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The Collection:
For a while budget DVD studios have made quantity their main
selling point. With sets boasting 100
horror movies or 600 classic cartoons it's pretty certain that they
weren't
terribly choosy about which titles to include.
Hollywood Select Video in cooperation with Infinity
Entertainment has
started to release public domain films based around a common theme
rather than
just a genre. In the coming weeks I'll
be reviewing their set entitled, The
Envelope Please, a collection of films nominated for a Best Picture
Oscar
that didn't win, but today I'm looking at Mickey
Rooney - The Long & Short of It a nice collection of 14 films
covering
Rooney's incredibly long and prolific career.
It's a nice set, though there are some glaring omissions (none
of the
films he made with Judy Garland are included) and some real flops. The set is also marred by all of the films
containing a watermark in the corner.
A bit about Mickey
Rooney:
Born Joseph Yule Jr. to a pair of actors, Rooney first
appeared in a series of "Mickey McGuire" silent films (which lasted
well into
the sound era) based on a comic strip.
In order to avoid paying royalties to the strip's creator, Joe
Yule had
his name legally changed to "Mickey McGuire" and was billed as such in
the
series. He stared in 78 of the shorts
from 1927 through 1936, three of which are included in this set. Though he was legally "McGuire", when
his
mother suggested that he tour under that name during the off season,
the studio
threatened to sue. He then changed
names, once again, to Andy Rooney and this time it stuck.
After the McGuire series Rooney segued into feature films
and was the #`1 box office draw in the years leading up to WWII. Staring in a series of incredibly successful
"Andy Hardy" movies and in other light comedies, he ruled the box
office. During the War he enlisted
and was as a
radio personality on the Armed Forces Network.
Unfortunately, when he returned to civilian life he discovered
that his
career was on the skids and found work increasingly hard to find. He had a TV show (one episode is included) in
the 50's where he played a role similar to those of his 30's films, but
it
lasted only a single season.
Ever the trooper, Hardy took what work he could (several of
his stinkers from this time are to be found in this collection) and
persevered
until he became fashionable once again.
In recent years he's appeared on The
Simpsons, and co-starred in Night at
the Museum. In 1983 he received a
Lifetime Achievement Award from the The Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and
Sciences.
This collection:
This is a mixed bag.
Since it's limited to public domain offerings and Rooney spent
his most
successful years working for MGM, many of his best performances are not
included. There are some great films in
this set however. The Mickey McGuire
films are fun to watch, thought they come across as Our Gang knockoffs,
which
they undoubtedly were. Little
Lord Fauntleroy is an excellent
movie, as is Quicksand and Love Laughs at
Andy Hardy.
On the other hand, there are some real stinkers included
too. Mooch Goes to
Hollywood is
pretty stupid and My Outlaw Brother
is just dumb. The Manipulator
however is wretched and the worst film I have ever
seen. It should just be avoided at
all
costs.
The set contains the following films and shorts:
Disc 1:
Officer 13 (1932)
- Billed as Mickey McGuire, the child
star plays the son of a police officer who is run off the road and
killed by Jack
Blake, a crook he's chasing. The young
lady in the car with the Blake, Doris Dane a society woman and daughter
of a
prominent judge, testifies that it was an accident.
They were only swerving to miss a boulder in
the road when the cop was killed, or so she says. The
jury finds the defendant innocent largely
because of Doris' testimony. Overcome by guilt once she sees the dead
man's family, Doris goes to the Chief
of
Police and recants her statement.
Unfortunately Blake has paid protection money and the chief
won't go
after him. So it's up to the slain
officer's partner, who wears badge 13 from the title, and Doris
to convince the chief to do the right thing.
They say that the quality of public education has been
declining for years, but you wouldn't know it from watching this film. Apparently they didn't teach basic civics
back in 1932, because everyone assumes that Blake will be tried a
second time
once Doris recants her testimony. As everyone knows the US Constitution
prohibits that, so I was left scratching my head through most of this
film. Aside from that large gaff, this B
-movie is a simple drama that works, but just barely.
