Flip (2004)

Flip (2004)
Article 5624 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-21-2019
Directed by Kirk Demarais
Featuring Landen Knowlton, Harrison Knowlton, Jamey Clayberg
Country: USA
What it is: Slice of life short

A monster kid from the sixties named Flip is given a dollar by his grandma for his birthday, with the admonition to “Spend it wisely!” He fantasizes what might happen if he buys any of several different items from the novelty page in his favorite horror comic book.

The first thing you may notice about this short is that it looks like a pretty low-budget affair. However, it won’t take you long to realize that it doesn’t matter; the script is so clever and so perceptive that it wins you over. It does an excellent job of seeing the situation from the boy’s perspective, and it’s done almost entirely without dialogue; the only talking that occurs is during a movie-within-a-movie sequence, and the imagined “spend it wisely” admonition popping up sporadically – everything else is conveyed visually. The fantastic content occurs throughout; two of the items he considers buying (a werewolf mask and a u-control monster) are full of horror content, and the movie within a movie is a horror film. It’s also utterly charming to see the main character’s journey from hope to disappointment, only to have a coda illustrate how the nostalgia of a shared experience can change everything. This is a fine short, and highly recommended.

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The Adventure (1972)

The Adventure (1972)
aka Kuang feng sha, The Iron Fist Adventure
Article 5623 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-21-2019
Directed by Su Li
Featuring Jimmy Wang Yu, Paul Chang Chung, Yeh Tien
Country: Taiwan
What it is: Martial Arts Action Adventure

A captain of the 6th Union Brotherhood vows revenge for a massacre in which his former captain was killed. He finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy for possession of Manka House.

Sometimes cultural differences make it a bit difficult for me to say whether a movie I see has authentic fantastic content. This one is listed in the Walt Lee guide as having “mystic martial arts”, but personally, I didn’t find any overt mysticism in the martial arts on display here. I do wonder if the action takes place in some sort of fantasy world; despite the fact that most of the movie seems to take place in a period setting of some sort, the guns in use look surprisingly modern, and seem out of place. The plot is a bit confusing, but it’s one of those movies that seem primarily to exist for its action set pieces, and those are passable if not inspired. Still, the movie’s English title deserves an award for the most generically titled movie I’ve covered for this series since THE SHOW.

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Adebar (1957)

Adebar (1957)
Article 5622 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-18-2019
Directed by Peter Kubelka
Cast unknown
Country: Austria
What it is: Experimental film

Music plays while we see people dancing and still scenes in silhouette and/or in reverse image.

I rather enjoy delving into some of these experimental films, although it must be said that many of them only qualify as fantastic by dint of their being decidedly non-realistic. However, I can understand others having no use for them or hating them. In this case, I’m willing to bet that some people find the weird repeating musical riff that fills the soundtrack of this one to be grating and unpleasant. They can be grateful that the movie is only two and a half minutes long, but even I have to admit that this one gets old at about the halfway mark, especially when I noticed that certain of the images keep repeating themselves. And in a movie this length, there’s really no reason to have the credits repeated twice. Still, that’s part of the adventure of exploring experimental films.

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Achooo Mr. Kerrooschev (1960)

Achooo Mr. Kerrooschev (1960)

Article 5621 by Dave Sindelar

Date: 1-17-2019
Directed by Stan Vanderbeek
Featuring Nikita Khrushchev
Country: USA
What it is: Experimental collage animation

No real plot; just bizarre images.

For the record, Nikita Khrushchev does not appear in this experimental short as an actor. However, photos of him (usually of his head) are featured prominently throughout the film. The second thought that ran through my head as I watched this was that I don’t suspect Mr. Vanderbeek is particularly fond of Mr. Khrushchev. That’s not to say that there is anything wrong with that; it’s just that the animation mostly consists of Khrushchev’s head appearing in place of someone else in a series of photos, and is only chased off when a hammer shows up to pound on him, and this certainly does not indicate (to me, at least) any great affection for the man. Of course, since this was my SECOND thought upon seeing the short, you’re probably wondering about my first thought. Well, that was that of all the things I’ve seen so far, this short bears a striking resemblance to the Terry Gilliam animations in “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”; you could add this short to any one of their TV episodes and it would look perfectly in place. I do wonder if Gilliam had seen any of Vanderbeek’s work prior to his work with the comedy group.

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Abra Kadabra (1957)

Abra Kadabra (1957)
Article 5620 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-16-2019
Directed by Dusan Vukotic
No cast
Country: Yugoslavia
What it is: Animated short

When a child dusting a bookshelf opts for a science fiction book to read instead of an old magic primer, a magician arises from the latter book and engages in a display of his abilities… only to find himself in competition with modern technology.

With a lowly 5.0 rating on IMDB (albeit from only six voters), this animated short doesn’t appear to have much of a reputation. I, however, was quite taken by it, at least partially because it illustrates a concept that (I think) first originated from science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, who said that a truly advanced technology would seem like magic. The magician seems to be from the time of the Arabian Nights, and he is quite startled to see some of his tricks being mimicked much more effectively by modern appliances such as radios, telephones, televisions, elevators and airplanes. The cartoon does go on a bit too long, and the ending isn’t quite satisfying, but I find it charming and interesting.

