Believe It or Not #6: A Surprisingly Odd Little Watch

Alright, so Believe It or Not #6. Is it worth tracking down? Look, if you’re into those old, slightly dusty collections of human oddities and strange historical footnotes, then yeah, probably. It’s a bit of a curious watch, especially for folks who enjoy just absorbing weird facts. But if you need slick production values or a story that actually *goes* somewhere, you’ll likely find it a chore. This one’s for the niche crowd. 🧐

The film just… starts. No big fanfare. We’re immediately thrown into the world of Ripley, this woman who can do some truly bizarre physical things. I mean, not like superhero stuff, more like things you didn’t think human joints could manage. There’s a scene where she’s, I don’t know, contorting herself into a basket? Or something similar. It feels less like a stunt and more like she just exists in a slightly different physics model. The camera just sort of watches, almost *waiting* for her to snap back to normal, but she doesn’t. It’s quietly unsettling. 😬

Then, suddenly, we’re on to the next segment. No transition really, just a hard cut. We meet this boy with clock eyes. And wow. They really went there. His eyes aren't just *like* clocks; they have visible hands and numbers. You stare at them and you can almost feel your own internal rhythm get a bit messed up. It’s one of those things where you wonder how they even filmed it. Like, was it a prop? Some early special effect that looks incredibly jarring now? Whatever it was, it sticks with you. It’s genuinely creepy, but also fascinating.

You can almost feel the movie trying to convince you this moment matters. It doesn't really explain *why* he has clock eyes, just presents it as fact. And that’s kind of the charm, I guess. It’s just… here’s a thing. Believe it or not.

My favorite part, though, was the segment about the blind French monk. This guy, apparently, invented some foundational navigation laws. It’s presented with what looks like archival footage, or maybe just really grainy re-enactments. You see him feeling maps, tracing lines with his fingers. The whole thing feels very earnest. You get a sense of his dedication, his quiet brilliance. It's not flashy at all.

One reaction shot lingers so long on a map with an old compass that it almost becomes funny. You're just looking at a map for a good 15 seconds. No voiceover, no music. Just… the map. It’s a strange choice, but it gives you time to think about what he was actually doing, how revolutionary it must have been. This section is surprisingly affecting.

The film overall has this very low-key, almost amateurish vibe. The narration, when it does pop up, is super matter-of-fact. It’s like someone just reading from an encyclopedia. It really helps sell the whole 'believe it or not' angle, actually. You almost *want* to believe these things because the film isn’t trying too hard to sell them to you. It just lays them out.

I found myself thinking about the The Ballyhoo Buster while watching this, not because they’re similar, but because both, in their own ways, are about spectacle. Just wildly different kinds. One is grand and exaggerated, this is small and peculiar. And there’s something to be said for the small and peculiar.

It’s not a film you’ll talk about for weeks, but it leaves you with a few odd images. That kid's eyes? Still kinda thinking about them. And Ripley’s weird flexibility. Definitely a strange little curio. Worth a peek if you’ve got an afternoon to kill and a taste for the genuinely bizarre. 🌟

Random Observations from my notes:

• The sound design during the Ripley segment felt really bare, just her grunts and the creak of… whatever she was using. Made it feel very real.
• Did they really find a kid with clock eyes or was that just super early VFX magic? 🤯
• The monk’s section felt like a mini-documentary tucked inside a collection of carnival acts. It had a surprising amount of gravitas.
• There’s a moment where the narrator mispronounces ‘nautical’ just slightly. It adds to the charm, honestly.
• No music for a solid minute during the monk’s segment. Just. Silence. Bold move.
• I kept waiting for Murray Roth to pop up in person, but it seems he was mostly just involved behind the scenes, or maybe as a voice. Hard to tell.