• Continuity: When Bugs is stuffing the lion into the cannon, they are inside the tent. When the cannon blows up, the background has changed to the outside of the tent.

To be more specific, the lions' cage is place exactly over Bugs' hole.The lion sniffs food, and by process of elimination, figures out it's arabbit. Bugs, curious what all the racket is about, winds his waythrough the tunnel and winds up in the lion's mouth.

I'll say for thing for BB: he is totally fearless, at least in thiscartoon, and at least for 30 seconds. When he comes to his senses, heruns like crazy and we get a lion-versus-a rabbit battle the rest ofthe way. Once again, Bugs faces dumb opponent, one he calls "Nero," butlion is fierce and Bugs will need all his wits and somewhat-fakebravado to fend off this beast.

About half the gags are stupid and the other half funny, but alwaysfast-moving, colorful and good enough to recommend. I mean, it's noteveryday you can see a lion on a trapeze, or doing a hula dance!

2) Once again, Bugs Bunny sacred home is violated by careless people. Thistime the traveling circus put a lion’s cage right over the rabbit’shole. So Bug’s has to come out of the hole and face Nero (that’s thename of the lion), which he does in his usual hilarious style. After aslow and rocky beginning to the cart, it keeps getting better andbetter and winds up being quite hilarious. Nero the lion turns out tobe a pretty good foil for Bugs and that turns this short into a highlymemorable one, if still shorn of a classic. This animated short can befound on Disk 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3.

My Grade: A-

3) When the circus moves in to the area, all the banging above ground wakesBugs up. However, when he comes up to the surface to complain he finds thata lion cage has been placed right on top of his burrow hole, complete withone hungry lion.

This short starts really badly and it put me on guard for some time inregards the quality of the overall product. The problem is the low gradeanimation; the people in the circus look blocky and Bugs himself is notdrawn with as much care as he has been at times – here he looks verysimplistic and lacking quality.

The comedy however works well despite the shaky start. Bugs does his usualstuff and the lion is capable for quite a few good laughs – better than Iexpected actually! The film raises a few laughs and I was glad that thisfilm managed to have had more effort put into it’s material than it had intoit’s animation.

Overall this cartoon is not classic Bugs but it is still funny enough to beworth watching despite the animation lacking the care and attention that itshould have.

4) Robert McKimson's 'Acrobatty Bunny' is one of the director's finestshorts. Although the circus-based setting may evoke hideous memories ofMcKimson's dreadful 'Big Top Bunny', 'Acrobatty Bunny' is in factnowhere near as dull as that travesty. Pitting Bugs Bunny against aferocious lion, 'Acrobatty Bunny' is fresh and funny from the outset,not to mention extremely attractive to look at. There's a classic scenein which Bugs takes a strangled elevator ride out of his hole only toemerge directly into the jaws of the lion. In a brilliant Disneyparody, he hollers "Pinocchio" down the lion's throat! This brilliantopening is a sign of things to come. There are some expertlychoreographed antics in and around the lion's cage to begin with,followed by a hilariously grotesque and irritating rendition of 'LaughClown Laugh' which, as a child, I used to impersonate regularly! Allthis culminates in a short acrobatic sequence which gives the cartoonits name. I've never been fond of the circus as a setting for cartoonsand find it usually makes for a dull and predictable set of gags but'Acrobatty Bunny' breaks from the mould and the result is anexhilaratingly funny short which stands amongst McKimson's best.

5) Directed by Robert McKimson, "Acrobatty Bunny" is a really fun BugsBunny cartoon to watch. The circus is in town, and a lion's cage isplaced directly on top of Bugs' hole in the ground. Voila! Right there,we've got a great setup for the wascawwy wabbit to pull all kinds ofshenanigans on an exasperated lion.

Highlights: Bugs is hilarious in his clown disguise as he laughshysterically and urges the lion to do the same. (In fact, I wouldencourage YOU to laugh out loud when watching this cartoon.) Bugs isalso quite funny with his mock hula singing while the lion dances. Thelion inhales & exhales his nose inside Bugs' hole in the ground,causing Bugs to be uncontrollably sucked in & blown away.

"Acrobatty Bunny" is a great Bugs Bunny cartoon that can be caught onDisc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3. If you likecircuses and you like Bugs, you'll love this cartoon.

6) When the circus comes to town and places the lion's cage directly overBugs Bunny's home, Bugs ends up somewhere in the range right betweenfreaked out and intrepid. Despite the title "Acrobatty Bunny", it'sonly at the end when Bugs and the lion perform acrobatics. But evenleading up to that, it's quite funny what Bugs does to escape gettingeaten; somehow, he always manages to use the other character's weaknessagainst him, and then pull any convenient object out of thin air! Bugslater ended up in the circus in "Big Top Bunny". I liked this onebetter, as the latter got drug down a little bit by giving theantagonist an Eastern European accent (I know that it was during theCold War, but still). I recommend this one.

And with the end, we can affirm that it'll never be Aloha Oe for thiscartoon.

7) He’s fought Elmer. He’s fought Yosemite Sam. Now he goes up against thelionand gives a very funny short. As always, Bugs comes up with clever andoriginal tricks to beat out his adversary. And, of course, they’rehilarious. Don’t miss this must see.

From the very beginning of this movie you now its going to be serious.Theviolin music and the psuedo film noir opening are hints to this.And as themovie develops this serious aspect becomes even more prevelent.Ranging fromthe scientist trying to prove the existence of mermaids to the love affairsomeone has with a fish.The really weird part in this movie is where a guygets it going on with a mermaid.Needless to say this is weird but whatmakesit worse is that this scen is being treated like it is supposed to besensuous or something.But its not.In fact its just plain icky.Its likewatching somone mate with a bipedal turqoise carp.And finally one of thereally unusual things about this movie was the way the mermaids look.The donot resemble traditional mermaids but look like a cross between a greyalien,elephant,carp,seal and somone wearing spandex(If you can imaginethat).

