FAMOUS NATHAN -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 9/18/15

Heartfelt and finely-crafted, the documentary FAMOUS NATHAN (2014) is a glowing tribute to filmmaker Lloyd Handwerker's celebrated grandfather Nathan, the hot dog maven of Brooklyn's Coney Island.  It's a story of dedication, a work ethic the like of which is long past, the will to succeed, and, most importantly, family values. 

Lloyd has combed his way through mounds of ancient home movies and audiotaped interviews in order to give voice and image to long-deceased grandfather Nathan, who tells of leaving Poland, where he toiled as a youngster to help feed his family, and coming to America to work his way from menial jobs to owning one of the most wildly successful restaurants in the history of fast food.

We learn of Nathan's Famous (the name given to his renowned eatery) from its humble beginnings in 1916 to its preeminence with Coney Island visitors who purchased, at its peak, tens of thousands of hot dogs a day.  Nathan's employees churned them out at record speed and took pride in performing at their peak at all times for a boss to whom they were intensely loyal.  Both they and Nathan's friends and competitors gladly attest at length, sometimes emotionally, to what a wonderful guy he was.

Relatives and family also speak highly of him but in more measured terms.  There were the usual squabbles with his sons, Murray and Sol (Lloyd's father), who felt they could never measure up to Nathan's high standards while often waiting in vain for words of praise.  (Sol remarks that if Nathan wasn't criticizing him for something, that was as close as he came to actual praise.) 

Unrest between the brothers themselves over how to run the business once Nathan was urged to take an unwanted retirement (he said he preferred to die on the job over a life of leisure) and subsequent unwise decisions that lead to the company's eventual downfall help give the narrative the same depth and drive of a fictional family saga. 

All the while Lloyd's artful use of montage--many of his faded film clips of a New York that no longer exists are priceless--gives us a sense of the bustling joy that was a day at Nathan's Famous while also humanizing the man whose name sits atop the sign. 

There's a warm humorous element to several of the interview segments with family friends (I loved watching some of the aging Jewish couples lovingly kvetching at each other as they argue over long-ago details) and Lloyd's likable dad Sol himself.  Sol's visit with now-senile brother Murray in an old folks' home is touching, especially the following exchange:

MURRAY: How old are you?
SOL: Eighty-five.
MURRAY: Eighty-five? (Shakes his head) How old am I?
SOL: You're eighty-nine.
MURRAY: Eighty-nine? (Laughs in disbelief)

Finally, FAMOUS NATHAN takes us through the final stages of the Handwerker empire which, no longer in Nathan's hands, takes on increasingly unsuccessful spin-off ventures and franchise operations until the family is forced to sell out to a corporation.  And thus, the once-bustling hot dog palace joins a crumbling Coney Island itself in a slow descent into oblivion.  Lloyd Handwerker manages to make us feel as melancholy about this as he obviously does. 

The DVD from Film Movement is in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 surround sound.  There are no subtitles but closed captions are available.  Extras include a director's commentary, bonus and deleted footage, and trailers for this and other Film Movement releases.

I've always enjoyed a good, nostalgic documentary about fast food and novel tourist attractions in America (the History Channel's "American Eats" and "Highway Hangouts" are two of my favorites), and FAMOUS NATHAN pays off richly in that regard.  Better yet, though, is its wonderfully engaging portrait of an admirable man who dared to dream and then, against staggering odds, made that dream come true.

FAMOUS NATHAN -- DVD Review by Porfle

VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE PART 2 -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 1/30/15

One of the oddest episodes in the history of splatter flicks was that whole business about "video nasties" that happened in England back in the 80s and 90s. Back then, Margaret Thatcher and several other government types were popping their corks over any small-screen (i.e. "video") entertainment that involved any kind of graphic gore, and were using all their legal powers to squelch, suppress, censor, and generally pull the plug on the whole bloody shebang.

We know now, of course, that--to paraphrase Allan Carr--you just can't stop the splatter. In "Video Nasties--The Definitive Guide" we learned about Thatcher's infamous banned list, which spelled out which films were not only officially frowned upon but would be forcibly removed from video stores and destroyed, and their offending owners prosecuted.

With its follow-up, the documentary VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE PART 2, subtitled "Draconian Days" (Severin Films 3-disc DVD set), we learn that the story continued for many years afterward as censorship and legal action against the offending horror videos grew stricter and more draconian than ever before, while sensationalistic news stories fanned the flames of public condemnation.

The story focuses mainly on the BBFC--British Board of Film Classification--under the strict rule of board director James Ferman. This group of video watchdogs tirelessly scrutinized the seemingly neverending flow of movies containing the sort of violence, gore, and "sick" themes which, they feared, might be accessible by children even if the videos themselves were purchased or rented by "responsible" adults.

Ferman wielded his censor's scissors recklessly and to such extremes that other members of the BBFC, some of whom are interviewed here, began to question him. But for years, a generous number of horror films were either mercilessly edited or banned outright, which, ironically, made them even more sought-after by avid gorehounds who created a vast bootlegging and trading underground.

While the documentary contains numerous film clips, it's composed mainly of talking head segments featuring various politicians, filmmakers, authors, and other interested parties, each offering accounts of their own personal views and experiences during this era of extreme censorship and artistic persecution.

At one point even David Cronenberg shows up to posit that the censors were just as delusional as the psychos supposedly getting all their ideas and inspiration from horror films. This doesn't seem at all unlikely when the documentary details the time in which the infamous murder of toddler James Bulger by two young boys was blamed in large part on the film CHILD'S PLAY 3.

As with the previous installment, director Jake West does a meticulous job of putting it all together to create an engrossing and informative narrative. Those who enjoy documentaries should have little problem getting into this. Those who don't, however, will probably be bored stiff.

For them, discs two and three are just the thing, for they contain trailers for all the blood 'n' guts classics once deemed too sick, horrific, depraved, and just plain evil for sensitive British subjects to handle. The discs offer 82 trailers in all, namely those titles chosen under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act which could be seized and destroyed, either from places of business or from citizens' private homes as well.

A great feature of these discs is the choice to watch the trailers one after another, uninterrupted, or to view detailed, informative introductory reviews of each title by a very knowledgeable bunch of filmmakers, authors, and critics.

Some of the 82 titles include BLOOD LUST, BRUTES AND SAVAGES, CANNIBALS, DEAD KIDS, DEEP RED, DEATH WEEKEND, DEMENTED, EATEN ALIVE, HEADLESS EYES, HELL PRISON, LOVE BUTCHER, MARK OF THE DEVIL, MASSACRE MANSION, SAVAGE TERROR, SCREAM FOR VENGEANCE, SUICIDE CULT, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, XTRO, and ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST.

In addition to these, bonus features also include two galleries--the first, covers from dozens of gore fanzines from the era, and the second, covers from all the videos which were either successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act or deemed liable for seizure but not prosecution. Discs are in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital mono sound. No subtitles.

