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Ray Harryhausen eases up for his second color Dynamation feature, restricting the stop-motion and instead utilizing traveling mattes to make a more juvenile adventure movie for smaller kiddies. The big draw is the beautiful music score by fantasy favorite Bernard Herrmann.

The 3 Worlds of Gulliver

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1960 / Color / 1:66 & 1:78 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date December 13, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring Kerwin Matthews, Jo Morrow, June Thorburn, Sherry Alberoni, Lee Patterson, Gregoire Aslan, Basil Sydney, Peter Bull, Charles Lloyd Pack, Martin Benson, Alec Mango, Doris Lloyd, Joan Hickson, Noel Purcell.

Cinematography Wilkie Cooper

Original Music Bernard Herrmann

Creator of Special Visual Effects Ray Harryhausen

Written by Arthur Ross, Jack Sher based on the book by Jonathan Swift

Produced by Charles H. Schneer

Directed by Jack Sher

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

In The 3 Worlds of Gulliver Ray Harryhausen, Charles H. Schneer and Dynamation go tame — unlike...

High camp or just plain trash? A cultural-cinematic swamp in perfectly rotten taste, this adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's supermarket 'dirty book' seeks out tawdry sleaze like no American movie had before. Junk beyond belief, and great entertainment if you're in a sick frame of mind. Valley of the Dolls Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 835 1967 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 123 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 27, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Paul Burke, Sharon Tate, Susan Hayward, Tony Scotti, Martin Milner, Charles Drake, Alexander Davion, Lee Grant, Naomi Stevens, Robert H. Harris, Jacqueline Susann, Robert Viharo, Joey Bishop, George Jessel, Dionne Warwick, Sherry Alberoni, Margaret Whiting, Richard Angarola, Richard Dreyfuss, Marvin Hamlisch, Judith Lowry. Cinematography William H. Daniels Film Editor Dorothy Spencer Conductor / Music Adaptor John Williams Written by Helen Deutsch, Dorothy Kingsley Jacqueline Susann Produced by Mark Robson, David Weisbart Directed by Mark Robson

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

I...

Yes, it's really been 60 years since Mickey Mouse Club premiered on ABC. To cap off the D23 Expo in Anaheim, Calif., Sunday, a few original Mouseketeers—including Sherry Alberoni, Sharon Baird, Bobby Burgess, Tommy Cole, Darlene Gillespie, Cubby O'Brien and Doreen Tracey—reunited on stage to reminisce with Lorraine Santoli, author of The Official Mickey Mouse Club Book. "The Mickey Mouse Club was a television phenomenon," Santoli said of the beloved and family friendly variety series, which aired intermittently on ABC and Disney Chanel from 1955 to 1996, "and it's something that fans still love 60 years later." (It's no coincidence that Disneyland is in the midst...

Patty Andrews Returns: Bette Midler revives the ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B’ [See previous post: "Patty Andrews: The Andrews Sisters' Last Surviving Member Has Died."] In 1974, a year after Bette Midler repopularized "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B," Maxene and Patty Andrews reunited for the World War II Broadway musical Over Here. (Laverne Andrews had died in 1967.) With a score by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, and book by Will Holt, Over Here, a mix of rose-colored nostalgia and social criticism, ran for a year. (Photo: The older Patty Andrews.) Three years earlier, Patty Andrews had starred off-Broadway in the Sherman brothers’ Victory Canteen, a sort of prequel to Over Here. The show, also featuring Sherry Alberoni, Lorene Yarnell, and Anson Williams, ran for seven months. Rift between Maxene and Patty Andrews Following that last major hit, the two surviving Andrews sisters, both San Fernando Valley residents, went their own way. According to reports, in the two decades...

For the past two years, I've been lucky enough to be a small part of a show called Portlandia. The series -- created by the prolifically talented Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein and returning on Friday for a second season -- has been described by many a stinging satire of Hipster culture. While it does parody Hipster earnestness, the show pays loving tribute to communities Like Portland everywhere -- Silver Lake, Austin, Bolder, Williamsburg, Minneapolis, Northampton, Berkeley, etc, etc, etc -- and much has been made about how the show has puts Hipster Culture in the spotlight.

I must say, however, Hipsters are not a new TV phenomenon. With thick glasses, just-so-avant-garde fashion and knowing smirks, Hipsters have had a special place on TV since the beginning of the medium -- even before the birth of the term. For more than half a century, TV Hipsters have had a profound effect on American culture.

During the late 1960s, Filmation was having incredible success with The Archie Show on CBS. Not only was the TV series very popular but one of the animated show's songs, "Sugar, Sugar," hit the top spot on the Billboard charts. Hanna-Barbera wanted to duplicate the idea and licensed the Josie characters from Archie Comics. They centered the stories around the girls' band, added mysteries (ala Scooby-Doo, Where are You!), and were on their way.

Josie and the Pussycats debuted on September 12, 1970 on CBS. The animated show centers around six young people. Josie (Janet Waldo), Valerie (Barbara Pariot), and Melody (Jackie Joseph) make up the band. Handsome Alan (Jerry Dexter) is their roadie, Alexander (Casey Kasem) is their cowardly manager, and Alexandra (Sherry Alberoni) is his nasty sister.

Alan's sweet on Josie but Alexandra wants him to herself and will sabotage sweet Josie...