jtyroler Reviews

The Eyes Have It (1931)

Bergen - the perfect radio ventriloquist

[4/10 · 5 May 2013]

Occasionally, during routines with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, "Charlie" would make comments about how Bergen's mouth would often move during their routines. You can see in this short, why Bergen and McCarthy were better suited for the radio. I would not be too surprised if the director had to take a few takes to get a better angle for filming Bergen to minimize showing his mouth moving during the times when he was voicing Charlie.

This is a cute little short from the early stages of Bergen's career. If you want a better idea why Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy were so popular in the pre-WWII days, you really need to listen to the surviving radio shows from The Chase and Sanborn Hour - particularly from 1937 where W.C. Fields would trade insults (and threats) with Charlie.

A Coach for Cinderella (1937)

Cute ad for Chevys

[7/10 · 14 June 2012]

Since this cartoon came out in 1936, there's no way this was to introduce the first post WWII Chevrolets. The US didn't officially enter the war until 1941.

This starts out with a gnome (perhaps an elf, I'm not an expert on fictional tiny people, but they don't have wings, so I guess that rules out fairies, sprites, and a few others) watching how Cinderella's being treated by her 2 step-sisters who are both ordering her to do things at the same time in 2 different rooms. One step-sister needs help with her hair and the other needs her corset tightened and tied. The gnome stops laughing at times when, off camera, it appears that the 2 step-sisters are beating Cinderella off camera.

We then see the gnome taking Cinderella's measurements while she is sleeping on a thin mat on the floor. The cartoon Cinderella at this point is very realistically drawn. She looks like it could almost have been an Impressionistic painting or pastel drawing.

The gnome gets the others to help - spiders spin the silk for her gown and most of the gnomes build a coach using a pumpkin, plus some grape vine for shock absorbers, fireflies for headlights, worms wrapped around flowers for wheels, and so forth.

The coach then goes through a "modernizer" and is turned into a brand new Chevrolet as we see Cinderella in her gown and crystal slippers.

Your Safety First (1956)

See the future of a decade plus ago!

[5/10 · 14 June 2012]

This fairly cheaply animated short brought to us by automobile manufacturers of the mid 1950s (there are fewer around now). This is supposed to take place in the then future of 2000 - showing the new 2001 cars. The cars of 2000 could pretty much drive themselves, fly in order to pass a slower car - nothing like the actual cars of 2000 - or 2012 for that matter, and probably not in 2022 either.

An office "worker" who has little to do - think George Jetson but looks more like Mr. Spacely, is thinking about getting a new car - his old one is almost a year and a half old. He drives home, reading the paper most of the way. He arrives home (with a 4-car garage) and after eating dinner of a pill and a drink, the table mounts on the wall and becomes a 3-D TV screen - one with a feature that our TVs don't have - people can actually enter your living room through the TV. One man does that to discuss the history of automobiles.

The man's alleged grandfather is shown with a 4-seat auto with hand-crank starter, no doors, no windshield, and no lights. Where then shown how cars were made safer and better over time. Old Grandad is driving pretty much through the entire program, including at the end, when he drives through the TV screen, says cars have changed a lot in his 117 years and he's going to go get a new car.

A Is for Atom (1953)

When Americans believed in Science

[7/10 · 14 June 2012]

This cartoon short from the early 1950s showed a time when many Americans thought that there were few, if any, limits to what science could do. This piece of history was brought to you from the folks of General Electric, a company that most people of the time, associated with kitchen appliances and light bulbs and not in the business of creating nuclear and non- nuclear weapons, medical appliances, etc.

This showed how useful nuclear research had been to this point and was more than just creating weapons of mass destruction. This gives a rudimentary understanding of chemistry and atomic structure before showing what could happen with nuclear fission and natural radioactive decay - and it does so in a somewhat amusing way. Radioactive elements, such as Radium are shown as hyperactive people with atoms for heads (or at least what atoms were thought to look like at the time). Radium is shown wearing a tux, dancing fairly maniacally before becoming Radon and then Lead. Uranium isotopes are shown to split and how that can be used to create electricity (and Plutonium).

