Lost Media Archive

ISMN: Unico (1981) - Thursday Nov. 15th @ 7:00 PM @ Hot Dog King in Orem

      
(Above: My actual tape after being cleaned up from removing an annoying library card thing glued to the front cover. You can kind of see a light square where that used to be.)

This week’s feature: “Unico” (1981) aka “The Fantastic Adventures of Unico”

VHS/90 Mins/Color/Dubbed/Not Rated

Notice the location change for this week.

I’ve had many requests for Unico over the years.  In looking up these films, I found that most people requesting Unico were referring to the sequel called “Unico in the Island of Magic”, not knowing that there was another film before it.  This week we will be showing the first :)

                                       

First off a little history - Unico began as a Manga character by Osamu Tezuka and according to Wiki:

“In 1979, the same year the manga ended, Unico made his animated debut in Kuroi Kumo Shiroi Hane (Black Cloud, White Feather), an ecologically-themed pilot film (for a proposed anime TV series) which was soon released directly to video.

Although the TV series was not picked up, Unico soon made it to the silver screen in two feature-length anime films produced by Sanrio and Tezuka Productions with animation by Madhouse Studios.

Unico’s first movie, titled The Fantastic Adventures of Unico in English and simply Unico in Japan, was released in Japan on March 14, 1981.”

- wikipedia

Upon finding a Unico VHS at a thrift store in Canada, I revisited this film and changed my mind about it.  What I once dismissed as a “my little pony” fluff, turned out to be a touching and original story with refreshing “non-Disney” animation.  Yes it’s ultra cutesy but at the same time has a lot of dark elements as well.  Not quiet as dark and twisted as “Ringing Bell” (a favorite kid’s anime film that I saw in elementary school), but these films are really growing on me and as a collector of rare media, I’m beginning to love them :)

So, although I didn’t grow up with the Unico films like so many others, I can tell that I really would have loved this as a youngster and would have totally related to Unico’s character and motivation.

       

                                    Now this film is quite the guilty pleasure.

Here are a couple reviews:

The Best, 30 July 2001

Author: star83 from Maryland

“This is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, forget that it’s a cartoon. It was wonderful, and nothing other than animation could have captured this story so well. Some things have to be cartoons, and this is one of them, it doesn’t make it bad, it makes it good. This is something that anyone could watch, and I could watch this movie again and again.”

(Above: An actual animation cell from “Unico”)

Amazing! (Possible Spoiler), 11 November 2004
Author: Brandon Banks (Mantra_2@Yahoo.com) from Louisville, Kentucky

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

“I first saw this movie around the age of 5 or 6 years old, it was a beautifully done movie then, and even better now. I had originally forgotten the name to it, and had it confused with “The Last Unicorn”, but recently I found Unico again, and fell in love with it all over again.

Possible Spoiler.. (doubt it) Unico the Unicorn has the amazing power to make anyone he meets happy. Whether it’s because of his personality or the powers of his horn, no one knows. However, the gods become jealous of Unico, thinking that only gods should be able to decide or let people be happy or not. Unico is banished to the Hill of Oblivion, and the West Wind is ordered to take him there. She can’t stand giving this fate to an innocent like Unico, so Unico’s adventures begin, as the West Wind takes him from one place and time to the next, in a neverending journey to escape the wrath of the gods.

I highly suggest this movie for everyone to watch, young and old alike.”  - IMDB

     

Whether you grew up with this, requested it or it’s your first exposure, this film has finally made the ISMN cut and is definitely worth watching with friends :) - H.R.

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Bonus Classroom Film:

“Am I Trust Worthy?”

DVDR/Not Rated

Little James doesn’t understand why he wasn’t elected treasurer. He asks his father, “What’s all this trust-worthy business about, anyway?” His father responds with some tried, tested, and true Coronet ideology. Scary says: “Trust me, you won’t regret it!”

-Something Weird Video

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Time: Thursday Nov. 15th @ 7:00 PM

Place: Hot Dog King -1708 South State Street Orem, UT

Buy dinner here if you wish.  Free parking!  Friends and newbys always welcome :)

See ya there!

