Tag Archives: movie reviews

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON – SCROOGE (1935) ON THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT

Scrooge 1935Balladeer’s Blog’s 9th Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues!

Before MST3K there was … The Texas 27 Film Vault!

In the middle 1980s, way down on Level 31 Randy Clower and Richard Malmos, machine-gun toting Film Vault Technicians First Class hosted this neglected cult show.

SCROOGE (1935)

ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: December 14th, 1985 to the best that can be determined.

Flash Gordon Conquers the UniverseSERIAL: Before showing and mocking the movie our members of the Film Vault Corps showed and mocked a chapter of Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940).

In that serial Ming the Merciless unleashes a disease called the Purple Death on Earth, prompting Flash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr Zarkov to fly to the planet Mongo to find a cure and defeat Ming for good.

HOST SEGMENTS: None have been unearthed for this episode yet. As always if any other fans of this show have any info they would like to share feel free to contact me – see my About page for details.    

We’ve come a long way toward tentatively reconstructing a tiny bit of this show’s history over the past few years so hopefully more memories will be jogged.

MOVIE:  Continue reading

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AN ALL DOGS CHRISTMAS CAROL (1998): CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON CONTINUES

All Dogs Christmas CarolBalladeer’s Blog’s Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2018 continues with a look at this animated sequel to All Dogs Go To Heaven.

The dog-angel characters from that reasonably successful film use their Heavenly powers to get the dog-gangster Carface Caruthers (Ernest Borgnine) to change his ways. The portions of this direct-to- video flick dealing with the actual Christmas Carol adaptation are very good. 

Unfortunately that element takes up barely half of the story. The overall tale is about a demonic figure called Belladonna (Bebe Neuwirth) who wants to use a gigantic magic dog bone to manipulate all of Earth’s dogs in a plot to destroy Christmas. Dog-Angels Charlie Barkin (Steven Weber) and Itchy (Dom Deluise) from the previous movie need the help of canine crime-lord Carface to thwart Belladonna’s plans. Hence the plot to “Dickens” him into becoming a better man … or dog, actually.   Continue reading

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SUSAN LUCCI’S CHRISTMAS CAROL: EBBIE (1995)

ebbieEBBIE (1995) Balladeer’s Blog’s Ninth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon rolls along with this 1995 telefilm  starring soap opera queen Susan Lucci. The eternally-sexy Lucci plays Elizabeth “Ebbie” Scrooge, our regulation “grasping and covetous” business magnate who runs the Dobson’s department store empire. This version of A Christmas Carol is kind of cute and it tries hard.

At its core Ebbie combines the Dickens tale with elements of the Diane Keaton movie Baby Boom. The dialogue self-consciously uses Big Business/ Executive Culture cliches in various exchanges. For example, where Scrooge normally says “Can’t I take them (the Ghosts) all at once and have it over with” Ebbie instead says “Can’t I just Conference Call them all in and have it over with?” Plus Marley’s Ghost refers to Scrooge “taking meetings” with the three Spirits. Sometimes these substitutions are amusing, other times just eye-rolling.  

Ebbie is one of those Carols which make the Ghosts look like people that the Scrooge figure knows in real life. Personally I don’t care for that approach but others do, so it’s all just a question of taste. An interesting note is that outside of Susan Lucci and the guy who plays her late partner Jake Marley (Jeffrey DeMunn) virtually NOBODY in the cast is recognizable. It’s like The Susan Lucci Community Theater Players Present A Christmas Carol.

Taking the crucial elements of the tale in order: Continue reading

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A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984): GEORGE C SCOTT VERSION

George C Scott CarolBalladeer’s Blog’s 9th Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with this take on one of the perennial staples of Christmastime viewing. Readers are often surprised that I haven’t reviewed this one even though it’s one of my favorites. No special reason, it’s just that so many excellent reviews have already covered this Carol that I wanted to hit the more obscure versions first.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984) – Let me kick off this review with my old, overused joke about wanting to hear George C Scott holler “Dickens, you magnificent bastard … I READ YER BOOOOOOOOK!”

My only complaints about this undeniable classic would be 1) the way it’s one of those Carols which unnecessarily add extra tension to the relationship between Scrooge and his father  and 2) unnecessary magnification of why the poor and unemployed are sad at Christmas. Dickens put it poetically. This adaptation belabors it.

Moving on to the performances:

SCROOGE – Be thankful that George C Scott toned down his George C Scottishness for this role. If you’ve seen him as Fagan in the 1982 adaptation of Oliver Twist you know what a bullet this Christmas Carol dodged. (“When you put your hand into a pile of goo that a minute ago was the Artful Dodger’s face … You’ll know what to do.” That’s the last time I’ll do that. I promise.)  Continue reading

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CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON CONTINUES: JOHN GRIN’S CHRISTMAS (1986)

john-grins-christmas

Wealthy John Grin (left) with a Ghostly Visitor

JOHN GRIN’S CHRISTMAS (1986) – The 2018 edition of Balladeer’s Blog’s Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with this obscure item from the 1980s. My copy of John Grin’s Christmas was already barely watchable when I first tracked it down and it looks worse and worse each time I watch it. Still no DVD release, though, so I’ve decided to give up hoping for a clearer copy and will just review it as is.

Regular readers are familiar with the obsessive lengths I go to in order to track down the various out-of-the-way adaptations of A Christmas Carol. I’m afraid this time around the story is kind of dull – I bought John Grin’s Christmas from someone on E-Bay a few years back. They had taped it off television in 1986 and were selling that very faded and gargly-sounding VHS tape.

