Marvel Years 03.07 - July 1963

July 1963 was an important month for Marvel. It was the first month in which annuals were published that contained original stories. The first Fantastic Four annual was the second annual overall. The first Marvel annual was Strange Tales Annual #1 in September 1962 which reprinted 13 anthology stories from Strange Tales, Journey into Mystery, Tales Of Suspense and Tales To Astonish. Fantastic Four Annual #1 contains three stories, of which two are original.

It's difficult to allocate the annuals to the correct month, because they are only dated with a year, not a month. The Marvel database cites the month in which they were released, but that's not much of a help because the monthly comics were never released in the months that matched the cover date.

Fantastic Four Annual #1

Title: Sub-Mariner versus the Human-Race

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Sub-Mariner

Regulars: Alicia Masters

When we last saw Sub-Mariner in Fantastic Four #14 he was still searching for his lost people, the people of Atlantis. When the story begins he's already found them and he's being crowned King Namor the First. Is this the same Atlantis that we saw in Tales Of Suspense #43? I think not. The country Atlantis in the Iron Man story was an island that sank beneath the Earth and was renamed Netherworld. Namor's Atlantis is a kingdom that was always submerged on the sea bed.

This is the comic in which we first see Lady Dorma, who later becomes Sub-Mariner's lover. At this time he has no interest in her because he's still in love with Susan Storm. It's a tale of frustrated love that was typical for Stan Lee in his early years. Namor loved Susan Storm, who was divided between him and Reed Richards. Dorma loved Namor, who was unaware of her love. Warlord Krang loved Dorma, but she rejected him because of her love for Namor.

The story ends with Namor losing his nomadic people, returning him to the state he was in Fantastic Four #14. When he abandons his attack on the human race in order to save Susan Storm's life his people, led by Warlord Krang, consider him a traitor and desert him.

This is a 37-page story, the longest story printed in a single comic until now.

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Title: The Fabulous Fantastic Four meet Spider-Man

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Guests: Spider-Man

This is a 6-page story, an extended retelling of the first meeting between Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four in Spider-Man #1.

As the third story Fantastic Four #1 is reprinted.

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There's a diagram showing the layout of the Baxter Building, or at least the six floors rented by the Fantastic Four. Six floors? In Fantastic Four #6 it was only four floors. This seems to be closer to the partial picture in Fantastic Four #3. Let's not make too much of it. Jolly Jack Kirby probably just drew a new building layout every time Stan asked him to, and he never dreamt that 50 years later pedantic fans like me would be holding them side by side looking for mistakes.

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Fantastic Four #16

Title: The Micro-World of Doctor Doom

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Doctor Doom

Regulars: Alicia Masters

Guests: Ant-Man, Wasp

At the end of Fantastic Four #10 Doctor Doom seemingly shrank away into nothingness. Now we find out that he conquered a sub-atomic kingdom, from which he is launching attacks at the Fantastic Four. They travel to this world with the help of Ant-Man.

I've never understood the logic of Marvel's sub-atomic kingdoms. I say that in the plural because there were a few of them. How can you shrink at different positions in our full-size world and be certain of arriving in the correct kingdom? If two people shrink when they're standing ten inches apart, when they reach sub-atomic size they must be the equivalent of millions of miles apart.

This comic once more shows Reed Richards attempting to turn Ben Grimm back to his human self.

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Amazing Spider-Man #3

Title: Spider-Man versus Doctor Octopus

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko

Villain: Doctor Octopus

Regulars: Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, Flash Thompson, Liz Allan (unnamed)

Guests: Human Torch

This comic contains an amusing panel with Spider-Man complaining that it's too easy to catch crooks. He wishes he could have more powerful opponents. As they say, be careful what you wish for. Shortly afterwards he meets Doctor Octopus for the first time, one of his most powerful opponents.

If this comic had been a film, the Human Torch's guest appearance would have been called a cameo. He appears briefly, but has no direct involvement in the action.

