The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)

Director:  Roy Rowland

Writers:  Dr. Seuss, Allan Scott

Composers:  Friedrich Hollaender, Heinz Roemheld, Hans J. Salter

Starring:  Peter Lind Hayes, Mary Healy, Hans Conried, Tommy Rettig, Jack Heasley, Robert Heasley, Noel Cravat

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  Bringing a new dimension of screen entertainment! The first musical Wonderama!

Plot:  A young boy travels to an imaginary world where, assisted by his family's plumber, he must save other piano playing kids like himself from the dungeons of his dictatorial piano teacher who also mind-controls his mother.

My rating:  5.5/10

Will I watch it again?   No.

It looks like this is the only feature Dr. Seuss wrote and I can see why.  I read that after test screenings, lots of scenes and songs were scrapped and more were written and shot for the finished product.  I haven't a clue as to what was cut but if this is what they were happy with then what the hell did they want in the first place?  It doesn't take long at all after the opening credits before we're in Bart's vivid imagination, and there's no doubt from the look and feel of the picture that this is from the fertile, creative mind of Dr. Seuss.  I'm guessing the target audience would've been children 8 and under, something the family could go to without the fear of seeing boobs or something scandalous.  The sets are colorful, minimal and strange.  The songs, and there are a lot of songs, aren't memorable enough to walk out of the theater humming.  I can't think of a single tune.  Maybe it's because there are so many.   I can't think of any way to make this better.  It feels low budget but it doesn't look it.  Those sets don't build themselves.  I was bored but the colorful visuals and constant sound kept me from nodding off. 

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)

Director: Richard Lester

Writers: Melvin Frank, Michael Pertwee, Burt Shevelove, Larry Gelbart, Titus Maccius Plautus

Composer: Stephen Sondheim, Ken Thorne

Starring: Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton, Michael Crawford, Jack Gilford, Annette Andre, Michael Hordern, Leon Greene, Roy Kinnear, Alfie Bass, John Bluthal, Pamela Brown, Patricia Jessel, Frank Thornton, Jon Pertwee

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Something for Everyone!

Plot: A wily slave must unite a virgin courtesan and his young smitten master to earn his freedom.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Sure.

I've seen this a few times over the decades and it's still a fun flick.  The performances are great, especially from Mostel who brings a lot of energy, the songs are catchy and it looks fabulous.  At times it has a Carry On vibe but the jokes are more consistently funny and the film doesn't drag.  It's not a knee-slapper, which is what I keep hoping it'll turn out to be when I watch it about once every ten years, but it's still a delightfully amusing film with a lot going for it.  If you ever get a chance to see the staged musical it's based on, do so.  Being in a room full of people laughing does wonders for your health.

Golden Dawn (1930)

Director: Ray Enright

Writers: Otto A. Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Walter Anthony

Composer: Rex Dunn

Starring: Walter Woolf King, Vivienne Segal, Noah Beery, Alice Gentle, Dick Henderson, Lupino Lane, Marion Byron, Edward Martindel, Nina Quartero, Sojin Kamiyama, Otto Matieson, Julanne Johnston, Eduardo Cansino, Nigel De Brulier

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Music drama of the jungle!

Plot: Dawn (Segal) is a white woman thought to be a godess born unto a black tribe but Tom (King) discovers her true parentage and tries to stop her from being sacrificed to the gods.  Naturally everyone sings about it.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Let's play a game called, "Is It Racist?".  It is.  Thanks for playing.  Be sure to get your copy of our play-at-home game for the family.  You've got to see this for yourself.  It's outrageous and entertaining.  I was surprised at how often I laughed in between the grins.  Looking at this 88 years after it was released, it's jaw-dropping in how acceptable things like blackface were back then.  Noah Beery is especially bad (as in racist bad) with his darkened skin and his Amos & Andy's Kingfish voice (as in "now lookee here").  It's so outrageous it's laughable.  That's just the beginning.  The timeline jumps ahead sometimes months at a time.  Then there's the abundance of songs and many of them are quite good and catchy.  Shep (Beery) sings a song devoted to his whip, Dawn sings about loving her Bwana (that's the East African word for 'master') and Joanna (Byron) warbles out how she's looking for a man who will smack her around and treat her like shit (you know, the fun side of domestic abuse that no one talks about these days).  It's just your typical songs about love and devotion.  And all of this takes place in the jungles of Africa.  The whole thing is a wild and crazy ride on the wrong side of the movie tracks (and history) but it can be very entertaining in the weirdest ways.  It's one curiosity you probably won't regret seeing.  I can see this playing well with a group of friends and some liquor.

