Track the Films You Watch (2007) - Page 3

Re: Track the Films You Watch (2007)

01/01/07

Jackass: The Movie (2002)

During my little New Year's party I tried showing clips from various horror films and Franco films but these were freaking a few people out so I put this in, which was my first time viewing anything to do with these guys. It was funny that Franco was freaking some out because this here really freaked me out but it made me laugh. It's hard to believe how stupid these guys are but hey, it has earned them millions so good luck.

Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927)

Tarzan (James Pierce) and his lion must fight off strangers to the jungle who are searching for diamonds. The stakes are raised when they kidnap his sister(?!). This is a pretty good silent version that never takes itself too seriously. The film only runs 57 minutes and thankfully each minute is full of action and other things to that nature. Pierce is good in the title role and the supporting cast, including Boris Karloff, are good as well. It's interesting to note that Pierce was engaged to Edgar Rice Burrough's daughter at the time this was being made. Burrough's convinced Pierce to turn down the Gary Cooper role in Wings to do this film. You gotta wonder what the two men talked about after Wings went on to do everything it did.

Dreams of a Country Girl (1996)

Yet another Joe D'Amato "adult" film, this time, as the title says, a country girl has dreams about sex. The less said the better.

Name Unknown (1964)

Educational short has a judge talking about delinquent teens and how one bad turn can lead to trouble. This is one of those stupid "warning" films but sadly this one really isn't too over the top so there's no added laughs. This is a decently made short but even the best made shorts like this are pretty boring. For any parents reading this, make sure you kids don't get into any convertibles because only sex maniacs drive these cars.

Going Steady? (1951)

Jeff and Marie are going steady but they didn't even know it so they ask their parents about the pros and cons of staying with one person. Here's another educational shorts and again, it's really played straight so it's more boring when an over the top film could have at least given some laughs. The incredibly bad acting gets a few laughs.

01/02/07

Getting Along with Parents (1953)

Extremely lazy educational short explains why some parents won't let their teens do anything they want when it comes to spending money. Horrible acting, silly stories and just an all around bad film.

Body Care and Grooming (1946)

Another educational short, this one dealing with college kids and how they should keep their bodies clean. There are a few funny moments and this here comes off interesting whereas the others have been pretty boring. Did you know in 1946 it was thought that you should only wash your hair once every two weeks? Yeah.

Re: Track the Films You Watch (2007)

Hopefully a remastered DVD would take care of this but like FREAKS, subtitles are probably needed to fully understand them.


Not for me. You answered my reasons for liking the original more in your post. It was a lot more stylish and I think it featured a lot more suspense. The scene with the elephant is classic (silent) Browning all the way and makes this the reason I prefer the original.

Either way, I'm glad you enjoyed both.

Re: Track the Films You Watch (2007)

01/03/07

Blood of Jesus, The (1941)

Spencer Williams, future star of TV's Amos and Andy, wrote, produced, directed and stars in this historically important, all-black feature film. This low budget feature suffers from various problems but, due to the historical importance, it was selected to the National Film Registry in 1991. A young woman (Cathryn Caviness) is baptized and later that evening accidentally shot by her husband (Williams). Before dying, an angel takes the woman to the Crossroads where she can select Heaven or Hell. However, before she can choose the Devil shows up with his assistant (named Judas) to try and steer her the wrong way. This film was made on a budget lower than $5,000 and you can really tell because the film features some of the worst acting I've ever seen. We're talking an Ed Wood level here as there are several moments where the actors flub their lines, struggle to remember them and then finally deliver them. The film tells an interesting story but the actual "story" only lasts for about ten minutes and the rest of the time we just watch people standing around the woman praying. The religious overtones will beat you nearly to death but the Gospel music is terrific and is the only highlight of the film.

Go Down, Death! (1944)

Spencer Williams' fourth feature as producer and director is a step up from The Blood of Jesus. In this film, a new preacher (Samuel H. James) moves to a small Southern town where he tries to teach the black folks about God. By doing this, people stop going to a local bar, which doesn't sit well with the owner (Williams). The bar owner then sets the preacher up by taking a picture of his with three women hoping this will ruin his reputation. The story here, like the above film, is pretty interesting and makes for a good drama, although the film is still hampered by some poor acting. Williams gives a good performance and is certainly the highlight of the film.

Selen: The Girl from Treasure Island (1998)

Yet another Joe D'Amato "adult" film, this time with a sexy blonde trying to sleep her way to a treasure. Again, enough said.