Incidentally, have you ever wondered why Spider-Man's comic was called "The Amazing Spider-Man"? Stan Lee gave the answer in an interview years later. It was to show continuity to the comic in which Spider-Man first appeared, "Amazing Fantasy".

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Tales to Astonish #45

Title: Caught in the Terrible Traps of Egghead

Writer: Stan Lee, Ernie Hart
Artist: Don Heck

Villain: Egghead

Egghead returns to take revenge on Ant-Man after last being seen in Tale To Astonish #38. He hears about Ant-Man's new partner, the Wasp, and decides to trap her first in order to lure Ant-Man into a trap.

This issue also contains three short anthology stories.

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Journey into Mystery #94

Title: Thor and Loki attack the Human Race

Writer: Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein
Artist: Joe Sinnott

Regulars: Odin, Heimdall

Villain: Loki

Loki changes Thor's personality from good to evil by giving him a strategically placed blow to the head. If it can happen that easily I hope I never bang my head.

This issue also contains two short anthology stories.

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Tales of Suspense #43

Title: Trapped by the Red Barbarian

Writer: Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Kala (Queen of the Netherworld)

Tony Stark is sucked down to the Netherworld, an underground kingdom founded by the survivors of Atlantis. How many underground kingdoms exist side by side? This is the third, after the kingdoms of Mole Man and Tyrannus. I suppose there's a lot of room down there.

As you can see, sexism is everywhere, even in underground kingdoms. Kala's general Baxu is in love with his Queen, but he resents having to take orders from a woman.

This issue also contains three short anthology stories.

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Strange Tales #110

Title: The Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete

Writer: Stan Lee, Ernie Hart
Artist: Dick Ayers

Villains: Wizard, Paste-Pot Pete

Regulars: Susan Storm, Reed Richards, Ben Grimm

This is the first time the Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete team up. They were last seen in Strange Tales #105 and Strange Tales #104 respectively. They will later be the founding members of the Frightful Four, but that's not the biggest news about this issue.

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Strange Tales #110 also contains the first appearance of Doctor Strange in a five-page story. Based on the brevity of the story and the lack of an origin it looks like this was intended as an anthology story. Evidently the character was so popular that Stan Lee decided to make him a regular character.

Title: Dr. Strange, Master of Black Magic

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko

Villain: Nightmare

Regulars: Ancient One (unnamed), Wong (unnamed)

This issue contains a further short anthology story.

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Other comics published this month:

Millie the Model #115 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
Love Romances #106 (Stan Lee, various)
Kid Colt Outlaw #111 (Stan Lee, Jack Keller)
Two Gun Kid #64 (Stan Lee, Dick Ayers)
Gunsmoke Western #77 (Stan Lee, various)
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #2 (Stan Lee, Jack Kirby)

8 Strikes of the Wildcat (4 Stars)

This is a Hong Kong martial arts film that presents comedy while trying to pretend it's serious. A gang of three fighters who use the Rodent style kill Shao Wa's father, a kung fu master. Have you never heard of the Rodent style? It consists of making small, fast forward steps while making toothy rat faces before hitting the opponent. The major strike occurs when the three fighters stand behind one another, holding one another round the waist, with the man at the back waving his leg like a rat's tail. This move is unbeatable, because the opponent stands watching in utter confusion while he's being attacked.

Shao Wa flees and takes refuge with an old kung fu master. He tells her that only a cat can defeat a rat, so she has to learn the eight wildcat strikes before she can take revenge. I think something has been lost in translation. Probably the correct translation would be "moves", because one of the strikes is "tumble over" and another is "walk upside down".

Despite the not very funny comedy, this is a good film to watch. It's typical for the Chinese films of the 1970's.

