Sunday Funnies!

 

Even innocent lies can have dire consequences...

White Lies Noir (2017)
Starring: Ross Marquand and Alana O’Brien

Director: Jared Lapidus

Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

A dame (O'Brien) walks into the office of a private eye (Marquand) and a string of lies eventually leads to the truth...

 "White Lies Noir" is one of those short film you need to come to completely unawares for it to have its greatest impact. Anything I can say about it--beyond the teaser summary above, and the fact that I loved almost everything about this film--will spoil the experience of watching it.

The filmmakers did a much better job of capturing the feel of a genuine film noir picture than many out there and the pace at which the film unfolds is almost perfect. I even loved the blooper reel at the end, with actress Alana O'Brien staying in character even as the scene went completely sideways.

If you like film noirs and enjoy the occasional film that doesn't end up where you thought it was going to, you'll get a kick out of "White Lies Noir". Check it out by clicking below.

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What's here is funny stuff, but...

Take a Chance (1918)
Harold Lloyd, Bebe Daniels, Harry 'Snub' Pollard, William Blaisdell, Belle Mitchell, and Helen Gilmore
Director: Alfred J. Goulding
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A dapper young man (Lloyd) sets out to woo a pretty cleaning lady (Daniels). Trouble, chaos, and police chases ensue.

 

This is a film that's full of funny bits that are so loosely connected that this film just ends. Literally. Nothing in what little plot we have gets resolved, and if it was a serial I'd be eager to see the next installment, because it ends on quite the cliffhanger. In fact, when the film ended, I thought maybe it was a fragment and that the last few minutes (or maybe an entire second reel) had not survived to the present day... but every description of the film (at IMDB, Wikipedia, and elsewhere) give its run-time as the roughly ten minutes that the version embedded below.

It wasn't a surprising conclusion to reach that I watched a complete version of "Take a Chance", because the version I saw is among one of best preserved and/or restoration jobs of any film from the 1910s I've come across. Nonetheless, it was a disappointing one, because it showed that very little thought was put into what passes for the story here.

Although there are better Harold Lloyd/Bebe Daniels vehicles, this one is still worth watching for a number of reasons. First, Daniels is a joy to watch as always; no one mugged at the camera better than her, nor seemed to be having so much fun or being so annoyed as her. Second, although nearly every one of the loosely connected slapstick and/or comedic chase sequences go on for a little too long, each and every one of them is initially very funny. As a collection of bits, this is an excellent film, but the fact the story presented has a beginning and a middle but no proper end to speak of.

"Take a Chance" is embedded below for your convenience. Take a chance and check it out. See if you agree or disagree with my take... and leave a comment below!

An amusing silent comedy with new music!

The Water Plug (1920)

Starring: Billy Franey, Robert McKenzie, and Silas Wilcox

Director: George Jeske

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A hobo (Franey) acquires a fake fire plug and a policeman's badge, and sets out to make some money taking bribes from motorists trying to get out of parking tickets.

 

"The Water Plug" is a swiftly moving comedy that consists of a series of loosely connected gags, first involving water and then the water plug of the title as our hobo hero tries to earn a dishonest buck. 

The strength of this film rests with the fact that it's non-stop action from the very beginning through the final fade. While not every gag is bust-a-gut funny, all will at least invoke a smile... and if you don't laugh during the "gopher" sequence, you may need to look into a sense of humor transplant.

One thing I also appreciated about the version that formed the basis for this post (and which you can watch by clicking below) is the original score--composed and performed by Ben Model. Too many of the silent movies you find uploaded to YouTube or elsewhere are saddled with some random bits of public domain music that rarely fits the mood of the film, and hardly ever matches the action on screen. On a simlar note, I also appreciated the history provided as to how this comedy was "accidentially preserved".

A fun horror movie spoof!

Night of the Living Bread (1990)
Starring: Vince Ware, Katie Harris, Robert J. Saunders, Gina Saunders, Stephen R. Newell, Kevin J. O'Brien, and Steve Heminghausen

Director: Kevin J. O'Brien

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When a strange explosion at a factory causes bread to animate and attack the living, will anyone survive to see the sun rise again?

"Night of the Living Bread" is a fun, well-executed spoof of the genre-shaping zombie flick "Night of the Living Dead" (1968). In its eight-minute running time, it touches hilariously on all the key scenes and story elements of George Romero's most famous flick... but with the zombies being replaced by slices of bread and hamburger buns.

