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.

Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm (1951)
Article 5920 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-6-2021
Directed by Edward Sedgwick
Featuring Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Richard Long
Country: USA
What it is: Rustic hijinks

Ma and Pa Kettle welcome their first grandchild into the world, but an encounter with the other set of grandparents for the child results in a rift between the child’s parents. Will everything work out to a happy ending?

The fantastic content is buried in a minor subplot to the movie. Pa Kettle becomes a radioactive dynamo who can cause electrical items to work just by holding them in his hand. Only about one-third of the movie deals with this situation; the rest of it is more concerned about the rustic Kettles and the urban Parkers. As a whole, it’s sporadically funny enough to get by, and it even borrows a bit I remember from Abbott and Costello involving trying to divide 25 by 5 and getting 14; I suspect this was an old vaudeville routine. For me, the funniest bit was how some of the characters avoid a kidnapping charge after stealing three babies from the hospital.