Barnacle Bill makes landfall!

Barnacle Bill (1930)
Starring: Billy Murray and Margie Hines
Director: Dave Fleischer
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Barnacle Bill (voiced by Murray) has a girl in every port--and nothing's going to keep him from getting it on Nancy (voiced by Hines!

"Barnacle Bill" is an early appearance of the characters that would eventually evolve into Bimbo and Betty Boop--the second for Betty, actually. You can see hints in what both characters would eventually become, but Nancy Lee/Betty is equal parts grotesque and cute in this iteration. (She still is an anthropomorphic dog, like Bimbo, but it's downplayed more here than it is in her third appearance in "The Mysterious Mose".)

Historical trivia aside, "Barnacle Bill" is worth checking out for its non-stop stream of sight gags and nifty twists on cliches that were old even at the dawn of the 1930s. It also shines as a mini-operetta, with Barnacle Bill and Nancy hilariously singing their way through their romantic interactions. Other highlights include Bill escaping his ship for shore leave against his captain's orders, the surprising love game Bill and Nancy end up playing, the gossiping neighbors, and a very cute surprise finale.

This classic cartoon is only some 8 minutes long. Check it out for the fun, or check it out to see the origin of one of the most famous cartoon characters to ever be created... but check it out!

It's Mermay!

Some say mermaids are just imaginary creatures... but we have photos that prove otherwise! 

 
  
 
 

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Happy birthday to Jessica Morris

 

 Actress Jessica Morris turns 44 today. Here are a few photos in celebration. (And here are reviews of some of the films she's either starred or has been featured in!)

A Special Musical Monday with Mike Oldfield

As some of you out there might know, I began my professional life as an entertainment writer, focused mostly on music reviews. I did that for roughly four years, after which I was so burned out on music that my car radio stayed tuned to talk and news-stations from 1993 through 2000... and I hardly played any music on my system at home. To this day, I still have not been to a life concert, or even watched one on television.

Major exceptions to my time away from music were certain works by Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Beethoven, and/or Handel... and everything by one of the 20th century's great composers and guitar players, Mike Oldfield.

I have loved Mike Oldfield's music since I first heard "Ommadawn". I prefer his long-form instrumentals over his pop/rock songs, but everything he's done is good. Even his weakest releases are far, FAR better than the best that many other modern song-writers and musicians produce.

Mike Oldfield turns 70 years old today. I honor him on his birthday, and I thank for enriching my life, inspiring my creativity--characters and storylines have all sprung into my head while listening to Oldfield--and bringing light into my world during my darkest times. 

 

This post also celebrates over five decades of brilliant music composed and performed by giving you a chance to listen to some of my favorite songs from him, along with a few videos. Only a few of them actually that fit the black-and-white format around here, starting with a fan-made one (which features a little nudity, so be careful where you watch it), but I hope you'll be inspired to check out more of his music and come to love his work the way I do.

Here's another fan-made video, mostly abstract and set to some very pretty Oldfield tunes.

"Five Miles Out"--the title track from the 1983 album that is Mike Oldfield's greatest masterpiece. "Taurus II" (a 27-minute long track that occupied most of Side 1 of the LP record when it was first released) is his very best work, containing some of his greatest themes and melodies.

"Magic Touch" from Islands (1987)

It's a Mohammed Monday

 

THIS WEEK WITH JESUS & MO

 

It's Fanny Friday!

It's Mermay!

Mermay continues with a public service announcement: The Mermaids Will Always Win.

It's National Teacher's Day the Fanny Way

Low-budget Amateur Film with an Excellent Script!

Sirene en Captivte (Mermaid in Captivity) (2014)
Starring: Fallon Hammer, Nick Sarnelli, and Lucas Waldron

Director: Alyssa Waldron

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A cruel freakshow operator (Sarnelli) captures a mermaid (Hammer) and puts her on display. But some beings are not meant to be caged...

If you've been around this blog for a while, you know we like to go digging in obscure corners of YouTube for student and amateur films and then share those we think are worthy of your time and attention.

We came upon "Mermaid in Captivity" while looking for items that tied in with the Mermay theme we presently have going on. It's another one of those films made by young high-schoolers or college kids trying to emulate the old-time silent movies, presumably for a class project. Overall, it's slightly better than most such efforts, but there are two things that writer/director Alyssa Waldron did better with this effort than a majority of her filmmaking peers.

First, she clearly had a general sense of what she could and couldn't pull off with the resources she had at her disposal. She didn't attempt to show us the mermaid swimming under water, but through excellent use of intertitles and some creative camera work that is meant to seem like we are looking through the mermaids eyes as she swims to the surface, she still manages to convey the notion of a mermad in her natural habitat. While a better job could possibly have been done on the aquarium the mermaid is placed in, it could also have been far worse.

Second, the script for this film is excellent. The unfolds swiftly, the characters are well-drawn, and the shocking twist that kicks off the finale is extremely well set up and filmed. While the lack of budget and developing skills of the director/cinematographer behind the camera and the actors in front of it are apparent, might tempt some viewers to stop watching when the carnival owner goes into black-hatted, mustache-twirling borderline parody of a silent movie melodrama villain... but that would be a mistake. The story in this film, and how it's presented, is far superior to many productions at this level. (I don't know if Waldron went onto a career as a writer, but I certainly hope so. She seems to have had the talent for it.)

Take a few minutes to watch this film by clicking below.

Musical Monday with Oingo Boingo

Before they were Oingo Boingo, Danny Elfman and his fellow bandmembers were known as the Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo and they performed covers of 1930s and 1940s songs while putting on bizarre and elaborate shows.

This music video featured in today's post was made as a proof-of-concept/test shoot for what eventually became the full-length movie "Forbidden Zone" (1979), directed by Richard Elfman.

Johnny (1977)
Starring: Marie-Pascale Elfman and the Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo
Director: Richard Elfman
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars