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Reviews
Hunters and Gatherers (1994)
Insightful documentary on people compelled to collect.
"Hunters and Gatherers" is a compelling documentary focusing on people whose collections of ephemeral have become an important focus of their life-- or in some cases, their overriding obsession. The collectors talk about their interests and motivations while showing off their prized possessions.
This is an insightful and interesting little documentary.
Snow-White (1933)
Best of the Boop/Calloway collaborations
This is a wonderful short humorous cartoon, predating the Disney feature inspired by the same folk-tale.
The Wicked Witch/Queen is jealous of Betty Boop's beauty, and orders Boop's execution. Guards Bimbo and Koko are too kind hearted to carry it out. As in "Minnie The Moocher", the scene shifts to a spooky cave where we are serenaded by the voice of Cab Calloway.
The music and action mesh beautifully, keeping the momentum strong throughout. Watch carefully for a plethora of visual jokes to the sides and behind the action.
Unfortunately, most copies of this cartoon on video were taken from 1950s television prints, which cut off part of the frame.
This is perhaps as close to perfection as the Fleischer Studios achieved. A gem.
Minnie the Moocher (1932)
Betty Boop and Cab Calloway make a great team
The first part of the film shows us a younger Betty Boop than we're used to seeing in the Fleischer Brothers cartoons.
Betty is a girl in her early/mid teens, being nagged to tears by her immigrant parents. Betty sings the 1911 Von Tilzer number "They Always Pick On Me". Notice how the animator attends to such details as the bouncing of Betty's breasts on the staircase-- such details would soon be suppressed in USA animation by the Hayes Code.
This is the first of 3 Fleischer cartoons with Cab Calloway featured on the soundtrack. They proved popular-- and Calloway used them as advertising, having the cartoons shown in theaters of towns the week before his travelling band would arrive.
"Minnie The Moocher" is good, as is the last of the series "The Old Man of the Mountain", but Betty Boop's "Snow White" is the best of all.
Bimbo's Initiation (1931)
Brilliant early sound cartoon
"Bimbo's Initiation" is a gem of a cartoon. It captures the surreal quality of a nightmare-- but the disturbing quality is outweighed by the humor.
This is the strange rubbery universe of the Fleischer Brothers at it's best. This is one of the very few cartoons that I can enjoy watching again and again.
Forbidden Zone (1980)
Dollar per dollar spent, one of the best films ever made.
An amazing little low budget film. Weird, wonderful, funny, poignient, surreal. Not to everyone's taste, but anyone willing to venture outside of main-stream entertainment should check it out. The sets look mostly to have been made with the budget and resources of a small junior-highschool play, but the result is artistic, both amusing and nightmareish, like a live action version of the Flescher Brother's classic "Bimbo's Initiation". The sound track features vintage recordings by the likes of Cab Calloway and Josphene Baker (lip sinked to by the characters), and original music by Oingo Boingo.
The film makes numerous references to early 20th century pop-culture and vaudeville-- but not recognizing them will not detract from your enjoyment. Contains perhaps the cinema's best ever gratuitious frog-sex scene.
-- Frater Frogalogus
I sette nani alla riscossa (1951)
Ouch! This movie makes my Brane hurt!!1!
Wow. "Seven Dwarves To The Rescue" must be one of the worst films ever made. It rivals "Plan 9 From Outer Space". This is a live action B&W film; the copy I saw dubbed in English from the original Italian. This is an amazingly campy piece of cheap schlock. I don't know what the people who made this turkey were thinking... except that they evidently thought that having a large woman fall on top of a dwarf was pretty funny, since they use that gag repeatedly.
Thumbs way down, clothes-pin on the nose.
-- Froggy