the_mysteriousx

Let me start out by saying that this 1930 Paramount film from the Marx Brothers was never going to win any technical awards. What this film is, is it's the closest we will ever get to seeing the Marx Brothers in their element - on the STAGE. The brothers were one of the most dynamic comedy acts from the early 1900s through the 1940s. They started in local theater and Vaudeville and graduated to Broadway with three hit plays in the 1920s - 'I'll Say She Is', 'The Cocoanuts' and 'Animal Crackers'. Sadly there is no film version of 'I'll Say She Is'. The Marxs' first film 'The Cocoanuts' is also funny film, but 'Animal Crackers' is the definitive introduction for the Marx Brothers' characters that they have forever been remembered for. Groucho plays his most famous role, Captain Geoffrey T. Spaulding. Chico has his best Italian name - Signor Emanuel Ravelli, and Harpo plays by the perfectly silly name, The Professor. Zeppo gets to play the field secretary to Captain Spaulding, Horatio Jamerson. Zeppo's best scenes always came with Groucho, playing a subservient character to Groucho. The story is almost invisible - a famous paining is stolen and there are a few musical songs. No one goes to a Marx Brothers film for a great story, we go to watch them take apart society with brilliant comedy.

I love the comedy bits in this film - starting with the introductions of each brother. Each is given a theatrical announcement from the Butler, Hives, and gets to immediately do their idiosyncratic schtick. If someone wanted to learn who the Marx Brothers were, this scene establishes it perfectly. Groucho was and always will be brilliant. He sneaks in so many jokes, even between his other jokes, that you can watch him over and over. His idea of the 7 cent nickel - "Next year we can have an 8 cent nickel, buy a 3 cent newspaper and get the same nickel back again." LOL! Groucho's insults are of course, in top form, both bluntly and sneakily, such as when he refers to Inspector Hennessy as "Conductor". Seriously, there are so many jokes, I would literally have to reproduce the entire script here to show you how many. Groucho was and still is a national treasure and legend!

All the brothers get great bits. Harpo is surreal. He shoots everyone in site with his gun, even the statues in the home, and they in turn shoot back at him! Chico is hysterical, always trying to cheat someone out of money, like in the card game. I love when he and Harpo are cheating on every hand and he, like the con man he is, just keeps praising Harpo to the women, "He plays good game" and that Harpo has "thousands" of aces of spades. Chico was the perfect small-time conniving con man. Harpo is like a 5 year old boy in his comedy (Mrs. Whitehead even refers to him as such); like when he undoes every leg on the table that Hives is unfolding and throwing it over Hives' head when he's done. It's hard to describe his comedy because it's so innate and surreal. Even Zeppo gets a great scene with Groucho when he takes a letter to Hungadunga, Hungadunga, Hungadunga (did I leave out one?) and McCormick - and then tells Groucho that he didn't think most of what he said was important so he omitted it. The best part is Zeppo was spot-on correct, and he was right to omit it as none of it was important!

This film is for fans of the Brothers. It came out 95 years ago. Everyone is dead who made this. Comedy changes and some of this is not going to go well with anyone who is sensitive, so this is now like a time capsule from the great history of comedy. It is arguable that the Marx Brothers' greatest achievement was their three Broadway plays. This film is the closest we'll ever get to seeing them on the stage. It feels like a play, so don't expect anything cinematic at all. Pretend you are going to the theater and spending an evening with the Marx Brothers in their absolute PRIME. If you enjoy their comedy, you will have a great time. The music is wonderful - "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" and "Hello, I Must Be Going" are the two most famous songs associated with them. Margaret Dumont plays her perfect foil to Groucho and his sarcasm. It might not technically be their best film, but in terms of their comedy and personalities, this is the definitive Marx Brothers film. And, sentimentally, this is my favorite Marx Brother film. Long live the Brothers!

She-Ra: Princess of Power was the successful follow-up series from Filmation to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The founder of Filmation, Lou Scheimer, was a talented man with a lot of vision. He was the only producer creating American-made cartoons for kids in the mid-1980s, which was a real achievement. He oversaw the writing, production and was even a voice contributor to his shows (under the name Erik Gunden) - he voiced Orko, Swift Wind, Mantenna, as well as numerous small parts. Sadly, this was one of the last works from Filmation, but there is a lot to love about this classic cartoon.

The She-Ra series ran for 93 episodes from 1985-87 and had a lot going for it. It started with a wonderful pilot film called 'Secret of the Sword' which is probably the best overall story He-Man and She-Ra ever had. If you don't see any other She-Ra episodes, these comprise the first 5 episodes and are definitely the best to see. Everything Filmation did is on display there. Bright animation colors, spectacular scenic backgrounds, creative voices, and adventurous stories were the appeal of He-Man and She-Ra. She-Ra's show was more geared towards young girls and there are many rainbow-colored characters such as She-Ra's flying Unicorn, Swift Wind. The show struck a good balance for boys as well with the villainous Hordak and the occasional appearances of He-Man keeping their interests as well. The basic story of the show is the Horde is the evil power on She-Ra's world of Etheria and she must always come to the defense of the peasants to fight Hordak. She keeps a secret alias as Adora, and lives with the rebels in Bright Moon in the Whispering Woods. When members of the Horde continue to invade, Adora turns into She-Ra to thwart their attacks.

