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Oct 2 10 11:08 AM
Last night, we kicked off our 25th year (!) of watching vintage movies on Friday nights. The lineup:
Acrobatty Bunny (1946): The circus is in town, and the lion's cage has been placed right over Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole, leading to an ongoing and escalating battle between the two of them. Very funny cartoon, with naturally Bugs outwitting his larger rival. I was fascinated by the lion's blue nose; was he a censor? They didn't say. Highlight was the lion in drag dancing a hula while Bugs strummed the Uke.
Ripley's Believe it or Not #3 (1931): The shorts stink and are made on a budget lower than I spend for Diet Pepsi in a month, but what th' heck. Highlight was definitely a man who can straighten out his own spine and grow 7 inches. No, no, he could, they showed it. Wow.
Robert Benchley in "How to Watch Football" (1938): Not one of the better Benchley shorts; he is at home listening to the game on the radio when he imagines he were at the game, leading to a fantasy sequence where he's at the game and being bothered by a group of horrid, rude fans. What IS hysterical is the football announcer, also Benchley, making remarks by V.O. during the "action", with comments like, "We've got a great crowd today, 40,000 screaming fans. Well, 20,000."
Popeye and Bluto beat the hell out of each other in "Pleased to Meet Cha!" (1935) Olive Oyl at her most insufferable; these boys should dump her and go date Betty Boop. I will say this, Olive looks more like Shelley Duvall every time I see her.
"Duel Personalities" (1939): Alfalfa is hypnotized (by the guy who played Tai Chotali in "Captain Marvel") and thinks he's D'Artagnon, and challenges Butch to a fight to the death, the idiot. These later MGM "Our Gang" shorts are beginning to get lousy. I miss Wheezer, Stymie, Joe Cobb, Chubby, and Mary Ann more than I can say.
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, & Lupe Valez in the egg skit from "Hollywood Party" (1934) After that last short, we definitely needed some laughs, and this is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
"Spooks!" (1953) After that, we all donned our 3D glasses to watch Moe, Larry, and Shemp battle a gorilla, mad scientist, and goofy-ass henchman in a haunted house. Best 3D effect was when we were all squirted with a fire extinguisher; worst was when Moe's fingers went into the camera to poke us all in the eyes.
Finally, the first episode of our 1943 wartime serial, "G-Men vs. the Black Dragon". Our American agents battle the evil Japanese warlord, who sneaks into L.A. dressed as a mummy. Well, he does. He's supposed to be Japanese, but he is played by Nino Pepitone and talks like Chico Marx. What's up with THAT? Why didn't they just make him a Mussolini agent? Hmmm. Food for thought. Anyway, the female secret agent got trapped in a filing cabinet at the end, which doesn't seem too perilous, except it then explodes into flames and takes the building with it. Wow! Continued next week.
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