Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)
aka Gojira X Mekagojira
Article 5675 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-15-2019
Directed by Masaaki Tezuka
Featuring Yumiko Shaku, Shin Takuma, Kana Onodera
Country: Japan
What it is: Kaiju

When a new Godzilla shows up in Japan, authorities build a mechanized version of the monster around the bones of the original Godzilla and use it to do battle with the new one.

This is not to be confused with the similarly-titled movie from the Showa series from 1974 nor the similarly-titled movie from the Heisei series from 1993; this one is from the Shinsei series, and it’s the first movie I’ve covered from that series. The odd thing about the Shinsei series is that they weren’t sequels to each other; rather, they were all individual sequels to the original 1954 GOJIRA which ignored the other sequels. This one also references MOTHRA and WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS. There are several ways to evaluate Godzilla movies, and one is as to whether the movie holds the interest when the monsters aren’t on the screen. This is very much the case with this one; the human characters are well-defined and have interesting (albeit sometimes unsurprising) story arcs; I cared about them. The monster battles are also excellent, and there are a few interesting twists to the story as well. I also like the fact that since Mechagodzilla is built on the bones of the original Godzilla, he actually has something in the way of character and personality; he’s not just a machine. I found this one a thoroughly satisfying entry in the Godzilla canon.

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Passion in the Sun (1964)

Passion in the Sun (1964)
aka The Girl and the Geek
Article 5674 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-12-2019
Directed by Dale Berry
Featuring Dale Berry, Mike Butts, Dee Dent
Country: USA
What it is: Nudie

A woman is kidnapped by two criminals and leads the cops on a chase. Also, a geek escapes from a carnival.

Usually, when Something Weird Video would put two movies on a DVD, it would be billed as a double feature of sorts. This one is not announced on the cover of the DVD for GODMONSTER OF INDIAN FLATS, and was buried in the extras section, which certainly doesn’t make a case for its cinematic significance. I could argue how the plot is unbelievable and ridiculous, but if I did, I would be missing the point; the movie is a nudie, and any scene that doesn’t involve naked women should probably be considered as filler. The fantastic content is the geek, who looks like a man in very tacky makeup. For those not focused on the pulchritude on display, the highlight of the movie is how the geek’s incredible stupidity causes his own death. Not essential viewing.

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Godmonster of Indian Flats (1973)

Godmonster of Indian Flats (1973)
Article 5673 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-11-2019
Directed by Fredric Hobbs
Featuring Christopher Brooks, Stuart Lancaster, E. Kerrigan Prescott
Country: USA
What it is: Strange monster on the loose saga

A representative from an Eastern corporation tries to buy property in a western town under the control of a local tycoon, but the town preys on strangers and is home to a cult. Meanwhile, a nearby scientist experiments with a mutant sheep.

If I had seen this movie without any knowledge of the director, I would have assessed it as a strange variant of a certain monster movie tradition; it’s one of those movies where the monster is kept out of the action until near the end while the rest of the movie is engaged on an entirely different story, and what would have struck me the most would have been the odd ending. However, having seen it after having been familiar with other movies from director Fredric Hobbs (ALABAMA’S GHOST, ROSELAND), my main reaction is amazement at how relatively normal and disappointingly tame it is. However, my familiarity with this director’s work makes me suspect that the main story involves the representative from the corporation, and the monster is just a side issue; the movie has an alternative title of THE SECRET OF SILVERDALE, and I have a feeling the monster angle was added after most of the rest of the movie was made as a way to make it more commercial. At any rate, only the strange ending (which involves a riot on a garbage heap) really strikes me as what I’d expect from Hobbs, but it’s not enough. Sadly, this appears to be Hobbs’ last film, though there is a chance that I may someday see the only movie from his oeuvre that has escaped me, TROIKA. This one was disappointing.