It's not enough to allow you to develop your own nuclear program, but it does show the benefits of nuclear research. This was definitely a time when most Americans thought science had all sorts of potential - now, many Americans seem to question some of the basic principles of science, preferring to use writings that are 2000 year old or older to answer questions about how the world works.

The Mummy Strikes (1943)

I guess the war needed a break

[6/10 · 14 June 2012]

For once, Clark Kent is told of a story and tries to hide it from Lois Lane, who follows him anyway. What would a Superman cartoon be without having to rescue her?

An Egyptologist is found dead, believed to be murdered - his young assistant is arrested and convicted of his murder. Another archaeologist believes that his colleague was killed by the mummy's curse - the Curse of King Tush (pronounced like the ZZ Top song, but this isn't what they were looking for).

As Clark is shown around the museum (and Lois sneaking around in the shadows), Clark presses something on the mummy's coffin, ejecting a poisoned needle and opening the sarcophagus. A medallion on the mummy starts to glow and opens the sarcophagi of the giant guards.

They start destroying the museum, which, for reasons unknown has a large fire for lighting. Can Superman save the day or does the supernatural win out?

Superman: Eleventh Hour (I) (1942)

Really Pretty Silly Superman

[6/10 · 14 June 2012]

For reasons unknown, Clark Kent and Lois Lane are prisoners in Yokohama, Japan. Their jail cells are more like hotel rooms with metal grating over the windows than anything the Japanese actually interred prisoners. Clark Kent, at 11:00 PM each night, changes to Superman, commits an act of sabotage against the Japanese - usually against a naval vessel, but also destroys a bridge while a train is on it, blows up some tank-like vehicles, etc. Then Superman returns to his cell, replaces the grating, and changes back to Clark Kent.

A Japanese soldier sneaks into Lois' room and forcibly takes her to be executed. Why there weren't several soldiers taking her from her room at gun point, which is more likely to have happened isn't explained - perhaps an animation short cut.

Superman destroys another Japanese ship but many of the steel girders fall on him and he then sees the notice that if Superman commits one more act of sabotage, they will execute Lois. He manages to get there in time to block the bullets from harming Miss Lane, who, by the way, walked to her execution with dignity - like a good American supposedly should.

Clark stays behind to continue committing acts of sabotage after Lois returns to the US on a ship. Why is this pretty silly? Superman probably could have done more damage to the Japanese army and navy in fairly short order than the US was able to do in the first couple of years, but we can't have Superman winning the war single handedly, can we? Especially with 3 more bloody years to go, including the dropping of 2 bombs that did more destruction than Superman could have done.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (1934)

Cute Cartoon

[6/10 · 13 June 2012]

I found this Ub Iwerks cartoon on iTunes (Vintage ToonCast podcasts #03) and thought that this was a fairly cute cartoon from the time of the Depression.

In this, Aladdin works for a man who exchanges 'new' lamps for old ones. The 'new' lamps are just old ones that Aladdin has polished to make new again. Aladdin is pretty much locked in a basement workroom and one day manages to see the beautiful princess pass by in a parade. She drops a rose by his barred window and before Aladdin can pick it up through the bars, an elephant steps on it twice. This was enough for Aladdin to fall in love with the princess.

The man Aladdin works for then dumps a large sack full of old lamps for Aladdin to polish. One is the magic lamp. Aladdin polishes this lamp and a giant genie appears offering to grant his wishes. He wants to be in the palace.

Then, in the sultan's palace, what appears to be a huge meal is brought to the sultan. He takes the lid off of the meal tray and there appears Aladdin wearing the same rags that he was working in. He rubs the lamp and is finely dressed. There are a few more wishes and the man Aladdin worked for tries stealing the lamp.

The lamp ends up inside the sultan and Aladdin cleverly deals with his former boss with the use of a blow torch. Aladdin then wishes to be with the princess and suddenly, he lands in her bathtub. She falls in love with Aladdin (you couldn't expect otherwise, could you?) and as the happy couple are together, you can hear the man yelling, "New lamps for old." He then gets plenty to work with.

Fatty's Magic Pants (1914)

Implausible

[21 November 2011]

For this Keystone slapstick to be believed, you must be able to imagine that Roscoe Arbuckle could put on a pair of Charley Chase's pants and a tuxedo jacket and the only problem is that the legs would be too short for the pants and the jacket sleeves would be too short and that he couldn't close the jacket. In reality, Arbuckle couldn't get either garment on.

