Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Collector's Box Set (Volume 3 & 4)

Like the previous volume 1-2, volume 3-4 also come in hardcovers at 280 pages each. It took me a while to finish both comics which I enjoyed immensely. The originals were first published in the 1930's so I had never read them before, except 'The Seven Ghosts' which was printed in a Donal Bebek magazine in late 80's or early 90's. The Seven Ghosts features Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck as ghost-busters.

I include here a strip from The Captive Castaways which made me laugh. Mickey often does dangerous stunts in his adventures and here, when he suggests to a local to catapult his plane, with Mickey and Minnie in it, using a big pine tree, the local tells Mickey to use his gun instead if he wants to commit suicide, because it's more practical!

Pluto The Racer is the funniest, in my opinion. I also like Editor-in-Grief very much. "Mrs Van Buzem just canceled her subscription," says Minnie to Mickey. "Mrs Van Buzem? Didn't we give her bridge party a big spread - photograph an' all!" says Mickey. "The photograph was all right-" says Minnie, "but the caption belonged on the sport page!" HEAVYWEIGHTS WILL BATTLE TONIGHT [Mrs Van Buzem & her friends are over-weight].

The stories in these 2 volumes are:

The Captive Castaways
Pluto's Rival
The Bat Bandit of Inferno Gulch
Bobo The Elephant
The Sacret Jewel
Pluto The Racer
Editor-in-Grief
Race For Riches
The Pirate Submarine
The Secret of Mars (starring Donald Duck)

Oscar The Ostrich
Mickey Mouse Joins The Foreign Legion
The Seven Ghosts
Island in The Sky
In The Search of Jungle Treasure
Monarch of Medioka
The Mystery of Preefer Hall (A Mickey Sequel)

36 Quai des Orfèvres (2004)

The title is the address of police HQ in Paris. This film reminds me of the golden era of Alain Delon police movies in the 80's.

Daniel Auteuil stars as the good cop, Vrinks, and Gérard Depardieu as the bad cop, Klein.
Vrinks, the head of BRI (Research and Intervention Brigades a.k.a Anti-Gang Brigades), and Klein, the head of BRB (Banditry Repression Brigade) are in competition to arrest a gang of money-transport-vehicle robbers who have terrorize Paris. Whoever wins will be promoted to be Chief. Thanks to his informer, Vrinks knows where to find the robbers; but during the operation, drunken Klein [he is desperate because it looks like Vrinks will get the promotion] ignores orders, causes the death of Vrinks's best friend. Klein is investigated by Internal Affairs, but in the end is free to go, because the lead witness, Vrinks, has been thrown to jail after refusing to tell where his informer is. This informer has implicated Vrinks in a murder case. Vrinks rots in jail for 7 years (I find this hard to believe because Vrinks is a good cop. However I bear in mind that France is the land where a man could be jailed for 19 years for stealing some bread.) while Klein gets his promotion. In the end, happy ending is still for the good cop.



The movie is very enjoyable. It's fast paced and not hard to understand. The director, Olivier Marchal, is a former police officer; so the inside story depicted here must be close to reality.