Michael's Christmas Movie Guide: A Pink Christmas (1978)

 

While it is easy to say that the DePatie-Freling cartoons of the mid and late 1970's were not on par with the studio's cartoons of the 1960's and early 70's without any sense of doubt, A Pink Christmas is a huge exception. This made for TV short film is about as good a cartoon as the studio ever made.

This dialog-less story somewhat based on O. Henry's The Cop and the Anthem begins with the Pink Panther, poor and hungry, simply looking for some food at Christmas time. His attempts to find food lead him on one humorous adventure after another. (Spoilers ahead, scroll down to the next paragraph now if you don't want to read them) When our old Pink buddy finally gets a hold of a doughnut, after pursuing food rather selfishly for the entire film so far, he finds a poor hungry dog. The Panther shares this doughnut with the dog and the two become close friends. When the Pink Panther rest on a park bench for the night, he finds himself surrounded by food. Looking up he sees Santa's sled passing by.

The Pink Panther has often been compared to Charlie Chaplin, mostly because he is a pantomime character. This though is probably the most Chaplin-esque film the cartoon cat ever stared in. It beautifully combines comedy and pathos, and the idea of a poor tramp like character looking for food of course has roots in Chaplin as well. In fact this film borrows a gag from Chaplin's The Gold Rush (involving shoveling snow). It successeds very well. It is both very funny and very moving.

This is one of the only two films directed by Bill Perez (the other was another TV short called The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat). My fellow Hanna-Barbera buffs might like to know that Bill Perez also worked as a layout artist and a storyboard artist on various Hanna-Barbera projects including TV shows like The Jetsons, The Secret Squirrel Show, Johnny Quest, The Hurculoids, and The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan and feature films like Charlotte's Web, A Flintstones Christmas, Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose, The Good, the Bad and the Huckleberry Hound and Rockin' With Judy Jetson. The writing was written by animation legend (and studio co-founder) Friz Freling and John Dunn (one of the studio's main writers and a writer who had worked with Friz dating back to his days with Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies).

-Michael J. Ruhland

Movie Review: Moana

 

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland












Michael's Movie Grade: A+

Review: Directing team John Musker and Ron Clements helped redefine Disney feature animation with such films as The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. However they may have dine it again here, this film is an incredible mixture of what made previous Disney animated features so good and great new ideas as well . In fact this may stand as their best film and it is one of my favorite post-Walt animated Disney films.

The look of this film is incredible. The designs are very appealing, and the characters are very well animated. On top of this the film has a brilliant combination of CGI and hand drawn animation done through Maui's tattoos (the head of hand drawn animation was Eric Goldberg, who had previously been the supervising animator for the Genie in Aladdin).

The story is also excellent and told through brilliant filmmaking. The story is told using so many great devices. Making the first few villains comic for instance works fantastically. This makes the climax all the more exciting and makes the threat feel much stronger. In fact the whole mixture of comedy and drama is near perfect. The humor is not only quite funny but it always is there in service to the story and characters. The comedy uses a lot of self referential humor, this is not only quite funny but makes the fantasy all the more acceptable by also talking to the cynic in us that recognizes the clichés of this type of story, while not insulting them to the point of where we don't take them seriously enough. All this of course would be wasted if the characters weren't so likable and luckily they are.

The songs in this film are fantastic. They are in a more modern style quite different from what has been used in many previous animated Disney features. However they work perfectly and like many classic Disney films they are completely at the service of the story and characters. They work brilliantly. This is probably the best use of modern style music in a Disney film.

I think this movie does for me, what Frozen did for so many other animation fans (Don't get me wrong I loved Frozen but I am blown away by this film).
 
If you can't guess I liked this movie.

But don't go away we have a short to Review too.

Inner Workings

Michael's Movie Grade: C

Review: Entertaining little cartoon. 

This film a good message and great animation.

However this cartoon seems almost too short and the jokes miss as often as they hit.

Overall an enjoyable little cartoon, but not much more.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Michael's Christmas Movie Guide: The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives (1933)

 

The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives is one of the most perfect examples of a Rudolph Ising era Merrie Melodie. During this era (1931-1933) Hugh Harmon was directing all the Looney Tunes cartoons and Rudolph Ising was directing all the Merrie Melodies. Also at this time there was a distinct difference between the two series (though later they would essentially be the same with different names). The Looney Tunes featured the staring character of Bosko and did not have to revolve around a song number. The Merrie Melodies did not feature Bosko, but instead mostly focused on one shot characters (despite a few attempts to give the Merrie Melodies main characters (Foxy, Piggy, Goopy Geer)). They also always revolved around a song number. These songs were owned by Warner Brothers and often served as advertisements for that music.

