Time Gallops On (1952)

Time Gallops On (1952)
Article 5705 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-18-2020
Directed by Mannie Davis
Featuring the voice of Arthur Kay
Country: USA
What it is: Cartoon about technological progress

A smithy finds himself becoming obsolescent as cars replace horses, but he decides to bring his job up to the modern age by fashioning a robot horse.

It’s a Terrytoon, and that usually means that it isn’t going to be very good, and in terms of its comedy, I’d have to agree. Yet I do have to say that I liked its thematic center; it’s a cartoon that actually tries to be more than a series of gags by exploring the pitfalls of technological progress, and when the robot horse pops up, it veers into the science fiction genre. Furthermore, I stumbled across this one; as far as I can tell, none of my guides mention it as genre. But then, that’s mostly because the output of Terrytoon has fallen into obscurity. I’m glad I’m able to bring this one to light.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Huey’s Ducky Daddy (1953)

Huey’s Ducky Daddy (1953)
Article 5704 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-13-2020
Directed by Izzy Sparber and Dave Tendlar
Featuring the voices of Mae Questel and Sid Raymond
Country: USA
What it is: Oversized animated baby antics

Baby Huey’s daddy is forced to take his son fishing. Disaster ensues.

By my usual rules of cartoon fantastic content, I might not have covered this one (since most of the fantastic content falls under the categories of talking animals and comic exaggeration, which are animation traditions rather than real fantastic content), but since the Walt Lee guide mentions this one, I’ll cover it. Baby Huey certainly exhibits super strength a few times in this one, and the presence of a shark at one point gives us a bit of horror as well. As a cartoon, it’s mostly pretty so-so, but the occasional gag works all right; my favorite is finding out how a lighthouse works. At any rate, it’s fun to finally have gotten around to writing another review after a long gap.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Iron Giant (1999)

The Iron Giant (1999)
Article 5703 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-11-2019
Directed by Brad Bird
Featuring the voices of Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Aniston
Country: USA
What it is: A Boy and His Robot

A young boy encounters an amnesiac giant robot from outer space and befriends him, but a government agent seeks to have the robot destroyed.

I remember seeing the ads for this movie when it was out in the theaters, and sadly, they did little to pique my interest in the movie. The movie subsequently bombed at the box office. It wasn’t until it was offered at the Creepy Classics website that I became interested in the movie; the listing claimed the movie had copious references to science fiction movies from the fifties, and so I thought I’d pick up a copy and give it a watch. When I finally saw it, it wasn’t the fifties references that held my attention; it was the movie itself, which was one of the best and most moving animated films I’d seen, and I feel sad that I never caught it in the theater.

Nowadays the movie is considered the classic it is, and I still find myself getting totally caught up in it when I watch it. It’s both hilarious and moving, the characters are a fun and fascinating bunch, and Brad Bird’s direction is marvelous. Plus there are lots of touches of fifties culture in the movie; there’s a “duck and cover” animated movie being watched in schools, a Maypo commercial, and the owner of the junkyard is a beatnik. The only problem I have with the movie is that the villainy of the government agent is too broad; he’s not quite as convincing as the other characters. Still, that’s a minor quibble, and I have an enduring love for this movie, My highest recommendation.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Invisible Man (1984)

The Invisible Man (1984)
TV Miniseries
Article 5702 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-10-2019
Directed by Brian Lighthill
Featuring Pip Donaghy, David Gwillim, Lila Kaye
Country: UK
What it is: Faithful Wells adaptation

A mysterious stranger arrives at a country inn and stays to perform mysterious experiments. It turns out he is a scientist who has turned himself invisible.

No, this TV miniseries of the H.G. Wells novel is not up to the classic Universal version from 1933, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its uses. It’s a solid and faithful take on the tale, and even if there aren’t any big names in the cast, it is adequately acted and directed; the most familiar names in the credits were Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts, both veterans of DOCTOR WHO. It was originally shown in 6 30-minute segments, but was edited into 3 60 minute segments when sold abroad; it is that version I’ve watched. Though it’s certainly made with a small budget, it does have a few interesting moments in the special effects, especially of the invisible man eating. It’s a bit long for one sitting, but that’s what you’d expect from a mini-series.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Red Nightmare (1962)

Red Nightmare (1962)
Article 5701 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-26-2019
Directed by George Waggner
Featuring Jack Kelly, Jeanne Cooper, Peter Brown
Country: USA
What it is: Government anti-communist propaganda film

A married man who is lax in his civic duties dreams that his town has been taken over by communists.

I found this short as an extra on my DVD of INVASION USA, and it makes an apt companion to that feature. Both movies feature people who haven’t been sufficiently motivated to fight the threat of communism undergoing a transforming dream experience (one hypnotically induced, the other a normal dream) which makes them reform; incidentally, it’s from the same template from which A CHRISTMAS CAROL was built. The main difference between the two is that the feature was primarily concerned with the horrors of an invasion of American soil (the political philosophy could have been easily changed to any other threat), whereas the short was more concerned of the horrors of actually living under a communist regime.

Of the two, this short is the more effective; it’s professionally made, well-acted, and not swamped with stock footage. It does have its faults, however; the townspeople during the dream sequence mostly behave like heartless robots spouting occasional Marxist propaganda, which is very stereotypical. It also gets long-windedly preachy at this time. Still, I suspect this choices were intentional; after all, this was a government film (albeit one that had a lot of professional Hollywood help) whose purpose was to scare people away from communism. Several name actors and familiar faces appear: Jack Webb narrates, and both Andrew Duggan and Robert Conrad appear. Nowadays, it’s a bit of a curio.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Boundin’ (2003)

Boundin’ (2003)
Article 5700 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-5-2019
Directed by Bud Luckey
Featuring the voice of Bud Luckey
Country: USA
What it is: Attitude adjustment

A sheep loves to dance until he gets sheared, and then he gets depressed. Can someone help him solve his attitude problem?

