fiascofilmsco Reviews

To Spring (1936)

Give this one an un-jaded look!

[26 September 2011]

This is a totally unoffending cartoon. Winter is ending, and the gnomes are getting ready for spring. They quickly get to work, but Old Man Winter has other intentions. In the end, spring prevails! It's the music that I really love in this production. It's lovely, and really adds to the beauty of this cartoon. After winter is driven away, the lovely music starts up, and we see beautiful landscapes of animated color, beautiful flowers being moved by the breezes, and a lovely shot of a blue bird landing on a flowering tree limb. The closing shot of a leaf falling into the water gives me a warm feeling.

I'm glad it has been restored, and is included in a DVD collection today. It was not seen for a lot of years.

Snowman in July (1944)

Lovely Film

[29 November 2004]

As the others have said, we here in western NC got to see this film often on the old Mister Bill Show on local station WLOS. It was part of a series of old Euro cartoons that were distributed to local TV stations with an English soundtrack.

It is a lovely film. The animation flows seamlessly. I grew up remembering this film fondly.

I have never seen this film anywhere else. The copy that WLOS showed on Thanksgiving Day is a video copy of the original film that ran on WLOS from 1958 to 1966. It shows its age, and lack of proper storage in the video transfer. Western NC folks were lucky to see this gem from our past. Hope to see it again one day.

Cowboy Jimmy (1957)

An animated modern western

[6/10 · 25 July 2004]

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Cowboy Jimmy is a western film star. As the film opens, we see Jimmy fighting with the bad guys in 'City A La Wild' where he eventually is chasing them through the desert. The camera pulls back and we discover that we are in a theatre packed with patrons who are applauding the happenings on the screen. The bad guy manages to make Jimmy come out of the screen and land on the floor of the auditorium! A patron that idolizes him picks him up and takes him out to meet up with his kid friends. There is another gun fight, and the kids gather up Jimmy and take him back to the KINO theatre and toss him through the screen as the film ends.

This film played on local TV back in the late 1950's and was distributed by Jayark Films. It's an interesting piece of work.

Blow Me Down! (1933)

Fun Stuff

[7/10 · 6 July 2003]

Popeye comes to Mexico to see Olive Oyl. He whomps up a few of the locals before going to the bar where Olive dances. He gives her some flowers. She steps into a spitoon and does a fun dance while trying to get out of it. Then Bluto arrives. There is a 'wanted' poster on the wall. Bluto and the poster notice one-another.

Bluto and Popeye have a battle in the bar. Then, Bluto gets his friends involved. Everything is moving in time with the music soundtrack.

The battle moves to Olive's dressing room. After eating spinach, Popeye stomps Bluto and sends him around the world.

Typical Popeye. Fun mutterings by Popeye, too.

Beware the colorized version.

The Oldest Living Graduate (1980 TV Movie)

Live Television!

[4 July 2003]

I saw this production on April 7, 1980 LIVE on NBC television. There had not been a live TV production on network television in years before this. I made myself a videocassette recording of this production off the air with an old 3/4" U-Matic video recorder. Recently, I played this production after having it sit in my library for over 20 years. It is the story of a family in Bradleyville Texas in 1962. Fonda is the elder Kincaid. The story revolves around Kincaid, Jr. wanting to get at some property that his dad owns. Dad won't allow it to be sold. He has his reasons for not selling.

The production, as presented on TV, looks as it should. It is a stage play with one setting. The Kincaid family living room. It is a good story, and all the principal actors shine in their roles.

After the production ended, there was a short video about the shows author. It showed him in various settings, and showed short interviews with him. Then Henry Fonda came on the screen and announced that the author had died this day.

I know that there has to be a copy of this production that looks better than the one that I have. In the meantime, I'm very happy with the original.

Happy, Texas (1999)

I laughed.

[7/10 · 8 June 2003]

I saw the trailer for this film in 1999, and finally got to see it last night on DVD.

Some of the film is predictable, but all in all it is good entertainment. I enjoyed all the little plot twists involving the sherriff. His funniest bits were when he was driving thru town and discovers the bank robbery under way. Thru all of this, he is crying and sniffling. Macy is great. Steve Zahn looked like an old friend of mine before the shaving.

I think this film is well worth a look.

The Great Waltz (1972)

OK Dramatic Musical

[7/10 · 19 July 2001]

This film is about the life of Johann Strauss Jr. Horst Bucholz is good in this role. He ages well over the course of the film.

Mary Costa plays his eventual wife Jetty. Miss Costa was an international sensation in her day as a major opera star. Her beautiful soprano voice is heard on the soundtrack here.

The direction here is unintentionally funny.

The music and the singing by Miss Costa are the main attraction of this film.

GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1986)

Pointless Violence

[1/10 · 4 July 2001]

This film is a 75 minute animated commercial for the Gobots toy line. The animation was produced by Hanna-Barbera, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Since I was nearly 30 years old when this toy line was introduced, I didn't expect to really understand the charactors, and the plotline.

As I watched this epic, I kept wondering what made Roddy McDowell do a voice for this thing. Musta been paid major bucks.

The bad guys are destroying everything in their paths, and the good guys (the GOBOTS®) are out to get them. Lots of pointless shooting, and noise. Perfect for the kids of the mid '80's.

The color and animation is typical Hanna-Barbera. The backgrounds were decent, but the stilted animation style hurt the flow of the story. Perhaps Tonka (the toy maker) just couldn't see paying more for better work. If they had, this film would be better.

Hanna-Barbera is not at fault here. They are capable of some fine work, and have done fine work in the past. This, unfortunately, is not the one.

This film was rated G. If there had been live actors instead of animation, this thing would be rated PG. What's the difference?

A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969)

Charlie Brown in his first feature!

[9/10 · 26 June 2001]

I saw this film first in 1969. I thought it was a cute little film then, as now.

This is the first Peanuts feature, and the last show using Peter Robbins as the voice of Charlie Brown.

In this film, Charlie Brown, our hero, has finally proved that he can do something right. He wins the spelling bee in his class. All the kids treat him with their usual lack of tact. He studies really hard and wins the championship at his school and gets to go to the "city" to be in the "National Elimination Spelling Bee" I will not spoil the ending.

Vince Guaraldi, the composer of the music for the six previous TV specials, is back for this one. There are new arrangements of the old music, plus several new songs by Rod McKuen. Guaraldi did not do the music for the next feature, Snoopy Come Home (1972) and that film suffers because of this.

Schroeder has a beautiful salute to Beethoven in this film. While the music plays, we see some beautiful abstract scenes and colors on the screen that look fantastic in Technicolor. Sadly, I have seen this sequence cut from TV showings.

Snoopy has a wonderful sequence while he and Linus are wandering around the city looking for his blanket that he sent with Charlie Brown for good luck. Snoopy discovers an ice skating rink and pretends that he is in a hockey match while he skates around the rink. He also has an encounter with the Red Baron that has some of the same animation that was used in "He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown! on TV.

One thing that I like about this film is when the closing credits are rolling, you get to see animated images of most of the principal creators of this film. Their names are on the right side of the screen, and their images appear on the left. Things like that entice me to sit through the credits instead of walking out as soon as they start.

If you have never seen this film, by all means rent it and see what you have been missing!

White Feather (1955)

A Compassionate Look at the Old West

[7/10 · 9 March 2001]

I have seen this film many times over the years. I have always thought that it is a thoughtful slant on the usually savage indian theories that inhabit many western themed films. Intelligent Indians? Yes.

The major flaw to me in this film, besides the exclusion of the "Ann" charactor, is Robert Wagner's rather dull dialogue delivery.

The photography is glorious Technicolor, and Cinemascope, and shows some beautiful locations to their advantages. Being in Cinemascope, this film looks a bit odd on regular TV screens. You will enjoy it more if you can see a "letterboxed" version somewhere, or better yet, an actual scope print in a theatre.

