Zoo In Budapest (1933)

One of my favorite movies from pre-code Hollywood. The plot centers around three people on the run, hiding out in the zoo overnight, and eventually banding together. Has action, suspense, romance, adventure, comedy (we hear a laughing elephant after he spits water out at a lion) The entire film takes place in zoo, a feat few other films can claim.  Zebras, lions, elephants, monkeys, they're all here.

The first character is Zani (Gene Raymond), who was born and raised in the zoo by his parents - now deceased - who worked there. Zani's entire life is the zoo - he knows every inch of the place, and knows all the animals by name. His big problem is that he loves animals like a PETA activist and steals fur jackets off of old ladies. After the police are called on him, he's on the run, and hides out in the zoo, planning his escape. The second character is played by Loretta Young, a beautiful young orphan girl who escapes her field trip group into the fields of the zoo, dreaming of life of freedom outside the orphanage. Needless to say, Zani falls in love with her. Finally, there's a little 7-year old boy who runs away from his parents - actually, he runs back into the zoo after closing time...he's so obsessed with the animals.

A search party forms for Zani, Loretta, and the boy. We also have another enemy: a sleazy zookeeper, appropriately named "Heinie". Worst of all, he tries to rape Loretta Young. Then, the exciting climax features an elephant, lions and tigers and a firey blaze that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Spoiler alert: Zani saves the boy's life and the boy's parents reward him and Loretta with a life on the farm. It's an awesome film. I saw it on two different occasions at a Chicago revival house; lots of people loved it. Some didn't like the action at the end, that it was too intense. As the title says, the movie takes place in Budapest, but it could easily have taken place at any zoo.

Released into theaters April 28, 1933 by Twentieth Century Fox.

The Mole People (1956)

A cheesy, creepy movie from the 1950s about a group of three archeologists who enter a strange, undiscovered civilization below the surface of the mountains (of Mesopatamia).

They are abducted by strange mutant mole creatures, who are slaves of a cult group of albinos who worship the goddess Ishtar.

The captured explorers try to pose as ambassadors sent by Ishtar, and then are treated like medicine men.

The weakness of these people: Light. Even a flash from the flashlight they carry has power, and this all comes in handy as the film progresses as you can imagine.

The post makes the film look more exciting than it actually is. There's very little action, just creepiness, including some strange worship ceremony sequences.

Then there's a pretty slave girl played by Cynthia Patrick, who didn't appear in very many movies after this one came out. 

Co-starring Hugh Beaumont (TV's "Leave it to Beaver")

The Taxi Boys (1930s comedy shorts)

"The Taxi Boys" was a series of comedy shorts from the 1930s, produced by Hal Roach, who also did "Laurel and Hardy". (The music from L & H is even reused for this series). The taxi boys are two bumbling taxi drivers who bumble and stumble across crazy situations. One is a portly fellow, like Hardy, and the other is a manic, impish fellow who is the leader of the two. The duo never became famous; there were only a handful of these shorts made. And they are not very funny. Aaron's blog The Third Banana recently featured a good post on the Taxi Boys.

Airport (1970) and its crappy sequels (though the original wasn't so great, either)

Airplane from 1970 the first in a line of popular "disaster films" from the 70s, but was not seen as such upon first release.

The movie was based on a novel, and was treated as a serious  drama-thriller at the time, with distinguished actors such as Helen Hayes and Maureen Stapleton as ill-fated passengers.

The film itself was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. (Ms Hayes won Best Supporting Actress as an elderly, clever stowaway). Dean Martin was miscast as the plane's pilot, but he's fairly tame in his performance, thankfully. (No drinking). The movie gets interesting when a lunatic (Van Heflin) threatens to blow up the plane with a bomb he brings aboard. This was parodied in the movie "Airplane 2: The Sequel" (1982). 

The movie is sappy and long, and is probably best watched having a certain context and frame of reference.



The next movie in the series was the less-than-creatively titled Airport 1975, featuring another all star fest, and trying to bank on the popularity of the recent disaster films "Earthquake" and "Towering Inferno".

This time Charlton Heston is the man to save the day. Helen Reddy plays a singing nun and Linda Blair is a child in need of an organ transplant. These characters were later lampooned in 1980's Airplane! Gloria Swanson also appears, in her last film.

The blog Cult Movie Reviews recently posted a synopsis of this terrible film. I'm so thankful another blogger watched the movie and has written about it...so I don't have to.





 
These next films are so awful, despite having some huge names in the cast. It's amazing to me why these films were made - were the filmmakers sadistic?  The first Airport movie was a success, followed by Airport 1975, but they probably should have stopped there.

In Airport '77 (funny how the "19" in "1977" was cut from the title), Jack Lemmon saves the day, and stopping by for cameos are Jimmy Stewart and Olivia DeHavilland.

Did they need the money?

Fortunately, Jimmy is only in one or two scenes. Probably the lowest point in his filmography.

Finally, we have The Concorde: Airport 79 a disaster (pun intended) starring Robert Wagner.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

The original thriller from 1974, when train fare was 35 cents: a group of hijackers hold a subway and its passengers for ransom, demanding a million dollars from New York city. Robert Shaw ("Jaws") is the head hijacker, and Walter Matthau is the cop who works to negotiate with them. The original is a decent thriller, but very "70s". Also starring Martin Balsam, Jerry Stiller, Doris Roberts, Earl Hindman (of "Home Improvement") and Hector Elizondo as one of hijackers. I always love Walter Matthau as a comedic actor, but I think he is miscast in this role. I could see another actor, maybe Steve McQueen, play this. Every time Matthau is on screen he provides some comedic relief. (This is the same year he plays "The Drunk" in "Earthquake") At one point Matthau refers to one of the hijackers as possibly being a "fruitcake". Then there's a strange interspersing of scenes which are very violent (the hijacker's beating of passengers, shooting down of someone on the tracks) then very comedic: (One of the Grand Central supervisors back on the ground swears like and sailor and says, "How can you run a g-damn railroad without swearing?" and doesn't want to quit swearing just because "they lets some broads work there" - there's a woman in the room). One of dim-witted hijackers threatens someone on the train by saying, "I'll shoot your pee-pee off". Actor Lew Wallace plays the mayor of New York City, and he's a dead ringer for Ed Koch. (Wallace also played the mayor of Gotham City in Tim Burton's "Batman" (1989). "Pelham" was remade twice, for the second time in 2009 starring Denzel Washington in Matthau's role and John Travolta as the hijacker.

Another review of this film from the blog Cinematic Sara

Another review of this film from What I Watched Last Night