The Bootleg Files [Archive] - Page 2

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Terminal_Ny

05-01-2006, 06:09 PM

But since it's The Bootleg Files, I'd bank on "Mame."
I'm still going with Grease 2, smarty farty.

Coo-oo-oo-ool Rider!

Phil Hall

05-02-2006, 08:09 AM

Ha, you are all wrong! You all get a Moe-style slap across the face! :p

Rory L. Aronsky

05-02-2006, 11:40 AM

Well my Three Stooges-style eyepoke has been known to kill a man. ;)

The Baron

05-02-2006, 09:01 PM

That's okay... I've got a claw hammer, and most everyone has two nostrils.

*sniffs*

Say... Is that banana creme pie I smell, wafting in this direction?

ONLINE PIE FIGHT!!! EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!!!

Furious D

05-02-2006, 09:05 PM

ONLINE PIE FIGHT!!! EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!!!

I got a Lemon Meringue with yer name on it!:D

WHOOSH

SPLAT!

DIRECT HIT!

Whoo-hoo-hoo Whoo-hoo-hoo Whoo-hoo-hoo Whoo-hoo-hooWhoo-hoo-hoo Whoo-hoo-hoo Whoo-hoo-hoo Whoo-hoo-hoo Whoo-hoo-hoo Whoo-hoo-hoo

Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!
:D ;) :cool:

Phil Hall

05-03-2006, 11:49 AM

The first movie I can ever recall seeing was the Three Stooges short "Cactus Makes Perfect." I was four years old. And it is still my fave Stooges movie. :D

judex

05-03-2006, 12:14 PM

Hey Phil,

I remember a TV show from the 60s in which George Plimpton documented his cameo role in Howard Hawk's "Rio Lobo". I remember it was fairly amusing (I was a kid however) and have been curious to see it since.

I can't recall the name of the TV special. Do you know anything about it and, if so, has it ever been released on video or DVD?

Rory L. Aronsky

05-03-2006, 12:48 PM

I can't recall the name of the TV special. Do you know anything about it and, if so, has it ever been released on video or DVD?

Just throwing this one out there since "Rio Lobo" came out in 1970 and this TV special followed in 1971: Plimpton! Did You Hear The One About? (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374964/)

And according to the IMDB's amazon.com box, no video or DVD release.

Phil Hall

05-03-2006, 03:07 PM

Just throwing this one out there since "Rio Lobo" came out in 1970 and this TV special followed in 1971: Plimpton! Did You Hear The One About? (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374964/)

And according to the IMDB's amazon.com box, no video or DVD release.

Is your name Phil, huh? Huh? Huh? Judex said "Hey Phil"...not "Hey Phil Imitators" or "Hey Phil and Those Who Want to be Like Phil" or "Hey Phil and the Assorted Bipeds Who Frequent This Forum"!

Do I go around answering your online inquiries?

Thank goodness I'm not touchy! :D

Terminal_Ny

05-03-2006, 04:58 PM

Thank goodness I'm not touchy! :D
Yes, you seem very secure in your role. :confused:

Strandlund

05-04-2006, 03:17 PM

Hey, at least Dilly can sing. The next Bootleg Files column features a musical with stars who could neither sing nor dance! And it ain't pretty. :eek:
Hey Phil,
Is it Peter Bogdanovich's musical epic...AT LONG LAST LOVE?

Phil Hall

05-05-2006, 08:43 AM

Hey Phil,
Is it Peter Bogdanovich's musical epic...AT LONG LAST LOVE?

CORRECT!

Everyone, give the man a big wet kiss!!! :D

Rory L. Aronsky

05-05-2006, 01:10 PM

Everyone, give the man a big wet kiss!!! :D

How about a hearty handshake and a dollar?

BenPanced

05-08-2006, 08:53 AM

Phil Hall

05-08-2006, 03:04 PM

At Long Last Love pops up on Fox Movie Channel on cable from time to time, which is where I managed to get my copy on tape (it resides on a double feature with Myra Breckenridge [oops! Almost typed that as "Breckendirge"]). It was as unbelievably weak as presented on the Bootleg Files review (I'd put it on a level with taping NASCAR races just to get the crashes), and I can understand why it isn't currently available on home video. However, the second it becomes available, I am so all over it.

It is funny you mentioned Myra Breckenridge -- I reviewed that before Bootleg Files column began, when the film was still a bootleg-only title. But when it was made available for DVD, Fox used a quote from my review on the DVD box. Actually, I enjoyed Myra Breckenridge a lot...dumb fun, but fun nonetheless.

Captain Wrong

06-29-2006, 02:01 PM

First time, long time.

I just wanted to let you know, with regards to the Orson Welles outtakes, there's also audio floating around of a commercial he did for frozen peas. He's not tanked in it, but man, you can feel the frustration in his voice of being Orson Welles and having to go over take after take of this stupid commercial.

Pretty funny stuff (and he gets a bit politically incorrect on the director.)

Furious D

06-29-2006, 03:53 PM

I just wanted to let you know, with regards to the Orson Welles outtakes, there's also audio floating around of a commercial he did for frozen peas.

There is a parody featuring voice-actor Maurice LaMarche imitating Welles in an episode of The Critic where Welles reacts badly to the slogan "Country Goodness & Green Pea-ness."

justthefacts

06-30-2006, 05:41 AM

In the Bootleg file about the Monkees Kool-Aid commercial, the author writes: "Inexplicably, Kool-Aid also recruited the Monkees for their marketing purposes. This made little sense, because by 1969 the Monkees were dying on their feet.... Their TV show had been off the air (contrary to popular belief, it was never a top rated program).."

First of all, this notion that there's a "popular belief" that the Monkees was top-rated program exists in the mind of people who write about things and don't seem to do needed research. The popular belief is that few top rated shows are cancelled during their second season. The more popular belief is that the series had what is termed a "cult-like following" as it aired in reruns for years in network daytime and then in syndication, while explaining its MTV success in the mid-1980s.

Secondly, the author says that its inexplicable why this ad includes both Bugs and The Monkees. Well, if you believe that the series was "off the air," it might make sense to question this. However, since The Monkees series was on the same CBS Saturday morning lineup as Bugs in 1969, it made sense to someone in terms of cross-promoting the Saturday morning line-up which appealed to kids and a product that appealed to kids. Because Kool-Aid was a primary sponsor of those same Saturday morning Monkee rebroadcasts and the Bugs series, why is this hard for anyone to comprehend? It would still makes sense to some today, perhaps, had the FCC rules not have changed with respect to the actual airing of such host-based commercials. Trust me, for those who either do needed research or at least remember back to the late 1960s this sort of cross-promotion is most explainable.

The comment that the "Monkees had nothing to do...until Kool-Aid threw them a lifeline," is almost not worth addressing since the author knows not of what he speaks. Clearly, the Monkees were recording, touring, and making related appearances. The Kool-Aid spots were shot in April and May of 1969. The Kool-Aid spots were created within weeks of the band revising its seven-year deal from its original terms of 1966. The "nothing to do" band had its tenth single released during the production of the first spot for Kool-Aid while shooting both spots around an active touring schedule, live TV appearences, and the recording of their Present album. To illustrate this point, their schedule prior to their June Kool-Aid shoots are live concerts in Jackson, Houston, Wichita, and taped appearance on The Johnny Cash Show in Nashville. They worked the Kool-Aid shoots around their return to the recording studio in Hollywood where they recorded a number of tracks for their Present album. With a newly-revised contract in hand, an active concert tour, and appearances, certainly the remaining three Monkees had plenty to do.

That there was this interest in providing a marketing stimulus to the remaining Monkees, this Saturday story is actually somewhat interesting and certainly not inexplicable. The songs in the CBS Saturday morning Monkees episodes were re-cut to feature songs in their 1969 and 1970 Colgems LP releases. In fact, the Monkees 11th single appeared within days of the series transition to the CBS Saturday morning lineup that included Bugs. And that single was recorded at the very time of the second Kool-Aid commercial shoot.

So, true, a low point for The Monkees as they failed to reach a more "serious" adult consumer, the leftover band members honored their contractual commitments both for albums, concerts, and promotional appearances. Their series ran for four years on the Saturday lineup (three years on CBS and one on ABC) as The Monkees seemed to appeal to a kids audience. This might explain the "inexplicable" marketing of free records that appeared on the backs of boxes of sugary cereal, the Nerf ball ad, and -- yes, Virginia -- the Kool-Aid spots.

Clearly, the makers of Kool-Aid, the programmers at CBS, and The Monkees could have explained this better, but I hope this educates some.

Phil Hall

06-30-2006, 08:28 AM

Hmmm, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed! :eek:

For the Monkees, the Kool-Aid commercials and the appeal to the kiddie set was a huge step backwards following their failed attempts to be taken seriously on vinyl and on the big screen ("Head" is a fun film, but it was a huge flop in 1968). For a group that wanted to be respected as rockers, this was a disaster.

Although they still had contractual obligations to make TV appearances and concerts, the Monkees were considered has-beens by 1969. What little control they were able to wrest for themselves in their music (the "Headquarters" album) and on camera ("Head" and "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee" for TV) was lost by this time.

The fact the Monkees were doing Kool-Aid commercials and not playing at Woodstock gives an idea of how they were viewed in 1969. Today, it would be the equivalent of Eminem being forced to shift gears to appeal to the Wiggles' core audience.

