Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #258

 Hello, my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons. 

Disney cartoons have long been associated with sentimentality and cuteness. Yet this wasn't always the case. The early black and white Mickey Mouse films were mostly pretty much the opposite. They focused purely on the gags and jokes and with keeping the comic momentum going. A perfect example of this is Mickey's Orphans (1931). This movie has all the makings for a sentimental cartoon. It takes place at Christmas time and the involves Mickey adopting a bunch of orphans. Yet all of this is played strictly for laughs and some of the kids can be a little sadistic. A review in the Motion Picture Herald stated, "The youngsters will get a real kick out of this short, and the oldsters will extract a bit of enjoyment." A review in The Film Daily gave the same sentiment stating, "It will delight all children and get many a laugh from their elders." An issue of The Film Daily (Dated February 7, 1932) stated "In addition to El Brendel in person this week's show at the Roxy is a special treat for the kids. The presentation includes four scenes based on 'Mickey's Orphans,' the Mickey Mouse cartoon that was held over for three weeks at this house. The characters of Mickey and Minnie are portrayed by the Arnaut Brothers, popular pantomimists. Patricia Bowman, Fred Waring's orchestra in a novelty entitled 'Dancing Melodies,' and the Roxyettes also are part of the proceedings. In the Mickey scenes, the Roxyettes and ballet group are made up to represent kittens, musical notes and animated furnishings in Minnie's boudoir." This cartoon was reissued to theatres in 1934.

Now for another cartoon mouse, here is Mighty Mouse in The Sultan's Birthday (1944). This film was directed by Bill Tytla, a former Disney animator and possibly my favorite Disney animator. Terry Toons producer Paul Terry thought Tytla was a great animator but a less than stellar director. Terry would state about Tytla, "He was one of the best animators that had ever lived. And he could render anything that you gave him to render very well. But he didn't seem to have that starting quality. He was lost unless somebody laid it out pretty well and then he would embellish it." Terry when talking about Tytla singled out a bit of animation from this particular film. "I remember a dancing girl in that picture. Really made that picture. A beautiful piece of animation." 

Next comes Bugs Bunny and the Tasmanian Devil in The Fright Before Christmas (1979). This short was originally created for the TV special Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (1979). This was the final of three segments in that special and was directed Friz Freleng. This makes this the first time Taz was directed by someone other than Robert McKimson. The result like the whole special is a delightful Christmas treat and one of the best uses of Taz after the golden age of Looney Tunes. Also appearing here is Bugs' nephew Clyde. Clyde had only appeared in two theatrical shorts, His Hare Raising Tale (1951) and Yankee Doodle Bugs (1954). Both of those were directed by Friz Freleng. 

Now for The New Three Stooges cartoon, Tin Horn Dude (1965). The Three Stooges voice themselves in this made for TV cartoon.

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Now it is silent movie time with the Walt Disney directed Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in Empty Socks (1927). This cartoon was lost for years, when in 2014 archivist Kjetil Kvale Sørenssen found a print in the National Library of Norway, incorrectly labeled as a Felix the cat cartoon. The film runs shorter than the average Oswald cartoon making it seem likely there are still a couple minutes missing. The cartoon features a legendary trio of animators working on it, Ub Iwerks, Hugh Harman and Rollin “Ham” Hamilton. Hugh and Ham would leave Walt the following Spring. Both would later become instrumental figures in the earliest Looney Tunes shorts. Ub Iwerks would go on to be one the most important figures in early Disney history, even being Mickey Mouse's co-creator (with Walt Disney of course). Unlike many Christmas cartoons of this era, this film was actually released in December. It had its general release on Monday, December 12, 1927. 

Next is Betty Boop in Is My Palm Read (1933). This short features Betty at her sexy, naughty and surreal pre-code best. 

Now we celebrate Christmas with Pooch the Pup in Merry Dog (1933). This short has everything I love about Walter Lantz cartoons of this era. The jokes are incredibly silly and more often than not just plain strange. In fact, this film is pretty much one bizarre joke after another, and I simply love it. The following is an exhibitors review from the Motion Picture Herald, "MERRY DOG, THE: Pooch the "Pup—Excellent cartoon for anybody's program. "Night Before Christmas" theme with snowstorm and blizzard effects which almost made us forget that it was the hottest day of the summer. (106 and no shade.) Running time. 8 minutes. —Wm. Sayre, Delmar Theatre, Morrill, Neb., Rural and small town patronage."

Today's cartoon selection ends with A Garfield Christmas Special (1987). This is a very underrated TV Christmas special that I believe deserves much more attention and love than it gets. 

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry. 

Resources Used

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons by David Bossert

Of Mice and Magic: A History of the American Animated Cartoon by Leonard Maltin

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

https://www.jbkaufman.com/movie-of-the-month/empty-socks-1927

 

Movie Review: Hamnet

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A wonderful tearjerker. 

So far, I have been a big fan of director/writer Chloé Zhao's work (The Rider (2017), Nomadland (2021), Eternals (2021)) and this movie is just the kind of greatness I expect from her.

This movie follows the story of Willaim Shakespeare meeting his wife, falling in love and having children, including a boy named Hamnet. However, as he follows his dream of being a playwright, he spends less and less time with his family, leaving them alone during hard times. I don't know how true this story is. I have read almost all of Shakespeare's plays (as well as having watched many movie adaptions) but have never done much looking into his actual life. 

This is a pure tearjerker plain and simple. Anyone susceptible to these types of movies and even some who are not usually, will find themselves an emotional wreck with a least a couple moments. Yet this movie is much more effective than many sad movies as of lot. Too many modern sad movies simply seem to take a perverse pleasure in torturing the main character as much as possible, simply piling one misery on top of another until it simply becomes ridiculous. Yet this is luckily not the case here. While the sad scenes are truly heartbreaking, there are also moments of joy, sweetness and romance here. These scenes all make the story feel more real and natural, making the heartbreaking scenes even more effective. There are also some very quiet and reflective scenes here. One of Zhao's best gifts as a filmmaker is how well she can use quiet and silence at the exact right moment to make the movie more emotionally powerful. This can be seen in all her movies, but it is especially effective here. The film is also boosted by very real and moving performances from Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckly as the leads. Both bring a real emotionally honesty to this movie. Buckley's performance in the final scenes will leave you heartbroken. 

If I had one complaint about this film, it is that for some reason, the filmmakers decided not to use William Shakespeare's name until the film was nearing its end. This is pointless because we all know this is a movie about Shakespeare, especially after he writes, " But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." Even someone who has never actually read Shakespeare knows where that quote is from. 

This is such a moving and powerful film.   

Video Link: Judy Garland - Merry Christmas (From in the Good Old Summertime (1949))

Michael's Christmas Movie Guide: The Santa Clause 2 (2002)

 

It took 8 years for The Santa Clause (1994) to get a sequel, but the wait was worth it. While this sequel may not be the pure Christmas classic the first film was, it is still a yuletide delight. 

In this sequel, Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) is incredibly happy in his new role as Santa Claus. However, things go south when he finds out that he must get married to continue to be Santa Claus. If he doesn't, he will lose his Christmas magic and have to go back to being a regular man. At the same time, he finds out that his son Charlie has found himself on the naughty list. He decides to go back home to both find out what is happening with his son and find love. To run the North Pole while he is gone, he and two of his main elves create a toy Santa. However, the toy Santa believes all children are naughty and believes that they should all get pool.

This sequel is cornier, sillier and more over the top than the first movie. However, it knows exactly what it is, which makes it a lot of fun. In fact, humor is the one area where this film may improve over the first. The scenes with the toy Santa are incredibly over the top and funny. While this may not be a franchise that necessarily needs villains at least we have a very entertaining one here. This allows Tim Allen to let out his over-the-top comedic side without distracting from the film's story. There are also plenty of slapstick gags throughout and most of them work very well. 

While the movie is more over the top in the comedy department, it still has a lot of heart. The romantic story is actually very sweet and heartwarming. Elizabeth Mitchell and Tim Allen have great chemistry and the romance between them is very believable and surprisingly touching. Another great addition to this film was Scott's niece Lucy. Played wonderfully by child actress Liliana Mumy (who now in her adult career has been providing voices for cartoons for years (most recently as the voice of Leni Loud on TV's The Loud House), she is a sweet and adorable child who feels completely natural and never cloying. Her relationship with both Scott and Charlie feels completely real and earned. 

I only really have two complaints about this film. One is that there is too much going on with multiple storylines. This takes away some of the simple charm if the first movie. The other complaint is that many of the songs on the soundtrack seem to be trying too hard to be hip and cool. This can make the movie feel too much like the early 2000's that it takes away from the timeless quality this type of Christmas film should have. 

This movie was directed by Michael Lembeck. Like John Pasquin (the director of the first movie), he is much better known for his work in TV. He worked on TV as both an actor and director. As an actor his best-known TV role is as Max Horvath on the sitcom, Max Horvath. As a director he directed episodes of such popular shows as Mad About You, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond and Baby Daddy. He would also go on to direct the third film in this series. In this movie the Tooth Fairy plays an important role. Lembeck would later direct Dwayne Johnson in The Tooth Fairy (2010). 