01/04/07

Gow the Killer (1931)

Fairly interesting documentary from Edward A. Salisbury about various expeditions to South Pacific islands where we're introduced to cannibals, savages and other humans. Basically this is an early version of the "Mondo" genre, which would become even more popular in the 1960's. The footage here is pretty interesting, although most of it was shot silent with narration added. The narrator isn't too interesting and brings the film down some so releasing this as a silent might have been a better idea. There's some pretty funny moments including one scene where a cannibal explains why white and black men taste differently. Another funny segment is a group of cannibal men who are afraid of a rival gang so they always send their women out to do the meetings.

Gang War (1940)

Another early film from the black cinema, this one directed by Leo C. Popkin. This is a gangster picture about two rival gangs fighting over a profitable juke joint. Once again this film features a very small budget since it would only be shown in black cinemas but the director and screenwriter hold back no punches and make a pretty good movie. The opening bar fight is terrific and there's some nice police chases and shootouts as well. The acting is quite poor and brings the film down a few notches but this one here is certainly worth checking out. The director went on to produce D.O.A. and star Ralph Cooper was billed as "The Dark Gable" or "Bronze Bogart".

01/05/07

Snow White & 7 Dwarfs (1995)

A rather amusing Italian rip off of the Disney film. This was directed by Joe D'Amato so you should know what to expect. The horny stepmother throws the virgin Snow White out of her house but soon the seven dwarfs show up to teach her things so that she'll be able to impress the King. This film actually has a lot more story than sex and it's rather cute and disturbing all at the same time. There's some funny dialogue and I'm a bit shocked to say this but the woman who plays Snow White (I couldn't find her name) is actually very good in the role. The only downside is that the film runs over 110-minutes.

Broken Strings (1940)

This is without a doubt the best of the early black cinema films I've seen. Clarence Muse plays a classical violinist who loses movement in his hand after suffering an accident. Unable to perform, he picks up teaching students as well as his son but soon he begins to have a mental breakdown. Things aren't getting any better when he realizes his son doesn't want to play classical music but instead the son finds a liking to swing/jazz. Unlike some of of the other black cinema films I've watched this year, this one here features a wonderful group of talented folks so there's none of the bad acting that I've seen in previous films. Some will recognize Muse from films such as White Zombie, The Lost Weekend, Double Indemnity and Car Wash but none of them really gave him the chance to act. He does a very good job in his role here, although there are a few times where he goes a bit too over the top. Our Gang member Matthew "Stymie" Beard also appears as one of the students. The film tacks on an incredibly silly ending but the 60-minutes fly by with some nice laughs and some nice drama.

We Faw Down (1928)

Routine Laurel and Hardy short has the boys lying to their wives and sneaking out for a poker game but they're picked up by two flirts. This here has a couple good laughs including a wonderful site gag at the end but there's really nothing here that separates it from better shorts dealing with the same subject matter.

Their Purple Moment (1928)

Laurel and Hardy hold out some of their pay so that they can go out on the town but their wives find their hiding spot. When the boys are out they run up a tab and must find a way out. There are plenty of laughs here including a wonderfully funny food fight at the end as well as a nice sequence with the two trying to sneak out of a restaurant.

On the Wrong Trek (1936)

Charley Chase comedy has him telling of his vacation to California, which turned into a disaster. This was my first sound film with Chase and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I've always enjoyed Chase as a comedian and thought his comic timing here matched what we saw in some of his better silent shorts. There's really nothing too original but the actor pulls everything off nicely. There's a wonderful cameo with Laurel and Hardy as well.

Trouble of a Grasswidower (1908)

A wife gets tired of her husband (Max Linder) not paying any attention to her so she moves back in with her mother. The husband thinks this is a blessing until he has to do the cooking, cleaning and shopping. This is a pretty bland short and even at 10 minutes this thing seems to drag on way too long. There are a lot of site gags but none of them made me laugh.

Max Takes a Picture (1913)

Max Linder takes his wife to the beach hoping to get a picture of her swimming but she plays a prank and him and pretends to drown. Once again, I really didn't laugh at anything here, although the story involving the drowning was a nice touch.

Re: Track the Films You Watch (2007)

Re: TERROR

From my Horror Challenge review:

The monster here is certainly the best thing with its rather ugly appearance but for some strange reason she doesn't show up until nearly the one hour mark. The film has a nice ending but things start off way too slow for its own good. There's a nice sequence where the film promotes and spoofs I Was a Teenage Frankenstein.