Edwyn Collins is a Scottish singer and guitarist who's been performing with bands or as a solo act since the early 1980s. "A Girl Like You" was a worldwide hit in 1994, and if you missed it back then, check it out now, because it's a song that's held up beautifully.
Further, the video is one that must be seen, especially by fans of 1960s dance styles and James Bond movies prior to the dawn of the 2000s. (I can't say much more without ruining the surprises, but I think regular visitors to this blog will find this Monday's selection a good way to start the week!)
Starring: Unknown Voice Actors (although spoken lines are minimal)
Directors: John Foster and George Rufle
Rating: Six of Ten Stars
Tom and Jerry are jungle explorers who run afoul a village of hostile cannibals.
"Jungle Jam" joins Tom & Jerry installments like "The Tuba Tooter" and "Pots and Pans" as a nearly plot-free mini-musical where the song and dance numbers are loosely connected by scenes of featuring gags and a varying degree of surreal nonsense. Some of the gags featured here will be refined and repeated in "Redskin Blues", as well the theme of our heroes being captured by a hostile tribe. In addition to the improved "second take" on gags, "Redskin Blues" has a little more story than what we get here.
Although "Jungle Jam" ends up being an average entry in the Tom & Jerry episode, it opens strong, with one of the cutest sequences in the entire series involving our heroes in a canoe, crocodiles, and dancing monkeys. The cartoon remains amusing throughout, but it never quite reaches the level of the opening musical number. (In fact, it comes dangerously close to nose-diving into pure awfulness when Jerry sometime capricious and stupid and our heroes could easily escape the danger of cannibals by simply running away. If you've watched any Tom & Jerry cartoons, you probably know that "capricious and stupid" are pretty much standard, but what happens here is beyond the Pale.)
One thing I should mention in this day and age of people being overly sensitive and/or looking for reasons to be offended is that there's a fair amount of ethnic and racial humor in the second half of "Jungle Jam". Again, this is something that anyone who's seen more than a couple installments in this series will expect, the content here may easily draw cries of racism and racist portrayals (if the mention of cannibals at the top, or the screen-shot illustrating this article, didn't make it clear). I don't think that's completely accurate though, although I understand the impulse; the character designs of the tribesmen aren't that different from that of Jerry, and even Tom in some of the cartoons. Is there racial and ethnic mockery and stereotyping here--yes. Is it racist--I don't think so.
But--why don't you check out "Jungle Jam for yourself? There are worse ways to spend a few minutes--and certainly ones that are far less amusing!
For a detailed history of the Van Beuren Company and more background on the development of Milton discussed above, you should get a copy of Hal Erickson's very detailed, yet entertaining, book "A Van Beuren Production".
In observance of Veteran's Day, we invite you to taka e few minutes to watch "There's Something About a Soldier"--a tale of war, bravery, and love... not to mention lots of silliness. It's embedded at the bottom of this post!
There's Something About a Soldier (1934)
Starring: Mae Questel (the voice of Betty Boop) and Jack Mercer (the voice of Fearless Fred)
Director: Dave Fleischer
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
Betty helps recruit the men on the country to join the army to battle an invading hoard of giant mosquitos and fights along side them on the front lines.
By 1934, the Betty Boop cartoons were losing their edge, due in large part to the now-in-full-force Motion Picture Production Code. Still, this Betty Boop outing is still a lot of fun, with gags coming fast and furious while everything from war-time melodramas, army recruiting methods and army recruits, and even war, is being lampooned.
What's most remarkable here is the animation. At first glance, it appears like the well-composed and smooth-flowing imagery we expect from this series, but a closer look reveals that an amazing amount of attention and effort was put into the details here. For example, each soldier in formations is drawn with an individual look instead of the typical method of just repeating the same character design on such insignificant characters. That extra effort on the soldiers is a big part of what makes "There's Something About a Soldier" worthy viewing on this Veteran's Day.
It's early November 2020, and we haven't yet had time to watch the new episodes of "The Mandalorian"--there's just too much stuff to watch, including all the old things we want to cover for this blog!--but we are looking forward to the day when we can find the time.
(For the non-Star Wars fans out there, "The Mandalorian" is a series airing on Disney+ that details the adventures of the Mandalorian of the title and the baby alien he decides to protect. It's sort of like "Lone Wolf and Cub Meet Star Wars While Everyone is Brainstorming Spaghetti Western and Heist Movie Plots"... and the first batch of episodes were fantastic!)