Headshot (4 Stars)

Is this Indonesia's answer to "The Bourne Identity"? The film begins with a man lying in hospital with a junior doctor sleeping on the couch next to his bed. He's been in a coma ever since he was washed up on the shore with a bullet lodged in his head. An operation has removed the bullet from his head, but he has to go to a hospital in Jakarta to have the remaining metal shards removed. The doctor is off duty, but she doesn't want to go home because she's fascinated by him. Who is he?

When he wakes up he doesn't remember his name or anything about his life, so the doctor calls him Ishmael. She offers to send him to Jakarta, but first he wants to meet the fisherman who dragged him out of the water. The two become friends, but before he can be sent to Jakarta things happen. Deadly assassins come trying to kill him, but he has fighting skills that are enough to defend himself.

This is a fascinating mystery and a thrilling action film with over-the-top violence. It's been criticised by people who say that nobody is killed with a single bullet when 20 can be used. I don't find that bad. It's understandable in the heat of battle. If you shoot someone and he falls over you can't be certain he's dead, so you have to shoot him a second time. And a third. And a fourth. And a fifth.....

Iko Uwais is an amazing fighter. He was also responsible for the choreography of the fight scenes in "Headshot". He isn't quite as invincible as in the Raid films, but his slightly weaker state is appropriate for this film.

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Every Day (4 Stars)

This is a beautiful but unusual love story. A young man called "A" wakes up every day in a different body. The new host body is someone roughly his own age – he's 16 – who lives close to the previous host. While in a body he has full control of the person. He can access the person's memories, if he concentrates hard enough. After leaving the body some of his hosts remember nothing of what happened, while others have vague memories of the day as if they were sleepwalking.

While in the body of a 16-year-old boy called Justin he falls in love with his girlfriend Rhiannon. He invites her to skip school with him on that day and have a romantic time at the beach. Rhiannon is amazed that Justin is acting so differently and disappointed when he returns to his old self the next day.

"A" doesn't let go. Every day he returns to speak to Rhiannon in a different body. After a few meetings he confesses who he is. She doesn't believe him at first, she thinks it's just an elaborate practical joke, but when she finally realises who he is she falls in love with him.

This has consequences on her social life. Kissing a different boy every day gives her a reputation as a slut. Or worse. "A" often inhabits a girl's body, so Rhiannon is a bisexual slut.

The film isn't as deeply spiritual as you might expect. A few questions are asked, but no answers are offered. It's a love story. That's all. If that's what you want when you go to the cinema you won't be disappointed.

The Purge: Election Year (4 Stars)

This is the third film in the Purge series, and theoretically the last. I say "theoretically", because it rounds off the series by presenting the last ever Purge Day in America, but this film, like the two others before it, made so much money at the box office that it's impossible not to make another film.

18 years after the first Purge (which would make it 2040) Senator Charlie Roan is running for president. Her main policy is that the Purge should be abolished, because it's being used to strengthen America's economy by eliminating the poorest in society who are dependent on welfare. In the polls she's only 1% behind the ruling party, so there's a genuine fear by the establishment that she'll win. To counter this a special law is passed. In all previous years politicians and certain high-ranking officials were exempt from the Purge and weren't allowed to be killed; this year nobody is exempt. The government hires mercenaries to capture Senator Roan so that she can be executed in a special religious ceremony, the Purgemass.

A subplot is that a poor shop owner, Joe Dixon, has to sit up all night protecting his shop from looters. The two plots converge as the film progresses.

Like the previous two films there is over-the-top violence, but this film has more political content. It's a film for the Donald Trump generation. Many people who watch it will nod as things happen that indirectly refer to current real world events, but seeing the connections isn't necessary to enjoy it. "The Purge: Election Year" continues with the madness and mayhem that audiences worldwide expect from the films.

There are two new features in this film. The first is Purge Tourism, a phenomenon in which foreigners go on vacation to America to take part in the Purge by killing Americans. It's an interesting idea which could be further developed in a future film, if another one is made. A terrorist group could travel to America and create a major disaster in Purge Night, maybe destroying a whole city, then remain free from arrest under the Purge laws.

