The Return of the Tuba Tooter

The Tuba Tooter (1932)
Starring: Uncredited Voice Actors and Singers
Directors: John Foster and George Stallings
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

The whole city celebrates, with Tom and Jerry leading the festivities, when famous tuba player Schultz returns to his hometown in Germany.

"The Tuba Tooter" is one of the best "Tom and Jerry" cartoons. It's got the catchy music that most of them have (I find myself humming the main song, "Schultz is Back Again", as I type these words), it's got some cute bits... but, more importantly than almost anything, the animators seem to have actually put in the time and effort to move this from merely good to excellent. All the characters in any given scene are moving, very few are in obvious loops, and the backgrounds are detailed and also animated in some cases. If this much care had gone into all the installments in this series, maybe it wouldn't be a mostly forgotten relic and commercial failure.

(The rest of my review swerves into "spoiler territory" as I comment on the ending. As is my habit with these "Tom and Jerry" posts, I invite you to watch the subject I am commenting on. In case you want to enjoy the wacky cuteness without me ruining the fun by overthinking it, I am embedding the cartoon right here. My comments continue afterwards.)



As good a job as the Van Beuren crew did on this outing, it wouldn't be "Tom and Jerry" if they didn't drop the ball in some kind of major way. In this case, following five minutes viewers watching cheerful and/or surreal scenes of an community setting aside differences and coming together in celebration of music and the musician who creates it, the police show up, break up the celebration, and arrest Schultz. There's no logical reason for this that I can see--even if authorities were upset with the noise, I would think they'd appreciate that everyone in the city--including those who should be fighting or preying upon each other like dogs and cats and mice--are united in harmony and love of Schultz's music. Perhaps I'm naïve, or perhaps I don't understand the totalitarian mindset that is probably being mocked with this film's ending, but I just can't wrap my mind around how it fits in with what has gone before. The police officers even appear to be sad that they are arresting Schultz, based on the look on their faces as they drive away with him. (And yet, Tom and Jerry are as cheerful with Schultz being hauled off as they were with him coming back...).

Perhaps I'm just looking for meaning where there is not--this IS a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon after all. Maybe I would have been better off just enjoying the spectacle of a singing dog and his tuba-tooting owner who can bring everyone together in harmony. (Well, until a bunch of sad-faced cops break it all up...)

Saturday Serial: Jenna of the Jungle

Continuing Don Hudson's "Jenna of the Jungle" (and including a random bonus jungle girl afterwards). Click on any panel for a larger version, and come back next Saturday for Part Nine.


JENNA OF THE JUNGLE: PART EIGHT
By Don Hudson

To Be Continued...


   Girls of the Jungle

By Dave Stevens

Firearms Friday with Brigitte Bardot

Born in 1934, Brigitte Bardot was in her teens and training to be a ballet dancer when she, over her parents objections, turned to fashion- and photo-modeling. Around that same time, also over her parents objections, she began dating a much older man. She soon turned to acting, and by the early 1950s, she was well on her way to being one of Europe's most celebrated movie stars... and known for her roles as sexually liberated women. And, yes, you guessed it... it was over her parents' objections.

By the dawn of the 1960s, Bardot was a world-renowned actress. Over the next decade or so, she appeared in a range of genres opposite a galaxy of top American, British, and French male film stars, while also launching a successful musical career. In 1973, just shy of her 40th birthday, she retired from acting and performing, still at the height of fame.

Since retiring from show business, Bardot has devoted the past several decades to animal rights activism, and the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals remains one of the world's leading forces in the animal rights movement.

It's early movie magic with 'The Magician'

The Magician (1898)

Starring: Georges Méliès

Director: Georges Méliès

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

An old magician (Méliès) turns himself into a young clown... and then things get really weird.

"The Magician" is one of groundbreaking filmmaker's Georges Méliès early efforts, and it's more of a vignette than a proper short film. As with many of his efforts, it's made primarily to be a magic show up on film, creating the illusions primarily with in-camera film editing and other trick photography instead props and sleight-of-hand. I usually find those to be among the least interesting of Méliès' efforts, but there's an exception to every rule... and this is that exception.

