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This film was chosen for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance Festival is, as you may know, famous for premiering films that have had a decidedly anti-establishment and left-leaning attitude so for this movie to be chosen is a real jaw-dropper.
Here's some quotes of reviews:
"When was the last time you saw a documentary that fundamentally changed the way you think?"
"The most important movie about the environment since 'An Inconvenient Truth'"
There's a very interesting premise in this movie. I want to see it when it comes out and hope it is released on Youtube quickly...
The only thing I do want to say is that, I don't believe in the theory of AGW, and so, if that's the premise of needed nuclear power, then I think it might be wrong... I do, though, believe that we have a lot of people on this earth who need to eat, live and have security. Wars over oil and resources are occurring more and more often. I do believe that we need to think about finding a way to safely use nuclear power. Thorium perhaps? Please refer to: Japan (and America's) Nuclear Future in Thorium
By Mike in Tokyo Rogers This short movie was created by the US Office of Civil Defense. I think it goes a long way in showing just how nutty these people we have in government are. It is, in some parts funny, in others just plain astounding... The propaganda purposes are always in forefront. Especially the part, when referring to what happened in Japan after the atomic bombing, where they say that "That a large majority of people exposed to nuclear radiation recovered completely including those who suffered radiation sickness." For more on that, see "Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What People Experienced." Wikipedia says abut the US Office of Civil Defense: The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) was an agency of the United States Department of Defense from 1961-64. It replaced the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization. The organization was abolished on July 20, 1979, pursuant to Executive Order 12148. It was a predecessor to theFederal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Oh, great! They became FEMA. You know, that fine organization that handled the New Orleans area after hurricane Katrina... This is a fascinating short film. All you have to do is hear the opening narration to know that you are in for a massive dose of 1960's US government propaganda. "Let's us face, without panic, the reality of our time; the fact that atom bombs may soon be dropped on our cities. And let us prepare for survival by understand the weapon that threatens us..."
Think about this for a second and then you can understand why we should fear what our leaders are doing in our names: was there every anything so damned important that the Soviet Union did that would warrant us risking having our cities and citizens evaporated like the hundreds of thousands at Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Film from Internet Archives -------- Keywords: atom bomb, Marketing Japan, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Office of Civil Defense, film, Mike Rogers
The reaction to the last Cool and Strange music (Cool & Strange Music - East Meets West Jan. 27, 2013) was quite satisfying to say the least. Thank you. Actually it was almost all about a music genre that most people haven't heard of but they hear it everyday; it's called "Library Music." It's the kind of music that's used for background music on movies, TV shows and TV commercials. It's everywhere and some of the best music being made today - or at anytime in the days of film and mass media - has been made by "Library" musicians and composers.
That's what the last Cool and Strange was about and that's what today's Cool and Strange is all about: Library Music. What really surprised me about the last Cool and Strange post, was that I have several inquiries concerning the Morphine Mambo Jazz Club... The majority of which were the questions, "Who are these people?" and "Where can I get their music?" Well first off, if we can believe the liner notes in the CD (which I think we can't) it claims that the Morphine Mambo Jazz Club was a London Club in the sixties that inspired Julian Temple, the film maker, to make the movie entitled "Absolute Beginners" and David Bowie to sing the song with the same title... Both were, well, pablum.... They pale in comparison to the real thing. And the compilation, Morphine Mambo Jazz Club is the real thing!
Folks, this album is an extremely rare highly sought after collectors item. Like I said, I have one (brag, brag, snort, snort!), but last I heard was that they were selling for a few hundred dollars each and you couldn't find them anywhere. I checked on Amazon too and I found it is unavailable.
Unavailable, but as you can see, all 5 star reviews! Oh, wait a minute! That's probably the review I wrote, never mind!
If you commence a Google search for Morphine Mambo Jazz Club probably the best you can find is that this artist has something to do with a guy named Jack Trombley... So like the music and this post, if you are to search for answers to clues, you'll also find that, as far as Jack Trombley is concerned, he may or may not actually exist. Besides Jack, there's a few other "shady" characters, but I think Jack is the most intriguing of the bunch... Even though he probably doesn't exist...
Mobster Scene
Confusing? Yep. I'm not convinced, but many of us record-collection geeks think Jack Trombley is a pseudonym; a stage name.
Jack Trombey is also sometimes credited as T. Trombey and he is a British composer. Since I am not sure if he really exists (I mean, in that name). I am not sure he is still alive. Here's why: Jack Trombley composed pieces for Dewolfe Music, a production music library. Many Jack Trombley compositions were used in film and television productions such as Monty Python, Doctor Who, Van der Valk and Dawn of the Dead; so we're talking about stuff from the late 60s and early 70s.... Some suspect, and perhaps I do too, that Trombey is actually a pseudonym used by Ron Goodwin to compose for DeWolfe Music.
Ronald Alfred Goodwin (17 February 1925 – 8 January 2003) was a British composer and conductor known for his film music. He scored over 70 films in a career lasting over fifty years. His most famous works included Where Eagles Dare, Battle of Britain, 633 Squadron and Operation Crossbow.
But wait! We're not sure that Jack Trombey is Ron Goodwin so let's go back to the facts we already have that we know are definitely true.
World of Strategy No. 4
Jack Trombey composed for DeWolfe Music. At DeWolfe, we know that Jack Trombey composed for many British TV shows including Monty Python.