• A Jewel Production. Universal, unlike many of its peers, did not own a theater chain. In order to distinguish its feature releases to independent theater owners, it created a 3-tiered branding system: Red Feather (low-budget programmers), Bluebird (mainstream releases) and Jewel (prestige productions). Jewels were often given special promotion as limited engagements, commanding higher roadshow ticket prices. Universal would cease to brand its feature films after 1929.

Wealthy Andrew Prentice has two adopted sons, who are not related toeach other: Kenneth Winthrop and Robert Armstrong. (Shouldn’t he bechasing King Kong?) The foster sons have grown to adulthood, andKenneth is married to Madeline Ames. I think that’s correct, although Idon’t know why the wife and husband have different surnames. Some ofthe intertitles in this print were very difficult to read, due to thedeterioration of the nitrate film stock.

One day the butler and maid discover Prentice murdered in his bedroom.Winthrop is charged with the crime, brought to trial and acquitted. Butthen who did it? For some reason, it falls to Madeline (rather than thepolice) to find the killer.

There’s some interesting camera work here. In several shots, a fairlyordinary object — a butcher’s scale, an open window — is given just abit too much emphasis, in a manner which makes it clear that these arevisual clues to the solution of the murder. Due to portions of thismovie being missing or too far deteriorated to view, I couldn’t followthe story … but what I did see was gripping enough to make me feelthat this *was* a very well-told and interesting story in the film’soriginal state. Barbara Bedford is attractive in a supporting role. Ishan’t rate this film, as I’ve only seen pieces of it.

2) At the end of the American Civil War, jobless soldiers sometimes form gangs, and one is led by a former colonel, still using his weapon of choice: an army cannon. When they rob Acquasanta Joe’s life-savings, the killer goes after them in earnest, sometimes using other killers as temporary friends – all after the gold prize. Estella provides Joe with information, and some companionship – as a silver prize that comes between Joe and the colonel, too. Will Joe’s bow-and-arrow be enough against a cannon?

Having watched so many Spaghetti Westerns this past week, the films'plots get intertwined in my mind – and, frankly, I can't recall much ofwhat this one was about!; I do know that Hardin's gang carries with ita cannon to aid in their bank robberies and that his leadership ischallenged at one point by a bald-headed associate whom Tate eventuallydispatches with a horde of arrows in the style of Akira Kurosawa'sTHRONE OF BLOOD (1957). Hardin eventually joins forces with Tate toretrieve a stash of money hidden in a cave, and also involved isHardin's half-breed (and gun-toting) woman – who has her eyes on Tateas well.

The director biography, included among the extras, makes some claim forhim being a versatile film-maker but, personally, it's the first I'veever heard of him: his career spanned all sorts of genres fromSpaghetti Westerns to crime thrillers, horror, sci-fi and even erotica(as it turns out, he also made the sentimental drama THE BALLOON VENDORaka THE LAST CIRCUS SHOW [1974] – starring James Whitmore and Lee J.Cobb – which, when released in Malta back in the day, proved a hugebox-office success)!

2) I rated this one with solid 5/10 points. It’s very limited in variousways. Let’s face it, most Italian westerns weren’t blessed with a highbudget, this wasn’t either and it shows. The action takes place mostlysomewhere in a canyon or woods, you barely get to see. Still, it’sentertaining. The characters are stereotypes, starting with the heroHoly Water Joe, the ruthless but cunning headhunter who brings down apack of bandits that robbed the bank he put all his earnings in. Theaction is quite fast and though this kind of movie naturally isn’t agrade A product it’s fairly entertaining. The soundtrack is quiteinteresting, as it contains both the usual orchestration for spaghettiwesterns as well as some 60/70s style music. A product of it’s time Iguess. However, I felt entertained by this one and for that it gets abonus pushing it to 5 of 10 points, with the entertainment factorhigher than that.

3) I'm actually not that big a fan of pasta-westerns, but I like directorMario Gariazzo and decided it might be worth a look for that reason.Everything Gariazzo ever directed was low budget trash, but his moviesare packed with wackiness and fun ideas making them perfect viewing forthe eurotrash aficionado. There's the sleazy giallo "Play Motel", the"based-on-a-true-story" cannibal-exploitation flick "Amazonia", thecrime film "Bloody Hands of the Law" (in which Klaus Kinski uses ablowtorch on some poor guys crotch), the lovely but insanely stupidsci-fi sex comedy "Very Close Encounters of the 4th Kind" and mypersonal favorite, the very stiff alien-conspiracy flick "Eyes Behindthe Stars" which predates the X-files series with about 15 years.

"Acquasanta Joe" is a pretty goofy comic western which stars Ty Hardin,Lincoln Tate and "show-me-the-money-and-i'll-act-in-anything" actorRichard Harrison. The film starts out pretty interesting but once thebank robbers Vs. bounty hunter premise has been established the filmpretty much loses its paste and becomes kind of dull. In a long periodin the middle the film is really going any place. "Acquasanta Joe" hassome interesting points though, which makes it an acceptable timewaster for more jaded viewers. First of all, I really liked theprogressive rock soundtrack by composer Marcello Giombini (who madesome really zany electronic stuff later in his career). Cowboys andgunfights to Hawkwind-like music, works for me… Also the movie ispacked with some pretty odd moments, culminating in a canon versus bowand arrow duel at the end. That, I can honestly say i've never seenbefore…

See it if you're into spaghetti westerns or borrow it from a friend.

Seen on an old Swedish semi-letterboxed VHS tape from the Wahlterslabel.