This is one of those flicks where too much talk by a reviewer will ruin the fun of watching it (which you can do by clicking below, in this very post), so I'll just highlight two things that make this film so good: First, the cast of actors plays everything completely straight (with one exception); this heightens the comedic absurdity of the story. Second, the film has a jump-scare that is so unexpected that even a jaded horror film viewer like myself was startled by it.

Check out this great little flick and have your day brightened. (It will be ten-times more enjoyable if you're familiar with the film its making fun of, but I think it can be enjoyed by any fans of classic horror films.)

'Troublesome Secretaries' is a goofy romantic comedy

Troublesome Secretaries (1911)
Starring: John Bunny, Mabel Normand, and Ralph Ince
Director: Ralph Ince

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

An overprotective father (Bunny) fires his personal secretary (Ince) after he becomes romantically involved with his teenaged daughter (Normand). The girl then launches several schemes to get around her father and be reunited with her heart's desire.

"Troublesome Secretaries" is one of the few surviving films (and film fragments) featuring cinema's first international superstar, John Bunny. He was among a handful of established, well-regarded stage actors who understood and fully embraced the potential of film, and he was as important to building the emerging industry as it was to elevating his star beyond all others. 

By the time of Bunny's death in 1915, it was predicted by film fans and professional critics alike that his name and image would continue on forever in human memory thanks to film. As it turned out, Bunny and his early contribution to the art and business of filmmaking would be all but forgotten by the public at large by the dawn of the 1920s. Barely a decade after is death, most of the films in which he appeared were no longer available, because studios habitually destroyed used film prints and original negatives rather than go through the trouble and expense of storing them.

This film is typical of Bunny's emphasis on films that relied more on character interaction than slapstick, and, despite the films lightning-fast pace, viewers still get a good sense of the father's overbearing and persnickety nature, as well as his daughter's capricious and independent ways. Her boyfriend is the sort of bland male romantic lead that will dominate romantic comedies and mystery films for the next thirty years... or maybe the character got a little more personality in the missing third act of the film.

Contrary to my usual habit, I am reviewing a film that has survived to the present day without it's story intact. I have reviewed other films of which no complete copy exists (this Bessie Love vehicle comes to mind immediately), but I don't typically try to evaluate a film that's missing major chunks of important plot material... and no version of "Troublesome Secretaries" that I've seen appears to have an actual ending. But what we have of this film is still so much fun and so well-made (and even a little modern feeling) is that I still felt it's worth calling attention to. I think even viewers who typically don't like silent movies (but who enjoy sit-coms or absurd comedies) will like this one.

For regular viewers of silent movies, this film is interesting, because we get to see Mabel Normand in an early leading role and we get to see that she had radiant screen presence from the beginning. (There's also the bitter-sweet historical fact that Normand--at the beginning of her career--would follow pretty much the same trajectory as John Bunny did: She became a superstar and a household name... and was all-but-forgotten just a few years after her career ended.)

Before Bill & Ted's adventure, there was 'De Düva'

De Düva (aka "The Dove") (1968)

Starring: George Coe, Pamela Durell, Sidney Davis, Madeline Khan, Peter Turgeon, and David Zirlin

Directors: George Coe and Anthony Lover

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

In the twilight of his life, a brilliant scientist (Coe) returns to region of his youth and remembers the time he met Death (Davis).

"De Düva" is a hilarious 14-minute short film that pokes fun of the more idiosyncratic hallmarks of Ingmar Bergman's films from the 1950s and 1960s, with "The Seventh Seal" and "Wild Strawberries" being the most obvious targets of the spoof. A highlight of the film is one of the one the earliest lampoons on Bergman's famous Death character and his love of games; it's almost as goofy as what would appear in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" some 20 years later. 

Film students and lovers of "art films" and "foreign films" will get a kick out of every moment of "De Düva". Even the blurry, worn quality of the film is there to make you smile, as it isn't the result of a copy or a copy or a worn copy, but rather originally made to look like that. The film even makes fun of how many older "lesser" films reach us lovers of cinema, even now in the age of digitization.

The cinematography and acting styles are perfect send-ups of Bergman, with the very emphatic deliveries of all lines greatly adding to the comedy. Even the subtitles have jokes, including what appears to be a mistranslation that casts the relationship of the main characters (young lovers played by George Coe and Pamela Durrell) in a very disturbing light. Although, given some of the themes in Bergman films, perhaps I am hoping that's an intended joke...