It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman! (1975)

Director: Jack Regas

Writers: David Newman, Robert Benton, Romeo Muller

Composer: Charles Strouse

Starring: David Wilson, Lesley Ann Warren, Loretta Swit, Kenneth Mars, Gary Owens, George Chandler, Stuart Goetz, Danny Goldman, Geoffrey Horne, Phil Leeds, Harvey Lembeck, Michael Lembeck, Allen Ludden, Al Molinaro, Irene Tedrow, Malachi Throne, David Wayne, Lou Wills Jr.

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The funniest Superhero story ever!

Plot: TV adaptation of the campy 1960s Broadway musical about the Man of Steel, his friends, his enemies, and his self-image problems.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? Do re mi fa so la ti NO.

The story goes that this started out as a Broadway music in '66 that ran for 129 performances before it closed.  The reviews were pretty good and it even got three Tony nominations for acting.  Not bad.  So for whatever reason (money, anyone?) this TV special was filmed for everyone for all of future mankind to watch and, gulp, enjoy this piece of entertainment.  I gotta say, despite being painfully unfunny (the humor is wayyyy over the top), I laughed out loud a couple of times.  And now, just an hour later, I can't remember what was so funny.  The songs are OK at best and the singing is anywhere from great (Leslie Ann Warren is terrific) to bad (David Wilson struggles but powers through it).  You could make the case that Wilson was most courageous knowing that music is his kryptonite.  I hope he didn't die from it.  One thing I enjoyed was seeing A LOT of names and faces familiar to me.  I'm familiar and fans of literally half the cast.  Even game show hose Allen Ludden (I watched A LOT of games shows as a kid in the 70s) shows up as Perry White.  For that reason alone there was no way I was going to miss seeing this but it's not worth watching and it's often eye-rolling painful.  It's kind of funny that I had the LP of this decades ago and never once listened to it.  That pleases me now that I've seen it.

At Long Last Love (1975)

Director: Peter Bogdanovich

Writer: Peter Bogdanovich

Starring: Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd, Madeline Kahn, Duilio Del Prete, Eileen Brennan, John Hillerman, Mildred Natwick, Quinn K. Redeker, M. Emmet Walsh, Burton Gilliam, Patricia O'Neal

More info: IMDb

Tagline: IT'S THE TOP!

Plot: A millionaire named Michael Oliver Pritchard III and a singer named Kitty O'Kelly meet and fall in love. Meanwhile, an indigent woman named Brooke Carter and an Italian gambler named Johnny Spanish meet and fall in love. All four people meet each other and become friends.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

Would you believe me if I told you this was two hours long?  I almost didn't believe it and I was looking at the time.  But here's the thing...I really liked it.  The performers are delightful and fun.  I'm fans of most of the cast (and a super fan of Kahn & Brennan).  I'd never even heard of Duilio Del Prete before but he does OK.  Naturally I would've preferred a known star.  Some of them sing better than the others but that doesn't matter because you can tell they're all having so much fun (or at least they're that good at acting they make it look like that).  There are several throwaway gags that had me laughing.  The romance between Hillerman and Brennan is hilarious.  And Madeline Kahn!!!  Damn, I miss those two broads.  Burt's hilarious and does a much better job at singing than I would've thought.  Here's a cool bit of trivia...everyone sings on camera!  What's even more impressive is that a lot of the songs are done in ONE TAKE!!!  But jesus, did I mention it's two hours?  Well, it almost doesn't feel like it but this picture could use some trimming.  I get why Bogdonovich released it that long.  I would have a tough time cutting anything out of this, too, but you have to think about the audience on this one.  It's a lot to take in especially when some songs are repeated many times.  To quote Emperor Joseph II, "...there are simply too many notes, that's all. Just cut a few and it will be perfect."

Interrupted Melody (1955)

Director: Curtis Bernhardt

Writers: William Ludwig, Sonya Levien

Composer: Alexander Courage, Adolph Deutsch

Starring: Glenn Ford, Eleanor Parker, Roger Moore, Cecil Kellaway, Peter Leeds, Evelyn Ellis, Walter Baldwin, Ann Codee, Leopold Sachse, Stephen Bekassy, Stuart Whitman

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The greatest musical drama of all time!