4) A gang of ex-civil war soldiers led by Colonel Donovan uses theirprized weapon of a stolen cannon to rob a bank. Bounty hunterAcquasanta Joe happened to keep his life-savings there, and so when areward pops up for one of their double-crossing men Charlie Bennett whotook off with some of the money. Joe finds him and brings him toDonovan, only to hopefully cash-in on the reward the army has forDonovan and his men.

For most part Mario Gariazzo's "Acquasanta Joe" is a second rate, cutand dry spaghetti western with few unusual marks creeping in. Theproblem I had was that it felt extremely uneventful (very flabbymidsection) and despite few effective sequences, the highly obscenecomedic developments (which always tried to be goofy) had myselfcringing. More often everything just seemed to sit there, lackingstrong characters, action and script. Gariazzo's direction is very lowscale, brutish and tight, but there's no flair or distinctive stylebrimming from it. Which was needed to make sure the energy levels stoodup, and keep certain bizarre moments from falling down flat. There aresome decent set pieces, when the cannon is in use, but the uneven blendhas too much filler and bland air. The film looks cheap and low end.Like something made for TV. It can't seem to hide it or use it to itsadvantage. The material doesn't surprise and stays traditional in allaspects, but it holds a confident structure to it. Marcello Giombini'snippy music score is an uncanny assortment (some funky modern guitarriffs) that actually worked. Franco Villa's cinematography threw manyswift, fast and odd camera angles amongst the grit. The performancesare pretty forgettable, but tolerable. The hazy Lincoln Tate in thecentral turn as the protagonist Joe is kinda lacking, especially withhis presence. Ty Hardin's turn as Donovan is mainly feeble, however hehas some minor sparks. Richard Harrison was enjoyable enough, as thedeserter Charlie. Silvia Monelli doesn't do nothing much but look allsteely. Only spaghetti fans should bother, but nonetheless ratherdisappointing.

• More than 1,000 tons of sand were used to make the sets.
• By day, 656 meals was served.

2) You know, I have seen a fair share of what come out of Hollywood andNational productions, all shrink-wrapped and on the shelves of thelocal video stores. I have seen horribly constructed ‘Xuxa’s’, stupid’casseta e Planeta’s’, dramatic ‘Cazuza’s’, ‘Santoro’s’, awesome andtrash Hollywood dragons, green Hulks, some hobbit with a ring, Elvissing-acting, and even had breakfast at Tiffany’s. Now I’ve seen apost-apocalyptic action drama where our ‘national’ world has turndried, and this world has a sand ocean to fish in it and I have to saythat I thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle. There are some comments onplot holes and whatnot, and I totally agree. The ‘cliché teen love/hatefights’, ‘the main actress survival after been lost in the desert fordays and her impeccable Make-up’ was useful, but why just keep focus onit? Why not tip it into the huge bucket that is the desert? See whathappens. Anywho… Where was I? Aaah, yes. The effects were very good.A impeccable direction and the acting was on par; Not a Oscar winning,but fitting, I’d say. And, frankly, I liked the concept. Yes, it mightbe a better movie, maybe if its public was more specific (target foradults only), but no one in South America ‘wild lands’ has even triedto think of doing something like it and/or come up with somethingbetter, as of 2004. Long story short, I enjoyed the movie and urge myinternet film connoisseurs to see this movie. Never mind that just afew people (and a dog – Incredible by the way) share it all in anempty, destroyed, dry city. Get your popcorn, relax and just watch themovie! Cheers, Patrick

3) Many people in Brazil dismiss the importance of this movie, due totheir prejudice to young and popular pop stars like Sandy and Junior,accusing it to be just a commercial movie, aimed to promote theirmusic. Such people couldn’t be more than wrong: the movie actually isdifferent from everything that has done before in Brazil. It has a lotof visual effects (seldom seen in Brazilian movies), it doesn’t hasmuch action nor long conversations. It’s a movie made to delight ourview, with beautiful art direction and amazing, poetic (although dry)landscapes. The story is slow-paced, reflective, but the plot justdoesn’t have enough elements to call you attention, sometimes it seemsjust too flat. Some important elements in the story just don’t receivethe required attention, leaving a lot of questions in our minds – Idon’t know if it was in purpose, to make us think and imagine, butthere are just too much of these holes in the plot. Acting also couldhave been better. Even so, it’s a delightful movie well worth seeing,hope to see more Brazilian movies using the same visual resources ofAcquaria in the future

4) Why to do a Brazilian production where the world has ended? We’ve seenso

many of these already, Mad Max, Waterworld, Postman. just to name afill. As

we know some of they were huge successes but others just didn’t hit.Our after world first national production looks to be in this secondcategory – but lets just think why for a second? Lets be honest andadmit that a good ticket office result is not related more to a goodproduction but to a good adverting plan. Wouldn’t be wrong saying itdoesn’t matter much the qualities of a brilliant direction, Efxs,acting etc. This movie looks as failed to please people. I don’t getwhy not. But then again people conform to do anything you tell them todo or see. I think

everyone should go and check this movie out. In general, many peoplestill like movies were the world ends, this movie is one of the best ican think of in this category. It is at least in the same range of itssimilar Hollywood productions and would it be enough to get millions tosee it? Wouldn’t be it enough to explain why our biggest Brazilian popsingers choose this theme to be their first feature film? -The newbeginning, the feeling of innovation and superb quality and

direction knowledge, plus their carisma… it couldn’t be wrong, couldit? But hey, as the other commenter said before nobody knew of thesemovie reliase on the

theaters, not even my 10 years old nephew, how come? Well, now the DVDis

available… People might see the ‘Brazilian Word’s End’ first version asmany

times as they pleased. Don’t miss it!