Haircut Swelch

                            
                                              (Above: Unico fan art :)

ISMN: Fire and Ice (1983) + Echo Party Movie (2010) - Thurday May 17th @ 8 PM

This week’s feature:


Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta’s FIRE and ICE (1983)

DVD/Color/81 Mins/PG

Hey, it’s my favorite Bakshi film and possibly the best Sword and Sandal fantasy film ever animated!  Story wise, pacing wise, art wise, I still think it’s his best film.

I don’t think we’ve shown a Bakshi film since the first year or two of ISMN, with such films as “Wizards” and the animated “Lord of the Rings” (I don’t think I was hosting during the nights of either of those). 

In “Fire and Ice” Bakshi once again relies on the old Fleischer studios (Betty Boop/Koko the Clown) rotoscope method of animation, which is, animating directly over footage of live actors.  Thus creating a very life-like and more detailed style of animation. (A classic example of this, you may remember, took place during the intro of the New Kids on the Block cartoon).  In this film along with the art style of fantasy painter Frank Frazetta the effect works beautifully and is very appropriate.

This however, this also gave the directors a rare opportunity for what seems to be a fetish for animated cheesecake and abundant crotch, chest and bum shots, both male and female (There are many).  Which some of you may feel is in-appropriate, and this has made some people uncomfortable with whom I’ve shared this film with in the past.

You have to remember, Bakshi’s animated films were generally made for adults and not for the little kiddies, this is also the nature of the type of adult comic book this film is based on.  However, this IS in my opinion also one of his cleanest films.  Thus the original PG rating, and if you can get past the constant crotch shots, this is a pretty well crafted and fantastic film.

Since this week’s film announcement is such short notice, I’m also giving you a link to a fantastic review from a blog I found called “film connoisseur” check it out:

http://filmconnoisseur.blogspot.com/2010/08/fire-and-ice-1983.html

PS. One odd last thing I have to mention about “Fire and Ice” from my childhood, is that most video stores growing up in Ogden, UT didn’t carry it.  Instead, in its place, and always in the “fantasy or cult video section”, I often found this 1986 skiing movie instead:

Who remembers this skiing romance drama?  Nobody, that’s who.  Because it was always lost and misplaced in the fantasy section, due to having the same title as the Bakshi film. 

This was the case way too often at video stores which made me wonder about the qualifications of the video store clerks, who probably did no research about the films they were placing on the shelves, past their titles I mean. 

“Let’s see (looking in a catalog) “Fire and Ice”, yep, place it in fantasy.” …Lame!

Sadly I was never hired at video stores, Media Play or even FYE, the few times I applied, to remedy these sorts of problems. 

The joke is on them. NOW, the rare vhs of Hollywood Video, Media Play, other video stores and much from the now closing chain of FYE (including many shelves) reside at Lost Media Archive. Suckas! 

Seems to be our re-occurring trend of creating our own versions of things, when businesses reject or refuse to hire our services.  We even have FYE business posters around our house, and I sometimes even wear their uniform to greet people as they come inside. :P 

(You can actually rent/buy rare films from us as well as purchase vinyl. But, we usually keep that an insider secret.)

There was my tongue in cheek rant.  …moving on.

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Bonus short film:

Edan’s “Echo Movie Party” (2009)

DVD/Video Collage/Unrated

I was recently introduced to this film by local “Rotten Musician” rapper and audio collage artist Daniel Fischer, who let me borrow his copy.

I had never heard of DJ Edan, because it’s not necessarily my scene, but from the few photos I’ve seen of him, he looks and reminds me a lot of a young Serge Gainsbourg.

Set to Edan’s sampled music, “Echo Party Movie” is a collage, of very obscure bollywood/foreign sci-fi/sweet animation/vintage obscure 16 mm films of people rocking out, and a carnival of incredibly campy special effects.  Seriously, the footage is amazing.  The only footage I was able to finger was some of the animation and the disco sequence from “Brazilian Star Wars” (1978) and a couple robots from Italian Star Wars ripoff “Star Odyssey” (1979).