The other new feature is the existence of triage vans which travel though the cities helping victims of the Purge. This seems unrealistic to me, because the official emergency services don't operate, so why should the Purgers respect the triage vans? The film shows that some people leave the vans alone while others don't, but why should anyone think the vans are off limit?

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Guns (3½ Stars)

This is the fifth film in the Andy Sidaris collection, made in 1990. Despite containing all the elements we know and love in Andy's films, such as fast action and girls with guns, I find it disappointing in comparison with his previous four films. The problem is the plot. I sat through the whole film trying to figure out what was happening and why it was happening, and when the answers finally came it didn't make sense.

Donna is still working for the mysterious Agency on the Hawaiian island Molokai. She now has a different partner, Nicole, played by former Playmate of the Month Roberta Vasquez, who played the villainess Pantera in "Picasso Trigger". The cycle of death and rebirth runs fast in Andy Sidaris' films. At least, it does for the bad guys. The good guys aren't usually killed, so they can return to play the same character.

Someone is killing or attempting to kill Donna's friends. A playing card is found next to every dead body, the Jack of Diamonds, with the words written "For Donna". The pursuit of the clues leads Donna to Arizona and Las Vegas. On the way she also discovers that someone is smuggling guns from China to rebels in South America. Eventually – and I know this is a spoiler – she finds out that the leader of the gun smugglers is the man who killed her father. He's deliberately using Molokai as a halfway base for the smuggling because he wants to take revenge on Donna.

That's what I don't understand. Revenge for what? It was him who harmed Donna's family, not the other way round. Also, he says he knows Donna is a highly proficient agent, so why is he endangering his business by storing weapons on the island where she lives? There are bigger islands in Hawaii which would have been more suitable.

This film marks a change for Rodrigo Obregon. It's the first Andy Sidaris film in which he plays a good guy. I use the word "guy" very loosely. He plays a woman called Marge who helps the Agency track down a pair of transvestite assassins. He's not my type. He should have put a bit more padding under his jumper.

There's one thing that international spies and gun runners should remember: don't attack Donna in the gym. She never does a workout without her guns in her gym bag.

Bang bang! You're dead!

Look at the way she's smiling. That's the best workout she's had all year. Now she needs to hit the shower.

As in all his films, Andy Sidaris gives an introduction while being distracted by the luscious Julie Strain. I don't know how he manages to keep his eyes on the camera. Actually, he doesn't. If you click the picture above you'll see him losing the fight. Julie always wins.

I own the deluxe version of this film which is now out of print. In addition to a full director's commentary there is over an hour of special features, including two interviews with Joe Bob Briggs.

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Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (5 Stars)

I can't help feeling that "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" is a film that has been unfairly passed by. It was a box office flop and most critics disliked it, but I consider it to be one of the best films of 2017. It's so deeply emotional that I felt my eyes moistening at several points.

I think that the problem for the critics is that it doesn't deliver what they expect. It takes place in 2004 and deals with the war in Iraq, the "War on Terror", so they expect an anti-war film. That's not what they get. The film is neither pro-war nor anti-war. Film critics with anti-war sentiments will be disappointed that there isn't an anti-war message, but that isn't the point. The war is just the background to the real story, the story of the 19-year-old soldier Billy Lynn struggling to deal with his hero status.

Billy didn't even intend to join the army. His younger sister Kathryn was involved in a car accident that disfigured her. Kathryn's boyfriend visited her in hospital and dumped her because he didn't like her scars. Billy reacted by smashing the boyfriend's car and beating up the boyfriend with a crowbar. I sympathise with him, but he was still breaking the law. The boyfriend's father agreed not to press charges, on condition that Billy signed up to join the army.