As is my habit with these Méliès reviews, I'm embedding the film I'm talking about in this post. Unlike my usual habit, it's going to be here in the middle instead of at the end, because I'm going to "spoil" the film with the comments that follow. (Watch it now if you want to watch the surprises unfold as Méliès intended, and then continue reading below.)

As I've already mentioned, "The Magician" is one of those plot-free offerings where Méliès is mostly (and joyously) showing off his special effects trickery, using stage magic as his point of departure. and However, it's slightly more interesting than most of them.

First, the trick photography effects here are executed with amazing precision, especially taking into account how early this film comes from, both in Melies time as a filmmaker and the art of filmmaking in general.

Secondly, because he includes elements of fantasy here. As this vignette unfolds, we watch a gray-bearded wizard turn himself into a young, starving harlequin. He is then transformed by an artist by the devil--an artist who creates living sculptures whom he falls in love with. Ultimately, the devil returns and, literally, kicks his ass. And that's where it ends.

 And with that sudden non-ending ending (the devil kicks the artist, he flies off-camera... and we have no wrap-up or even a hint as to what happened to the magician ultimately), it occurred to me that maybe there IS a plot in this film. Maybe it's a story about an old man who tries to recapture his youth through magic, but as he relives his life and grows from a foolish child into a worldly man, the devil and even death--and final oblivion--catch up with him anyway.

I could be reading something into this film that's not there--sort of like a cloud might look like a dragon, or an ink blot test might look like two men with hammers--but maybe it's the exact story/message that Méliès was trying to convey. What do you think out there? What's your take on "The Magician"?

Musical Monday with OMD

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (or just OMD) is a British band whose focus has mostly been on synthesizers-driven pop  music. They achieved great popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, disbanding in 1996 and reforming ten years later in 2006. They continue to crisscross the globe on tours to this day, wowing audiences everywhere they play.

In 1991, OMD recorded one of their greatest songs, "Pandora's Box". The title was drawn from a 1929 silent movie, and the song was a touching tribute to that film's star, Louise Brooks. These facts, plus the spectacular video made to support the song on its release--with all of its genuine footage of Brooks interwoven with new material of OMD front man Andy McCluskey engaging in Louise Brooks-oriented scrap-booking--makes it a perfect selection for our Musical Monday series here at Shades of Gray. We hope you enjoy this beautiful song and masterfully crafted video.


Pandora's Box (1991)
Starring: Andy McCluskey and Louise Brooks
Director: Andrew Doucette
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Betty and Jimmy get a work-out

Betty Boop and Little Jimmy (1936)
Starring: Mae Questel
Director: Dave Fleischer

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Betty (voiced by Questel) is working through a personal fitness and weight-loss regiment when Little Jimmy (also voiced by Questel) causes a workout machine to malfunction. With Betty trapped in it, Jimmy rushes off to get help, but is repeatedly distracted along the way. 

By 1936, Betty Boop's best years were behind her as a cartoon character. The morality clauses of the Motion Picture Production Code instituted in 1934 had drained her adventures of the adult-oriented surrealness and not-so-thinly veiled sexual references that had made them unique, and Betty was left starring in cute and mildly amusing features. The wild-child of the animated world had settled down and become domesticated, and, as if to drive that fact home, she was paired in several films with the child character of Little Jimmy. (For more on Little Jimmy's origins, see my review of "Baby Be Good" by clicking here.)  

"Betty Boop and Little Jimmy" is a fairly typical example of these on-the-downhill-slope efforts. The voice acting is great, the animation is top-notch, the music is fun and catchy... but the story is entirely without any of the edgy sparks that were flying left and right back in early 1930s. What we have here is a series of cute, harmless, and mildly amusing gags that are almost entirely free of anything that would cause upset. (That said, there are a couple of moments that might "trigger" some of the hyper-sensitive modern viewers out there, but anyone who is psychologically well-balanced should weather the experience just fine.)

One thing that really sets it apart, however, is the unsettling, nightmarish territory that this cartoon heads into at the end. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it--other than it is completely out of tone with everything that leads up to it. It's so inconsistent that I find myself wondering if maybe veterans from the "Tom and Jerry" series dropped by for the story concept meetings, because, like the "Tom and Jerry" series, it's as if the creators here couldn't settle on a tone or an audience for their efforts.

