On this episode of “The Online Movie Show,” the spotlight is on Arjun Yadav, a bright young producer who is making a name for himself in the indie film world.
Author Archives: Phil Hall
The Bootleg Files: Half Baked Alaska
BOOTLEG FILES 792: “Half Baked Alaska” (1965 animated short in the Chilly Willy series).
LAST SEEN: On B98.tv.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Included in an anthology of Walter Lantz cartoons that is now out of print.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: No one is rushing to get it into home entertainment release.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It was briefly available, and hopefully it will come back.
Among the cartoon characters from the Golden Age of animated short subjects, Chilly Willy occupies a strange niche. This Walter Lantz-created penguin was cute and mischievous, but the character’s films were rarely laugh-out-out hilarious and Chilly Willy never truly occupied the iconic status of other creations of that era. Most people would point to the Oscar-nominated, Tex Avery-directed 1955 short “The Legend of Rockabye Point” as being a peak in the Chilly Willy series, although most of the humor in that short does not come from the penguin himself.
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Dane & Arthur: A Forgotten Comedy Team
The comedy team of Karl Dane and George K. Arthur delighted audiences of the late silent movie era and the Pre-Code sound years, but today their films are rarely celebrated and the team is mostly recalled for the tragic death of Karl Dane. On this episode of “The Online Movie Show,” film scholar Geno Cuddy offers insight into this wonderfully funny duo.
The Road to ‘Detour’
On this episode, “The Online Movie Show” takes a look at Edgar G. Ulmer’s 1945 film noir classic “Detour.” The guest commentator is writer and film noir expert Jeffrey Cintolo.
The Bootleg Files: The Big Fisherman
BOOTLEG FILES 791: “The Big Fisherman” (1959 Biblical epic starring Howard Keel).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: No one is rushing to get it into home entertainment release.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.
During the 1950s, Biblical epics came back into vogue with a vengeance. Some of these films were monster box office hits – widescreen epics such as “The Robe” (1953), “The Ten Commandments” (1956) and “Ben-Hur” (1959) generated millions of dollars in ticket sales.
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The Bootleg Files: New Year’s Eve
BOOTLEG FILES 790: “New Year’s Eve” (1948 Soviet animated short).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Not that I can determine.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Maybe in an anthology collection of Soviet-era cartoons.
Here we are at the end of another year, and to say goodbye to 2021 I decided to lean back into the Cold War era and dig up a wonderful but obscure animated short from the Soviet Union that takes place on New Year’s Eve. The film, not surprisingly, is called “New Year’s Eve” and it is one of the most delightfully odd relics of the house that Lenin built.
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The 10 Best Non-Holiday Christmas Films
I know, I know, the annual onslaught of Christmas movies is upon us. Whether it involves those syrupy love stories that pollute certain cable channels or the usual round-up of holiday-themed productions, there are certain films that only show up during December and then vanish for the other 11 months.
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