Mighty Mouse and the Magician (1948)
Article 5933 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-26-2021
Directed by Eddie Donnelly
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Mighty Mouse cartoon

A mouse magician is under attack by a cat, but uses his powers to hold his own against his foe. However, the cat gets a hold of the mouse’s magic wand and turns the tables. Can Mighty Mouse save the magician and his friends?

Most of the Mighty Mouse cartoons fall into one of a handful of patterns; this is a non-operetta one in which the first half sets up a cats vs. mice situation, and ends by Mighty Mouse showing up and setting things aright. Actually, the first half (when the magician mouse is besting the cats) is a lot more fun; once the magic wand comes into play, the story is routine, though it does have a bit of novelty in Mighty Mouse having to figure out how to do battle with invisible foes. Still, the solution to that problem is precisely what you suspect it might be. Overall, this one is a bit better than the usual Mighty Mouse cartoon.

Midnight Frolics (1938)
Article 5932 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-25-2021
Directed by Ub Iwerks
Featuring the voices of Mel Blanc, The King’s Men, Harry Stanton
Country: USA
What it is: Spooky silliness

Ghosts sing, dance, play music, and take part in comic bits in a spooky house.

Given the word “midnight” in the title, I’m not the least bit surprised this one qualifies; after all, if it wasn’t ghosts, it would be some other spooky manifestation. The running gag has a door-to-door traveling ghost who keeps interrupting the party, much to the consternation of the ghosts that live in the spooky house. It’s a so-so cartoon, but it’s fun enough as a lead-in to a night of scary movies. Plus, it’s nice to see Ub Iwerks and Mel Blanc on the talent roster for this one.

Mesmerized (1985)
Article 5931 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-24-2021
Directed by Michael Laughlin
Featuring Jodie Foster, John Lithgow, Michael Murphy
Country: Australia / New Zealand / UK
What it is: Drama

A woman raised in an orphanage is trapped in an arranged marriage with a repellant man. She falls for the man’s younger brother, but she becomes a victim of circumstances when she is told that she is responsible for the younger brother’s death, and only her husband can save her from the noose. To what desperation will this drive her?

Initially I didn’t think this was going to have anything in the way of fantastic content and the title was a metaphor rather than an indication that mesmerism played any part in the plot. However, mesmerism does pop up in the second half of the movie, and I also found the movie listed in John Stanley’s Creature Features guide, though the plot summary in that guide is entirely incorrect. The use of mesmerism ends up playing a crucial role in setting up a single plot point in the movie. Furthermore, I can’t really say whether its use goes beyond the bounds of realistic use of mesmerism. At any rate, the fantastic content does feel marginal in this case.

This movie has a low rating on IMDB, and though I don’t think it’s awful, it does have a fair amount of problems; it’s slow as hell, rather unpleasant, has a distant feel to it, and by the end of the movie, leaves you feeling that it is less than the sum of its parts. Jodie Foster was a co-producer, but from one of the user notes on IMDB I gather that she herself thought very little of the film. In the end, I found the movie neither enjoyable nor satisfying.

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.