5) Let’s see… from the DVD I’ve just watched I regard this movie as theultimate Brazilian production escape. It’s exotic, dry and the’desertscapes’ are simply stunning. I guess it’s popular to hateAcquaria. But for what reason? Okay, so it never made as much money asUniversal wanted, but it’s all up there on the

screen and it DID make a profit, didn’t it? It’s not the flop everyonethinks it is. I found Sandy and Junior to be actually quite effectiveas the (desert living) people and all the other casting incrediblechoose to feel it. The action is very exciting and the effects neverfails to entertain. But bizarrely enough, the best scenes of the filmare the quieter scenes. Actually I’d seriously recommend hunting downthe soundtrack CD to this one – well, for those who

like Sandy and Junior, off course. It’s a shame the explanations andreasons wasn’t very clear on the script,

deeper descriptions on the way/why of living and characters for examplewould have made this movie much more commercial for its public.

There is no point going through this film and trying to make all thescience/ desert feature reality fit. I found this a very enjoyableexperience. Great national stuff. I can’t wait for the producers tomake a sequel.

6) I thought I wouldn’t like Acquaria at all but when I went to see it now- I was totally blown away. First of all, the looks and the story – amagnificently photography/art and a nice structured screenplay that hitall the right notes. Who says that a great action, science fictionfilms are made in the action/efx sequences? The reason why the actionsequences in this film were so nice, was because the characters were sowell drawn out, given time to develop, and it gave us time for us todeveloped a sense of them, caring about them, and then, the actionsequences hit. Such amazing moments. The acting is top notch,especially Sandy, who endowed the character with such depth of feeling.Ever the skeptic, I kept hinting at moments that would go wrong. Attimes, when the screenwriter would take the cliché way out. But then,something happen, the moment right after the action sequence in thehouse, a moment when the family is killed, and the baby is inside thepiano— I don’t mind saying, that I breathed deeply and tears rolleddown my eyes when they were in Acquaria, dancing. Why? because for onesecond, Flavia Moraes, let me see the heart of the movie. Underneaththis glossy, special effects action filled movie, there’s somethingthat is all too lacking in the science fiction film production that Ihave recently seen, and that’s a heart as big and as deep as a person’simagination.

7) I just recently saw Acquaria at a Latin Film Festival and was blownaway. It is a very innovative film. The premise is similar to the filmWaterworld with Kevin Costner but it goes beyond your typical doomsdaystory. The director has a vision that I haven’t seen in American Cinemain quite some time.

First, the desert scenes are filmed like a Salvador Dali painting. Itis so surreal and stunning at the same time. It is worth viewing justto look at the beautiful desert scenes.

Second, the actors are refreshing. The leading actor is actually aBrazilian pop star in real life. Her name is Sandy. I’m not exactlysure what kind of music she sings in her native country of Brazil butshe is hot! This girl is so beautiful you cannot wait for her to be inanother scene just to take in her beauty. Plus, she is a natural actor.She seems so comfortable in front of the camera. I can see her crossingover to American Cinema someday. Watch out! This girl can do it all.

I have to mention the dog in the movie. He is a Jack Russell Terriernamed Mingus. This dog is probably the most talented canine I have everseen on screen. Benji eat your heart out. The tricks this dog does infront of the camera are amazing.

And here’s the best thing about this film. It is a family film with anintellectual plot so the adults can watch it with the kiddies and notget bored. This film is entertaining. I hope it finds widerdistribution in the US.

So, here I am to discuss a little bit about my insights on Acquaria. Iknow I am not an expert nor a famous movie critical guy. I am only aordinary person who happened to see this movie almost by mistake. It wasnot made for me – I know! – I would say it was probably made forteens… But here it is, a very thruly opinion for anyone to considerand think about it. I was impressed!!! As many USA movies we are"obligate" seeing by millions BUT don’t forget this one is Brazilian, atotal national production… Acquaria has the good (perfection) qualityof any Hollywood big production. It’s visual is incredible – the finalresult is a impressive/must see movie. I am glad I was "forced" to findout about Acquaria! Marcos Sao Paulo, Brazil

9) I think this movie was quite remarkable. While it’s true that it seems tohave drawn inspiration and certain themes from a variety of other films,including Water World, Mad Max, Star Wars, etc., that can be said of anymovie. Can you dismiss Cold Mountain as a knock-off of Gone With TheWind?To do so would be a fool’s errand, as you’d be ignoring that film for whatit is, just as some might do with Acquaria. There are scenes in films aspraised as Return of the King that look as if they were lifted directlyfromStar Wars, and there are certain "stock characters" common to films ofthisgenre. There are also elements and themes that are shared by most anyfilmof this kind, so you cannot fault this movie for employing them whennecessary. Read up on myths and legends, or even studies of myths andlegends by the likes of Joseph Campbell, and you will see just how commonmany of these elements are in storytelling across the globe and throughoutthe ages.

Acquaria looks beautiful, the sets, design, and music are first rate, andthe actors all show considerable skill and promise, especially the youngandcharismatic Sandy and Junior. I hope that this movie, a stunningtechnicaland artistic achievement and an unexpected surprise out of Brasil, sees awider distribution, and I look forward to seeing more from those involvedinthe future.

10) This goes to Marcos Lobato. This is an answer for "insights" There isno "discuss about" in English. You must say "discuss something" or"talk about something". And this movie is only nice photography,nothing else. They pick up an exclusive amateur duet of childish popmusic siblings and tried to make them stars.

There are nothing but didactic for kids. Brazilian movie industry stillneeds a lot of improvement concerning casting !!! Anyway, the leadcharacters cannot be rated good actors. That's all I think.

That's my opinion folks. Thats it.

There's no way it's over. Good Luck!!