Renaissance Man Robert Guillaume directed and stars as the Ebenezer Scrooge stand-in John Grin, our title craftsman who makes a variety of collectibles. Many sources claim he only makes toys but that is not true, it’s just that as Christmas approaches most of his sales are toys. And, since the story is set around Christmas time … Continue reading

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CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2018 BEGINS: LEYENDA DE NAVIDAD (1947)

If it’s the Friday after Thanksgiving then that means it’s the start of this year’s Christmas Carol-A-Thon! Between now and Christmas Day Balladeer’s Blog will examine multiple versions of A Christmas Carol, both new reviews AND old favorites mixed in. 

Leyenda de NavidadThis film version of A Christmas Carol was produced in Spain in 1947 (and was remade for Spanish television in 1966 ) and the Spanish language title is Leyenda de Navidad ( Legend of Christmas, of course).

The film was written and directed by Manuel Tamayo (who wrote the screenplay for the 1955 feature Tarde de Toros) This is a wonderful version for several reasons, not the least of which would be its well-done (for the time period) sets of 1843 London.

We’ll take the differences and similarities to other versions in order – 1. Scrooge has several people working for him for some reason, not just Bob Cratchit and NONE of them get Christmas Day off from this Scrooge  …

2.  Marley’s Ghost steps out of a life-sized portrait of the man that adorns the wall above a fireplace, and returns to that portrait after his standard warning about the 3 Ghosts … Continue reading

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THANKSGIVING THEMED BAD MOVIES AND SHORTS

For this holiday week Balladeer’s Blog is focusing on topics that are seasonal. This time around it’s bad movies and hilariously lame educational shorts that have a specific Thanksgiving theme. As always my Bad Movie page contains full-length reviews of the films I’m offering a brief synopsis of here.

BLOOD FREAK (1972) – This movie is about a man who turns into a murderous monster with the head of a turkey after he eats a chemically treated gobbler at the turkey farm where he works. Blood Freak has been a cult classic for Thanksgiving for decades now, with many Movie Host shows of the late 70s onward making a point of screening it at this time of year (including The Texas 27 Film Vault). The biker who turns into the blood-crazed turkey monster is an Elvis look-alike which adds to the fun. So does the desk-bound, chain-smoking, script-reading narrator who sermonizes about the evils of drug abuse while the movie plays.

A DAY OF THANKSGIVING (1951) – This 12 minute educational short would make a nice dessert after a Turkey Day screening of Blood Freak. The Johnson family – composed of Mom, Dad, Dick, Susan, Tommy and the toddler Janet – can’t afford a turkey for Thanksgiving. The children are at first callously (and comically) bratty about it, but relent after Dad – in his sexiest voice for some reason – gives the kids a lecture about being grateful for what you have instead of obsessing over the things you don’t have. Continue reading

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MINI-REVIEWS OF TWO NEGLECTED MOVIES

GizmoGIZMO (1977) – An entertaining documentary about some of the oddest inventions you could possibly imagine. Some never made it anywhere close to actually working, while others worked but proved so hopelessly impractical that you’ll howl with laughter at the wasted effort.

You’ll see failed aircraft and land vehicles as well as in-home contraptions powered by moving animals like the joke appliances on The Flintstones.

Make sure you watch the longer 77 minute version of this Howard Smith work so that you get all the fun.  Continue reading

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A DAY OF JUDGMENT (1981): MOVIE REVIEW

Halloween Month continues! Independent filmmaker Earl Owensby churned out a long list of movies over the years, including this horror flick. For more Earl Owensby horror films click HERE

A Day of Judgment 1

Owensby’s macabre Grim Reaper/ Fool Killer style monster from A Day of Judgment.

A DAY OF JUDGMENT (1981) – This movie plays as if Owensby collaborated with Reverend Estus W Pirkle like Ron Ormond did for the religious zealot/ Cold War potboiler If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? 

You can strip away that movie’s Cold War angle, though, since A Day of Judgment is set in the 1920s American south. Well, 1920s-ISH we’ll say since the usual fun Owensby anachronisms turn up repeatedly in assorted scenes.  

Reverend Cage addresses a church that is virtually empty and bores the few faithful who remain by bitching and moaning about how poor attendance has been. He’s leaving town and is basically washing his hands of the place, warning that the increasingly sinful town will get what’s coming to it. 

A Day of Judgment 3Next we have a series of scenes featuring some of the more sinful citizens of the deep southern town. Adultery, bigotry, covetousness, greed and outright murderous passions lurk behind every corner of this Mayberry-turned-Sodom and Gomorrah. These scenes go on so long even Larry Buchanan would scream “Pick up the pace, dammit!” at the screen.

A sinister, monstrously ugly man in black arrives in town, driving a horse-drawn carriage and sporting a long scythe. This figure is the film’s Grim Reaper/ Angel of Death/ Foolkiller- type menace. Continue reading

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THE NUDE VAMPIRE (1970): MOVIE REVIEW

masc graveyard newHalloween is celebrated all month long here at Balladeer’s Blog. Here’s my review of this Jean Rollin film. For even more reviews of horror films with a nudity theme click HERE  

And for my look at three more Jean Rollin movies click HERE and HERE

Nude Vampire

The Nude Vampire

5. THE NUDE VAMPIRE (1970) – France’s Jean Rollin is one of those love-them-or-hate-them directors. The snooty French often bashed his films for their devotion to style over all else. Don’t believe reviews which claim that his movies have no comprehensible storylines.

Personally I find him more straightforward than Lynch or Jodorowsky. At any rate the central figure of this arthouse Euro-horror is indeed a beautiful female vampire in skimpy outfits and less. Continue reading

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