Customer Reviews

Fractured Flickers - The Complete Collection

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a Jay Ward fan, and I've collected some episodes of "Fractured Flickers" on 16mm film at a cost of several hundred dollars. Films from this series are a serious collector's item, and they've never sold for cheap on eBay. As such, $35 for this DVD collection is an incredible bargain

And the show is an absolute scream! Hans Conried shines as the stoic, but not unflappable host. In one show, Conried sardonically compares his hosting duties on a silent film show to "doing a show live from Forest Lawn cemetary." The best skits include "Dinky Dunston, Boy Cheerleader" (Lon Chaney's Hunchback of Notre Dame is endowed with Dudley Do-Right's voice) and a terrific re-editing of Fritz Lang's "M" (Peter Lorre tries to give up smoking. It's topical treatment of the Big Tobacco industry was decades ahead of its time.)

If you're tired of sitcom mediocrity full of brainless idiocy, phony families, hackneyed plots and stupid pratfalls, you DESERVE this series on DVD!!! There has been no series like "Fractured Flickers" before or since!

What a treat it was to finally be able to see this favorite TV series from my childhood once again. It wasn't hard to see why a 10-year-old kid would have loved it so much, although I would have to admit that seeing it again as a 50-year-old was a somewhat different experience. Several of the segments were so good, they're still among my all-time favorite moments in TV comedy (mostly from the series' first few episodes, I noticed). But I'd have to say that a surprising number of the program's segments misfired. I think that part of the problem with the series was that it pretty quickly veered away from the premise it set for itself in its earliest episodes (i.e. wacky truncated versions of actual silent movies like Valentino's Blood and Sand, Elmo Lincoln's Tarzan, Fairbanks' The Mark of Zorro, etc.) and simply began cobbling together disparate footage, mostly from silent comedies, that would have been funnier WITHOUT the Jay Ward treatment. For this reason, I thought that those first few humorous versions of silent dramas and serious action films (see the above) worked best, while the Fractured Flickers versions of actual comedies were much less effective. I mean, why on earth "fracture" a classic comedy like Buster Keaton's "Cops" when the original version was totally unimprovable for generating laughs? On the other hand, the Fractured versions of deadly serious films like Lon Chaney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame" (see the hilarious "Dinky Dunston, Boy Cheerleader"), Conrad Veidt's "The Hands of Orlac" and John Barrymore's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" worked so well because they weren't comedies to begin with. Consequently, all of those great Ward studio voices, music cues and silly sound effects resulted in some pretty big laughs at the expense of these straight dramas and action films. Why this obvious fact escaped the notice of the program's makers really mystifies me. An even bigger surprise to me than the uneven quality of the "fractured" film segments, though, was how many of host Hans Conreid's on camera remarks and scripted celebrity interviews fell totally flat. He and his guests often appeared visibly uncomfortable having to mouth such weak material and that made me uncomfortable for them, the very last response they were probably aiming for. Yes, this long awaited release is definitely a mixed bag, but I would still recommend it to anyone with enough patience to hunt for the series' better moments. There are more than enough to warrant a rental or purchase, especially if you've always wanted to show your friends, kids or grandkids how you happened to come by your own warped sense of humor. These three crazy DVD's will explain A LOT. I know they did for me!

You've read some of these reviews by now but, nobody has as of yet, mentioned the "fracturing" of the Erich Von Stroheim film "The Great Gabbo" in Episode 14. This one had me gasping for breath, it is incredibly funny!(Yes this is where Matt Groening of The Simpsons got the name for Krusty's rival in the "Krusty Gets Kancelled" episode.) Re-titled as "Hymie und Me", it is the story of WWI Colonel Erich Von Stucker getting out of the military and going into show biz with a midget known as "Shorty Woods". Bill Scott does his best "Fearless Leader" voice from Rocky and Bullwinkle" as Von Stucker and Paul Frees does a "Charlie McCarthy" type voice as Shorty Woods. As with the early episodes of the show, there seems to have been more work put into matching up voices and dialogue with lip movement, a very difficult thing to do! Episode 13 has a scathing parody of Walt Disney in "The Dalt Wizley Program" from Wizley Land.."Folks, this is Wizleyland my Magic Dictatorship..a real favorite with the kids is the submarine ride where they can actually see floating paper cups and beer cans under water." says Bill Scott as Wizley. According to Keith Scott's book "The Moose That Roared"..buy it, it's cheap and loaded with Jay Ward info..the staff was under incredible time and money constraints.
If you watch all of the shows back-to-back, then it does get a little exhausting trying to absorb all of the one-liners and use of repeat footage. Remember, this show was on once a week and that's how they hoped it would be watched!
I give the shows five stars because I appreciate the hard work that goes into creating a show like this. Kudos to Bill Scott, Paul Frees, the fabulous June Foray, Hans..call me Hansel..Conried and all of the very very talented writers, editors , sfx people and other production staff.
If you like really off-beat humor..Gary Owens fans I can hear you gnarfing out there.. then you gotta get mom and dad to buy this dvd. Or at least get grandma to leave it to you in her Will..or her Larry whichever comes first. And thanks to VCI for acquiring the shows for dvd release!!

Like others writing on this site, I fondly recall gasping for air and rolling on the floor for the original Fractured Flickers; would tell anyone who'd listen to me that it was the funniest show ever on TV; and searched for years to find it on VHS, DVD, etc -- no luck. I even emailed Jay Ward Productions and asked about it, repeatedly, each time getting a generic "thanks for being such a great fan" answer, until finally one of the responses mentioned something about lawyers. I figured that was it, until a few weeks ago I idly Googled FF and up came the complete collection collection on DVD at Amazon! I plunked down my $$, waited breathlessly, got the package, waited for the right Fung Shui, and -- with the charged anticipation of other reviewers -- popped it in the DVD player with trembling hands. Forty-two years after I'd last seen it. And laughed like a maniac all over again. Note to fellow Boomers -- it helps to have some of your favorite intoxicant on board...

This show, more than anything else, is responsible for warping my sense of humor as a child. Hans Conried was the perfect host, the bits were not all the greatest- but when they were on target- it was hysterical. "The Barber of Stanwyk" "Stan Laurel's "Minute Mysteries" "Believe it or Don't" It was a guide for satire and it affected me greatly as a child. I would not be the person I am today without having watched this show- whatever that means

From the creator of Rocky & Bullwinkle comes this great slap at the old silent movies! The talented voices from The Jay Ward studios put their own twist to clips from silent movies. Words (or Wards) can not describe this looney series hosted by Hans Conreid.
In the first episode, a giddy voiced Tarzan (called Tarfoot here) with a hacking caugh overtaking his yell, meets a "Fractured Fairytale" voiced Jane and rescues her from...oh if I give away too much it will ruin it for you. Rose Marie (of the Dick Van Dyke Show) is Hans' guest star interview in the first show.

This show was an original idea, to take old movies and ham up the language to make them funny and wacky. This whole show was played to the max to be hokey. It aired in the 1960s (those of you under 45 may not want to apply) and seeing it now on DVD includes a bit of nostalgia to watch these shows again. These shows were played for laughs, with Hans Conreid, the host, doing the most along this line to play along. To explain the theme of this show, they took old movies and with a lot of effort created wacky dialogue to "update" the silents and make a plot (?) out of them on a completely different thesis than the silent movie once showed. I have no idea how they found so many old movies to "improve", but it was amusing then (in the 60's, when this show aired) to watch this and it is now too. If you like Rocky and Bullwinkle, you'll like this show from essentially the same group of, uh, artisans(?). It's not Seinfeld-style humor, nor stand-up comic humor, instead this is a sort of very hokey, consciously self-pretentious, over-done sort of humor that makes you laugh as much at their silliness as at their puns and at their frankly funny adaptations of old movies into absurdities with the dubbed dialogue. It's an interesting combination of old silent movies and the added-on dialogue. Not for everyone, great for some of us.

This product is not for everybody. Many of the bits will not be perceived as humorous unless one possesses the necessary political or cultural history background that supports the punch-lines. Fractured Flickers will appeal to history buffs. The old films represent a wide variety of genres from dramatic to documentary. There is much detail to be gleaned from the films. The guest interviews are also most interesting and humorous. The guests are all familiar faces to anyone who lived in the 1960's or before. An interesting program could be created from these historical interviews alone. Finally there is Hans Conried and the Jay Ward production crew and their values surrounding the entire production. It seems to me that anyone who enjoys Rocky and Bullwinkle will also enjoy Fractured Flickers, but I know that some people today do have problems when viewing black-and-white. I'm loving it.

I too grew up watching this show and thought it was the funniest ever. As I recall, my parents liked it too (but they may have been humoring me - I thought for years that my dad loved cream soda, but apparently he was just pulling my leg). When I saw the DVD set I could not resist, but I knew it might not stand the test of time.

I was pleasantly surprised to find it really quite enjoyable. Some of the bits (notably Jekyll & Hyde recast as a story of Soda Pop and the Hunchback of Notre Dame as a football saga) were side-splittingly hilarious. Other bits ranged from very funny to "nice try" but overall I found the set quite wonderful. In addition you get highlights of loads of great old silent films that you might not otherwise see.

Mention should be made of the marvelous Hans Conreid who introduces the segments in a marveous pastiche of low-brow puns and lofty thespian articulation. What a great guy!

Each show also features an interview with a personality of the time and although they are mostly throw-aways, it's fun to see Alan Sherman, Rod Serling and Fabian trading wit with Hans. Edward Everett Horton even cracks up when Hans tosses off "consanguinity" without batting an eyelash.

The usual Jay Ward voice talent is in full flower here as well.

That said, these were not meant to be watched straight through for hours at a time and the concept begins to pall a bit if you watch too many in a row. Take a break for some Bugs and Daffy or even Monty Python once in a while and you'll find this set charming.

I had never seen these before. Being born in 1965, I watched Bullwinkle of course, but never saw this show. I love classic TV, weird humor, silent films, etc, and HATE almost everything on cable TV. Reality shows, remakes, predictable sitcoms, trash...not my style.
These shows are hosted by Hans Conried, whom I always think of as Wrong Way Feldman. Silent movies are shortened, then funny lines are added. Some film clips are made into fake commercials, others are voiced over with phony direction, fake documentaries, etc. We really enjoyed the first discs, but it was apparent that they didn't have enough old footage back then to use fresh everytime. Certain clips were used over several shows, ie, the plane crashing into a barn, guys balancing and dancing on top of high buildings, and Colleen Moore's famous eye spazz. We see many old time stars get fractured, but I mostly noticed Valentino, Fairbanks, Langdon, Moore, Turpin, and Keaton. (I can never get enough Buster Keaton, so that's no complaint!)
Plus the show spent a few minutes interviewing stars of the day, and you'll see Barbara Eden, Bob Denver, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ursula Andress, Bob Newhart, and more.
If you like old movies (with the exception of those snobbish types that would consider this sacriligious), or just like oddball humor or MST3K, and love good old black and white, go for it.
Oh, by the end of the 1st DVD you'll be fast-forwarding through the theme music. it gets REALLY annoying after awhile.
What happened to Hans?