Swing Parade (Audio Commentary)

Film Year:  1946
Genre:  Musical, Comedy
Director:  Phil Karlson
Starring:  Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Gale Storm, Phil Regan, Russell Hicks, Edward Brophy, Mary Treen, Connee Boswell, Louis Jordan
Commentator:  Michael J. Nelson

The Movie

Initially titled the more dated "Swing Parade of 1946," Swing Parade is the most circulated film to ever feature the Three Stooges.  This isn't because it's the best but rather because of its public domain status.  Just about anyone can release this movie, and on most releases you'll see "THE THREE STOOGES" plastered above the actual title of the movie, which is usually in a much smaller font (and that's including the Legend Films DVD I'm reviewing right now).  The truth of the matter is that the Stooges only have a supporting role and the film doesn't really revolve around the classic comedy trio.

Swing Parade is actually about a struggling singer played by Gale Storm who gets a job at a nightclub, where she falls in love with the club owner.  Unfortunately the club owner's father has been trying to shut down the club, but is unable to serve the process papers to shut it down through many misfortunes (including hired help Stooges).

As a film itself, Swing Parade isn't much.  It's basically just an excuse to film song and dance numbers while the Stooges bring in the comedy crowd.  The musical numbers are uneven, though Louis Jordan's toe tappers are probably at the top of the enjoyment list.  But other numbers just don't have much energy, and are meant to be more mellow and romantic.  When the film was in pristine condition these songs might have played better, but this film is in rough shape and a lot of the songs are washed out.

The Stooges do some new material mixed with old favorites, including pipe gags that were already done to perfection in the classic short A Plumbing We Will Go.  There's some great stuff with the Stooges as waiters bringing guffaws and some wild slapstick.  Unfortunately this is the final feature film Curly was able to film before the stroke that forced him to retire from the group, so Curly is in somewhat ill-health and a lot slower than he'd normally be.  That said, their routines don't quite suffer that much and laughs are still had.

Swing Parade is barely a movie at all, providing barely a story to string together songs and comedy.  But it's pleasant fluff.  It's not too offensive unless you firmly believe film should be more demanding than this, otherwise you might just look at it and say "Oh Brother!"

The Commentary

My favorite comedy teams collide!  Or at the very least brush against each other.  It's the Three Stooges meets Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Or at least a guy from Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Okay, sure why not?

Mike struggles a lot here.  This feels like a film that was handed to him and told he had to do, and to his credit he plows through it even if he sounds disinterested in it.  The film is a comedy, which is a Riffing 101 no-no.  Making things worse is that he has no backup with him, which means he has to pile his own brand of comedy on top of a different brand of comedy without any sort of support.  I don't quite blame him for feeling lost, because the odds are stacked against him here.

On the plus side is that the film is also a musical, and riffing on musical numbers is usually a lot of fun.  Louis Jordan lights up Mike with his fun numbers "Don't Worry About That Mule" and "Caldonia."  The former song becomes a bit of a running gag with Mike as he constantly refers to mules that might be going blind for a while after the number finishes.  Perhaps he rides on this gag a bit too much, but I'd have to say that given the film isn't giving him much to work with I'll give him credit for latching onto something that does and wringing it for what it's worth.  Not all numbers are a goldmine though.  Gale Storm's first number doesn't seem to spark any fire in him, which he just kind of heckles.  It's not really that funny.

As for riffs on the Three Stooges...he doesn't seem to think they can be riffed.  The two comedy styles don't mesh, and Mike realizes this.  He just kind of lets them do their thing while occasionally putting out a smartass quip.  I'm going to have to say that the Stooge routines are a lot funnier than what Mike puts out during these scenes.

For the most part I try to give these commentaries the benefit of the doubt because of limited resources at Mike's disposal and a lack of control Mike had on the movies he's riffing.  But Swing Parade comes off as a movie he should have left alone.  It's not that it's a great movie, it isn't, but it just doesn't gel with him.  And the sad thing is I think Mike realizes this, and he can't do anything except shrug and accept his fate.  Luckily for him that very fate had something bigger in mind, as this was his last Legend commentary and he would soon develop Rifftrax.

