Mr. B Natural (1957)

User Rating:

1.8/10   

Director:

Phil Patton

Writer:

Marvin David (writer)

Genre:

Musical | Short

Plot:

A young boy is sitting in a room one day, bored, when suddenly a leotard-clad woman calling herself Mr...

Plot Keywords:

Surrealism | Cross Dresser | Industrial Music | Weird Behavior | Product Placement

Cast

Betty Luster	...	Mr. B Natural
Bruce Podewell	...	Buzz Turner
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Andelin	...	Band instructor (uncredited)
Lester Podewell	...	Mr. Turner (Buzz's father) (uncredited)

Directed by
Phil Patton

Writing credits
Marvin David		(writer)

Cinematography by
David Savitt

Film Editing by
Art Ellis		(as Arthur Ellis)

Sound Department
Wayman Robertson	....	sound

Music Department
Otto Krauschaar	....	conductor: Miami Senior High School Band
Bernard Steiner	....	conductor: Waukegan Elementary School Band

Other crew
Paul Richards	....	technical advisor

Production Companies

• Kling Film Enterprises

Distributors

• C.G. Conn Ltd.
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2003) (USA) (VHS) (on "Campy Classroom Classics Vol. 15")

Other Companies

• C.G. Conn Ltd.  presented by
• Miami Senior High School Band  thanks
• Waukegan Elementary School Band  thanks

Runtime:

29 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Miami Senior High School, Miami, Ohio, USA

Company:

Kling Film Enterprises

Goofs:

Continuity: In the corridor, when the girl asks Buzz if he wants to come with them, the books and folders Buzz holds, and the way he holds them changes between shots.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Night of the Blood Beast (#8.1)" (1996)

Scarier than "Showgirls!"

Like everyone else, I saw this late one Friday night on MST3K. Essentially it's a really lame 1950s infomercial to help high schools recruit more band zombies. It was produced by Conn, a manufacturer of band instruments, and is (entertainingly) bad beyond belief.

The essential plot: Buzz, a shy (and apparently, seriously disturbed) teen, is visited by an extra-perky and sexually confused woman in a Peter Pan suit, calling herself "Mr. B Natural." She than takes him on a magical misery tour of the hip world that is High School Band. He's under her evil spell! Slinging his trumpet like Miles Davis, our Buzz is now one of the popular kids and quite the chick magnet. Gosh, when *I* was in band all it did was get me out of P.E.!

The shrill, artificial dialogue (complete with horrible puns about being natural) and "Mr. B Natural's" gyrations defy description. One IMDb reviewer compared this film to the darkest thing David Lynch ever imagined, and I must agree. All you'd need is a dwarf talking backwards and Kyle McLachlan brandishing a trombone, and I think David has his next dream sequence. Do NOT see this film while on acid; it could do your psyche serious damage. And if Buzz were in school today, he'd quite likely wander into the band room when everyone else is out selling candy, and shoot holes in the tubas with his Uzi. One of Crow's lines in response to the awesomely bad script was "Have you no shame?" No, they didn't.