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City Beneath the Sea (1962)

City Beneath the Sea (1962)
Article 5619 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-14-2019
Directed by Guy Verney and Kim Mills
Featuring Gerald Flood, Stewart Guldotti, Denis Goacher
Country: UK
What it is: Limited run TV serial

A reporter and a photographer stow away in a stolen submarine and end up in an underwater city run by an evil scientific genius.

Seeing as how I’ve covered several of the Quatermass TV serials, I feel entitled to cover other British limited run TV serials that have sufficient fantastic content, and this one fits the bill. Mind you, it’s not up to the level of the Nigel Kneale Quatermass episodes; this one is a bit stodgy and predictable. The story is somewhat Vernian in feel, and had the evil genius of this story been more of an antihero (like Captain Nemo) rather than an obvious villain, it might have been more intriguing; as it is, you’ll be better off concentrating on the secondary characters who don’t seem to see the evil genius for what he is and seeing how long it goes on before they see the light. The special effects are fairly ragged, but then, what do you expect for a TV show of this era? It’s passable, but not really compelling.

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The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made (2004)

The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made (2004)
Article 5618 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-31-2018
Directed by Brandon Christopher
Featuring Carlos Larkin
Country: USA
What it is: Documentary

A countdown of the fifty worst movies ever made.

Since the lion’s share of the listed movies belong to the fantastic genres, I see fit to review this made-for-video documentary. I don’t plan to contest the choices for the fifty movies themselves; nobody but the makers are going to be completely satisfied with the choices, especially when the list is ranked, and that’s simply the nature of this kind of thing. However, with fifty movies being covered in only sixty minutes, you’re only going to get about a minute and twelve seconds dedicated on average to each movie, and that’s hardly enough time for any real insight. Granted, some movies are given longer segments (such as PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE), but that just means that other titles will have even less time (the segments for TEENAGE ZOMBIES and THE ROBOT VS THE AZTEC MUMMY are almost over before they begin). Furthermore, there’s not much information here that I’ve not already found elsewhere. Still, there is a bit of fun in the countdown format, and there are a few movies I wasn’t familiar with or haven’t seen. So, for what it is, I guess it’s okay.

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Nursery Scandal (1932)

Nursery Scandal (1932)
Article 5617 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-30-2018
Directed by Harry Bailey and John Foster
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Another Van Beuren cartoon

When elves find a book of nursery rhymes, Mother Goose emerges and has an affair with a scarecrow, much to the consternation of her goose.

This should end the run of cartoons for a bit, as it was the last one on the DVD I was watching. This is Van Beuren at its least interesting; despite an initial premise that makes you think it might go somewhere storywise, about all that really happens here as that fairy tale characters come out of a book and sing and dance. You’d think they would at least grab some low-hanging comic fruit when Humpty Dumpty starts to dance (what gag would YOU have happen here?), but no, he just dances and nothing happens. About the closest thing to a good gag here is having the characters jump and hover during a long gap in the music, and that’s pretty far from being a good gag. This is one of those cartoons that’s no meat, all filler.

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Red Riding Hood (1931)

Red Riding Hood (1931)
Article 5616 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-30-2018
Directed by Harry Bailey and John Foster
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Van Beuren cartoon

Red Riding Hood’s grandmother is prescribed to take jazz tonic by her doctor, and the tonic rejuvenates her and returns her to youth. This makes her a very different target for the Big Bad Wolf.

Two factors played into my choosing to review this one; it’s an adaptation (albeit a very loose one) of a famous fairy tale, and the rejuvenating jazz tonic adds a bit more fantastic content to the mix. It’s also very much a product of its time; like other early thirties cartoons, it’s full of extreme animated exaggeration, sometimes surreal visuals, lots of music and dancing, and characters that look like Mickey Mouse but aren’t. Van Bueren also put out the human Tom and Jerry cartoons, and the quality of this one is about on par with one of those; it has a few moments, but over all, it’s only so-so. It’s also a little on the adult side; the plot, such as it is, involves bigamy.

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Ancient Fistory (1953)

Ancient Fistory (1953)
Article 5615 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-29-2018
Directed by Seymour Kneitel
Featuring the voices of Jackson Beck, Jack Mercer, Mae Questel
Country: USA
What it is: Popeye Cartoon

Popeye wants to go to the ball to meet the princess, but evil stepfather Bluto won’t let him. Can Popeye’s fairy godfather fix things for him?

For the record, it looks like Popeye beat Jerry Lewis to the Cinderfella name by a decade. As you may have figured, this is a gender-reverse telling of the Cinderella story, which is easily the most clever thing about the cartoon. But once you get beyond that, this is pretty much the usual Popeye cartoon of the fifties with a few extra trappings, such as the archaic phrasing jokes. But by imitating a fairy tale, it does add to the fantastic content with a fair amount of magical happenings. Still, despite the gimmick, this one isn’t really all that special.

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