Not Recommended

The DVD

Yet another Legend Films colorization disc, but on this one we have the option of watching the commentary with either the colorized or black and white versions of the film.  I chose to watch it colorized, because I actually hadn't seen the colorized version before now.  And whew boy, is it ever garish.  There are so many ugly, mismatched colors being stylized in this version that I almost switched back to the black and white because it seemed healthier for my retinas.

If you're into vintage comedy, this disc might be worthwhile to pick up for the special features, all of which are vintage comedy material loosely related to the film itself..  We have a rare Columbia short starring often Stooge foil Dudley Dickerson, along with El Brendel and Tom Kennedy, called Phoney Cronies.  It features a group of hired hands who accidentally smuggle a thief into a museum.  While it's not up to the standards of the average Columbia Stooges short, it's fine and fairly funny.

Next is a clip from the Abbott and Costello film Africa Screams, which featured alternating Stooges Shemp Howard and Joe Besser.  The clip features Shemp and Joe trying to catch Costello in the middle of a native chase.  It's also colorized.  It's funny, but the film is in the public domain so just hunt down the full thing.  It's quite a fun movie.

Up next is a New 3 Stooges cartoon called Souper Man.  The cartoon features Moe, Larry, and Curly-Joe DeRita thinking that eating a certain kind of soup turns them into superheroes.  There's also a live action bookend with the trio on motorbikes.  Like most of the New 3 Stooges cartoons, it's fine for what it is.

Our next piece is a clip from the movie Smart Alecks, featuring Gale Storm.  Miss Storm helps the East Side Boys make dinner for an unwanted house guest.  Its fairly funny as well.

Our last vintage piece is an episode of the television series My Little Margie, also starring Gale Storm.  There's a bit of a thematic match at play as like Swing Parade this episode is partially about dodging process servers.  The primary story involves Storm's perky Margie character discovering a diary that she thinks was written by a murderer.  It's charming and typical of a vintage family sitcom like this, though not outright hilarious.

The final bonus features are colorized trailers for Swing Parade, The Three Stooges in Color, Africa Screams, March of the Wooden Soldiers, The Jackie Robinson Story, and The Shirley Temple Collection.

The Value of Teamwork (Rifftrax Shorts)

Rifftrax Year:  2016
Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

This wildly obnoxious short tells of a child who stands there and loudly barks his lines, both as a part of a school play and outside of it.  Speaking of barking, his talking dog isn't impressed by his teamwork and decides to give him a lesson in working together.

The Value of Teamwork has a valuable lesson, but just can't get it off the ground.  The examples of non-teamwork are so obviously staged that the short stunts its own lesson by making its main character look like a knob (painting a cow pink?).  But that becomes the fatal flaw in this short, I can't stand being around this kid.  He goes out of his way to be obnoxious, and even if he learns "the value of teamwork," I already hate him, so what's the point?  And then there is the talking dog teaching him the valuable lesson, an ill-advised attempt at being "cool," "cute," and "fun."  Believe me, he's none of those things.

"Ugh, the dog's doing freeform improv.  Get the shock collar."

Since the short is plenty weird, it gives the Mike, Kevin, and Bill a lot to work with.  What backfires for me is that the short itself is an unpleasant experience.  Even when a good line squeezes through the cracks of this mess the short thoroughly suffocates my laughter and rebounds me back into a state of daze.  It's not the fault of the riffers, because the commentary is fine and Mike, Kevin, and Bill know the value of teamwork well, but this is not one that I enjoy.

Thumbs Down

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Killers from Space (The Film Crew)

Film Year:  1954
Genre:  Science Fiction
Director:  W. Lee Wilder
Starring:  Peter Graves, Barbara Bestar, James Seay, Frank Gerstle

The Movie

Ferociously silly in its own presentation, Killers from Space is kind of a gift from god to bad movie lovers everywhere.  The film stars Peter "Ever see a grown man naked?" Graves as an Air Force pilot who crashes his plane but escapes unscathed, unable to remember anything that happened during that time period.  Graves begins looking into the events and discovers that he may have been abducted by aliens.  And if you thought the giant foreheads from This Island Earth were absurd, wait until you get a load of their choice exaggerated attributes.