Billy might have become a soldier by accident, but he excelled at it. His sergeant recognised that he was a valuable asset to his squadron and could always be relied on in combat situations. On October 23rd 2004 he pulled his wounded sergeant to safety and managed to kill an enemy soldier in hand to hand combat. This was filmed, and the video went viral. Back home, Billy and his squadron, nicknamed the Bravo Squad, go on a publicity tour which culminates in appearing in the halftime show at the Thanksgiving match of the Dallas Cowboys.

This leads in to the film's real theme, something the film critics failed to recognise. For the young soldiers, especially Billy, America is a much more terrifying place than the battlefield in Iraq. In Iraq life is simple. They know that everyone is trying to kill them. In America they don't know what people want. They're surrounded by smiling faces which hide lies and deception.

For instance, a Hollywood scout wants to make a film about the Bravo team with the financial backing of the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. At first they're told they'll receive $100,000 each, but as the negotiations progress the figure is dropped to $5,500. They realise that the people in America support their efforts in the war, but only as long as it doesn't cost them money.

The film isn't shown chronologically. During the events in the football stadium there are flashbacks to the war in Iraq and Billy's return to his family home. Kathryn is desperate to persuade her brother not to return to Iraq. She has found a psychiatrist who will diagnose him with PTSD. Billy doesn't want to leave the army, but she puts him under intense pressure.

Billy is approached by a cheerleader, Faison. She says she's fascinated by him and wants to be with him. Together they enjoy a quick fumble backstage. Billy suggests that he can remain in America to be with her, but she rejects this. She says he has to return to Iraq, and she'll write to him until he comes home. It isn't Billy himself she wants, she wants a mythical war hero in a far off land.

People swarm around Billy, offering him praise, but nobody understands him. As he tells them, he can't understand that he's being called a hero because of something he did on the worst day of his life. He wants to deal with it alone, in silence, but he's given no opportunity. The constant hubbub around him terrifies him. He longs to return to the simple life in Iraq.

I felt tempted to write that this is the best war film ever made, but that's not correct. It's not a war film. It's a psychological drama that just happens to include war scenes. If you bear that in mind when you watch it you'll get the most out of it.

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Hostiles (4 Stars)

This is a powerful drama set in America in 1892. The lines between good and bad are unclear. There are many different ways the film can be studied, but the way I looked at it today while watching it in the cinema was the personal development of one man, the soldier Captain Joseph Blocker, played by Christian Bale. His development is all the more intense by being underplayed. He's a man who never shows his emotions, but the emotions are there, bubbling beneath the surface. I can't think of any other actor who could have played the role so effectively.

Captain Blocker is a highly efficient Indian hunter, as we see in the opening scenes where he captures an Apache family. He's very brutal in his actions, but he's just following orders. I know that expression has come to be despised after being used as the defence of the German officers at the Nuremberg trials, but let's look at it without prejudice. Anyone who becomes a soldier isn't expected to have a conscience. He signs up to serve his country, which means following the orders of his senior officer. Any soldier who questions the right and wrong of what he's told to do is a bad soldier.

This is never more apparent than in Captain Blocker's last mission before his retirement from the armed forces. The Cheyenne chief Yellow Hawk has been in prison in New Mexico for seven years. Now he's dying of cancer, and the American president has decreed that he should be released to return to his tribal lands in Montana. That's a long distance, over 1000 miles, so an army team has to escort him and his family. Captain Blocker is ordered to lead the team, which is an unpleasant task for him because Yellow Hawk was responsible for the death of four of his friends.

The soldiers head slowly north, and the battle lines are obscured. They pick up a woman on the way whose entire family has been slaughtered by Comanche Indians. She finds it difficult to accept Yellow Hawk's family because all Indians look the same, but she grows to love and accept them.

Later on the team picks up an American sergeant, Charles Wills, who has been sentenced to death for slaughtering an Indian family in revenge. He's an old comrade of Joseph Blocker, and he appeals for mercy, arguing that Blocker has done worse things. That's true, but the difference is that Captain Blocker was following orders, Sergeant Wills wasn't.