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Mary and Gretel (1916)

Mary and Gretel (1916)
Article 5672 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-3-2019
Director unknown
No cast
Country: USA
What it is: Early stop-motion doll animation

Two dolls are brought to life and told not to pick flowers. They meet a white rabbit and characters from the story of Rip Van Winkle.

I will grant that the stop-motion animation here is certainly excellent for such an early film; it’s a pity that IMDB doesn’t have any credits for who is responsible for this. Certain individual scenes have a cute charm to them as well. The downside is that the short is also rather aimless; though the dolls are the putative main characters, most of the footage involves the bowling dwarfs and the white rabbit pilfering some of their grog, scenes that do not involve the wandering dolls at all. Granted, with only a seven minute running time, there really isn’t going to be much of a story to begin with, but you do expect the action to be more focused than what we have here. It’s an interesting oddity.

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Rip Van Winkle (1921)

Rip Van Winkle (1921)
Article 5671 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-2-2019
Directed by Edward Ludwig
Featuring Thomas Jefferson, Milla Davenport, Daisy Jefferson
Country: USA
What it is: American fantasy

In an effort to get away from his shrewish wife, Rip Van Winkle escapes to the forest where he encounters a strange group of men. He falls asleep, and wakes up twenty years later.

I found this one on YouTube, and watched it under the impression that it was the 1914 movie of the same name (it was marked as such on YouTube), but when the story description on IMDB didn’t match up with what I saw, I was able to deduce from the cast list that it was the 1921 version I saw. Both versions starred Thomas Jefferson, whose father Joseph Jefferson made a career of playing the role of Rip; I’ve covered some of the very early silent shorts with Joseph in the role. Had it been the 1914 version, I would have found it a bit more praiseworthy; it has a nice sense of humor and fleshes out its story well. However, for a 1921 movie, it comes off as a little creaky for its year. It was based on the Washington Irving story as well as the play version cowritten by Joseph Jefferson and Dion Boucicoult. A couple of sudden transitions and an abrupt ending may indicate the print I saw was not complete, but I rather enjoyed this version anyway.

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A Dog’s Love (1914)

A Dog’s Love (1914)
Article 5670 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-28-2019
Directed by Jack Harvey
Featuring Shep the Dog, Helen Badgley, Arthur Bauer
Country: USA
What it is: Tearjerker

A girl’s only friend is Shep, the dog next door. When the girl dies in a car accident, the dog is inconsolable.

All you need to know is that this short is as relentless a tear-jerker as the plot description makes it sound it’s going to be; most of the short involves the dog’s traumatic reaction to the death of the girl. Given the premise, it can’t help but be somewhat effective. It’s biggest problem is that it’s just a tad too gimmicky; having the dog go to a flower store and pick up some flowers to put on the girl’s grave feels too forced. The fantastic content that eventually manifests itself (I won’t reveal what it is, but you’ll know it when you see it) is also a problem; it’s the sort of thing that should alter the arc of the story, but it does no such thing, and feels unnecessary. Still, I will give the short a bit of credit for being out of the ordinary; most tear-jerkers of this sort have the human mourning the death of the animal.

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The Magic Cloak (1914)

The Magic Cloak (1914)
aka The Magic Cloak of Oz
Article 5669 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-28-2019
Directed by J. Farrell MacDonald
Featuring Mildred Harris, Violet MacMillan, Fred Woodward
Country: USA
What it is: Another Oz story

A family leaves their home and have a series of adventures; the son unexpectedly becomes king of Noland, the daughter is given a magic cloak by a fairy, and a donkey is stolen by robbers.

This is another of the three Oz movies scripted by L. Frank Baum in 1914. Reportedly, it was as long as the others, but was cut into two shorts for release in England. The original film is lost, but the two shorts survived, and were edited back together to create a shortened version of the original feature. You would think with all of this editing the story would be rendered incomprehensible, but actually, I found it the most coherent of the three films; maybe they ended up editing out the worst of it. Unlike the other Oz stories, this features none of the characters from The Wizard of Oz, but I rather like it doesn’t try to tie it to that other book; after all, Oz is an entire world. Once again, the costumes are the best thing about it, and though the story is coherent, it really isn’t all that good. Still, after having seen the other two movies from this series, this is perhaps the best of the lot.