The film begins with a little orphan boy is sad and alone on Christmas Eve. He hears an operatic voice (the last voice you would except to hear from Santa (Sadly I don't know who provided this voice)) outside his lonely shack. The door opens and there is Santa Claus. Santa takes the boy to the shanty where he lives. The toys perform the title song (written by Harry Woods). Unfortunately during this song number the Christmas tree catches on fire. The little Orphan boy puts it out and saves Christmas.

This film is everything that is great about Merrie Melodies from this era. It is full of a great sense of energy, the story is sweet and simple, it has good animation and it centers around a very catchy song. The fact that it centers around my favorite time of year doesn't hurt it at all either. This is a cartoon full of real, warmth charm and of course energy. This is one of my favorite Merrie Melodies from this era.

The animators on this cartoon were Rollin Hamilton and Norm Blackburn. Both had gotten there start working for Walt Disney on the Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons, as did Hugh Harmon and Rudolph Ising. 1933, the year of this cartoon was the last year Norm Blackburn would animate for Warner Brothers (he started for Warner Bothers in 1930). Rollin Hamilton (who also started for the studio in 1930) would continue animating for Warner Brothers until 1940.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
https://www.bcdb.com/cartoon-characters/87-Shanty-Where-Santy-Claus-Lives
imdb.com

Michael's Christmas Movie Guide: Mickey's Good Deed (1932)

 

It is Mickey Mouse's 88th birthday today and as a tribute, we are going to look at one of my all time favorite Mickey cartoons, Mickey's Good Deed.

This film was from 1932, at this time, Mickey was at the absolute height of his popularity. He was famous in a way that no cartoon character before had ever been. Critics often compared his popularity to that of Charlie Chaplin's little tramp, and like that character Mickey had fans of all types. He was equally popular with intellectuals and small children. In fact this same year Walt Disney would receive a special Academy Award for creating Mickey. Renowned director Sergei Eisenstein (best known for his silent film The Battleship Potemkin) was a huge fan and even wrote essays on Walt Disney, that discussed the brilliance of Mickey Mouse cartoons (He would remain a huge Disney fan and even later call Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the single greatest film ever made). Almost every other American cartoon studio was copying what Disney had done with Mickey Mouse. Characters like Foxy (at Warner Brothers) and Cubby Bear (at Van Beuren) were extremely thinly disguised copies of Mickey himself. In fact in 1931, the Van Beuren studio was sued by Walt for using two mice characters that looked exactly like Mickey and Minnie. There was no doubt, Mickey was movie royalty.

Mickey did for animated comedies, exactly what Charlie Chaplin's little tramp had done for live action comedies. Like the comedy films made before Chaplin, the animated comedies before Mickey were often very funny, but you very rarely felt any other emotional response to what was happening on screen. Mickey changed all that and nowhere was it clearer than in Mickey's Good Deed. In this film Mickey and Pluto are poor but happy as they perform Christmas carols on the street. A young rich boy in a mansion nearby is not satisfied with any of the many toys his father gives him. The boy sees Pluto outside his window and decides he wants that dog. The butler offers Mickey a lot of money for Pluto, but the mouse refuses to sell. Later Mickey comes across a poor family. The father is in jail and the mother can't afford any Christmas presents for her children. Mickey feeling sorry for the kids sells Pluto to the rich kid in order to buy presents for the kids. You may notice that this doesn't sound like your typical cartoon short of the era, and my point is it isn't. This film while not sacrificing the slapstick comedy, also adds a lot of drama to the story itself. However the Disney studio understood exactly what Chaplin had found out earlier. If the comedy and the drama are both driven by the story and characters, they can both easily co-exist. This idea is done to absolute perfection in this cartoon. This is a beautiful and moving film, while it never forsakes the comedy.

On top of that the film is also helped by a great look.  The visuals are as beautiful as you would expect from 1930's Disney animation. The backgrounds are gorgeous, and the character animation is fantastic. It is sad that there are so many colorized copies around because, the black and white lighting is very beautiful as well.

This cartoon was directed by Burt Gillett, who Disney fans probably know best for directing the classic Silly Symphonies cartoon The Three Little Pigs (released the very next year). The animators on this film included many Disney legends. The animators were Les Clark, Clyde Geronimi, Dick Lundy, Ben Sharpsteen, Norm Ferguson, Johnny Cannon, Hardie Gramatky, and Frenchy DeTremaudan. Les Clark would later become one of Walt's nine old men. Norm Ferguson was the animator who really defined the character of Pluto (most notably in 1934's Playful Pluto) and would also be the supervising animator for the evil queen (in hag form) in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Ben Sharpsteen would later direct Pinocchio and Dumbo, as well as produce most of the studio's live action nature documentaries of the 1950's. Clyde Geronimi would later be one of the co-directors for such feature films as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians. And as many of you may know Walt himself voiced Mickey here. All in all a great crew to work on a great cartoon.

