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Nightmarechicken
Reviews
Edo ni arawareta Kingu Kongu: Henge no maki (1938)
Still extant?
Sadly recorded as a lost film, it seems highly unlikely that a print of Edo ni arawareta Kingu Kongu still exists even in Japan.
A Japanese version of the RKO classic, it would be especially interesting to see due to the fact Fuminori Ohashi worked on the special effects. He also produced effects for the Godzilla movies, the 60s Toho versions of King Kong (such as Godzilla vs. King Kong) and worked on the original Planet of the Apes.
Considering giant monster movies are one Japan's most famous movie exports - and despite their ephemeral nature, were (and still are) highly entertaining, varied and influential - it's very sad that their earliest ancestor can no longer be seen trampling across the land in all his monotone splendor.
Starsky & Hutch (2004)
Fun with a capital "F"
I've read quite a few bad reviews of this more which follow a very similar trend to the way that know-it-all movie geeks slated Charlie's Angels II. They take themselves so seriously that they can't get their head around a movie which doesn't take itself seriously in the slightest. It's not an all out spoof, or action comedy, it's just a bit of a giggle - and to anyone who actually watched these shows first time around as children or teenagers (like this film's performers and film makers) it's easy to see what they were after, and what they've achieved.
Starsky and Hutch is great fun, a true popcorn movie - Stiller and Wilson are a very likeable double act and subsequently the movie itself gets by on sheer charm.
Sure, some of the gags fall a bit flat, but overall the sense of fun pervades the entire picture and carries it through the less inspired moments.
It has a great score, plus some choice 70s cuts from the likes of Edwin Starr and Eric Clapton, an excellent cast (how can you not love a movie that casts Fred Williamson as an ass-chewing police chief) and a pace which never allows the film to flag.
It's a movie for people who still enjoy old movies and TV shows, but certainly not for the geek crowd who approach even the lightest of works with sullen and clinical obsession. One review I read slated the film purely on the basis that it wasn't the "serious cop drama" the original was - do these people have any knowledge whatsoever of the source material before they write their reviews?!?
Certainly it's pretty much light-weight, throw-away stuff - what's wrong with that? It's a laugh from start to finish and if you walk out of the cinema without a smile on your face then you're the one with the problem, not the movie!
Alice and the Dog Catcher (1924)
Where's Alice? She's there the whole time!
Not sure what film one of the other reviewers has seen - but it can't be "Alice & The Dog Catcher".
Alice (played by Mildred Davis lookalike Virgina Davis - her sister perhaps?) appears throughout - more so than in most Alice cartoons from Disney. The film plays far more like one of the Our Gang comedies from the Hal Roach studio. Animation is limited to a very short section in the middle of the film where Alice tells a story of a cartoon dog-catcher and how she rescued a family of pups from his castle stronghold (no kidding!) Animation is limited but the integration of the live-action Alice is excellent.
The majority of the film (about two thirds) is live action - a parallel tale of Alice and her version of Our Gang (complete with very similar children) and how they rescue a group of dogs from a pair of dog catchers. It comes across more as a live-action silent comedy with a brief animated interlude. Virgina Davis as Alice appears in virtually every scene.
Film ends with a hair-raising car chase, featuring some excellent stunt work plus some rare views of Los Angeles circa 1924. It should also be noted the film features a series of bizarre and distasteful Klu Klux Klan gags at the beginning - very odd.
Interesting to compare this film to the later Mickey Mouse cartoon "The Worm Turns" which also features a dog catcher theme. All in all an unusual Alice cartoon, well worth seeking out for it's curiosity value alone.