As before, this DVD set's design presentation itself, with its simulated videotape imperfections and "adjust tracking" prompts, is fun for the nostalgic VHS fan. But that's just icing on the cake for VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE PART 2, which is rewarding not only for its intensive history of the subject but also for a wealth of trailers that should have gorehounds barking at the bloody moon.



Read our review of Part One

VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE PART 2 -- DVD Review by Porfle

VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE -- DVD Review by Porfle

  Originally posted 6/25/2014

 

For those unfamiliar with the story, Severin Home Video's new 3-disc DVD set VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE should serve as a more than adequate recap of one of the strangest cultural battles ever to take place on English soil. And even if you already know all the information imparted by the collection's first disc documentary, "Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship, and Videotape" (2010), the barrage of trailers on discs 2 and 3 should keep you entertained for hours.

The 2010 documentary, directed by Jake West, begins as the home video craze is heating up in the early 80s. One of the hottest attractions is what would become known as the "video nasty", namely those cheap but extremely gory horror flicks that had many of us haunting our local mom 'n' pop video stores looking for anything with some of that good ol' shock value.

But when societal watchdogs in England such as aging activist Mary Whitehouse noticed that these gruesome films were bypassing theatrical age restrictions and being watched on home VCRs by little kids, something was bound to hit the fan.

With something new to censor, various members of Parliament joined Ms. Whitehouse and an indignant press in stirring up public outrage against the "sadist videos" (which Whitehouse admitted to never having watched) along with some heavy legal backlash. The first step was a widespread confiscation, with 32,000 tapes such as DRILLER KILLER and DEATH TRAP being seized and burned in London's Metropolitan area alone.

As righteous anger over these videos grew, so did the penalties for distributing and renting them, with several offenders paying large fines and even going to jail. Newspapers and police began using the films to conveniently explain all sorts of criminal behavior, accusing them of potentially "corrupting and depraving" anyone who watched them.

It wasn't long before Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher jumped on the bandwagon in order to attain some much-needed moral cred, coming up with a list of 72 banned titles that could get you into big trouble if caught renting or distributing them. This list, of course, became a "must-see" menu for fans of the genre although the films were becoming increasingly difficult to find.

The documentary describes how the banned video nasties got copied and passed around by fans, and how these multi-generation tapes had a fuzziness which helped obscure bad FX and make the images seem more mysterious and realistic. One of my favorite things about "Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship, and Videotape", in fact, is how it delves into the nostalgia those of us from the VCR era still have for those big, clunky machines and often battered tapes that we ran through them.

The documentary--and, in fact, the DVD packaging and menus themselves--display an almost fetishistic regard for VCRs, VHS, videotape imperfections, and other quirks of the medium with which I could strongly identify. There's also a fond remembrance of those hole-in-the-wall video stores that seemed to pop up just about everywhere in the 80s, each of which had its own individual ambience and unique variety of titles both familiar and obscure.

What I didn't like so much about the documentary--and it's a small gripe--is that it leans rather heavily on talking heads (politicians, filmmakers, critics, and other interested parties from the era) and not enough film clips. However, since discs 2 and 3 more than make up for this, then disc 1 can be forgiven for being more of a history lesson than anything else.

Disc 2 features trailers for "The Final 39", or the films that were successfully prosecuted in UK courts and "deemed liable to deprave and corrupt." Retailers and distributors could be heavily fined and even imprisoned for handling these hot-button horrors. The trailers range all the way from something called ABSURD to ZOMBIE FLESH-EATERS, with some of the titles in-between including: THE BEAST, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, THE DRILLER KILLER, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN (I think I rented this under the shortened title NIGHTMARES), and the infamous fake-out SNUFF.

Disc 3 contains trailers for the 33 films that were initially banned but later removed from the "leper list" (as I just now decided to call it). Are they truly milder than the notorious 39 and less likely to turn viewers into gibbering sadists? It's your call as the line-up includes such blood-soaked fare as THE BOGEY MAN, DEATH TRAP, DEEP RIVER SAVAGES, THE EVIL DEAD (that one definitely warped MY mind), THE FUNHOUSE, HUMAN EXPERIMENTS, THE TOOLBOX MURDERS, and ZOMBIE CREEPING FLESH.

The trailers on Discs 2 and 3 can be viewed in all their uninterrupted glory, or with introductions and reviews (some pretty in-depth) from some of the talking heads seen in Disc 1's feature documentary. Cult horror presenter Emily Booth greets us at the start of each disc. Other extras include VHS box art and video logo galleries. The discs are in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby digital sound. No subtitles.

"Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship, and Videotape" is an interesting but slow-moving and occasionally dull account of a fascinating time in British history. Lots of yakkity-yak and not enough video clips slow things down to a creep even though this is a valuable historical document that should be seen by anyone interested in the subject. But it's that collection of "must-see list" trailers that really rates VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE a nasty niche in your own video library.



Read our review of Part Two

 

VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE -- DVD Review by Porfle

GREEDY LYING BASTARDS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/7/13

 

You pretty much know in advance that any documentary entitled GREEDY LYING BASTARDS (2012) is going to be pure propaganda, which this one is.  Whether you object to this or pump your fists and cheer depends entirely upon which side of the global warming/climate change debate you happen to be on.

If it's the latter,  then writer-director Craig Rosebraugh and executive producer Daryl Hannah have just the movie for you.  Rosebraugh kicks things off with a terrifying montage of natural calamities worthy of Cecil B. De Mille, including tornados, wildfires, hurricanes,  and floods, and blames them all on global warming.  Tearful accounts of lost homes and possessions by sad families are accompanied by mournful music, and one kid finds his mom's scorched Nativity stable, a precious family heirloom, while rummaging through their home's charred ruins.

After a few minutes of this, of course, we tend to stop listening critically to what's being said since the music is already giving us the gist of how we're supposed to react.  More effective in my opinion are the first-hand accounts of people living close to nature in Alaska and the tropics whose environments are being made uninhabitable by gradual changes that might or might not be caused by global warming.  I'm still not sure what to think about the midwestern farmer demonstrating how dry his drought-ridden field is by squirting a garden hose at it for five minutes.

Rosebraugh's trod through familiar Michael Moore territory also includes his own world-weary regular-guy narration as he appears in the film as both sympathetic observer and muckraking crusader.  He also includes old film footage in a funny-ironic way along with plenty of animated charts and diagrams, and offers various experts and other designated hitters who agree with him (and whom we are to believe without question) a platform to express their views and present their case at length.  This includes several Democratic politicians and representatives of organizations such as Greenpeace.

