.
What’s that little ditty people used to write in year-books? Ah, yes—
Good luck for the future / As years go by / And may the Blue Bird of Happiness/ Poop in your eye…
.
The first ever US-Soviet co-production, this children’s film is intended to convey a message about being thankful for what you have, but instead leaves the audience feeling suicidally depressed. Starring some sloppily painted doves, an embarrassed supporting cast in second-rate pantomime costumes, and Liz Taylor in four roles.
Hmph. Give me the first ever US-Japanese co-production any day!
.
#1 by JessicaR on August 27, 2011 - 10:25 pm
Quote
I remember being so psyched to see this at b-fest and being so let down by how dull it was, I was expecting a madcap mess. It has every mark of a mess of a film cut down from an even longer mess of a film. All the otherworldly strangeness that makes pure Russian fairy tale films so appealing is in complete absence here.
#2 by lyzard on August 27, 2011 - 10:38 pm
Quote
Yes, it kind of just sits there. And when it isn’t just sitting there, it’s bothering you. There’s certainly nothing magical about it.
#3 by El Santo on August 27, 2011 - 11:31 pm
Quote
“I love you both as much as you deserve.”
And that, in a nutshell, is why I’m a cat person.
#4 by The Beerman on August 28, 2011 - 1:50 am
Quote
Jess: Oh, god, that’s right. If I remember, the screening came in the wee hours on the heels of Zardoz and a purpleized and a totally squashed-n-futched matted print of The Magic Sword. Wasn’t in the proper frame of mind to begin with. This movie did not help. I recall when it ended grabbing the nearest person by the collar, wrenching them out of their seat, and screaming at them about how “I killed that bird with my brain!” and not letting them go until they believed me.
#5 by lyzard on August 28, 2011 - 3:10 am
Quote
So it’s YOUR FAULT!!??
#6 by The Beerman on August 28, 2011 - 4:50 pm
Quote
Don’t hit. Don’t hit. NOT IN THE FACE!
#7 by RogerBW on August 28, 2011 - 3:43 am
Quote
I can see one reason to take out the element of the kids being selfish – someone decided that they were the audience’s identification figures, so they couldn’t show seriously negative traits.
But… wow. Most non-comedies that fail can at least manage to be unintentionally funny, but it sounds as though this one is too leaden to manage that.
#8 by lyzard on August 28, 2011 - 5:07 am
Quote
Oh, this is seriously not funny. To the point where I didn’t even try to caption anything. Just sat there feeling the yoke…
#9 by Braineater on August 30, 2011 - 12:46 pm
Quote
I got a half-chuckle over the fact that when Liz-as-Light tells the kids they should look for the beauty in the everyday, she compares everything to jewelry.
And at the end, when the “turtle dove” turns into that most sought-after of rarities, the New York City street pigeon… now that’s funny (though it’s pointedly not the same bird when Tyltyl goes to give it to the Little Girl).
#10 by Jen S on August 28, 2011 - 10:55 am
Quote
Wow. Where’s Baba Yaga when you need her? This makes the Russo-Finnish co-productions I’ve seen on MST seem like a combination of Gone With the Wind and Doctor Zhivago.
#11 by JessicaR on August 28, 2011 - 11:19 am
Quote
Beerman, I remember the audience members still awake being shaken out of their stupor in horror by the “you beat me so now I must kiss you” line.
#12 by The Beerman on August 28, 2011 - 4:53 pm
Quote
And to top it all off, the little girl was a dead ringer for Mike’s daughter, which, I recall, did not help matters at all.
#13 by B. Wood on August 29, 2011 - 8:31 pm
Quote
Well of course the cat is going to like Night better than humans. Since she can see where she’s going in the dark, she doesn’t stub her toes.
#14 by Braineater on August 30, 2011 - 12:26 pm
Quote
One of the other disconcerting things about this, which your fifth screenshot captures nicely, is that Todd Lookinland is tall and not just thin, but elongated; while Patsy Kensit is short and round-faced, with wide-set eyes. When the two of them are standing side-by-side — which is often — you tend to think there’s something wrong with the picture… like it’s being shown in the wrong aspect ratio, or something. But if you try to adjust the one half of the picture, the other half just gets worse… It’s even more unsettling than the funhouse-mirror distortions.
#15 by The Rev. on August 31, 2011 - 5:26 pm
Quote
I know what you said at the beginning about the type of bad movie it is…but your description of it compels me to add it to the list.
Admittedly, towards the bottom of it…
“Because she’s evil. Because she’s a cat. GET IT!?!? GET IT!!!!????”
So between this and the dead birds, Will should stay far the hell away from this movie.
“Because, after all, if there’s one thing Man needs, it’s encouragement to be more selfish and destructive.”
Have I told you lately that I…well, you know. 🙂
#16 by Braineater on August 31, 2011 - 5:50 pm
Quote
Waaaaay too late.
#17 by The Rev. on September 1, 2011 - 7:01 am
Quote
Ooooo. Sorry to hear that, chum.
#18 by Braineater on September 2, 2011 - 8:32 am
Quote
Oh, it’s OK. I just picture Cicely Tyson’s Cat snacking on the dead birds during lulls in the shooting, and then I’m on much more familiar ground.