One of the things I found to be the most hilarious in the film is the language it was made in. Most of Bergman's films were made in Swedish, and, coming to this one not knowing what to expect other than a spoof, I figured it would be in Swedish, given the title. It is NOT in Swedish, however. I don't know whether you have to be a polyglot to find the made-up language spoken by the actors hilarious, but I was laughing out loud at a lot of it. (Spoiler alert: All dialogue in the film is delivered in a made-up language that kinda-sorta sounds like a cross between English and Swedish but is actually neither. It is then subtitled in English, mostly accurately.)

As the title of the embedded video below states, "De Düva" was in the running for a "Best Short Film" Academy award in 1968. That, plus the fact it marks the first film appearance by Madeline Khan and the first leading role by George Coe, makes it worth watching for those with an interest in film history. I think everyone else  will enjoy it as a goofy spoof of what film snobs find entertaining.

 

Stumbling across this little gem in the distant corners of YouTube reminded me that I've had Bergman's "Hour of the Wolf" (1968) in my To Watch pile for several years now. I need to get around to watching and reviewing it!

Mary and Jim are gonna marry! Nothing will stop them! Except...

They Would Elope (1909)
Starring: Mary Pickford, Billy Quirk, and James Kirkwood
Director: D.W. Griffith
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A young couple (Pickford and Quirk), convinced their families are opposed to their desire to get married, decide to elope. But Fate keeps trying to stop them.

I almost gave up on "They Would Elope" roughly one minute in, because it felt stagey even for an early silent movie. Not only that, it felt stagey in a bad way, with the actors performing on a stage that was far too small for the scene they were attempting. (Her parents walk in on the young lovers canoodling, but they don't notice them initially, despite standing right next to them and talking. And the young lovers don't notice the parents intially, despite the fact they are standing right next to them, talking. The scene is so badly done that I found it hard to believe that it was in a D.W. Griffith film.)  

I'm glad I kept watching, though, because moments later, an amusing twist was introduced into the story... and from that point forward the film went down a very deliberate, very silly path. Even as it grew more silly, it grew more charming. I went from almost turning the film off to eagerly wanting to see what would happen when the young lovers inevitably reunited with their families.

I think "They Would Elope" is the first comedy from D.W. Griffith I've seen. While it has its flaws, it's just as fast-paced as his dramatic short films, and I think modern audiences will be as entertained by it as they were in 1909. One thing I personally realized (or perhaps rediscovered after forgetting, because I feel like I should have known this already) is that filmmakers were making full-on satires of melodramas as far back as the early days of cinema. 

I am embedding "They Would Elope" via YouTube to make it easy for you to enjoy this fun movie. Feel free to leave a comment on this post if you think my estimation of it is off.

Dont be shy. Watch 'Bashful'!

Bashful (1917)
Starring: Harold Lloyd, Bebe Daniels, William Blaisdell, Snub Pollard, Belle Mitchell, and Bud Jamison
Director: Alf Goulding
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A shy young man (Lloyd) will inherit millions of dollars if he has a wife and child. When the estate executor (Blaisdell) pays him a visit, his girlfriend (Daniels) pretends to be his wife, and his manservant (Pollard) and cook (Mitchell) set out to find and "borrow" a baby.

"Bashful" hits the ground running and never slows down for its 9-minute running time. The early part of the film is amusing, but things get over-the-top hilarious once the menacing executor of the estate (played with great effect by the giant-of-a-man William Blaisdell) arrives to vet the heir and his family, and the household staff go through their efforts to make sure their employer can present a baby.

As is almost always the case, Harold Lloyd and Bebe Daniels are a joy to watch. This film is made all the more fun by there being a slight role reversal to what was typical in these older films: Daniels' character wants to smooch with Lloyd's character and she isn't afraid to go after him for it. Meanwhile, Lloyd's character is more demure and brushes off her advances. (Daniels played a similar character in "Off the Trolley", which is another Lloyd/Daniels pairing I highly recommend.)

 

As mentioned above, "Bashful" is a fast-moving film, and not a second of screen time is wasted on anything that doesn't move the plot along, or isn't a gag or an extended comedy bit. This might have been an Eight Star film if it had been a little slower in a couple of different ways--or maybe a little longer. The film ends with a couple of MAJOR plot elements unresolved--and they had intersected and were coming to a head as things fade to black. 