I know "The Monkees" were rerun on Saturday morning TV (that is where I first saw the show, in the early 1970s). But there was also a lot of crap on Saturday morning TV and it was cheaper to rerun old stuff to death rather than produce new shows. That explains why "The Beatles" cartoon series ran for so long. "The Monkees" (as I recall, having lived through the era) was not that popular with the Saturday morning crowd.

justthefacts

07-01-2006, 10:12 AM

Dude, sorry to hurt your feelings in setting the record straight. This was my first visit to "Film Threat." I got routed via a news search engine while researching marketing practices. The article reads about as factually as Peabody's Improbable History or a Commander McBragg story, to use some more Saturday a.m. cartoonology. Since the Film Threat boasts 1) the slogan "Truth in Entertainment" and 2) that you wanted feedback on your column, I thought why not give the facts for future people looking for why this ad campaign was not only explainable but makes a great deal of sense by the Kool-Aid marketers, CBS, and a band that, yes, failed to reach its goal of reaching an adult audience and was desperate to rebrand itself.

But clearly you don't want this kind of feedback. You just want a pat on the back for producing your column. So, well done, sir! And feel free to take as many shots as me as you would like. But in closing, give me somebody who rolls out "on the wrong side of bed" willing to do the research and provide accuracy than someone who goes to bed early knowing he could have stayed up a little later and not only gone for easy laughs but could have additionally gotten the facts right for his audience. It's a talent neither of us seem to have.

Furious D

07-01-2006, 03:15 PM

Phil,

I would just like to offer you a pat on the back for your wonderful column. It was much better than 'Cats' and you should write more of them, and I'm sure the rumours of you hiding mind controlling subliminal messages in them are just that, rumours.

:rolleyes: ;) :cool: :p :D

Terminal_Ny

07-01-2006, 05:35 PM

But clearly you don't want this kind of feedback. You just want a pat on the back for producing your column.

Don't we all? But, seriously, if a person is willing to debate your own points, I think he DOES deserve a pat on the back. YOu should read Phil's book, he knows things that others wouldn't.

So, well done, sir! And feel free to take as many shots as me as you would like.

He's above that. I'M not.

I don't recall him taking shots at you though, he just said that someone got off the wrong side of the bed. :D

Rory L. Aronsky

07-01-2006, 10:05 PM

Don't we all? But, seriously, if a person is willing to debate your own points, I think he DOES deserve a pat on the back. YOu should read Phil's book, he knows things that others wouldn't.

Before I read Phil's book, I wasn't entirely clear on how to cleanly hollow out someone's skull with a salami stick. :D

Terminal_Ny

07-01-2006, 10:32 PM

Before I read Phil's book, I wasn't entirely clear on how to cleanly hollow out someone's skull with a salami stick. :D
Phil's book made me want to be a better me.

The Baron

07-01-2006, 11:19 PM

It's the fuckin' Monkees. :confused:

That's all I'm saying.

Terminal_Ny

07-01-2006, 11:21 PM

It's the fuckin' Monkees. :confused:

That's all I'm saying.
I've never seen such a heated debate about the monkees before. I shudder to wonder what he thinks of the partridge family.

Furious D

07-02-2006, 09:00 AM

I've never seen such a heated debate about the monkees before. I shudder to wonder what he thinks of the partridge family.

Don't get me started on those Partridge Family bastards! :mad:

Terminal_Ny

07-02-2006, 01:04 PM

Don't get me started on those Partridge Family bastards! :mad:
Damn Commie Jews!

Furious D

07-02-2006, 03:44 PM

So you finally revealed your deep-seeded anti-semitism against a musical family of Episcopalians.

That's pretty screwed up.:p

Terminal_Ny

07-02-2006, 03:56 PM

So you finally revealed your deep-seeded anti-semitism against a musical family of Episcopalians.

That's pretty screwed up.:p
Heil Hitler!

I was just kidding.

The Baron

07-02-2006, 04:53 PM

Duncan, Felix, you have both completely missed the message of The Partridge Family...

Come on! Get HAPPY!

Now, either you fuckers get with the program, or Danny Bonaduce is personally going to come sit on your doorsteps and cry.

Rory L. Aronsky

07-02-2006, 05:29 PM

Now, either you fuckers get with the program, or Danny Bonaduce is personally going to come sit on your doorsteps and cry.

And it's not fun. After 20 minutes of him lamenting his life, I called the cops.

Terminal_Ny

07-02-2006, 05:57 PM

And it's not fun. After 20 minutes of him lamenting his life, I called the cops.
You lasted twenty minutes. I've always had the hots for the oldest sister. Too bad she's dead.

Phil Hall

07-03-2006, 02:58 PM

Terminal_Ny

07-03-2006, 07:21 PM

Third: as for the Partridge Family -- oh, to hell with Danny Bonaduce. Let's talk about Susan Dey! :D
Susan Dey was hot. Yum.

I think I'd have loved a Marcia Brady, Laurie Partridge sandwich.

judex

07-05-2006, 02:13 PM

Hey Phil,

I don't know if you are interested in bootlegs of flicks that are legally available in this country. However, I had an interesting Ebay experience. I recently bought a dvd collection of six Russ Meyer films over Ebay. It cost me $20 bucks for the lot of them including shipping! That is really cheap considering that RM Films (official US distributor) charges about $40 a pop. The French and British versions are about $30 each.

These DVDs were shipped from China and though the packaging was crappy (they mixed up titling two of the movies) the transfers are easily as good as the US counterparts. I am pretty damned sure these are illegal bootlegs. I wonder how Ebay can get away with this? I am also curious if Ebay is a big source of other chinese bootlegs?

Thought you might know or would want to follow up.

Captain Wrong

07-10-2006, 02:24 PM

It's the fuckin' Monkees. :confused:

That's all I'm saying.

Monkees fans are not to be trifled with.

Phil, love the column. I'm sure you're aware of the further recycling from Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet to Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women in 1968. They got a lot of mileage out of that Russian Sci-Fi footage.

Phil Hall

07-10-2006, 10:39 PM

Hey all!

VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF THE PREHISTORIC WOMEN -- Mamie Van Doren rocks, of course!

Chinese bootlegs -- ah, piracy via old Cathay. That (as Frank Morgan observed) is a horse of a different color. I am interested for the column in individual titles being bootlegged, not national industries of pirated DVDs.

Also...one older column, for the Czech film AND THE FIFTH HORSEMAN IS FEAR, has a happy ending -- that film is now out via Facets Video! :cool:

Terminal_Ny

07-13-2006, 06:06 AM

Phil, just curious, have you ever thought of doing an article on Raimi's film "Within The Woods" his student film which inspired "Evil Dead"? It just became available on some websites including Youtube. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

Phil Hall

07-13-2006, 09:56 AM

Terminal_Ny

07-13-2006, 05:07 PM

Thanks for the heads up. I will take a look at that.
:cool:
I aim to please.

kamichojin

07-28-2006, 10:27 AM

Another well done look at a forgotten film, Phil. Really surprised that in the rundown of Marlowes (good & bad) there was no mention of Powers Boothe's run as the character on the excellent Phillip Marlowe, Private Eye (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096677/)series that ran on HBO in the 80's. I haven't seen it since it aired way back when, but I recall Boothe making an excellent Marlowe.

Phil Hall

07-28-2006, 01:45 PM

Furious D

07-28-2006, 03:52 PM

I actually never saw that. Thanks for the heads-up. :)

I remember it, it was made in Toronto, of all places, and was based mostly on Chandler's short stories like Red Wind & Trouble is My Business.

Phil Hall

07-28-2006, 07:21 PM

I remember it, it was made in Toronto, of all places, and was based mostly on Chandler's short stories like Red Wind & Trouble is My Business.

If it was made in the 1980s, there is no surprise of a Toronto production location. By that time, Canada was taking in a lot of American film and TV work thanks to the lower costs of shooting there (the cost of shooting in New York became fairly high -- it still is).

jaymatter

07-28-2006, 07:59 PM

Phil Hall

07-29-2006, 06:22 AM

Hi Phil,

Just curious if you've ever seen Brand X by any chance.

It sounds oddly fascinating... a series of commercial parodies starring Abbie Hoffman, Sam Shepard and a handful of Warhol superstars.

Oh, there is plenty I've not seen and Brand X is among them. Thanks for the heads up! ;)

Terminal_Ny

08-10-2006, 04:12 AM

Phil Hall

08-10-2006, 03:36 PM

I would love to hear your thoughts on the film "Revolution" 1968. It's about the hippy lifestyle, and it's a rather odd documentary. It's not officially on DVD or VHS, and it's very obscure. I was able to see it on Showtime a few days ago.

I don't have Showtime. Did you videotape it? If you did, or if you can in the event it runs again, please make me a copy. :D

I am finally getting around to watching a bootleg I got from a readers ages ago: the 1968 William Klein fantasy "Mr. Freedom."

Terminal_Ny

08-11-2006, 03:45 PM

I don't have Showtime. Did you videotape it? If you did, or if you can in the event it runs again, please make me a copy. :D

I surely will. ;)

Bacchus

09-08-2006, 11:50 AM

Hello,

New to the forum, and like another poster in this thread, found it quite by accident.

I once considered myself a fairly knowledgeable film buff, especially in regard to Cinema Obscura, but have truly been humbled by some of the posters here.

Like everyone else, mixed experience with boots from eBay, cons, street corners around Boston.

Picked up copies of "Bless the Beasts and the Children" "The Grey Fox" from dealers on ePier ( If you're not familiar with ePier, it's worth checking out. Some of the items would be verboten on eBay. ) Both appear to be VHS dubbs, but the quality is a lot better than my copies of The Keep & The first cut of Blade Runner which were offered as THX LD transfers.

