Merry Mavericks (1951)
Article 5930 by Dave Sindelar
Date; 1-24-2021
Directed by Edward Bernds
Featuring Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard
Country: USA
What it is: Three Stooges short

The Three Stooges are mistaken for lawmen when they visit the town of Peaceful Gulch.

The first half of this short has the Stooges in the wild west. The fantastic content doesn’t rev up until the second half, where they guard some money in a house that is supposedly haunted. The plot is set up so that you won’t be surprised that the scares are just bad guys in costumes, but you still end up with an assortment of horrors, including a headless Indian. It’s a pretty average Stooges short, though there are moments when the Stooges show some surprising cleverness in dealing with their adversaries.

The Merry Cafe (1936)
Article 5929 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-24-2021
Directed by Manny Gould, Ben Harrison and Allen Rose
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Krazy Kat cartoon

Krazy Kat is penniless, but he tries to somehow find something to eat in an Eato-Mat cafe.

There’s not much in the way of real fantastic content (other than the anthropomorphic animals) during the first half of the cartoon, but during the second half Krazy Kat dreams that all the food comes to life and starts singing and dancing, which brings us closer, and when the devil’s food cake causes the appearance of little devils, that cements it. It’s a typical cartoon of the era, with several gags and musical numbers, and there are a few fun gags, such as finding out how the hard-boiled eggs dance and what’s in the ham sandwich. By this time, of course, Krazy was little more than a Mickey Mouse clone with little connection to the original comic strip character on which he was based.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
Article 5928 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-15-2021
Directed by Nicolas Roeg
Featuring David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark
Country: UK
What it is: Arty science fiction

A stranger who claims to be from England appears in the United States and forms a corporation with the help of a variety of patents. However, he has an ulterior motive for his actions other than just amassing a fortune. Who is he, what are his plans, and will the world allow him to bring them to fruition?

I’ve encountered Nicolas Roeg before in this series (DON’T LOOK NOW and EUREKA), and I’m familiar enough with his work to not expect anything linear or easily grasped. Though the movie doesn’t make it explicit until about the half-way point, it gives enough hints early on that it isn’t a major spoiler to reveal that the stranger is from another planet. David Bowie is well cast in the main role here, not necessarily because of his acting chops but because his own persona already projected a sense of a thoroughly alien sexuality. Roeg has a strong visual sense, and there’s a lot of brilliant imagery to the story. I’m not all that taken with the story, however, and the movie runs on too long; once the main character’s fortune takes on a downward trajectory, it becomes a tiresome slog because you just know their is no real chance of it reversing itself. So, despite the visual highlights, I find this one of Roeg’s less satisfying films.

Making Good (1932)
Article 5927 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-11-2021
Directed by Walter Lantz and William Nolan
No voice cast
Country: USA
What it is: Walter Lantz cartoon

When the Stork comes to Fairy Land, Oswald makes it his mission to run ahead and warn the residents. The Stork delivers a plethora of bugs to the old woman who lives in a shoe. Can Oswald help her with her overcrowded home?

The first part of the cartoon have the residents doing their level best to avoid the delivery from the Stork. The middle section has a dog attacking the shoe and Oswald’s attempt to get him to desist. It ends with Oswald’s finding a solution to the old woman’s problem. It’s a bizarre little cartoon with some strange moments, but it falls a bit short from the laugh riot it’s trying to be. For me, the most striking thing about this one is that it reminds me of another cartoon I’ve seen recently where the arrival of the Stork is viewed as a moment of dread rather than eager anticipation.

Make Believe Revue (1935)
Article 5926 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-11-2021
Directed by Ben Harrison
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Columbia Color Rhapsody

Mother Goose takes a young boy to the land of make-believe to watch a make-believe revue.

There’s Mother Goose herself, a few characters from her nursery rhymes, and lots of gnomes/elves/dwarfs/leprechauns (take your pick) dancing and singing in what look like animated versions of Busby Berkeley musical numbers. It’s more whimsical than funny, and it’s smoothly animated and sometimes creative. It’s all very pleasant and pretty, but that being said, it never transcends itself, and that makes it a bit forgettable. It also reminded me that one of the big appeals of Busby Berkeley musical numbers is that they’re being done with real people on real sets, and that’s actually more impressive than animating them.

The Magic Pencil (1940)
Article 5925 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-9-2021
Directed by Volney White
Featuring the voice of Arthur Kay
Country: USA
What it is: Gandy Goose and Sourpuss cartoon

Gandy Goose sends away for a magic pencil and draws things that come to life, much to the consternation of Sourpuss.