I don't think the version I've watched is incomplete, because the ending isn't abrupt and satisfying in the overall context of the film... but I would have loved to see the total chaos and possible brawling and chases that almost certainly descended upon the Lloyd household after. All it would have taken would be another minute or two or run-time (well, and a longer shooting schedule and a bigger budget and...)

I can't go into details about what those plot elements are without ruining some of the film's funniest moments, but I hope you will take a few minutes to check out this great little film. I'm not terribly fond of the music used in this version, but the image quality is fantastic!

And if you feel inclined, let me know if you agree with my view that this would have been an even better film if those severed plot threads and been run out completely.

Men, Women, and In-Between in the Workplace

Mabel's Stratagem (1912)
Starring: Mabel Normand, Fred Mace, and Alice Davenport
Director: Mack Sennett
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A secretary (Normand) disguises herself as a man so she can get her job back after her boss's jealous wife (Davenport) insists he fire all female staffers and replace them with males.

"Mabel's Stratagem" is a straight-forward and silly comedy about sex, gender, and sexual harassment in the workplace.  The film is 110 years old, but pretty much all of the situational and gender-based humor works almost as well today, what with all the talk about how there's no difference between men and women, how the society is rotten with power imbalance with the hypocritical rich always abusing the workers, and so on.

While the acting styles are outdated, the film is so fast-moving that viewers hardly have time to notice the excessive pantomiming and emoting (except on the part of Fred Mace who really goes above and beyond). In fact, the only serious complaint I can mount is that maybe the film is a little too fast-moving; the story would be more effective if a little more time could have been spent developing the characters. 

"Mabel's Stratagem" is only five minutes, so I recommend you click below and check it out. I think you'll have fun. 

There's a student film project in crisis!

Black and White Short Film (2022)
Starring: Michael Buss, Emma Thurston, and Branden Hume
Director: Branden Hume
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A student filmmaker (Hume) desperately needs an appropriate idea for a class project. He turns to an actor (Buss) brainstorming help... with mixed results.

 "Black and White Short Film" is a comedy that I'm certain every arts student and professional creative can relate to: The problem of needing to fit an idea to a specific length and format, or even coming up with an idea that will fill a specific length and format, on a deadline. Those people "fortunate" enough to be their friends or colleagues will also be able to relate. Meanwhile, those out there with normal lives and "real jobs" will at the very least find the gags here very funny.

This is another of those films I found in an obscure corner of YouTube that I think deserves to be seen. This is a simply made film with naturalistic acting and a concept I found to be very clever. (And which may actually have been borne into existence from the very situation that is chronicled.)

Click below to check it out. I'm sure you will find the next five minutes well spent if you do. 

 

Ever get the feeling you're being watched...?

The Tail (2021)
Starring: Yuvaraj and Vishwa
Director: Prithvi
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A young man (Yuvaraj) finds himself with a mysterious, uninvited and constant companion (Vishwa).

 

"The Tail" is a seven-minute, slow burn comedy that, near as I can tell, is the product of Bengalese filmmakers and actors. I came across it while exploring the dark recesses of YouTube, and I'm glad I did!

This film was shot entirely on an iPhone 8, but it looks better than many productions that are filmed on professional grade equipment. It's also funnier and better paced than many of those films. In fact, someone who generally faults me for my weird taste in movies, watched it and was as entertained as I was.

If you have the same reaction to "The Tail" as my friend and I did, you'll initially be intrigued by what's unfolding, then bemused and, ultimately, very amused. The film keeps going after it's clear what's going on, which, if it was made by a less-talented filmmaker working with less talented and charismatic actors, would have doomed it. Instead, it ends on a perfect and absolutely hilarious note.

Check out "The Tail" by clicking below. I think you'll agree that it's an excellent modern silent movie that makes a statement about the world we live in.

'The Non-Stop Kid' is non-stop funny

The Non-Stop Kid (1918)
Starring: Harold Lloyd, Bebe Daniels, Snub Pollard, William Blaisdell, Billy Fay, Lew Harvey, and Sammy Brooks
Director: Gilbert Pratt
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Miss Wiggles (Daniels) is pursued by many suitors, including her true love, Harold (Lloyd). Her domineering father (Blaisdell) has arranged for her to marry Professor Noodle (Harvey), so a desperate Harold decides to impersonate Noodle and steal Miss Wiggles's hand in marriage.