The proverb is "A cat can look at a king," in this case, an ordinaryguy can look at a beauty. The exposition takes too long in some places,the ending is conventional. A person I saw the film with told me theEnglish subtitles did not adequately translate the Italian dialogue.Once I realized the film was made in 1983 I understood why sometimesthe plot seemed so "old."

For me, learning that "soap and water" means "a woman who knows her wayaround" did not illuminate the story. What I did enjoy was the Italiangrandmother and her relationship with her grandson – he thinks he isfooling her, but she knows what is really going on every minute!

2) Spoilers

The film that supposedly presaged the decline of Carlo Verdone who,’lost the plot,’ with this one, Acqua E Sapone (‘Soap and Water’) is infact, incredibly charming, weird, touching, realistic and absurd. It’sa film that juxtaposes brutal realism against bizarre, hugelylarger-than-life tableaux. The end result is a film that, like the bestpop music, lingers inexplicably in the cortex.

Verdone plays an intelligent, handsome janitor – a man with an honorsdegree unable to find work in line with his qualifications. The filmopens with Verdone tutoring immigrants from Africa and elsewhere on thefiner points of high poetry. The scene is hysterically funny; thoughVerdone inquires at the end of a miserable lesson, (the immigrantsaren’t ‘applying themselves’), ‘when are you guys going to pay me?’Verdone tosses a paper airplane in the air and in a beautifultransition, jump cuts to a 747 arriving in Rome, bearing the gorgeous’Sandy’ (Natasha Hovey) a glamorous teenage model, her stroppy andover-protective mother and ‘American’ step Father. A press conferenceensues at the airport; inane questions are asked of the young lady. Onereporter finally asks if she feels more like a girl or a woman. Hovey,pulling off her sunglasses is revealed as annoyed and possessed ofawesome looks. Bella Figura!

We next see Verdone’s ‘Rolando’ at a convent school, waxing the floor;too much so in fact, causing a nun to slip. After apologies, Rolandobegs of the nun to find a job in keeping with his academic credentialsand a phone rings. ‘The call comes to everyone in time,’ the nun says,answer it – but she is referring only to the ringing phone, not to ajob.

Verdone answers and it is glamorous Sandy’s gofer, asking if the famouspreacher, author and missionary, ‘Padre Spinetti,’ would be willing toteach her for an impressive fee. Rolando goes to seek out the good man;Spinetti is occupied leading choir practice, (a fetish for whichresurfaces in Iris Blonde) and snaps at Verdone that he is not to beinterrupted. ‘Screw it,’ figures Rolando, who goes back to the phone,affects an accent and in a moment of madness, impersonates PadreSpinetti and takes the call. And the job.

Later that night, in the gritty Roman apartment where Rolando liveswith his outspoken Grandmother, the would be priest prepares to takeanother call to firm up the details of his teaching gig. We areintroduced to his sex-obsessed neighbor, Fabrizio Bracconeri, who urgeshim to hurry up with the call, which is on a party line, as he has tofix a date with a ‘Filipino girl with knockers like a Volkswagen.’Bracconeri, who sports a red perm, mustache, red sweatshirt andsweatpants, assures Rolando that red is very ‘chic,’ this season. Thegive and take, in Romanesque, the nasal dialect of Rome, betweenRolando, Bracconeri and his Grandmother is brilliant – even Verdone’sstaunchest critics give him that.

Rolando gets his call after telling Grandma to pretend to be asecretary; she obliges but warns her Grandson that dire trouble willfollow. … The call, during which Rolando tries to project priestlyintegrity, sees Grandma chases a stray Roman cat through her kitchen,swearing in the local tongue – marvelous.)

Rolando has purchased a priest’s habit for the job but there again;grandmother has taken it to the drycleaners. Unfortunately theproprietor is dead and so is his business. Sneaking into the deathchamber, Rolando notices another priest’s jacket available and that thedead proprietor, being cried over by his widow, has pants that mightwork, too. Stealthfully, he removes the deceased’s pants, snatches thejacket and steals away; causing his widow and other mourners to derivethat the dead man not only moved, but ‘took off his pants.’

Rolando meets Sandy for the first time the next day at her parent’svilla – after stopping off for a fist fight. He bluffs his way throughthe interview (after all, he’s 30 years too young to be Spinetti) witha beautiful set of nerves he keeps up throughout the film, whenever heis near Sandy’s parents. Sandy steals a look at her ‘teacher,’ inclassic adolescent style; beautifully done by the 16 year old Hovey.

Well, the obvious happens – Hovey falls for the ‘priest,’ and asquickly finds out – by rifling his belongings, that he is not a priest.She doesn’t give him up of course, provided he let her leave herrestrictive model’s life of controlled diets, workouts, homework andtelevision. And that’s about it … that’s her routine.

Verdone has really dovetailed every scene beautifully – even in anover-the-top comedy, the audience feels a twinge of ‘guilt,’ after all,this guy is impersonating a priest! Ah, but, recall, Rolando is also agenuinely gifted teacher with a master’s degree and thus qualified toinstruct the young lady.

The two go on a platonic tear – wreaking havoc at a bowling alley,abandoning diets and rules, eating too many custards at a Roman pastryshop (where Verdone calls Eve, ‘a damn whore,’ when his pastry, histhird in five minutes, bursts and soils his habit) it’s an hilariouswhirlwind. As the film is on location, Verdone wrings even more bangfor buck (or Lira) by shooting almost exclusively on location. Rome isa wonderful co-star.

In the midst of the growing attraction ‘tween priest and super-babe,are sandwiched several more scenes featuring Verdone and Bracconeri’svery funny interaction. In addition to the interest as a thumbnail ofRoman life, these scenes are just about Roberto Begnini-levelhilarious; in other words, ‘the funniest thing I’ve ever seen,’ type offunny.