Plot: Biopic of Australian star Marjorie Lawrence , who took the opera world by storm and made a remarkable comeback after being crippled by polio, with the help of her devoted husband, Dr. Tim King. Starting out by singing to crippled servicemen, like herself confined to wheelchairs, she builds a new career.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

What happened to Eleanor Parker's career?  I love that broad.  Why wasn't she an A-lister or if she was, why was it so brief and what happened?  She's wonderful.  Well, this picture got me choked up in a few places and it's from a combination of a well made film that knows what buttons to push and when combined with my having a cold.  The performances are solid, there's lots of beautiful music and operatic set pieces and the last fifteen minutes is an emotional home run.  It's neat seeing Stuart Whitman in a walk on role as a guy who hits on Marjorie (Parker) at the beach.  And even though I love Roger Moore, he's being Roger Moore and not even trying to speak with an Australian accent, where his character is from.  That's just being nitpicky on my part.  It's still neat to see him in anything. 

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Director: Brian De Palma

Writer: Brian De Palma

Composer: Paul Williams

Starring: William Finley, Paul Williams, Jessica Harper, Gerrit Graham, George Memmoli, Archi Hahn, Jeffrey Comanor, Peter Elbling, Rod Serling

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The music made him do it!

Plot: A disfigured composer sells his soul for the woman he loves so that she will perform his music. However, an evil record tycoon betrays him and steals his music to open his rock palace, The Paradise.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

This is one of those pictures like THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) that you throw on for a bunch of your friends.  Bust out the liquor sauce.  It's fun,  IMDb trivia says that De Palma had wanting to make this since the 60s so that means it predates ROCKY HORROR.  The music is great as are the costumes and overall vibe.  It's basically a rock 'n' roll update to The Phantom of the Opera story but it's more fun than it sounds.  Paul Williams is just the shit in this picture.   It's campy like RH and in all the right ways.  And it's got De Palma's director stamp all over it.  Don't overlook this one.  I wish I hadn't for all these decades.

Daddy-O (1958)

Director: Lou Place

Writer: David Moessinger

Composer: John Williams

Starring: Dick Contino, Sandra Giles, Bruno VeSota, Gloria Victor, Ron McNeil, Tipp McClure, Sonia Torgeson, Kelly Gordon, Hank Mann, Joseph Donte

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Alive!! With the Beat and the Heat of Today's Rock-N-Roll Generation!

Plot: Phil, a part-time truck driver and singer who wears his pants far too high, meets a feisty platinum blonde who challenges him to a drag race through Griffith Park. When he is caught and loses his license, he meets up with the sketchy Frank Wooster who offers him a job singing in his new nightclub. When Phil discovers that his new job also includes drug running, he must fight to save his friends and himself.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

How the hell this has such a low score on IMDb is beyond me.  This is a fun flick.  The acting is just fine.  Look, you go into movies of this sort with certain lowered expectations.  No one is going to come out the other end of these juvenile pictures a better (or worse) person.  There's nothing to be learned and the only goal is to be entertained and this picture does just that.  Maybe after another viewing I'll raise the score a little.  The pacing moves along quickly and the only time it stops is when Phil (Contino) and his band play some rockin' tunes.  There's so much of it it's obvious that it's there for padding.  It's only about 70 minutes as it is and they gained a few with some of that new music the kids are diggin' these day (it'll never last).  The score is by none other than John Williams, his first for a feature film.  He was in his jazz phase at this point.  It'd be a few more years before you start to hear hints of what he'd become in the mid to late 70s.  This picture's got bad girls, bad dudes, car racing, rock & roll, milkshakes, the works.  I enjoyed the hell out it and you should too.

Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

Directors: George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Bernard Knowles

Writers: George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr,Mal Evans

Composers: George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr

Starring: George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr,Victor Spinetti, Jessie Robins, Miranda Forbes, Maggie Wright, Ivor Cutler

More info: IMDb

Plot: The Beatles charter a special bus for a surreal mystery tour.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I love The Beatles and I've been wanting to see this one for thirty years and all this time I've only heard that it's bad.  If it weren't for the great music it would be.  Also seeing The Beatles helps a lot.  The funny isn't funny and it looks like an excuse to get out of the house and make some kind of a movie.  They succeeded on that front but there's not much to see.  The songs are amazing and it is neat seeing some of them made as individual music videos.  Geez, I forgot about Victor Spinetti who pays the double speaking Army Sergeant.  He's fantastic.  I'd never heard anyone do English doublespeak before and he was great at it.  