"The Non-Stop Kid" is a swift-moving comedy where we, once again, see Harold Lloyd trying to dodge the domineering father of the lovely Bebe Daniels. There are some portions that feel like throwbacks to the rotten, trouble-making character that Lloyd began his career playing--rather than the tricky romantic that became his signature later on--and these drag the film down a bit for me. (As I've previously noted, I have a strong dislike for those early Lloyd pictures.) Thankfully, those moments are few... in addition to being more funny than anything in the early films they reminded me of.

With the negativity out of the way, let me praise this short film for its 12-minutes of non-stop action and gags. While some work better than others, the scene where Miss Wiggles ) plays a trick on a gang of nattily dressed suitors; the one where Harold is wiping away Miss Wiggles tears and her father interrupts their moment; and the entire afternoon tea sequence makes up for any shortcomings present elsewhere. 

My personal favorite part of the film is the opening bit. The hoard of dimwitted suitors pursuing Daniels' character feel like precursors to the Upperclass Twits that were mainstays in some of the greatest skits from "Monte Python's Flying Circus" and they are every bit as funny.

I strongly recommend you take a few minutes out of your day to check out this great little comedy. Click below... and enjoy! (I had to update the embedded version... and now the best available one has Russian subtitles...)

The greatest terrible mini-musical you'll ever see!

Rent-a-Person (2004)
Starring: James Haven, Jennifer Haworth, Oscar Torres, and JoJo Henrickson
Director: Kurt Kuenne

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A lonely bathroom attendant (Haven) gains fame and fortune when he starts a business that pairs single drivers with a second person so they can use the carpool lane. But will he ever find love?

 

You've heard the phrase "so bad it's good"? It applies to film so ineptly made they become fun despite themselves... but it can also be applied to films like "Rent-a-Person" that take tropes and turn them upside down, take jokes to ridiculous extremes, or are such self-aware spoofs that they not only poke fun at their subject matter but end up making fun of themselves. And what we have here is not just good... it's GREAT!

Whether you love the movie musicals from the 1940s through the early 1960s, or hate them, I think you're going to get a big kick out of "Rent-a-Person". The same is true if you're just in the mood for an off-center comedy. 

Click below and sit back and enjoy the product of writer/director/songwriter Kurt Kuenne. If nothing else, you owe yourself the joy of experiencing the most inappropriate opening number of any musical you're ever likely to see anywhere.

Trivia: Jon Bokenkamp, the creator of "The Blacklist" and "Blacklist Redemption" television series, is featured in the opening scene of this film and credited as "Pooper". Kurt Kuenne has also directed a number of episodes of "The Blacklist." Click here to visit Kuenne's website.

'Wedding Present' is a gift for Cary Grant fans

Wedding Present (1936)
Starring: Cary Grant, Joan Bennett, William Demarest, Edward Brophy, Gene Lockhart, Conrad Nagel, and Purnell Pratt
Director: Richard Wallace
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Charlie and Rusty (Grant and Bennett) are big-city journalists who are colleagues and lovers who spend as much time tracking down leads and working on stories as they do pulling pranks and staging elaborate practical jokes. When Charlie is promoted to editor, and he suddenly has to be serious about managing writers and assignments, his relationship with Rusty falls apart. It isn't until she's about to marry a stuffy author of self-help books (Nagel) that Charlie quits his new job, reverts to his previous self, and tries to win her back with the help of a notorious gangster (Demarest).

"Wedding Present" is a fast-moving, witty comedy. It's a little too fast-moving in some ways, as the first half of the film feels more like you're watching a series of loosely connected sketches rather than a movie. It put me in mind of some comedy television series, such as "Faulty Towers" or "'Allo, 'Allo" where most episodes unfolded with a series of almost free-standing sketches that were only united by a circumstance which framed them. 

As the film continues, the story begins to coalesce firmly around the rocky romance of Charlie and Rusty. At about the halfway-mark, the film ends up firmly in romantic comedy territory. It's almost like we're watching a sequel to the first half, as this part is comes complete with its own beginning, middle, and end. Some of the "skits" from the first half turn out to be crucial to the story here, but if we'd walked in late, we wouldn't have missed anything, because characters remind us of what went on and why they're doing what they're doing. 