Checked out Super Happy Fun, some really great titles there !

Can anyone comment on their quality ?

Also looking for these titles. Anyone ?

She - 1965 W/Ursula Andress
The Possessed - 1977 W/James Farantino
The Keep - 1983 Dir. Michael Mann

HBO Telepics

Cosmic Slop - 1994 - Updated Twisted Twilight Zone.
Cast a Deadly Spell - 1991 - Fred Ward as a Lovecraft Gumshoe .

TV
Banana Splits - 68 - 70
Hot Hero Sandwich - 79 - 80 - Denny Dillon, Frankie Faison, et al.
The Hardy Boys - Filmation animated not Shaun Cassidy / Parker Stevenson.

Documentary

Death on the Rock - 1988 - Thames Television - ITV Network

Controversial UK program on the killing of IRA terrorists in Gibraltar by the SAS.

http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/D/htmlD/deathonthe/deathonthe.htm

Thanks.

Phil Hall

09-08-2006, 03:12 PM

Also looking for these titles. Anyone ?

She - 1965 W/Ursula Andress
The Possessed - 1977 W/James Farantino
The Keep - 1983 Dir. Michael Mann

HBO Telepics

Cosmic Slop - 1994 - Updated Twisted Twilight Zone.
Cast a Deadly Spell - 1991 - Fred Ward as a Lovecraft Gumshoe .

TV
Banana Splits - 68 - 70
Hot Hero Sandwich - 79 - 80 - Denny Dillon, Frankie Faison, et al.
The Hardy Boys - Filmation animated not Shaun Cassidy / Parker Stevenson.

Documentary

Death on the Rock - 1988 - Thames Television - ITV Network

Controversial UK program on the killing of IRA terrorists in Gibraltar by the SAS.

Welcome to the funhouse! :cool:

The Banana Splits is my all-time favorite TV show. Unfortunately, we will never see it again as it was originally presented: as a one-hour show with commercials from Kellogg's. Hanna-Barbera spliced and diced the first season into half-hour episodes for syndication. The second season was never released into syndication. Shocking Videos (www.revengeismydestiny.com) has the first season stuff for sale.

The Filmation titles have been unavailable for a long time, most likely due to some rights clearance issues.

I am not familiar with "Death on the Rock" in US release.

The other titles may be found at Darker Image Videos. E-mail them at darkerimagevid@webtv.net.

Bacchus

09-09-2006, 06:25 PM

Thanks Phil.

Banana Splits Rule !

Bacchus

09-12-2006, 10:25 PM

If anyone is interested, a site for some DVDs presently unavailable here in the States.

F.Y.I. They ship from Malaysia, but I understand the quality is ok. Although personally, I'd stay away from the titles marked telesync etc.

I ordered Ken Loach's new film The Wind That Shakes the Barley w/ Cillian Murphy, and an Aussie film called Kokoda. Loach's film, a period pic, is about Irelands struggle for independence, which is supposedly an allegory of the current situation in Iraq.

http://www.dvdto.com/default.asp?p=&filteryr=&genre=&alpha=&page=&source=&searchstr=&

Phil Hall

10-06-2006, 07:11 AM

This new column of "Alice of Wonderland in Paris" makes #150 in the Bootleg Files series! I'd like to thank everyone for their support and interest in these columns.

Coming up in the next few weeks, we'll explore the long-unseen Clint Eastwood Italian flick "The Witches," John Travolta's career-killing "Moment by Moment," the blaxploitation classic "Darktown Strutters," the loopy British surrealism of "Sir Henry at Rawlinson End," and the creepy "Deep End" featuring a music score by Cat Stevens (Allah Akhbar!).

judex

10-06-2006, 09:07 AM

John Travolta's career-killing "Moment by Moment,".....

Oddly enough, "Moment by Moment" was playing on the Universal HD channel last night. I gave it a pass. Somehow, the thought of a John Travolta/Lily Tomlin love scene makes my skin crawl.

Furious D

10-06-2006, 10:39 AM

the thought of a John Travolta/Lily Tomlin love scene makes my skin crawl.

That's what they said about it too.:D

Phil Hall

10-06-2006, 11:17 AM

Oddly enough, "Moment by Moment" was playing on the Universal HD channel last night. I gave it a pass. Somehow, the thought of a John Travolta/Lily Tomlin love scene makes my skin crawl.

They really must need to fill airtime if they dug that flick out of mothballs. :eek:

judex

10-06-2006, 12:14 PM

They really must need to fill airtime if they dug that flick out of mothballs. :eek:

Universal HD is an oddball channel I've come to love. Including TV series such as Knight Rider, The Equalizer and Firefly they have an odd ball movie selection of stuff all broadcast in HD. The films are uncut and commercial free (although there are commercials between movies and during the TV shows).

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the movies they show either. This month some of the movies being shown include: the aforementioned Travolta/Tomlin turkey, Funhouse, The Don is Dead, The Sentinel, Dr Giggles, Alien Abduction, the Raid on Rommel, Army of Darkness, Matinee, JC Superstar, The Hitcher II, Walker, Tremors, and Deer Hunter.

kamichojin

10-06-2006, 12:18 PM

Phil Hall

10-06-2006, 12:40 PM

Hey Phil,
I've been reading your bootleg files column for ages & always make a point of catching it every Friday. Always cool to hear about films I'd forgotten about or never knew anything about before. Had to leap in about the "Alice of Wonderland" column though. I agree that the film sounds like a huge turd, but I've always had a weird appreciation for Dietch's Tom & Jerry output. The "Dicky Moe" cartoon is one of my all time favourites. His T & J cartoons were very odd to say the least, but there's a sort of dark, psychotic appeal in the sheer oddness, especially any of the ones featuring Tom's sadistic owner with the grumbling voice & the huge hypertension problem. Just my opinion.

Hey, thanks for the praise! :)

I thought the "Dicky Moe" cartoon (a parody on "Moby Dick") works only when there's the emphasis on the Ahab character, who hobbles about cursing the white whale's name. I will admit that he is amazing to watch. If Deitch did a regular take-off on "Moby Dick" and not shoehorn Tom and Jerry into a situation where they were out of place, it might have been a classic.

Bacchus

10-06-2006, 05:48 PM

Class is back in session.

In my best Howard Dean Hollah Yeeaaeeaaaoourlh !

And I swore I'd never go back to school.

Studio-Toledo

10-10-2006, 02:11 AM

Since this would be my first post here, I thought I'd comment about this!

Hey, thanks for the praise! :)
I thought the "Dicky Moe" cartoon (a parody on "Moby Dick") works only when there's the emphasis on the Ahab character, who hobbles about cursing the white whale's name. I will admit that he is amazing to watch. If Deitch did a regular take-off on "Moby Dick" and not shoehorn Tom and Jerry into a situation where they were out of place, it might have been a classic.
Too often I think those cartoons would've worked great if you had subtracted the familiar cartoon duo out of the equation. Deitch just sorta had it shoved in his face during that time. MGM was in a rather odd situation where they had already kicked the Hanna-Barbera team out the door in '57 and no longer had anymore T&J's to show after the H-B output ended in '59 or so. Apparently the quick fix came through SNyder acting as the middle man with Deitch animating these 13 cartoons or so over in Prague between 1961-62. Supposibly a change in management at MGM forced the new guys to realize where these cartoons were being made in and decided to get out of whatever contract they had with Rembrandt Films, eventually to turn over the cat & mouse team to Chuck Jones at his SIB-Tower 12 studios in '64 to handle the remaining years.

There's some good info about how he got to Prague and the things he did there that can be read here...
http://genedeitch.awn.com/

Apparently Rembrandt Films, the fabled studio often said to be in Prague is actually a NY-based distributor that was started in the late 40's by William L. Snyder with the intentions of importing films from Europe or elsewhere for theatrical/TV distrubtion. During the fities, such classics as Jiri Trnka's stop-motion works were brought over to the US through the company I believe. Somehow Snyder was able to pull strings with Ceskoslovensky Filmexport in setting up a small unit at "Studio Bratri v Triku" that could produce animation for domestical use, and sent Gene Deitch over to Prague to supervise those productions, where he has lived ever since (and married his second wife who was one of the staff members). Aside from "Munro", Rembrandt had a few other indie titles of some interest such as called "Self Defense.. for Cowards" and a series of cartoons featuring a bum name "Nudnik".

Obviously hardly any of the Prague animators were ever given credit for their efforts (often if they had, they're names might've been "Americanized" to the point of losing their ethniticity altogether). One such name, Steven Konichek, that many might've seen in the T&J credits was really Stepán Konícek (but at least he got credit on a few shorts along with Vaclav Bedrich). The operation was more typical of the eventual "Runaway Production" trend that further eroded American TV animation in later years.

In the case of Tom & Jerry, these Czech animators had never animated an American-style cartoon before, let alone saw a T&J cartoon before in their lives. The best MGM bothered to give them for reference was 6 of the Hanna-Barbera cartoons to study from, and it shows how far they progressed with every episode produced up to "Carman-Get It!" I like to think there were some interesting few in the pile, like "The Tom & Jerry Cartoon Kit" or "Dickie Moe" as many have stated before. Those ones stand out for their unique, bizzare and free-willing nature that hadn't really been seen before in American animation (though too often these cartoons were the victims of such traits as the music, sound effects, timing and execution).