I never could understand why a nice girl like
Doris was hanging around with a
low-life scum
like Blake, maybe she was slumming or something. Rooney
did a great job as the dead officer's
son. He was the only one who seemed to
be upset at the man's death, actually showing emotion.
Officer 13 (played by Monte Blue) was so
wooden that some of his scenes were unintentionally comical. Overall
not a bad
way to spend an hour if you set your sights low.
The Big Chance
(1933) - This is another crime drama, again involving crooked gamblers. The story will be very familiar to any modern
viewers: a boxer, Knockout Frankie
Morgan (John Darrow), has won a number of fixed fights in order to get
a match
with The Champ, where he's supposed to take a dive and win his handler,
Flash, a
lot of money. The only problem is that
Knockout meets a spunky kid, Arthur (Mickey Rooney) and his older
sister Mary (Merna
Kennedy). Knockout gets knocked out by
Mary and proposes to her after one date.
But can he look his love in the eye if he throws the big fight?
Whatever
will he do?
This is a light weight film that never really pays off.
It unfolds in a typical fashion and viewers
never really connect with the characters.
What makes it worse is that the film ends before we discover
what the
consequences are for the big decision Morgan. (Spoiler:
He wins the fight against the champ and
kisses Mary in the locker room after.
The fact that Flash lost over $10,000 on the fight, or what he's
going
to do about it, is never addressed. End
Spoiler.)
This movie is also marred by frequent splices. It
looks like the film print they used has
been around the block a few times, because several conversations are
unintelligible
because of the myriad of splices. This
includes a climactic scene where Morgan tells Flash he's not going to
take a
dive. We never get to see Flash's
reaction because the movie jumps to the next scene.
This poor print really makes the movie hard
to watch.
Lost Jungle
(1932): This is a fun film. It is the
feature version of the serial of the same name and has a lot of
excitement and
action scenes. When animal trainer and
circus performer Clyde Beatty's fiancée, Ruth, goes missing in
the South
Pacific, he joins a rescue expedition.
The blimp they are travelling in runs into a hurricane and crash
lands,
but fortuitously lands on the same island as Ruth and her father's crew. Add into this mix a slew of wild lions and
tigers as well as a lost city and a missing treasure and you've got an
enjoyable way to pass an hour.
This movie was made to showcase Clyde Beatty. Now
virtually unknown, at the time Beatty was
a household name, a famous animal trainer who would go into a crowded
cage
filled with wild animals armed only with a chair and a gun filled with
blanks. Consequently, the action in this
film just about always revolves around Beatty facing a menacing animal. He keeps a tiger at bay with a piece of
bamboo and a piece of vine he uses as a whip, he stares down a killer
lion
while trapped in a lion pit, and faces several animals all at once
during his
circus act. Like most theatrical
versions of serials, it's a bit choppy in places, but overall it's an
interesting look what a trip to the circus would look like during the
depression. Rooney is only in one
segment, he plays a big fan of the trainers, and isn't even listed in
the
credits.
Disc 2:
 Little Pal (aka
The Healer - 1936): This poverty row
picture (it was made by Monogram) features Ralph Bellamy as Dr. Holden,
a
brilliant surgeon and physician who turns his back on the riches that
working
in the big city would offer him in order to spend his time curing
crippled
children. (The children are presumably
suffering from polio. Oddly enough, they
never mention the disease by name. The
cause of the children's disability is only mentioned once, when a nurse
remarks
that she hopes Holden will find a cure for the 'terrible affliction.')
Rooney plays a young polio victim who has lost the use of
his legs and is treated at Dr. Holden's center.
He plays a supporting role but the main focus is the love
triangle
between Holden, his nurse, and an attractive society woman who wants to
turn
the small clinic into an elaborate sanitarium for the elite.
The movie is very predictable and unfolds just as you would
expect it to, so there's little suspense and not much real drama. The acting is a bit wooden, except for Rooney
who gives the most believable performance in the picture.