This is not a great movie, but it's not a terrible one. Its odd structure is a bit distracting, but it's not a fatal flaw. In some ways, what I view as a flaw might make it more enjoyable for some viewers, especially those who are big Cary Grant fans.

"Wedding Present" is one of the first films where Grant was unquestionably the star. While Joan Bennett certainly holds an important role in the story, has lots of screen-time--most of it in scenes with Grant--it is Grant who carries the movie. His is the character the audience is primarily invested in, and the story that's ultimately told is that of Charlie's road to life-long happiness (if not maturity). It's also the film where, I feel, that he clearly has come into his own as a comedic screen actor. Thanks partially to the episodic nature of this film's first half, we get to see Grant perform in different comedic styles, playing off different actors and situations... and even being the straight man in a scene or two. 

Cary Grant is so much fun to watch in this film--especially in scenes shared with Joan Bennett (who gives as good as she gets, every single time) and William Demarest (who does a great job at walking the line between seeming funny and dangerous) that I almost gave it Seven Stars. The totality of the odd structure, though, made me decide to give it the highest possible Six Star rating. This is a highly entertaining, but flawed, film that contributes to making the "Cary Grant: Screen Legend Collection" well worth the purchase price. (I've watched three of the five films in the set so far, and each was almost worth the price by itself.)

Oh--a fun way to watch this film is to consider it a prequel to "His Girl Friday". It's very easy to imagine the lead characters from this film being those portrayed by Grant and Rosalind Russell in that one. Maybe you should get both and have a double-feature watch party with friends!

Then there's that time...

... when four Japanese high school girls saved the shopping mall by defeating a giant monster with a chemistry set, a pineapple, and pure spunk 'n' funk!

Atarashii Gakko! is a girl band out of Japan that has been working their toward international fame with their catchy songs, energetic dancing, and more-than-a-little crazy music videos. After five years, it appears they have arrived, managing to even do some U.S. concert dates  during 2021.

This music video, which features an abbreviated version of their first international hit "Pineapple Kryptonite", is a great introduction to the group and their musical antics (as well as being a fabulous spoof of Godzilla and other Kaiju movies.

This is Atarashii Gakko!'s second appearance here at Shades of Gray. Click here to see that other post, along with a look at how wide their musical range is. And if you aren't afraid of having your senses overwhelmed by lots of color and the full-length version of "Pineapple Kryptonite" (performed against the backdrop of the girls taking on a monster at Area 51 in Nevada), click here.

'Black & White': Fun take on the hardboiled genre

Black & White (2018)
Starring: Emily Inserra, Nick D'Ambrosia, Amber Walker, Tommy Barbara, Jaime Plitnick, Dave Cifelli, and Alex Luckenbaugh
Director: "Collective Brain"
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

After getting black-out drunk at a party, college girl Rose (Inserra) wakes up to find that everything around her now appears in shades of gray. She sets out to reconstruct what happened the night before and to hopefully get some color back into her life!

"Black & White" is a well-crafted spoof of the hardboiled detective thrillers where the main character is trying to piece together a mystery that has deep and personal ramifications for his or her future, but which consists of clues and mysteries within mysteries that defy meaning until they are all uncovered and put together. In this case, the detective role is a party girl who has a bad habit of getting drunk and breaking up with her boyfriend, but her narration is hilariously hardboiled, as is a couple of the actions she takes while seeking out witnesses and gathering clues to solve the mystery.

Over its 9-minute running time, "Black & White" pokes fun at college campus stereotypes (especially as they manifest in romance fiction and dramas), detective fiction, the film noir movie genre, and perhaps even one or two other subjects that escaped my notice. The script is hilarious, with Rose's internal monologue causing me to have a near-constant smile on my face as the film unfolded, and the "what are going to do?" scene had me laughing out loud. I also loved the splashes of color that entered into the film as it reached its conclusion, effectively driving home the point that Rose has reached the end of her journey of discovery and that maybe better days are ahead. 

I also thought the film was nicely photographed, the soundtrack music was perfect, and the sound was always clear and well-balanced. That's actually a bigger deal than someone who doesn't watch a lot of these sorts of YouTube videos might realize. There have been many, many shorts that I've not bothered featuring here or at the "Terror Titans" blog, because the sound was so badly done that dialogue couldn't be heard clearly due to background noise or was drowned out by the soundtrack music due to bad mixing, or because the sound effects so badly integrated so as to be distracting. There are even some otherwise good films that are weakened by bad choice of soundtrack stock music.