Melendy Britt is wonderful as the titular character, She-Ra. Her voice has a strength, confidence and care that make this show and main character a role model. This was also one of the earliest cartoons which has a woman as the main role model and who is the equal of the men on the show. She-Ra never shows off her powers and treats everyone fairly and equally. She also voices Adora and does a great job of distinguishing the characters. Linda Gary, who was so good as Teela and the Sorceress, creates two great allies of She-Ra, Glimmer and Madame Razz. There are many other colorful characters helping them including Kowl, Bow, Queen Angella and Frost.

The villains, on the other hand, are wonderfully despicable. George DiCenzo is Hordak, the arch-villain who changed the course of She-Ra's life by kidnapping her as a baby and bringing her to their world of Etheria. He also voiced Bow, which shows his versatility, not to mention he played Marty McFly's grandfather in 'Back to the Future' the very same year - 1985! Hordak is a villain's villain - he seems to be bad for the love of it. It makes it easy for kids to understand that he is out to get the good characters and while the animation is colorful, the characters are all good and all bad, making that aspect of the stories very black and white. Hordak is aided by Catra, Shadow Weaver, Leech, Mantenna and Grizzlor.

The designs of the characters and the magical world they live in really create a world all its' own. The background artists drew colorful, alternately bright and dark landscapes for this sci-fi/fantasy world. If you saw these as a kid as I did, it will bring you back to a world of wonder and adventure. The music is appropriately dramatic and is of a higher quality than you would ever expect for a show on such a tight budget. There's a brief moral message at the end of each episode from a character called Loo-Kee (voiced by Scheimer's daughter, Erika) who also reveals where he was hiding in the episode (sort of a 'Where's Waldo? Angle each episode had to keep the kids' eyes sharp throughout each episode.) The overall animation is fantastic for its' time and the many different characters each strike a different chord that add to the magic of the atmosphere of the show. The show remains a positive show for family entertainment today, even if the style of it is very much entrenched in the 1980s.

The "Scooby Doo Show" was the third iteration of Scooby Doo following the original "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" show of 1969-70 and "The New Scooby Doo Movies" of 1972-73. This show, which ran from 1976-78, was undoubtedly one of the very best. It succeeds more than the hour long movies and the later Scrappy Doo cartoons because it keeps the basic 30 minute story format of the original show, which is part of what made Scooby so successful. When I was a kid, I had no idea these were all different shows with different productions, etc. (I had to look it up to realize that these old shows came out years apart from each other). As an adult, it's interesting to see how the creators had different ideas and themes for each new Scooby show they would make.

This "Scooby Doo Show" lasted 40 episodes and the monsters are very entertaining and mostly all memorable. The vampire is definitely one of scariest vampires of any cartoon up until that time. The Tar Monster is one of the greats. The maniac doctor at the sanitarium is very scarily drawn. The scariest one for me as a kid was the Diabolical Disc Demon - that one stuck with me for years. Even the weaker monsters are fun in a nostalgic way. Joe Ruby and Ken Spears had a wonderful technique and formula for this show. The formula essentially starts with the introduction of the monster. The gang then comes to town and gets on the case and they start investigating. Velma says, "Jinkies!"; Fred says, "Let's split up"; They find a clue; Shaggy and Scooby look for something to eat; Daphne says, "Jeepers"; Shaggy says, "Zoinks!"; Fred makes Shaggy and Scooby trap the villain and they overcome their fear and catch them in some crazy chase. Once caught, the villain is unmasked and tells everyone, "I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids"; Scooby then says, "Scooby-dooby-dooooo!!!" and it ends. This formula is Scooby Doo at his very best and this 1976-78 show followed it to a "T".

As the previous reviewer rightly stated, the mysteries are actually pretty good and complex for a kids show and the animation is classic Hanna Barbera. Scooby Doo was never ha-ha funny, but there's always several funny bits in every episode and the magic comes from that Scooby is such a good-natured and lovable character. Scooby never once gets mad and he always overcomes his fears to somehow (and sometimes accidentally) catch the villain. I once saw that the characters of Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy are loosely based on their counterparts in the old Dobie Gillis show and that they included the Great Dane and made him the star of the show. Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy act like kids from that generation and always accept each other and work together and we never see them argue or fight. It works perfectly as a kids show as kids never question why these young adults never go to work - they just solve mysteries. I see kids today still getting engrossed in and enjoying these classic episodes that are now 50 years old! The hook is the mystery and the spooky atmosphere that make it stand out from other cartoons. And the endings are always wonderful with the capture and unmasking of the villains.

If you like Scooby Doo and don't know where to start, this and the original two seasons of "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" are the definitive shows to watch. I'll always appreciate the good natured character of Scooby and his friends, especially Shaggy, who is his closest pal. These kinds of characters are like old friends and when you're a kid, you simply enjoy it. When you're an adult and you look back, it's a good memory. Cheers to the creators of this show!