The other side--that is, those who claim global warming is a hoax based on unreliable or fabricated scientific findings--is represented by "hired guns" and "career skeptics"  working for such greedy, lying bastards as Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, and big tobacco.  The usual suspects, including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly,  and, of course, Fox News, are demonized along the way, as are George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney, and Clarence Thomas.   Anyone else espousing a negative view of climate change is dismissed as either a charlatan or a moron, or both.

Rosebraugh, a long-time political activist whom Wikipedia tells us was once dubbed "The Face of Eco-Terrorism" by The New York Times Magazine and is a former spokesperson for the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front, comes to the fore late in the film when he tries to "get ahold of" the CEO of ExxonMobil by phone.  After failing to do so, his response is pure Michael Moore: "This was typical of trying to get interviews with big corporations.  I guess he was busy with world domination that day."

Later, he purchases some stock in ExxonMobil so that he can gain admittance to a shareholders' meeting in which he can actually lob a few words across a crowded room at the man in question, briefly giving the film a bit of that old ROGER AND ME vibe.  I kept hoping that he might also mention the irony of his getting from place to place by automobile, since there are several shots of him driving around including one in which he pulls up across a lake from an oil refinery and poses dramatically against it.  One of the film's final images is a montage of fossil-fuel-hungry consumers gassing up their cars, but we never actually see Rosebraugh himself doing it. 

The DVD from Shelter Island and One Earth Productions is in 1.78:1 widescreen with 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo sound.  Closed-captions available.  Included are 18 minutes of bonus material that didn't make it into the final cut.

The end credits song,  "B.A.S.F. (Bastards and Swine Forever)" exclaims: "I want to kick and I want to punch...pain and suffering is never enough..."   If you bear similar ill will toward the GREEDY LYING BASTARDS that Rosebraugh rails against then you'll probably enjoy being a member of the choir that he's preaching to here.  But without the entertainment value which Michael Moore manages to instill in his own personal statements, this strident activist's message tends toward the dull side.

GREEDY LYING BASTARDS -- DVD Review by Porfle

IN SEARCH OF...THE COMPLETE SERIES -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/14/12

 

For those of us who caught it during its first run, almost every episode of "In Search Of..." was a guaranteed dose of pure "sense of wonder."  Each week, host Leonard Nimoy explored the world's most tantalizing mysteries with an open mind, allowing us to bask in their intoxicating strangeness in an atmosphere free of rigid, buzzkill skepticism.

Now, Visual Entertainment Inc. (VEI) has collected all 152 episodes of this classic show, which ran from 1976-1982, in their 21-disc DVD collection IN SEARCH OF...THE COMPLETE SERIES.  I reviewed a screener with two half-hour Nimoy episodes, "In Search Of...Mayan Mysteries" and "In Search Of...UFO Coverups", both pretty representative of the show as a whole. 

Low-budget photography makes this independently-produced syndicated show look older than it is, but it was that way even when it was new.  No matter, since the fascinating subject matter and wealth of both exclusive film footage and well-chosen stock shots easily make up for this.  Nimoy, one of the finest narrators of all time, lends the show much-needed gravitas even during its most outlandish forays into the unknown. 

The Mayan episode poses a series of teasing questions about this mysterious ancient people such as: why, if they incorporated the wheel into their children's toys, didn't they employ it for practical purposes?  How did they conceive such complicated systems of mathematics and astronomy, among other things?  And why did they suddenly disappear from recorded history?

Even more up my alley is the look at UFO cover-ups, which opens with some familiar footage of a possible flying saucer but focuses mainly on the famous Roswell, New Mexico incident.  Actual interview clips of Air Force officer Jess Marcel, a major participant in the purported saucer crash investigation, and footage of Hangar 18 itself, where the wrecked saucer and alien bodies are said to have been housed, make this of special interest to UFO enthusiasts. 

There's also a first-hand account from a scientist who claims to have been taken to the crash site by U.S. Air Force officials and is only now breaking his silence.  As usual, the show is aggressive and non-apologetic in its insistence that anything is possible regardless of how farfetched it may seem to the skeptically minded.

In addition to the 152 regular series episodes, the VEI collection also includes two Rod Serling-hosted "In Search Of..." specials which aired in 1972, plus the entire eight-episode run of the 2002 reboot with "The X-Files" star Mitch Pileggi.  The screener I watched contained one from 1972 and one from 2002.

"Twilight Zone" creator and host Serling takes us on an exploration of ancient astronauts that covers all the familiar territory in highly compelling fashion, including the baffling stone heads of Easter Island and the enigmatic Nazca lines in Peru.  While the Serling episode is quite similar to the later Nimoy series, the flashy Pileggi-hosted show from 2002 is the sort of lurid exploitation fare you might see on SyFy, with gruesome stories about stigmata, Haitian zombies, and murder scenes haunted by restless ghosts.

While I can't speak for the entire collection as a whole, the picture and sound quality of the 4-episode screener I watched was good for a low budget syndicated series from the 70s.  You may be bugged by the VEI logo in the lower right hand corner but I forgot it was there after awhile.  

Being a loyal viewer of the show back in its heyday, I can personally attest that, content-wise, the rest of "In Search Of..." is chock full of fun and often spooky stuff about the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, conspiracy theories, unsolved murders and disappearances, bizarre phenomena both natural and supernatural, and just about anything else that this weird world has to offer.  While learned astronomer Carl Sagan may consider the subject at hand to be unsupported by "a smidgen of compelling evidence", you'll probably find an avalanche of it in IN SEARCH OF...THE COMPLETE SERIES.

IN SEARCH OF...THE COMPLETE SERIES -- DVD Review by Porfle

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: THE BOB HOPE SPECIALS DELUXE COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 11/19/17

 

Bob Hope was one of those comics who got as much mileage out of a bad joke as he did a good one (a talent shared by Johnny Carson).  In fact, he sometimes seemed to welcome audience groans so that he could do that "take" and comment about how bad the joke was.  Which, of course, got the biggest laugh!

If you're a fan of the inimitable Hope comedy style, especially as presented on all of his various television specials over the decades, you'll be able to gorge yourself on it with the colossal four-volume, 19-DVD boxed set from Time-Life, THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: THE BOB HOPE SPECIALS DELUXE COLLECTION. 

It's a dizzying mish-mash covering five decades of Bob's TV memories--39 specials and more--all in a collage of celebrity guests, comedy and musical bits, and endless one-liners--that should have you alternately laughing and groaning for days. 

The first volume, "Thanks for the Memories: The Bob Hope Specials", contains 13 specials from 1956 to 1996 on six discs and embodies what those of us who grew up with these shows remember most about them.  It's pure Hope, just him getting a bunch of his old-school showbiz friends and hot (at the time) current stars together, putting his gag writers to work, and churning out hours of relentlessly corny comedy that revels in its own casual, offhand silliness.

Most of them are clip montages framed by new Hope footage, including one all-blooper show and another featuring all the ex-presidents he's rubbed shoulders with and poked goodnatured fun at over the years (several of them and their First Ladies appear on the show). 