It's a bit sad watching the film now since we
know that no one ever came up with a 'cure' for people afflicted with
polio and
that the hope the movie was trying to instill was false.
A bit of a yawner, but still worth watching.
Little Lord
Fauntleroy (1936): This is one of
the best films in the collection.
Produced by David O. Selznick and released through United
Artists, the
film is a stark contrast to the earlier poverty row pictures. This one is filled with lavish sets and
meticulous period costumes.
Most readers are probably familiar with the story, but
here's a quick recap: Cedric (Freddie
Bartholomew) is a fatherless waif living in poverty in America
with
his mother 'Dearest' (Dolores Costello Barrymore, wife of John
Barrymore and
grandmother of Drew Barrymore.) His
simple life changes when he discovers that his father was really
English
nobility. The father was disowned by
Cedric's grandfather, The Earl of Dorincourt (wonderfully played by C.
Aubrey
Smith) for marrying an American. The
Earl realizes he needs an heir after his other son dies, and sends off
to America
for
Cedric. When the young boy gets to England
however, things aren't all wine and roses, especially between Dearest
and the
Earl. It's up to the adorable child to
thaw the old man's frozen heart.
In this film Rooney plays one of Cedric's best friends in America,
Dick
Tipton. The scene where Dick comes to
Cedric's aid in a fight is great, showing how close the two friends are
as well
as adding a nice bit of action.
This film had a fairly big budget and a lot of the money
ended up on the screen. It not only
looks good, but the acting is excellent across the board.
The only thing that mars this heart-warming
film is a less than average print.
Mickey's Surprise
(1929): This is a Mickey McGuire short. The series was obviously trying to cash in on
the success of the Our Gang shorts, though this installment is totally
lacking
the charm and humor of the Roach films.
This short is pretty disjointed and plays like a Mack Sennett
short with
a series of unrelated gags strung together.
In it Mickey is late for school so, well, nothing happens. The kids have a spelling bee and then go
home. They return later for a talent
show, with Mickey staring in just about all the acts.
He and his friends recite "Old King Cole" and
play a few songs. The End.
Not very funny or entertaining.
Disc Three:
 Hoosier Schoolboy
(1937): A new school teacher (Anne
Nagel) arrives in a town embroiled by a strike.
She becomes friends with the tough thug of the school, Shockey
Carter
(Mickey Rooney), and discovers that a little caring goes a long way. Shockey's father was a war hero, but drowns
his memories of the war with alcohol, leaving Shockey to support the
family.
This low budget drama was surprisingly good, with excellent
performances by Rooney and Nagel. The
only real problem is that they threw too much into the script. While the interaction between the teacher and
Shockey was very good, the sub plot (that takes over the movie in the
second
half) about the milk farmers going on strike was pretty lame. While the first plot tried to paint things in
shades of grey, the strike was purely in black and white: evil milk
distributor
vs. the goodly farmers. The end was
pretty abrupt and wrapped things up too nicely for my tastes too. Even so, this is a very enjoyable flick.
 Love Laughs at Andy
Hardy (1946): The penultimate entry
in the long running Andy Hardy series
(the last one would be made 12 years later) this one find Andy (Mickey
Rooney)
returning home after fighting in WWII.
He has the GI bill so he's in a hurry to go back to college,
partially
to finish his degree but mostly so he can see his sweet heart, Kay
(Bonita
Granville). Unfortunately things don't
work out the way Andy plans, and when Kay has to return home for the
weekend
unexpectedly, Andy has to find a new girl to take to the freshman dance. From there, things go even further downhill
for the unlucky Andy.
This was an enjoyable chapter from a good series. The
film has some good laughs, especially the
sequence when the diminutive 5' 2" Rooney is dancing with the towering
Dorothy
Ford (6' 2" and she's wearing heels!)
It's unfortunate that no one has released a boxed set of all 16 Hardy movies, restored of course. I'd
be the first in line to buy a copy. Until
then, we'll have to be satisfied with
PD copies like this one.