If you can overlook this obvious problem, this is a pretty funny short and is one time that Arbuckle doesn't come out on top in the end. Roscoe and Charley Chase are both competing for the affections of Minta Durfee to attend a dance that evening that requires dress clothes. Charley has either rented or bought a tux earlier, Roscoe hadn't. Charley stops by on his way home (conveniently located next door to Roscoe's house) to show off his tux. Roscoe tries to get his mother to let him have 50 cents to rent a tux and she refuses. It's kind of implied that Roscoe is lazy and doesn't do any work by his mother pointing to his arms and pointing out how strong he is. He stretches out his arms and makes some motions like, yes, he is strong, but, instead, starts yawning.

Roscoe then tries to steal Charley's tux by knocking him out while he's standing next to Minta. She knocks him over, Charley and Roscoe start fighting and Charley appears to have the upper hand until a cop shows up. During all this, the tux apparently needs to be aired out, so Charley hangs the tux and top hat on his clothes line, which is also attached to Roscoe's house, and this allows Roscoe to steal the tux.

Charley doesn't find out that his tux has been stolen until it is time to go to the dance where he sees Roscoe wearing his tux with the incredible shrinking waistband and unusually broad shoulders in the back of the jacket. Charley sneaks in through a window, and comically removes the tuxedo from Roscoe, although, at first, only the pants. Roscoe is embarrassed as he helps Al St. John, in an extremely subdued performance for him, move a table from one room into the room where everyone is dancing. This is when everyone sees Roscoe without pants and a fight breaks out.

In the end, Roscoe, basically in his underwear, is out on the street getting arrested and hauled off to jail wearing a barrel as Charley and Minta laugh out of a window.

Hollywood Hist-o-Rama: Harold Lloyd (1962) Season Unknown, Episode Unknown

Very quick, very superficial

[5/10 · 14 November 2011]

How does one sum up the life and career of Harold Lloyd in about 3 1/2 minutes? This was an attempt at it. You do get to briefly see a photo of Harold Lloyd when he was about 1 year old, again when he was about 3. There's a few stills as an extra, a couple more stills where he's Lonesome Luke, a couple more stills where Lloyd is working with "Snub" Pollard and Bebe Daniels (and a brief mention of both). Also mentioned are "Grandma's Boy", "Safety Last", and "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock", which is mentioned as a highlight to Lloyd's career. You also get to see a couple of photos of his huge estate, Greenacres, where Lloyd lived for the rest of his life. This is an extra on a 5-DVD set of Lloyd's work, Smiles and Spectacles by Passport Video.

Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931)

Better than expected

[7/10 · 9 November 2011]

Reading the other reviews and the lack of comments, I wasn't looking forward to watching this, but it was the only film I hadn't watched on a 3-DVD set of Keaton films that I've owned for some time. The set has 3 of Buster's talkies and I was more familiar with his silent classics. I really did enjoy this, although, as other reviewers said, this starts out kind of slow. It's a decent precode farce about 2 sisters, one engaged to a man who wants to get married ASAP (she won't marry before her older sister so she won't be known as an 'old maid'), and her older sister who is attracted to bad boys.

Buster Keaton starts out nailing up signs on 'telegraph' poles and fences and while distracted watching the older sister on the diving board of the pool at Keaton's actual home, walks in front of a moving car and is hit. Keaton plays a timid, girl shy character (the kind of role that MGM often put him in, which was nothing like him in real life, judging from the number of affairs he was supposedly having around that time) who is supposed to play the part of a ladies' man.

The second half that takes place in a hotel is much better than the slower first half. This is where Buster goes from being almost scared of women to being sexually aggressive within a few hours. It's during this part of the movie where Buster gets to show off some of his physical comedy that he's probably best known for, although I think Buster was better off at showing absurd situations - and this movie is pretty much just that.

The Stolen Jools (1931)

A look back at Hollywood in the early 30s

[6/10 · 5 November 2011]

This short to benefit a TB hospital sponsored by a cigarette company should be a good indication that things are going to be slightly off-beat. The lighting is somewhat inconsistent, a problem with a lot of early films up through the 1930s.

