Ford I. Beebe

Most of the westerns, sci-fi serials, and things like that from the 20s-60s was probably done by this guy. He also helped with Disney's Fantasia.


Love It Fantasia (1940) -- Co-directed with Walt Disney, James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Jim Handley, Albert Heath, T. Hee, Graham Heid, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bianca Majolie, Sylvia Moberly-Holland, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Ben Sharpsteen, and Norman Wright. Probably the best thing Walt Disney ever did, though you can't really compare this movie to the others, since it's not really a traditional movie at all. There's something really magic about this movie, and it's truly "something else."  Every segment (including some of the goofier interstitials) are great (the one with the hippos is my least favorite, but I still like it), but the standouts are the Nutcracker Suite with its lazy imagery, the creation of the world and the dinosaurs, and the best of all, the "Night On Bald Mountain."  The Mickey one was good too.  A movie way ahead of its time, if it had been a success, you might have seen a more artistic Disney for the next several decades.  Unique.  (See Eric Goldberg for the sequel, Fantasia 2000.)

Indifferent The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944) -- Although the methods of invisibility are the same (injection) and the actor is the same (Jon Hall), the invisible man here is a brand new character (a criminal) and the inventor is the invisibility is some doctor who also makes his pets invisible.  At least Universal didn't torture itself trying to connect the movies in any real way.  For this one, we don't get too much that's interesting or different.  The only thing that is somewhat cool is that the invisible man is compared to Dracula, only using transfusions instead of sucking their blood (getting other people's blood to keep him visible, even though it makes no sense to have to do this more than once).  But this doesn't last long and isn't a big part of the movie.  (See Edwin L. Marin for the predecessor, Invisible Agent.  Charles Lamont directs the followup, Abbot and Costello Meet the Invisible Man.)


Copyright (c) Feb 2003 - Jun 2007 by Rusty Likes Movies