I also hope that 20th Century-Fox decides to release the film on home video. I will buy a copy!

42nd Street (1933)

The original back-stage musical!

[8/10 · 9 February 2001]

42nd Street is a fine little film. The star breaks her ankle before the opening of the show. Good thing that one of the girls in the chorus is good enough to replace her!

This film is where all those old stage clichés came from. AND it is filled with good toe-tapping tunes, many of which have become standards like "Shuffle Off To Buffalo," and "You're Getting To Be A Habit To Me."

It shows its age now and then in the dialog, but is well worth the time it takes to pop it in the IL' VCR.

EDIT: I bought the DVD edition in 1995. It is stunning. I have been told that it was taken from the 1948 preservation copy that belongs to Warners. More old films need to be preserved.

The Rifleman (1958–1963)

A Thoughtful Series

[23 November 2000]

This series was well made. It was not like many of the westerns that came out on TV during this time. It stars a man who is tough and carries a modified rifle, and it shows that although he is tough, he is also a good man raising a son alone. Most of the action takes place in North Fork. One of the few quirks in the show was the ineffective town marshall. Lucas McCain got him out of trouble more than once during this series' 5 year run.

Apple Andy (1946)

Harmless Fun

[8/10 · 17 October 2000]

Andy is tempted by the Devil to cross a fence to eat apples in an orchard. An angel appears to remind him of what might happen if he follows the devil. Good and Evil clash a couple of times. After an apple sings "The Devil In The White Nightgown," Andy has a major nightmare after having eaten a load of green apples, spray-painted red by the devil!

In the end, good triumphs.

Darrell Caulker wrote a good jazzy music score for this cartoon. It's worth seeing for this.

I worked in a Christian TV station many years ago that refused to play this cartoon! I just had to see it after that! Turns out that it is a harmless well-made Walter Lantz cartoon. Highly recommended.

Tramp Trouble (1937)

If You Hit Someone On The Road, Dont Bring Him Home!

[6/10 · 17 October 2000]

Kennedy plays a henpecked husband that almost runs over a guy while in town. Being a nice guy, he brings the man home with him to recover. The tramp takes over the house and invites his tramp friends to visit. Kennedy has to deal with his wife and the tramp. The film has a nice twist ending that I wont reveal.

General Hospital (1963– )

Nothing Now Like The Original

[13 October 2000]

I watched this show from its premier in 1963 until 1973. It was a mix of hospital drama, comedy, and interactions between the featured players. I learned things from this show, too. Things like "artificial insemination" which is what Audrey Hardy did to the dismay of husband Steve. My favorite charactor was Lucille March, the head nurse, and the little drum roll that we heard upon her entrance on the set. Sometimes she had the best parts on the show. Jesse Brewer, RN, was great, too. I'll never forget how many scenes took place in the small room off the back of the nurses station, and how the camera would often follow an unknown person to the right side of the stage to the elevator which would always be opening... Good stuff.

I have tried to get into the show in the last few years, and notice that nothing happens in the hospital anymore. It looks silly to me now.

South Pacific (1958)

Lush Sound Recording

[8/10 · 26 August 2000]

I grew up in the '60's, and saw this film several times on B/W TV. In the '70's, I worked in a TV station. We were copying this film onto video tape for broadcast. The film was running smoothly when the first color shift hit the screen. I thought the production chief was going to explode! He actually tried to adjust the color on the camera to make the images look more natural!

South Pacific is a musical. The music won an Academy Award for its sound recording. It deserved this.

Rossano Brazzi is not my first choice for DeBeque. Mitzi Gaynor was fine as Nellie. John Kerr, while being young, did not have the body to play a military man. His voice was irritating, and the dubbed singing voice was a scream.

The colored filters were a mistake. In the 'Cockeyed Optimist' number, Nellie mentions the 'sky is a bright canary yellow' and then up comes the yellow filters. On a whole, the photography on the islands is dull and looks faded. It should have not been done this way.