Here’s another Gandy Goose/Sourpuss cartoon, only this time there’s no dream-sharing going on; it’s mostly dealing with the aftermath of what happens after Gandy Goose draws several objects and people. For a Gandy Goose cartoon, this one is not too bad, but sometimes I really wish the Terrytoons cartoons had been better written. Gandy himself has very little presence for what is supposed to be a wild comic character, and Sourpuss seems to be grouchy for no other reason than he’s supposed to be; it would be more effective if Gandy’s creations took more of an active role in annoying Sourpuss to better motivate his behavior. Still, watching a lot of these Terrytoons is a good way of discovering the quirks of the series, and I notice that Paul Terry seems to have a weakness for mellerdrammers, as the plot of this one eventually turns into one.

The Magician’s Alms (1905)
aka La charite du prestidigitateur
Article 5924 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-8-2021
Directed by Alice Guy
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Special effects short with a moral

When a vagabond begs off of a magician, the latter uses his magic to regale the vagabond with a hearty meal and a new set of clothes. But there’s a catch…

Alice Guy really didn’t direct many movies that fall into the fantastic categories, but here’s one of them. Here she deals with a common enough theme from the era in that it features a magician demonstrating his skills, but it takes it one step further; there’s a story and a lesson to be learned here, though that doesn’t become apparent until the final moments. It makes for an interesting variation on a common theme, but it’s shorts like these that remain a little more memorable because of that variation.

The Magic Fluke (1949)
Article 5923 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-8-2021
Directed by John Hubley
Featuring the voice of John T. Smith
Country: USA
What it is: UPA in action

A two-animal music combo is broken up when the conductor hits the big time with a classical orchestra. Nonetheless, the other member remains faithful to his old partner, and when the latter is without a baton for his next gig, the former steals a magician’s wand for him to use.

For me, the most eye-opening moment of this cartoon came to me when I went to the listing at IMDB and was reminded that “Fox and Crow” was a cartoon series at Columbia before UPA came on the scene. Despite the fact that I’d seen several of those cartoons, it never occurred to me that this one was a part of that series; it certainly didn’t advertise itself as such. This discovery more than anything else brings home to me just how revolutionary UPA was in its style; they took characters from an existing series and redid them so vastly that it was hardly recognizable. The story itself is pretty conventional cartoon fodder, but the style, mood and execution are light years away. No, this isn’t UPA’s finest moment, but it is the one where the contrast between the old and the new styles is most clearly demonstrated.

Magic Christmas Tree (1964)
Article 5922 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-18-2021
Directed by Richard C. Parish
Featuring Chris Kroesen, Valerie Hobbs, Dalene Lohnes
Country: USA
What it is: From the nether regions of kiddie matinee Christmas movies…

A boy does a favor for a witch and is granted a gift; a magic seed that grows into a magic Christmas tree and grants three wishes. Will it all turn out to be a dream? Will the boy learn a life lesson?

There must have been something about the sixties to inspire the cornucopia of truly atrocious low-budget Christmas movies that can be found therein. This one has references to Halloween and Thanksgiving as well as Christmas, features a cat and a turtle, has a bizarre mowing scene, has one of the most pathetic comic chase scenes ever committed to celluloid, features a giant named Greed who breaks the fourth wall, and mercifully lasts less than an hour. There was a time I considered SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS to be the nadir of Christmas movies. It’s probably not even in the bottom ten. I’ve uncovered enough them for a lifetime; dare there be more? Only time will tell…

The Machine That Kills Bad People (1952)
aka La macchina ammazzacattivi
Article 5921 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-7-2021
Directed by Roberto Rosselini
Featuring Gennaro Pisano, Marilyn Buferd, William Tubbs
Country: Italy
What it is: Cautionary fable

After being visited by a wandering bearded man, a photographer discovers that his camera has been imbued with the ability to kill whoever it photographs. He decides to use it to remove evil and corrupt people from the island village where he lives.

The title would have led me to believe that the movie was science fiction, but the details put it more clearly in the realm of fantasy; in fact, it owes something to the Faust tale. The very premise hints at some of the satirical jabs that will take place in a movie like this, and you’ll be waiting for certain moments that the premise makes inevitable, such as the point where the photographer begins to realize that he himself is susceptible to vice and corruption. Though in some ways the story is predictable, it does have a real charm to it, and I love the beginning and ending of the movie where the location and characters are put into place by a giant hand manipulating the landscape. Furthermore, certain details that occur near the end of the movie did give me some pleasant surprises. I really liked this one.