The Producers (2005)

Director: Susan Stroman

Writers: Mel Brooks, Thomas Meehan

Composer: Glen Kelly

Starring: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell, Gary Beach, Roger Bart, Eileen Essell, Michael McKean, David Huddleston, Debra Monk, Andrea Martin, Jon Lovitz

More info: IMDb


Plot: After putting together another Broadway flop, down-on-his-luck producer Max Bialystock teams up with timid accountant Leo Bloom in a get-rich-quick scheme to put on the world's worst show.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Probably not.

I've been a huge fan of THE PRODUCERS (1967) since I was a teenager.  It's brilliant in its writing and in execution.  The cast couldn't have been better.  This remake has been out now for over a decade and I finally got around to watching it, something I didn't think I'd ever do.  There's nothing about this that surpasses the original but there are enough good things that it's worth mentioning.  I didn't come around to liking Broderick until the second half but I really like him in that last half.  Lane is the only choice for Max and he's hilarious as usual.  For the most part this remake was well cast.  I loved Roger Bart as Carmen Ghia.  He's very close to the original actor and he nails it.  Will Ferrell is hit and a lot of miss for me but I have to admit he was a great choice for his role as Franz.  I could go on about the rest of them but I'm ready to move on.  I was very disappointed that the character L.S.D., played so brilliantly in the original by Dick Shawn, was omitted.  The actor playing Hitler is just assumed to have been found.  Some of the new songs work for me and some don't.  The dancing was good.  For the most part I found myself liking it after I got over the newness of it.  I doubt I'll ever watch it again but I wouldn't be opposed to it.  The Universal DVD has a good looking anamorphic widescreen print.  With the extras, you get about 20 minutes of deleted scenes, 15 minutes of outtakes, analysis of a scene: "I Wanna Be a Producer" and a commentary track with director Stroman.

Casbah (1948)

Director: John Berry

Writers: Leslie Bush-Fekete, Arnold Manoff, Erik Charell, Henri La Barthe

Composers: Harlod Arlen, Walter Scharf

Starring: Yvonne De Carlo, Tony Martin, Peter Lorre, Marta Toren, Hugo Haas, Thomas Gomez, Douglas Dick, Katherine Dunham, Herbert Rudley, Gene Walker, Curt Conway, Hans Schumm, Eartha Kitt

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Den of a thousand thieves!  Rendezvous for romance!

Plot: Pepe Le Moko is a master thief who lives in the Casbah section of Algiers. A French police inspector would love to capture Pepe, but realizes that as long as the thief remains in the Casbah he is protected by his vast network of criminals. When Pepe falls in love with a beautiful tourist, he schemes for the first time to leave his little "empire".

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Why was this a musical?  Who did Tony Martin sleep with?  I joke but he's miscast until the end.  It's the lighter stuff that doesn't work for me and that's nearly all the movie.  That last 15 minutes are outstanding and very dramatic which contrasts the rest of the picture.  Until then it's kind of like a light romantic crime drama that has some odd moments like when Pepe (Martin) just randomly bursts into song and it's often the same song (For Every Man There's a Woman), which was nominated for an Oscar.  It's a catchy tune and you might find yourself humming it after the movie's over.  Even though it happened a few times, I never got used to him busting it out in weird moments.  Yvonne De Carlo is smoking hot.  Hubba hubba.  The lighthearted tone of the film doesn't quite work for me.  Except for Tony Martin, everyone does a fine job.  I single Martin out because he's got moments where he seems out of place.  But he does an excellent job in the final moments when everything gets deathly serious.  What brought me to watching it in the first place was Peter Lorre and he's fantastic.  I like his character and Lorre brings layers to him that were welcome.  He could've just phoned it in and it wouldn't have mattered in the big picture of it all but he adds that little something extra that makes him so interesting to watch. 

Cinderella 2000 (1977)

Director: Al Adamson

Writer: Budd Donnelly

Composer: Steve Zuckerman (AKA Sparky Sugarman)

Starring: Catharine Burgess, Jay B. Larson, Vaughn Armstrong, Erwin Fuller, Renee Harmon, Bhumi Cowans, Adina Ross, Eddie Garetti, Olivia Michelle, Art Cacaro, Sherri Coyle

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Tomorrow's Sexiest Comedy..... Today!

Plot: In the year 2047, sex is forbidden and Big Brother uses robots to keep on eye on everyone. One young girl tries to outwit the government so she can be with the man she loves.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Featured on Stephen Romano Presents Shock Festival (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)

Gratuitous nudity for the win!

This boils down to the good and the bad.  The good?  You just saw most of it.  Naw, seriously, there are a few funny gags (I laughed out loud a couple of times) and the cast is certainly having fun and giving it a good try.  The bad?  It's about an hour and forty-five minutes long which is a little too much.  It's not half bad, really.  It's got some decent musical numbers; my favorite being the evil stepsisters...

...who end up fighting on the floor...topless!  You can see by the set design that they didn't put much money into it but they did try.  I'm sure every nickel spent is on the screen.  There are lots of tits but no dick (sorry, pecker enthusiasts, but they tried very hard to keep from showing any wang).  It's a shame they didn't make it hardcore.  You can edit out the offending bits to soften it up for where ever you want to show it.  Normally Al Adamson's movies bore the piss out of me but this one was able to hold my attention and I did enjoy it a little despite the long run time.  The boobs helped A LOT.  Thanks, Al!

Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers (1967)

Director: Larry E. Jackson

Writers: Robert V. Barron, Larry E. Jackson

Composer: ???

Starring: Del Reeves, Hugh X. Lewis, Sonny Tufts, David Houston, Greta Thyssen, Maxie Rosenbloom, Lila Lee, Tommy Noonan, Hank Mills, Philip Hunter, Margie Bowes, David Wilkins, J.D. Marshall, Theodore Lehmann, Birgitta Andersson, Robert V. Barron, Mel Tillis, Jack Morey, Buck Bayliss

More info: IMDb

Tagline: It's a Swamp Romp

Plot: Hayseeds abound in this musical comedy, two star-struck hoboes hop what they think is a west-bound train that will land them in Hollywood. Well, it's going to Hollywood all right, but unfortunately its destination is Hollywood, Florida. The two become so hungry along the way that they are forced to ditch the train. They end up somewhere in the deep South and eventually try to swipe a hen. Unfortunately, they get caught by the Zickafoose family who chase them all about. Soon white lightning runners are also after them and all sorts of chaos ensues.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

You might not know it by just the names in the cast but this dumb ass picture is loaded with talent.  For one example, Lila Lee (in her last film) made almost 100 pictures dating back to 1918!  This flick is one of those dumb Hicksploitation cheapies that were in abundance in the late 60s and 70s.  It's low budget, the acting isn't meant to be good, the Southern stereotypes are all over this and the humor is so dumb that I doubt many people over the age of 8 will laugh much.  But, and this is a big BUT, it's not nearly as bad as many I've seen.  The Florida location shooting is marvelous.  The moss hanging from the trees, rivers, swamps, etc. are great.  There's a chase down a river with an airboat being pursued by an aqua car or whatever it's called.  A cherry red covertible drives off the road and into the water.  A couple of minutes later the airboat has somehow made it's way on a backwoods road and blasts through the police roadblock.  The fuck?

 

The plot is simple but it's interrupted periodically with a string of country songs, some of which are not bad at all.  Mell Tillis (his first movie acting gig) has a small speaking role (where he doesn't stutter) and a song. I did laugh a little and it was mostly at Tommy Noonan (also his last picture).  I'm giving it a slightly higher score because it's not as bad as most of its type, I did end up laughing a little, the songs aren't band and are welcome (and there's a bunch) and at least they don't have the police being complete and utter incompetent dumb fucks (although they have degrees of idiocy).  As lame as this movie sounds, there are enough small reasons to want to watch it, even if you probably aren't likely to enjoy it. 

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Director: Tim Burton

Writers: John Logan, Hugh Wheeler, Christopher Bond

Composers: Stephen Sondheim, Michael Higham

Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Laura Michelle Kelly, Jayne Wisener, Ed Sanders

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Never Forget. Never Forgive.