This short has brief appearances by major stars (either at the time, recent past, or soon to be) - Wallace Beery, Buster Keaton, Edward G. Robinson, Laurel & Hardy, the Little Rascals, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Wiliam Haines (career about to end in pictures due to his being an openly gay man which was not approved by Louis B. Meyer), Warner Baxter, Irene Dunn, Gary Cooper, Maurice Chevalier, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Loretta Young, Bebe Daniels, Barbara Stanwyck, Jack Oakie, Fay Wray, and Gabby Hayes. There's also some actors who weren't as big, such as Wheeler & Woolsey - a comedy team that had one of the better bits in a diner, Richard Dix, Richard Barthelmess, Charles Butterworth, Eugene Palette, and Mitzi Green, who played many young girl parts, such as Becky Thatcher to Jackie Coogan's Tom Sawyer in a couple of films.

There's not much of a plot - just a theft of Norma Shearer's jewels by Edward G. Robinson and George E. Stone, which are then stolen by Mitzi Green. Inspector Eddie Kane is driven to the scene of the crime by Laurel & Hardy and basically then has a 1 or 2 sentence dialog with almost all of the other actors.

The Patty Duke Show: Patty Pits Wits, Two Brits Hits (1965) Season 2, Episode 23

Chad & Jeremy discovered in Brooklyn Heights

[9/10 · 2 June 2010]

British invasion pop duo Chad & Jeremy (Nigel & Patrick for this show) supposedly are performing at a radio station that's simultaneously broadcasting Cathy Lane's announcing a brilliant young American pianist about to play Chopin's Nocturne in E Flat Major (either #2 or #16) as part of the high school''s new classical music program. Patty tries to introduce them to her father who had just written an editorial about how bad the music was that the teens were listening to. As Nigel & Patrick come into Martin's office and start playing, he kicks them out - as does almost every record company, until they come to one ran by Danny Leonard, a "hole in the wall, fly-by-night nobody"

But Danny will record them if his silent partner, brother-in-law, show manufacturer Max Whithers likes them. Max only listens to records so Patty records a tape at home. Her younger brother Ross is apparently an expert at recording demos - as he operates the tape recorder for the demo.

Does Nigel & Patrick become sensations? At the beginning of the show, they are performing "A Summer Song" at Brooklyn Heights High School.

Highway Patrol: Christmas Story (1956) Season 1, Episode 39

Moving little Christmas Story

[8/10 · 29 May 2010]

This starts out with a very busy architect coming home with Christmas gifts to find his wife and young daughter had left him on December 23rd. The wife was tired of being neglected. The husband was supposed to take their daughter to see Santa Claus so she could ask him for a puppy.

For some reason, the wife and daughter stop off at a hotel in the late afternoon and go to bed while it's still light out (a travel clock shows about 5:30) on their way to stay with the wife's sister. The daughter is worried about Santa finding her. The husband drives all night searching for them and does manage to find them, but only sits in the car.

When the wife wakes up, the daughter is missing - this is where Dan Matthews and the Highway patrol come in. The husband is brought in for questioning as a suspect. The highway patrol finds a young girl's handkerchief with what appears to be blood on it.

The girl shows up at a Salvation Army shelter because of the Santa Claus bell ringer. She's holding a small dog with a wounded paw. Somehow, she found a blanket to wrap the dog with. Santa brings her inside the shelter and feeds both her and the dog some soup and that's where Dan Matthews finds her and reunites the family.

All Aboard (1917)

Not Your Grandfather's Harold Lloyd

[6/10 · 4 January 2010]

This is Harold Lloyd before he became the lovable everyman that is more common of his work from the 1920s. Lloyd is brash and cocky, not the naive man who would star in "The Freshman" or the dare-devil of "Safety Last". He's in love with Bebe Daniels, and really, who wouldn't be - but her parent don't approve of Harold. They want her to marry the "barren" and go to Bermuda, the land of the festive onion (or festered bunion).

For the most part, this is fairly standard slapstick of the era, including the exaggerated facial hair of the "villain". Expect people getting kicked in the seat of their pants, knocked off the dock into the water, heavy objects being dropped on people's feet, etc. And, since part of the movie takes place on a ship at sea, there's the almost obligatory mass seasickness among the passengers - exacerbated by the amplified rocking of the ship back and forth.

I'm not familiar with Lloyd's "Lonesome Luke" character, except that it's usually considered to be somewhat similar to Chaplin's tramp and much of Lloyd's acting in "All Aboard" is similar to Chaplin's of a year or so earlier.

Aventure malgache (1944)

Hitchcock does French Propaganda

[8/10 · 2 January 2010]

During World War II, Alfred Hitchock made a couple of relatively short propaganda movies for the people of France and their colonies, which, at the time, included a large portion of Africa. A map early in the film shows how much of Africa was under French control during the war. In 1944, much of France had been occupied by the Nazis for about 4 years and prior to D- Day, it looked to many that France could be occupied for quite some time. People needed something to keep their hopes alive and this was one of Hitchcock's attempts. However, this wasn't released during the war and no one really knows if this might have any effect on the moral of the French speaking world or not.

This and "Bon Voyage" were made using French writers, actors, technicians in wartime England. "Aventure malgache"is based on a true story that happened in Madagascar, a former French colony.

The story starts off with members of a French acting troupe performing in London with one actor (Paul Bonifas) trying to figure out how to play the role of a gangster. His resemblance to the police chief in Madagascar, a Nazi appeaser, is noted by another actor (Paul Clarus) and the bulk of the movie is the story of how the French colonists managed to survive with a corrupt police chief while still getting some people off of the island and broadcasting resistance radio services.

This isn't a typical Hitchcock movie and that could account for some of the lower reviews. In watching this, I try to imagine myself as a member of the target audience - one who is hoping to get out from under the tyranny of Nazi rule and to know that there are people in the rest of the world who haven't given up freeing my people. Members of that original target audience would have been subject to arrest (or worse) just by seeing this movie. A glimmer of hope could be worth that for many people.

The Georgetown Loop (Colorado) (1903)

Not for the acrophobic

[8/10 · 15 October 2008]

If you consider that this was done the same year as "The Great Train Robbery" and the reports of people ducking so they wouldn't be shot, I can imagine that quite a few people thought the train might fall off the track at times. There are times where the train is either traveling across a very high bridge or it appears that there isn't much, except for a huge drop-off, on the left side of the track.

It's interesting the number of people waving their handkerchiefs out the window of some of the passenger cars. I don't know if this was still an issue in 1903 or not, but I thought early train travel had the added danger of getting burned by hot ashes or embers (maybe it depended on if the engine was burning coal or wood).

I don't know how many scenic rail lines there are still in Colorado over a century later, it might be interesting to see how that area has changed. Well, as long as you're not afraid of heights...

Four Days in November (1964)

One of my earliest memories

[10/10 · 20 September 2008]

I was a little over 4 years old when this happened. My mom was watching "The Edge of Night" and got a little angry when a "special bulletin" interrupted her soap opera. Then she started crying after Walter Cronkite made the announcement that the President had been shot.

My aunt and uncle had the book that went with this documentary. 45 years later, I finally see this documentary. In watching it, I felt like I was there. This is something that no book or still photo could do justice to.

I had no idea of the number of people that were lining the streets watching Kennedy's ill-fated motorcade. This documentary gives you a sense of some of the "what ifs": what if it had rained that day, what if motorcade hadn't made a turn and drove straight, what if the "bubble top" had been on the limo?

November 22, 1963 started out as a great day for the Kennedys and everyone at the breakfast in Fort Worth. At about 12:30 that afternoon, it became a tragedy for most of the world.

The Knockout (1932)

The Boy Friends

[5/10 · 24 August 2008]

Hal Roach made several shorts with a group of young actors that he nicknamed "The Boy Friends." The "lead" Boy Friend was Mickey Daniels (as Mickey), a former Our Gang member - Mickey's the one with all the freckles. Mary Kornman, another Our Gang alum, plays Mary. As a general rule of thumb, when actors are repeatedly playing characters with the same first name as the actor, you're probably not watching award-winning acting. Grady Sutton plays Grady "Alabam" Sutton.

The Boy Friends were apparently college students and this gives you some idea of what college life was like in the early 30s and some of the fads - like Mickey's sweatshirt having a lot of writing on it. At the beginning, keep an eye out for a Mickey Mouse doll. Mickey, the actor, not the mouse, is very bashful when Mary sits next to him. In keeping with the Disney undertones, "Alabam" laughs a lot like Goofy. Apparently Sophomores are supposed to be frightened of Freshmen as part of some sort of abusive hazing ritual. Mickey knocks out the freshman boxing champ after the "champ" is trying to pick up Mary.

They Won't Forget (1937)

Important Movie about Justice

[8/10 · 5 August 2008]

Mary Clay, played by Lana Turner (living up to her sweater girl fame) very early in her career is a student at a small southern town's business college. She has a crush on her teacher, Professor Robert Hale, played by Edwin Norris. Hale, is a man from the north - not really welcomed in a town that has a parade for Confederate Memorial Day. After the class was dismissed, Mary and a friend went for a soda and Mary forgot her vanity case. She went back to the school and was murdered.

Local newspaper staff bursts into Hale's apartment, tells Hale's wife that he's in jail, and after she faints, newsmen search the apartment, taking a honeymoon photo, searching through drawers.

This movie demonstrates how a quest for political power can taint a trial. Being an "outsider" can make it difficult for a fair trial. Although this takes place in the south, mob justice can and has occurred all over the country during the 1920's and 1930's.

The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929)

Looking for the telescope

[6/10 · 4 August 2008]

MGM used to boast that they had more stars than were in the heavens. This transitional picture shows some "stars", people who still have name recognition. Some of the performers were near the end of their career, some at the beginning, and others, probably did not have much of a career before or after this.

There's no real plot - it's pretty much a variety show hosted by Conrad Nagle and Jack Benny. There are some historical moments here - the first performance of "Singing in the Rain", the alleged cause of John Gilbert's career nosediving, Joan Crawford singing and dancing, some slapstick from Laurel & Hardy. There are appearances by the stunningly beautiful Anita Page who looks kind of sad while Conrad Nagle appears to be singing to her. William Haines, just before Louis B. Mayer ended his acting career, eating part of Jack Benny's clothing. Bessie Love appeared to come from one of Jack Benny's pockets - she said there was a $100 bill in the pocket, Benny quips that it's not his suit.

Parts of this was the inspiration of the movie "Singing in the Rain", which was done 20+ years later.

The pluses to this: some color sequences, including the closing performance of "Singing in the Rain", a weird dance sequence by Buster Keaton, who remains mute, and it's a great glimpse into Hollywood as it transitioned from the Silent Era to the age of "talkies". One interesting thing was the cameras weren't as static as they were for many of the early "talkies". There's also a kind of experimental dance sequence where it appears that they used some of the negatives in place of the processed film.

Some of the minuses are it wasn't a smooth transition from the Silent Era to the age of "talkies" - the sound quality is very inconsistent. Some people sounded kind of muffled, some people's voices weren't picked up very well. The version that was played by TCM on 8/4/08 wasn't closed captioned, so if you can't understand what someone is saying or singing, you don't have any captioning to help you out.

This is a good movie if you are interested in relatively early movies - it's almost 80 years old. It's also a chance to see some performers that didn't appear very often.

Trifles of Importance (1940)

One of The Passing Parade's better efforts

[7/10 · 2 August 2008]

There are three mini-episodes in this edition of John Nesbitt's "The Passing Parade". The first one has to do with the number 7 and is about a secret group at the University of Virginia that manage to clear a man's name after he was accused of theft on the campus. The young man who was actually guilty kept receiving things with the number 7, although I'm not sure how anyone would be able to plant stuff in the student's notebook without his knowledge. There was also a pair of dice glued together, the number 7 removed from his door, and a large 7 glued to the front of a newspaper the guilty student opened up. That was enough for him to confess and the falsely accused student was able to return to college.