A more youthful Bob is often juxtaposed with the later, older Bob (sometimes seemingly a bit too old to still be at it) as in his 90th birthday special.  There's also a long look at Bob's lifelong obsession with golf called "Shanks For the Memories."

One highlight is John Wayne playing a frontier Archie Bunker who doesn't want his son (Bob) marrying an Indian maiden played by Joanna "O Mighty Isis" Cameron.  Wayne, ever the good sport, shows his comedy chops here and in another comedy exchange with Bob later on. 

Perennial pal Bing Crosby, Robert Goulet, Angie Dickinson, Redd Foxx (as Santa Claus), Carol Burnette, Cyd Charisse, Jimmy Durante, Eddie Cantor, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Jackie Gleason (in drag!), and the entire cast of "I Love Lucy" are among the veritable boatload of familiar faces who also appear throughout the set.

The four-disc set "Bob Hope: Entertaining The Troops" is ten shows of Hope's legendary global roadshow for our armed forces, both in and out of wartime and wherever in the world they may be, from World War II all the way to the first Gulf War.  These range from later videotaped shows to the early black-and-white filmed footage, always with a sea of eager young soldiers' faces ecstatic over this thrilling sampling of entertainment from back home.

The times and places may change, as well as the generations of both soldiers and performers (with Bob, moustachioed comic Jerry Colonna, singer Frances Langford, and bandleader Les Brown often serving as the only constants), but the shows all have a common theme and feel as these celebrities give their all for the ever-appreciative troops. 

Some of the familiar faces seen in this set are Raquel Welch, Phyllis Diller, Brooke Shields, Johnny Bench, Neil Armstrong, Ursula Andress, Ann-Margaret, Rosey Grier, Romy Schneider, Lana Turner, Teresa Graves, Joey Heatherton, Lola Falana, Marie Osmond, The Judds, Vic Damone, Jack Jones, various Miss World winners, and many more.

Disc four contains two bonus specials including "Hope For the Holidays: Bob Hope's Bag Full of Christmas Memories."  This is one of those "too-old Bob" shows with his and wife Delores' home Christmas party serving as a framing device for lots of classic clips.  The party scenes are as stiff and corny as you can get with such names as Joey Lawrence, Loni Anderson, and Ed Marinaro mingling with actual Hope family members whose acting is hilariously bad.

"Bob Hope: TV Legend" is an 8-disc grab bag of more USO shows for the troops in addition to some regular comedy specials (16 shows in all) ranging from the late 50s to the early 70s.  There's lots more overseas stuff with such guests as Janis Paige, Jill St. John, Anita Bryant, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Andy Williams, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Redd Foxx, Jim Nabors, Gina Lollobrigida, Hedda Hopper, Jayne Mansfield, Tuesday Weld, and Neile Adams.  One of the main highlights is getting to see Steve McQueen doing comedy with Bob in two seperate appearances.

Some of the guests appearing in the regular in-studio shows include old partner Bing Crosby, Lucille Ball, Danny Thomas, George Burns, Carroll Baker, Vikki Carr, Cyd Charisse, Don Rickles, Paul Lynde, Don Adams, Angie Dickinson, Olivia Newton-John, David Niven, Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, and literally dozens of others.  People who love to play "Spot the Stars" will be in heaven with this endless procession of celebrity faces.

Finally, there's the disc entitled "The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts: Bob Hope" in which Dino presides over the roasting of Bob himself, with the help of numerous comics and other celebrities (including filmed bits by John Wayne and Henry Kissinger).  Reverend Billy Graham is the most unlikely participant, while then-governor Ronald Reagan pulls off some surprisingly good one-liners. 

The best, of course, come from comedy legends Milton Berle, Don Rickles, Foster Brooks, Flip Wilson, Rich Little, Nipsey Russell, and Jack Benny, with able assistance from actor Jimmy Stewart.  And the humor is wonderfully non-PC, so the easily-triggered might want to watch with caution. 

In addition to the four DVD sets, the collection includes a full-sized magazine on heavy paper, entitled "Bob Hope: Making Us Laugh For 100 Years."  It's packed with rare photos and essays about Hope's life and career.  Each DVD set also contains illustrated contents booklets. Image quality varies with that of the original sources, some of which are showing their age.  For me, this just increases the nostalgia value.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: THE BOB HOPE SPECIALS DELUXE COLLECTION is the sort of thing that makes not having cable-TV easy, because with this, you've got something good to watch for at least a week or two.  It's like an endless buffet of entertainment for the starving Bob Hope fan. 



Format: DVD (19 Discs)
Running Time: 37 hours + extras
Genre:  TV/Comedy
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: Stereo

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: THE BOB HOPE SPECIALS DELUXE COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE TRAIL OF DRACULA -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/1/16

 

 

You know him...you love him...you want to know all about him.  And when we follow THE TRAIL OF DRACULA--a 2013 documentary now available on a brand-new DVD release from Intervision--we pretty much get the whole story, and more, about our favorite bloodsucking Transylvanian count, who just happens to be one of the most famous fictional characters of all time.

Writer-director David Mitchell has put together a history of the D-Man that's chock full of historical drawings, photographs, and film clips.  To augment the visual aspect of the story, we hear it told in exhaustive detail by a number of authors, historians, film critics, and other people who are both knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the subject.  

The story begins at the beginning, with the birth of vampire folklore in Middle Europe and tales of vile undead creatures who stalked the night feasting upon the blood of the living.  Then we trace the evolution and refinement of the vampire character into a more suave and sophisticated figure, thanks mainly to writer Bram Stoker and his novel "Dracula."

 

It's Stoker, we find, who is responsible for devising many of the modern variations of the ancient folklore as well as giving the character his birthplace (Transylvania would forever become known as Vampire Central).  The documentary also touches upon the influence upon the character of a certain Vlad "The Impaler" Tepes, or Vlad Dracul, a Romanian folk hero whose countrymen regarded his association with the evil Count to be rather less than flattering.

While the first half of THE TRAIL OF DRACULA is definitely interesting, it's a bit dry and "History Channel"-like compared to the second half when we finally delve into Dracula's many film incarnations.  That's where this documentary really comes to life for me, with a wealth of clips from early adaptations such as Murnau's incredible silent epic NOSFERATU starring Max Shreck, and of course arguably the greatest version of all, 1931's DRACULA with Bela Lugosi.

Many of the sequels and offshoots from the 30s to the 70s are covered, of which there are literally hundreds ranging from drama to Gothic horror to low comedy to, finally, pornography (DRACULA SUCKS, SEXCULA).  