Happy birthday Mickey.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
The Disney Villain by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson
Disney by Sergei Eisenstein   
http://www.jbkaufman.com/movie-of-the-month/opening-night-1932
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023215/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

Michael's Christmas Movie Guide: Bedtime For Sniffles (1940)

 

Quite charming Christmas cartoon, one of Sniffles' best.

Despite the fact that Chuck Jones is best known now for fast paced slapstick comedy (such as his coyote and roadrunner cartoons), he started his directorial career out doing some of the cutest and slow-paced Looney Tunes and Merrie Melody cartoons. He started directing in 1938 with a film called The Night Watchman (earlier he had worked as an animator for both Tex Avery's and Bob Clampett's units). At this time the Warner Brothers cartoon studio was fully know for fast paced crazy comedy. Because of this Chuck's films really didn't quite fit what the rest studio was doing.

The purest examples of the early Jones style were his Sniffles cartoons. These were extremely cute and also much slower than what Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, and Frank Tashlin were doing at the time. Sniffles cartoons were rarely the best films coming out of the studio (or even the best Chuck was making in this early period), but they had their charms. One of there greatest charms was Robert McKimson's (he was an expert at more realistic and precise animation, and his was also one of the studios' best animators or animators at any studio) animation, which fit perfectly into this type of cartoon.

The story of this film is very simple. Sniffles tries hard to stay up to see Santa Claus on Christmas Eve night, and doesn't find the task very easy. This story is what makes this one of the best Sniffles cartoons. It is simple, but very relatable and speaks to the child in each of us. This simple story gets rid of one of the series major faults, the story amounting to almost nothing. Here even though it has the same slow pace, and minor story, the film offers a slice of life type of storytelling that could have made the rest of these cartoons much more charming.

The animators on this film include Robert McKimson, Ken Harris, Rudy Larriva, Robert Cannon, and Phil Monroe. The story was written by Rich Hogan and Tedd Peirce. They were the two most common writers for Chuck in this early period. The voice of Sniffles was provided by Marget Hill-Talbot, who Walter Lantz fans may recognize as one of the voices of Andy Panda.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resourses Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032244/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

Movie Review: I Am Not Ashamed

 

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland











Michael's Movie Grade: B

Review: Good character study.


When this movie really works is when it is simply a character study of Rachel. This character is very relatable and likable. Her struggles are very much like are own struggles, and even non-religious people could relate to her yearning to be excepted. This film does a great job at letting us feel what the character is feeling.

On the downside this film features some clumsy acting and a group of bullies are very poorly written. I also have to say saying someone knows Shakespeare real well because they can quote the whole "All the World's a Stage" silique from As You Like It is quite clumsy writing. That shouldn't be a big fault but it is repeated too much this small fault gets very annoying.

While some may criticize this film without seeing it, because they are offended that a movie would use this tragedy for Christian propaganda. It is done in very good taste. Neither the Christian message nor the tragedy are forced into this movie and both are treated with the upmost respect. In fact the ending is extremely moving and will allow some who understandably have trouble with this films faults to forgive them.

Movie Review: Trolls

 

Review written by Michael J. Ruhland


















Michael's Movie Grade: B

Review: Very fun movie.

What really makes this movie work so well is the characters and the visuals. The characters, could have easily been boring and two dimensional. Poppy isn't just an obnoxiously happy character, and Branch is not just an overly depressed character. I am not going to say they are complex characters, but they are well thought out and very likable. The visuals are great,  including both design, and animation. The characters have a likable look to them and the world around them looks really cool. The characters are also very well animated and come to life through it. This film is just a joy to look at.

On the downside, most of the songs feel like they are here because they are popular, not because they fit the story. In fact most of them feel quite out of place here. Also the story is often very predictable.

Overall, just a very fun movie.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Movie Review: El Jeremias

 

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade:A-

Review: Fantastic movie that is both funny and moving.

As I have mentioned before, one of the many things I love about movies is when, I discover something great that I completely did not except. I just went to this film because I felt like seeing something different from what I have seen in theaters lately, and a Spanish-langue Mexican movie, nobody I know has mentioned felt like just the ticket. I got in just a few minutes before the previews started, and discovered I was the only one in the theater. I began to wonder if I had chosen the right movie to see. That fear was soon quieted. In the first few minutes I found myself laughing and enjoy these characters.

