Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World

Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World
May 1974
Walter Shenson Films/Fox
Comedy, Fantasy, Children's
VHS
C+

My review of the book based on the movie (not to be confused with the Ted Key story that inspired the movie) is at the bottom of this review.  I do have to add that the movie's charm seems to have faded.  (As has the videotape unfortunately.)  There really should be more of the title character, not just in the cheesy special effects but interacting with his boy Billy, for the sad false ending to have more impact.  The film is moderately entertaining but the title and title song are better than the movie as a whole.  And the poster (which I have a copy of) is even better.

Since this is a Walter Shenson production, it's not surprising that a couple of faces familiar from A Hard Day's Night show up:  Victor Spinetti as Professor Ribart and Norman Rossington as Tom respectively.  And Victor Maddern, who plays Dog Home Manager, was the junkman in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

See also, http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2012/08/1973-alan-fennell-digby-biggest-dog-in.html.

Help!

Help!
August 25, 1965
United Artists
Comedy, Musical, Action
VHS
C

Although it's nice to see the Beatles in colour-- including in a prescient scene where they wear facial hair for disguises and look like their future selves (except Paul)-- there's no question that this isn't as good as A Hard Day's Night.  Instead of giving us a slightly surreal view of a day-in-the-life-of-the-band, we instead get a nonsensical yet boring plot involving two sets of bad guys-- worshipers of the goddess Kali, and a mad scientist and his idiot assistant-- all of whom are after a ring on Ringo's finger.  (George gets a later ironic line about not wanting to criticise anyone's religion.)  The music is good of course (including sitars that would influence George) but there's not much of it and it's not shot anywhere near as creatively as in HDN.  I also don't like how John and Paul want to cut off Ringo's finger when the ring won't come off.  There are some nice touches, like the design of the lads' house, but I'd rather watch an average episode of The Monkees than this.

A few of the Hard Day's Night cast show up: Bob Godfrey, who was Man in Park, is a priest/thug here; Jeremy Lloyd, who was Tall Dancer at the Disco, gets a couple lines as a restaurant patron; and of course Victor Spinetti, the TV director, becomes mad scientist Foot.  Roy Kinnear, who's Foot's assistant Algernon, would be Veruca Salt's dad in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.