Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Porky Pig Looney Tunes cartoon, the 1937 Porky & Gabby, (co-starring Gabby, ) directed by Ub Iwerks, Bob Clampett, and Chuck Jones. .
This is the first time Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones are assistant directors. Eventually after Ub Iwerks left Warner Bros. Cartoons, Clampett took his place as director and eventually would work for the studio to direct more Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts up until his departure in 1945, while Jones stayed as an assistant director after Clampett took over Iwerks' unit until Porky's Poppa in 1938 and eventually became a director himself later on in 1938 after Frank Tashlin's departure.
As you may be aware, we love video mashups. Well, before the start of our feature presentation, the staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like to watch with you, what we believe is one of the best mashup videos that we've ever seen, created by kaptainkristian - The Last 100 Years in 100 Films.
It's a quite dark view of the past 100 years but then again, it's been an increasingly dark time. (A full list of the movies used in this mashup can be found in the video description.)
We've selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die by Steven Jay Schneider. Today's film is the 1977 Dutch drama Soldier of Orange (Soldaat van Oranje), directed and co-written by Paul Verhoeven and starring Rutger Hauer and Jeroen Krabbé. Though not an epic in the traditional Hollywood sense, Verhoeven delivers a powerful and sweeping wartime drama based on the memoir of Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema. Soldier of Orange was both the most expensive Dutch film made in 1977 and the most viewed. Despite being essentially an independent production (and in some ways a road movie), it achieved international success. However, American audiences at the time found aspects of the film unsettling. As a nation unaccustomed to foreign occupation or war on its own soil, viewers were often disturbed by the film's unflinching portrayal of Dutch resistance fighters. These characters carry out summary executions of known collaborators - sometimes people they had known personally - without hesitation. Their moral clarity reflects the grim realities of occupation, even if their actions weigh heavily on them. So join us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour, sit back, get comfortable, and enjoy tonight’s feature Soldier of Orange.
Producer Rob Houwer created a heavily re-edited version of the film for the international market - without Paul Verhoeven’s knowledge or consent. This cut, re-titled Survival Run, trimmed nearly an hour of footage, stripping the story of exposition and historical nuance, and featured British actors dubbing with absurd European accents. Houwer reportedly preferred this version and intended it to be the primary international release. Had it been, Verhoeven’s chances of breaking through internationally might have been ruined. Fortunately, film festival programmer Dan Ireland - already a fan of Verhoeven’s earlier work - screened the original version and was so impressed that he shared it with Steven Spielberg. As a result, the American distributor requested the original cut, which went on to receive a Golden Globe nomination. Verhoeven has since credited Ireland with saving his career in the United States.
Demand Euphoria!
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