Scenes from the original trailers are used whenever possible, giving us tantalizing glimpses of such films as DRACULA'S DAUGHTER with Gloria Holden, SON OF DRACULA with Lon Chaney, Jr., Bela Lugosi's Columbia outing RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE, Universal monster rallies HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HOUSE OF DRACULA with John Carradine as the Count, and Francis Lederer's excellent turn in the role in THE RETURN OF DRACULA. 

Lesser and sometimes obscure examples of the sub-genre include David Niven as OLD DRACULA, Andy Warhol's BLOOD FOR DRACULA, THE VAMPIRE LOVERS with Ingrid Pitt, ZOLTAN: HOUND OF DRACULA, Al Adamson's abominable (but fun) DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN, drive-in favorite BLACULA, 7 BROTHERS MEET DRACULA, LADY DRACULA, Jess Franco's VAMPYROS LESBOS, and several more.

Special attention is paid, of course, to Hammer Studios' game-changing Dracula series starring Christopher Lee in what many feel rivals Lugosi's immortal interpretation of the character. 

Hammer's heavily atmospheric and relatively lavish 1958 adaptation of Stoker's novel, DRACULA (known in the U.S. as "Horror of Dracula") sparked a phenomenon that made a reluctant horror superstar out of Lee (as well as his frequent co-star Peter Cushing, already known as the new Dr. Frankenstein) and led to a lucrative, highly popular series.

Sequels would include BRIDES OF DRACULA (without Lee, but excellent nonetheless), DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS, TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA, DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE, SCARS OF DRACULA, THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA, and DRACULA A.D. 1972.  The films would gradually decline in quality with each installment until finally the cycle had played itself out. 

The DVD from Intervision is in widescreen with 2.0 sound. No subtitles.  Extras include audio interviews with Christopher Lee and Francis Lederer and video interviews with director Werner Herzog talking about his NOSFERATU remake with Klaus Kinski and BLOOD FOR DRACULA's ever-charming Udo Kier. 

My favorite bonus feature is a collection of all those wonderful trailers referred to in the documentary.  There are dozens of them--a full 94 minutes worth--ranging from DRACULA '31 and on into the 1970s.  Not just a bonus, this collection is equal to a full-length companion feature.

The uninitiated--those poor, mundane souls--may not get much out of THE TRAIL OF DRACULA.  But those of us who are devoted lifelong fans of the Count, no matter which incarnation of him may be our own personal favorite, will find plenty here to sink our fangs into.    

THE TRAIL OF DRACULA -- DVD Review by Porfle

DINOSAURS: GIANTS OF PATAGONIA -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 3/12/11

 

From the very first second of DINOSAURS: GIANTS OF PATAGONIA (2007), things pop, fly, and explode toward the viewer.  The "Ooh! Ahh!" effect of it all is somewhat lost watching the two-dimensional DVD version of this made-for-3D IMAX film, as I did, although it still retains much of its pictorial grandeur. 

Writer-director Marc Fafard's dinosaur documentary is filled with beautiful vistas of Argentina, where the oldest and largest dinosaur fossils have been found.  As Donald Sutherland's familiar voice lulls us into the story, we're taken back 65 million years to the point in which a comet the size of Mount Everest is about to slam into the Earth and spell doom for its inhabitants (in a scene similar to the opening of ARMAGEDDON).  We'll witness the dramatic extinction of the dinosaurs later on, but first we skip back in time even farther to the Early Cretaceous period, where we meet some of the largest animals ever to walk the face of the planet.  

The CGI used to bring these creatures to life isn't quite on the JURASSIC PARK level but it's better than most.  The film follows the progress of two main characters, Strong One the male Argentinosaurus and Long Tooth the female Giganotosaurus, throughout their lives as they search for food and struggle to survive encounters with various predators.  At one point Long Tooth and her hunting pack attack Strong One's Argentinosaurus herd but are no match for the huge beasts.  Several other species of dinosaur are seen along the way, including the ever-popular T-Rex and a flying pterosaur with a wing span of over twelve meters.



These colorful sequences help offset the dry narrative tone and the slower stretches in which we observe real-life paleontologist Rodolfo Coria at work uncovering the fossils from which much of this historical data is derived.  It's interesting stuff, of course, watching this diligent explorer about his meticulous work, but a bit of a letdown after the dinosaur scenes. 

Fafard takes his camera anywhere it can possibly go in order to capture dynamic views of Argentina's most primitive regions.  Dizzying POV shots glide slowly over the landscape, often directly into the frame.  The CGI dinosaurs are extremely well-integrated into these settings. 

The DVD from Image Entertainment is in 1.78:1 widescreen with English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.  There are no subtitles.  In addition to trailers, the bonus menu contains a documentary entitled "The Lizard King" which is equal in length to the main feature and boasts a wealth of additional dinosaur information presented in a seriocomic style. 

While the non-3D DVD of DINOSAURS: GIANTS OF PATAGONIA may seem a little, uhh..."flat" compared to its stereoscopic counterpart--especially during the parts where we're watching people dig up old bones--the visuals remain very impressive and the CGI dinosaur footage is among the best I've seen.  

DINOSAURS: GIANTS OF PATAGONIA -- DVD Review by Porfle

WHEN WE LEFT EARTH: THE NASA MISSIONS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 10/12/08

 

The most thrilling adventure of the 20th century, without a doubt, would have to be the story of NASA's incredible exploits in outer space. The Discovery Channel's six-part documentary, WHEN WE LEFT EARTH: THE NASA MISSIONS (2008) is a richly informative and often breathtaking retelling of this story, from our first tentative steps into space to the moon landings and finally to the development of orbital space stations and the space shuttle itself.

It's the story of the scientists and engineers who conceived the hardware, the mission control personnel who coordinated the missions, and the heroic astronauts themselves who risked their lives to venture into the most awe-inspiring frontier of all time.

Disc one begins with "Ordinary Supermen", the original Mercury astronauts who blazed the trail into space with a series of one-man flights that first captured the imagination of the entire world and set into motion a space-race between the United States and Russia which prompted President John F. Kennedy to vow that NASA would land a man on the moon before the decade's end. "Friends and Rivals" continues this quest with the two-man Gemini missions, including the first rendevous of two seperate craft in orbit and the first space docking.

With disc two comes "Landing the Eagle", in which all that has gone before, including the tragic deaths of Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee in a fire that rages through their Apollo 1 space capsule, finally culminates in Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's historic moon landing. "The Explorers" documents the remaining moon missions, including the ill-fated Apollo 13 flight that almost left three men stranded in deep space, and ends with the launch of SkyLab, America's first orbital space station.

Disc three details the creation of "The Shuttle", NASA's new reusable workhorse vehicle designed to be launched into space and then land back on Earth like a glider. The final episode, "A Home in Space", tells of the launch of the Hubble telescope and the touch-and-go repair mission that must be undertaken in order to repair it, and ends with the construction of the international space station.

