Turn Your Clocks Back Tonight

 

Motion Picture News, 1923

Exhibitor's Herald, 1923

Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #147

 Hello my friends. Happy Saturday morning and welcome back for another selection of classic cartoons.

Today’s cartoon selection begins with  a great Pink Panther cartoon, Genie With the Light Pink Fur (1966). For the most part the best Pink Panther cartoons were the ones that avoided dialogue. This film is an exception as it uses the limited use of dialogue (provided by Ralph James) in a very clever way. You only hear dialogue when our pink hero opens the lamp. This idea is not only clever but allows the short to remain essentially a silent slapstick comedy despite the presence of some dialogue. In a way I find this reminiscent of the use of dialogue in Charlie Chaplin’s brilliant Modern Times (1936). 

Now for a classic Bugs Bunny cartoon, 8 Ball Bunny (1950). This was the second of two films that teamed Bugs Bunny with a penguin, who would become known as Playboy Penguin (the first being Frigid Hare (1949), both these films were directed by Chuck Jones). This cartoon also features  a caricature of Humphry Bogart, whose appearance here is a parody of his role in the John Huston movie, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). The voice of Bogey here is provided by Dave Barry, who also voiced Bogey in Slick Hare (1947) and voiced Elmer Fudd in Pre-Hysterical Hare (1958). He can be seen in live action in the movies, Some Like It Hot (1959) and Spinout (1966) among others. 

Next comes the 8th Dogfather film, Watch the Birdie (1975).  While by the 1970's most studios were no longer making cartoons for movie theaters, DePatie-Freleng was helping keep the animated short film alive with multiple series. One of these series were the Dogfather cartoons for the mid-1970's. These shorts were a take-off of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972) with the titular character even sounding like Marlin Brando. 17 theatrical cartoon shorts were made of this series. This film is a remake of the Sylvester cartoon, Dr. Jerkyl's Hyde (1954). 

Ivan Ivanov-Vano is one of the most beloved names in Russian animation. He directed a wide variety of films (both short and feature length) that range from children's fairytales to social commentary to art films. One of his loveliest films is the animated short, Seasons (1969).

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Next comes the first of Walt Disney's Alice comedies, Alice's Wonderland (1923). Before this film was even close to done with production, Walt was already writing distributors stating, "We have just discovered something new and clever in animated cartoons!" He was speaking of the idea of having a live action character enter into an animated cartoon world. This was actually a reversal of what the Fleischer Brother were doing with their Out of the Inkwell films, were animated characters entered our live action world. For the live action little girl Walt hired four year old Virginia Davis. Walt had seen Virginia on an advertisement for Warneker's Bread. Virginia later spoke of this stating, "It was just a picture of me smiling and looking like 'Oh, yum, yum!' and eating this piece of Warneker's Bread with a lot of jam on it." At the time of making this film, Walt and his studio were struggling financially. While many producers would take this as a reason to make a cheap film, Walt plugged into the project with everything he had. This short was downright lavish compared to much of Walt's previous work and still looks great today. Unfortunately the film was not enough to save his company, but it did catch the attention of Margaret J. Winkler, who was also distributing the Felix the Cat and Out of the Inkwell cartoons. His studio went under and Walt moved to Hollywood without his crew. Yet he had this film and was able to secure a deal for 12 more Alice films with Winkler.  

Exhibitor's Daily Review, 1927

Next is Flip the Frog in Funny Face (1932). The following are some exhibitor reviews from The Motion Picture Herald. "Funny Face: Flip the Frog - Just another cartoon that pleased the children but not the adults. Flip has had some sorry cartoons this season and here's hoping he gets a better break next season. Running Time, 9 minutes. J.J. Medford, Orpheum Theatre, Oxford, N.C., General Patronage." "Funny Face: Flip the Frog - Just that much more pen and ink wasted. Not so much for a cartoon. -Mayme P. Musselman, Princess Theatre, Lincoln, Kan. General Patronage." "Funny Face: Flip the Frog - Good cartoon. - Robert K. Yancey, Paradise Theatre, Cotter, Ark. Railroad and General Patronage." 

Motion Picture Herald, 1931

Today's cartoon selection ends with Mr. Magoo in Fuddy Duddy Buddy (1951).

Production Design, 1952

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

Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney by J.B. Kaufman and Russell Merritt.

Animation Art Edited by Jerry Beck.

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

   

 

 

Movie Review: Eternals

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C+

An enjoyable superhero film, but below par for a Marvel movie. 

As a huge fan of Chloe Zhao's previous films and knowing how much she loves the MCU, I couldn't help but get excited for this movie. So I came in with high expectations. I soon learned that this movie would not meet those exceptions. However once I began to accept this, I enjoyed the film for what it was. This may neither be Zhao's or the MCU's finest moment, but it is still a fun movie. One of the best things about this film is the main character Sersi (Gemma Chan). She is instantly likable and easy to relate to and therefore the perfect eternal to have the film focus on. It is her that gives the movie its emotional center and she fulfils that role very well. Like many Marvel movies this film also benefits from a great sense of humor. Almost all of the jokes worked and quite a few got good sized laughs from the audience in the theater. While other Marvel films have tried to explore the deeper themes beneath the superhero story, this movie probably does this aspect the best out of any of them. Discussions about freewill and how much is ethical if it is for what may be considered the greater good are quite intelligent and thought provoking. This movie also runs through its over two and half hour runtime surprisingly quickly and never really drags. 

