Boos in the Nite (1950)

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland








Michael's Movie Grade:B

Review: Very entertaining cartoon.

This film may be typical of the average Famous Studio's Screen Song cartoon, but it is still very entertaining. While few of the jokes are laugh out loud hilarious, all of them are quite amusing. On top of that they are carried out with a great sense of comic energy. The whole film just has a great sense of energy. The animation, while far from Disney level is quite good as well.

Importantly though the sing along portion really comes to life, if you are able to see this in a theater, the way I was fortunate enough to. When watching with an audience all singing along, this cartoon, becomes much more entertaining then it does watching it by yourself. This is just so much fun, and you can see why these cartoons were so popular.

Overall this is an entertaining if by the numbers toon, that is a joy to watch with an audience.

-Michael J. Ruhland

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland















Michael's Movie Grade:A+


Review: Incredible film, still scary and exciting today.

This film is amazing, down to every little detail. The acting is great (Lon Chaney is especially amazing), the cinematography (by Milton Bridenbicker, Virgil Miller and Charles Van Enger) is excellent, the pacing is fantastic, and the whole film just has an incredible atmosphere.

Unlike too many films today, this film takes it's time at the beginning. The fact that it lets itself build atmosphere at first, makes the later scenes all the more exciting. While the whole film is great two sequences stand out. The unmasking scene is still scary today, and this is because of a brilliant set up and Lon Chaney's performance. The other is scene is the lone scene in color in this movie. While some other films of this era used color for a brief scene such as Buster Keaton's Seven Chances and Cecil B. Demille's King of Kings, none of the other films used color as effectively as here. In fact out of all the films I can think of, other than the Disney films of the 1930's and 40's, I can't think of many other films from other eras that use color this good. Though this is just a brief scene and the rest of the movie is in black and white, this scene leaves an incredible impact.

I am fortunate enough to have just seen this film in a theater, with excellent live musical accompaniment (a very talented organist named Bill Field). While I have seen this movie on DVD and on Turner Classic Movies before, this was a whole new experience. Feeling the vibrations of the organ, sharing this with people who I never meet before but felt like I was one with, and the joy of hearing live music period, made this great film, even better. If anyone reading this gets the chance to see the movie in a similar way, take it. It was not just watching a movie, it was an incredible experience.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Shivering Spooks (1926)

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland















Michael's Short Film Grade:A-

Review: Fantastically entertaining, silent Our Gang short.

This short was just great. The Our Gang kids were just as great as ever, and prove that they are Just as talented as many great adult comedians. This film is laugh out loud funny. If you don't find the opening scene of this film funny, I'd be surprised. As well as this the kids being scared antics are extremely well done. Farina and Skooter are especially good at this. While a standard movie gag, Joe's reaction to keeping losing his pants thanks to Scooter, is made very funny by all the kids reactions. On top of this how the our gang kids accidently scare the group of people seeing the psychic is equally funny.  As with nearly all silent films on which H.M. Walker worked, the intertitles are extremely clever and funny.

What really makes this and most Our Gang films work is the fact that the kids so talented. Finding child actors this talented is extremely hard to do. Those who are much more familiar with the later Our Gang shorts of the talkie era, will notice these aren't the same kids they are familiar with. This is because the eventually grew too old to be in Our Gang shorts (though some would appear grown up in a series of shorts called The Boyfriends, which stared Mickey Daniels one of the members of Our Gang in the silent era, made by the Hal Roach studios, which also made Our Gang films). These kids however are just as talented as the ones those viewers are more familiar with. This makes the Our Gang films even more incredible because the studio was able to do this more than once.

Overall a fantastic short film.

By the way if you ever get the chance to see one of these films in a theater with live musical accompaniment, do it is an incredible experience.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland














Michael's Movie Grade:A+

Review: One of the greatest Horror comedies ever made.

What makes this film so great is on top of the comedy, the scary parts are played pretty straight, and are extremely well done. It of course does not hurt that Bela Lugosi (the only time he played Dracula after the 1931 classic) and Lon Chaney Jr. reprise their roles as Dracula and the wolf man. These scenes are so well done from the acting to the lighting and Charles Van Enger's cinematography. Not to give anything away but one scene involving Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and Sandra (Lenore Auebert) is particularly amazing. Heck even without the comedy the film would still be great, of course it is made even better with the comedy. This is because it never spoofs horror movies but just adds comedy to it.

This film also features Abbott and Costello at their funniest. Horror comedies were almost always some of Abbott and Costello's best work, and here they got to work with Charles Barton, one of the duo's best directors. Lou Costello's scared reactions are very funny, and rather than just being the straight man Bud Abbott is given some funny material here and shines at doing it. This is easily some of the funniest material the team has ever done.

Overall this film is a great movie and even those who don't usaully like Abbott and Costello may still like this movie. A must see.

-Michael J. Ruhland