After my first viewing, I think my first response was, “That was RAD!” 

Quite in the realm and vision of the use and preservation of old forgotten film from Lost Media Archive, who am I to say otherwise, this film is “dope!”

We will have this playing as people file in.  (Warning: Contains brief cartoon nudity.)

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Time: Thurday May 17th @ 8 PM (Tonight!)

Place: The Art City Mansion  - (300 S. 363 W., Springville)

Free parking!  See you there, video hounds :)

BC Sterrett

ISMN: “Abaracadabra” (1986) - Thursday, March 8th @ 7:30 PM

This week’s feature:

Abracadabra (1986)
aka “Tian Ling Ling, Di Ling Ling”

DVD/85 Mins/Dubbed Mandarin with English Subtitles/Not Rated

“Abaracadabra” has been one of my (favorite) rarest VHS tapes in the archive, found at a liquidation sale in SLC many years ago.

It’s an original Chinese tape, with a soft picture, subtitles often cut off on the sides, and if I remember correctly a random number 2 appears on part of the screen for a 4th of the film, only adding to the humor.

Check out the current pricing of the VHS on Amazon (Yikes!): http://www.amazon.com/Abracadabra-VHS-Chan/dp/B000009HMK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331141712&sr=8-1

However, much to my surprise a couple weeks ago while planning this night’s film, I found out that this film has in fact finally been re-issued on DVD overseas!  Above is the copy I found on Amazon, which is a much better looking package design than that of the sideways photo “Legendary Collections” DVD now prevalent on Ebay.  I have no way of comparing the picture quality between the two, but needless to say this DVD is definitely a leap forward from the archaic VHS which I had originally planned to share.

Storyline:

“In 1980, a crack team of Taoists (garbed like ninjas!) successfully vanquish a mob of ghosts — except for female demon Pinkish Red, who manages to escape. Six years later, Cici Shin (Charine Chan Kar-ling) and her cousin, Lily Li (Ann Bridgewater), open a boutique and need a mirror for their fitting room. The mall security guard finds one for them in the basement but, naturally, Pinkish Red resides inside it and, when Cici cleans the mirror’s surface, the ghost is able to enter back into the real world. In between flirting with hair stylist Sheng (Mark Cheng Ho-nam) and his goofy sidekick, Rambo (Rambo Tung Wai-kwong), the girls experience a variety of weird occurences, until the ghost snatches Cici and takes her down to Hell. A former classmate of Lily, “paranormal teacher” Kang Yo-wei (played by the film’s director, Peter Mak Tai-kit) has invented a machine designed to tap into the brainwaves of the dead. Unfortunately, it also has the unexpected side effect of reviving an entire cemetery full of corpses. Yo-wei’s uncle (a cameo by producer Raymond Wong Pak-ming) reveals the reasons behind Pinkish Red’s tragic history and the reasons for her current actions but it is up to Lily and company to enter the netherworld and rescue their friend.” - Hong Kong Digital

There are very sparse reviews and very little info about this film online.  Personally I LOVE IT!

This seems to be a particular type of film that is especially better to watch with other people.  While previewing this film with a roommate a couple years ago, we had a really great time and he couldn’t stop cracking up during it.

Afterwards he stated that it was the most fun he had had watching a movie in a very long time.  And this from someone who hardly ever attends ISMN, only watches high budget award winning films, and usually has very little interest in these films - THAT’S SAYING SOMETHING!  Especially to those who are hesitant to experience this type of exotica.

I’ve seen a LOT of Chinese horror comedy films, and this one definitely rises to the more entertaining and memorable batch.

The scenes in “Hell” are especially great, and even include a few random “Hopping Vampires”!?!  (Where did those guys come from?)

I think it’s fantastic, and reaches an entertainment and endearing level most films of this type only dream of achieving.