Captain Blocker and his soldiers forge an uneasy alliance with Yellow Hawk and his family. Together they fight against attacks from both Indians and white settlers. It's only too obvious what the message is. Race and skin colour don't matter, it's a question of right and wrong.

The Indians had been living in America for thousands of years before the white men arrived from Europe. After a few hundred years of battles the white invaders defeated the Indians and forced them to live in reservations, stripped of their rights. Defenders of the rights of the native Americans say that the white men should never have been allowed into their country, but it's not that simple. In the 15th Century the north American continent was sparsely populated. There was more than enough land for the European settlers and the American Indians to live side by side. If everything had been done diplomatically agreements could have been reached on who could live where. Eventually a united government could have been formed with political equality for the old and the new inhabitants of the land.

That's not how it happened. The Indians began to attack the European settlers. The Europeans retaliated with counter-attacks. In the ensuing battles only one side could win: the more highly developed Europeans. If the Indians hadn't been so fast to attack the Europeans they wouldn't have to suffer the lack of liberties that they have today. The problem is that the Indians weren't a homogeneous unit, they were tribes scattered across the continent. That doesn't mean that the Indians were solely to blame. The Europeans had an overbearing arrogance, considering themselves superior to the Indians. The Europeans were Christians, which proved their moral superiority, didn't it?

This is a very good film. It's slow moving, which makes it all the more intense. Whenever action breaks out it's a shock. The musical score is subtle but effective in underlining the film. This might be a western, but it's a modern take on the western genre, different to anything made in the last 60 years.

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A funny thing happened to me on the way to the cinema.....

This evening I was waiting at the bus stop for my bus to take me to the cinema. There's an open area behind the bus stop. There was a girl, probably in her late teens, standing a short distance away. She was wearing a very short skirt, which attracted my attention. Normally I wouldn't stare, but she was very hot, and she was busy typing on her phone, so she didn't notice me looking. I casually leaned against the bus shelter so I wouldn't attract attention to myself.

Then a second girl arrived, just as attractive, wearing tight yoga pants. They hugged each other, pulling the first girl's skirt up even higher. It was an incredible sight.

The girls walked away, so I turned around, just in time to see my bus leaving. I was so entranced by the girls that I hadn't even heard it. I felt like such a fool. Fortunately for me I was able to catch a train 15 minutes later, so I arrived at the cinema barely in time. It could have been worse. On Saturday, when the trains don't travel as often, I would have had to call a taxi.

This is where it happened, with a photo courtesy of Google Maps. I've marked my position with XY and the girl's position with XX. As you can see, I was standing with my back to the road. I doubt that the other people waiting for the bus realised that I wanted to catch it. That would have been even more embarrassing.

Will I learn from my mistake? Probably not.

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Bride of Chucky (5 Stars)

After a seven year gap the Child's Play franchise was finally extended with a fourth film. To emphasise the new start, all the films now have Chucky's name in the title, so that most fans refer to it as the Chucky franchise. The Germans jumped the gun. They had called the first three films "Chucky", "Chucky 2" and "Chucky 3" since the 1980's.

By now we know that Chucky is impossible to kill. However often he's destroyed at the end of a film he comes back. In the last two films it was the Play Pals company that brought him back to life. This time it's Charles Lee Ray's ex-girlfriend Tiffany Valentine.

She performs a voodoo rite while holding a magic tome in her hand.

She's a sweet little girl at heart. "I'll kill anyone, but I'll only sleep with someone I love".

Chucky can't take his eyes off her. He has good taste in women.

Just look at Tiffany. She's too much for a man to handle.

I feel all tingly inside just looking at Tiffany.

I feel all tingly inside looking at Jennifer Tilly in any role she plays, but the role of Tiffany Valentine seems to have been written for her. She's pure evil, and I'm saying that as a compliment.

This is the best film in the Chucky franchise. Ronny Yu is a brilliant director who never fails to astound me in any of his films. I regret that he didn't return for the later films.