Inevitably, Sandy makes a pass at Verdone, and has chosen a drive-intheater as the place to cease being a virgin. Verdone’s Rolando’scrushing self-doubt, (loathing?) overwhelms him and when Sandy’sdrive-in moment comes, his libido fails him.

Rolando drives Sandy home and reminds her that the pair musthenceforth, attend to studies; after all he’s to be paid at the end ofthe week. As he helps her over a wall bordering her parent’s massiveestate, she promises to be good. Skipping away in glee however, Rolandois intercepted by Sandy’s furious parents and the real Padre Spinetti.Told but for the scandal, he’d be jailed, Rolando is told to split andstay split. His car won’t start and Rolando must sprint down the streetin best 80’s casual style; Ben Sherman and Levis 501s.

Rolando arrives home, to considerable agro from Grandma. Doorbellrings; Sandy suddenly arrives- she’s just left a midnight modelingshoot in the heart of ancient Rome (which we, the audience see). Noromance between the two, because by the time Rolando has gotten therequired bottle of whiskey from Bracconeri, Sandy’s fast asleep.

The next day, Rolando concocts an absurd story to get Grandma out ofthe way; telling her that her medical reports look ghastly. He loadsher in a cab and tells her to have courage – but as the cab pulls offfor a hospital, she tells the driver that her grandson, ‘has a younglady he wants to be alone with.’ No fooling a Roman Grandma.

Rolando keeps telling Sandy she’s too young for sex, and she repeatedlyexplodes, finally going to Bracconeri’s apartment in frustration. AsRolando had lied earlier and told Bracconeri that he’d scored with thegirl three times and ’secundo was the best of the three,’ Bracconerithinks she’s some sort of bed hopper and can’t credit his luck! He toois revealed as a lonely guy who – though he’s with a lot of girls inthe flick, is never with them.

Rolando, imagining the worst, goes to Bracconeri’s crib to get Sandyback and the two swap painful punches. Back at Grandma’s flat, Sandyapplies antiseptic to his wounds; and the grand passion is finallyconsummated, which Rolando puts at 25 minutes duration; Sandy more like’three minutes from the moment he turned out the light.’ As the two liein the sack, Sandy’s parents are of course, frantically trying to findtheir daughter from the records of the convent where Rolando had beenemployed as a janitor.

In a beautiful scene, Rolando promises Sandy that he, while a ‘nobody,’has great strength and will ask for her hand formally, from her mother.As Verdone drifts in and out of sleep, Sandy tearfully steals away –simply wonderful acting.

We see Sandy walking aimlessly along the Tiber, when suddenly herfamily finds her and mother and daughter are reunited – as friends,rather than as exploitive Mom and Model.

As for Rolando …

There is always a P.S. in Italian films, it seems. (Even when theprotagonist dies, life goes on!) Rolando returns to a field and watchesplanes landing a Fummicino airport … the field where once he and Sandylay … and were shat on by birds … In this field, Sandy told Rolando ofher dream man, as welling as telling Rolando, who inquired how HEmeasured up, that she liked his ‘fat face,’ most. She also said heneeded a woman who would mother him. As the smash hit theme song comesup, (Fabio Liberatori put together a great score for this film – andstill owes me a tape!) Rolando dances with three buddies who don’t knowthe meaning of the field and ask why he keeps coming? They are hungry.And Rolando agrees; time to eat – his physic healing is complete.

** While certainly not among the titans of Italian directors, Verdoneis rather, a lesser Roman poet – no Martial or Horace he, but one ofthe countless minor poets from whom we mortals actually derive much ofour daily pleasure. Acqua E Sapone means ’soap and water’ ‘a woman whoknow the ropes.’ As Sandy eventually did come to know them … Knowingthe meaning of this expression prior to viewing will make the film allthe more enjoyable as it is laden with irony – Sandy and Rolando bothbarely know the ropes, for their separate reasons.

Finally, I loaned this film to an American chum who could not seebeyond the absurdist trappings and disliked it. Whereas a Brazilian,landlocked in the States, loved it, ‘got it,’ but felt that it was infact a tragedy. As in a sense, I guess it is.

Summer

3) The fourth film of Carlo Verdone is another interesting result of thestyle of its actor-director. Verdone -who is considered by many peoplethe heir of Alberto Sordi- offers an intelligent and never vulgarcomedy, with good dialogs. An unemployed professor pretend to be apriest (from a catholic college) in order to get a job. He succeed inteaching a young girl, a young model…

"Acqua e sapone" has a very simple story, it’s the story of twodifferent worlds which meet. The interesting point is that thecharacter of Carlo Verdone has to take another "identity" for gettingin touch with the snubbish world of the girl and her family, and thegirl has to "transform" herself each time in modeling… The film is acomedy but has sweet and sour moments. In an ordinary Hollywood comedythe classic happy end would have been compulsory. Not here (in Europeanand in Italian comedies in particular there’s always a mixture of jokesand sadness). The film contains the typical ingredients of the Verdonestyle: laughs, gags, and impossibility of reaching a quiet life.Another highlight of this movie (of a young Verdone) is the presence ofElena Fabrizi, "sora Lella" (the sister of Italian legendary actor AldoFabrizi). Her lines in Roman dialect are simply amazing!

