric way of giving a shave…

I usually try to avoid spoilers, but when you’re dealing with a 26-second short in which the fantastic content is the central gimmick, there seems little point in not giving it away; the barber removes the customer’s head and shaves it on a nearby table. Why? I’m assuming the light is better over there. At any rate, he re-attaches the head, and the customer, none the worse for wear, pays him. It’s your basic very simple trick short done passably well. Sure, it’s fiction, but to tell the truth, I always shave myself and prefer it that way.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (1909)
Article 4830 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-23-2015
Directed by Charles Kent and J. Stuart Blackton
Featuring Walter Ackerman, Charles Chapman, Dolores Costello
Country: USA
What it is: Silent Shakespeare

Fairies use magic to play with the affairs of lovers.

Here’s another silent adaptation of a Shakespeare play that cuts down the action to 13 minutes and lacks the Bard’s language. Of course it’s confusing, even with the unwieldy plot summaries that appear between the scenes, but I suspect these little short films were more intended as “highlights of…” rather than full blown productions. It does take advantage of the fact that it’s a movie to engage in cinematic special effects, especially in the scenes of fairies appearing and disappearing, and there are a couple of rather freaky shots of Puck on the wing. It also does play up the comedy, especially during the scenes involving the amateur actors’ production of a play. For what it is, it isn’t half bad.

MARTYRS CHRETIENS (1905)
aka Christian Martyrs, Belshazzar’s Feast
Article 4820 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-13-2015
Directed by Lucien Nonguet
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Biblical scenes

Various Bible scenes are depicted, mostly ones with lions.

This one entered my hunt list as BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST, though that was only one episode of this movie; that’s probably because it was the only part of the movie at the time that was considered extant. I do find its real title rather deceptive; there are four segments to the short, and only in one of them does it look like a Christian is dying. The first scene has a man tussling with a lion, and the action mostly makes me suspect that the man was a lion tamer doing his act. The second scene is where a man is killed by a lion, but I”m not sure who he’s supposed to be. The third scene has Daniel in the lion’s den, and with the appearance of the angel, it’s the first one that has any real fantastic content. The most striking fantastic content comes in the Belshazzar section, in which a giant hand appears and writes on the wall, though I couldn’t read what he wrote. The short is competently done, but I’m afraid I wasn’t particularly impressed with it.

MANY A SLIP (1927)
aka The Inventor Bricolo
Article 4771 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-2-2015
Directed by Charles R. Bowers and Harold L. Muller
Featuring Charles R. Bowers, Corinne Powers, Ricca Allen
Country: USA
What it is: Partially animated comedy

An inventor attempts to create a formula that will make banana peels non-slippery.

Charles R. Bowers is one of the more obscure comedians of the silent era, but he’s one of the more interesting and offbeat ones. His most striking quality is that he dabbled in both slapstick comedy and stop-motion animation, sometimes in the same short. In this one, for example, Bowers studies a banana peel under a huge microscope and discovers a bizarre little stop-motion creature that makes the peel slippery. Part of the short involves the repetition of a single gag (there are a lot of people slipping on banana peels); the rest of the short concentrates on gags involving Bower’s bizarre laboratory. There’s something positively surreal about Bower’s work, and some of the gags quite weird. Still, I have a real weak spot for this type of thing, and I thoroughly enjoyed this little short, and I’m really glad to finally be able to cover one of his works.

THE MYSTICAL FLAME (1903)
aka La flamme mereveilleuse
Article 4769 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-27-2015
Directed by Georges Melies
Featuring Georges Melies
Country: France
What it is: Magic trick short

A magician appears and does several tricks with a handkerchief, and then he proceeds to befuddle his assistant with other tricks.

Here’s another magic trick short from Melies, and this one has the benefit of being only two minutes long, so it doesn’t wear out its welcome. What occurred to me while watching this one was that I’d really like to have seen his live magic act; if he presented his live show with as much energy as he presented his cinematic tricks, he would have been a lot of fun. This one seems less thematically centered than some of his other shorts of this type; the flame only comes into play during a single trick, and if anything, he makes more of a show with his tricks with the handkerchief. This is a fairly solid and entertaining example of his magic trick films.

MADAM WHITE SNAKE (1962)
aka Bai she zhuan
Article 4768 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-25-2015
Directed by Feng Yueh
Featuring Dai Lin, Lei Zhao, Margaret Tu Chuan
Country: Hong Kong
What it is: Chinese fantasy opera

A white snake spirit and her sister, a green snake spirit, arrive in the mortal world in human form. The white snake spirit falls in love and marries a lowly pharmacist, who isn’t aware that he’s married a supernatural being. Then a monk appears who knows the truth…

I’ve encountered this story before in an earlier production the Shaw Brothers produced in conjunction with Toho. This one is based on an operatic version of the story, and though portions of the production are spoken, most of the movie involves singing and dance. Usually, this type of thing would make me less likely to enjoy a movie, but because I’ve seen very little Chinese opera, in this case it adds quite a bit of novelty value; in fact, the musical style reminds me more of Bollywood movies than it does of what I’m used to thinking of as opera. If anything, I prefer this version; it has a nice visual feel, and the dance sequence where the spirit must acquire a magical flower to return her husband to life is the highlight of the movie. There are a few other versions of this story out there which I’ll probably encounter some time in the future.

MOUSIE COME HOME (1946)
Article 4767 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-24-2015
Directed by Shamus Culhane
Featuring the voices of Dick Nelson and Walter Tetley
Country: USA
What it is: Andy Panda cartoon

Andy Panda and his dog, tired of trying to get rid of a mouse, decide to move to a new home. The mouse, traumatized by their departure, contemplates suicide.

It looks like I’m in mouse-chasing cartoonland mode for the second day running; Andy Panda even consults a book on how to catch mice as Tom did in yesterday’s cartoon. At least, that’s how the first half of this cartoon plays out; it’s a series of gags in which Andy and his dim-witted dog are outwitted by a crafty mouse. The second half turns unexpectedly dark when the mouse makes several unsuccessful attempts to commit suicide, though it’s played with typical cartoon aplomb. The cartoon is well-animated and sporadically funny, but it suffers from the fact that the characters aren’t particularly fun. The dog comes off best, though he’s little more than a stupid cartoon dog cliche. Andy Panda is practically a non-entity, but he’s obviously the least important character here. The biggest problem is the mouse; instead of being charming and zany, he’s tiresome and annoying, plus he has a truly horrible trademark laugh. Since the mouse is the main character, this is definitely a problem, and his presence drags the cartoon down a bit. Still, it has its moments, and I couldn’t help but notice that in its short running time, the cartoon makes two separate joke references to Carmen Miranda.