This may be a corny and silly movie. However, with a mug of hot coco it makes for delightful Yuletide viewing on a December night. 

Michael's Christmas Movie Guide: The Santa Clause (1994)

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There may be some bias on my part as I grew up with this movie, but in my mind, this is a real Christmas classic.  

The story line is probably very familiar to a lot of you. A divorced dad named Scott Calvin is watching his young son, Charlie, on Christmas Eve, when Santa Claus falls off of his roof. Santa disappears and all that is left of him is his clothes. The dad puts on the clothes and finds out that doing this means that he is the new Santa Claus. He wakes up the next morning believing that this is all a dream. However, his son also remembers it and wants to tell everyone that his dad is Santa Claus. As the next Christmas comes closer the dad is still skeptical that the whole thing happened, even when he starts to physically turn into Santa. 

To me the real charm about this movie is its sense of imagination. This is especially true about the scenes in the North Pole, which are very visually pleasing and feel like something that came from a child's imagination. The premise of a regular man becoming Santa Claus is a very clever one and the film take perfect advantage of it. I love how he matures and grows into the role as the film progresses. This character arc makes the character feel completely believable and heavily endears him to us. His relationship to his son is also very sweet and endearing. How much he loves his son also makes this character incredibly likable to us, even when he is in denial over what happened or fighting with his ex-wife's new husband. While much of the credit for this movie is often given to the adult cast, Eric Lloyd as Charlie is the real heart of this movie. He pulls on our heartstrings without every feeling cloying. 

Of course, with Tim Allen as the star, there is a lot of comedy throughout. For the most part it works quite well. The best comedic moments come from simple sight gags, such as when Scott is followed by deer or finds a whole bunch of children lining up to tell him what they want for Christmas. Judge Reinhold as his ex-wife's new husband also gets some truly great laughs here. The humor sometimes falls flat when the movie can turn into almost a stand-up routine for Tim Allen. I know Tim Allen is a very popular comedian and he was at the height of his career, but these bits seemed unnecessary, especially as with this movie Tim Allen proves he is a very good actor. When the movie asked him to play a scene straight, he does so seemingly effortlessly. 

With how well Tim Allen does in this role, it is strange to think that he wasn't the only one considered for playing Scott Calvin. Both Chevy Chase and Bill Murray where briefly considered. Chase wasn't able to do it due to scheduling conflicts and Murray didn't want to do another Christmas movie after Scrooged (1988). In November 1992 Disney's Hollywood Studios acquired the script and started reworking it as a vehicle for Tim Allen. 

Director John Pasquin was already familiar to Tim Allen as he had directed and produced episodes of Allen's popular sitcom, Home Improvement. He would continue working with Tim Allen with such movies as Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) and Joe Somebody (2001). He also was one of the main directors and producers of the later Tim Allen sitcom, Last Man Standing. He can be seen briefly in this movie as one of the Santa's in the line-up. 

Though this movie was originally going to be released under Disney's Hollywood Pictures but when Disney saw that they had a huge hit on their hands, the released it under the Disney banner. It was a massive hit. It grossed $19.3 million on its opening weekend become the second highest grossing opening weekend of 1994. 

One scene you will not see in the movie today involves Scott Calvin stating, "1-800-SPANK-ME. I know that number." This turned out to be a real adult hot line and it was pulled from DVD and streaming versions of the film as well as TV airings. 

Resources Used

 https://www.vulture.com/2011/09/the-lost-roles-of-chevy-chase.html

https://variety.com/1992/film/news/h-wood-aims-to-nail-allen-for-clause-101652/
  

Video Link: Abbott & Costello Christmas Show

Movie Review: Sisu Road to Revenge

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

An action packed and blood-soaked good time. 

This movie is one that prioritizes action over all else. There is little dialogue here with the movie almost playing as an ultra-bloody silent film. The storyline is very simple and is set up in the opening scenes and concluded in the closing scenes. Everything between that is just pure action. The action is extremely bloody and over the top, but it is so much so that it is a blast to watch (with the exception of a scene involving glass which was simple uncomfortable to look at). What also makes this blood-soaked action scenes work is that it keeps a good sense of humor throughout. Many of these gory scenes almost resemble an R rated Roadrunner cartoon. There is a lot of slapstick humor throughout that is simply hilarious. The mixture of action and slapstick makes for pure entertainment at its best. 

I also still feel that Jorma Tommila is simply a great action star. Without even saying a word he is incredibly compelling to watch. He also manages to feel like a real tough hombre while also being quite vulnerable at the same time. This vulnerability adds a bit of humanity and an emotional connection to this over-the-top movie. 

This is simply a heck of a good time at the movies.