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THE LION KING (Dir: Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff).
THE LION KING (Dir: Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff).
The 1990s Disney Animation renaissance continued with The Lion King, their biggest hit (when adjusted for inflation) to date.
The movie tells the story of young lion and future king Simba (voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas as a juvenile and Matthew Broderick as an adult). Simba’s father Mufasa (James Earl Jones) is killed by his brother and Simba’s uncle Scar (Jeremy Irons). Scar leads Simba to be believe he is responsible for Mufasa’s death and goes into hiding. Believing Simba has been killed by Hyenas, Scar takes his place as king of the Pride Lands. However, Simba is rescued by comic relief duo meerkat Timon (Nathan Lane) and warthog Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella). When adult Simba learns of his uncle’s despotic machinations he returns to fight Scar, reclaim his crown and restore order to the Pride Lands.
Majestic seems a fitting word for The Lion King. Recalling earlier classic The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967) with its animal cast, particularly in the characterisation of Scar, a upper-crust Disney villain in the Sheer Khan mode. The movie feels both fresh, in its break from the fairytale genre, yet classic Disney with its anthropomorphised animal antics.
It is easily one of the Studio’s most visually appealing features of the 1990s. It’s beautiful backgrounds of African landscapes is the match of the superior character animation. This is highlighted particularly in the opening scene as the African animal populous gathers to welcome the newly born Simba to the Pride Lands. So impressed were the Disney execs by this scene, that it was used wholesale as the movie’s trailer. Happily the rest of the film has no problem in living up to this breathtaking beginning.
With outstanding animation, excellent voice work and a handful of hit songs by Tim Rice and Elton John, The Lion King reigns as one of Disney’s greatest post-Walt animated feature films.
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME for a longer, more in-depth review of The Lion King. Link in bio.
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THE SON OF KONG (Dir: Ernest B Schoedsack, 1933).
How would the makers of Son of Kong manage to top the groundbreaking, blockbuster original King Kong (Merian C Cooper & Ernest Schoedsack, 1933)? Short answer: they wouldn’t. But neither did they try. Ernest Schoedsack returns as producer/director but Merian C Cooper, his collaborator on the first movie, bowed out when RKO slashed the budget. Scriptwriter Ruth Rose also returns, as do cast members Robert Armstrong as Denham and Victor Wong as Charlie the Cook.
A month after the disastrous events of the first movie, beleaguered showman and moviemaker Carl Denham escapes his creditors by chartering a ship to Kong's Skull Island, in search of mythical hidden treasure. Joined by an animal trainer cum singer (Helen Mack) and shady ships' captain (Frank Reicher) and faithful cook Charlie, the gang are cast overboard by a mutinous crew and arrive on the island via rowboat. After a hostile encounter with the native islanders they encounter the ape sinking into quicksand. Denham and the singer rescue pint-sized Kong who then befriends the pair as they battle a cave bear and brave a massive earthquake in their search for riches.
Although this movie lacks the grandiose special effects set pieces of the original King Kong, Kong Jr is still an impressive beast. Smaller than his pa at 12 foot, as opposed to Kong’s 20ish foot, Kong Jr is also more anthropomorphised than his father. The stop motion ape is, once again, beautifully animated by special effects genius Willis O’Brien. Yet with more human like expressions he is less menacing than his dad, but likewise less sympathetic.
Son of Kong adopts a much lighter, more comic tone than its predecessor and a result the movie is, sadly, less impressive, less poignant and less engaging than the original King Kong. But it is by no means the disaster it was initially perceived to be. Its special effects are still superlative; the performances are strong and at barely 70 minutes it doesn’t outstay its welcome. Lower your expectations (slightly) and you will find The Son of Kong a highly entertaining time waster.
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME for a longer, more in-depth review of Son of Kong! Link below.
BUGSY MALONE (Alan Parker, 1976).
Alan Parker’s feature film directorial debut is really something special. A musical homage to 1930’s gangster movies with a cast made up entirely of children really shouldn’t work, but it does.
Gang warfare rages in Prohibition-era New York as hoods Fat Sam and Dandy Dan battle for supremacy in the city. Armed with newfangled splurge guns (whipped cream firing machine guns), it looks like Danny Dan’s mob is winning. Speakeasy owner Sam engages good guy Bugsy Malone to help in his fight against Dan, while Bugsy has his sights set on aspiring showgirl Blousey Brown.
Recalling both the classic Warner gangster flicks and early backstage musicals, Bugsy Malone is itself a film which largely avoids categorisation. It is a love letter to the Hollywood of the 1930s. The beautifully detailed sets of dimly lit back alleys and colourful speakeasies faithfully recalling the era of Cagney and Robinson. Paul Williams superb jazz inspired score provides perfect accompaniment to the visuals, while the witty, quick fire dialogue would befit a period screwball comedy. The soft focus camera work and plethora of brown on display gives the feel of an old sepia tone photograph and adds to the era atmosphere.
