I don't usually write reviews, but five minutes into this talkie, I had to research the Director (George Mendeluk) here on IMDb to see if anyone let him direct (or would fund) another picture with him after this was made. Oddly enough, it seems (as of the time I am writing this) that later, Mendeluk got the keys to the car 5 more times, though 3 of the 5 were "TV Movies". This means that apparently there were five other people somewhere that thought this effort was so good that it warranted a follow-up effort.
So let's examine this tragic train wreck of cinematic wonder, shall we?
Good writing can sometimes save a mundane movie from the abyss, but here the writing goes out like "Thelma & Louise", gleefully pushing the whole mess into oblivion. The acting is as predictable and worthy as any ardent troop of twelve-year-old children's theater veterans fresh from their grueling weekend production of Peter Pan. And finally, the production values (aside from the hideously loud crescendos of background music, which mercifully drown out much of the obtuse dialog), still feature special effects worthy of Hanna-Barbera on the tightest of budgets.
One genuinely gets the sense that the ghost of Ed Wood was the zeitgeist behind this reprehensible heap of celluloid, in that it seems every scene was shot once, called a wrap, and then hastily packed up to move on to the next, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit to learn that this whole steaming mess was lashed together over a drug-addled weekend by bingeing frat-boys with a few extra bucks to spare.
That being said, this film does give me a comfortable sense of nostalgia for the days of when "Spanky & Our Gang" (or "The Little Rascals") would enthusiastically shout out "Hey, kids, let's put on a show!" ...and then convert the barn to a theater, collect canned goods for the admittance fee, and proceed to win the war for the Allies through sheer force of will alone...
