Monkey Business (1952)

MONKEY BUSINESS (1952)
Article 2261 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-27-2007
Posting Date: 10-21-2007
Directed by Howard Hawks
Featuring Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Charles Coburn

A scientist is working on a revitalizing youth formula, but doesn’t succeed until a monkey mixes up the potion. He decides to test the potion on himself. Hilarity ensues (and this time, I mean it.)

One sign of a top-notch director is that he can put several actors in the same room with a monkey and not have the monkey steal the scene. Granted, it helps when the actors and actresses in question are Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, and Marilyn Monroe. it also helps that the actors are engaged in some extremely absurd behavior; the youth potion in question not only restores the body to a younger vitality, but it seems to place the user’s mind into the same psychological place that it was when they were younger and all those hormones were running wild. Hawks was also smart enough to know that the slapstick antics toward the end of the movie were something to build up to rather than something to unleash from square one; the movie starts out with more subtle humor, and gradually gets broader as the situation progresses. Things get pretty wild, especially during the sequence where Cary Grant gets together with a group of kids playing Indians and convinces them to scalp Hugh Marlowe while Ginger Rogers tries desperately to deal with the fact that she thinks her husband has literally turned into a baby. The cast and director Howard Hawks make this one a treat, and it’s great to see another Hawks movie for this series; the only other one I’ve covered is THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD , from which this movie borrows Robert Cornthwaite and Douglas Spencer from the cast.

 

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The Man in the White Suit (1951)

THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT (1951)
Article 2260 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-25-2007
Posting Date: 10-20-2007
Directed by Alexander Mackendrick
Featuring Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker

A man invents a fabric that will never wear out and never needs cleaning. He soon finds himself the pariah of the textile industry and the labor force, as the invention will put them out of work.

This will probably be the only one of Alec Guinness’s Ealing comedies that I will watch for this series. It’s a shame; Guinness is a fine actor, and this comedy about planned obsolescence and the way society has become used to it is thoughtful, deeply satirical, quite amusing, and even quite moving towards the end. It’s extremely well acted by all, and the cast also includes MIchael Gough and Ernest Thesiger, two faces very familiar to horror fans. The movie doesn’t go for wackiness as much as it slightly exaggerates what could be a very real situation; like all good satirical comedies, it’s a little too convincing to be shrugged aside. Some of the special effects are very effective; I love the luminosity of the suit which occasionally makes it look like Guinness was shot in negative photography. Highly recommended.

 

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A Voyage Around a Star (1906)

A VOYAGE AROUND A STAR (1906)
aka Voyage autour d’une etoile
Article 2259 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-24-2007
Posting Date: 10-19-2007
Directed by Gaston Valle
Cast unknown

An astronomer, smitten by heavenly bodies in the stars, decides to fly into space in a soap bubble to meet them.

In one way, I was quite impressed with this attempt to mimic a George Melies movie; it’s the one that most looks like Melies might have done it himself. Of course, one of the big factors is that it includes one of Melies’ continuing characters – namely, the cranky guy in Saturn. You know, you really don’t want to mess with the cranky guy in Saturn; he doesn’t take kindly to those flirting with his heavenly bodies, as the astronomer finds out here. Still, the most striking thing about this short is the ending, which is rather grotesque for what is for the most part a light-hearted comedy.

Incidentally, this movie was at the top of my hunt list, so I’ve been looking for it a long time.

 

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Knights of the Round Table (1953)

KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE (1953)
Article 2258 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-22-2007
Posting Date: 10-18-2007
Directed by Richard Thorpe
Featuring Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer

King Arthur tries to unite his country with the help of the Knights of the Round Table, but the evil Sir Mordred tries to thwart him by using Sir Lancelot’s love for the queen against him.