To be honest, part of me didn’t want to review this one, and since my memory mostly remembered it as a compendium of talking and dancing animals, I thought I could skip it using the excuse that animals of this sort were merely a cartoon convention, and not real fantastic content. However, the presence of the mythical jackalope did nudge it into fantastic territory, so here’s the review.

Why didn’t I want to review this one? It’s because I’m a 1) big Pixar fan, and this short is in the unenviable position of being 2) the first work of theirs that did not blow me away. This is not to say that the animation and production values aren’t up to scratch; they are. It’s just that the story (such as it is) does nothing for me. It’s basically a story about a character who becomes dispirited and is then cheered up and regains his spirit. Now, stories like this can work (and often have), but there’s not enough time here to develop any sort of real empathy with the sheep, and the short ends up being no more inspirational than your average inspirational poster; sadly, the latter leave me cold. Pixar has much better shorts out there, and I look forward to covering them in the future.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Mr. Incredible and Pals (2005)

Mr. Incredible and Pals (2005)
Article 5699 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-4-2019
Directed by Roger Gould
Featuring the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Samuel L. Jackson, Roger Jackson
Country: USA
What it is: The closest I’ll come to reviewing Clutch Cargo

Mr. Incredible, Frozone, and Mr. Skipperdoo have to locate Lady Lightbug after she steals a bridge.

Given the high quality of Pixar’s animation work, the presence of this extra on the THE INCREDIBLES 2-DVD set is hilarious, as it features some of the characters from the movie in a cartoon modeled after the style of “Clutch Cargo”. Yes, it’s a one-joke premise, but it’s a funny joke. Furthermore, I highly recommend that the viewer also view the copy featuring commentary from Mr. Incredible and Frozone, who are seeing this for the first time; it deepens the joke and is much funnier than the version without commentary. This is one of my all-time favorite DVD extras.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Jack-Jack Attack (2005)

Jack-Jack Attack (2005)
Article 5698 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-29-2019
Directed by Brad Bird
Featuring the voices of Bret ‘Brook’ Parker, Bud Luckey, Eli Fucile
Country: USA
What it is: Comic animated short

A babysitter cares for a child who is the offspring of superheroes…and who is just on the verge of discovering his own superpowers.

When Pixar movies are released on DVD, they often include an original short featuring the characters and universe of the accompanying feature, in this case THE INCREDIBLES. In this case (according to IMDB), the short consists at least partially of footage cut from the original movie which involves the travails of a babysitter trying to deal with a baby’s development of superpowers. It’s easy to see why the footage was cut; had it remained, it would have given away a revelation that plays a major role in the climax of the movie too early. On its own terms, it’s an amusing item that fleshes out incidents in the original movie, but it really can’t stand on its own legs as a self-contained entity; it’s a bit confusing if you haven’t seen THE INCREDIBLES. Nevertheless, it’s a lot of fun.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Incredibles (2004)

The Incredibles (2004)
Article 5697 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-27-2019
Directed by Brad Bird
Featuring the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Samuel L. Jackson. Holly Hunter
Country: USA
What it is: Animated superhero action

When superheroes fall out of favor, a family of them goes incognito and tries to live an ordinary life. However, a supervillain is out to destroy all of the superheroes for his own profit, and they must do battle with him.

I’m not particularly keen on superheroes, but I saw this one in a theater when it first came out on the strength of Pixar’s reputation and my admiration for Brad Bird’s THE IRON GIANT. It was well worth the effort; I can confidently say that of the superhero movies I’ve seen, I like this one the best. In fact, it made me realize that I’d rather see well-made movies featuring new and original superheroes rather than the well-worn Marvel and D.C. ones that dominate the movies. I love the way the family life / family problems motif dovetails with the superhero sections, and I really like the characters, especially the Edith Head-inspired superhero costumer Edna Mode (voiced by Brad Bird himself). And, like THE IRON GIANT, Brad Bird can’t resist throwing in a few fifties SF movie references; the underground traveling machine near the end of the movie looks very familiar, and I love the clever reference involving Syndrome’s computer password.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

El hombre y el bestia (1973)

El hombre y la bestia (1973)
Article 5696 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 8-17-2019
Directed by Julian Soler
Featuring Enrique Lizalde, Sasha Montenegro, Carlos Lopez Moctezuma
Country: Mexico
What it is: Jekyll and Hyde all over again

A doctor develops a concoction that brings out his evil side.

I picked up this movie years ago thinking it would turn out to be the 1951 movie of the same name, which was then on my hunt list, but I saw my mistake. It sat around until I encountered it going through my collection. My copy is in Spanish with no English subtitles, but given that it’s based on the very familiar Jekyll and Hyde story, it’s not that difficult to sort out. However, even though it doesn’t appear to be religiously following any of the earlier versions I’ve seen, unless there’s something really interesting happening in the dialogue I can’t understand, it doesn’t appear to be a particularly interesting version. The most interesting touch to my eyes is a moment where the Hyde character tries to force a woman to drink the potion. All in all, this isn’t one of the better takes on the story.

0 CommentsLeave a comment