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rbendernyc
Reviews
Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)
Flogging The Dead Horse
There are hundreds of reviews here, but it is now early 2007 and I am appalled to see how many very recent films, like "Crossover" and "Bottoms Up," are showing up in the IMDb Bottom 100. Understand, folks, that the true art of bad movie appreciation takes research and effort. Lack of research and effort is why so few people remember such classic cinematic bowel movements as "Exorcist II: The Heretic" and "Boy, Did I Get A Wrong Number!" I am a bad movie fanatic. I have seen "Baby Geniuses 2." Yes, I have seen "Glitter," yes, I have seen "Justin And Kelly," and yes, I have seen "Gigli." I have seen "Santa With Muscles." I watched Robin Williams sticking a bedpan on his head in "Patch Adams." Going back a few more years, yes, I have seen "Halloween III: Season Of The Witch." Yes, I have seen "Smokey And The Bandit 2," and "Troll 2," and "Grease 2" (whoa, "Grease 2," that one practically vomited itself out of my unconscious. Man, was that a pile of toxic waste!). "Battlefield Earth"? Yup, saw that one, too. "Caligula"? Yep. "I Spit On Your Grave"? Ja. "Maniac" (the 1980 one)? Da. So, this is just a single vote to help bring the Bottom 100 back into balance. "Manos: The Hands Of Fate" is absolutely the Worst Movie Ever Made.
The Dancing Masters (1943)
Badly underrated film
Up until Fox released these two three-disc sets of Laurel and Hardy's later films, I had only seen the three that had been previously available on video - and "The Dancing Masters" wasn't one of them. I have to say that as a life-long Laurel and Hardy fan I was very pleasantly surprised.
Even taking the considerable negatives into account: rock-bottom production values, chop-shop editing, and an incoherent "narrative," it's downright astonishing to behold this pair so effortlessly mining genuine laughs from such old and cast-away material.
From the "safe combination" routine near the opening to the "wet pants" bit with co-star Bob Bailey, I found this film to be a real treat - and I screened it with a friend who is not a big L&H fan - he loved it. It's the little things Stan and Ollie did - the gestures, the expressions, the glances - that made their style of comedy absolutely unique in film history. Like "The Bullfighters," my favorite among the L&H Fox films, this one has plenty of those moments, and has such a short running time that you can stick it in your player again right away and savor what you missed the first time around. I can't speak for the legions of other L&H fans, but I personally experienced a higher laugh count from this film than from many of their more minor Hal Roach shorts (sorry, Fox-haters).
The only thing I did not like or understand about "The Dancing Masters" was the print quality. As released in this two-volume DVD set, the other five Fox films look to have been pressed from the actual masters, thus providing superlative picture and sound quality. But, this film suffers from a grainy, scratchy picture that even at times grows blurry and somewhat undefined. And, there several jarring "pops" and a lot of low-volume crackling on the soundtrack. Is there anyone out there who knows why Fox couldn't find a better print for release with this otherwise outstanding set?