ALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP aka Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp (1917) – Remember how the 1976 movie Bugsy Malone presented a gangster tale with children in all the roles? And how Shirley Temple starred in an entire series of Baby Burlesque shorts with all-child casts in assorted genres? Well, this 80-minute silent film was earlier than all of them.
All but a few roles are played by children and the Genie is played by one of the adults in the cast – Elmo Lincoln, who would star as the first screen Tarzan the following year. The child cast members overact like crazy but to me that just adds to the cartoonish charm of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp. Continue reading
DAIGORO VS GOLIATH (1972) – This neglected kaiju (giant monster) film from Japan is one of the most obscure of them all in America. That’s odd since the movie was a joint project between the creators of Godzilla AND the creators of Ultraman, two very popular characters here in the west.
NUMBER FOUR TAKES A FALL – On Senior Night for the SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY FIRE they welcomed the number 4 team in the nation – the AVE MARIA UNIVERSITY GYRENES. The Fire put AMU on Upset Alert by Halftime with their 39-29 lead, but the Gyrenes forced Overtime with a 71-71 tie. In the extra session Southeastern U. won 83-80. Anthony Kangah led the victors with 21 points while teammate Nathan Mikkelson got a Double Double of 19 points and 13 rebounds.
CENTURY CLUB – Teams scoring 100 or more points in Regulation: The ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS COLLEGE POMEROYS beat the visiting INDIANA UNIVERSITY AT COLUMBUS CRIMSON PRIDE 101-70 ### Meanwhile, the UNIVERSITY OF RIO GRANDE (OH) RED STORM downed the KENTUCKY CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS 114-79 ### And the GOVERNORS STATE JAGUARS won 107-55 at the JUDSON UNIVERSITY EAGLES. 
MARVEL PREMIERE Vol 1 #31 (Aug 1976) 
Superstitious people in Liberty, NM get covert glimpses of the creature and decide to raid the Pace ranch to destroy Woodgod and any other such “monsters” being created there. David and Ellen are shot to death in the attack but our main character is super-strong and invulnerable, so he survives being shot multiple times.
THE ROBERT HERRIDGE THEATER (1960-1961) – This half-hour anthology series ran 26 episodes and featured dramatizations of stories by prominent authors as well as experimental installments. 
THE MILES DAVIS STORY – An experimental biography of Miles Davis told via concert footage of Davis himself as well as Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, Ahmad Jamal and Gil Evans. 
R.I.P. Robert Duvall. This year we say goodbye to this monumental actor like we said goodbye to his friend and fellow thespian giant Gene Hackman early last year. Most tributes will cover Duvall’s roles in his many, many films whose titles are household words. This being Balladeer’s Blog I’ll instead look at some of his overlooked gems. 
TOMORROW (1972) – Robert Duvall – who called this one of his favorite performances – plays poverty-stricken farmer and sawmill operator Jackson Fentry of Mississippi. One cold December evening he comes across the pregnant Sarah Eubanks, a poor woman whose abusive husband has abandoned her because he wants nothing to do with raising their child. 
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