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Hitler: The Rise of Evil (5 Stars)

In my last review I said that this is the best film ever made about Adolf Hitler. I'd like to repeat that, while explaining what I mean. Many of my friends still don't understand who Hitler was. They don't understand why people voted him into power. 70 years after the end of World War Two we're still being bombarded with anti-Hitler propaganda that makes it impossible to know the truth about him. We know what he did. He killed six million Jews. That makes people think that the Germans voted for him because he was a racist. That's not true. If Hitler had gone on the radio saying "Vote for me so I can get rid of the Jews" he would have been lucky to get even one seat in the German parliament.

This film, which was originally made as a two-part mini-series, leaves us in no doubt that he hated the Jews. He held speeches against the Jews in the early 1920's, but this was no longer emphasised in the 1930's. The main policy of his party was always the rejection of the Treaty of Versailles. This was something the German people wanted. This is why they voted for him. Another important policy was the suppression of Communism, which most Germans associated with anarchy.

When you watch this film, don't just concentrate on Adolf Hitler, however admirable you might find Robert Carlyle's performance. Watch the people around him and how they react to him. Watch how everyone falls victim to Hitler's charisma. Even the reporter Fritz Gerlich was initially fascinated by Hitler before turning against him. Ernst Hanfstaengl, on whose memoirs most of the film is based, was totally swept away by Hitler's persona. For him Hitler was the man who could make Germany great again.

The question I have to ask myself, and I hope my readers will ask themselves the same question, is whether I would have voted for Hitler's party in the 1930's. I might have voted for him in 1930, and I would almost certainly have voted for him in 1932. As a typical German I would have blamed the Treaty of Versailles for the poverty and starvation in the country, and Hitler was the man promising a change. Naturally I would have regretted my vote a few years later, but in 1932 I would have thought he was the best choice. That's the problem with democracy. We have to make a decision based on insufficient information.

I've read a lot about Hitler over the years, but one thing I've never understood is why he fell out with Ernst Röhm. They were close friends in the 1920's. Some writers suggest that it was Hitler's other allies, in particular Hermann Göring, who turned Hitler against Röhm. Other writers suggest that Hitler broke with Röhm because he wanted to organise a military putsch instead of waiting for an election victory. I'm not happy with either opinion. This film shows that Hitler was disgusted by Röhm being a homosexual, which was certainly true, but it wasn't reason enough to have him executed. It probably had more to do with the Georg Bell affair, but I don't know enough about it. I had never heard of Bell before watching this film, but he must have played an important role in the Nazi Party in the early 1930's.

If you want to learn about Hitler there's no way around reading books about him. I also recommend reading "Mein Kampf" before you start talking about what you think he thought. However, this film is a good place to start, and it will only take up three hours of your time.

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Child's Play 3 (4 Stars)

You have to ask what's wrong with the company Play Pals that manufactured the Good Guy dolls. In the second film they rebuilt the original Chucky doll to prove that it was just a normal doll, and it went on a killing spree again. This caused them to cease production. Now, eight years later, they decide to start production again because they're convinced that nothing ever happened, it was just the ravings of mad people. They have short memories. Maybe it really is true that people only remember what they want to.

The workers scoop up plastic remains that have been lying scattered on the floor of the old factory for eight years. These remains include Chucky's body. His blood is squeezed into the vat, causing the first new doll that's created to have the soul of the mass murderer Charles Lee Ray. The first victim is the company's owner – who deserves what he gets for being so stupid – after which Chucky searches for Andy, the little boy we know from the first two films. He's not so young any more. He's 16 years old, and he's enrolled in a military academy. It's a horrible school with horrible teachers and horrible pupils. Military discipline is used as an excuse for bullying.

This is a very good film, continuing the strength of the previous film. Buy the whole collection. You won't regret it. This isn't a film series like "Friday the 13th" that started off great and slowly fizzled out as it continued.

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