And after coming across this hilarious musical tribute to the Mandalorian and the Child (whom we forever will refer to as Baby Yoda) via a Guns 'n Roses parody cover, we are looking forward to sitting down and watching that show even more!
The Merkins is a comedy group that specializes in spoof covers, more often than not revolving around the various masked characters from horror films. You can check out their YouTube channel here, and you can click here to see a selection of their songs that have been featured at our sister blog, Terror Titans.
UPDATE (11.9.2020) It appears that Guns N Roses has nuked the "Green Child of Mine" parody with a copyright claim. What a bunch of useless, feckless bastards.
UPDATE (11.11.2020) "Green Child of Mine" was reuploaded on someone's individual page. We'll see how long it sticks around! Watch it while you can!
UPDATE (11.16.2020) The cunts of Guns N Roses have nuked "Green Child of Mine" again. Oh well. This post will stay here, in memory of a very funny parody. I'm sorry if you missed it. BUT! We're going to start a salty post where we will chronicle the ups-and-downs of Baby Yoda vs. the Cunts of Guns N Roses! Stay tuned!
On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down by people who truly were stunning and brave.
For nearly three decades, it had been one of the primary symbols of the evil and oppressive nature of the Soviet Union, a wall built to keep the citizens of East Berlin from fleeing into West Berlin, which at the time was a tiny island of liberty. In 2001, then U.S. President George W. Bush declared November 9 World Freedom Day.
This 1990 recording of "Don't Fence Me In" by David Byrne is the perfect song for this Musical Monday, which also happens to be the 20th World Freedom Day.
The Office Boy (1930) Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors Directors: Harry Bailey and John Foster Rating: Three of Ten Stars
An office romance between an office boy and a secretary is threatened by their lecherous boss.
"The Office Boy" is a terrible cartoon. Everything about it is amateurish--from the animation through the sound design and the musical soundtrack and featured song--and indifferently produced, with the least amount of effort going into all aspects of creation.
I suspect some of you, after reading the above paragraph, are wondering how anything Walt Disney did with Mickey Mouse could ever be described as "amateurish" and "indifferently produced"? Well, that's because, despite what it might appear from the still above, "Office Boy" is NOT a Disney cartoon. Instead, it's one of a handful of knock-offs cranked out by the Van Beuren Corporation to capitalize on the popularity of Mickey Mouse and his female friend Minnie Mouse. They were so bad that Roy Disney reportedly filed suit against Van Beuren. According to Hal Erickson, who literally wrote the book on the Van Beuren Company, Disney wasn't seeking any monetary compensation for the obvious infringement--he just wanted then to stop making crappy cartoons featuring knock-offs of their popular characters.
"The Office Boy" is more terrible than even the worse "Tom & Jerry" installment, as, no matter how awful some of them are, there's always a certain atmosphere of childish glee, along with a generous helping of surreal absurdities. We have almost none of either here, except for the cute out-of-nowhere finale... which is tainted by what I assume is the first run of a nightmarish "gag" where two characters merge into one in a terrifying manner. (It reappears a couple years later in "Rocketeers", which was also co-directed by John Foster.)
As is my habit, when it comes to the short films I review, I encourage you to check out the subject instead of just taking my word for its quality. If nothing else, you will find yourself marveling at just how shameless the Van Beuren folks were in their rip-off of Mickey Mouse in "The Office Boy". (And if you find yourself disagreeing with my take, let everyone know your views in the comments section, or over on my Facebook page.)
Mrs. Emma Peel. Those who know her recognize her as the total package-- a woman of great intelligence, grace, and beauty. Those who really know her also knows that for several years during the 1960s, she put all her talents to use as a member of Great Britain's most elite force of secret agents, The Avengers!
Before she was Mrs. Peel, before she was Chairwoman of Knight Industries, before she was one of Britain's secret agents charged with the task of avenging other secret agents who fall in the line of duty, she was Emma Knight, daughter of a widower and traveling the world with her father. Beginning today, and over the next many weeks, you'll be able to read the tale of her first major adventure... where lives were at stake and the fate of nations hung in the balance... in The Growing-Up of Emma Peel! (Click on the pages for larger, more legible versions, and come back next week for the continuation!)
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