Plot: The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, AKA Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Great flick.  I'm kind of surprised it took me nearly ten years to see it, especially since I wanted to see it in the theater when it came out.  It's one of the rare (these days at least) Johnny Depp performances that I like.  I've been saying for years that he and Tim Burton need a moratorium for a few years.  I'm thoroughly impressed with this picture.  The look of the film is beautifully dark.  Many of the songs are very good and the stars sing them impressively well.  And the abundance of slit throats!  YES!  It's great that they went for the gore and an R rating.  I loved that bit.  You don't see too many movies about serial killers with a song in their heart.  Man, the production values are outstanding and I wasn't bored for a moment.  The pacing is just right and I was captivated until the credits rolled.  Nice.  The DreamWorks DVD has a great anamorphic widescreen print with only one extra, a nicely done behind the scenes doc (26 minutes).  Now why isn't there a Blu-ray of this?

Popeye (1980)

Director: Robert Altman

Writer:  Jules Feiffer

Composer: Harry Nilsson

Starring: Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, Ray Walston, Paul Dooley, Paul L. Smith, Richard Libertini, Donald Moffat, MacIntyre Dixon, Roberta Maxwell, Donovan Scott, Bill Irwin, Linda Hunt, Dennis Franz

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Haves a happy holiday wit me an' Olive!

Plot:  Popeye arrives in the seaside town Sweethaven in search of his long-lost father. Popeye finds that the town is governed by the pirate and big bully Bluto.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  Nope.

Wow.  I haven't seen this since the theater 35 years ago.  I still remember some of the songs, the finale with the octopus fight and Pappy saying "haul ass" a lot.  And that's what I enjoyed on this viewing.  It's cute for kids.  The casting is spot on and the sets are amazing.  They did a fantastic job in recreating the world of Popeye but there's something missing that keeps this from being so much better than it is and I can't figure it out.  Maybe it needed to be more quickly paced or shorter.  Beats me.  One of the best bits for my money is the under the breath dialogue from Popeye.  It's just like it was in the old cartoons from the 40s.  I loved that about the original shorts.  It's a cute film but it's also somewhat of a misfire even if it's not all that bad.  The Paramount DVD sports a great looking anamorphic widescreen print with no extras. 

Ups and Downs (1937)

Director: Roy Mack

Writers: Jack Henley, Cyrus Wood

Composers: Saul Chaplin, Sammy Cahn

Starring: Hal Le Roy, June Allyson, Toni Lane, The Deauville Boys, Fred Hillebrand, Phil Silvers, Reed Brown Jr., Alexander Campbell

More info: IDMb


Plot: June Daily, daughter of stockbroker J. C. Daily, is engaged to father's assistant Richard Burton, but is enamored of tap-dancing elevator operator Hal Smith. J.C. has a hot tip on stock for the Upsadaisy Elevator Company. When Richard goes out of town, June invites Hal to dinner with J.C. J.C. is no snob, and seizes the opportunity to ask an "expert" about Upsadaisy Elevators. Hal gives them a ringing endorsement, and J.C. buys all the stock he can get. When Richard learns this, he breaks his engagement to June, thinking J.C. has gone broke. But the stock flourishes, and J.C. introduces Hal as his new partner and future son-in-law.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Probably not.

Man, can that Hal Le Roy dance!  Watching those feet move so effortlessly is an absolute joy.  His singing didn't match that talent but who cares?  Hell, it's worth watching if only to see a 26 year old Phil Silvers in his first silver screen appearance.  The story about stocks and elevators is OK but it's only their to hang some song and dance routines on with a little bit of light comedy.  This short is one of the few extras on the Warner Bros. DVD for STAGE DOOR (1937), an excellent film on its own.

Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)

Directors: Allan Arkush, Joe Dante

Writers: Richard Whitley, Russ Dvonch, Joseph McBride, Allan Arkush, Joe Dante

Composer: Rock songs

Starring:  P.J. Soles, Vincent Van Patten, Clint Howard, Dey Young, Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, Dick Miller, Don Steele, Alix Elias, Loren Lester, Daniel Davies, Lynn Farrell, Herbie Braha, The Ramones

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Hey ho, Let's go!

Plot: A group of rock-music-loving students, with the help of the Ramones, take over their school to combat its newly installed oppressive administration.

My rating:  5/10

Will I watch it again?  Nope.

