Santa teaming with Merlin the Magician to defeat Satan? Charlie Brown’s Christmas with a Rudy Ray Moore-worthy soundtrack? And why are the prehistoric Flintstones celebrating a holiday rooted in the birth of Jesus? Facebook’s funniest man, Anthony “Kingfish” Vitamia, returns to roast the silliest, most violent and least likely holiday movies of all time in this encore presentation of “The Online Movie Show.”
Richard Fleischer’s 1949 thriller, made at the low-budget Eagle-Lion Studios, offers all of the virtues and all of the vices of the old-school B-movies. Mercifully, the film’s virtues ultimately turn this into a mini-triumph.
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BOOTLEG FILES 712: “The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood” (1965 television special starring Liza Minnelli).
LAST SEEN: On DailyMotion.com.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On a highly dubious label.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: The absence of the original color production.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely at all.
During the 1960s, the Christmas season brought a glut of holiday-oriented productions to television. But for every “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” that became an instant classic, there were scores of efforts that never clicked with audiences and became quickly forgotten.
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It’s hard to find many good zombie apocalypse Christmas musical comedies out there, but when you do, it’s a treat. John McPhall’s wonderful “Anna and the Apocalypse” is a great film teeming with massive cult potential that I think will big momentum soon. It’s that kind of movie warranting a big Broadway production a la “Rocky Horror.” On its own though, the Scottish born “Anna and the Apocalypse” is a great reprieve from the massive holiday rush. While the holiday season is filled with an overflow of maudlin movies, “Anna and the Apocalypse” is that right dose of holiday glee with some great zombie carnage to boot.
Chaplin’s “The Circus” is the perfect encapsulation of what The Little Tramp is and why he’s so special. He’s an underdog hero that always seems to keep the good faith, despite the fact that he’s in constant pain, and almost never gets a happy ending. There’s something so insightful and poetic about the truth of “The Little Tramp” character. We root for him, and we cheer for him, and at the end of the day he doesn’t really get the women, or the fortune, or even much fulfillment. And that’s why the character is so mesmerizing and engaging.
Jean Harlow was Hollywood’s original blonde bombshell, and she lit up the Pre-Code screen with spirit and sexiness that has never been duplicated. In this episode of “The Online Movie Show,” James L. Neibaur, author of “The Jean Harlow Films,” pays tribute to the great star’s too-brief life and stellar career.
At the end of the day you can’t even call “Black Christmas” a remake. It’s not even a re-imagining when you get down to it. At first it bears a slight resemblance to the original film’s themes, but once it shows all of its cards, it’s just aping the title for brand familiarity. And it fails, big time. “Black Christmas” has good intentions with a very relevant message, but it forgets story, suspense, and inherent terror, in exchange for a silly, preachy, and convoluted premise.