I really only have one real complaint about "Black & White", and I don't know if I should be grateful for the filmmakers for giving me the opportunity to make it. There's a scene where Rose barges in on a guy sitting on the toilet, but he has his long-johns fully pulled up. Why? How? What could he have been doing there, dressed like that? It was such a weird moment that it pulled me out of the film. (There are some nitpicks, but I'm not going to call them out, because I understood and appreciated and was amused by what the filmmakers were going for, even if they didn't quite manage to pull it off.)

All in all, if you like film noir or college-based dramas or romantic comedies, I think you'll get a kick out of "Black & White". 

--

"Black & White" was made by a group of then-students at Ramapo College in New Jersey. They created films under the name Collective Brain, because, according, to the person monitoring their Facebook page, their films were true group efforts and there was no clear delineation between who wrote what and who directed it. Unfortunately, if the views, likes, and subscriptions visible on the Collective Brain YouTube Channel are any indication, their efforts have not gotten a whole lot of traction or attention. That's too bad, because, if "Black & White" is any indication, they were creating good stuff. (It's not all bad news, though; I found a smattering of credits at IMDB for several of the members of the Collective, and at least one has been performing with a Shakespearean theatre company in Massachusetts. It appears they on their way to success in the Real World, YouTube be damned!)

A Very Film Noir Christmas

Film Noel (2013)
Starring: Oskar Brown, Wenonah Wildblood, Jerry Kwarteng, and Philippe Linus Petit
Director: Sebastian Matthias Weissbach
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Winter's twin sister Snow (both Wildblood) has gone missing, and she hires hardboiled detective Claus (Brown) to bring her home before Christmas.

Part film-noir spoof, part Christmas movie, and all goofy, "Film Noel" is a lighthearted and pun-laden film that will have you alternatively chuckling and groaning at the jokes and gags that flow steadily across the screen. If you enjoy films like "Young Frankenstein", "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", or anything from the second stage of Leslie Nielsen's career, I think you'll appreciate this fun little film... which is embedded below so you can check watch it right now!

'Tip Jar' is a great homage to silent comedies

Tip Jar (2016)
Starring: Josh Blaylock, Ellary Porterfield, Amy Johnson, Robert Dill, Richie Stephens, Clinton Jones, and Matthew Arnold
Directors: Freddie Wong and Matthew Arnold
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

It's World War II. A bartender (Blaylock) who just wants to close the bar and head to the Fun Fair, gets caught between a beautiful Allied spy (Porterfield) and the four Nazis (Dill, Johnson, Jones, and Stephens) charged with retrieving the course-of-history-altering military secrets she has stolen.

"Tip Jar" is a modern-day silent movie that attempts to capture and replicate the feel and frenetic pace of the greatest Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd shorts. I think it does so mostly successfully, capturing the tone of a 1920s silent comedy via the acting, the general positioning of the camera, and the execution of the slapstick-style action during the second half of the film.

If I were to nitpick this film, I could say that there were a few too many close-ups for the director and cinematographer to have effectively emulated the sources that inspired this effort--and the thought did enter my head, but I immediately dismissed it as both a nitpick and stupid. This is a modern film, so it is entirely reasonable that it uses some elements of modern cinematic language to draw in viewers; especially since every shot in the film is well considered and spot on.

Another nitpick I had is that some of the stage-fighting in the slap-stick routine could have done with a little more practice, since it was obvious that some of the blows weren't connecting. However, as the film progressed and I discovered that the main character's fight against the Nazis was one single, long take, I became forgiving of a couple minor missteps. From time-code 9:40 and lasting until 12:40, there are three minutes of non-stop physical comedy and fighting--and it's at a very rapid pace and very funny. There are big-time filmmakers who could learn from watching this (just like they could learn from watching the films that inspired "Tip Jar".

I also need to mention that "Tip Jar" is a perfect example of why silent movies need to have scores written specifically for them, or the cues that were suggested for use by the original producers should be used, rather than the all-too-common practice of just adding random classical or jazz recordings to them. The action and humor in this film is greatly augmented by an original soundtrack by Igor Neirovsky, and I think I would have assigned the film at least one fewer stars without it.

If you have 15 minutes to spare, and if you want to add some cheer to your day, you need to check out "Tip Jar" by clicking below.