One of the funkier aspects of the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry is the inclusion of extraordinarily obscure amateur works alongside Hollywood productions. In 2008, a home movie made in Connecticut in 1956 by Robbins Barstow called “Disneyland Dream” was added to the National Film Registry alongside such classics as “Foolish Wives,” “The Invisible Man,” “The Asphalt Jungle,” “Flower Drum Song,” “Deliverance,” and “The Terminator.”
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BOOTLEG FILES 933: “Ten From Your Show of Shows” (1973 compilation of sketches from the landmark TV series).
LAST SEEN: On the Internet Archive.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On VHS video and LaserDisc.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It has fallen out of circulation.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Briefly included as a special feature in a now out-of-print DVD.
In 1973, movie audiences were treated to a genuine oddity: a feature film consisting of sketches from a television comedy show that were broadcast in the early 1950s but not seen in the ensuing years. The show in question was “Your Show of Shows,” a 90-minute revue program that dominated Saturday prime time viewing from 1950 to 1954 and lifted its stars Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris into A-list stardom.
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From Hare to Heir (1960)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Friz Freleng
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Art Davis, Virgil Ross
Music by Milt Franklyn
In Merry Olde England, things are anything but merry at Bedlam Manor where Sam, Duke of Yosemite, discovers he is penniless after his uncle, the King, discontinued his allowance. Sam takes out his anger on his accountant-servant by slamming the man’s nose in a large book.
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For every Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck that becomes a pop culture icon, there are countless cartoon characters that get tested in one or a few shorts before being dropped for lacking versatility and viability. Conrad the Cat, a yellow bipedal feline created by Chuck Jones, is an example of a character that was jettisoned after failing to immediately click on the screen.
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BOOTLEG FILES 932: “The Red Detachment of Women” (1970 Communist Chinese ballet film).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It was never theatrically released in the United States.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It is possible that someday it would appear on a US label.
I need to prefix this review by admitting that I am not a big fan of the ballet and I have even less enthusiasm for Chinese Communist propaganda. Thus, having me review “The Red Detachment of Women,” a feature-length ballet film produced during the Chinese Communist era known as the Cultural Revolution, might run the risk of ingrained bias.
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Rabbit’s Feat (1960)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Michael Maltese (uncredited)
Animation by Ken Harris, Richard Thompson
Music by Milt Franklyn
Wile E. Coyote – the talking version with the supercilious Mid-Atlantic accent – returns to pursue “rabbitus idioticus delicious.” As with his previous attempts to secure Bugs Bunny for his meal, the self-important coyote winds up falling victim to his cockamamie schemes and traps.
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When a British secret agent carrying confidential documents is abducted from a train traveling between New York City and Washington, DC, His Majesty’s government calls on Sherlock Holmes to travel across the Atlantic to locate the missing agent and retrieve the documents. Bringing along Dr. Watson, Holmes quickly unravels the mystery behind this disappearance while exposing a Fifth Column spy operation in the nation’s capital.
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