Having to see "Alice in Paris" already (the title often seen at the beginning of the film outside of it's release titles elsewhere), I can see who Phil has reacted to them at most. Much of the material could've worked as separate 5-10 minute shorts, perhaps made solely for television through syndication or perhaps aired on something like Capt. Kangaroo (in a similar vain to something like Mel-O-Toons, but those were terribly cheaper). The plotting of the film literally bored me after the first five minutes, but it was kinda nice to see the effort taken in rendering the individual stores used for the film. One thing about Deitch's work during this period was in how he was able to get away with doing "Multi-plane" type camera movements at a time when Disney had about abandoned the technique. You see it used a few times in the T&J cartoons as well as in this feature.

Often I wonder if this was not a progenitor to what Deitch would eventually do a few years later, when Weston Woods commissioned him to produce adaptaions of children's stories that were often seen in classrooms throughout the 70's and 80's. I don't remember any of these films myself, but I assume Deitch probably had better control over the finish product as opposed to his handling on established characters previously. By that point in time, his previous association with Rembrandt Films came to an end, and he was off doing the Weston Woods films and other projects along the way, such as an adaptation of E. B. White's "Charlotte's Web" that never came to past or his day-to-day life behind the Iron Curtain, for which he would later wrote down in an auto-biography I wish I could get but it's so obscure).

Deitch on the other hand has a webpage himself, though it seems more like a blog that barely gets updated all the time but I see he got around to adding in a quick bit about a book that got released a short time ago of a short-lived comic strip he drew....
http://www.genedeitch.com/

As for Rembrandt Films, it was ressurrected by William's son, Adam, and currently offers videos of previous productions and the works of Jiri Trnka, Zagreb Film and others....
http://www.rembrandtfilms.com/

Phil Hall

10-10-2006, 07:00 AM

That previous post, by the way, was from Chris Sobieniak, who was the guest author of the Bootleg Files column on "The Cobbler and the Thief." He is also the most brilliant animation historian imaginable -- I can thank him for introducing me to some of the previous animation Bootleg Files column including "Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown" and "Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies." :)

Studio-Toledo

10-14-2006, 02:35 AM

That previous post, by the way, was from Chris Sobieniak, who was the guest author of the Bootleg Files column on "The Cobbler and the Thief."
Thanks for noticing! :p

He is also the most brilliant animation historian imaginable -- I can thank him for introducing me to some of the previous animation Bootleg Files column including "Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown" and "Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies." :)
Perhaps next time I could persuade you on reviewing other unearthed gems in the future, such as the Soviet Union's answer to Tom & Jerry, "Nu, Pogodi!" (translation: "Just You Wait!" this can be found quite easily via eBay or videos on Google/YouTube), or maybe the lamest animated western ever conceived, "The Man from Button Willow" (this film isn't really worth the trouble tracking down, but I have it on 16mm and a DVD recording I made off Flix once). :cool:

Phil Hall

10-14-2006, 06:50 AM

Thanks for noticing! :p

Perhaps next time I could persuade you on reviewing other unearthed gems in the future, such as the Soviet Union's answer to Tom & Jerry, "Nu, Pogodi!" (translation: "Just You Wait!" this can be found quite easily via eBay or videos on Google/YouTube), or maybe the lamest animated western ever conceived, "The Man from Button Willow" (this film isn't really worth the trouble tracking down, but I have it on 16mm and a DVD recording I made off Flix once). :cool:

A Soviet Tom and Jerry? Maybe I was prematurely harsh on Gene Deitch? :confused:

judex

10-14-2006, 10:15 AM

A Soviet Tom and Jerry? Maybe I was prematurely harsh on Gene Deitch? :confused:

I just went to You Tube and watched a bunch of these. "Nu, Pogodi!" is great fun for fans of old style animation. They are short to boot. I watched about 16 of them in ten minutes.

Once again this thread has pointed me to some great, previously unknown, stuff.

Thanks Chris Sobieniak and Phil Hall. Now I gotta share this with some of my buddies.

Studio-Toledo

10-14-2006, 03:58 PM

I just went to You Tube and watched a bunch of these. "Nu, Pogodi!" is great fun for fans of old style animation. They are short to boot. I watched about 16 of them in ten minutes.
Sadly, this forum's crappy layout didn't let me keep typing and researching as I do this, and ALL the infomation I had in the world about what I was about to say has been LOST! Needless to say I'm pissed, and feel too sleepy to bother typing it all AGAIN! But I had a lot to say about this sereis, how many episodes were produced, and the fact that it's still BEING produced as well, but you can found out most from this Wikipedia entry anyway, since I just bother being a broken record and repeat everything I know
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu,_pogodi!

Once again this thread has pointed me to some great, previously unknown, stuff.

Thanks Chris Sobieniak and Phil Hall. Now I gotta share this with some of my buddies.
Here's a link to a blog entry with decent AVI's of the cartoons to share! I recommend these since they seem to have came from a possible Russian DVD release that has the first 16 episodes in their restored glory!
http://motaba.blogspot.com/2006/09/blog-post_115927366625475320.html

Again, sorry for being a little rather peeved, but I just can't stand these things that takes me minutes and hours to look up! You can understand the pain that I'm feeling inside, I just think I need to lay down!

P.S. Oh, and I also had some opinions about this as well, but I'll probably save that till later or bring it up one day.

Phil Hall

10-15-2006, 04:20 PM

I am sorry to hear you had problems with the Forum, Chris. :(

This is quite a discovery and you can expect to see these cartoons in a future Bootleg Files column. :D

Vince

10-17-2006, 06:48 AM

Re: The Witches

Thanks for your column on The Witches. This was shown on the UK's Channel 4 about 5 - 6 years ago, so that was probably the last public screening. At the risk of being pedantic, the segment set in Sicily is titled "The Sicilian Belle", not "The Sicilian" at least it was on the version I saw.

The best thing about the movie is the Piero Piccioni - Ennio Morricone score, which to my knowledge is not available on CD, so that's maybe one reason for seeking the movie out - I can't think of another, unless you're an Eastwood completist.

Phil Hall

10-17-2006, 07:12 AM

Studio-Toledo

10-17-2006, 04:36 PM

I am sorry to hear you had problems with the Forum, Chris. :(
Oh, I'll get over it.

This is quite a discovery and you can expect to see these cartoons in a future Bootleg Files column. :D
It's facinating when you do find out about these things sooner or later.

By the way, my e-mails to you have been bouncing for whatever reason, so I hadn't been able to get my reply back to you, but perhaps it might be OK if I just leave the infomation here anyway...

Hi Phil!

Last time...
> Hey Chris
>
> I just looked up those Nu Pogodi cartoons and they are hilarious. I
> would
> love to write about them.

That's cool.

> Were they ever shown in the US, either in theaters or TV? And is there a
> Russian DVD release of them (obviously there is nothing in the US).
>
> Thanks
>
> phil

To answer the first, no, I don't believe any of these had ever been seen
theatrically in the US, but the cartoons had been seen in many countries
from what I've read about them (certainly in Eastern Europe). They could've
been seen on TV if only by a rare chance, but I wouldn't know about that
myself unless on a Russian-language minority channel perahps.

I had only found out about this series in particular about 4 years ago while
going through finding odd and weird stuff via KaZaA. Nowadays, people have
a better chance to see these obviously via YouTube or Google than it was
back when P2P or "word-of-mouth".

Here's the best I could find of what I feel could be an official legit
release over in Russia....
http://dvd-boom.com/product_info.php?products_id=732

Vol. 1 (episodes 1-8)
http://shop.iddk.ru/dvd/62470.html
http://www.domcd.ru/index.php?productID=1177

Vol. 2 (episodes 9-16)
http://shop.iddk.ru/dvd/62471.html
http://www.domcd.ru/index.php?productID=1178
http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/2502564/

From the looks of it, the official release, along with some of
Soyuzmultfilm's other classics is being handled by a company that calls
itself "Close Up" (translation-wise). These two volumes apparently didn't
came out too long ago as well. States that it has Dolby Digital 1.0 and 5.1
audio tracks, which could explain for the AVI's I found of these someplace
I'll get to later in this message.

On the US side, there is a DVD offered by Films By Jove that is probably the
only legit release I can think of...
http://store.russiananimation.com/nupogodidvd.html

By the way, I wasn't sure if you have heard of this list or not, but
recently at the Annecy International Animation Festival, they had 30 guys
pick what they felt was the top 100 animated shorts of the past century, and
here's the results...
http://www.annecy.org/home/index.php?Page_ID=1580

I've managed to complete some 90% of the list already, in case you'd like
to see any of it, I wouldn't mind sending copies of it along as well!

-Chris S.

Phil Hall

10-17-2006, 08:28 PM

On the US side, there is a DVD offered by Films By Jove that is probably the
only legit release I can think of...
http://store.russiananimation.com/nupogodidvd.html

That looks like a Russian import (no English subtitles).

This is a great discovery. :cool:

Studio-Toledo

10-18-2006, 11:32 PM

That looks like a Russian import (no English subtitles).
Yeah, it has an uncanny look of one. Still, Films by Jove tries. I still like the "Masters of Russian Animation" compilations they put out years back, though rather a shame their webpage has since been downgraded to where it is now. For those that might not know, these are the guys who managed to purchase most of Soyuzmultfilm's pre-1991 library through a supposible illegal transaction, but on their part, they spent millions restoring much of what was there as the films were said to be in bad shape when they acquired them. Noticed this page they have on their site of a court ruling from some years back detailing their case....
http://www.russiananimation.com/legal/ruling01.htm

This is a great discovery. :cool:
Glad to know I helped!

Phil Hall

10-20-2006, 11:36 AM

judex

10-27-2006, 10:30 AM

Excellant article on "Submission," Phil. I knew the basic story but not the particulars. Now I am going to have to track it down via bootleg.