An unbelievable wealth of film and video has been assembled to make WHEN WE LEFT EARTH a visual feast from beginning to end. More than ever before, we get to see the story unfold before our eyes as it's told, from the grainy NASA footage of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions all the way to the breathtaking clarity of the more recent images, which surpass any conceivable Hollywood SPFX.

Astronaut Ed White's first spacewalk is a highlight, as is the rendezvous between Gemini VI and VII in which we see an astronaut waving at us through the window of the other craft. Long overhead views of the moon's surface are mesmerizing. The moon landings themselves are depicted in a way that conveys their almost inconceivable significance in the history of human evolution.

The story usually ends here in such previous documentaries as MOON SHOT and dramatizations like FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON. Here, however, we're shown that the daring of brave and adventurous astronauts continues to yield fascinating real-life drama. The most affecting, of course, are the accounts of the doomed space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, victims of NASA's negligence during a phase in which space flight began to seem routine.

These are augmented by some of the clearest closeup shots of shuttles in flight that I've ever seen, and the Challenger explosion is shown in startling never-before-seen declassified footage. Later, the sequence in which a shuttle crew ascends to twice the usual orbit above the Earth and exits their craft in order to repair the Hubble telescope is as riveting as any science fiction, with some of the most astonishing images in the entire series.

Much of WHEN WE LEFT EARTH is told in the words of surviving astronauts, NASA ground personnel, family members, and others directly involved, their words often tinged with emotion. Longtime flight coordinator Gene Kranz, as always, is particularly eloquent and philosophical in his recollections. Gary Sinise, who played astronaut Ken Mattingly in APOLLO 13, proves quite capable as a narrator for Ed Fields' script, while Richard Blair-Oliphant's action-movie musical score is highly effective.

Discs one through three also contain highlights from NASA films, additional interviews, and other interesting footage that augments each chapter in the story. Disc four is a collection of NASA-produced films from the 60s which are interesting not only for their subject matter, but as relics of their time. They include "Freedom 7" (which uses library music also heard in THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE, of all things), "Friendship 7: John Glenn", the amusingly-inept dramatizations of "Proud Conquest: Gemini VII and VI", "Debrief: Apollo 8" with narration by Burgess Meredith, and "The Flight of Apollo 11."

 The DVD looks and sounds great, with a 16:9 aspect ratio and 5.1 surround sound, and the attractive metal DVD case is a keeper. Subtitles are in English and Spanish.

Whether you're a space buff already, or you just want to learn about the history of space flight in those thrilling days before it was taken for granted, WHEN WE LEFT EARTH: THE NASA MISSIONS should more than satisfy your curiosity while providing the kind of mind-blowing entertainment that few other real-life stories could hope to provide. It's a reminder, even for those of us who lived through it all while it was happening, of the sheer wonder of space flight.

WHEN WE LEFT EARTH: THE NASA MISSIONS -- DVD Review by Porfle

I GOT THE FEELIN: JAMES BROWN IN THE 60s -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 8/7/08

 

While I've always liked James Brown, I was never what you'd call a big fan. Now, after viewing Shout! Factory's 3-disc set I GOT THE FEELIN': JAMES BROWN IN THE '60s, I have a much deeper appreciation for both his talent as a musician and the important role he played in the civil rights movement. The biggest surprise for me, in fact, was the discovery of an incident in Boston following Martin Luther King's assassination, which makes this DVD set not only an irresistible record of Brown's musical prowess at the time but also the compelling account of a fascinating moment in American history.

I wanted to save the Boston stuff for later and indulge in some pure entertainment right away, so the first disc I watched was "James Brown Live at the Apollo '68." Originally broadcast as a television special entitled "James Brown: Man to Man", the image and sound quality are pretty rough at times--the early color video is especially bad at first, although it improves as it goes along. It helps to think of this as a priceless recording that we're lucky to have, warts and all, rather than dwelling on its imperfections. For me, they were soon forgotten as I became engrossed in James Brown's electrifying performance before a fiercely appreciative audience in the legendary Harlem theater.

Sweat pouring from his face, Brown earns his nickname as "the hardest working man in show business" as he gives his all during each number, belting out one classic after another with his heart and soul. The songs include "I Got the Feelin'", "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World", "I Feel Good", "Please, Please, Please" and twelve more, usually with one segueing right into the next. The backup band is hot, and with each song Brown gets into a groove and works it for all it's worth with his customary showmanship, including those patented dance steps, mike stand acrobatics, and that delightfully dramatic robe routine as a finale. The direction is really terrible during the show and the psychedelic '60s camera effects are a major distraction, but that's the way stuff like this was usually televised back then and the whole thing serves as a time capsule of its era.

A brief documentary portion shows Brown walking the streets of Watts and Harlem, commenting on what should be done to improve conditions in such communities ("My fight now is for the Black America to become American.") With a running time of almost fifty minutes, the Apollo show is augmented by James Brown's 1964 performance of "Out of Sight" on THE T.A.M.I. SHOW, plus two more songs from a 1967 show at L'Olympia in Paris.

The next disc I watched was "James Brown Live at the Boston Garden", taped during his historic April 5, 1968 show only 24 hours after Martin Luther King's assassination. With cities burning across America and angry riots raging in the streets, Brown's scheduled appearance there was turned into a televised memorial concert and an opportunity to relieve tensions in a peaceful way. The mood is initially tense as Boston's sole black councilman Thomas Atkins and the city's mayor Kevin White introduce Brown while urging everyone to honor Dr. King's legacy of non-violence. Then James Brown takes the stage and performs full-throttle for over an hour.

The public television station WGBH in Boston was unaccustomed to covering such a concert, especially at such short notice, but they do a magnificent job here. The direction and camerawork are outstanding, with uncommonly rich black-and-white videography that looks almost cinematic at times, and dramatic lighting which is particularly effective in the backlit shots from behind the stage. A few awkward moments occur, and at one point the video is missing for a minute or so, but these are negligible in light of how well this impromptu telecast turned out. On the whole, this is an amazing document of what is perhaps the most important performance of James Brown's career.

What almost turned it into a disaster comes in the latter minutes of the concert. With people crowding forward and starting to climb onstage, Brown's security men brusquely shove them back one by one and are soon joined by Boston police in flinging people off the stage. Brown calls a halt to this with the assurance that he can handle his people, but in no time is surrounded by a swarm of rowdy fans who refuse to back off. Brown strongly expresses disappointment and exhorts them to show him some respect ("We're Black--don't make us all look bad!") and let him finish the show, which he is finally allowed to do. Everything ends well, although for a few moments there it's a tense situation that could've gone bad in a heartbeat. All in all, pretty fascinating stuff. As an extra, the audio of Brown's eight-minute speech to the crowd before the show is played against an old-fashioned Indian chief test pattern.

