The Dog Outwits the Kidnapper (1908)

THE DOG OUTWITS THE KIDNAPPER (1908)
aka Rover Drives a Car
Article 5255 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-25-2016
Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon
Featuring Blair, Barbara Hepworth, Cecil Hepworth
Country: UK
What it is: Comic trick short

A kidnapper makes off with a little girl, but the girl’s dog gives chase… and proves rather resourceful.

This entered my hunt list as ROVER DRIVES A CAR, but that was never an official title for the short, so I couldn’t find it until I was clued in to someone in the know. The gimmick is simple; the short contains footage of a dog driving a car, which puts it at least partially in the realm of fantasy. In some of the scenes, you clearly see the dog in the driver’s seat; in others, it’s a little too far away to tell whether it’s someone in a dog costume. It’s cute, but only partially effective; the movie tends to let scenes go on too long for their own good, so it drags a little. Other than that, it’s moderately entertaining.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Day of Triumph (1954)

DAY OF TRIUMPH (1954)
Article 5254 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-23-2016
Directed by John T. Coyle and Irving Pichel
Featuring Lee J. Cobb, James Griffith, Ralph Freud
Country: USA
What it is: The Christ story

The story of Christ’s life is seen through the eyes of a man leading a Jewish resistance group against the Romans.

Since the Christ story is awash with miracles and fantastic happenings, I’m probably destined to watch every extant movie version of the story. IMDB claims that this is the first widescreen depiction of the story, and though that may be true, the saying of it makes it sound as if it’s going to be bigger and more epic than it is. As it is, the movie feels cramped and static, and it looks like it was doing its best to make a lowly budget stretch to fit the movie. I wasn’t surprised to discover that the movie was an independent film made by a newly created company which in a previous incarnation specialized in shorter films distributed to church groups.

Yet, despite this, I rather like the movie. For one thing, the decision to tell the story through the eyes of the leader of a rebel resistance group manages to bring an air of freshness to the scene, and the political backdrop manages to find ways to flesh out the characters of Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate in particular. I also like Robert Wilson’s performance as Jesus; though some feel he’s dull, I like the sense that he both a) feels very comfortable in the role, as well he should, as he’d played the role in those earlier short movies for the churches and b) he manages to avoid coming across as too sanctimonious. It’s an interesting way to tell the story, and it somewhat offsets the rather hangdog air of the movie. Incidentally, this was Irving Pichel’s last directorial effort.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Lucky Ghost (1942)

LUCKY GHOST (1942)
Article 5253 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-21-2016
Directed by William Beaudine
Featuring Mantan Moreland, F.E. Miller, Maceo Bruce Sheffield
Country: USA
What it is: All-black ghost comedy

Two drifters hit the big time when they take two rich men on in a crap game and visit a nightclub with gambling. However, the owner of the nightclub is a very jealous man… and the club is also haunted.

I’ve encountered Mantan Moreland many times, most notably in KING OF THE ZOMBIES and an assortment of Charlie Chan films, but this is the first time I’ve caught him as the headliner in an all-black film. It looks like he was part of a comedy team known as Miller and Moreland at this time, but Miller is largely the straight man to Mantan’s antics. Mantan is as energetic as ever, and even though he doesn’t quite get as many great lines as he did in KING OF THE ZOMBIES, he makes up for it by doing some great physical comedy; we even get a chance to see him dance. The biggest downside of the movie is that it makes extensive use of what is for me the most tiresome of the black stereotypes of the era – their supposed obsession with gambling with dice; in fact, most of the plot is centered around this concept. At least it’s not your usual “old dark house” story; the ghosts are portrayed as real, and often manifest themselves as skeletons. Still, I think Mantan fans will feel they got their money’s worth with this one, and it is a bit of fun.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Repas Infernal (1901)

REPAS INFERNAL (1901)
aka Repas impossible, The Infernal Meal
Article 5252 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-20-2016
Directed by Ferdinand Zecca
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Early trick short

A diner with a devilish waiter finds himself assaulted by his dining table.

I’m sure I’ve seen a few variations of this one already; a diner finds it impossible to eat because of the antics of the dining furniture. This one rushes by so quickly that it really doesn’t have time to explore the possibilities; other than the table jumping on his back and the waiter disappearing in a puff of smoke, not much really happens. Granted, the copy of the short I saw ran only 23 seconds, and about a third of that is the opening title, so I can’t say expected anything more elaborate. However, this one might have been more fun had it been longer.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Cinq minutes de cinema pur (1926)

CINQ MINUTES DE CINEMA PUR (1926)
Article 5251 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-18-2016
Directed by Henri Chomette
No cast
Country: France
What it is: Experimental film

No plot

If the title translates as FIVE MINUTES OF PURE CINEMA, then I have to say that’s a good title for an experimental film; I’d expect it to be one with a title like that. In this case, what it amounts to is a series of shots of unidentifiable glassy objects followed by some shots of trees. Much of the film is static; we see an object and it fades out as a new object (or a new view of the same object) fades back in. There are a few segments which include movement, but not many. And, for me, that’s one of the problems with this one; I would think movement would be essential for a work to be “pure cinema”; static shots have the air of watching a display of photographs. In fact, in comparison with most of the experimental work I’ve seen, this one is rather dull. Still, there is a chance that the lack of a musical soundtrack in the copy I found might have had a detrimental effect on my viewing; this is the type of short that screams for music. As it is, it’s a bit of a disappointment, and doesn’t quite live up to the title. And I’m not sure anything about this one could be properly said to have any fantastic content.

