Bernardo Villela is like a mallrat except at the movies. He is a writer, director, editor and film enthusiast who seeks to continue to explore and learn about cinema, chronicle the journey and share his findings.
Spinning off from No Greater Glory George Breakston, after his days as an actor, went on to be quite a prolific and successful B-Movie director and producer. At random I chose one of his titles the seemingly schlocky Manster and was quite impressed by it. It’s low-rent, there are downright mistakes in it, but most of the handling and the narrative is highly effective for what it’s attempting.
Only now did it hit me that it’s a public domain film, so if you’re curious watch and enjoy!
A while ago I took a look at a film theory book by Kim Jong-Il I mentioned how on Open Culture they also linked to a copy of one of his films available on YouTube. I’ve recently watched it and, if curious, you can take a gander here. It’s a North Korean communist take on a Kaiju-type story.
Things to bear in mind:
The video quality of this YouTube upload is not ideal.
Turn on CC and there will be Spanish subtitles. Using the Auto-Translate function removes most of the issues.
The narrative is better than expected
Sound effects are at times nonsensically juxtaposed to the action, seemingly by accident.
The pacing is miserable. It’s 95 minutes long but feels like it takes at least a half-hour longer.
The first act is it’s best but it takes a precipitous dive from there. The introduction of Pulgasari serious downgrades the amount of gravitas it can hope to achieve and there is not much escapist fun either.
Basically, there are a lot of good movies out there that you can watch free and clear. Meaning you don’t have to pay for them and by streaming it free you’re not stealing it because they are in the public domain. Also, in some cases, these films are not all as ancient as copyright laws usually call for.
Funny or Die Presents The Art of the Deal: The Movie
The other day I discussed my loathing of Trump via his uncomfortable film appearances. Now a secretly shot, Funny or Die produced feature has come out online. It boasts a star-studded cast (with Johnny Depp playing the man himself) and many laughs to be had.
The trailer plays ahead of the film. It last a little over a minute and auto-plays into the feature.
Similar to my last post in this category this is one where I recuse myself on commenting too much in a critical capacity, but do want to link to it, and promote it, because one of the stories within this documentary pertains to close personal friends of mine.
And, following on the heels of sharing this film from Jacks Gap on other forms of social media, I believe in both opening avenues to discussion on mental health issues, and doing what I can to try and end the stigma.
This is a topic that actually has some current traction in the States as this recent piece by John Oliver comes to mind.
The feature is little more than and hour, so if you see all three you have three strong voices; young, older, and in between trying to keep the debate going and end stigmatization. Keep the conversation going.
Usually when I’ve had cause to post free movie it’s been an older film in the public domain. Well in the YouTube age, that is not always necessarily the case.
I had the distinct pleasure of attending the premiere of this film in the summer – as I know the two young filmmakers who masterminded this venture. As many who have gone to events to support their friends you can know the trepidation this is joined with. Not only was I, and many of those in attendance, pleasantly surprised by its acumen, especially when you consider it being a shoestring budgeted, tightly-scheduled, skeleton-crewed, amateur venture. However, we were impressed overall without taking those things into account.
I had originally intended to post this on Black Friday, but with the Horror Movie Season in full-swing around here and the societal proclivity towards over-anticipating holidays why not present some public domain Christmas-themed horror in Silent Night, Bloody Night? It’s nothing special, but, hey, it’s free.
I wanted to start this series back in January. Basically, there are a lot of good movies out there that you can watch free and clear. Meaning you don’t have to pay for them and by streaming it free you’re not stealing it because they are in the public domain. Also, in some cases, these films are not all as ancient as copyright laws usually call for.
Blondie Brings Up Baby (1939)
As mentioned before, Larry Simms played “Baby Dumpling” a.k.a Alexander Bumstead for quite a few years. Unusually articulate for his young age his cadence and delivery add to the laughs. This is the first film in the series wherein he features more prominently.
I wanted to start this series back in January. Basically, there are a lot of good movies out there that you can watch free and clear. Meaning you don’t have to pay for them <em>and </em>by streaming it free you’re not stealing it because they are in the public domain. Also, in some cases, these films are not all as ancient as copyright laws usually call for.
Blondie Takes a Vacation (1939)
Here the Bumsteads take their particular brand of lunacy on the road. The first two films, and other selections can be found here.
I wanted to start this series back in January. Basically, there are a lot of good movies out there that you can watch free and clear. Meaning you don’t have to pay for them and by streaming it free you’re not stealing it because they are in the public domain. Also, in some cases, these films are not all as ancient as copyright laws usually call for.
Blondie Meets the Boss (1939)
This is the second film in the series. I posted the first one last week. One of the pivotal characters in this series is Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale), Dagwood’s boss, through the zany misunderstandings that ensue he invariably fires, then rehires Dagwood several times and is a great foil and straightman for all the insanity.
I wanted to start this series back in January. Basically, there are a lot of good movies out there that you can watch free and clear. Meaning you don’t have to pay for them and by streaming it free you’re not stealing it because they are in the public domain. Also, in some cases, these films are not all as ancient as copyright laws usually call for.
Blondie (1938)
Firstly, anyone lamenting that sequels are “ruining movies” today, this is one of the easiest examples to cite proving that everything old is new again, meaning sequels are not a modern scourge. There were about 25 of these films released over a thirteen year period. Also worth noting is that long before the Harry Potter films Larry Simms grew up on film – at least in real life if not so much as Baby Dumpling.
I finally started watching a box set of these short, easy-viewing comedies this year. They are in the public domain, readily available and usually quite enjoyable even if the formula has few variables. The series may bolster this section for quite some time as the completist in me does want to get through all of them.
On a personal note, it’s most compelling to me because I recall Blondie in the Sunday comics when I was very young. I always read it, as I did most things on the page, and I guess I never enjoyed it per se due to my youth and the dated nature they had at the time. A similar example on the comics page for years was my not getting or liking Doonesbury reading it anyway. Doonesbury I still don’t care for, but I have come to an appreciation of Blondie through these films mainly due to Arthur Lake and Penny Singleton’s characterization which I never would have read into the panels.
The Movie Rat 