4) Verdone started showing the sins of the crisis that was to hit him inlaterlife with this movie.The gags are still there and so are some of thereal-life characters (Bracconieri’s Enzo is very good indeed). But overallthe movie is very poor.Borotalco was out the year before, and that was avery good example(probably the best) of Verdone’s ability to portray theRoman way of life on the silver screen, and have people laughing atit.Afterthis movie Verdone was to make some very nice films, but the sparkle waslost forever.Acqua e Sapone is what one may call a "plain" movie.The storyis nothing special,the acting is rather bad,the gags old and not veryfunny.The only good bits are the ones where Verdone and Bracconieri are inthe same scene, the interaction between the two Roman actors isexplosive.But again these scenes are small and only used as links betweenthe more boring and badly acted love scenes.If one is fond of the Roman dialect then the movie is worth watching forthehilarious antics of Lella Fabrizi, the Montesacro style acting of FabrizioBracconieri and , of course, for the funny Verdone bits.But if one is notsoamused by the Roman dialect,the movie can be one of the dullestever.

5) Simpaticissimo film Verdone. I do not understand why we are talking tothe end? This is one of the periods of most flourishing career Verdone,the most beautiful, these are not movies that can please the Americanpublic and foreign. These films reflect very Italian to the public,their flaws and defects.Verdone is always followed by the Italiansalthough Gallo cedrone onwards tribulate has some '. The spoken Romanis one of the classic strengths of Carlo Verdone. According to me isone of the most talented Italian, without a doubt! Even its part bynaive, identified in the first phase of his films, certainly goes well.His subsequent films show a character neurotic, hyperactive and angry.The film green deserve much attention especially colro who speak abouthuman dramas with a touch of irony.

Really nice and funny and beautiful.

• Most, if not all, of the children who acted in this movie were from The Bachman Recreation Center of Dallas TX. It is a learning and activity center for handicapped persons.
• Shawn Timothy Kennedy (“Voicebox Charlie”) could actually talk. The twins in the unloading scene are his real-life brothers.
• The only one of the children who was not physically challenged in real life was Christian McIntire who played the role of Hobson. Mr. McIntire has gone on to become a writer, director and producer after leaving the acting field.

• The original production was directed by Trevor Nunn, and it was nominated for three Olivier Awards (the most prestigious West End stage awards): Best New Musical, Best Actress in a Musical, and Best Supporting Role in a Musical. Celia Imrie won the latter.
• A full-length musical based on three minute sketches from past Victoria Wood TV series.
• A filmed version of the stage musical that ran for three sell-out months at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket (West End). All the actors (including Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Victoria Wood and Duncan Preston from the original cast, as well as West End veteran Sally Ann Triplett) sang and danced.

• Anachronisms: The song “Tip Top Tap” is purported to come from the 1957 musical “Caf Continental”. However, it contains many modern references such as Shake ‘n’ Vac and the M11 motorway.

2) If you don't get regional British humour you won't get this – which isa tragedy because this is British theatre at its' best! The dialogue iswonderful, smooth and expertly delivered – as are all the songs anddances. Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, Sally Ann Triplettand Josie Lawrence show what true professionalism is and whilst thestory is somewhat different to the TV series and lacks some of thefamiliar items, the new mixture of the TV series and 'Vaudeville/MusicHall' is inspirational, extremely funny and well delivered. Even thoughI dislike Neil Morrisey's previous work, I have to say he delivered theobnoxious/slimy role very well – good casting, The rest of the cast istip top too – just like 'Tip Top Tap'!! Well done Victoria Wood et al -more please!!

3) It is very rare for me to laugh out loud when I watch something on myown (which is a very different experience from watching a comic dramawith others), and despite being very tired last night I laughed outloud a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the DVD.

Julie Walters sparkles as always both as the hunchbacked crone MrsOverall and as the pretentious, self-absorbed actress Bo Beaumont.Celia Imrie and Duncan Preston, both also cast member from the originalAcorn Antique TV sketches were also excellent.

Josie Lawrence was a welcome addition I have only seen her perform onthe improvisational comedy game show "Whose Line is it Anyway" butcontinue to be impressed by her as I was by Neil Morrissey – both asthe pompous John and the slimy Tony.

However it is Victoria Woods writing which has to be the star of theshow. It is so full of wit and irony and self-effacing sarcasm.

A wonderful show which I thoroughly enjoyed – I only wish I had seen iton stage in the West End!

4) Acorn Antiques is not about the goings on in a fictitious midlandsantique shop but about a bunch of actors playing in low budget soap.When the sketch started, as part of Victoria Woods "As Seen on TV" allwe knew about the characters was what we could glean from their onscreen antics. But what we did learn was how much they disliked eachother, how unprepared they were, how low rent this particular soap was.At the end of the run came the "making of" episode and here we got abit more back story on these characters. This like much else VictoriaWood did on this show was way ahead of its time but no less than wehave come to expect from her, after all "As Seen on TV" gave us Hetty,the prototype of the Hyacinthis Bucket character and pretty muchcreated the format that French and Saunders did to death several yearslater, main difference being Victoria's version was way funnier and shewrote everything herself. And of course there are always all thosesuperb musical parodies. Well OK I'm a Victoria Wood fan, no question.

Now I have to say I don't consider Acorn Antiques the musical 100%successful but I'm still not sure why. Having seen the show during itsrun last year and watched the DVD of that run at several times now Ihave to say parts of it are excellent. The DVD is great value with afull show with Julie Walters as Mrs O and several songs with VictoriaWoods's version of Mrs O, we also get a Karaoke version of all thesongs and subtitles throughout. And this is excellent, there's alwaysso much going on in Victoria's stuff that you need to see it again andagain to get everything out of it.