Having watched the concert itself, I was really ready for the third disc, director David Leaf's excellent 2008 documentary THE NIGHT JAMES BROWN SAVED BOSTON. The backstory of King's murder, the resulting nationwide chaos that came after it, and the tension-filled situation in Boston are presented in well-chosen archival footage along with narration by Dennis Haysbert ("24", THE COLOR OF FREEDOM) and interviews with Mayor White and Councilman Atkins, Brown's manager Charles Bobbit, Boston deejay James Byrd, Rev. Al Sharpton, Dr. Cornel West, various bandmembers and concert attendees, and several others. (Bonus footage of these interviews is included on the disc along with a panel discussion which followed the film's premiere.)

Atkins' idea of using the James Brown concert to quell impending violence had to be sold to a dubious mayor, but an even more dubious Brown, it turns out, was fit to be tied when he discovered that his concert was to be televised for free--several times, in fact--and people were already cashing in their tickets. The drama that occurred during the closing segment of the concert is recounted by witnesses including David Gates of Newsweek, who was there that night and attests to the air of anxiety that hung over the situation ("It could've gone up like a torch," he recalls.) But perhaps the most compelling part of this documentary is James Brown's subsequent role as one of the most influential leaders of the civil rights movement, a racial ambassador helping to bring people together, and a crucial proponent of Black pride in America.

The three discs are boxed in slimline cases with achingly cool retro design and a 23-page booklet by Rickey Vincent, with an introduction by David Leaf. As a whole, I GOT THE FEELIN': JAMES BROWN IN THE '60s is a treasure trove of invaluable concert footage and real-life historical drama that's ultimately both enlightening and inspiring. If you're a James Brown fan already, this is a must-see. If not, watch it and you just might get the feelin'.

I GOT THE FEELIN: JAMES BROWN IN THE 60s -- DVD Review by Porfle

ECCO/ THE FORBIDDEN -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 1/31/19

ECCO (1963)


It may not have the word "Mondo" in the title, but ECCO, aka "Il mondo di notte numero 3" (Severin Films, 1963), is an offshoot of the infamous, wildly successful shock-u-mentary "Mondo Cane" just as sure as its goal is to shock, titillate, and even disgust everyone who shells out the price of a ticket to see it.

"Ecco" is an Italian word meaning "look here", and as soon as American producer Bob Cresse (MONDO FREUDO, MONDO BIZARRO) took a look at this Italian production, he knew he had to purchase the rights and release an Americanized version of it himself.  Which, one assumes, cleaned up at the box office.

He hired venerable actor George Sanders to intone the pithy narration, keeping the excellent musical soundtrack which includes both rock'n'roll and crooner-type ballads in addition to some stirring orchestral music like something out of a spaghetti western.

But the real attraction is the non-stop travelogue of exotic, outlandish, and often highly strange sights and sounds from around the world, some filmed as they occurred and others staged for the camera but, unlike many "Mondo" films, based (mostly) on actual events.

Some of this stuff is relatively mundane enough to show up in a TV travelogue, such as a look at Rio de Janiero's famed Mardi Gras celebration and a brief example of rough-and-tumble women's roller derby.

One mountain village in Europe is visited by a family of daredevil circus performers, and elsewhere we see some amazing Grecian monasteries built high atop mountain peaks (as seen in the James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only").  Portuguese fishermen go whaling in nothing but simple rowboats, a dangerous task which, if they survive, will benefit their entire village in many ways.

But before long, the more extreme exploitation aim of this eye-popping cinematic grab bag makes itself known in a variety of ways, beginning with some young German men who get together for a night of drinking and then bloody jousting with swords.

A satanic ritual ends with a naked woman drenched in chicken blood, while Swedish delinquents roam the streets getting into trouble, attacking citizens, and then having wild sex in front of a group of straight-laced oldies.  A visit to what is purported to be the final performance in the famous Grand Guignol theater finds the actors involved in a typically gruesome scene.

In one of the film's most amazing sequences, hundreds of young, half-naked Japanese men form a roiling, squirming, tightly-packed mass of humanity during a weird annual "game" in which at least a dozen of them are expected to be crushed or trampled to death just for funsies.

Sex really comes to the fore (finally!) in the film's latter half--matronly Vegas women drool over oiled, posing muscle men, a popular European stripper has a whole hall of lecherous guys in a state of giddy arousal, and a forbidden all-lesbian club engages in same-sex nudie frolics for the camera's benefit.

But just as I was beginning to write off ECCO as a fairly standard "Mondo" flick, then came a guy named Ivan--one of those "mind over body" zealots--who started driving long, sharp needles through his skinny body in a segment that may be staged but definitely isn't faked.

"Cringe" doesn't go far enough to describe watching this guy slowly penetrate his neck with a needle while describing how he's studiously avoiding the carotid artery, the jugular vein, and, of course, the esophagus.  Eventually we witness the needle's point emerge from the other side, whereupon he invites a member of the audience to pull it out. Yikes.

I figured they couldn't top this, but the next segment goes right into a reindeer roundup in Lapland where an amazing wave of thousands of reindeer swarm tsunami-like into an enclosed area where they scuttle around in a huge circle while the natives lasso them.

Some are slaughtered, while others are castrated to become steers.  How is this done? Why, the ladies do the honors with their teeth, of course.  And thus, my mind is blown.

Other things happen which I can't recall at the moment, all very beautifully narrated by silken-toned George Sanders (who even throws in a little Shakespeare), but this should suffice to give an overview of ECCO'S mindbending menu.  I expected the usual weird sex practices and bizarre rituals, but some of this stuff really had me in full "SMH" mode and then left me benumbed, bewildered, and thoroughly be-cringed.


THE FORBIDDEN (1966)


Having roughly the form of a "Mondo" but with much less of a travelogue element and much more unmitigated sleaze, Bob Cresse & Lee Frost's THE FORBIDDEN (1966) is composed almost exclusively of softcore sex stuff--mostly strippers pretending to be performing in Paris or London but mainly in dark little soundstages with drapes over the walls to simulate nightclubs. It's probably the same set every time, just redressed a bit.

The film does veer occasionally into actual documentary territory as when we're shown genuine footage of a riot that occurred in Los Angeles when hundreds of teenagers refused to obey a ten o'clock curfew and clashed with the police, causing much chaos and property damage.

There's also a couple of detours into lurid fiction via re-enactments of "true" cases, one involving a woman's lethal jealousy toward her ex-husband and his lovers (this one ends DEATH PROOF-style) and another telling of a lonely woman's very unconventional method of getting the man she loves to come and visit her in Paris from his home in Mexico.

Mostly, however, we're treated to the kind of nudie-cutie segments that one often saw in 8mm film loops in the 60s, given hokey wraparound stories.  One stripper is supposedly performing in East Berlin and pretending to be Hitler's girlfriend.  Another, the gorgeous "Baby Bubbles" from Frost & Cresse's MONDO BIZARRO, plays a woman who teaches timid housewives how to strip for their husbands. 