Yes folks, it's an alien invasion with googly eyes!  But nobody believes Graves' insane ramblings of these Muppet eyed men from outer space, which leads him to try and figure out a way to stop them by himself.

But the beauty of Killers from Space is that the production itself lives up to the absurd aliens at the center.  There's so many poor framing shots zooming up close to faces that stare blankly at the viewer and quite a few lackluster special effects, including the wildly hilarious plane crash at the beginning that seems to give up on physics.

Unfortunately the film is a bit of a rambler, and it's fun inanities can sometimes be too much of a good thing.  Killers from Space will give us the absurd aliens and forced-perspective lizards to please our cheese-senses, but then it proceeds to give us nothing but for about ten to fifteen minutes without offering anything else.  It's a bit overwhelming, and the movie starts to become stale because of it.

And then it abandons everything by making Peter Graves a raving madman on the run, not showing us the aliens again.  It's an interesting third act that's almost clever, but the movie puts all of its cards on the table too soon and it feels like it's pretty much done by this point.

The Riff

Memory can be a funny thing.  I hadn't seen these Film Crew releases in quite a few years and from what I did remember Killers from Space was not a favorite.  I recall being a bit bored with it really.  I anticipated maybe just slugging my way through it but as I sat down to watch this entry into this brief and forgotten canon I found myself laughing quite a bit.  There are a lot of great reaction riffs to the film itself, the goofy aliens and the needless closeups getting the most jolts out of the guys.  They have a lot of fun with Peter Graves, which they always seem to do.  Mike gets one of my favorite lines in the episode when Peter sneaks around in an office, cuing the observations "Yeah, nobody's going to notice a six-foot-four Sweed."

But all is not sunshine and roses.  As the film drones on a bit, Mike, Kevin, and Bill seem to get a bit bored as well.  The venture into the menagerie of giant animals wears out its welcome after a while.  Sometimes a joke doesn't jive, but they decide to run it into the ground anyway, such as Kevin saying "MITTENS!" every time there is a close-up of a space man's hand.  There is also a bit of an overkill on "Biography" jokes, which is the same pitfall they fell into with Parts:  The Clonus Horror.

The host segments are charming winners.  I love the opening where Kevin nearly electrocutes himself to death and continues the segment with obviously limited brain function.  There is a fun Lunch Break presentation in which Kevin presents alternate exaggerated features for the aliens, which echos the "Is Torgo a monster?" segment from "Manos" The Hands of Fate.  There's also an amusing finale in which Mike and Kevin imitate the horrifying close-ups from the movie.

Enjoying this Film Crew episode as much as I did, I'm starting to think they never made a bad riff.  This was the only one I remember not enjoying that much, but time has been kind to it.  Maybe the Film Crew's legacy is really one that should be remembered in the riffing world:  short but sweet.

Good

The DVD

Like all Film Crew releases, Killers from Space was initially filmed by Rhino in 2005 but shelved and abandoned, while Shout Factory eventually released them on individual discs in 2007.  Overall I think the video is an improvement over Hollywood After Dark, in the host segments at least, which look a bit clearer.  These are still presented in non-animorphic widescreen while the film itself is in full screen.  The picture on Killers from Space is ugly and beat up, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

There is a bonus feature called "Did You Know...," which has Kevin telling us a piece of trivia about the backwards speak of the space men and displaying what he's really saying.  Afterward five "outtakes" are presented, which are really just hidden messages from Mike in backwards speak, usually hostile against Peter Graves.

Are You Popular? (Rifftrax Shorts)

Rifftrax Year:  2008
Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

Folks, I watched Mystery Science Theater when I was in high school.  I was never popular.

This short seemingly aimed at nobody in particular wonders on in a daze, trying to figure out if it had a point or not.  It tells the tale of a girl at school who a lot of boys like, and the way she balances dates.  That's about it.