Unfortunately there are multiple faults that keep this from being the great movie I was hoping for. One of them is that this movie tries to introduce an entire superhero team of ten characters. Even with the long runtime there is simply not enough time to give these characters the development they deserve. Even though Sersi and a couple others get some development, the majority of the characters don't and come off as too one note. Another problem is despite the whole earth being in danger, I never once felt the danger or suspense of the situation (perhaps partly due to the lack of an interesting villain). As strange as it might be to say, the final action scene is actually pretty underwhelming and not that exciting. 

So all in all this is a fun movie but don't except anything to stand on par with either the director's previous films or the best of the MCU. 

Film Fun Friday

 Film Fun was a movie magazine from the silent era, that in its own words was dedicated to the lighter side of movies. As well as articles about film comedy, the magazine also included its own comics and really corny jokes. In other words this magazine is a perfect read for someone like me. The following is excerpts from the first issue of this magazine (from July, 1915)

To see the whole issue click here. 

Movie Review: C.S. Lewis: The Most Reluctant Convert

 

                                                      Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A very intelligent and moving telling of how C.S. Lewis became a Christian. 

This movie was made by The Fellowship For Performing Arts, who mostly do plays and stage productions (of which this was originally one). If you are familiar with this before watching this film, this will make perfect sense, because in some ways this is very similar to a filmed stage play. Usually that is something that will turn me off from a movie, but this is a strong exception. One reason for this is that there is enough filmmaking techniques and moments that show that the filmmakers were concerned with making this film, not feel too static or stage bound. Another reason is that even if this can be like a filmed stage play, it is a very good one. Much of this movie has our main star essentially monologuing as he narrates this story. This works because  of the great performance of Max McLean (who was also the star and writer of the stage play) and because of the words of C.S. Lewis. Nearly all his dialogue comes from the writings of C.S. Lewis. This admitely alone would make this movie a delight for me. I have long been a fan of C.S. Lewis and his writings. Books like Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters and the Narnia books often are nighttime reading for me before I go to bed. C.S. Lewis has such an incredible power over words and much of what he writes has a pure beauty and poetry to it, that I find irresistible. Reading or listening to this words never fails to move me in some way and I would be lying if I said they didn't move me here.

This is a beautiful movie and one that definitely moved me quite a bit. 

  

Movie Review: Last Night in SoHo

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

One of Edgar Wright's most ambitious films and one of his best. 

This movie is top notch horror filmmaking. The scary scenes are legitimately creepy and scary and will stay in your mind long after the movie is finished. Yet this movie has much more than scares in store for its audience. The scares actually come relatively late in this film and that works heavily to its advantage. We begin with the story of a small town girl, who has always felt like she belonged in 1960's London. When she finds herself going to school in modern day London, she finds herself incredibly out of place and the isolation proves tough on her mentality. This is what draws her to the vivid dreams about 1960's London that will lead to the horror in the story. This in itself is a completely compelling story that will draw viewers in long before anything creepy starts to happen. It is not hard to become emotional invested in this character and her emotional journey is what makes this much more than your average horror film. The performances of Thomasin McKenzie and  Anya Taylor-Joy, add a lot to the emotion connection to this film as well. In fact I think many will be disappointed by the later scenes because these early scenes are so great. The last act in particular will divide many movie fans because of how far it stretches suspension of disbelief and that it goes in such an unexcepted direction. I can only applaud Edgar Wright and his co-writer  Krysty Wilson-Cairns on the sheer bravery of this last act and say that it worked for me. This movie also pulls you in by being incredibly visually stylish and wonderful to look at. There are many incredible shots and sequences in this movie that will long live in film fans' minds. Being an Edgar Wright film naturally music plays a large part. This works perfectly as the use of 1960's pop songs not only fit the 60's inspired dreams, but they also add so much to every scene they appear in. No one can ever argue that Edgar Wright doesn't use music perfectly in his movies and this film is more proof than ever. 

Movie Review: Mouthful of Air

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A realistic and often hard to watch view at depression. 
 
While many may complain that this movie doesn't have a lot of plot, to me that is just what makes it work. The sad truth about depression is that it often strikes people at times they should be happy when everything in their life is going right. As we watch Julie live her life, there is little doubt that she lives a life that many of us would dream of. She has beautiful kids and a spouse who loves her very much. To see how someone struggles with even enjoying this seemingly ideal  life makes this a film about depression instead of a film about a person with a depressing life. This is a side of depression not often looked at in movies, and one that is completely real to many people. This look at depression is made more real by Amanda Seyfried's great performance. She makes every scene feel completely real and is an important part of why this movie is so heartbreaking. This movie also takes a look at how such depression effects those who love the person. This is done intelligently. You can understand their exasperation at dealing with this every day, but they never come off as uncaring or unlikable.  

Unfortunately the storybook scenes feel out of place and add very little to the story. There is also quite a bit of dialogue that feels more than a bit forced. However this does not take away from how emotional impactful the best scenes in this movie are.