It is impossible to make an intentionally campy film. The whole point of camp is that it never realizes that it is camp. For example, “Valley of the Dolls” is genius camp because it is so wonderfully wrong at every imaginable turn, with the gifted cast trying and cluelessly failing to create alchemy with their material. If the actors started winking at the audience or smirking at their material, then it is not camp – it is just plain dumb.
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Prince Violent (1961)
Directed by Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt
Story by Dave Detiege
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Virgil Ross, Art Davis, Bob Matz
Music by Milt Franklyn
The Viking Sam the Terrible makes a one-man invasion of a Dark Ages countryside, causing its inhabitants to flee for safety within a castle. Bugs Bunny, who views the Nordic invader as “broken loose electric can opener,” takes it upon himself to repel Sam, who makes repeated but disastrously futile efforts to gain access the castle.
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An eccentric millionaire and his steely fourth wife invite five strangers to their spooky mansion of a challenge-party. The guests and their hosts are to be locked in the mansion overnight without telephone access or electricity. Those who survive until morning will each receive $10,000 from their hosts. Those who don’t survive will have the funds forwarded to their heirs. However, the house supposedly comes with a grisly past involving ghosts and murders, and the evening proves to be anything but serene for all involved in this mayhem.
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Compressed Hare (1961)
Directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble
Story by Dave Detiege
Animation by Bob Bransford, Ken Harris, Richard Thompson, Tom Ray, Harry Love
Music by Milt Franklyn
“Compressed Hare” is one of the stronger Bugs Bunny cartoons to emerge in the early 1960s, with inventive gags and stylish animation that harkened back to the series’ halcyon days in the late 1940s and early 1950s. There is even a sampling of Raymond Scott’s instrumental “Powerhouse” that had been missing from the cartoon soundtracks for too many years.
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You never know what you can discover just by leisurely scrolling through YouTube. Why, just the other day I discovered something completely under that proverbial radar: a 2009 video record of the Moscow Operetta Theatre’s production of “Hello, Dolly!” And if you thought the Barbra Streisand film took too many liberties with the Broadway show, wait until you see this Russian reimagining of the musical comedy classic!
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BOOTLEG FILES 934: “London After Midnight” (2025 AI-fueled reconstruction of the lost 1927 film).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It rips off a 2002 copyright-protected reconstruction of lost the film.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Definitely not.
Among the vast and woeful realm of lost films, the 1927 Lon Chaney-starring vampiric mystery feature “London After Midnight” is among the most sought-after titles. Back in 2000, I interviewed Jon Mirsalis, a Chaney historian and film preservationist, for an article on Film Threat – this was when Film Threat was still readable, of course – and I asked him about this Tod Browning-directed film, which was considered lost after the last known surviving print was destroyed in a 1967 vault fire at the MGM studios. In that interview, Mirsalis openly questioned whether “London After Midnight” was the lost classic that too many people imagined it had to be.
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The 2025 edition of the Rondo Awards is upon us, and movie lovers are being invited to vote for their favorites. After being passed over from the Best Website category for too long, Cinema Crazed is a nominee for the award.
The Rondo Awards winners are determined by popular vote. This is how you can help: To vote, send an email to Taraco@aol.com and write: “Category 19: Best Website – Cinema Crazed.”
Also, we would love to see Cinema Crazed’s founder, the late Felix Vasquez Jr., inducted into the Rondo Awards’ Monster Kid Hall of Fame. To achieve that goal, use your email to Taraco@aol.com and write: “Category 30: Monster Kid Hall of Fame – Felix Vasquez Jr., founder and publisher of Cinema Crazed.”
The deadline for voting is May 1.
If you enjoy reading Cinema Crazed, please take a minute and vote for us! Thank you!!!