What are the most unusual movies in your collection?

Cafe Society
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The Invisible Boy, 1957, which resurrects Robby the Robot for his second appearance after Forbidden Planet. The plot is quite good, with appeal for both kids and parents. Son of scientist father figures how to reanimate Robby, who has been sitting motionless for some time. He tries to tell scientists, but they are so busy, they don’t even look up, so he’s free to command Robby to use his advanced knowledge to (A)build a kite big enough for the boy to ride in, and (B) turn himself invisible. There’s also a room-sized computer with an agenda…

The Raven, 1963. This Roger Corman flick is a great deal of fun with a slender story of three magicians – the good (Vincent Price), the bad (Boris Karloff) and the inept (Peter Lorre). Played with, IMHO, just the right touch of overacting on all parts. Lorre is particularly good here. One reviewer compared him to “a drunken, neurotic chihuahua.” Word is, he improvised most of his lines, and they’re great. As an extra added attraction, a young Jack Nicholson plays (very woodenly) a young hero complete with Robin Hood style hat.

The Cook, the Thief, his Wife & Her Lover, 1989, a gift for my wife, who’s a Peter Greenaway fan. I won’t even attempt to describe the plot on this one, other than it fits into the bizzare nature of the rest of Greenaway’s work.

Who’s Minding The Mint?, 1967. This is one of those screwball comedies that starts with a simple premise that gets wilder and wilder every scene. Our hero and his girlfriend work at the U.S.Mint. Inadvertently, a bundle of greenbacks falls in his lunch sack and are destroyed. His only chance to save his job is to sneak back into the mint over the weekend and print up enough money to replace what’s missing. But he needs accomplices with specialized skills, and each is more bizzare than the last. A combination caper movie/comedy with cameos from Milton Berle, Joey Bishop, Bob Denver (Gilligan), Walter Brennan, Jamie Farr (Corporal Klinger) and an astoundingly overplayed gem by Victor Buono.

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Bagi-An animated TV movie by Osamu Tezuka, never “officially” released in the U.S. Interesting character designs.

Also in the anime category, Wings of Honneamise, a story about the early days of the space race…on an alien planet. And Barefoot Gen, a survivor’s account of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Both of the last movies WERE released offically in the U.S.

I’ve also recently purchased a movie called No Highway in the Sky, starring Jimmy Stewart, Glynis Johns, and Marlene Dietrich. An air-disaster film that had haunting similarities to the series of accidents that befell the Dehavilland “Comet” airliners.

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Footrot Flats - the Dog’s tail the full-length, animated feature film of New Zealand’s most popular cartoon strip. Worth it just for the “performance” of the Croco Pigs.

By the Fireside a loop tape that transforms the screen into a log fire complete with audio but lacking the smoke. I did not purchase the companion volumes watching paint dry and Waiting for the Kettle to Boil.

I wish I had a copy of The Gods Must be Crazy following the discord generated in a Bushman community by an empty Coke bottle.

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I have a huge collection of “unusual for the sake of being unusual” movies, but looking through it last night, the ones that stand out are the ones that are just slightly, disturbingly unusual:

The Ninth Configuration

I am a Buddhist. In case of accident please call a Lama.

Tampopo

Spaghetti Western, except with noodles.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Please continue speaking while I casually pull out a rifle and shoot strangers from my office window.

Down By Law

Do you have Zack, eh-some fire?

Greenaway, Hartley, Fellini, Jodorowski, etc.