I'm certain there was something quaintly informative about this short that's trying to burst out, but I fail to see how it was helpful at all.  Was it made for high school girls who need to know how to balance boys in their schedule?  Was it made for boys in an attempt to teach them how to approach girls who are popular with other boys?  What about the unpopular, low self-esteem girls?  Is it meant to make them wallow in self-pity until they get home, cry into their pillows, and long for the sweet embrace of death?

If you're looking for answers to any of that, Are You Popular? will answer none of them.

The riffing is fairly high quality, as the naive and obvious production comes under fire.  The boys love characters with a certain amount of self-aware awkwardness, which is every teenager in a short like this.  Mike, Kevin, and Bill will play up all of these flawed attributes with the greatest of ease and easily get a laugh.  One of the highlights is an out-of-the-box riff in which Kevin does a play-by-play of a boy asking a girl on a date as if he were a sports announcer, which is a brilliant run-on monologue.

One minor nitpick:  there is a moment in which the narrator brings up the idea of how much fun it would be to bring another couple home with them.  While this hilarious on its own comment is riffed on with the line "But it might be awkward the next morning," I really feel there should have been a riff that could have played like gangbusters here.  But maybe anything more might have been a bit too on-the-nose.

Thumbs Up

👍

Danger on Tiki Island (Cinematic Titanic Live)

Film Year:  1968
Genre:  Horror
Director:  Gerardo de Leon, Eddie Romero
Starring:  Kent Taylor, Beverly "Hills" Powers, John Ashley, Eva Darren
CT Number:  10

The Movie

Oh good.  Just what I wanted to see.  A horror movie starring the stripper who flashed Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

(If you're wondering how I knew this, I could play the "male card" and say "I know that set of knockers anywhere" but in reality I just thought the on-the-nose name "Beverly Hills" was interesting and looked up her IMDB.)

Initially titled Brides of Blood, this almost inaudible movie is pretty tough to follow since all the dialogue sounds like it was on a long lost recording that was recently unearthed, but seems to be about islanders and virgin sacrifice.  An almighty Caucasian falls in love with an island girl who is set to be sacrificed and mucks up her chance to be the next meal to the island's budget Swamp Thing.  Bizarrely enough nobody seems to give a shit that he just fucked up a sacred ritual, however it angers the beast who seeks to hunt down the sacrifice that was never sacrificed and its true nature is brought to light.

There's something almost cool about the way this movie presents itself.  There's some nice sets, visuals, and cinematography.  Even the lousy dub adds something of a mysterious allure to the film.  Too bad about the cheapness.  All the monsters are hilariously rubber and fakey, making this Tiki Island vacation more goofy than frightening.  But even if the monsters were believable, it's a wonder that there are anybody on this island at all.  Sacrifices seem to happen about every two hours, leaving me to wonder just why virgin girls are so plentiful on this island and why more of them aren't sleeping around to fix this (I volunteer for the sake of survival, if they need assistance).  And with the beast tearing through these girls at the rate it is, I'm surprised there is anybody left on the island at all.

The film's attempt at being "sexy" is one of the things it falls limp on as well.  The above mentioned "Beverly Hills" (real name Beverly Powers) plays a sexpot who is eager to sleep with just about any man she sees.  While it's true Madam Hills looks pretty swell in a nightie, her pouty oh-faces of lust for men grow so overbearing that they're comical, and her innuendos are so needless they can only be scripted.  Her death at the hands of the primary monster kind of makes me laugh a bit.  She was no virgin sacrifice, I can tell you that much.  It might have been funnier if he looked her over, went "nope!," and just walked away.

Tiki Island is a rough ride made by people who are trying to make the best of it.  They're given a lousy script and cheap Halloween costumes, but they take it very seriously.  It's admirable and unintentionally hilarious at the same time.

The Live Riff

I might have the polar opposite of most when it comes to Cinematic Titanic's Live shows in that I don't really enjoy them as much as the studio DVDs they initially made, but for the most part they're actually pretty good so I can't complain too much.  But Danger on Tiki Island is really the epitome if a certain "static" feeling I get while watching them.  This one just doesn't work for me.  The audio on the film is atrocious, leaving me to have a hell of a time paying attention to the movie through both the riffers and the audience.  It gives me a whirlwind of crazy washed out visuals with decent commentary with a lot of mumbling that's followed up on by the riffers that might have been funny if I had understood the set-up lines.  I really would have wanted to see a studio version of this show to see if it became any more coherent.