What essentially is a teen comedy masquerading as a 93 minute commercial for the band, The Ramones, fans of Roger Corman's films of the 70s will recognize a lot of familiar faces (that was my favorite part as is with a lot of his pictures during that decade).  A lot of the acting is, as required, over the top but it works for what it's trying to be. One gag that I found incredibly funny was the paper airplane that took a tour of the school.  Hilarious.  You know what else was hilarious?  Joey Ramone's hideously bad,  utterly hysterically horrible acting.

Did you hear him at the 1:14 mark?  WOW! The movie has some sporadic laughs but there's a lot of irritating for cats like me.  I can totally see how people could really dig this film to an extreme.  Maybe if I'd caught it when it came out I'd be more inclined to dig it but not since I got around to finally seeing it 35 years too late.  The soundtrack is fun and it feels like the cast and crew had a great time making the picture, it's just not my bag right now.  The New World Pictures DVD has some extras including a 4 minute interview with Corman by Leonard Martin (it's great but way too short), 12 minutes of The Ramones from the concert in the film, 15 minutes of audio outtakes from the live recording The Ramones made for the picture, the original trailer (anamorphic widescreen), a commentary track with the director,Arkush, producer Michael Finnell and screenwriter Richard Whitley and trailers for EAT MY DUST, BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS and SATURDAY THE 14th (all fullscreen).

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Director: Michael Curtiz

Writers: Robert Buckner, Edmund Joseph, Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein

Composer: George M. Cohan, Ray Heindorf, Heinz Roemheld

Starring: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Richard Whorf, Irene Manning, George Tobias, Rosemary DeCamp, Jeanne Cagney, Frances Langford, George Barbier, S.Z. Sakall, Walter Catlett, Douglas Croft, Eddie Foy Jr., Minor Watson, Chester Clute, Odette Myrtil, Patsy Parsons, Jack Young

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Based on the story of GEORGE M. COHAN with the Greatest of all his Great Music

Plot: A musical portrait of composer/singer/dancer George M. Cohan. From his early days as a child-star in his family's vaudeville show up to the time of his comeback at which he received a medal from the president for his special contributions to the US, this is the life- story of George M. Cohan, who produced, directed, wrote and starred in his own musical shows for which he composed his famous songs.

My rating: 10/10

Will I watch it again? YES!!!!!!

This was already one of my favorite movies of all time and Cagney IS my favorite actor but seeing this in a gorgeous 1920s theater up there on the big screen changes everything.  It was an emotional cinematic experience that further solidifies that movies are meant to be seen that way and you should take every opportunity to see them projected larger than life.  I was in tears throughout the entire film...not of sadness but joy.  Cagney is a presence to behold.  What a powerhouse of a performance!  The dancing alone is astounding.  It's one of the all-time great performances and there's no arguing that.  He'll make you laugh and cry within the same scene, without edits, and he does it so effortlessly that it's uncanny.  I could go on for pages about the merits of this picture.  There's only one minor grievance I have and that's Jack Young's performance of the President which sounds like he's giving a speech to the nation rather than a one-on-one with Cohan.  Outside of that this movie is utterly flawless in every department.  There's a wonderful scene where Cohan (Cagney) wrote a song for his wife, Mary (Leslie), but was forced to give to a top Broadway performer as enticement to be in his musical, something he desperately needed at the time. It kills him that he had to do it and he has to break it to Mary.  As a viewer, you're guts are all torn up because you feel just as horrible about it and you don't want to see Mary hurt but the scene plays out so masterfully that you're laughing with joy at the end of it. 

The actors hit all the right notes, the choreography (LeRoy Prinz, Seymour Felix, Jack Boyle) is top notch, the cinematography (James Wong Howe), editing (George Amy), costumes (Milo Anderson) and everything but Young goes to show what a large group of incredibly talented people can do.  If this picture has this kind of effect on me seventy years after, I can only imagine what it would have done coming out just a few months after the country had entered WWII.  One of the biggest stars, of course, is the music by George M. Cohan.  "Over There", "Give My Regards to Broadway", "The Yankee Doodle Boy", "You're a Grand Old Flag" are just a few of the songs he wrote and are featured prominently in this picture.  Then there's the beautiful song "Mary's a Grand Old Name" and the fun "Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway".  I don't care how inaccurate this picture might be.  It's a damn fine picture and one of the best.  The Warner Bros. 2-disc DVD set is loaded with extras including a great 47 minute documentary on Cagney's movie career.  It's by all means just the tip of the iceberg but it's a great introduction to one hell of a guy that happened by make great pictures.