One of the two Amazon reviews:

“4.0 out of 5 stars

this is one of the best movies I have ever seen in my life, February 8, 1999

Well I am out of words for the movi”

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Bonus Short Film:

Dungeons and Dragons: Episode 1 - The Night of No Tomorrow

DVD/20 Mins/TV - Not Rated
Hey, why not?  From the same studio that brought us “Blackstar” (last week).  I obsessed with this Saturday morning cartoon more than any other.  Fantastic design, memorable characters and effective fantasy story telling.  Especially to a young mind like mine.  I was constantly recording this off television, pausing it and drawing creatures from this cartoon on scratch paper.

                        

Don Most (aka Ralph Malph from Happy Days) as “Eric the Cavalier”:

      

          

ISMN: Xiao Qian (1997) - Friday Feb. 10th @ 8 PM

Not Available on NetFlix #23

Happy belated Chinese New Year!!!  I meant to show this film a couple weeks ago but things were too crazy with work and the Sundance film festival.

This week’s feature: “Xiao Qian” (1997)
aka: “The Animated Chinese Ghost Story”

DVD/Dubbed/84 Mins/Not Rated

Our favorite tax collector returns in an animated version of the Chinese Ghost Story saga.

I know I still haven’t shown Chinese Ghost Story III yet, but this one starts with an “X” and is perfect for the “no-netflix” alphabet ;)

This film is actually a mutated version of the first CG Story movie, containing many similar story elements but told and experienced in an alternate dimensional plane of existence.

Tsui Hark’s goal to change Chinese cinema forever tackled animation in 1997, and the results are quite enjoyable!

Inspite of the film’s flaws, mainly the obvious one of limited 3D animation that doesn’t always meld with the 2D, or the characters not being grounded etc, the animated version of CGS (Chinese Ghost Story) makes up for it with charm.

The emotional attraction between ghost and human has always been a famous trend in Asian and particularly Chinese story telling.  And no one has captured this relationship with quite the same finesse and style as Hark.

The overall experience of this film for myself was like witnessing a mesh between the original CGS and Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away”.

Unlike the live action version, the movie spends a lot more time in the spirit world.  Where the debt collector tries to disguise himself as one of the dead to keep from being eaten or taken advantage of by the many diverse ghoul and/or ghost.

I first previewed “Xiao Qian” in it’s original Mandarin with English subtitles, as that is usually my prefference.  However, after going back and watching one of the scenes dubbed, I feel that this film would be a lot funnier and make a lot more sense to the American viewer if it were experienced in English.  The subtitles are sometimes in broken English and don’t always seem to match the Chinese anyway.

If you love the CGS series, the animated version is a welcomed addition.  Several morphs of the original characters are here: The ghost sisters, under servitude of the woman who swallows the souls of men (minus the giant tongue), and the toaist priest (this time with flaming red hair), plus many new faces and characters (sometimes seeming to have been designed in completely different drawing styles).

Overall, it’s a beautiful, nicely paced, unusual and often humorous film that could only have come from the outlandish culture of the Chinese.  I love it.

A lengthy and more extensive review can be found over at: Teleport City

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Bonus Short Film:

Fishing With John: Episode 5 - Dennis Hopper pt. 1

In this episode John Lurie and Dennis Hopper visit exotic Thailand in search for giant squid!
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Time: Friday Feb 10th @ 8 PM

Place: “The Springville Mansion”, 363 w 300 s, Springville, UT

Friends, Asian Food and pillows welcome!

See you there!

BC Sterrett

ISMN: Maria and Marabella (1983) - Thursday Feb 24th @ 7:30 PM

This week’s feature: Maria Mirabella (1981)

VHS/60 Mins/Dubbed/Not Rated

Yet another film we’ve shown clips from during our Out/Ex series in SLC.  Now is your rare opportunity to see the WHOLE guilty pleasure!

Above: We’re showing the Americanized “Maria and Marabella” (sic) VHS version.  I’ll explain why:

I first discovered a dirty copy of this film on a VHS sale table at Roadhouse Video in SLC (Was that the name of the place? It closed soon after.) - Man I miss video stores! (sigh)  Two little girls staring longingly at a giant cartoon frog? I could tell by the cover that this HAD to be good!  The back cover description confirmed that this was some obscure “fleshtoon” feature, so picking it up was definitely mandatory.  I took it home, fell in love with the sheer strangeness of it all, especially the bad dubbing, and the rest is history!

