Crawlspace (1986)
Article 5775 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-25-2020
Directed by David Schmoeller
Featuring Klaus Kinski, Talia Balsam, Barbara Whinnery
Country: USA / Italy
What it is: That’s what we’re trying to figure out.

A young woman becomes a tenant in an apartment building, unaware that the landlord is the homicidal son of a Nazi surgeon.

Is it a slasher, or is it a psycho killer movie? In this one, it’s a little hard to tell. If it’s the former, then getting Klaus Kinski to play your slasher villain is overkill. Still, on the plus side, he’s probably going to make the villain a lot more interesting than it might otherwise be. On the down side, you cast Kinski at your own peril; director David Schmoeller would reflect on the unpleasantness of the experience in a short called PLEASE KILL MR. KINSKI, a plea that was made to the director by the other cast and crew members. On the other hand, if it is a psycho killer movie, we need a somewhat more complex character for our killer than we find here; for example, having our killer be the son of a Nazi surgeon should feel like an organic choice rather than a gimmick. And, once we reach the climax of the movie, it seems to follow the slasher playbook closely. The odd little touches here and there keep the movie from being entirely routine, but overall, it’s a bit on the disappointing side.

Corruption (1933)
Article 5774 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-22-2020
Directed by Charles E. Roberts
Featuring Evalyn Knapp, Preston Foster, Charles Delaney
Country: USA
What it is: Political crime drama

When a newly-elected crusading anti-corruption mayor turns out to mean what he says, his party tries to frame him and get him out of the way.

I was about two-thirds through with watching this movie when it occurred to me that it might qualify for my review criteria. I finally found it listed in the “Forgotten Horrors” book, where it makes it on the grounds of the existence of a mad scientist in the story. This didn’t occur to me at first. What did catch my attention was a murder method that may fall within the bounds of science fiction; as explaining it might involve giving away spoilers, I will say no more. I will say, however, that those elements are the most interesting thing about the movie, which is otherwise your typical B movie material; it’s passable but uninspired, though it does have a couple of interesting characters. Mischa Auer was the only really familiar name I saw in the cast, and he plays the most memorable character.

Confidence (1933)
Article 5773 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-20-2020
Directed by William Nolan and Walter Lantz
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Animated allegory

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit wakes up one morning to discover that his chickens have all become too dispirited to lay eggs. He runs to visit the doctor, who points him the way of the one who can really help him.

If “Confidence” seems like an odd title to an animated cartoon, that’s because it is, but you’ll figure out soon enough that this cartoon is an allegory for the then-current situation rather than just entertainment. The fantastic content of this cartoon is the first hint; we see a spectral figure named “Depression” rising out of the swamps and flying throughout the world, with a noted stop at Oswald’s chicken coop. By the time it started to occur to me that the depression in question was economic rather than emotional, the cartoon was making other statements to clarify it; Oswald’s race to the doctor coincides with anthropomorphic animals demanding their money from the banks, and of course the doctor’s advice is to go to Washington and visit FDR, who appears as an animated figure, sings the title song, and allows Oswald to draw from a barrel of Confidence he keeps in the oval office. No, it’s not a great cartoon, but it’s more about hope in a bad time rather than laughter, and so many cartoons from this era feel unfocused that it’s a genuine novelty to find one with a clear purpose and message. Put this one in the category of “Of Historical Interest”.

The Cobweb Hotel (1936)
Article 5771 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-16-2020
Directed by Dave Fleischer and Dave Tendlar
Featuring the voice of Jack Mercer
Country: USA
What it is: Fleischer cartoon

A newlywed fly couple decide to spend the night at the Cobweb hotel, only to discover that the place is a trap run by a hungry spider.

it doesn’t speak well for the mental acuity of our newlywed fly couple that the name of the hotel wasn’t enough to warn them. The opening scene in which the spider sings a song while we see trapped flies screaming for their lives is certainly enough to get this one classified as a horror cartoon of sorts. And, truth be told, it’s pretty much played for thrills rather than laughs, though there are moments of whimsy. I can’t help but notice that our spider is short a couple of his legs, but that’s a minor quibble. This one passes muster.

Claws for Alarm (1954)
Article 5770 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-15-2020
Directed by Chuck Jones
Featuring the voice of Mel Blanc
Country: USA
What it is: Looney Tunes

Porky decides to spend the night in a deserted hotel in a ghost town, but his cat Sylvester becomes aware that the other residents of the hotel are a gang of homicidal mice.

This is part of a short series of cartoons from Warner Brothers which are noteworthy for two reasons: 1) they are among the few cartoons where Sylvester is treated as a sympathetic character, and 2) they are perhaps the most horrific entries the animation department ever did. These mice aren’t just being mischievous; they’re sadistic and homicidal, which is part of the reason that they mostly remain shadowy figures. The humor is largely centered around Sylvester being the only one who knows of the threat, and his attempts to save Porky’s life are mistaken for madness or (even worse) attempts by himself on Porky’s life. It also serves as an example of how Chuck Jones could take a stock character from the company and rethink it to serve his own purposes; this is one of the very few times he ever used Sylvester (who mostly got a workout on the Tweety and Speedy Gonzalez cartoons, which were done by others), and he chose to make him non-speaking and with his nerves on edge every second. It’s also no surprise that he humor isn’t so much knee-slappingly funny as malicious and darkly ironic. This is why I suspect only a very small handful of these were made (I think there’s at least one other); my guess is that they were a little too strong for the studio.