Another example of the threat of violence getting a film pulled was Barbet Shroeder's "Idi Amin, An Auto Portrait." Shroeder had pretty much ingratiated himself with the dictator (Amin even provided the accordian music that accompanied the film) and had a lot of freedom to film the dictator in his day-to-day life. Amin was furious when he saw the finished product. He rounded up the French citzenry in Uganda and threatened all sorts of violence if the film was not withdrawn from release. The film was pulled and was not made available again until Amin fell from power.

Phil Hall

10-27-2006, 11:01 AM

Excellant article on "Submission," Phil. I knew the basic story but not the particulars. Now I am going to have to track it down via bootleg.

Thanks! I genuinely hope people seek out "Submission" and make their own decisions on its artistic and political merits. :cool:

Strandlund

11-07-2006, 10:23 AM

Hey, does anyone want my DVD copy of "Moment by Moment" (this week's Bootleg Files movie)? I have no desire to see it again and I obviously shouldn't be selling it. If anyone wants it, I'll "share" it with them gratis! :cool:

Phil,
If no one else has jumped on this "Bargain..." I'll take it.
I've never seen this work and after reading your column I really want to see it. I'm a sucker for bad movies...

Michael

Phil Hall

11-07-2006, 11:55 AM

Phil,
If no one else has jumped on this "Bargain..." I'll take it.
I've never seen this work and after reading your column I really want to see it. I'm a sucker for bad movies...

Michael

Sorry, Michael, but someone grabbed it first.

If you don't have Universal HD (which is playing the movie), you can get a good copy from Subterranean Cinema at www.subcin.com.

Strandlund

11-08-2006, 09:30 AM

Sorry, Michael, but someone grabbed it first.

If you don't have Universal HD (which is playing the movie), you can get a good copy from Subterranean Cinema at www.subcin.com.

Damn!
Well, thanks for the offer anyway...

Strandlund

11-08-2006, 09:42 AM

SugarKane

11-28-2006, 09:54 AM

Phil,

Your column is my favorite on the site (thanks for the "Eunice" piece a few weeks ago!) I was watching a special on A&E last night on the history of Superman and they showed a few scenes from a mid-1970's late night TV musical based on the Broadway show "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman" that starred Lesley Anne Warren as Lois Lane. I'd love to know more about it - maybe you could dig it up and write about it? Keep up the excellent work!

Phil Hall

11-28-2006, 12:04 PM

By the way, Phil, Have you ever written any Bootleg File columns about any of the Ron Ormond Religious Epics (THE BURNING HELL, IF FOOTMEN TIRE YOU WHAT WILL HORSES DO?, 13 STRIPES and THE GRIM REAPER)?

These are great films and well worth a watch...

Michael

Hi Michael

FOOTMEN is already reviewed on Film Threat -- that was done before The Bootleg Files was created (do a title search and you can find it). I've not seen the other films you mentioned, so I will be on the lookout for those.

Thanks!

phil :cool:

Phil Hall

11-28-2006, 12:06 PM

The Baron

12-16-2006, 06:49 PM

bionicgilbert

12-17-2006, 07:43 PM

Phil Hall

12-18-2006, 06:58 AM

I just noticed that there is a write-up on the "Whirly Girl" video by OXO in the Bootleg Files.

First of all, did you know that the "Whirly Girl" in that video is actually Toni Basil, of "Hey Mickey!" fame?

Secondly, I am the stepson of Frank Garcia, the bass player in OXO, and have been doing a documentary about him for a year or so. There is a 5 minute clip online at the link below, if you're curious to see more OXO footage or to see where he is now, 23 years after his one-hit wonder...

http://gje.monofono.net/update.html?uid=f9kW93nP

At some point in January I hope to have a Los Angeles screening of the feature length documentary, which will be called "Frank & Cindy."

Anyway I thought you might enjoy the clip.

GJ

Hey there

Thank you so much for sharing your input on my "Whirly Girl" column and the update on Frank Garcia.

I thought the Whirly Girl resembled Toni Basil, but I was unable to locate any independent verification that it was Toni. I actually checked several biographical sources relating to Toni but found no mention of the video and her performance therein.

I appreciate your taking the time to visit us here in the Film Threat Back Talk section -- and please feel free to be a part of our ongoing conversation.

Phil :D

Phil Hall

12-18-2006, 07:13 AM

Here's some trivia for you all:

Does anyone out there know the source material for the original Punch & Judy?

Scroll down...

Ready?

Pontius Pilate and Judas Iscariot.

I don't make this stuff up, folks.

Huh? Punch (a jester) and Judy (his obnoxious wife) are a battling married couple. Where's the connection between them and those Gospel villains?:confused:

Studio-Toledo

12-25-2006, 07:46 PM

Hi everyone!

It's been a long while since I bothered to post again here, and I have a LOT of catching up to do based on the fact that it's Christmas and now I'm extremely bored!

Anyway, I couldn't help but noticed Phil's articles from the past year or so that I failed to catch due to lack of interest on my part, so I felt I had to weed through that mess and bring up my input over 'em.

(getting out papers and printouts of previous reviews)

Since I haven't seen "The Banana Splits at Hocus-Pocus Park", this review gives me enough exuses to not even bother, though I can remember Cartoon Network somehow showing this once in a while back in the 90's. The Banana Splits were great for what they had been in the show they originated in. Outside of it, it just never worked (Sid & Marty Krofft at least didn't have problems wanting to do the same to their characters in later years, at least they had stories to tell and characters that were appealing).

Thinking often about the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, I often wonder if it was just a stupid excuse to just cram something that wouldn't motivate any 12 year old into that hour-long slot. Really, "Yogi's Ark Lark" bored me to death having seen that once. If anything, I'm glad it didn't last too long to leave more than an impression on the few who'd lived to tell of it. Nothing like the later ABC incarnation I enjoyed seeing in the 80's, "ABC Weekend Special". I only wish they released DVDs of those specials nowadays (one of my personal favs from that was "The Secret World of Og").

Being reminded of seeing "Tennessee Tuxedo" a few times as well over the years, and find it interesting how they do work in some form of educational content in a cartoon that probably would've been fine without it. In the pre-70's era, that must've been rather unique and of such nature that hadn't been replicated properly since. Of course I had to grow up in the generation that learned off of Schoolhouse Rock and the occasional morality segments in an episode of He-Man (god those were insipid), and let's not get started on FCC-mandated childrens programming today. I'm only surprised the terrestrial networks bother to carry those 3 precious hours at all when it doesn't seem worth it.

"Popeye Meets The Man who Hated Laughter". I really don't have much to say about it since I haven't seen it personally. I read it was animated by Hal Seeger Productions, the same group who previous worked on shows like "Out of the Inkwell", "Milton the Monster" and "Batfink" in the 60's (as well as the clumsy animation for the "Porky Pig Show" opening/closing sequences). I often wonder if the real purpose of such a film at all (and given this is another Saturday Superstar Movie fodder), I wonder if this was just King Features being complete idiots in trying to further pimp the spinach-munchin' sailor into the 70's at a time when the original comic strip was already in a decline (and still is pretty much, read it's in 50 newspapers worldwide at the present time). The fact they also brought in other Hearst properties (let alone a few they loaned in from elsewhere), it just sounds like crossover overkill to me! We should just be grateful for the Time Warner deal to release the Popeye DVD sets next year (though I won't be there buying the TV crap like "Popeye & Son" (http://www.freedomcomputers.net/popeye.jpg)). Then there's the Fantagraphics (http://www.fantagraphics.com/recent/bks.html#popey1) publishings of the Segar strips to look forward to as well, so at least we can say Popeye's in a better place than he's ever been in the past 30-40 years (outside the E. Coli scare earlier this year, let alone the old Nintendo game from the 80's I used to play like mad).

Somehow I never considered an H-B toon like "Yippee, Yapppee and Yahooey" to be that much an obscure item to quality for a Bootleg Files entry, but once you stated your case, I kinda wish I bothered to taken a second look at it while I had the chance (still have Boomerang none the less). Often it's been stated the early H-B TV cartoons from that era tend to be very exceptional to what followed past the stupid teenage/animal sidekick slueth group that permutated in the 70's. Leading to the trash I had to watch in my youth I could care less to talk about. By the way, a YouTube entry as of recent interest I viewed pretty much summed up what most have already known Hanna-Barbera to be like due to those cartoons that existed in the 70's and 80's. It was a segment that aired on a short-lived British skit comedy show called "End of Part One", entitled "Cheapo Cartoon Man" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5SD2UU_XYU). I got a good laugh watching this. :D

Though it should be of note that a not to long ago, Joe Barbera finally passed on, leaving behind the legacy that has already ent through highs and lows and left an impression of many who'd tuned in to watch. He would surely be missed alongside Bill Hanna.

Also found it amusing to see Walt Disney's "The Four Musicians of Bremen" and the Monkees/Bugs Bunny Kool-Aid ad amongst the recent entries this year. I had already saw both many years ago, but often I guess they still pop up once in a while to scare a new breed of vidiot savants yearning for something beyond the mainstream. Pretty much what YouTube's for outside the previous tape trading black market I once belonged in a decade before. In a similar fashion, the Castle Films' "Santa Claus' Punch & Judy" would fit it as well given how much that's crept it's way online as well. I'm still amused such a film ever got made, let alone who in their right mind thought American kids in the 1940's would go for a Punch and Judy show! Kinda like the one kid asking for a train and saying his lines terribly slow and terribly clam. I want to believe that kid was doped up on ritalin since his parents probably didn't like him to get uber-excited at the sight of a un-jolly obsese person.