We get a good idea of what we're in for with the opening segment showing two women in varying states of undress while a creepy peeper peers at them through their window.  He breaks in and attacks, during which we find that this is supposedly a commerical commissioned by the female owner of a karate school for women wanting to learn self-defense.

A secret initiation of two girls into a lesbian club is an excuse for us to--you guessed it--watch some naked lesbians for awhile.  There's also a scene with a prostitute who drugs and rapes her female clients before robbing them. And with that, your evening's entertainment is pretty well rounded except for just one more stripper (and some fervid, near-incomprehensible narration) to send THE FORBIDDEN off in sleazy style. 


Buy it from Severin Films

Special Features:
The Bandit: Producer David Goldstein Remembers Bob Cresse
I Want More: Short Film
Ecco Trailer
English Subtitles

The Stripper is scanned in 4K from the original internegative
The Forbidden is newly-transferred from the only known 35m print in existence

ECCO/ THE FORBIDDEN -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

MONDO FREUDO/ MONDO BIZARRO -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 1/29/19
 

MONDO BIZARRO (1966)

In 1962, exploitation filmmakers had a massive surprise hit with the shock-u-mentary MONDO CANE (Italian for "Dog's World"), a showcase for the twisted,  bizarre, and exotic things that go on in the world.  Audiences didn't know or care that the actual footage was heavily augmented with obviously staged material, and it was such a success that it even scored an Oscar for Best Song ("More").

As you might guess, this was followed by scores of imitations including 1966's MONDO BIZARRO (Severin Films). Producers Bob Cresse and Lee Frost spared every expense to put together a mixed bag of shocking sex and violence vignettes from around the world, or rather from in and around the Hollywood area with lots of stock footage of foreign countries to give things a faux international flavor.

The result is an interesting look at what audiences found shocking in 1966 and what exploitation filmmakers were allowed to get away with in terms of sex, violence, and forbidden content.

We the audience are invited to view it all as vicarious voyeurs, sometimes by means of a supposed super-powered telescopic lens (with infra-red capabilities for night shooting) that brings us up close to such forbidden nocturnal activities as a voodoo ritual in the Bahamas and half-naked lovers cavorting on a dark beach somewhere in California.

The most authentic footage is found in a sequence about spring break on the California coast, in which we see real-life mid-sixties teens blowing into town by the hundreds to engage in bacchanalian revelries.

There's also a lengthy bit which simply invites us to gaze at bikini-clad babes sunbathing on a public beach, and a profile of a man who lies on a bed of nails and pushes long needles through his cheeks (this part is disturbingly real). This is followed by a man who eats glass, although I'm betting this guy's not the real deal.

MONDO BIZARRO gets going when it starts focusing on sex, beginning with the relatively innocuous with a day in the bustling Frederick's of Hollywood mail order room (complete with models showing off their latest fashions for us) and night footage of various prostitutes, male and female, plying their wares on Hollywood Boulevard. There's also a few scenes of nude body painting, art classes with a nude model, and a beatnik photog snapping a topless dancing girl.

More endearing fakery comes with a naive guy's first visit to a massage parlor (supposedly in the Far East), which we witness through a one-way mirror. Already this technique has been used in the film's opening as supposedly unsuspecting women are filmed, again through one-way glass, stripping off in a dressing room with their eyes crudely obscured for anonymity.

The really dark side of sex comes into play with a trip to "Berlin" where leering audience members relive the glories of the Third Reich by gleefully watching a play about a Jewish girl who is kidnapped, stripped naked, and whipped as Hitler's recorded voice blares out. 

The film ends with a lengthy slave auction in which California's Bronson Canyon doubles as the Middle East and our high-tech telescopic lens captures wealthy sheiks bidding on hapless, naked slave girls who are brought out one at a time from their cages on the back of a truck (their lower regions crudely obscured to avoid obscenity charges). 

Cresse's sober voiceover observations ("To a maggot, the cadaver is infinity") add extra camp-humor icing to the cake.  While much of this sounds horrifically unsuitable for decent folk to watch (though it must've been irresistibly titillating to audiences at the time), the fact that it's all so wonderfully fake is what now gives MONDO BIZARRO its substantial entertainment value.


MONDO FREUDO (1966)

The second shock-doc on Severin's double-feature Blu-ray disc is the follow-up, MONDO FREUDO (also from 1966), which is more of the same but with even greater emphasis on the dark side of sex.

As with MONDO BIZARRO, the most true-to-life stuff involves real-life teenagers out for a good time.  Here, they're shown riding around up and down Hollywood Boulevard at night (for no apparent reason other than it's a fun thing to do) and hanging out in Watusi clubs.

The film then wastes little time steering us into a strip club where we get to watch a dancer named "Baby Bubbles" do her thing. While the club looks suspiciously like the same soundstage where almost every other such scene in these two "Mondo" films takes place, the dancer herself is a knockout (we'll see her again).

The same can't be said for all of the supposed prostitutes on display at other clubs (this time in both Tijuana and jolly old England, we're told), who pose as dancers while actually advertising themselves to potential clients. 

We learn that as long as they're wearing outfits that can be purchased in a store, they qualify as "models" and can therefore legally display their naughty bits for an audience. Makes sense, I guess!

More slave auctions take place, this time in Mexico, with more nudity and more of that odd film-scratching effect to obscure the more forbidden zones.  Then, a lengthy visit to a black mass ritual takes up much of the film's latter half, with a woman who appears to be "Baby Bubbles" herself writhing vigorously in black undies (once again, she's a total knockout) before helping to initiate another woman into the cult during a blood ceremony. 

My enjoyment of both documentaries was greatly increased upon second viewing thanks to the commentary tracks by Johnny Legend and Eric Caidin, whose humorous remarks on the onscreen action and first-hand stories about the times and places involved are as entertaining as the films themselves.  Also of much interest is an informative featurette, "The Cadaver Is Infinity: Bob Cresse, Lee Frost, and the Birth of American Mondo", featuring Chris Poggiali. 

Much of the lurid material in MONDO FREUDO/MONDO BIZARRO seems relatively tame these days, but it's interesting to see what was once considered so shockingly taboo to movie audiences.  (Admittedly, some of it still is, and viewer discretion is advised.)  But whether you're shocked, titillated, or simply moved to laughter, chances are you'll have a mondo good time watching.


Buy it from Severin Films

Special Features:
4K Scans From Original "Something Weird" Vault Negatives
Audio Commentary with Johnny Legend and Eric Caidin
The Cadaver Is Infinity: Bob Cresse, Lee Frost and the Birth of American Mondo – Interview With Chris Poggiali
Mondo Bizarro Trailer
Mondo Freudo Trailer
English Subtitles

MONDO FREUDO/ MONDO BIZARRO -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle