1939 is almost universally heralded by critics as the greatest year in Hollywood History. Gone with the Wind, Beau Geste, The Wizard of Oz and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington were just a few of some of the film classics released that year. It was also the year that this little film came out, to much less fanfare of course.

Mad Youth is one of those exploitation films released under the guise of being a moral play. The filmmakers try to claim they are out to show what can happen to you if they live a moral lifestyle but instead it seems to be more or less an excuse to show women in their "granny panties." Perhaps this was sexy in 1939 but personally I think it's a bit off putting.

The film centers around a mother and daughter who both live wild lifestyles. Mother brings home paid escorts who are much younger than her while daughter hangs with a wild gang of kids. Of course, as all movies like this, it all ends up in a house of ill repute and an adult male delivers a moralistic lecture that would even make Mike Brady blush.

Clocking it at barely over an hour this film is rather short on plot. Much of the film is either jitterbug dancing and musical numbers. Perhaps they felt that people would fall asleep or just leave the theater if there wasn't some entertainment in the film.

If that drunken bachelor at the bridge party who sings of old Broadway looks familiar it was Monte Collins. Monte was a character actor who appeared in many shorts and cheap films in the 1930s and 40s. Three Stooges fans will recognize him as Mr. Zero from the first Three Stooges short, Woman Haters.

So yeah, this film generally stinks. It's not horrible and neither is it as funny as

Just a random note but after watching this film and typing "Mad Youth" over and over has somehow made me want to put on the old Tears for Fears song, "Mad World," preferably the Gary Jules cover.

This film was part of a collection I partially reviewed a while back.

Labels: 31 days of film, Crap, Cult Films

Sister Street Fighter: As anybody who knows me can tell you, I do a lot of shopping from the dollar DVD bin. There are many titles which show up in the dollar bins regularly which I pass up. After seeing this film in the bin enough times, temptation finally won and I brought this disc home.

After watching this film, I can certainly see why it is a cult film. After all, it has a hot lead in the form of Sue (Etsuko) Shiomi kicking some serious ass. The martial arts choreography is great and the plot actually makes sense. To top it off the cinematography and music aren't bad either. This film was obviously made by people who knew what they were doing and it has an excitement lacking in today's films.

The print was surprisingly widescreen, although not anamorphic, but while it was watchable many parts appear washed out and there is a general softness to the film. I've been told BCI's release of the Sister Streetfighter box set is better, but I've not seen it.

Labels: Cult Films, Japanese

Black Dragons: Bela Lugosi stars as a mad doctor intent on killing people who wronged him. Of course, the twist to this is that these people are not just any old people but they are Japanese men he made, somehow, to look like doughy white guys. The film is filled with plot holes and the whole film makes absolutely no sense with a "terrible shocker" at the end which I won't give away.

Black Dragons was one of Bela Lugosi's "Poverty Row" pictures. He made this film, like many others, during a low period in his life when he was addicted to morphine to treat the terrible Sciatica which left him constantly in pain. Yet throughout all this, Lugosi's charm and film presence shines through and he certainly gave his all, even for crap like this.

One side note, the film also stars a young Clayton Moore. If you ever wanted to see the Lone Ranger without his mask, here's your chance.

Labels: Bad Movies, Bela Lugosi, Cult Films, Dollar DVD

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure: There are some DVDs on my backlog I pass up for no good reason. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is a good example of this. I bought it just before Christmas 2002 in the $5.00 bin (which later became the $5.50 bin.) It has stayed on my shelf unwatched, save for the extras, for four years. Why would I do such a thing? I think the fact is that the film is on cable enough that I tend to catch bits and pieces of it now and then, plus I have seen the film more times than I can count. Oh well, one more time for a DVD review shouldn't hurt!

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is basically the story of a man and his bike. In short, Pee-Wee's bike is stolen and he travels across the country to find it. There isn't much else one needs to remember outside the fact that this is quite a cult movie. I admit when growing up parts of the film such as the "Large Marge" and of course the "Clown Hospital" sequences scared me quite a bit, now I can see their humor in their total absurdity.

For the extras, the best I would have to say would be the deleted scenes. Every single one of them is left out for good reason but for curiosity's sake they are interesting to watch. I did enjoy the western scene on the backlog with Hugo Montenegro's cover of "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" although I understand it would have broken the mood of the chase scene.

If it's still in print and you like the film, get it.

Labels: Comedy, Cult Films