Many years ago my friend “Gentleman Chad” told me he that he once saw another copy of this vhs at an adult video shop in it’s facade of “more friendly” video tapes out in the front display.  I’m not into porn, but I have to admit, those fake displays were once a great source of finding rare VHS tapes.

One situation at an adult video store in Ogden went something like this (My friend Tawnya Mosier was with me):

“Are you looking for adult films?” the old man store owner inquired.

“Nope just rare videos”, I exclaimed handing him a beat up VHS copy of the animated feature “The Wacky World of Mother Goose” at the register.

The confused expression on his face was priceless! :)

Anyway, I digress….

I found another odd VHS copy at Rent-A-Video in St. George.  Though the title was different, I knew exactly what it was :)  Ashley Beck and I previewed the “Magical Forest” version just the other day and much to my surprise found that it was an entirely different dub of the same film, but uses the same “Americanized” songs by the band “Bullets”.

Conclusion: The Maria and Marabella dubbed version and is better.  I find it funnier and more charming!  If you have a choice don’t pick up the Magical Forest version.

As far as I know from other sources this film is not available with subtitles or in English on DVD.  Only in Russian.

Anyway about this film: Maria, Mirabela is a Romanian/Soviet co-production directed and written by Romania’s lead fantasy director Ion Popescu-Gopo (“A Bomb Was Stolen”, “Steps to the Moon”, “A Fantastic Comedy”).

The Storyline:  Two girls playing outside in the sun, find a cartoon frog frozen in ice when it shouldn’t be cold at all.  The frog explains that his predicament was caused by the “Fairy Princess” who froze him after he claimed that “Frogs aren’t good for anything”.

Taking pity on the frog Maria puts the frog “Ki ki” into a glass goblet and decides to find the Fairy Princess to plead for his freedom, much to the dismay of her friend Marabella who decides to tag along so they can get back to playing.

Along the way through the enchanted woods, they come across more pitiful cartoon creatures.  A firefly unable to get his giant shoes to glow and a butterfly who can’t fly. Into the glass cup they go, to join the girls on their Fairy Princess adventure.  When you think about it, it’s another incarnation of “The Wizard of Oz”.

My only complaints are that the scenarios of the caterpillars and butterflies is a tiny bit slow in the middle, and the new injected “Americanized Musical Numbers” are pretty cheesy (Swallow your pride viewers).

But those are small complaints compared to the strangeness of it all, the beautiful lushness of many of the effects, backgrounds, the exotic feel, and the frequent unintentional hilarious pay off moments that make the whole film experience well worth your time :)

One such moment and the absolute highlight of this film is the scene where they run into Father Time, pleading with him to stop the clocks so that the girls can find the castle of the Fairy Princess before midnight.

Father time then proceeds to sing a hilarious song (in English) about why time cannot be stopped. “Breafast would be lunch, and lunch would be dinner.  Imagine how confusing it would be!”

This is the scene we’ve shown at our Out/Ex shows in Salt Lake City!  Absolutely amazing!  This has to go down in history as the worst example of dubbing in human history!!!  This American song goes against every mouth movement and facial expression Father Time throws at the girls.  He’ll even sing an entire sentence with wide eyes, while his mouth makes a single “O” shape!  I’ve shown this scene to so many people, I’m scared of breaking the tape or wearing it out during this part of the film.

As far as The Magical Forest version goes, this scene loses the same humor effect but makes it even more of a train wreck!  The same song takes place, but realizing that it didn’t fit hit mouth, they put in random and redundant dialog over the music.  I’ll show this version of the scene as well after the film so you can experience the surrealism.

As Father Time falls asleep during his serenade and falls asleep on Maria’s dress, trapping her for a time, Marabella runs off to the Fairy Castle to solve everyone’s problems.  Things get even more bizarre and surreal when suddenly the Fairy Princess walks into a modern day kitchen to steam some water.