Maybe if I hadn’t already seen MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (which pokes hilarious fun at the whole King Arthur story) and EXCALIBUR (which handles the same story with real gusto), I might have liked this one better. Yes, it’s got color and spectacle, and if that’s all that’s important to you, go for it. Unfortunately, all too often people open their mouths and speak the words, and the artificial, mannered and sadly unlyrical dialogue saps a great deal of vitality from the movie; the characters and relationships never really come to life. As a result, stretches of this movie are as dull as they come, and the almost total lack of a sense of humor (except for a truly strange pillow-fight-on-horseback) just makes it drag all the more. It picks up a little towards the end, but it’s a fairly long stretch before that. This is definitely not my favorite take on the legend.

 

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Mad About Men (1954)

MAD ABOUT MEN (1954)
Article 2257 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-21-2007
Posting Date: 10-17-2007
Directed by Ralph Thomas
Featuring Glynis Johns, Donald Sinden, Anne Crawford

A mermaid agrees to take the place of a woman whom she resembles for two weeks, and then proceeds to break up the engagement her look-alike had in favor of a new men.

This is the sequel to MIRANDA , a movie I saw several years ago and which didn’t particularly impress me. This one doesn’t impress me either. Glynis Johns is certainly lovely, and Margaret Rutherford and whoever plays the second mermaid (I didn’t catch her character name, so I don’t know the name of the actress who played her) are quite amusing, but the movie never really explores the comic possibilities of the plot, settling for a whimsical blandness that may be charming to some, dull and insipid to others. I’m afraid I hone closer to the latter grouping, and I was mostly bored by this one. My favorite scenes are the wilder ones, especially the one where the mermaid steals Margaret Rutherford’s nightie.

 

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Journey to the Lost City (1959)

JOURNEY TO THE LOST CITY (1959)
Article 2256 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-20-2007
Posting Date: 10-16-2007
Directed by Fritz Lang
Featuring Debra Paget, Paul Hubschmid, Walter Reyer

An architect and a prince both love a temple dancer in the lost city of Eschnapur in India. This threatens their friendship, and plays into a plot to dethrone the prince.

Back when I covered the two-part THE INDIAN TOMB from the silent era, I wondered what it would have been like if Fritz Lang had actually directed it rather than only having written it. This is at least a partial answer, though it is definitely flawed by the fact that Lang was in his waning years at this point, the print I saw was actually a condensation of the two movies that made up the remake, and the dubbing and presentation make it seem a lot cheesier than it actually is. Nevertheless, it is a good movie, and it takes itself somewhat more seriously than other similar adventure films from this period, eschewing the use of comic relief, and giving the characters more depth than they might otherwise have. It’s a bit muddled and hard to follow at first, due no doubt to it being a condensation. The story is strong enough to make it work. This was the first time Fritz Lang worked for a German film company after fleeing Germany from the Nazis in the thirties.

 

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Invasion of the Star Creatures (1963)

INVASION OF THE STAR CREATURES (1963)
Article 2255 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-19-2007
Posting Date: 10-15-2007
Directed by Bruno VeSota
Featuring Robert Ball, Frankie Ray, Gloria Victor

Two idiots in the army are sent on a mission to investigate a cave. There they find plantlike space aliens and beautiful women who have a plot to take over the world.

I would really like to like this movie; it’s trying so hard to be a laugh riot and ends up failing dismally at almost every turn. Part of the problem is that the comic leads (Bob Ball and Frankie Ray) simply aren’t appealing enough to keep us amused with their second-rate Leo Gorcey/Huntz Hall shtick. Part of the problem is that the clunky direction plays up every gag as a major laugh riot when some of them will only work if they are thrown away (which is to say, allowed to happen on the side while the main action continues). Another part of the problem is that on top of the fact that many of the gags should be thrown away, some of them should be thrown out altogether; that running gag about crisscrossing paths in the cave isn’t funny the first time, but is repeated ad infinitum. Still, I do manage to dredge up a certain affection for the movie due to a running gag that, cleverly handled, could make for a movie on its own, and that is the fact that many of the characters belong to a fan society for Space Commander Connors, and this society has its own inner hierarchy which can override the hierarchy in the military. This running gag is far and away the best thing in this otherwise dreary bottom-of-the-barrel comedy. Incidentally, the script was written by Corman regular Jonathan Haze.

 

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The Ghost Talks (1949)

THE GHOST TALKS (1949)
Short
Article 2254 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-18-2007
Posting Date: 10-14-2007
Directed by Jules White
Featuring Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, Moe Howard

The Three Stooges go into a haunted house to remove some furniture, and meet a suit of armor haunted by the ghost of the man who saw Lady Godiva.

This short has a nice sense of atmosphere, some fun special effects (my favorite is the skeleton that takes off his own head), and a few fun sight gags. Unfortunately, the energy level is a bit on the low side, the pacing is a bit slow, and the short tries to get too much mileage out of having the Stooges be frightened of everything. It would have worked better if only one of the Stooges was seeing all the spooky stuff while the others didn’t. As it is, it’s a little too conventional and anonymous in its humor much of the time. The Stooges have done better.

 

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The Three Caballeros (1944)

THE THREE CABALLEROS (1944)
Article 2253 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-17-2007
Posting Date: 10-13-2007
Directed by Norman Ferguson
Featuring Aurora Miranda, Carmen Molina, Dora Luz

Donald Duck receives a birthday present which consists of some movies, a book on Brazil from his friend Joe Carioca, and a pinata from Panchito.

This is a distinctly minor Disney animated feature, made during the war with the intention of engendering better relations with the countries of Latin America. It starts out with a couple of shorts, one about a penguin who wants to move to a warmer climate, and one about a man who discovers a flying donkey. These are fairly entertaining. But once we get to this point, it embarks on its main mission, which is to celebrate the music and dance of our Latin American neighbors. To that end, Donald is given two friends, Joe Carioca from Brazil and Panchito from Mexico. The rest of the movie is fairly plotless, and the action largely consists of 1) footage of Latin American music and dancing, 2) Donald Duck ogling beautiful women, and 3) Joe Carioca and Panchito playing tricks on Donald. There’s also a wealth of surreal and bizarre animation, and though the latter should win me over to the movie, it lacks the eerie power of similar animation in DUMBO ( “Pink Elephants on Parade”) or the elegant poetry of FANTASIA . Quite frankly, I found myself rapidly losing interest in the movie after the shorts finished up; the lack of any real plot or meaningful conflict means that the interest level here is dependent on your affinity for Latin American music and dancing, and, if this movie is any indication, it just wasn’t enough to tide me over. As of this time, I rank this as the least interesting of Disney’s animated features that I have reviewed.

 

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Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977)

RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE (1977)
Article 2252 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-17-2007
Posting Date: 10-12-2007
Directed by Richard Williams
Featuring the voices of Didi Conn, Mark Baker, Mason Adams

When a young girl’s new doll from France is kidnapped by a pirate, Raggedy Ann and Andy leave the playroom and go out into the wide world to rescue her.

With just one look at that title, I sat down to prepare myself for what I was sure going to prove an hour and a half of insufferable cuteness. Having now watched, I can at least strike the word “insufferable”. Yes, it’s got major problems; it’s certainly no TOY STORY, it is cuter than I have a taste for (for example, it features a pirate singing a song about friendship to his parrot), and there are far too many songs. But the songs, mediocre as they are, are still consistently stronger than those in PUFNSTUF , and at least one of them (the poignant song of the camel) was strong enough that I actually found myself caught up in the fate of the singer. The animation is also nicely done; in particular, it retains that kind of floppy rag-doll feel that is appropriate for the title characters. Another plus is that it didn’t actively annoy me; only a pair of identical dolls got on my nerves, and they only pop up sporadically. All in all, I found it passable kiddie entertainment, though it may get a little too weird towards the end for the very young.

 

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