Love the extra tidbit about Castle Films. They along with Official where the pre-Home Video giants of their time, distributing films on 8mm and 16mm to the general public, typically for home exhibition. On the animation side, Castle had the Walter Lantz productions due to the Universal association as well as Paul Terry's Terrytoons and Ub Iwerks' ComiColor shorts, while Official had to make due with the B&W Screen Gems library from Columbia and a majority of the Van Beuren library (all of which exists are on 16mm since the original negatives had to be incinerated at some point in the late 1940's). The company's name later changed to "Universal Eight" at some point in the 60's or 70's before it eventually evaporated in light of the approaching home video market that took over for the rest of the populous.

Being reminded my older brother once showed up at my house with a beer packaging case containing individual boxes of Castle Films' "News Parade" series and a few odds and ends of less interest. He said he found it in some abandoned warehouse or such (oh why couldn't it be some lost 35mm print to a film that was said to be lost, I would be in the dough right now!). I still haven't figured out what to do about it, some of the films in their reels were also loaded in terribly in reverse and out of place. That would take me a good few days to weave though that mess someone carelessly forgot to notice.

Here's a few pages about the Castle Films legacy.
http://www.povonline.com/notes/Notes112903.htm
http://www.povonline.com/castle/Castle01.htm
http://www.geocities.com/argussventon/cartoondistributors/castle/castle.html

Heh, here's a book (http://www.amazon.com/Castle-Films-Hobbyists-Scott-MacGillivray/dp/0595324916) all about collecting 'em!

While that's all fine and dandy, nothing can tarnish the care an attention that Blackhawk Films (http://www.filmclassic.com/Blackhawkhistory.htm) had in having provided 50 years of enjoyment to the home viewing market on 8/16mm during it's lifespan.

The "Telezonia" short was pretty funky for it's time, though it's sad I didn't see at all as a 8 year old (of course by that time, Ma Bell had already been downsized and the beginnings of the new avenue in competing phone companies would take place). I kinda miss seeing that logo now after seeing the film! Ohio Bell used to be that way up to the early 90's or so when Ameritech decided to just call all of it's company branding under the Ameritech name as opposed to the old state branding of before, (of course to be swallowed by SBC who later bought out AT&T to now be our phone company name again). My folks now have their phone services through the local cable company anyway, so it doesn't affect us at all (besides getting yellow pages from AT&T).

Like seeing you tackle "The New Three Stooges". I remember having watched that 20 years ago from the initial VHS releases from Embassy Home Entertainment (the only label to have handled the task of releaseing all 156 cartoons on tape, no PD company in their right mind is going to do that). While Cambria is said to have handle the animation for the entire series (whomever in their right mind did the live-action wraparounds is beyond me), the first episode/pilot was actually produced by Jay Ward's own studio. Watching that cartoon in particular aside from the others does bring out that point (also that Paul Frees did the incidental voices).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zW_jxCVdbo

Well that's all I have to say for now. By the way, here's a classic that should be seen by plenty (since knowone cares to release it on DVD yet)...
A Christmas Carol (produced by Richard Williams Animation) (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8817517652455175582)

And because I just discovered this today, and need to remind Phil about it in case of a later Bootleg File article, Hanna-Barbera's unreleased musical tribute to the 50's and 60's, "Rock Odyssey", an hour long TV special that was made to air on ABC but turned down after it was completed. Some YouTuber from Spain went and stuck the entire thing up on YouTube for all to view, albeit, having Spanish-dubbed narration at the opening but thankfully the music is still left alone for the most part (and televised on a national public channel in Spain, TVE 2).

INTRO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkBGsamxQE4)
THE 50's (part 1) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFccpAXc7Bo)
THE 50's (part 2) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEnv4-uYMMg)
THE 60's (part 1) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0qM-EeC4gA)
THE 60's (part 2) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_PkoJmCYTE)

I would recommend people to go and watch this before YouTube pulls it off like all good vids available (usually they're slow on the foreign language editions). It's quite an interesting piece for H-B to do, especially at that point in time (nothing like the usual Saturday Morning variety that was still thriving then), though rather a shame it didn't get aired domestically. Here's the only webpage I could find some scant detail about it (and in Spanish)...
http://www.mondofriki.com/?p=45

Well I guess that's all for now, I like to wish everyone a happy holiday/new year combo! Hope to read more great reviews in the new year!

Phil Hall

12-26-2006, 06:52 AM

Well that's all I have to say for now. By the way, here's a classic that should be seen by plenty (since knowone cares to release it on DVD yet)...
A Christmas Carol (produced by Richard Williams Animation) (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8817517652455175582)

I have that on VHS video (its only commercial home entertainment release). That film, which was produced by Chuck Jones and starred Alastair Sim reprising his Scrooge role, won the Oscar and was shown frequently on ABC in the 1970s. I have no idea why it disappeared.

We have another holiday animation offering coming up this Friday -- one that is sure to offend some people! Stay tuned!!! :D

Studio-Toledo

01-06-2007, 12:20 PM

Since knowone bothered to respond for the past few weeks, I might as well say my two cents about some stuff!

I have that on VHS video (its only commercial home entertainment release). That film, which was produced by Chuck Jones and starred Alastair Sim reprising his Scrooge role, won the Oscar and was shown frequently on ABC in the 1970s. I have no idea why it disappeared.
I wish I knew. Is it just a little to "arty" for some people's taste? A DVD release would be nice, albeit, barebones if they couldn't find someone else related to the production of the film to fit on it.

We have another holiday animation offering coming up this Friday -- one that is sure to offend some people! Stay tuned!!! :D
Glad you discovered THAT! (http://www.mostoffensivevideo.com/)

I've discovered this a couple years back, and still can't get it out of my mind what one derranged person could do with his free time! Watching the films though can be rather polorizing I felt. Often I have to remind myself how lucky I am for not having to have been raised on the streets! A majority of my city, usually the central and southern part my mom used to call "colortown" given the nature of said population. The dialogue given to these characters awfully remind me a lot of what usually gets heard in those places. I guess since I grew up in the suburbs, I don't really understand how much harder the existance these people have to go through when compared to the easier conveniences I have personally to do (like posting here). I'm just glad I haven't sunked to that point that a welfare check is the most important thing on my mind!

Those shorts he's done are good now and then, but I'm afraid to get so into them I have to copycat myself (mainly since it's not too original enough, I've seen others do similar things anyway).

Hope to see more neat reviews from you soon Phil!

Studio-Toledo

01-08-2007, 04:20 AM

By the way, because I find the dumbest things with the least amount of interest but just being to lucky to do so, someone posted up the entire Banana Splits flick Phil brought up last year or so ago in his blog (albeit, in seperate Rapidshare-ed RAR files). You can find out more here...
http://55bells.blogspot.com/2007/01/banana-splits-in-hocus-pocus-park.html

Phil Hall

02-04-2007, 11:38 AM

Hey, they're loving the Bootleg Files in Florida:

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/197644-3/bsection/PopMatters_Picks/

:)

The Baron

02-24-2007, 02:40 PM

Studio-Toledo

02-26-2007, 02:17 AM

I've been to Terezin. No one can stand on that ground and remained unmoved. Like Auschwitz, there is a sign above the entry gate, "Arbeit Macht Frei". As usual, another lie of the Nazis.

It's too bad that this film is unavailable in a complete edition. Not only should it be seen, as it has the power to spread the truth about some of the evils of the Third Reich; it is also a testimony to the lives of the Reich's victims, including director Gerron. He was probably promised all sorts of good things for himself and the others if he directed the film. It was a common practice to lie to these people, in order to make them more compliant.
Hell I know this would be the kind of film I wouldn't mind watching just to remind myself of that era. Too bad thought I often heard far enough of it personally (having leanred a whole lot about WWII back in a high school class on just that). My city already was host to a riot caused by the presence of a Neo-Nazi rally (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Toledo_Riot) a couple years back.

Of course, I was taken back also having to read about the only footage of the thylacine made back in '33. Australia itself has had a rather bloody history they haven't quite mopped up completely and there's probably still some resentment among the decendents of the indigenous peoples of the country for the rapting their their lands over the centuries. Often I try not to think of it that much nowadays, but it's a shame thinking how much the damage had been done. Best I've heard of last year is some scientist wanting to find some way of recreating the thylacine via DNA cloning or whatever genetic engineering ploy might be possible. Whether this'll work or not remains to be known (of couse some would say you're playing God for that).

Love the article on the Cap'n Crunch Jay Ward ads. I think I was one of the final generation of children whom had seen those ads before the transtiion in the 80's happened. It's only a shame they can't make ads like that again. Thinking of the popularity of Cap'n Crunch here in the states, I recently discovered a little cartoon figure in West Germany whom was used by a cigarette company in advertising their product on TV and in the theaters throughout the 60's and 70's, known as "HB-Männchen" (though the character's name is unofficially Bruno). Most ads involve him having a situation that goes terrible, often accentuated by his high-pitch gibbering (what's said to be Arabic spoken backwards while sped up), usually resulting in the character exploding like a rocket and being told to have a cigarette instead. Here's about 12 ads to watch online, though a DVD (http://www.amazon.de/Das-HB-M%C3%A4nnchen-seinen-besten-Spots/dp/B0000ES8EM) has been available in Germany for quite some time....
1. "Futon" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4CPM9v0hAY)
2. "Deep Sea Fishing" (http://live.focus.de/videos/detail/3206/23062/)
3. "Fly" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh9dkHdQOAg)
4. "Hammock" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi7LeqsOVH4)
5. "Elevator" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rxBasO0Q1Y)
6. "Bathtub" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktLt2uIfpZk)
7. "Workshop" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE0BNJTalq8)
8. "Tennis" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VleCmPnxsGk)
9. "Lawnmover" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38CWAy6-2bc)
10. "Bus" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzVQBXuBQsg)
11. "House" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCEUc4K2N1o)
12. "Hanging a Picture" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0De398Bxl5c)

It's neat discovering things you've never seen before!

