Last week’s Bijou Mini-Matinee focused on wartime propaganda films, so this week we balance the solemnity with five cinematic attractions decidedly upbeat and entertaining. You can’t top Tex Avery for cartoon laughs, or a celebrity-filled Hollywood on Parade for a glimpse of the “Golden Age.” To that we add animation mixed with real-life big band music to syncopate a sensational Max Fleischer bouncing-ball sing-a-long short. Cliffhanging serials take center stage to tie it all together in two action-packed serial trailers followed by a chilling cliffhanger from Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.JERKY TURKEY (1945)
The laughs come fast as the masterful MGM animation team presents Tex Avery’s twisted version of Thanksgiving Day at Plymouth Rock. After the narrator establishes some wacky anachronistic history, the camera follows a Pilgrim as he tracks down a plucky turkey that acts and sounds suspiciously like Jimmy Durante. A madcap chase leads to “dinner at Joe’s.”
RED RYDER & ZORRO TRAILERS
Next we present the trailers for a pair of action-packed Republic serials; each featuring plots centering on high-level corruption in the building of the nation’s railroads, and each directed by the dynamic team of John English and William Whitney.
THE ADVENTURES OF RED RYDER (1940)Red Ryder was adapted for the screen from a famous comic strip and features actor Don “Red” Barry as the weekly hero. The serial proved a success and was followed by a string of Red Ryder B-movies. A corrupt banker is the bad guy in this 12-chapter horse opera, as he bullies the ranchers off their properties so he can take title of the land for its cross-country railroad right-of-way value. Red escapes certain death numerous times before the day is saved.
ZORRO RIDES AGAIN (1937)
Control of the California-Yucatan Railroad is the prize and precisely why it is under siege by a gang of frontier terrorists hoping to force its sale. Corrupt profiteer “Marsden” and his henchman “Lobo” are the surly antagonists, and the great-grandson of the original Zorro (John Carroll) is the whip lashing protagonist. In this one, the masked-man on horseback is up against enemies with airplanes, bombs and machine guns at their disposal, along with such other anachronistic Zorro challenges as trains and New York skyscrapers.
HOLLYWOOD ON PARADE (1933)Cliff Edwards sings about the Hollywood on Parade theme song to kick off a fanciful Paramount Hollywood on Parade newsreel featuring appearances by Jean Harlow, Cary Grant, William Powell Carol Lombard, Joan and Constance Bennett, Wheeler & Woolsey and Lupe Velez, among others.
FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (1940)
The exciting cliffhanging conclusion from Chapter 3 Walking Bombs is shown, along with the resolution at the beginning of Chapter 4. Sinister Ming is at his most Merciless when he dispatches an army of iron men rigged as “walking bombs” to destroy Flash and his entourage, who are encamped in the frozen planetary wasteland known as Frigia. Witness Flash get blown up on camera, only to pull himself together to struggle on in Chapter 4 The Destroying Ray.
SCREEN SONG (1936)
Max Fleischer produced and Brother Dave directed this Max Fleischer Screen Song featuring Vincent Lopez and his orchestra accompanied by the “Famous Bouncing Ball.” An uncredited soloist is featured singing “I Don’t Want to Make History” in the live-action centerpiece. The wrap-around cartoon sequences makes liberal use of puns to parody theatrical newsreel reports at the New News Theatre.
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And remember, the Bijou Mini-Matinees change every Wednesday. You can enjoy any of the prior shows via the link under the marquee on the right.
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