Dare-devils perform zany stunts.Dare-devils perform zany stunts.Dare-devils perform zany stunts.
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- Nominated for 1 Oscar
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- TriviaThis short, featuring vintage clips of stunt men and women, daredevils and acrobats performing thrilling feats on biplanes, hot air balloons, skyscrapers, high bridges, cars and trains is available as an extra on the Warner Bros. DVD "It's a Great Feeling."
Featured review
From the heydays of the movie theater -- the warm-up film shorts
This documentary short runs just 10 minutes, but is packed with film clips of daredevil feats and hair-raising stunts. "Spills and Chills" came with a DVD of the 1949 Warner Brothers feature, "It's a Great Feeling," that stars Doris Day, Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson with a plethora of cameos by Hollywood actors of the day.
Shorts like this, usually along with a cartoon, served as warm-ups of audiences before the main feature film. This was standard Hollywood and movie theater fare in the heyday of the silver screen when movies ruled the world of entertainment for the masses - roughly into the 1960s. They also allowed that little bit of extra time for moviegoers running late for a show. A number of times as an adult I cut it close on arriving with a date or friend for a movie, but we had that extra few minutes to buy popcorn before entering the theater.
In those days also, previews of coming attractions would run after the feature film. But, since the last third or so of the 20th century, the previews have replaced cartoons and shorts and are run up front, before the feature film. One theory about that change in practice is that people are in a hurry to leave the theater after a movie ends, and so many won't watch the previews and be enticed to see the next films coming out. Of course, cynics and critics of modern movies might have another take on that. By showing previews up front, audiences will still be thinking about one or more of the interesting future films while the feature runs, so they won't think it's not quite as good when it isn't.
Oh, well. Back to this very good and interesting 10-minute documentary of daring and stunts. Dan Donaldson narrates this film collection of a couple dozen daring aerial stunts, land crashes and crazy feats. It's been a long time since anyone hung by one foot from an airplane flying overhead, or walked blindfolded across a rope stretched between two building high above a city street below. Indeed, someone who tried things like that today might be rushed off to an asylum. Sure, there still are people trying to do the impossible or exceptional feats. But nothing on the level of the past with people of imaginations and daring who did such unusual things -- often as their means of making a living.
Most of the stunts and acts caught on news films at the time and collected in this documentary are far more dangerous and daring than anything people would see in the circuses of the day. But, all of that was to bring entertainment to people - initially before movies, and then before TV and computer screens. Modern audiences should enjoy this and similar shorts - not only for their entertainment and thrills, but for peeks into the past and the world of entertainment and the excitement of daring challenges.
Shorts like this, usually along with a cartoon, served as warm-ups of audiences before the main feature film. This was standard Hollywood and movie theater fare in the heyday of the silver screen when movies ruled the world of entertainment for the masses - roughly into the 1960s. They also allowed that little bit of extra time for moviegoers running late for a show. A number of times as an adult I cut it close on arriving with a date or friend for a movie, but we had that extra few minutes to buy popcorn before entering the theater.
In those days also, previews of coming attractions would run after the feature film. But, since the last third or so of the 20th century, the previews have replaced cartoons and shorts and are run up front, before the feature film. One theory about that change in practice is that people are in a hurry to leave the theater after a movie ends, and so many won't watch the previews and be enticed to see the next films coming out. Of course, cynics and critics of modern movies might have another take on that. By showing previews up front, audiences will still be thinking about one or more of the interesting future films while the feature runs, so they won't think it's not quite as good when it isn't.
Oh, well. Back to this very good and interesting 10-minute documentary of daring and stunts. Dan Donaldson narrates this film collection of a couple dozen daring aerial stunts, land crashes and crazy feats. It's been a long time since anyone hung by one foot from an airplane flying overhead, or walked blindfolded across a rope stretched between two building high above a city street below. Indeed, someone who tried things like that today might be rushed off to an asylum. Sure, there still are people trying to do the impossible or exceptional feats. But nothing on the level of the past with people of imaginations and daring who did such unusual things -- often as their means of making a living.
Most of the stunts and acts caught on news films at the time and collected in this documentary are far more dangerous and daring than anything people would see in the circuses of the day. But, all of that was to bring entertainment to people - initially before movies, and then before TV and computer screens. Modern audiences should enjoy this and similar shorts - not only for their entertainment and thrills, but for peeks into the past and the world of entertainment and the excitement of daring challenges.
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- SimonJack
- Apr 23, 2021
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- Sports News Reviews: Spills and Chills
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- Runtime10 minutes
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- 1.37 : 1
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