One of the happiest moviegoing memories of my life did not take place in a cinema, but inside the auditorium of Junior High School 141 in the Bronx, New York, when I was in seventh grade. For reasons that had nothing to do with educational enlightenment, someone in charge decided it would be a good idea to show “The Three Stooges in Orbit” to the kids during their lunch break.
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BOOTLEG FILES 896: “Professor Mamlock” (1938 Soviet drama focused on Nazi anti-Semitism).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: If any film deserves a release, this is it.
After Adolf Hitler’s rise to power and his subsequent persecution of Germany’s Jewish population, the Hollywood film industry found itself in a quandary. Many of the studios were owned and operated by Jewish businessmen who were not supportive of Hitler’s anti-Semitic policies – and many German creative artists who fled Hitler’s Germany were welcomed in the Hollywood studios. But at the same time, the German market was a lucrative export destination for Hollywood films and the studios did not want to jeopardize the revenue stream they enjoyed from German cinemas. As a result, no Hollywood film criticized Nazi policies against its Jewish population, while “Confessions of a Nazi Spy” released by Warner Bros. in May 1939 broke the taboo of clearly identify Hitler’s government as an enemy to Americans.
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Hare Lift (1952)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Ken Champin, Arthur Davis, Manuel Perez, Virgil Ross
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Bank robber Yosemite Sam makes a gun-toting withdrawal from the Last National Bank, warning those inside the bank to “keep a-reachin’ for the ceilin’ till ya’ reach it!” But the sound of approaching police sirens forces him to flee and drives to the airport where the world’s largest airplane has arrived for public exhibition. Bugs Bunny is alone in the airplane, sitting in the cockpit while pretending he’s a pilot. Sam mistakes him for the real pilot and forces Bugs to take off – even though Bugs knows nothing about flying. Nonetheless, Bugs starts the airplane and begins to drive it down a main street before abruptly taking it on a wild ride up to the moon and then back in a dizzying plummet to Earth.
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I wanted to fall in love with “Sweet Charity” very badly. Every time it turns up on television, I patiently sit through it hoping that this will be the time when the film will seduce me and fill me with adoration. But every time, I leave unhappy that I could not give my heart to the film – I desperately want to embrace the film, but it always winds up clobbering me with its cumbersome production.
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BOOTLEG FILES 895: “Spook to Me” (1945 comedy short starring Andy Clyde and Dudley Dickerson).
LAST SEEN: On the Internet Archive.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
If any star of Hollywood’s Golden Age was in need of a revived public interest, it would be Andy Clyde. With a career spanning from the Mack Sennett silent comedies to the 1960s sitcoms, Clyde was a welcome presence both as a star and a supporting character – usually playing a doddering, slightly cranky but mostly endearing elderly chap.
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Rabbit’s Kin (1952)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Charles McKimson, Herman Cohen, Rod Scribner, Phil DeLara, Keith Darling
Music by Carl Stalling
Of all the predators who pursued Bugs Bunny, Pete Puma was arguably the stupidest of the bunch. But at the same time, he might have been the most endearing – if only because his cheerful imbecility made him oblivious to the fact that he was his own worst enemy rather than Bugs’ greatest foe.
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For many film lovers, silent era Westerns remain an untapped commodity. And unless you are a devote fan of this genre, the 1925 epic “Tumbleweeds” might be the greatest film that you never saw. An audacious, sprawling, emotional and exhilarating recreation of the 1893 land rush in the Oklahoma Territory’s Cherokee Strip, “Tumbleweeds” is a vibrant combination of history, melodrama, comedy, adventure and the wonderfully distinctive art form of silent movies that vanished once the microphone entered the cinematic equation.
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