I’ve skipped some of the plot here and there and shall not give the ending away. But boy that ending, oh my!

Believe it or not (according to the monsterkidclassichorrorforum blog), the last film by director Popescu-Gopo before he died was a sequel to Maria, Mirabela called “Maria Mirabela in Transystoria”(1989) where they travel inside a TV set to another dimension combining elements of The Poltergiest and Tron!?

(Above: Screen caps from the sequel “Maria Mirabela in Transystoria” (1989). Courtesy of the the Foreign Horrors blog. Anyone care to share a copy of this?)

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Bonus Short Film: Roald Dahl’s “Man From The South” (1960, Starring Steve McQueen and Peter Lorre) filmed for an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

VHS/About 25 Mins/Not Rated/Made for Television

(Above: A trading card from the film!)

I originally wanted to show this at Ashley’s Roald Dahl themed birthday party, but found that someone had partially taped over my copy with a war movie on AMC!

(Above: Photo from the color “re-make” of “Man From the South” from 1979. Not the version we’re showing.)

I now have a new copy!  Hopefully this will get released on DVD, if they ever put out Alfred Hitchcock Presents:Season 5.

I have to agree with film historian/cartoonist Steve Bissette, this is some of the best storytelling and most entertaining 25 mins of film ever committed to television! (Speaking of the original McQueen and Lorre version.)

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Time: Thursday Feb 24th @ 7:30 PM

Place: Chatham Town #33, Provo, UT 84604

Parking: Only available at the BYU ROTC parking lot on 900 E across from Wasatch Elementary.

Friends and treats welcome! See you there!

BC Sterrett

(Above: Various snapshots from Maria, Mirabela - 1981)

ISMN: Alakazam the Great (1960) - Thursday Nov. 4th @ 7:30 PM

Please take note of the location change this week!  ISMN is now back @ Chatham Town #33.

This week’s feature:

Alakazam the Great (1960)
aka “Saiyu-ki”

VHS/84 Mins/Color/Unrated

I’m kind of sick, so I’m going try and keep this review short.  I first discovered this film while studying animation in California around 1999 and at night would go out and rent obscure animated videos in my spare time. Alakazam was definitely one of the best finds!

Originally named “Saiyu-ki”, this was one of the first Japanese animated films to cross over to the United States for a mainstream audience.  The dubbed version features the voices of Sterling Holloway, Frankie Avalon, and Peter Fernandez (The voice of Speed Racer). 

The most standout western feature of all being the soundtrack by Les Baxter (composer of the 60’s hit “Quiet Village” and score artist behind past ISMN Roger Corman features like “Fall of the House of Usher” and “X-The Man with X-Ray Eyes”).

I actually found the vinyl American soundtrack once while visiting Japan!

If you haven’t seen early anime, it doesn’t look or feel like anything out today.  The art is very round,fluid, and very exaggerated in it’s movement - influenced by the features of Disney and other American animation of the period.

And, like many other Japanese cartoons brought to the United States, names and places in the films have been changed, not to confuse the American children with their own culture and religion etc. (My theory).  Therefore instead of this film taking place in China, it’s the land of “Medusa” or something like that.  Even Buddha’s name has been changed to “King Amode”.

Regardless, the English version is actually very endearing and fun.  With everyone’s favorite lines like Alakazam’s battle against “Jerkules”.

Come see one of the greatest often forgotten animated foreign features of all time!

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Bonus Short Film: Atom Ant - Crankenshaft’s Monster

VHS/Around 7 Mins/Not Rated

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Time: Thursday Nov. 4th @ 7:30 PM
Place: Chatham Town #33, 986 N 900 E
Parking is available @ the BYU ROTC parking lot across the street.  Park there unless you want to get booted or towed.

Friends and Treats Welcome!

See you there,

BC (LMA Director)

PS. The new ISMN lineup looks fantastic this season.  Expect a LOT of foreign and bizarre kiddie films this time around :)