As there seems to be a demand for information and caustic commentary regarding movies which are so strange that they somehow attain a certain level of grandeur, I will employ this ongoing feature to present a selection of the odd, absurd and wacky movies created over the past eighty years.
Atomic War Bride (1960) ✪ ✪
Lots of American films have imagined the specter of nuclear holocaust and its aftermath, but few if any have done so with the sheer gusto of this crazy Yugoslavian production. Filmed with a Scandinavian-looking cast and what seems to be a relatively large budget for plenty of extras and cooperation with civil and military authorities, Atomic War Bride (also known as Rat) veers unsteadily between drama, slapstick satire and social commentary.
The poor English dubbing reduces the characters to silly everymen with names like John Johnson, Jack Jackson and Andy Anderson. The hero, Johnson, is about to be married when war is declared in his unnamed country. The wedding is interrupted by an air attack, and the honeymoon is delayed as Johnson is drafted. Scenes involving military procedures are played for comedy; I love the sergeant drilling the men on exercising their trigger fingers! There’s more craziness to come, including a citizens march to tell the president to stop the war, but I don’t want to spoil anything by revealing too much. This is one movie that must be seen to be believed.
Idol of the Crowds (1937) ✪ ✪
I mentioned this early John Wayne movie in the article I wrote about hockey movies (Vol. 5, Issue 4) because of its unique tie to Slap Shot (1977), yet it is pretty bizarre on its own merits. A former hockey player (John Wayne) is now losing money as a chicken farmer (!) and is persuaded to get back onto the ice to make some quick cash to save his farm.
Johnny Hanson (Wayne) joins the New York Panthers and immediately makes them title contenders. Gamblers take interest and attempt to make some quick cash of their own. The gambling stuff is completely out in the open; no effort is made to hide it or minimize it. Yet it doesn’t effect Johnny’s desire to play as much as the fate of his orphan friend (Billy Burrud), who is injured when the gamblers try to prevent Johnny from playing.
The scenes on the ice are rather pathetic, although it is interesting to watch players play without helmets and pads. During the championship game you’ll see the Duke score two goals in exactly the same manner — it’s the same piece of film fun twice!
My Son John (1952) ✪ ✪
Leo McCarey’s diatribe against the evils of communism is a time capsule of social paranoia, enacted by a great cast. Robert Walker is superb as the mama’s boy who has fallen under communist control, while Helen Hayes (lured out of retirement for this role) and Dean Jagger, as Walker’s All-American parents, have moments of pure hysteria. And Van Heflin is the most sensitive, caring F.B.I. agent in the history of cinema. Walker died before production concluded, so his final scene is “borrowed” from Strangers on a Train (1951) and carefully edited to obscure that fact.
This social drama has excellent production values, which help hide its uncomfortable stances regarding its profiling of effeminate intellectuals as commies and rabid warnings about suspicious friends, neighbors and family members. Some dialogue is so painful it may make your ears bleed.
Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) ✪ ✪
Young, nubile high school girls are being murdered on campus, but people are more concerned that the big football game might be cancelled in this black comedy directed by Roger Vadim and written by Star Trek‘s Gene Roddenberry. Rock Hudson is at his most virile as a guidance counselor with a special touch, and there’s some interesting acting by Telly Savalas, Roddy McDowall, Keenan Wynn and James Doohan. Apart from the beautiful young women (and Angie Dickinson at her most alluring), the film’s appeal is the odd tone between grisly mystery, social parody and a fascination with all things sexual.
This is Not a Test (1962) ✪ ✪
Another dial social warning movie regarding the threat of nuclear holocaust is this ultra-low budget drama in which a highway patrolman stops a handful of people on a remote mountain road. His instructions are to keep them away from the closest (unnamed) city, which is being evacuated due to the threat of war. The bossy patrolman commandeers a semi-trailer, orders his charges to empty it and to prepare it as a bomb shelter!
The cross-section of people stopped by the cop include jive talkin’ young people, a kindly and wise old prospector, and a psychopathic killer who runs into the wilderness! Much of the character interaction is melodramatic yet serves as an interesting exploration of human nature. And when the people learn that the missiles are imminent, their actions become fascinating. This is Not a Test and Atomic War Bride are partnered together on the same DVD.