The big question is why do it like this? Don't get me wrong its greatto see Julie Walters 'aged hoofer' and I love seeing Celia Imrievamping it up, (how does she manage to bend back so far? strapping girllike that) But as one of the cast says, (of Chorus Line) it's amusical, it doesn't have to have a point. So just an excuse to string afew songs together? To really parody something you have to love it tooand many of these numbers are outstanding, "Tip Top Tap" is super andI'd love to see them go at it flat out right the way through. Celia's"Come on Boys" song is superb and Sally Ann Triplet's love song to MrClifford is just lovely and has got my eyes wet a couple of times. Butall together the show does go on a bit. The first part with NeilMorrisey has the director is maybe a little too much of a good thing.The second half, which for balance parodies the other half of middleEngland's catalogue of gripes seems to be a bit more pertinent, we arenot as far as I'm aware too heavily plagued with left wing theatredirectors but we are bombarded with people bitching about the loss ofall our traditional high streets.

I suppose what I would love to see is the right vehicle for VictoriaWoods' writing. Her Christmas show of a couple of years ago was prettyhot stuff and I'm sure the BBC or any other TV company would snap up 13more just like it but I fear she's done that format, done the sketchshow, done the sitcom format. Maybe a musical film is what would suither best and then those lovely songs and exquisite performances wouldbe preserved for ever. Maybe an appropriately radical approach would beto ditch parody and play it straight, why not? Oh and give Celia a lovesong to sing this time!

5) What could I say to anyone who says they were disappointed by "AcornAntiques: The Musical", I would say take some time out of your day andgive it another go. Celia Imrie delightfully shocked us with her quitecharming singing voice, and Duncan Preston always gives a superbperformance with his dry wit and sense of humour with hilarious linessuch as "I'll settle this, I have a scrotum" And ofcorse it would be acrime not to mention the national treasure that is Julie Walters, Julienever fails to deliver a top notch performance as her signature roleMrs Bodecia Overall. Neil Morrisey also gives an hilarious performanceas "Tony, the Credit Crony" Great Jokes, Perfect Timing,Fabulous,famous Victoria Wood writing style and Funny Catchy showtunes, what more do you need????

6) My best advice with Acorn Antiques the musical is to skip ahead to thesecond half of the musical (e.g chapter 7 onwards). This is because thefirst half is ….well….extremely extremely odd. The second halfhowever is the musical you are expecting and you will not bedisappointed – great songs and in-jokes.

I hear as the show travelled they did indeed cut out a lot of the firsthalf and God only knows why it made it onto the DVD.

The songs in the second half are superb and you will find yourselfsinging them for days afterwards. There are also a lot of laugh outloud moments and in-jokes for fans of the original series.

7) Inspite of the efforts of Celia Imrie who reveals herself to be quite atorch singer in the all too brief "Miss Babs" solo and Julie Waltersdazzling hunchbacked char-lady, the musical version of Acorn Antiquesdoesn’t live up to the hype that surrounds it.

A fan of the original Acorn Antiques which had such marvelous dialoguefrom Boadicea Overall as: "Widowhood, sometimes that’s God’s way oftelling you to come off the pill" and which was a gem in a series’Victoria Wood as Seen on TV’ which was full of gems its sad to have toreport that it isn’t better than it should be. There are almost none ofMrs O’s funny sayings and the first three quarters of an hour are takenup by Victoria Wood’s incessant obsession with satirizing thepretensions of ‘Arty’ Directors. Wood has done this before in hersketch series and clearly its one of the hobbyhorses she unfortunatelythinks we need beating with. Neil Morrisey’s pretentious directorcharacter is a tired boring cliché that we really don’t need tellingabout and most of the comedy revolves around haemorrhoid’s and wettingoneself.

Sadly with the tone as low as that I am surprised (anddisappointed)that Duncan Preston’s Mr Clifford did not have an illfitting wig to distract us from Mrs Overall’s constant references tothe National Lottery,until she inevitably wins the lottery and decidesto use the money to stage ‘Acorn Antiques’ properly without thepretension and hopefully without Neil Morrissey. Something whichclearly Victoria Wood should have considered in reality. UnfortunatelyMorrissey returns as a Loan Shark later and deflates the soufflé beforeit has time to rise and improve.

The songs quite frankly are unmemorable and uninspired, which isn’tsurprising as they were often an annoying intrusion between thesketches in the TV show.

Similarly Miss Bertha is played by a real pro of the musical genreSally Ann Triplett who does an admirable job but is clearly out ofplace as the group of actors who play, Miss Babs, Bertha, Mrs O and MrClifford are meant to be really bad. Its unfortunate that Victoria Wooddid not play Miss Bertha with the same high pitched voice, ill fittingsuit and addiction to Jamaican Ginger cake as she had done ontelevision.

Similarly its a shame she didn’t go back over her previous AcornAntiques scripts extracting some of the more outrageous quotes aspotential material to develop songs from. It seems like it was writtenby someone with only a vague remembrance of the TV show of the samename.

When this was on in the West End I was desperate to get tickets butnever managed to. Thank goodness, what a waste of £ 65 that would havebeen. I'm still angry at paying £15 for the DVD, having not seen itbefore I bought it ( something I rarely do but felt I could not gowrong with this?) I have always been a fan of Victoria Wood,right fromthe beginning and acorn antiques was always my favourite sequence fromher TV show so was intrigued and excited to see how she would translatea 5 minute sketch into a musical. I cannot fault the acting, althoughNeil Morrisey gets very annoying after a while – Julie Walters isfabulous as ever and Celia Imrie is wonderful but the problem is itjust isn't that funny.Wood seems to think mentioning heamorriods allthe time will get the laughs but it just got boring.There is onewonderful song a dance scene the tip top tap ( or something likethat!)but the rest of the songs are dull and go on too long. And thatis the major problem, the whole thing just goes on, and on ,and on.Wood should have just left Acorn Antiques for us to remember warmly inthe 80s instead of making a total hash of a musical.Also on 'bingonights' when Walters wasn't performing as Mrs Overall, we have DVDextras of scenes featuring Wood as Mrs O. This is embarrassing to thepoint I had to turn off. There is only one Mrs O !