The next mini-episode was about doodling and it's use in psychology. There's examples of doodling by Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, and Mickey Rooney, plus doodles from George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The final mini-episodes is about men's clothing. The reason for slits in the back of suit jackets is from horse riding. Lapels were said to be created when a military officer in battle opened up his jacket to give him room to breathe. The reason for men keeping the bottom button of a vest undone is because a portly king unbuttoned the last button on his vest to give him more space after having lunch. The reason for the buttons on sleeves is that Frederick of Prussia saw a guard wiping his nose with his sleeve and ordered buttons on the sleeves to prevent using a sleeve for a handkerchief.

This shows up occasionally on TCM and it's worth watching.

Crazy House (1930)

Absurdity Reigns Supreme

[6/10 · 28 July 2008]

Benny Rubin tries to check himself into a asylum run by Dr. Smith, spelled J-O-N-E-S. His secretary who wears only the front half of a dress and talks into an imaginary telephone. There's someone who tries to play a violin on the asylum's radio station (upstairs in the basement), but she breaks her G-string (on the violin, on the vi-o-lin, get your mind out of the gutter) and then breaks the violin.

There are some, I guess, sailors, one of which has invented an unbreakable plate that shatters on the floor. There are two other similarly dressed sailors laughing uncontrollably, while usually tough guy Nat Pendleton is dressed as a chef. Pendleton gets hit in the face with a plate full of beans. Beans occasionally appeared in some of Salvador Dali's work of the period, but I don't know if there was any intention of making a connection to the Surrealist movement in this short.

The humor falls short a lot of the times, although if you look at this through a surrealist mindset, you might find this more enjoyable.

Stan Kenton and His Orchestra (1947)

History of Stan Kenton

[7/10 · 17 July 2008]

This is so different from the musical shorts from a decade earlier. There's a narrator talking about Kenton's career. Also, the music is different from the Big Band music of the 30s - it seems to be a bluesier type of jazz, a precursor of the jazz that would become more common in the 50s.

June Christy is a good singer, but apparently, she's pretty much forgotten. Gene Howard, another singer, seemed OK, but he seems pretty wooden on stage.

The last number has Jerry (?) Gale dancing. SHE (the credits has her appearing as HIMself) doesn't really bring much to this musical short - she does some ballet-type moves and her dancing seems based on the music being played.

For the most part, this is a decent introduction to Stan Kenton and the music he and his band were making just after WWII. If you are familiar with Kenton's music or just like jazz, this is a good short.

Making an American Citizen (1912)

Becoming an American Citizen According to a French Director

[7/10 · 8 July 2008]

For today's audiences, this seems over the top, or as a few comments stated, "heavy- handed". Try to imagine what life was life in 1912 for immigrants - different languages spoken, different mores, and different laws.

One of the appealing aspects of silent movies for immigrants was that one could be entertained, even if you spoke little to no English. Without the subtitles, one could still tell that this big Russian man's behavior changed. One didn't need to know English to know that it is frowned upon to beat your wife - regardless of how accepted it might have been in the "old country". You also didn't need to know English to notice that the couple seemed much happier after the husband learned that there were consequences for spousal abuse.

"Making an American Citizen" addresses one aspect that some immigrants needed to know about their new country - this makes me wonder if there were similar movies made around the time to help people learn about living in the United States.

Surprise! (1935)

A So-So Racially Insensitive Short

[3/10 · 5 July 2008]

Based on other comments, this Vitaphone short features the Duncan Sisters, who, apparently were fairly well known in vaudeville, not well known in film.

You are definitely required to ignore a few things - like women in their late 30's to early 40's are attending college - but live in the deep South without a trace of a Southern accent. Rosie looks closer to her age than the age of a college coed, Vivian looks younger than her years.

This old plantation that they are supposed to be from has to be reached by horse and carriage. The Duncans arrive home to a surprise costume party. The sisters want to surprise the party goers by changing into costumes that they conveniently brought home from school. Some of the humor involves an exploding cigar, so don't expect to see any writing credits by Robert Benchley or Dorothy Parker.

There are people in blackface, so be prepared to be offended. One song about the Volga River flowing through Dixie has the word "darkies" There is also someone dressed as Simon Legree, holding a bullwhip to add to the offensiveness.

For the most part, this is pretty forgettable - except for the racist stereotypes, those should be remembered to see what was "acceptable", how far we've come from that, and how far we still need to go.