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              From the country that brought you "The Apple"  comes this equally, possibly more demented musical, an opera actually, one especially created for children.   

           It's only a few minutes in when the weirdness begins.  I mean grade A "what the hell?" weird.   a bunch of dancers dressed in an array of brightly colored shower curtains and funnel things being their descent on humanity to the sounds of very disjointed analog keyboards .  We are also immediately introduced to thew films major plot hole:  the only way to fight the globolinks is with music.  It's an opera, everyone is singing.  why isn't this itself enough to fight back these music hating aliens?? 

      The film has another problem:  the sub plot with the wacky teachers (professor turtle-spit,  professor lavender gas)  wants to be colorful but is really really tedious ,  all of the scenese with the big nosed secratary lady are endurance tests.  but endure you must, because this is one for the ages.  I especially liked the Velvet undeground-ish song the little girl with the violin plays when she is walking through the modern sculpture/ globolink thingy.    71 minutes.  I watched it twice in one night           




here's a random clip but it doesn't even do it justice


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4lHCejcG2c&feature=related

That video got pulled.  :bluesad:  Here's another link to a different clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTumLOVW1AM&feature=related.

I added it to my Netflix queue.  I'm a sucker for these types of oddities.

I wouldn't compare it to "The Apple" if I didn't think it was on that level.  it is believe me. I loved it and  I can't stand opera

Okay, I finally watched it.  I put up a full review on my (beta version) blog:  http://366weirdmovies.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/9-help-help-the-globolinks-hilfe-hilfe-die-globolinks-1968/.

The summary version:

PLOT:  In this children’s opera, the world has been invaded by bizarre alien creatures named Globolinks, who are allergic to music.   A bus full of children returning to boarding school breaks down in the middle of a lonely forest, and the students are surrounded by the alien creatures.  Meanwhile, back at the school, the headmaster is infected by one of the aliens, meaning that he will soon turn into a Globolink himself.

(http://366weirdmovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/globolinks4.jpg?w=450&h=348)

The most memorable image is the Globolinks themselves, who come in two varieties: one that looks like a wriggling rook from a chess set, and one that looks like an avant-garde ballerina dressed in a full-body dayglo bungee-jumping suit.

Many people who cannot bear the sound of screeching sopranos, or minor characters who answer a simple request for the time of day by belting out a phrase in F-sharp minor, would find Globolinks pure torture even if it were a good opera–which it isn’t.

Globolinks doesn’t fare much better as a story than it does as a piece of music.  Even though it was designed for children, the plot is probably too preachy and ridiculous to enchant them.  The second act drags badly as the focus shifts from the Globolink invasion to comic relief and a claptrap debate between the characters about the power of music.

But although Globolinks is a failure as a work of high art, that doesn’t mean it can’t hold our attention as a weird curiosity piece.  The collision of the stodgy operatic form with the love-generation art direction is entertaining, and more than a bit surreal.  The Globolink costumes are bizarre and fun, and the weird blips and distorted theremins of the alien language sound like something lifted from the internal soundtrack of a circa-1969 hippie’s acid trip.

Ultimately, Globolinks isn’t very good, or even very entertaining most of the time... However you categorize Globolinks–as an opera flop, an avant-garde experiment, or simply a poorly conceived excuse to fill up and hour and a half of German television–it is a genuine curiosity, a rarity that’s off the beaten path of even the weirdest movie fan.

I gave it 2/5 stars.  I think if I had been the one to discover it I may have given it more stars.  :wink:  It's one of those movies you almost can't believe exists when you see it.  But to me, it wasn't that much fun overall.  Once was enough, it wasn't something I'd ever feel like popping into the DVD player again.

haha awesome review and great image there.  It's one of those movies that argues pursuasively against it's own point.  the globolinks represent "modern" atonal music and the teachers represent the tradional ways which are literally under attack by the globolinks.  But in the movie the globolinks are awesome and the stuff with the teachers are tedious and the music absolutely boring. 

I guess part of why I like it is because it is an opera and I don't know anyting about opera so it provides variety


edit:  great review on your blog I didn't know you had as well.  it's likely yours will be the definitive view on this for generations. 

Thanks, Les.  You know, I thought about that too--the fact that I have now written the most complete review of the GLOBOLINKS film.  I'm not sure if it's something I want on my tombstone.   :wink: