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Benny's Video (1992)
Not Your Normal Teenager
I noticed that some of the other User Reviewers felt that Benny was a "normal teenager". Although he appears that way superficially, I must disagree with that opinion. When Benny kills a young girl because he "wanted to know what it feels like", it reveals that Benny's real problem is, he doesn't feel anything, ever.
Benny has no empathy with anyone, not his victim, not his parents, not even himself. He has no feelings when his mother cries hysterically. He is dead inside, and is curious to feel something, anything.
Without judging them morally, his parents make a crucial mistake by trying to cover up for him. He has no concept of trustworthiness. If he can't be trusted not to kill an innocent acquaintance (in his parent's home, no less), he can't be trusted as a co-conspirator. He needs to be institutionalized.
This Love of Mine (1944)
Great Interpretation of a Jazz Classic
Cyd Charisse is the vocalist of "This Love of Mine" in this Soundies short. I can't tell if it is dubbed or not. She would have been 19 or 20 years old in this film.
I'm pretty sure that the trumpeter is Chico Alvarez, a noted member of Kenton's early band lineup.
Can anyone identify any of the other band members in this version of the Stan Kenton Orchestra?
"This Love of Mine" was a major hit in 1941 by Tommy Dorsey (vocal by Frank Sinatra), later becoming a Pop and Jazz standard that has been interpreted by jazz artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Hodges, Sonny Rollins, Kenny Dorham, and many more.
Vsichni dobrí rodáci (1969)
A Lesson in Collectivisation
I think that, unlike common propaganda, where things are more black and white, good and bad, 'All My Good Countrymen' illustrates where real people, that are just like the rest of us (more or less), are capable of being very unjust and inhumane, when using the excuse of supposedly working to benefit "the people", and especially when given ultimate power over others. The most common human motivation is greed/selfishness. In a "free enterprise" model, those motivations can be turned into positives, because someone with those motives often is willing to work very hard to achieve his desires, and the increased production is a benefit to society (assuming that the proper laws are in place eliminate the worst abuses and corruptions of capitalism). Under Communism, the will to produce is stunted via collectivization, because the fruits of your labor are taken from you without recompense. The peasant and serf labor was in for a big surprise. The only way to success was through politics (not through hard work or skilled labor). The Agitators, Commissars, Bureaucrats and Apparatchiks reaped the benefits of your hard work, and were much harder taskmasters that the old landowners. As shown in this film, the small independent farmers had it the worst of all, because everything they had was taken from them via collectivization, then they were forced to produce as before, but without gaining the benefits of their labor. The "agitators" portrayed in 'All My Good Countrymen' never do anything but complain and steal what others have accomplished by hard work. It has been said "You have to break some eggs to make an omelet", but as this film shows, it's your eggs, but it's their omelet.
Many people considered Stalin to be a Hero and a fine fellow, with a great sense of humor. Of course, we don't know what they thought when Stalin had them all shot six months later.
The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944)
A Minor Point About the Story.
When watching this film, I did notice one thing about the plot that surprised me (I am only referring to the film plot, I do not mean to say that this actually happened in this way).
In this movie, Dr. Wassell gets evacuation orders for his US NAVY patients, but only the "ambulatory patients" (walking wounded) are to be taken; anyone that cannot walk is to be left there. Wassell takes all the patients to the harbor dock anyway, hoping for the best, but the captain of the departing ship USS Pecos refuses to allow the non-walking patients aboard, as he anticipates an enemy attack. Realizing that his non-ambulatory patients face capture or death if left behind, Wassell insists on remaining with them, and thereby becomes the only high-ranking American officer left on the island. They are all left sitting on the dock as the ship leaves port.
What??? It was only 12 men, you could fit them in somewhere on the ship. If you leave them, they will be taken prisoner or killed. Anyone would prefer to take their chances on the departing ship. How did that get past the propaganda censors? The US NAVY leaves its wounded sailors on the dock when withdrawing from danger?
The movie puts them right on the dock and ready to go. If the patients had been in hospitalized in intensive care and they couldn't have been moved, that would have been understandable. The plot would have at least made sense that way.
They Learned About Women (1930)
Schenck and Van Number Actually Rocks!
This movie has a song by Schenck and Van that they do in the baseball team locker room. The vocal is by Gus Van (with vocal responses from locker room boys), and it rocks pretty good for 1930: "Ten Sweet Mamas" - check it out, the rest of their numbers are more typical vaudeville stuff, but this one is worth listening to.