1 CommentLeave a comment

The Little Chimney Sweep (1935)

THE LITTLE CHIMNEY SWEEP (1935)
aka Der kleine Schornsteinfeger
Article 5250 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-16-2016
Directed by Lotte Reiniger
Voice cast unknown
Country: Germany
What it is: Silhouette-animated melodrama

A little chimney sweep becomes embroiled in the plot of an evil nobleman to kidnap a young woman in order to get her money.

It’s always a treat to watch one of Lotte Reiniger’s excellent forays into silhouette animation, and this one is no exception; it’s full of character, very charming, and efficiently done. However, it is also an example of an animated movie that, outside of the fact that all the characters only appear in silhouette, has no fantastic content. The story is a realistic, straightforward melodrama with no fantastical touches, and if any non-human characters appear (there may be a dog or two), they are not anthropomorphic. It’s quite enjoyable, but I’m afraid this one really doesn’t qualify for this series.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Brasil ano 2000 (1969)

BRASIL ANO 2000 (1969)
aka Brazil Year 2000
Article 5249 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-14-2016
Directed by Walter Lima Jr.
Featuring Anecy Rocha, Enio Goncalves, Hello Fernando
Country: Brazil
What it is: Allegorical / Satirical Science Fiction

After World War III, three wanderers in Brazil impersonate Indians in order to get food. They meet a reporter who is seeking to show the hypocrisy of the post-apocalyptic government.

I’m glad I found a few short plot descriptions of this one; the copy I found was in Portuguese without English subtitles, and I don’t think I would have even been able to cobble together that much of a plot description without them. No, I wasn’t really able to follow the story , but I’m not sure I’d have been able to follow it very well even if it had had subtitles, as it has something of a non-linear arthouse feel about it. However, it does have some surreal moments that did keep the viewing somewhat interesting; I was particularly intrigued by a musical number celebrating a rocket, and a climactic battle between two of the characters fighting each other with giant cutlery (I assume that symbolically this means something, but what it is is quite beyond me). On a gut level, I feel that the movie is good-but-not-great, but I’m hardly watching it under the best of circumstances here, am I? At any rate, here’s another one I can cross off the list.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Bosko’s Mechanical Man (1933)

BOSKO’S MECHANICAL MAN (1933)
Article 5248 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-13-2016
Directed by Hugh Harman
Featuring the voices of Rochelle Hudson and Johnny Murray
Country: USA
What it is: Early Warner Brothers cartoon

Bosko creates a robot in the hopes it will help do the dishes, but the robot goes wild and wreaks havoc.

Warner Brothers earliest star was Bosko, who could perhaps be described as a black boy, but he’s best approached as a human variation on Mickey Mouse, which was probably what was intended. This cartoon is from the days before Porky was created, so it’s not up to the level of their classic era. However, for one of their early cartoons, it’s not too bad; though much of the humor falls flat, the robot itself is a pretty wild creation, and it’s very well animated. It also adds the fantastic content to this cartoon; given that Bosko and Honey or more-or-less human, it can’t get in genre-wise by the anthropomorphic animal route. Furthermore, when the robot goes wild, Bosko describes it as a “Frankensteen”. This one is no classic, but it may be one of the better cartoons from this studio during this era.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Birdy and the Beast (1944)

BIRDY AND THE BEAST (1944)
Article 5247 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-12-2016
Directed by Robert Clampett
Featuring the voices of Mel Blanc and Robert Clampett
Country: USA
What it is: Tweety cartoon

A tiny bird finds himself threatened by a hungry cat, but the bird isn’t exactly helpless…

In terms of its fantastic content, this cartoon is the usual thing – anthropomorphic animals performing impossible gags. It is only the second of the Tweety cartoons, and though part of his character is already in place (the bizarre speech impediment, for example), it still isn’t quite the Tweety of the later cartoons; he’s pink rather than yellow (making him look like he’s been plucked), and the character hasn’t quite developed the unflappable innocence he has in the later cartoons; he sometimes shows that he’s fully aware of the damage he’s doing. Nor has he yet been paired with Sylvester; though the black and white cat here bears a certain resemblance to him, he is clearly a different character. The action is a bit wilder than your usual Tweety cartoon, mostly due to the fact that this one is from Robert Clampett rather than Friz Freleng. It’s a good cartoon, but it is a transitional one, and is best taken as such.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Laundry Blues (1930)

LAUNDRY BLUES (1930)
Article 5246 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-11-2016
Directed by Mannie Davis and John Foster
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Politically incorrect cartoon

Various Chinese anthropomorphic animals work and sing at a laundry.

I’ve got a collection of banned cartoons, and I’m really not surprised to see this one included in the collection. It’s basically a series of not-very-funny gags involving Chinese stereotypes, with a Jewish stereotype thrown in for good measure. It seems to try to get most of its humor by having the animated characters spout gibberish, though occasionally you can make out individual words or phrases; I heard “Mah-Jongg” and “Hong Kong” at certain points. The best thing about it is that it gets a bit surreal at times, especially during a bizarre street scene. However, most of the humor falls very flat, and there’s very little to recommend here. It’s one of those cartoons where if they cut out all the potentially offensive moments, you’d be left with the opening credits.

0 CommentsLeave a comment