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His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914)

His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914)
Article 5668 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-24-2019
Directed by J. Farrell MacDonald
Featuring Violet MacMillan, Frank Moore, Pierre Couderc
Country: USA
What it is: Another adventure in the Land of Oz

When the evil King Krewl is unable to make his daughter marry an unwanted suitor, he has a witch cast a spell over her so that her heart will freeze. Dorothy escapes from the witch, and finds friends to help her save the princess from her fate.

If I were to take a stab at describing this one, it would be as terminally distracted retelling of “The Wizard of Oz”, only with an entirely different plot driving the action. I’d be tempted to call it unfaithful to the spirit of L. Frank Baum, but I can’t, as Baum himself wrote the screenplay. It’s one of those movies that I don’t know how to react to; the plot becomes difficult to follow at times because it keeps being distracted by slapstick scenes with people in animal costumes, and these scenes generally bring the story to a halt. The costumes, however, are the best things about this one; it’s probably more enjoyable if you give up on trying to follow the story and enjoy the spectacle, but even that gets old after a while. All in all, this is a sporadically entertaining mess.

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Lena and the Geese (1912)

Lena and the Geese (1912)
Article 5667 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-18-2019
Directed by D.W. Griffith
Featuring Mary Pickford, J. Jiquel Lanoe, Kate Bruce
Country: USA
What it is: Fairy tale short

A noblewoman gets rid of an inconvenient baby by passing her on to a peasant woman. Then, when on her deathbed, the noblewoman regrets her decision and sends for her now-grown daughter to reinstate her. However, the peasant woman decides to send her own child in place of the adopted one.

Let’s get the fantastic content out of the way first – there is none. However, I can understand why this was classified as a fantasy; it is based on a fairy tale, and in general it is assumed fairy tales are fantasies. It’s just that this particular story has no fantastic touches.

As for the movie itself, for me the most striking thing about it was Mary Pickford’s performance. I would not have noticed had I not been on my recent chronological coverage of fantastic films, but Pickford’s performance seems to take silent film acting to a new level; she seems to be the first actress to really master the art of acting in this medium. As such, this is one of the first silent films in which the acting itself is the main attraction, and it’s easy to see why she became one of the first silent film stars. The acting is what lifts the story, especially during the sequence when Pickford’s character tries to master the alien (to her) art of etiquette. Pickford herself chose the story based on the fairy tale “The Goose Girl”, though I wonder about the retitling, which seems to imply that the geese will play more of a role than they ultimately do.

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The Portrait of the Lady Anne (1912)

The Portrait of the Lady Anne (1912)
Article 5666 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-17-2019
Directed by Lloyd Lonergan
Featuring Florence La Badie, Justin D. Barnes, William Russell
Country: USA
What it is: Ancestral spirit story

In the eighteenth century, a woman breaks up an engagement in a fit of jealousy, and marries another man. She lives to regret it and dies of grief. Many years later, a descendant of hers is about to make the same mistake. Can her spirit save her descendant?

I’ve been going through movies in a roughly chronological order lately, and I’ve definitely noticed that the second decade of the twentieth century marked a definite shift from the first decade; there’s less wild experimentation with trick photography and a concentration on story-telling and making the tricks fit the story. The main trick effect here is the spirit emerging from her portrait. The trick is nothing new, but here it is part and parcel of the story; in fact, the portrait with the missing person proves to be a clue to the descendant as to what’s going on. Florence La Badie seems to have been a star of the era; I’ve seen her name pop up a lot, and here she has a dual role, as both ancestor and descendant. The story is merely okay, but it’s well done and moderately entertaining.

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