PIGS IS PIGS (1937)
Cartoon
Article 3183 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-2-2010
Posting Date: 5-2-2010
Directed by Friz Freleng
Featuring the voices of Billy Bletcher, Bernice Hansen and Martha Wentworth
Country: USA
What it is: Animated glutton’s nightmare

A pig with an insatiable appetite has a nightmare where he is force-fed tons of food by an evil scientist.

It’s understandable that my memory incorrectly classified this one as a Porky Pig cartoon, but it isn’t; though Porky went through several changes in his evolution, he always maintained the stutter, and that is noticeably absent in the pig here. I also remember that this cartoon was the stuff of nightmares when I was a kid; despite the fact that this isn’t one of the great Looney Toons cartoons, if you’ve seen it as a kid, it sticks in the memory. Nowadays I appreciate it for the wittiness of the force-feeding inventions; in particular, a machine that serves pies functions like a jukebox, and an olive dispenser is modeled after a gumball machine (a mechanical hand has to keep feeding it pennies). Still, it’s a lot of fun seeing this one again; I hadn’t seen it in four decades.

THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1913)
Article 3177 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-24-2010
Posting Date: 4-26-2010
Directed by Alice Guy
Featuring Darwin Karr, Fraunie Fraunholz, Blanche Cornwall
Country: USA
What it is: Fragment of a Poe adaptation

A thwarted suitor joins the Inquisition to get revenge on a romantic rival.

The only copy I’ve been able to find of this movie is a seven-minute one on Yahoo video, and I suspect it’s only a fragment. It sets up a backstory in which a man is framed for the theft by sorcery of church property, and given that this is discovered by the Inquisition, this no doubt leads to the man being tortured in the method described by the Poe story. The movie cuts off just as the the man is framed for the theft, which makes me suspect that this is just a fragment. I suppose this shouldn’t count, but it’s late at night and I don’t have time to watch another movie, so I’ll beg your indulgence on this one.

THE PROLIFIC MAGICAL EGG (1902)
aka L’oeuf du sorcier ou L’oeuf magique prolifique
Article 3165 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-12-2010
Posting Date: 4-14-2010
Directed by Georges Melies
Featuring Georges Melies
Country: France
What it is: Trick film

A magician shows us the amazing things he can do with an egg.

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re on a Melies streak here. This is one of Melies’s “magic act” films; these are the ones where he more or less plays a magician who is doing tricks, only with the help of camera special effects rather than sleight-of-hand alone. The egg grows, shrinks and turns into talking heads. At the end, he eats the egg and… well, you don’t want me to give away the ending, do you? Short and sweet.

PULGARCITO (1957)
aka Tom Thumb
Article 3126 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-18-2009
Posting Date: 3-6-2010
Directed by Rene Cardona
Featuring Maria Elena Marques, Jose Elias Morena, Cesareo Quezadas ‘Pulgarcito’
Country: Mexico
What it is: Mexican fairy tale

The diminutive Pulgarcito must save himself and his six normal-sized brothers from an ogre.

After having sat through two rather dry German fairy tale movies, I welcomed the opportunity to catch a Mexican fairy tale movie, even one that hadn’t been dubbed into English. At the very least, you can count on a Mexican children’s movie to have a strong sense of fun and energy, and this one does. Granted, it’s not as fascinatingly bizarre as some other children’s movies I’ve seen from Mexico (LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, for example), but I found this one entertaining enough. One thing that surprised me is that the special effects were actually not too bad; you can pretty much figure out the various camera tricks that were employed to make Pulgarcito seem as small as he is, but the illusion is sustained. Even in a scene where the ogre reaches for Pulgarcito where you can tell that the hand is fake, nonetheless the editing is brisk enough that the camera doesn’t dwell on the effect overmuch, and the hand moves convincingly enough that the illusion is sustained. For me, one of the funniest moments in the movie is when Pulgarcito gets the upper hand on the ogre by teaching the ogre’s wife and children hygiene and manners. The young actor who plays Pulgarcito would reprise the role five years later in LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND THE MONSTERS.