A Christmas Dream (1946)
aka Vanocni sen
Article 5769 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-12-2020
Directed by Karel Zeman
Cast unknown
Country: Czechoslovakia
What it is: Christmas whimsy

Dazzled by a new set of toys sitting under her Christmas tree, a little girl tosses away her old ragged doll in favor of new toys. That night, Santa decides to help the discarded toy regain the love of the girl by having the girl have a dream about the doll.

From what I gather, the scenes with Santa Claus were not present in the original short, but he really plays only a minor role in the proceedings, and the true spirit of the short (the animated capering of the doll) is the main attraction here. And it is a delightful little short. Furthermore, it was the first work from Czech director Karel Zeman, who would give us some of the most magical special effects movies of the sixties, so that makes it of historical interest as well. Sure, it’s a bit slight, but for a directorial debut, it’s a triumph. My favorite moment is when the doll turns a fan on a picture of a ship on the ocean, which causes the ship to sail through a storm; it’s the kind of mixed special effect magic I’d expect from Zeman.

A Christmas Carol (1923)
aka Scrooge
Article 5768 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-12-2020
Directed by Edwin Greenwood
Featuring Russell Thorndike, Nina Vanna, Forbes Dawson
Country: UK
What it is: You already know

You know the story.

About six minutes into this adaptation of the Dickens classic, Scrooge runs outside and assaults a boy with a clipboard who was singing outside of Scrooge’s door. This left me the impression that our Scrooge this time was particularly vile, and out of curiosity I checked the running time of the movie, and was disappointed to find out that it ran a scant 27 minutes. Why did this disappoint me? I’ll explain. I’ve seen and reviewed so many versions of this story that I finally settled on some specific criteria that I would use to evaluate any further version I encountered. The main question I ask of any version of this story is this: Is Scrooge treated as a full-blooded human being, or is he treated as an icon of miserliness?

Let me elaborate. I’ve always held that the real meat of the story of “A Christmas Carol” takes place during the visits of the three ghosts who take Scrooge on a tour of his life story. It is only through reliving and experiencing these events that Scrooge is able to convincingly make the transformation that must occur for him to be the Scrooge he is at the end of the story. If a movie gives these sequences short shrift, it betrays the fact that it isn’t interested in Scrooge as a full-blooded character, but only as the icon of miserliness. And, true enough, the visits from the three ghosts barely register here; in fact, the Ghost of Christmas Present does little more than tell Scrooge he won’t be hanging around with him this holiday season. On the other hand, the movie uses the lion’s share of its running time having Scrooge play the miser.

No, it’s not the worst offender in this regard, but I’m always disappointed when an adaptation of this story makes that choice. Nor do I understand why this version so much time with Scrooge’s nephew’s family and completely ignores the character of Tiny Tim. This is not my favorite version of the story by a long shot.

Charlie Cuckoo (1939)
Article 5767 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-10-2020
Directed by Elmer Perkins
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Walter Lantz cartune

A cuckoo-clock bird discovers that congress has passed a bill for a 44 hour work week, and decides he’s been overworked. He quits, and tries to enter life as a real bird, but runs into problems…

I made a judgment call on this one. A talking cuckoo-clock bird doesn’t quite qualify as an anthropomorphic animal since he’s more of a figurine than an animal. Also, the bird’s employer seems to be father time, which puts forth a fantasy world underlying the story. Add to that the fact that our cuckoo bird seems to have multiple personalities (he talks himself into quitting with two different voices), and I think we’ve strayed far enough from normal cartoon convention for this cartoon to qualify as legitimately fantastic. Unfortunately, the cartoon then veers into a pretty ordinary cartoon situation, where the cuckoo bird finds himself a fish out of water in the real world, and he runs into a variety of perils; the most interesting foe he encounters is a woodpecker. I would rather have had the cartoon explore the fantasy world a bit further myself, but I’m not sure it would have been significantly more amusing whichever direction then went with it; the Lantz cartoons (or cartunes, as he would have it) weren’t particularly inspired at this point of time.

Charlie Chan in Panama (1940)
Article 5766 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-10-2020
Directed by Norman Foster
Featuring Sidney Toler, Jean Rogers, Lionel Atwill
Country: USA
What it is: Charlie Chan movie

Charlie Chan works undercover in Panama trying to locate a saboteur/assassin named Ryner who has not been identified. One of eight people aboard a plane flight is the assassin, but which one?

The Lentz guides had a tendency to include whole movie series when only a few of the titles had real fantastic content; as a result, he includes all of the Charlie Chan movies. If I had to make the call, I’m not sure whether I’d include this one or not, but I will point out there are some touches of horror to the proceedings; in particular, there’s a visit to a creepy lab and to a creepy graveyard, and the plot includes rats carrying the plague and people trapped in a tomb. As for the movie itself, I must admit I never noticed if the Charlie Chan series had any wartime-themed entries (like the Sherlock Holmes series did) before, but this is definitely one with a war theme, as the plot also involves an American fleet trying to get through the Panama canal. It’s also a very entertaining entry in the series, though fans of Lionel Atwill should be warned that his deceptively high listing in the cast doesn’t reflect how sparingly he is used in this one. Much of the humor comes through the interactions between Toler and Victor Sen Yung as his number two son.