Heidi's Song

Heidi's Song
November 19, 1982
Hanna-Barbera
Children's, Comedy, Drama, Musical
VHS
C+

This came out almost a decade after H-B's version of Charlotte's Web, but, although it has some things in common, including some voice talents, it's nowhere near that level of quality.  In fact, I'd say it's closer as an animated adaptation of a children's classic to Pinocchio in Outer Space.  The songs are weak, sometimes poorly sung (Heidi's songs are all off-key), and sometimes with laughable lyrics, most notably in "That's What Friends Are For," which offers the dubious message that jumping in the water to save a drowning friend when you can't swim is admirable.  (It doesn't work symbolically either.)  There's also a lot of pointless, unfunny slapstick.

On the plus side, I like the look of the film for the most part, the scenery especially, both the mountain and the town.  The animals, other than the deliberately ugly rats and dogs, are cute.  Lorne Greene as Grandfather and Sammy Davis, Jr. as Head Ratte [sic] are a bit over the top but add to the fun.  There are also two '60sish psychedelic sequences, one with Sammy of course, and the other with Heidi dreaming of mountain spirits.  (It's worth noting that Robert Taylor was also writer-director for The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat.)  The movie isn't overly faithful to the book but it's not way off either.

Pamelyn Ferdin, by then 23, sounds much the same as Klara as she did as Fern in CWeb.  Joan Gerber, who does the voice for Fraulein Rottenmeier, was a Hanna-Barbera mainstay, and she provided voices for both Mrs. Zuckerman and Mrs. Fussy in CWeb.  Berlin-born Fritz Feld, who does a very Von-Stroheim characterization of Sebastian, has credits going back to 1917, and in fact was Jardinet in At the Circus, as well as Mr. Jackman in Freaky Friday.   Frank Welker, who voices both Hootie the Owl and Schnoodle the Dog, was the narrator in Zorro: The Gay Blade.  (He's still very busy as a voice actor.)

Sue Allen was a chorus girl in Singin' in the Rain, while Loulie Jean Norman was a singer in The Band Wagon.  Other chorus members-- John Richard Bolks, Ida Sue McCune, Gene Merlino, Paul Sandberg, and Robert Tebow-- sang in CWeb.

Heidi is trippin', Man!

Everything's better with kittens!

C.H.O.M.P.S.

C.H.O.M.P.S.
December 21, 1979
Hanna-Barbera/American International
Children's, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Action
VHS
B-

I'm closing out the 1970s with two very '70s movies.  (I'll get to Scavenger Hunt in a few days, but I'll mention now that it came out on the same day as this one.)  This is also, probably because of the Hanna-Barbera production, a very televisiony movie, with writing, music, and sound effects straight out of any of their cartoons.  (The frequently recurring theme combines "charge," disco, and action music, while being very bouncy.)  Also, look at this cast: 28-year-old Wesley Land of the Lost Eure and 19-year-old Valerie One Day at a Time Bertinelli play an inventor and his girlfriend, while her father and his employer is Conrad Diff'rent Strokes Bain, and Jim Backus is the head of a rival security company.  Furthermore, the two bumbling crooks are played by Red Buttons and Chuck McCann.  The only signs of AIP-casting are Hermione Baddeley (who was one of the servants in Mary Poppins) as the dotty neighbor Mrs. Flower (a role not unlike Elsa Lanchester's Aunt Wendy in Pajama Party), and, as Merkle, Robert Q. Lewis, who was Mr. Pevney, the poor man that Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman drive insane in Ski Party.  

There are not really any of the odd, subversive touches of AIP movies of the '60s (and '50s), no breaking fourth walls, and every cliche is played straight.  The movie is entertaining enough, but not quite cheesy enough to be memorable.  I will note that the whole concept of the Canine HOMe Protection System doesn't seem so amazing, thirty-five years later, but the film might be worth a look for how it presents two elements that would become more significant in the '80s: technology, and fear of crime.

This time, Regis Toomey (then 81, but living on till 1991) plays the chief of police.  African-American actor James Reynolds, who plays a reporter here, was Officer Wilson in The Magic of Lassie.*  Engineer William Flatley was a truck driver in that movie, and Don Chaffey was the director.  Phil Adams, who's one of the "hoods" here, was Tarzan in Thank God It's Friday.


*There are a relatively high number of black men in the movie, with three in one scene.  I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but it is compared to some of my other movies, even from the '70s.  To balance that, I couldn't decide if the mean, swearing dog Monster being black was significant (he does say "turkey" at one point), but I think it's just an example of the two-dimensionality of the script.  All of the criminals are white.

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web
March 1, 1973
Hanna-Barbera
Children's, Fantasy, Musical
VHS
B

Some of what I feel about this movie is mentioned in my review of the E.B. White book-- http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2012/06/charlottes-web.html-- but I want to add some things.  It is a very 1970s-televisiony movie, but I don't consider that a bad thing.  The Hanna-Barbera animation is "limited" but there are some lovely images, and I like how they captured Charlotte's personality in a few simple facial details.  The voice cast includes performers from The Partridge Family (Danny Bonaduce, Dave Madden) and Bewitched (Agnes Moorehead, the incomparable Paul Lynde as Templeton), as well as you'll-know-them-when-you-hear-them voices (Herb Vigran, Pamelyn Ferdin).  Debbie Reynolds is perfect as Charlotte-- warm, smart, loyal, but also with an edge.  (You can believe she'd suck blood out of flies, or inflict minor revenge on Templeton.)  The script by Earl Hamner, Jr. is both more slapsticky and more sentimental than White's book, but the focus stays mostly on the cycle of life and the importance of friendship.  There are perhaps too many songs by the Sherman brothers, and some of them sound like previous music of theirs, but there are some stand-outs, slow almost mournful tunes like "Deep in the Dark" and "Mother Earth and Father Time," as well as jaunty songs like "Zuckerman's Famous Pig" and the smorgasbord tune.  What chokes me up is not Charlotte's death, which is subtly led up to, but Wilbur's fear that her children will all abandon him, and that line from the book, "It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer."  And it's not often that you find a film adaptation equal to the book.

Of the singers, Jackie Ward sang Linda Evans's songs in Beach Blanket Bingo; and Dick Bolks, Paul DeKorte, Susie McCune, Gene Merlino, Paul Sandberg, and Bob Tebow would all be part of the chorus in Heidi's Song.