There are a few lines I like.  I like the riffs on Beverly Hills, as Trace gets one of the earliest laughs by pointing out how absurdly "porn star" her name sounds, and there are some swell shots at her libido, such as J. Elvis making the hilarious claim that "Mrs. Roeper wasn't nearly as horny as this woman."  But for the most part this one doesn't tickle my funny bone.  It's not that the movie is a slog either, because it isn't.  The film's only real fault in relation to the riffing is how rough of a shape it's in, but it could lend itself quite well.  And the Titans seem jazzed up by the movie too, because it's so visually bonkers.  Yet there are patches of minutes at a time where I just don't so much as giggle.

Most of the Titans are in a pop cultural mood, making references to aspects new and old, yet not a lot of them really seem to land.  As someone viewing this riff almost ten years after it was recorded a lot of it feels dated (though I admittedly didn't think it was very funny when it was new either).  It feels to me like this movie could stand to use riffs that are a bit more observational.  If I were to single out any of the Titans who seems to get this I'd have to give a shout out to Mary Jo Pehl.  Her observational lines made me laugh harder than anybody else in this episode, with winners like "I love a woman who wears white pumps into the jungle" and "Honey, you were just spreadeagled naked in the town square, I think you can dispense with the modesty."  Oddly enough the audience is mostly silent during what I think are some of her most killer lines, yet howling at jokes that don't really do much for me, so maybe it's just me.

Overall I'd have to say whether Live or studio, it's pretty plain to me that Tiki Island is one of the weakest Cinematic Titanic releases.  But there are fans of the Live Titans' work that go nuts for it, so bear in mind this is just one man's lowly opinion.  If you like the Live works, give it a shot.  You might be more impressed than I.

Average

The DVD

Initially released by Cinematic Titanic through their website, Danger on Tiki Island featured a solid video presentation, though through fault of the film's own soundtrack I can't overly praise the audio, though I think it's accurate of the show itself.  There was a special feature called Between the Riffs, which was a behind the scenes look at the Cinematic Titanic Live shows, and features interviews with all of the Titans.

The Live show was also re-released in Shout Factory's Cinematic Titanic:  The Complete Collection, featuring the same audio and video transfer.  The Between the Riffs documentary was ported over, though it's not featured on the Tiki Island disc (instead sharing a disc with War of the Insects and Rattlers).  Tiki Island shares a disc with the previous Live show, The Alien Factor.

Why Doesn't Cathy Eat Breakfast?/Petaluma Chicken (Rifftrax Shorts)

Rifftrax Year:  2008
Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

We have a double dose of shorts action today as the boys beef up a runtime for the briefest of brief shorts (...or...short-shorts ::runs away) by combining two to limp all the way to the seven and a half minute mark.

First up is Why Doesn't Cathy Eat Breakfast?  Instead of accepting that she might just not be hungry, a narrator harasses a poor girl all morning asking why she won't eat breakfast.  TELL ME WHY?!  I MUST KNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!!!!!!  But nope.  She just smiles and glares.

I'm pretty sure this was meant to be an attempt at a discussion piece for kids, in hopes that they'll give the teacher theories on why Cathy won't eat in the morning.  While I'm sure the point of the film is that there is no correct answer, I have to really wonder what exactly is the reaction they're going for?  Why does this bother them so?  Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day, but it's not going to kill Cathy just because she doesn't want to eat it.

My other theory is that it's for really, really stupid dairy council workers trying to get their profits up by coming up with asinine ideas to get kids to drink more milk by eating more breakfast.  This possibility almost makes the film more amusing.

But if Cathy's not eating breakfast, that means more breakfast for us.  Let's taunt her by making the WORLD'S LARGEST OMELETTE!  In this ancient short called Petaluma Chicken we watch a chef with a giant spoon command an army of women to create this omelette.