 Mickey the Great
(1946): This is an hour long film made
by stitching together four Mickey McGuire shorts. There's
a framing sequence where three of the
girls who used to act in the series, now adults, get together for lunch
and
talk about Mickey McGuire as if the events in the shorts were real. It was fun to see some of these once-child
actresses grown up. Shirley Jean Rickert
is one of them and after her Hollywood
career
was over she became a stripper in burlesque houses.
The shorts themselves are funny, they obviously picked some
of the better shorts and fans of Hal Roach's Our Gang films
will definitely find these appealing too, though not
quite as good.
Unfortunately the picture quality of this movie is pretty
wretched making it almost unwatchable.
Disc Four:
 The Big Wheel
(1949): This was a fun, light car racing movie that had a few plot
holes but
was enjoyable never the less. Rooney
plays Billy Coy who moves to Carrell for one reason only:
to race cars at the track there. His
father was a famous driver who was killed
when he was a lap away from winning the Indy 500, and Billy wants to
succeed
where his father didn't.
He quickly gets a job at a garage that works on race cars
and before you know it steps behind the wheel during a race when
another driver
is too injured to drive. Billy starts
racking up wins, and soon teams up with another driver, 'Happy' Lee and
the
pair are nearly unbeatable. One race
however, Happy's wheel is loose and under a no-passing yellow flag,
Billy zips
past the other cars to warn his buddy about the danger.
Before he can, the wheel falls off and Billy
hits his friend, killing him. From the
stands it looks like Billy murdered his biggest rival, and he's soon
ostracized
by the other racers and the other mechanics and the owner of the garage
where
he worked.
Most of this film is a lot of fun and has some nice race
scenes included. The big dramatic
conflict, everyone thinking that Billy was a murderer, was awful
contrived. Everyone knew that Billy and
Happy were best friends and racing partners and the way they all
suddenly hate
him, and then accept him again when the plot calls for it is pretty
dumb. You don't go into a movie like this
looking
for a tight plot though, and this deliver's a good amount of
entertainment even
with the weak story.
 My Outlaw Brother
(1951): Based on a book by Max Brand,
this western is pretty ordinary and unexciting.
Rooney plays both a main character and comic relief in this
mix-up
oater. Denny O'Moore (Rooney) is
traveling south to Mexico
from New York City. He's a fish out of water, looking for his
brother, Patrick (Robert Stack) who is running a big silver mine in Mexico. When he rides into town right in the middle
of a bank robbery, he complains to the Sheriff that the criminals
spooked his
horse, and though he's never ridden and for no understandable reason,
he trades
his horse and wagon for a broken horse and saddle, which he continually
falls off
of for the rest of the movie.
Going down to Mexico,
he runs into Joe Walter (Robert Preston), a law officer who is crossing
the
border unofficially to stop The Fox, an Indian bandit who has been
sending
raiding parties into Texas. The only American who knows the identity of
the Fox is his right hand man, you guessed it, Patrick O'Moore! When Walter learns that Patrick is Denny's
brother, he agrees to tag along with the green horn, and tries to keep
him out
of trouble, with little luck.
The story was just too hokey for me to suspend my
disbelief. Denny isn't fazed by seeing a
man shot in cold blood, but he's outraged that someone spooked his
horse. Walter and Denny just happen to be
going to
the same place, at the same time, and meet up in the Texas desert. Then of course there's the convoluted and
totally implausible ending that's unintentionally comical.
Give this one a miss and go on to the rest of
the set.
 Mickey's Revolution
(1931): Another Mickey McGuire
short. This one is pretty amusing with
Mickey getting into trouble with a farmer, and then on a golf course.
After
that what does he do?? Why he puts on a
show!
Disc 5:
 Quicksand (1950): This is
a very good film noir offering. Rooney
plays Dan Brady, a mechanic who
manages to talk the hot new waitress at a nearby café into going
out with
him. The only problem is that he doesn't
have any money, and can't borrow any. He
decides to take $20 out of the till at work.
The accountant comes once a week to count the money, and that's
days away. He'll be able to put it back
before then.