An assured and charismatic performance from Scott Baio as Bugsy is surprisingly his first screen appearance. As was true of much of the cast. Florrie Dugger is touchingly melancholic as Bugsy’s gal Blousey in her only movie, while John Cassisi embodies gleeful roguishness as Fat Sam, one of only a handful of acting roles for the youngster. Only Jodie Foster, in the supporting role of showgirl cum moll Tallulah, was a veteran performer and gives the first rate professional performance you would expect. But to the credit of the cast and director Parker, none of the kids put a foot wrong and are never upstaged by the more experienced star.
There really is nothing else like Bugsy Malone in cinema history. As artful as it is entertaining and equally enjoyable for children and grownups; a unique, unadulterated pleasure from beginning to end!
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME for a longer, more in-depth review of Bugsy Malone! Link below.
THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES (Dir: Robert Butler, 1969).
Kurt Russell stars in the first of Walt Disney Productions' Dexter Riley trilogy.
Ordinary Medfield College student Dexter Riley (Russell) acquires extraordinary knowledge after an electric shock from the science lab computer. Now able to learn facts and figures at lightning speeds, he finds himself mingling with the world's top intellectuals and winning TV game shows. However, he also finds himself dealing with bent bookie A J Arno; details of his illegal gambling ring having also been stored on the machine.
A decade after their first foray into live action fantasy comedy with The Shaggy Dog (Charles Barton, 1959) one might expect the formula to be wearing a little thin. But actually The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes finds it in pretty robust form. It's all innocent, inoffensive fun, with the attractive youths, inept crooks and car chases that fans of 60s/70s era Disney comedies had come to expect.
Much of the movies appeal comes from the game playing of its appealing cast. 18 year old Kurt Russell was always one of Disney's most likeable leading men and here proves himself adept at light comedy. He is supported by an accomplished cast, notably Joe Flynn as the long-suffering Dean Higgins and TV Batman's The Joker Cesar Romero as shady businessman A J Arno. Disney regular Richard Bakalyan played one of his many small-time hood characters; a role in which he seemed eternally typecast.
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes was a significant hit for Disney and spawned a valuable franchise. Two sequels followed Now You See Him, Now You Don't (Robert Butler, 1972) and The Strongest Man in the World (Vincent McEveety, 1975), while a remake would appear on US TV in 1995.
Nobody would argue that The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes is a masterpiece. Yet, at the same time it would be churlish to be over critical of it. It is lightweight fun that sets out to entertain and in this it succeeds. Perhaps best enjoyed for nostalgia value today; a whimsical period piece but with enough easygoing charm to coast through its 90 odd minutes.
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME for a longer, more in-depth review of The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. Link below.
THE INFORMERS aka UNDERWORLD INFORMERS (Dir: Ken Annakin, 1963).
Based upon Douglas Warner's novel Death of a Snout. The Informers, released in the US as Underworld Informers is a police procedural drama shot in a quasi-realist style.
Chief Inspector 'Johnno' (Nigel Patrick) investigates the murder of an underworld informer or 'snout' (John Cowley) linked to a series of bank robberies masterminded by gangsters Bertie Hoyle (Derren Nesbitt) and Leon Sale (Frank Finlay). Hot on the their trail, the hoods set 'Johnno' up so as to appear to have accepted a bribe. On suspension, he takes the law into his own hands and with the help of Ruskin's brother sets to bring the gang to justice.
Ken Annakin was a talented filmmaker, prolific in his time but vastly underrated today. With The Informers he delivers a crime drama which, 56 years after release, still feels uncompromisingly gritty.
Standouts among the cast are the distinctively voiced Nigel Patrick as the wronged 'Johnno' and Harry Andrews as his tough superintendent. Derren Nesbitt makes for a thoroughly unpleasant bad guy, while impressing further down the cast is Colin Blakely as the brother of the murdered snout.
The movie can be seen as something of a ‘missing link’ between the depiction of the friendly copper of TVs Dixon of Dock Green (1955 -76) and the more complex characterisation of the police force in The Sweeney (1974-78). Indeed, it seems ahead of its time in its depiction of the police and their relationship with the criminal underworld. It benefits from use of London locations from the banks of the Thames to backstreet Soho dives, shot in crisp black and white by cinematographer Reginald Wyer.
Some of the characters in Alun Falconer and Paul Durst's screenplay do border on stereotypes, while the climatic big punch up between good(ish) guys and the bad guys verges on the comic, but overall this is still fairly hard-hitting stuff.
With some stylish direction from Annakin and a quality cast The Informers is a solidly entertaining, if occasionally nasty, gangland thriller.
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME for a longer, more in-depth review of The Informers. Link below.