What you see is what you get here.  I don't really have much to say about it, except such a stylistic and goofy contrast to the previous short is hilarious.  The short is chopped to hell and has little to no context, so I have no idea why it exists or where it came from, all I know is I'm glad it's here.

For the Cathy portion there are a lot of riffs on the blatant milk advertisement in the short, as they underline each use of the substance with their own "Delicious milk!" comment.  They also take aim at the persistent narrator bugging this child, as well as giving their own theories to the titular question ("Not since my bypass.").  When the short never answers it's own question, one of my favorite Rifftrax lines is uttered:  "What?!  No Country for Old Men had better closure!"  But there's not a lot of time for diversity here, and the sameness of the jokes grow stale for a while, but when Petaluma Chicken starts there is no choice but to change it up.  The short is so weird that they can't help but question their own sanity while watching it.  I'd say both shorts are pretty good, and together they work quite well to bring out an overall positive experience.

Thumbs Up

👍

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXXI - The Turkey Day Collection DVD Retrospective

Release Date:  November 25th, 2014

Buy Here!

Features the following episodes:
Jungle Goddess
The Painted Hills
The Screaming Skull
Squirm

Be it early or belated, Happy Thanksgiving eveyone!  And the perfect way to celebrate is by watching some turkeys on Mystery Science Theater through their Turkey Day marathon!  And if you can't make it, hold your own with this Shout Factory collection of four episodes, each with their own custom Turkey Day intro starring Joel Hodgson, with Trace Beaulieu as Crow and J. Elvis Weinstein as Tom Servo.  The episodes in this set rate pretty well in my opinion, with The Screaming Skull being my personal favorite of the set.  With Squirm coming in second. I think I favor the Mike episodes of the four featured, though Jungle Goddess is pretty solid as well.  The Painted Hills lingers a bit behind for me, though it has its fair share of laughs.

Average Rating (scale of 1 to 4):  3

Episode presentation is pretty good, with solid audio and video all around.  Special features skew Turkey Day related, with intros for each episode, a retrospective of the holiday marathon, and intros and commercials for the three Turkey Day marathons Best Brains created material for.  There is a mild disappointment that non-BBI Turkey Day intros weren't included, but it's understandable and easy to forgive.

Movie related special features include a documentary called This Film May Kill You:  Making The Screaming Skull, which documents the production of the picture.  Furthermore there is an interview with Joe Clokey, son of Gumby creator Art Clokey, about Gumby and an interview with Don Scardino about the making of Squirm.  Also included are theatrical trailers for The Screaming Skull and Squirm.

The set was initially produced with a special tin packaging, though it came with the option of a cardboard sleeve.  Both maintained the same cover art of Crow and Tom Servo dressed as pilgrims surrounded by turkeys, sitting down to a Thanksgiving meal of film stock.  Like most Shout Factory sets, each disc is given its own plastic case with its own artwork.  Jungle Goddess features Crow as a white goddess tying up adventurer Tom Servo to a tree.  The Painted Hills has Crow pushing old prospector Tom Servo to his death as Lassie looks on.  The Screaming Skull sees both Crow and Servo peaking out of the eye-holes of a giant skull.  Squirm features Crow and Servo being devoured by worms.  Disc art is standard for Shout Factory, an episode logo against a starry backdrop.

Disc menus are typical Shout creativity, which sees audio clips from the episode used as CG animated Crow and Tom Servo stumble through different scenarios.  In Jungle Goddess the Bots lead a white goddess through the wilderness, shoot at coconuts, and see wild turkeys and lions in the jungle.  The Painted Hills has them recreating a scene from the movie where the Bots try to poison a little boy but Lassie saves the day.  The Screaming Skull features the duo harassing the titular skull at a graveyard where they try to catch it.  Squirm has Crow and Servo out fishing with two characters from the film where they are harassed by "Squirmy the Squirm Sprite."

With a good selection of episodes and some great bonus features, I don't see any reason why MSTies wouldn't have Volume XXXI.  If you haven't yet done so, I say pick it up.  Definitely by Thanksgiving!