De Wolfe Music is the originator of what has become known as production music as it was established in 1909 and began its recorded library in 1927 with the advent of 'Talkies'. The library consists of over 80,000 tracks, all pre-cleared for licensing and synchronisation. They have been used in thousands of productions including Monty Python, Emmanuelle, Dawn of the Dead, American Gangster and Doctor Who. Well known theme tunes include Van der Valk and Roobarb....
...Music was also provided for classic episodes of Dr. Who, while in the 1970s De Wolfe scored The Sweeney, Monty Python's Flying Circus and cartoon theme tunes for Roobarb & Custard and Henry's Cat. Eye Level, the theme music for the television detective series Van Der Valk, became a million-selling number one single in 1973. To composer Jack Trombey’s surprise, Eye Level topped the charts for six weeks and saw Simon Park conducting his Orchestra week after week on Top Of The Pops alongside glam superstars Wizzard and The Sweet. It was the first TV theme ever to hit Number One, and proved so popular the Simon Park Orchestra actually outsold The Beatles in the UK for a whole week.(Emphasis mine) Much of De Wolfe’s music from that era has since become cult among record collectors and music enthusiasts all over the world.
What?! A Jack Trombey composition outsold the Beatles for one week in the prime of the lads from Liverpool? Astounding!
Jumbo Waltz
And, unfortunately folks, the trail on Jack Trombey grows cold there. I have been searching (along with my record collecting geek friends in the UK and Germany) for the answer to "Just who is Jack Trombey?" for over a decade with no luck... For now, all we have is this great music. Jack Trombey! If you are still out there, give us a call... I know some folks who'd like for you to come down to the precinct office to answer a few questions about your whereabouts and the disappearance of a certain music composer.... And, with that, I'd like to leave you with this wonderful memory from the gang at Monty Python... What would they have done without Jack Trombey?....
Besides Jack, the album is filled with like-minded folks with great tracks. There's R. Tisley, Peter Reno, Keith Papworth, Frank Rothman, J. Hawksworth and W. Hill... Morphine Mambo Jazz Club... Find and grab it if you can!
I love a good short, and there's lots to admire about Monster Roll. The idea is simple: gigantic sea monsters have come ashore and only the greatest Asian-American sushi chefs can battle them. Unfortunately, the short lacks Jiro Ono, but it does feature the incredible Gerald Okamura as a blind chef. This also marks the third film I've seen in the last month about the high artistry involved with making sushi. It really makes me want to move back to Asia.
According to writer/director Dan Blank, the film is a "proof of concept" for a feature. So, watch it and spread it around. Hopefully someday soon we'll get to see the whole thing.
What more do you need? It's only six minutes long, it's hilarious, it has giant monsters, and Gerald Okamura is in it. Watch the shit out of it!
What more can I say except "Itadakimasu!" (Bon appetit!)
The cartoon is not nearly as bloody and gutsy as American anime at the time, but you can sense the subtleties of the Japanese mindset and just how "dark" a society Japan really was at the time (I still think, in many ways, Japan is a very "dark" country... But that's a post for another time).
The cartoon is Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors. In Japanese: 桃太郎 海の神兵（ももたろう うみのしんぺい）"Momotaro Umi no shinpei." Interestingly, there's an entire Wikipedia entry in English no less (saves me a lot of work!)
Momotarō: Umi no Shinpei (桃太郎 海の神兵, lit. Momotaro's Gods-Blessed Sea Warriors or Momotaro, Sacred Sailors) is the first Japanese feature-lengthanimated film.[3] It was directed by Mitsuyo Seo, who was ordered to make a propaganda film for the war by the Japanese Naval Ministry. Shochiku Moving Picture Laboratory shot the 74-minute film in 1944 and screened it on April 12, 1945. It is a sequel to Momotarō no Umiwashi, a 37-minute film released in 1943 by the same director. It is black and white.
Plot: After completing naval training, a bear cub, a monkey, a pheasant, and a puppy say goodbye to their families. Like the prior film, the movie features the "Peach Boy" character of Japanese folklore. The film is about the surprise maneuver on Sulawesi island, depicting parachute troops' actions. The monkey, puppy and bear cub are the ones that become parachute jumpers while the pheasant becomes a pilot. The whole movie also depicts the Japanese "liberation of Asia", as proclaimed by the Government at the time.
There are some musical scenes. Of note is The Song of AIUEO (アイウエオの歌AIUEO no Uta), a scene where Japanese soldiers teach local animals how to speak.
Background: The Naval Ministry previously showed Seo Fantasia, a 1940Disney film. Inspired by this, Seo tried to give dreams to children, as well as to instill the hope for peace, just as he did in the prequel movie, Momotaro's Sea Eagles.
The Song of AIUEO (アイウエオの歌 AIUEO no Uta) is famous for being given a homage in the series Kimba the White Lion (ジャングル大帝 Janguru Taitei) by Osamu Tezuka (Tezuka watched the film in April 1945. He later said that he was moved to tears by the movie's hints of dreams and hopes, hidden under the appearance of war propaganda).
For a long time, the film was presumed to have been confiscated and burnt by the American occupation. However, a negative copy of the film was found in Shochiku's Ofuna warehouse in 1983 and was re released in 1984.A reproduced movie was later screened and the VHS package is now available in Japan.
So, without further ado, here is the cartoon Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors in it's entirety (parts 1/9 to 9/9). I placed them all here for your convenience so you wouldn't have to search for them.
If you just want to get the gist of the film, I suggest watching the first part and the very last part... The lunacy of war. Why do we do this?
By the way, the foreign soldiers in the final scene are British and not Americans... But the very last scene where the Japanese kids are jumping out of a tree onto a map of the USA drawn on the ground is, quite, well, "interesting."