Phil Hall

02-26-2007, 06:36 AM

Hey all, thanks for your commentary and support of the column. This Friday, The Bootleg Files presents a true oddity: a lost made-for-TV production that only exists today in bootleg audiotapes of its very, very unlikely star! :)

Strandlund

02-26-2007, 10:34 AM

I found some interesting commercials on YouTube.
In 1951, The Swedish director Ingmar Bergman needed work, so he wrote & directed several commercials for a soap called BRIS!

Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFUqfVthY8Y

There are a few more of these commercials posted on YouTube.

Phil Hall

02-26-2007, 11:00 AM

The Dude

04-10-2007, 06:34 AM

Suggestion for the Bootleg Files: Robert Altman's H.E.A.L.T.H.

Phil Hall

04-10-2007, 07:19 AM

I was never much of an Altman fan, which is why I was never particularly eager to track down "H.E.A.L.T.H." But I will most likely get to it in the near future. Thanks for the fine suggestion! ;)

The Dude

04-10-2007, 08:09 AM

I was never much of an Altman fan, which is why I was never particularly eager to track down "H.E.A.L.T.H." But I will most likely get to it in the near future. Thanks for the fine suggestion! ;)
Neither am I, but it sounds like there's a good story behind that one.

Phil Hall

04-10-2007, 12:26 PM

Neither am I, but it sounds like there's a good story behind that one.

Okay, you talked me into it. I've already located a copy from one of my fave collector-to-collector resources. I'll put this one on my to-watch list.

Thanks! :D

CJWARNER

04-22-2007, 12:34 AM

I just noticed that there is a write-up on the "Whirly Girl" video by OXO in the Bootleg Files.

First of all, did you know that the "Whirly Girl" in that video is actually Toni Basil, of "Hey Mickey!" fame?

GJ

Not to be contrary, but that doesn't look like Toni Basil in that video to me. I have a bad copy of it here (my web search for a way to procure a good copy landed me here at this site), but good enough to see clearly enough. I believe that dancer is Deborah Jennsen, my very favorite dancer from the original Solid Gold dancers. Toni Basil could have choreographed it and maybe even intended to do it initially. But, the end product video I'm seeing has the moves in it that I'm used to seeing from Deborah Jennsen. She also appeared in Loverboy's Queen of the Broken Hearts video and another one by Rod Stewart that I can't remember the title of off the top of my head.

Just throwing in my two cents...

CJW

Phil Hall

04-22-2007, 02:15 PM

Not to be contrary, but that doesn't look like Toni Basil in that video to me. I have a bad copy of it here (my web search for a way to procure a good copy landed me here at this site), but good enough to see clearly enough. I believe that dancer is Deborah Jennsen, my very favorite dancer from the original Solid Gold dancers. Toni Basil could have choreographed it and maybe even intended to do it initially. But, the end product video I'm seeing has the moves in it that I'm used to seeing from Deborah Jennsen. She also appeared in Loverboy's Queen of the Broken Hearts video and another one by Rod Stewart that I can't remember the title of off the top of my head.

Just throwing in my two cents...

CJW

It could very well be Deborah Jennsen. The video does not have cast credits, so I cannot confirm who the Whirly Girl actually is.

The video is really quite a scream, at many levels. I wish I could find more details on who conceived it, directed it, etc.

CJWARNER

04-22-2007, 02:51 PM

It could very well be Deborah Jennsen. The video does not have cast credits, so I cannot confirm who the Whirly Girl actually is.

The video is really quite a scream, at many levels. I wish I could find more details on who conceived it, directed it, etc.

Just based on the dance style of either Jennsen or Basil, I would say this is Jennsen, even if Basil choreographed the routine. Basil is in a lot of ways a better dancer from her obvious fluid movement and flexibility that she has that supports the quick fluid moves. I am no dance expert. So I don't have the right phrases to describe it. Jennsen on the other hand is a more powerful dancer and is not quite as fluid because I feel she powers through moves more and has a harder time stopping the moves because it takes even more effort to reverse the power quickly. As a result, she seems less fluid than Basil does who seems more in control of her moves.

The only other (and main) reason I say it's Jennsen is that I swear I read that somewhere years ago and that is really my main interest in viewing that video. I do like the song and its energy a lot and having her in it just was fantastic as far as I'm concerned. As I said, she has been my favorite of the Solid Gold dancers. :)

Jennsen also appeared in Xanadu and had a bit part as a cocktail waitress early in the Staying Alive John Travolta sequel to Saturday Night Fever. The Rod Stewart video that she appeared in (in a black bikini) was Tonight I'm Yours.

Thanks for replying.

Phil Hall

04-22-2007, 07:13 PM

Thank YOU, CJ!

And I used to looooooooooove "Solid Gold!" :D

Furious D

04-22-2007, 07:15 PM

Who have thought there'd be such a mystery behind Whirly Girl?

Matt Sorrento

04-23-2007, 09:57 AM

Phil Hall

04-23-2007, 03:37 PM

Hey Phil --
I was wondering if you'd consider covering the 50s fantasy/sci-fi anthology series "Tales of Tomorrow." I found a couple of episodes on one-dollar disc edition (the kind that comes in a sleeve) at the drug store. It had a version of Frankenstein (with a bald Chaney Jr.), an H.G. Wells short story adaptation, and one other. Pretty much standard live-TV fare from the 50s, but they did create some creepy set pieces. I'd be curious to see what you'd have to say about it.

Thanks,
MS

Hey Matt

Alpha Video has some of those episodes on DVD. I can't say I was a huge fan from what I saw (as you stated, they were standard fare).

The Chaney Jr. episode has a great backstory: he was allegedly intoxicated and thought the live show was just a dress rehearsal. This explains why his Monster only raised and lifted furniture and props without actually destroying it.

Matt Sorrento

04-24-2007, 12:07 PM

Hey Matt

Alpha Video has some of those episodes on DVD. I can't say I was a huge fan from what I saw (as you stated, they were standard fare).

The Chaney Jr. episode has a great backstory: he was allegedly intoxicated and thought the live show was just a dress rehearsal. This explains why his Monster only raised and lifted furniture and props without actually destroying it.

No kidding! That's a great story. Thinking back to Chaney's trance-like stare, I can see how he could have been tanked on the set.

Phil Hall

04-24-2007, 01:31 PM

No kidding! That's a great story. Thinking back to Chaney's trance-like stare, I can see how he could have been tanked on the set.

You didn't know that story? Oh, I thought it was one of those oft-told tales.

If that's the case, let me look into that episode again. It's been years since I saw it (I don't have my copy of the video -- I'll have to find one in those dollar DVD bins).

Thanks for the inspiration. :)

Studio-Toledo

04-24-2007, 04:32 PM

Hi Phil,

As usual, I've ignored the Bootleg Files long enough to do other things, and now had to catch up as usual. Here are some thoughts over your previous articles...

CRUSADER RABBIT

Thinking about the FOX ownership of said characters/series, I'm being reminded of having seen them pop up in a Fox Kids ad bumper way back when that got started around 1990. The 5 second thing had Crusader and Rags on a bench where they got scared by some giant caterpillar or whatever. That's all there was, and I wasn't sure why they were there at all until I just read this, so it all makes sense now. Too bad they didn't make them mascots of said children's block or it would've been a nice thought if it only meant bringing the toons back in the 90's. If anything I only wish Fox would sell someone else the rights to these and have them do with whatever they want. I know I'd love to release DVD's of the cartoons under my own label.

http://www.toonarific.com/images/commercials/commercial-fox2.jpg
http://www.toonarific.com/images/commercials/commercial-fox4.jpg

As of this writing, all 15 episodes of "Crusader vs. The State of Texas" is now up on YouTube.

Oh look, I can get a tape of Crusader Rabbit and a possibly non-Public Dormain WB cartoon or two!
http://www.oldies.com/product-view/830753.html

By the way, here's the opening to the individual episodes of the 1957 series (tries so hard to replicate the original with better animation do they?)
[/URL]

And here's for the hour-long compilations!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lacnASexIqo (for "Sahara You?")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryU6wNvb1Ks (for "The Great Baseball Mystery")

It's only a shame I never got to see any of these cartoons at all or I could've conjured up similar memories like you Phil!

By the way, some Belgian YouTuber stuck up an entire episode of [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_the_Lionhearted"]"Linus the Lionhearted" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYTvJc1e_9o) not long ago. Better gulp it down while you can!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gc9CFUYcDQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOyVjLyjezc

This guy's also got some rare Columbia cartoons of the late 1930's and 1940's such as those featuring "Fox & Crow" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Crow), another of America's forgotten cartoons characters of the Golden Age.

Surprised you also commented on "Tales of the Wizard of Oz", I think the DVD's for that are out now, but I've had the chance to see an episode while downloading the entire series off Bit Torrent a couple years back.

Don't have a comment for "Experiment in the Revival of Organisms", but it's one of those that makes me want to cut my head off after watching it way too much! Eh, the stuff people would watch!

Take care!

