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Santa in Animal Land (1948)
Creepy!
I first discovered this weird little "gem" in 2021, which is when the restoration was made. It aired repeatedly on TCM, and is doing so again this year. Trust me, however, when I state that this is NOT worthy of the word "classic".
Even by the standards of the Forties, this is inferior-grade. I'm not familiar with the production company and the associated staff, but this must have been a decidedly low-budget effort.
The puppets are seriously creepy, and the acting is dreadful. I don't know why anyone would think that it was a good idea to make this, or why anyone decided that it was worthy of a restoration. They were sadly mistaken!
Sabaka (1954)
What even is this?
Even as I type this review, I have the film showing on TV. I haven't the slightest idea of what's going on! It looks like it was a waste of the time and talents of a number of people who could have found something more productive to do.
I love Boris Karloff, so don't get me wrong on that score. And I'm certainly well familiar with June Foray, mainly as a voice-over artist for Chuck Jones' cartoons for the Looney Tunes series from Warner Brothers.
But I think this film is pointless. They should both have turned this script down and walked away from what is clearly a total disaster disguising itself as a film.
The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1957)
Bizarre!
While it looks like the performers might be having a good time, it's still a strange production. It's good to get some laughs out of, just by making fun of it; but there any thin entertainment value ends. I'm only a forty-something, so perhaps I'm too young to appreciate it; but I think the talents of Van Johnson and Claude Rains are sorely wasted here.
The Wacky World of Mother Goose (1967)
I wish that it was possible to rate it lower.
I'm actually rating this while seeing it on TCM. I'd thought that this would be fun; after all, it IS Rankin-Bass. I grew up watching their Christmas specials in the Eighties, and I'm a huge fan of The Last Unicorn. So it was natural that I'd expect good things of this.
Honestly, the only thing good about this is what an excellent job the animators did of making Mother Goose actually resemble Margaret Rutherford; but this is a severe waste of her talent, and it's a shame that this, of all features, was her last film.
I don't want to fault the animation TOO much. One must consider that this was in the early days of Japanese animation (as Rankin-Bass worked with a Japanese animation company), and that the animation is therefore going to be primitive. The flaws are in the voice acting (apart from Ms. Rutherford). For example, the villain's voice actor seems to be doing his best imitation of Christopher Lee--and his best imitation is HORRIBLE.
I'm sad to say it, but watching this is a wasted effort. I currently have it on Mute, because I can't handle it, and I plan to change the channel.
Dai-Nihonjin (2007)
A surprising film...
I discovered Matsumoto Hitoshi through his work as a member of Downtown, through Gaki and Gottsu ee Kanji. That discovery was rather recent, so I've been trying to discover more works by Matsumoto-san and the rest, so that I could put it all in the proper context.
This movie came to me as an enormous surprise. I've read about it being a parody, but I honestly found myself taking it more seriously than that. Matsumoto-san's acting is subtle, almost subdued, compared to what I'm accustomed to from him; this is not the usual, boisterous, loud-mouthed Macchan playing the boke to his partner's tsukkomi. And that is actually quite refreshing.
The film is well thought-out, and plays beautifully. I never found myself bored; in fact, I felt myself glued to every moment. I don't think the ending was a good match, but I realize what Matsumoto-san was trying to accomplish, by parodying the usual Japanese sentai and monster genres--and it's done rather well.
Not a perfect movie, but an excellent one, and one that I highly recommend, whether you know Japanese works, Japanese comedy, et cetera. I'm glad that I've gotten the chance to see it, and I look forward to seeing it again.
M*A*S*H: That's Show Biz (1981)
Mediocre...
A poor episode, in general, drawn unnecessarily into two parts. Personally, I'm seldom willing to sit through it. Gwen Verdon is charming, however, especially when doing scenes with Harry Morgan; they display an adorable chemistry that, sadly, doesn't redeem the storyline. There is a distinct anachronism, if you pay attention. Fast Freddie mentions Ed Sullivan and his "really big shew"--but that phrase wasn't coined until between 1954 and 1956.
Totally Minnie (1988)
I loved this!
I saw this as a little eight-year-old in '88 (which makes me feel a bit old) on NBC. (I know it was NBC, because I didn't see anything on ABC until I was fifteen). I absolutely ADORED it! I wish I could see it again, because it made me so happy as a little girl, and I'm sure it'd bring back so many great memories of my childhood.