Nearly everything about this movie was great. Martian Castro (his film debut) is a very talented child actor, the whole cast is great in fact, the humor is very funny, the drama is quite touching and the film has a great and very important message, about family, childhood and life in general. There were few predictable moments, when I knew what was going to happen, but with how good the rest of the movie was this was just a nitpick.

This movie was the feature film directorial debut of Anwar Safa. I recommend seeing this film and keeping a track of this director in the future.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Silent Film of the Month: The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1928)

 

Runtime: 106 minutes. Studio: MGM. Director: Ernst Lubitsch. Writers: Hanns Kräly, Ruth Cummings, Marian Ainslee. Based on the book by Karl Heinrich and the play by Wilhelm Meyer-Förster.  Producers: Ernst Lubitsch, Irving Thalburg. Main Cast: Roman Novarro, Norma Shearer, Jean Hersholt. Cinematographer: John J. Mescall.





One thing (out of very many things) I love about movies is when you find a film that has been surprisingly overlooked, but is just as good as the ones that are considered classics. The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg is definitely one of these, as everything in this film is near perfect. This film isn't forgotten but it isn't talked about as one of the classic silent films. It really makes me wonder how a film directed by Ernst Lubitsch and featuring Norma Shearer (two names that should definitely resonate with many classic movie lovers) that is this good can possibly be so overlooked.  

The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg was Ernst Lubitsch's first film for MGM. This was the studio for which he would later make such well loved films like The Merry Widow, Ninotchka, and The Shop Around the Corner. Lubitsch began his career in Germany. His first film Fräulein Seifenschaum, was a 1914 film that is unfortunately lost today. Rather than the sophisticated comedies that he would be known for in the 1930's, at this time Lubitsch was known for making costume dramas, and film with a fairytale like atmosphere. He would move to the U.S.A. to direct a 1923 costume drama staring Mary Pickford called Rosita. While there was definitely a lot of tension between Lubitsch and Pickford, the film was a success both with critics and audiences. He would naturally stay in America to make more of these films. However one senses while watching The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg that he still had deep nostalgia for growing up in Germany. On top of that this film in many ways feels like one of his German films. It seems to take elements of both his costume dramas and his fairytale-like films, and it combines them perfectly.

Interestingly Ernst Lubitsch was not originally going to be the director of this film. The director was originally going to be Erich von Stroheim. However Stroheim had a bad relationship with producer Irving Thalberg. This was because Thalberg had done massive edits to Greed and The Merry Widow (interestingly Lubitsch would later make another film version of this story for MGM), two films Stroheim had directed, before they reached theaters. Because of this Stroheim not only turned down this film, but he also left MGM.

Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer, the two main stars of this film, did not always agree with Lubitsch. One reason for this was that Lubitsch insisted on little time for rehearsal. Because of this various scenes would have many retakes before they turned out right. Though not proven true (or false for that matter), one rumor states that one scene for this film was shot 102 times. Lubitsch once ended up yelling at Norma Shearer, telling her that a studio waitress to play a barmaid better. Shearer was driven to tears by this remark. Another rumor that hasn't been proven true (or false) is that Norma Shearer told Irving Thalberg about this incident, and Thalberg responded “Everyone has a lot to learn from Mr. Lubitsch.” If this was true then it didn't hurt their relationship, because Shearer and Thalberg would marry a week after the movie was released.

Lubitsch was not overly happy with either star. However the studio said that he had to use Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer. Despite this both of them give amazing performances here. Lubitsch would still never be satisfied with eithers performance.

One love scene did not satisfy anyone working on the film. It has been stated that Irving Thalberg called in director John M. Stahl to re-shoot the scene. If this is true than it might have had to do Stahl directing Ramon Novarro in the 1927 movie Lovers?. However Andrew Marton, the editor for the film, stated that Lubitsch directed every scene of the film. However Marton also stated that Lubitsch never liked the scene.

In this film Crown Prince Karl Heinrich (Played by Ramon Novarro) is tired of his sheltered life and longs to live in the outside world. The prince and his tutor, Dr. Jtter (played by Jean Hersholt) are allowed to go to Heidelberg. Here the prince can live life as he always wanted to. He also falls in love with a young barmaid named Kathi (played by Norma Shearer). However when his father  (Played by Gustav von Seyffertitz) becomes sick Karl must travel back to his home to attend to royal duties.

The film lost money at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics.

Despite this the film is incredible. Nearly everything works perfectly. The story, the characters, the cinematography, and the all around atmosphere are all amazingly well done. This film is also profoundly moving, and one that definitely can bring tears to my eyes, and I assume it would do the same for many of you. This is a must watch.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/835/The-Student-Prince-in-Old-Heidelberg/articles.html
http://www.silentfilm.org/the-student-prince-in-old-heidelberg-1927