Anyway, the star of the film is the music. If it ever is remade, I'd like to see the same music arrangements used with equal modern music talents.

By all means, if you have not seen South Pacific, please do. It is an experience. If possible, see the letterboxed version on TV. You miss alot when watching the pan-scan version, believe me.

The Windsplitter (1971)

Bad Longhairs

[4/10 · 18 August 2000]

Bobby Joe moved away from town ten years ago, and got into acting in Hollywood. After one movie, he is famous, and is invited to speak to the high school students. When he arrives in town, the officials are floored to find that he is a long-haired hippy on a Harley motorcycle. The local minister does his best to make Bobby Joe go away.

Actually, Bobby Joes hair doesnt even cover his ears.

Bobby's family is afraid of what may happen to him, too.

An interesting little film. A fun look back at 1971.

Pink Flamingos (1972)

Even Worse The Second Time!

[7/10 · 28 July 2000]

For years I watched a grainy poor VHS copy of this film and thoroughly enjoyed it. When it was reissued, I raced to the video store and bought a new copy. Now, in the new clear sharp reissue, I can see everything. It makes me cringe occasionally, but isn't that the point?

Divine is an underrated actress. Edith Massey was Waters favorite, and I agree. Danny Mills plays "Crackers" a little too perfectly.

If you have a strong stomach, rent this title. You will enjoy it.

I will always appreciate John Waters. I like all of his films.

Country Blue (1973)

Redneck Violence

[3/10 · 26 July 2000]

This is a little drama about a bunch of stereotype rednecks in a south Georgia town. Our hero is in love with the married daughter of his boss. He is fresh out of prison and decides that he is going nowhere in his job, so he decides to rob a bank and go to Mexico, taking his bosses daughter with him.

After robbing the bank, and getting very little loot, they go back and rob it again.

The film is poorly recorded. Much of the dialogue is muffled. The music is sharp and clear, as it was recorded in a studio.

There are several "still" shots that I did not understand. One is during a song, and I think it might just be a time filler for a shot that was not long enough.

After several encounters with the "law," and several car changes, and a bloody violent battle where several die, we lose several of the principals in an unexpected accident. In the end, our hero gets away.

Dub Taylor is the best actor in this film. That should tell you alot. He laughs alot.

You've been warned.

Firewalker (1986)

I kept waiting for it to get funny!

[4/10 · 21 July 2000]

I sat all the way through this film waiting for it to get going. Lou Gossett Jr. and Chuck Norris gripe and bitch at one another like an old married couple all through the film. Melody Anderson had impossibly perfect hair. The music sounded like a cheap synthesizer.

On the up side, the photography was pretty. The color was vivid and the images were sharp and well-focused.

Chuck made a mistake when he signed on to this film.

Beach Party (1963)

A Relic From A Bygone Era

[21 July 2000]

This is a fun little film. Bob Cummings stars as a professor who has taken a beach house so that he can observe the sexual habits of the healthy young kids around him.

Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello--in her first feature other than her Disney films-- are young lovers looking for some fun at the beach.

Annette feels that Frankie is taking advantage of her, so she flurts with the professor to make Frankie jealous.

Also starring is Dorothy Malone in a worthless part that does little to enhance her career. (She is excellent in other films.)

This film is the beginning of the beach movie cycle that AIP made over the next few years. All in all, this film is good clean light comedy entertainment that gives us a look at Hollywoods' view of the early '60's on the California beaches.

The supporting charactors are fun, and Eric Von Zipper is a hoot in his Brando-like role as the leather-clad bad guy without a brain.

Vincent Price is seen as Big Daddy in a quick cameo with references to his then recent film (For AIP) The Pit And The Pendulum.

This film, and its spawns, are all worth a look at least once.

Snoopy Come Home (1972)

A Happy/Sad Film

[8/10 · 9 July 2000]

I recently saw this movie for the first time. I was 16 when it was released. I was expecting it to be alot like "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" (1969) the first Peanuts feature.