Phil Hall

04-24-2007, 07:33 PM

Surprised you also commented on "Tales of the Wizard of Oz", I think the DVD's for that are out now, but I've had the chance to see an episode while downloading the entire series off Bit Torrent a couple years back.

Don't know about a commercial, official DVD on that title, Chris -- nothing on Amazon. You may have seen an unauthorized PD dupe. :confused:

CJWARNER

04-25-2007, 03:21 PM

It could very well be Deborah Jennsen. The video does not have cast credits, so I cannot confirm who the Whirly Girl actually is.

The video is really quite a scream, at many levels. I wish I could find more details on who conceived it, directed it, etc.

In the interest of spreading the word when I can find it, here is a blurb that says who directed the Whirly Girl video.

"Whirly Girl -- This classic 1983 video by Oxo is from their self titled album and is directed by Dominic Orlando & Marcelo Epstein."

I know nothing of the work of those two men. But, it is something to go on. :)

Matt Sorrento

04-25-2007, 03:26 PM

You didn't know that story? Oh, I thought it was one of those oft-told tales.

If that's the case, let me look into that episode again. It's been years since I saw it (I don't have my copy of the video -- I'll have to find one in those dollar DVD bins).

Thanks for the inspiration. :)

I never did hear that story before, and I'd love to hear more. I learned of "Tales" from the review book Terror on Tape by O'Neill in a section that makes brief mention of horror TV shows. I think it would great if you did a piece on the Chaney Jr. episode, since it never hurts to inform readers about the live TV age.

Phil Hall

04-26-2007, 07:28 AM

Okay, Matt. I have some other titles in the queue that I was planning to cover, but I will certainly get Lon Jr. in there.

I actually remember when Lon Jr. passed away in 1973 -- I was 8 years old and I was genuinely crushed to see the newspaper obituary. :(

Studio-Toledo

04-26-2007, 04:18 PM

Don't know about a commercial, official DVD on that title, Chris -- nothing on Amazon. You may have seen an unauthorized PD dupe. :confused:
Yeah I probably did. By the way, Classic Media (whom tends to own a lot of childhood classics under their roof, got aquired by UK-based Entertainment Rights PLC a short time ago (they own much of the Filmation library, Harvey Comics and VeggieTales to name a few of their properties), here's their page listing this series in their catelog...
http://www.entertainmentrights.com/programming/article_731.asp

Phil Hall

05-11-2007, 05:39 AM

For today's Bootleg Files column on "Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne," I would direct your attention to this unauthorized (of course) clip from the flick's astonishing Ghost Dance sequence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9d1qesF3UE

I wish I could make films like this!:D

Terminal_Ny

05-20-2007, 05:20 PM

Are you planning to review the cheesy "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- The Coming Out Of Their Shells Tour" which is a rare and rightfully hidden tie in for the Ninja Turtles franchise where the turtles suddenly became a rock band and went on a world tour.

I used to love this when I was a kid, and these days... not so much.

Phil Hall

06-07-2007, 08:25 AM

Hey, I found The Bootleg Files' review of Bob Dylan's "Renaldo and Clara" cited in this Ohio newspaper':

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/entertainment/television/17335358.htm

:cool:

Phil Hall

09-21-2007, 07:28 AM

Heads up: next week will mark the 200th column in the Bootleg Files series. I want to thank everyone here for being so supportive of the column – I honestly never dreamed it would go so far. I’ve learned more about movies in doing the research for these articles than I ever expected.

And there is more on tap. In the coming weeks, be on the lookout for articles on Robert Altman’s “Health,” Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Zabriskie Point,” the Florence Henderson big screen musical “Song of Norway,” the Moonie epic “Inchon” and the pioneering gay comedy “The Ritz.”

And the 200th Bootleg File? Well, let’s just say it will be one of the most bizarre animated films ever made – with the first love scene between a human and a bee! ;)

Studio-Toledo

12-10-2007, 02:00 AM

Hi-Ho there!

Noticed there hasn't been any posts in some three months now, and because I hadn't been paying attention to this place for a while, I felt I have WAY too much to talk about here, so please bear with me on this for now.

This is just to summarize a few interesting reviews over the past half-year of interest to me.

First off, I'm glad you got around to "Nu, Pogodi!" Phil. It is not a particularly funny cartoon, but an interesting curio item of it's time when these films were made. While there are terribly muddy versions out there, I managed to find decent, restored versions from a Russian eMule page sometime ago, and they hadn't looked better. I've read someplace else one or two animators who worked on the series went on to work for Disney after the fall of the Soviet Union.

The first time I actually saw "Single Gun Theory" actually came on VHS! About 15 years ago, I cam across a bunch of budget tapes at a Hills Department Store (now a Lowes Hardware location) near me that were released by Goodtimes Home Video of blooper clips. One tape in particular, labled "Super Duper Bloopres & Silly Shorts", contained a few animated shorts including Newland's "Bambi Meets Godzilla (though a terribly crappy print), Ted Petok's Oscar-winning "The Crunch Bird" (my 16mm copy probably looks better than this), and for no apparent reason, Charles David Ellis' li'l 16mm opus. The copy I have was that of it's original version with "Dave Ellis" credited, though I felt the quality looked FAR better than the YouTube clip, though the JFK footage looks very flickery, obviously due to the newsreel footage they had to re-shoot through their projection device (I've seen a student film once in college that resembled that look). I could've stuck my copy up on YouTube as well, but I felt nobody would think it was that funny like I had saw it as an immature high school freshmen (plus my copy had a stupid "GT" bug on the bottom right of the screen too).

Funny though to hear the Zapruder people got on Charles' case over thinking footage of that 'other' film was in it. If anything, I think the film alone is far better than any YouTube Poop some 15 year old could spit out of their MovieMaker projects.

Of course if you can understand Japanese or have a way to get it, the Japanese version of "Adventures of Sinbad" was released on DVD in Japan by Toei some years back.
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=DSTD-2127

Of course, because I'm impatient, I've found an eMule link to the movie in it's Cinemascope glory with switchable Japanese and Spanish (Castilian dialect) audio. I don't feel like sharing that here for obvious reasons, but here's a shot of an animation cel to gander your peepers at!
http://kar120c.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_info.asp?ItemID=178970

It should be of some note that this film was written by Morio Kita and Osamu "God of Manga" Tezuka, with character designs by Yasuo Otsuka and music by up-and-coming Isao Tomita.

Being reminded of having watched that Dickson Experimental Sound Film some years back and being rather impressed at the level of interest and effort it took those guys to do what Edison deemed a failure in his time, even with the cylinder alone having been broken for decades after being found. Of course, much like the Muybridge books, there's always going to be some jerk who'll look at this as the first homosexuality caught on film, without taking into account what this was meant to be in the first place, and why it was the way it was (comparing this to Eadweard Muybridge if only you were in it for the nude guys without understanding the technique or studying those movements that were intended in those books).

Again, you nailed it on that stupid Bigfoot home movie I've seen constantly since I was in grade school. I think the only thing worthy for it is the parody posters or Tee's I've seen made using that likeness or whatever joke someone might use it in a YTMND these days.

Your latest entry, "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble", kinda hit home to me, as I had seen it about 20 years back on some Pay channel (probably Showtime or whatever), though nowadays, because people still believe it's copyrights had expired, you can find it for a buck at Wal-Mart. I used to enjoy this film on it's own merit, despite it's cheesy details (like that giant suit the kid had to wear to school running off AC and all). Of course thanks to the net, I know understand this film better than I had seeing it as an unaware child but I can understand it's message in a similar level to my upbringing (not so much isolated due to physical deficiencies, but more for personal reasons. Being reminded of having watched Bubble Boy and didn't know whether to laugh or not at it, it pretty much went the level far from what this film had to work with (the disturbing mom was so mean-spirited).

Aside from those other stabs you mention before, I noticed one guy bothered reenacting that famous scene in this little YouTube clip!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGwSz6Hezj4

This is all I have to say for now, because no one else might respond here for another half-year and I might as well say something now or forget it as usual!

Though there is one more thing I can say....

MERRY CHRISTMAS (happy holidays to the rest)

Bye! :p

Filmgenius89

01-05-2008, 09:06 PM

Hey Phil, any chance you can review those titles?

They were both released on VHS, but now (he former at least) are bootleged like crazy. They're both classic films. What gives?

Phil Hall

01-06-2008, 05:10 PM

Hey Phil, any chance you can review those titles?

They were both released on VHS, but now (he former at least) are bootleged like crazy. They're both classic films. What gives?

I am not certain why there are no DVD releases of either title yet, but I am sure they'll turn up on DVD sooner or later.

"The African Queen" plays endlessly on TCM, so there is no need to buy a bootleg DVD if you have that channel in your cable line-up.

I actually have Bogie coming up this Friday in the next Bootleg Files column -- for a film that has only been available in home entertainment via bootlegged dupes.

wengilee

09-18-2008, 01:43 PM

Dear Phil Hall ,

i had read your film review of :
THE BOOTLEG FILES: "SANDAKAN 8"
by Phil Hall (2004-03-19)
http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=features&Id=993

I am building a website in memorial of
Karayukisan & Comfort Women (army prostitute).

Can i link your webpage to my blog ?
http://wenalee.blogspot.com/search/label/Sexual-abuse%20Crimes

thanks ,Gigi

BenPanced

09-19-2008, 12:21 PM

I was more surprised over the fact "His Girl Friday"'s copyright has lapsed, since it's considered a bit of a classic, than your opinion about it.

Me? I was kinda "meh" over it.

Phil Hall

09-19-2008, 04:43 PM