Why don't you take a few minutes out of your day and enjoy a bit of 1930s fun and weirdness? Maybe you have a different take on the ending than I do, and then you can set me straight with a comment! 

Happy Independence Day, U.S.A!

We hope all our American friends, no matter where they are in the world, have a safe and happy Fourth of July during these unusual times! Here at Shades of Gray, Gloria Shea and Joan Blondell are sporting their matching Uncle Sam outfits while Grace Bradley is testing her Social Distancing Fireworks Display.

Saturday Serial: Jenna of the Jungle

Continuing Don Hudson's "Jenna of the Jungle" (and including a random bonus jungle girl afterwards). Click on any panel for a larger version, and come back next Saturday for Part Eight.


JENNA OF THE JUNGLE: PART SEVEN
By Don Hudson

To Be Continued...

Girls of the Jungle

By Frank Frazetta

The FIRST Screen Perry Mason!

The Case of the Howling Dog (1934)

Starring: Warren Willam, Mary Astor, Helen Trenholme, Russell Hicks, Grant Mitchell, Gordon Westcottt, Dorothy Tree, and James Burtis

Director: Alan Cosland

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

High-powered attorney Perry Mason (William) is paid an outrageously high retainer to step in if a petty feud over a howling dog between two millionaire neighbors (Hicks and Mitchell) gets out of hand. After a series of bizarre lies come to light, his client vanishes, and the neighbor is murdered by a woman who may or may not be his wife (Astor), Mason finds himself earning what appeared to be easy money.

"The Case of the Howling Dog" was the first screen version of the legendary slightly-shady-but-never-crooked attorney Perry Mason. It was the first of four films starring Warren William as the Mason, and he is great in the role. William presents just the right mix of slippery conman and dogged champion of justice for his client that's needed to present a likable lawyer who is willing to do anything to protect his clients, so long as its within the letter--if not always the spirit--of the law.

Mystery-wise, this one was easy to figure out. I knew where the film was going well before it got there, who did it, and where the very literal bodies were buried. I was briefly thrown off the scent because the film literally lies to the viewers in one scene, showing us something that turns out to have never happened. I don't mind this sort of thing if it's happening during a character's fake description of events, but here it's an unforgivable sin, especially in a mystery movie. It cost the film a Full Star, knocking it down to a low Six. (It took "not playing fair with the audience" to a level that I don't recall ever seeing a film stoop to before, and until this point, I would have been forgiving of the film and just assumed that the twists and turns and "who, what, where" were so easy for me to predict due to the many mystery movies I've watched and stories I've read... but then came the "cheat" and I knew I . The sad thing is that it's not at all a bad sequence, and it would have been perfect if it had been used as I suggested--as the visuals for a character narrating the events.)

On the plus-side, though, every actor in the film is perfectly cast, with Warren William and Helen Trenholme (as Della Street) being particularly strong. ("The Case of the Howling Dog" is one of only two movies that Trenholme was in; she was a respected stage actress before her flirtation with the movie business, and she was one for a decade afterwards. It's a shame she didn't find a place in films, because she's a lot of fun to watch in this one.)

Another strong point of "The Case of the Howling Dog" is how the film establishes Perry Mason's law practice, as well as providing insight into his character. The first few minutes of this picture make it clear that Mason is a big shot at the head of a firm employing several associates, inhouse investigators, and even an inhouse psychologist. The also deftly establish the breadth and depth of Mason's experience as a lawyer and with life, showing that while he may be representing the rich and famous now, he started out defending more common people (and criminals) with legal troubles--and that his firm still represents them to this day.

Finally, and perhaps the biggest factor in its favor, this film is never boring and not a moment is wasted. Every second on screen drives the story or offers important character development and insight.

"The Case of the Howling Dog" is available as part of a collection containing all the 1930s movies featuring Perry Mason (most of them starring Warren William). The set is reasonably priced, and if the rest of the films are as good as this one, it's well worth the money. I shall find out, as I work my way through it!

Wonder Woman Wednesday

Everyone's favorite Amazon, Wonder Woman, has been an American icon since the 1940s. With U.S. Independence Day coming up at the end of this week, we celebrate that aspect of her with this small gallery of portraits.

By Brian Bolland

By Jay Anacleto

By Monte Moore

By Frank Cho