This film is good on its own. The songs and tunes on the soundtrack are upbeat and pretty. The animation is first-rate high quality from Mr. Melendez. The introduction of Woodstock is cute. I especially liked the scenes where he and Snoopy are on their way to visit Lila in the hospital. There is a complicated scene where Woodstock has to walk on each of the sidewalk grate pipes to cross them while Snoopy just keeps walking. Their "buddy" scenes are great.

There is not much use of the Peanuts gang in this film Charlie Brown has a new and different voice for this film. But, he does sing a sad little tune near the end of the film that will tug at your heartstrings.

If you have never seen this film, please do.

I watched this film on 2/13/00, the night that Mr. Schulz died. I hope that the Charlie Brown and friends legacy continues with these films and the TV shows.

Spencer's Mountain (1963)

A Big Hunk of Humanity

[8/10 · 17 June 2000]

This is the story of Clay Spencer Jr. and his family in Wyoming in the early '60's.

Henry Fonda is his father, an unstoppable "do it my way" kind of guy. Maureen O'Hara is the mother with an impossible waist line after having 9 children.

Clay Jr. wants to go to college. He'd be the first Spencer to do it if he does. The bulk of the film is trying to raise the money for tuition.

There are many funny scenes. Many sad scenes. The last 3rd of the film is soooo sad.

Put it this way: If you liked "The Waltons" you'll like Spencer's Mountain. Earl Hamner created "Waltons" and wrote this film.

The movie even features a "goodnight scene" just like the Waltons did.

If you have the chance to see this film in widescreen, do it. The shots of the mountains are beautiful. It was filmed in the Grand Teton National Park, and boy does Technicolor make the mountains look great!

Ben Casey (1961–1966)

High Quality Drama

[16 June 2000]

Ben Casey is the chief neurosurgeon in County Hospital in a large city. He is surrounded by a well-trained staff of doctors and nurses. Each show focuses on a different aspect of life in the hospital. One show features Casey being sued for slander by an incompetent doctor. Casey is brilliant, but has an opinion about everything, so he stays in trouble with the front office.

Sam Jaffe stars as Dr. David Zorba, Caseys mentor and friend. Zorba advises him in important matters both as his superior, and his friend.

There are many guest stars seen over the years that this show ran. Jack Klugman, Brett Sommers, Franciot Tone, Ed Begley, Sr, Telly Savalas (with hair!) Cliff Robertson, Bruce Dern, just to name a few. The drama is well-told and engrossing.

Not everything is pure drama. One episode has Casey helping out one night in the emergency room dealing with crackpot people with imaginary problems.

Casey and Dr. Maggie Graham have an on-and-off relationship throughout the series.

If you get a chance to see Ben Casey, try to catch it with show #1, where Casey gets stuck with a needle after it was used in a test on a girl with rabies! You will be hooked.

-30- (1959)

Newspaper Drama--Jack Webb Style

[8/10 · 12 June 2000]

Webb stars as Gatlin, the night editor of an LA newspaper. Wm. Conrad is Jim Bathgate, the city editor. There are many familiar 50's-60's TV faces in this film. It's easy to overlook the over-acting. There are plenty of plot twists to keep you thinking. No chances to stop and think about what just happened too long. Webb also directed this film for his Mark VII production company. The direction is tight. I have always liked the camera movements in this film. Very fluid. Some of the side stories interweaving thru this film are almost too much to take. Louise Lorimer plays "Lady," a senior employee, and copyist whos grandson dies during a speed record attempt by the air force. Alot of time is spent on the scene where she and Gatlin talk each other down. It's a sad scene, with a sudden jump to another part of the newsroom. During the course of the evening, a little girl goes into a storm drain after her dog, the rains come, and suddenly this is the main story for the morning paper. We are shown how the pages are composed in an interesting way, and are given a very basic overview of how things were done in 1959.

We even get a look at Miss Arkansas, 1959, Donna Sue Needham, as a sexpot that the camera ogles for a minute or so...

If you've never seen this film, give it a chance. It's tight, and entertaining. Even sad in places.

Overlook the theme music.