Balladeer’s Blog’s annual end of year retrospective continues with this look at March’s best:
CALL OF CTHULHU: THE SILENT MOVIE (2005) – A very clever black & white film presented like a silent movie as it would have been produced in a 1928 adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s story The Call of Cthulhu.
The “impossible” architecture of the risen city of R’lyeh is depicted in the style of Metropolis (1927) and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) and huge Cthulhu’s movements are done like the stop-motion in The Lost World (1925). For my full-length review click HERE.
POLITICAL CARTOON ROUNDUP: MARCH 6th – Find it HERE. FOR MARCH 24th HERE.
MONDO MIKE HAMMER MOVIES – My look at some of the straightforward AND the bizarre Mike Hammer detective movies from America and Japan, where the character was called Maiku Hama. And the Japanese versions are just part of the story. The full article HERE.
HOW PRIVILEGED WHITE ONE PERCENTER NANCY PELOSI AND HER HUSBAND ABUSED THE SYSTEM TO GROW RICH – All that and more HERE.
AFRICAN EPIC MYTH: AIWEL LONGAR – You can read my examination of it HERE.
FEBRUARY NEWS ABOUT THE BIDEN CRIME FAMILY LAPTOP COVERUP – So much was being hidden and lied about. Read it HERE.
DAVID LYNCH’S WISTERIA/ UNRECORDED NIGHT – The potential new Twin Peaks project, either a sequel or a prequel. Click HERE.
LUKE CAGE, HERO FOR HIRE – My look at his early adventures as he battled villains like Diamondback, Gideon Mace, Black Mariah, Chemistro, Stiletto, Cottonmouth and more. You can read the article HERE.
THE BIDEN REGIME RELEASED A RUSSIAN HACKER A YEAR BEFORE HIS SENTENCE WAS UP – Even before Biden let loose deathmonger Viktor Bout he also helped Putin by freeing this hacker who may have gone on to help Russian cyber-strikes against Ukraine. Find it HERE. Continue reading
The competing teams are the NORTH-WESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS and the KEISER UNIVERSITY SEA HAWKS. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 Noon ET. 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – The COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES OREDIGGERS took the field against the SHEPHERD UNIVERSITY RAMS in this game. A 3-0 1st Quarter edge for the Orediggers turned into a 17-3 advantage by Halftime. After the break the Colorado School of Mines limited the Rams to just 10 points in the 4th Quarter while piling up points for themselves. The final score was Orediggers 44 Shepherd U. 13. 
THE SUPERMAN MUSICAL FROM 1975 – This stage musical from the 1960s was trying for that intentionally campy and overdone feel of the Adam West Batman series. The official title is It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s Superman! In this 1975 made for tv staging, David Wilson plays Clark Kent/ Superman, Lesley Ann Warren is Lois Lane, Loretta Swit portrays a femme fatale, plus David Wayne and Kenneth Mars play the main villains. Allen Ludden fills the Perry White role, while Malachi Throne, Harvey Lembeck and Al Molinaro play gangsters. You can read the full review 
THE AFTERMAN (1985) – This post-apocalypse film from Belgium is not for the squeamish. The story presents 1991 as the year nuclear war broke out, and in 2011 our lead character has run out of provisions in the radiation-proof shelter he’s been in for 20 years. The rest of the flick deals with his often violent and depraved encounters with the barbaric world that’s left. My full review is 
DEATH GAME (1977) – This horror/ suspense film is OUT THERE. From the bizarrely inappropriate opening song to the home invasion aspect to the exploitative middle section all the way up to the surreal ending. Sondra Locke, Colleen Camp, Bill Paxton and Sissy Spacek were all involved with this weird flick. Death Game inspired a much later remake starring Keanu Reeves. My full review is 
JUNGLE MANHUNT (October 1951) – This seventh Jungle Jim feature film is one of the best examples of how the franchise combined fun escapism with outlandish “So Bad They’re Good” film antics. After rescuing female reporter Anne Lawrence (Sheila Ryan) when her boat overturns, Jungle Jim agrees to guide her on her search for Bob Miller – played by real-life football star Bob Waterfield, Jane Russell’s husband. 
Our hero and Anne also encounter dinosaurs – yes, dinosaurs – in the jungle region where Bob Miller’s plane went down. Much of it is stock footage from One Million B.C. but at one point, Jungle Jim clashes with an upright-walking, man-sized dinosaur who looks like the model for the Gorn Captain fought by Captain Kirk years later. Or maybe Barney the Dinosaur.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1982) – Burbank Films of Australia produced this mediocre at best animated version of the Dickens classic. Previously I reviewed the 1969 Australian cartoon version and if you were to go strictly by this 1982 rendition of A Christmas Carol you would think that Australian animation technology had not progressed one bit since 1969.
DEATH MACHINES (1976) – Martial Arts meets science fiction meets spy antics in this odd, feverish cult film starring a young Ron Marchini. You can read my review of the movie 
HUNTERWALI – India’s films about their Zorroesque masked heroine who uses her sword and whip against a tyrannical Vazier and his men. There were Indian-made movies about the character in 1935, 1959, 1972, 1977, 1988 and 2017. 
BRUM (1991-2002): FORGOTTEN TELEVISION – A neglected children’s series from the U.K. I reviewed the adventures of the living toy car 
JIREL OF JOIRY – Female author C.L. Moore’s short stories about her 1930s sword-wielding warrior woman Jirel of Castle Joiry. 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – The KEISER UNIVERSITY SEA HAWKS visited the GRAND VIEW UNIVERSITY VIKINGS (should be the Zebras) in this game. The 1st Quarter ended with the Sea Hawks up 7-0 before expanding that to a 21-7 advantage by Halftime. After the break, Keiser University outscored Grand View 17-14 for a 38-21 Upset and a trip to the title game on December 17th. 
SECOND SEMIFINAL – Up next the NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS took the field against the INDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY WILDCATS. A 17-0 Red Raiders lead in the opening Quarter remained unchanged at the Half. The 3rd Quarter ended with Northwestern College on top 31-0 and the 4th in a 38-7 Red Raiders win. It will be Red Raiders and Sea Hawks in the Championship Game. 
AIR MAN 
BLUE LADY 
BLACKADDER’S CHRISTMAS CAROL – Balladeer’s Blog’s 13th Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues! Long-time readers know what a big fan I am of Rowan Atkinson’s work – especially his Blackadder programs. Hell, I’m even an enormous fan of his more serious work in Full Throttle. And I never tire of telling anyone who will listen that I think he’d make a perfect Dikaiopolis in Aristophanes’ comedy The Acharnians. 
