MOTHER GOOSE A GO-GO (1966) * ½

You can tell former Disney star Tommy Kirk was really trying to shed his image when he starred in this oddity.  First off, he’s billed as “Tom Kirk”.  Second, he sings the title track (which has to be heard to be believed).  Finally, the fact that much of the humor revolves around sex (or the lack thereof), which is something you definitely wouldn’t see in one of his Disney films (although it’s all quite tame).  More interestingly is the fact that the closeted Kirk is trying really hard to project a hetero image and not exactly succeeding.  (Although that’s probably difficult to do in a movie about a man who can’t consummate his marriage.)

Another odd thing about Mother Goose a Go-Go is the fact that it’s the only movie written and directed by Jack H. Harris, a man mostly known for producing and/or “presenting” sci-fi classics like The Blob, Schlock, and Dark Star.  Harris obviously had a keen eye for talent and his own unique sense of showmanship.  However, as painfully evidenced here, he clearly was not an auteur. 

Kirk marries Anne (The Magic Sword) Helm.  On their wedding night, he slips into a catatonic state when she reads from a book of nursery rhymes.  He goes to see a sexy shrink (Danica D’hondt) who gives him psychedelics to find the root of the problem.  Meanwhile, Anne goes and cries on the shoulder of suave concierge Jacques (The Hypnotic Eye) Bergerac while the doc tries to make time with Tommy. 

The comedy shit is painfully unfunny and involves fast motion segments, random dinosaur footage (this is a Jack H. Harris movie after all), gratuitous freeze-frames, and an irritating detective character who keeps popping up at inopportune times.  The storybook recreations (Little Red Riding hood, Snow White, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears) resemble a bad high school play.  (Well, D’hondt’s Goldilocks get-up looks like something out of a nudist movie, but you get the idea.)  You know it’s a dumb movie because nobody ever brings up the fact that Mother Goose told nursery rhymes like Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater, Jack Be Nimble, and shit like that, whereas the stories that set Kirk off are more in the vein of the Brothers Grimm.  So, it really should’ve been called Brothers Grimm a Go-Go.  Argh. 

I did like the part where Kirk shouts, “I have all the warmth and charm of the Blob!”  (Yes, you can definitely tell Harris wrote this.)

I enjoy bad movies more than most people.  I will say this is definitely one of the strangest bad movies I have seen in some time.  I mean who the Hell was this made for?  Only Jack H. Harris knows for sure. 

Bottom Line:  It’s not “good” in any way, shape, or form, but it’s certainly recommended for bad movie fans who think they’ve seen it all. 

AKA:  Unkissed Bride.