Duck Amuck (1953, Chuck Jones)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 10, 2012
Duck Amuck is either very memorable or very predictable. If I have ever seen it, it was fifteen plus years ago. Yet I could guess a bunch of the plot twists, including the final one. That final reveal, which might make Amuck memorable, also undoes a lot of the neat stuff the cartoon does otherwise. read more
Whipsaw (1935, Sam Wood)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 9, 2012
Whipsaw takes some detours, but eventually reveals itself as an unlikely road picture… albeit one with limited stops. The first few scenes are in London, with a lot of exposition introducing Myrna Loy and Harvey Stephens as jewel thieves. There are some other jewel thieves who want in on thei read more
His Marriage Wow (1925, Harry Edwards)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 8, 2012
I wonder how His Marriage Wow would play without Vernon Dent. His character is an inexplicably omnipresent professor who counsels leading man Harry Langdon as to his future wife’s murderous intentions. Of course, Marriage is never scary and never tries to be scary, so the whole groom in dange read more
The Rains Came (1939, Clarence Brown)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 7, 2012
I was expecting The Rains Came to be a standard soap–with some ethnic flair, of course (Tyrone Power’s an Indian doctor, Myrna Loy’s a British lady). Instead, it’s a little like… Maugham-lite. Neither Loy nor Power is the lead (in fact, Power’s in it so little he read more
Dragon Around (1954, Jack Hannah)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 6, 2012
If someone was unfamiliar with Donald Duck–and missed the opening titles, which imply Dragon Around is a Donald Duck cartoon–he or she might read the ending as Chip and Dale killing Donald Duck. And Donald Duck definitely deserves it. Initially, the chipmunks confuse Donald’s powe read more
Diplomatic Courier (1952, Henry Hathaway)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 5, 2012
Diplomatic Courier starts a lot stronger than it finishes. For the first half or so, it’s a post-war variation of a thirties Hitchcock–a lot of unexplained, strange incidents and a protagonist trying to unravel them. Then it changes gear, becoming a Hollywood attempt at The Third Man. I read more
Play It Again, Charlie Brown (1971, Bill Melendez)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 4, 2012
“Play It Again, Charlie Brown” is shockingly bad. About the only good part of it comes near the end, as Danny Hjeim’s Schroeder debates whether to play rock instead of Beethoven at a concert. There’s actual internal conflict and so on. Unfortunately, it’s a small scene read more
Alice in the Wooly West (1926, Walt Disney)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 3, 2012
While the title suggests this cartoon is about Alice, it’s really about her sidekick, Julius; he’s the attraction of Alice in the Wooly West. Maybe Disney just didn’t have the budget to have Alice (here played by Margie Gay) do any actual action shots. The mix of live action and a read more
Switching Channels (1988, Ted Kotcheff)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 2, 2012
In Switching Channels, Kotcheff attempts two styles he’s inept at directing—madcap and slapstick. He’s got Ned Beatty, who can act in both those styles, and Beatty does okay. He’s not any good, but one can’t hold the film’s failings against him. But for his other buffoon, Kotcheff uses Christopher read more
La jetée (1962, Chris Marker)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 1, 2012
La jetée is better in its parts than the whole. But the whole is still a rather significant success. Marker shows all a film needs to be successful is great photography (Marker and Jean Chiabaut) and music (Trevor Duncan). It does need, it turns out, motion. Jetée does, of course, have motion. In read more
Baton Bunny (1959, Chuck Jones and Abe Levitow)
The Stop Button Posted by on Feb 28, 2012
Baton Bunny casts Bugs as a perfectionist conductor who, during a performance, has to cope with wardrobe malfunctions and a bothersome fly. The most interesting thing about the cartoon–and something I’ve never seen from a Bugs Bunny cartoon before–is how co-directors Jones and Lev read more
Free and Easy (1931, Roy Mack)
The Stop Button Posted by on Feb 26, 2012
The most cinematic thing about Free and Easy might be its end credits card. The card at least makes Easy feel like a short film and not a radio show. Well, wait, I guess there are three sight gags in the short… otherwise, it’d definitely be better suited for radio. It opens with a group read more
A Close Call (1929, Harry Bailey and John Foster)
The Stop Button Posted by on Feb 25, 2012
A Close Call is a very strange little cartoon. First, it’s an early talkie, so everyone’s very excited about synchronized sound. So much so, in fact, a church choir breaks out into “You’re In The Army Now.” It’s a very odd song choice. But not as odd as the rest read more
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988, Dwight H. Little)
The Stop Button Posted by on Feb 24, 2012
While still bad, Halloween 4 is better than I ever expected. It’s barely ninety minutes and forty or so minutes are of people in crisis, which passes the time fairly well. It takes place in an interesting version of the original film’s town, where the moon (even when it isn’t full read more
His Prehistoric Past (1914, Charles Chaplin)
The Stop Button Posted by on Feb 23, 2012
Chaplin opens His Prehistoric Past setting it up as a dream sequence, which lets the viewer know the outcome can’t be too dramatic. But the setup is immediate–Chaplin falls asleep on a park bench–so the more relatable elements in the dream don’t have much substance. In the d read more
Fantastic Voyage (1966, Richard Fleischer)
The Stop Button Posted by on Feb 22, 2012
Among Fantastic Voyage‘s many problems, the two salient ones are the general lack of tension and the utter lack of wonderment. Fleischer is responsible for both, though maybe not so much the first. The story can’t really be tense because there’s very little at stake. The film̵ read more
Now Hear This (1962, Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble)
The Stop Button Posted by on Feb 21, 2012
Now Hear This is a fairly amazing cartoon. It’s even more amazing when one considers it’s a Warner Bros. cartoon under the “Looney Tunes” banner. Jones and co-director Noble play with the idea of sound as it relates to movies. I suppose cartoons specifically, but it’s read more
The Third Secret (1964, Charles Crichton)
The Stop Button Posted by on Feb 20, 2012
Between Crichton’s fantastic CinemaScope composition and Douglas Slocombe’s wondrous black and white photography, it’d be hard not admire The Third Secret. It’s an engaging enough thriller, though it does run into the problem of having one ending too many. Stephen Boyd plays read more
Buried Treasure (1926, Robert F. McGowan)
The Stop Button Posted by on Feb 19, 2012
Buried Treasure would be a lot better if director McGowan knew how to embrace the absurdity of the short. The gang has made a seaworthy boat. They take it out to look for buried treasure. Unfortunately, everyone–dog and cat included–get seasick and they’re out all night. Obviously read more
Mouse and Garden (1960, Friz Freleng)
The Stop Button Posted by on Feb 18, 2012
Mouse and Garden has some bad animation… shockingly bad. The cartoon’s about Sylvester and his sidekick, Sam, fighting over a mouse. The animation on Sam (an orange cat) and the mouse is awful. Freleng apparently didn’t care about appearing three dimensional. Actually, a lot of th read more