He has a great time with Vera (Jeanne Cagney, James Cagney's
sister) but the next morning he finds out that the accountant is going
to come
early. Instead of days he only has hours
to get the $20 back. This leads to
events spiraling out of control as he starts to commit larger and
larger crimes
in the hopes of covering up the previous one.
All the while he's egged on by Vera, who seems less and less
stable as
the film goes on.
Rooney gives a good performance in this taught
thriller. The script unfolds very
nicely, with each crime being a logical extension of the previous one. Peter Lorre has a supporting role as a slimy
arcade owner who Vera used to work for. This
is a very good film that's one of this set's highlights.
Unfortunately it's missing a few seconds
worth of footage during the chase scene at the end.
Mooch Goes to Hollywood
(1971): This is a really bad cute animal
movie. A female dog, Mooch, hops off of a
freight
train in Hollywood
and according to Zsa Zsa Gabor who narrates, is looking to break into
movies. The bitch runs into some famous
people (Vincent Price, Jill St. John) and visits some of the sites (The
Brown
Derby, Grumman's etc.) while trying to make it big.
This film shouldn't even be in this Mickey
Rooney set. He's only in the film for
about 10 frames. He doesn't speak and
he's not credited. The only thing he does
is smile and wave outside of a porno theater.
(I kid you not.) It was fun to
see some of the Hollywood attractions
circa
1971, but aside from that this film is a dog.
The Manipulator
(1971): This is the worst movie I have
ever seen. EVER. If
someone offered me $100 to sit through
this again I'd laugh as I turned them down.
It's that bad.
The movie starts with Rooney walking through an old
warehouse filled with cobweb-covered movie props. He
has conversations with himself,
nonsensical rambling stream of consciousness mumblings spill out of his
month
constantly (I'd bet money nearly all of it was ad-libbed... I doubt there
was a
script) while imagining old naked people dancing around him. Based on his insane nearly incoherent dialog
it emerges quickly that Rooney is playing B. J. Lang, a onetime famous
movie
director who has fallen on hard times.
And gone totally insane. After
about an hour and a half of this (though the timer on my DVD player
said it was
only 18 minutes... it sure seemed much longer than that) Lang pulls aside
a
curtain to reveal a woman he has kidnapped (Luana Anders).
Her dialog for the first five minutes
consists of her repeating "Mr. Lang, I'm hungry. I'm
hungry Mr. Lang" over and over and over
again and again and again. Softly,
loudly, pitifully, angrily, every emotion she could remember from high
school
drama class. Lang then dresses himself
up in several horrid costumes (including wearing woman's makeup which
by be the
most horrific thing I've ever seen... I
mean I really need counseling.) and makes his captive perform scenes
for the
movie he's filming (only in his mind of course) all while rambling
incoherently.
Basically the director and 'writer' Yabo Yablonsky (if that
is his real name) basically tried to create a movie from a mad man's
point of
view. I get that. The
thing is that this is boring, boring,
boring. Way past avant-garde, he seems
to have thought that he could film just any weird stuff and he'd be the
next
David Lynch. Well it doesn't work that
way. This was his only directorial
effort. (Thank God.) Just
skip this movie.
Disc 6:
Find the Lady (1976):
This
movie was a surprise. I had not heard of
it, but it stars a young John Candy, has an appearance by Peter Cook,
and of
course Mickey Rooney. Unfortunately what
was so surprising was just how bad it was.
This slapstick comedy was filled with jokes, but none of them
were
remotely funny.
Candy plays Kopek, a bumbling detective who is partnered
with Broom (Lawrence Dane) and has to solve several crimes including a
kidnapping. Rooney is the notorious
gangster Trigger, who recently arrived in town.
The plot plays second fiddle to the slapstick gags which are
frequent and painfully dull. While
looking for a pencil Kopek gets his tie caught in a desk drawer, chokes
himself, and starts an wild series of events that demolishes the whole
police
station! Kopek gets lost trying to find
a concert hall, unfolds a map on his trunk and then turns around. He's right in front of the place!