LE PAYS SAN ETOILES (1946)
aka Country Without Stars
Article 3105 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-23-2009
Posting Date: 2-13-2010
Directed by Georges Lacombe
Featuring Jany Holt, Gerard Philipe, Pierre Brasseur
Country: France
What it is: Somewhat eerie meditation on fate

A man undergoes a strange case of deja vu when he visits a village. He soon finds himself living the life of a man who lived there many years ago.

I got most of my plot description from other sources, as my print of the movie is in unsubtitled French. When I researched this for my list of movies I was then unable to find, I summarized it as a man who lives the life of someone from long ago. This is the type of concept that demands expository dialogue, and, sure enough, this movie has a lot of talk. It’s got some eerie moments and memorable scenes (one in which a woman goes crazy and attacks a painting is quite memorable), and I am able to piece together bits and pieces about how the lives of three people from the present replay the lives of three people from the past, but the main plot threads and the revelations are all dialogue-driven. If I hadn’t known about the basic plot ahead of time, the only fantastic content I would have noticed would consist of the appearance of a ghost at one key moment. Though I suspect the movie is pretty uneven, I do hope to see a subtitled copy some day. For one thing, I’d love to know why the musical score seems to go wild in scenes that often seem rather quiet.

THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH (1970)
Article 3084 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-26-2009
Posting Date: 1-23-2010
Directed by Chuck Jones, Abe Levitow and Dave Monahan
Featuring the voices of Butch Patrick, Mel Blanc, Daws Butler
Country: USA
What it is: Animated children’s story

A bored young boy travels into another world, and undertakes a mission to reunite a divided kingdom by rescuing the princesses of Rhyme and Reason.

Though three directors are listed, the primary director of this one is Chuck Jones, one of the true geniuses of animation. Still, it’s important when judging this work of his to keep several things in consideration.

1) The vast majority of his finest work consisted of movies that lasted about seven minutes long.

2) It was as an animator and a director that he excelled, not as a writer or a producer, and he works in those capacities on this film.

3) Since most of the theatrical animation studios had closed up by this point, he most likely didn’t have access to the same experienced team that he had with him during his Warner Brothers days. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of his help was from people who were specializing in the kind of limited animation that had become the mainstay of TV animation.

4) Two of his crucial associates at Warner Brothers (writer Michael Maltese and musical director Carl Stalling, both of whom contributed mightily to the quality of his shorts) are not involved with this production.

To his credit, he does garner a strong group of voices; Daws Butler, Hans Conried, June Foray, Shepard Menken and the wonderful Mel Blanc are on hand to lend their talents. And there are moments here and there where one can sense the hand of Chuck Jones at the helm. Still, the story is a disappointment; it’s something of an uninspired cross between “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Wizard of Oz” with some occasionally tiresome lapses into lesson-teaching. The songs are particularly weak, as well. It’s not awful, by any means, but it’s too sporadic in its good moments to be truly effective.

PRIMAL IMPULSE (1975)
aka Le orme
Article 3068 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-1-2009
Posting Date: 1-7-2010
Directed by Luigi Bazzoni and Mario Fanelli
Featuring Florinda Bolkan, Peter McEnery, Lila Kedrova
Country: Italy
What it is: Bizarre arty horror / science fiction movie

A woman discovers that she has lost two days of her life. She investigates the reasons for the memory loss, with her only clues being a torn-up postcard of a Hotel and recurring memories of a movie about a man left stranded on another planet.

The premise is certainly intriguing, and the movie seems to have a very good reputation (based on a good user rating and comments on IMDB). Based on these factors alone, it might well warrant a rewatching, as I suspect that there may be certain important plot details I have missed. However, on this, my first viewing of the movie, I find myself more frustrated than intrigued. For me, the ending, though truly eerie, still leaves me unsatisfied insofar as I don’t feel that what exactly is going on has been explained to my satisfaction. Even had this problem not occurred, I still would have some problems with the movie, as I think the sequences where she tries to discover the details of the missing two days go on for too long with too little payoff. There is one explanation that may make sense, but if so, I’m not particularly taken with that one, either. Still, the movie is incredibly stylish, though not in the usual Italian giallo sense (some of the user comments refer to this one as a giallo, but I think it’s something else altogether); rather, it’s more arty than anything. Klaus Kinski is given a prominent credit, but I think he may have less than a minute of screen time, and it sounds as if somebody else dubbed his voice. I may like it better upon re-viewing, but at this point of time, it doesn’t work for me.