If those descriptions of two scenes gives you
fits of laugher, than check out this film.
Otherwise, just avoid it.
Show Business at War
(1943): A 17 minute newsreel that was
made with the cooperation of several studios.
It shows how vital the movie industry is for the moral of the
troops. They show stars at USO dances,
selling bonds,
and even enlisting. The message is
clear: Hollywood's product is very
important, so
don't ration film stock. Pretty please.
It's a neat short, but I couldn't spot Rooney in it.
 Golden Gold Awards
Clip (1958): A funny clip from an awards ceremony.
Ronald Reagan introduces Jayne Mansfield who
is supposed to give a special award to a foreign actor.
He wasn't present, so Mickey Rooney jumps up
on stage, unscripted, to accept.
Playhouse 90 - The
Comedian (1957): I was really
looking forward to this live TV show from television's golden age. It was written by Rod Serling and directed by
John Frankenheimer, and stars Rooney as a famous comedian with a highly
rated
TV show who is cracking under the pressure of coming up with a
hilarious show
each and every week. The show won two
Emmys and it sounds great. Unfortunatley
I couldn't get through it... the video copy is unwatchable.
This was tapped off a monitor, and for some
reason the tape speeds up for just a couple of words every minute or so. All of a sudden people move faster and then
slow down again. What's worse is that
you can't understand what they're saying since the words are squeezed
together
and go up a couple of octaves in tone. It
happens on a regular basis, quite frequently too, and is incredibly
distracting. I couldn't watch it.
 The Mickey Rooney
Show - The Executive (1954): This is
an episode from Rooney's first TV show.
It only lasted 33 episodes and was broadcast at a time when most
homes
didn't have television sets. Rooney
starts as Mulligan, a young office boy (which was a stretch since he
was over
30 at the time). In this episode
Mulligan realizes that his small stature might hamper his prospects of
becoming
a big time exec.
It was an amusing show that was better than I was
expecting. I'd like to see the rest of
the run sometime. The image on this show
is excellent... probably the best picture in the whole set.
The DVD:
These non-restored movies arrive on six single-sided DVDs
(thankfully! Some public domain
companies save nickels by releasing their collections on double-sided
discs). They are housed in a double
sided case with overlapping discs on the front and back flaps and one
disc on
each side of an inserted page. It also
comes in a slipcase that reproduces the artwork on the DVD case itself.
 There is a surprising lack of
attention to detail present
through this set. One movie has the run time listed as the year
it was made (1941) and another gets the title of the movie wrong on the
DVD menu. Oddly there's no movie list on the case either. I can't imagine why.
Audio:
Just about all of these are in mono, and being public domain
offerings the quality varies but rarely reaches the 'average' mark. There's frequent background noise, pops, and
some distortion in most of these films.
Just about every audio flaw you can think of appears somewhere
at some
point in this set, but in general they are all acceptable (unless noted
above.)
Video:
Like the audio, the full frame image quality is a mixed bag
but it's generally not too good. The
images are very soft as a rule and scratches and spots are frequent. None of these look great, which is why it's
so surprising that the entire set includes a "Hollywood Select Video"
water mark in the lower right
hand corner. I can't imagine anyone
actually wanting to copy films of this quality, and if they do, so what? Just about all of these are available from
one source or another. Even if they
weren't, I can't see a release of Officer
13 by another company cutting
into
sales on this set very deeply. I can see
people on the fence about buying this avoiding it because of the water
mark.
Extras:
The only extras are a set of Mickey Rooney trailers
sprinkled across the discs.
Unfortunately each disc's offerings are run together on one reel
so you
can pick and choose which one you want to see.
There's not even a list of trailers, which is a shame.
Final Thoughts:
This is a hard one to judge.
There were some great films included, along with some horrible
ones. The image quality isn't that great
though, and they added a water mark to every movie, which is horrible. Overall I'd give this a rent it though
you may be able to pick it up cheaper than renting
the 6 discs. |
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