PANIC IN THE CITY (1968)
Article 3041 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-4-2009
Posting Date: 12-11-2009
Directed by Eddie Davis
Featuring Howard Duff, Linda Cristal, Stephen McNally
Country: USA
What it is: Thriller with marginal SF elements

When a mysterious man is found in the street with a high radiation count, an agent from the National Bureau of Investigation is called in to investigate. He eventually discovers a foreign plot to build and detonate an atomic bomb in the city of Los Angeles.

The basic plot is fairly ordinary, but it’s well-written and concentrates on the cat-and-mouse game between the NBI and the agents. The direction is rather unimaginative, but it keeps itself focused on the plot, which helps through some of the duller scenes. The acting is good, and it handles its story realistically and without sensationalism. The end result is a mildly engrossing thriller, one that rises above its low budget and occasionally shows moments of inspiration. My favorite line is from Linda Cristal (about paying the telephone bill), and my favorite moment is the final one, where we can see, without a word spoken, how she is going to handle her grief. The cast also features Nehemiah Persoff, Oscar Beregi Jr., Anne Jeffreys, John Hoyt, George Barrows, and Dennis Hopper. Not bad at all.

PROPHECIES OF NOSTRADAMUS (1979)
Article 3040 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-3-2009
Posting Date: 12-10-2009
Director unknown
Featuring Kirk Alexander, Richard Butler, John Waters
Country: Australia
What it is: Speculative documentary involving prophecies and future predictions

The life of Nostradamus is told, and the prophecies in his quatrains are examined.

In terms of the speculative nature of this sort of documentary, I do feel compelled to point out two facts right off the bat. Apparently the quatrains were purposefully written in an elusive manner and in several different languages so he could avoid the stigma of witchcraft. Secondly, during a sequence which explores a prophecy that took place during his lifetime, Nostradamus was quoted as saying that his prophecies could be avoided. These are what I think of as “outs”; if a prophecy doesn’t come true, we either a) didn’t understand them, or b) avoided them. In short, we’re asked not to judge him on the basis of the prophecies that don’t take place.

As far as the prophecies that did take place, I’ll have to reserve judgment; I’ve never read the prophecies themselves, and I’m no expert on the historical events they are purported to have predicted. If the movie itself can be trusted in this regard, than I will say that some of them do seem quite accurate. However, the last third of the movie consists of predictions of the future. Now the interesting thing about watching a documentary of this nature thirty years after the fact is that we can look at these predictions, and ask “Did they come true?” Considering that the prophecies state that World War III should have started somewhere between 1981 and 1998, I’d have to say that the predictions are way off. But there are those “outs” mentioned above; were the prophecies misunderstood? Did we avoid them? Or are they a load of hooey?

At any rate, I do think this is one of the better documentaries of this nature, though it’s another case where you’ll probably know ahead of time whether you’d want to bother with this one or not.

THE PSYCHOTRONIC MAN (1980)
Article 3034 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-28-2009
Posting Date: 12-4-2009
Directed by Jack M. Sell
Featuring Peter Spelson, Chris Carbis, Curt Colbert
Country: USA

A barber with a drinking problem discovers that he has psychotronic powers that he can use to make men die.

This movie opens with a barber preparing to leave work for the day. For a couple of seconds, we see a car explode. Then the barber goes out for a drive while listening to a country music station. After about three songs, he stops by the side of the road, takes a drink, and falls asleep. When he wakes up, he finds his car surrounded by blowing mist. He steps outside and almost falls to his death as the car is suspended in midair. He manages to climb back into his car, falls asleep, and then finds himself and the car back on the ground. During this whole sequence we hear a weird set of sound effects in the background.

This beginning was striking enough to catch my attention, with my attention only flagging during the overlong driving-to-country-music sequence. For a while, I thought this would turn out to be an intriguing little film. Then I began to notice that the weird sound effects keep popping up through the rest of the film, often where they make no sense. I also notice that the dull stretches became more frequent and longer. Finally, I realized that the problem was that the script never really fleshed out the central concept of its details; rather, it just pads the movie with driving scenes, a triangle subplot that goes nowhere, and a long, tedious chase scene. It’s a bit of a shame, really; as I said, the beginning drew me in, and it had a great title. It just needed more work.