Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

lemon_magic You know, I can sort of see where Betty Luster and the director were going with this short, but I really think that this thing just sort of got away from them and the film makers weren't able to salvage it in post production. So they just tossed it out there and hoped for the best. B-I-G M-I-S-T-A-K-E !! A description of the plot makes it sound appealing enough: a boy in middle school needs something to help him come out of his shell.The spirit of music appears to him and inspires him to take up an instrument (the trumpet). Success, popularity and hot jazz licks follow in short order. That sounds pretty good, even to me (although I played double reeds in middle school, which scarred me emotionally for life). However, the execution of this simple premise, as played out by Betty Luster as the leotarded, androgynous Girl-Man, will cause you to doubt your senses. The kindest descriptive term I can come up with for her performance is: "over-caffeinated". Or maybe: "Mary Martin as Peter Pan does methamphetamine". Someone needed to educate her (and the director) about the dramatic differences between portraying "joy and enthusiasm" as opposed to "manic part of her mood swing". Still, even though it's awful, it's so mind boggling that any fan or collector of B&W educational shorts ought to see it. Once. However, the only place I can imagine you finding it these days would be as the introductory short feature to "War Of The Colossal Beast" on one of the Mystery Science Theatre collections by Rhino. If you don't enjoy or approve of MST3K's antics, you'll have to give this one a pass.

Tobias_R Without a doubt, "Mr. B. Natural" is one of the worst "educational" films foisted upon hapless high-school students during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Purporting to inspire youngsters to study music, the film is, as has been pointed out by other commentators, a half-hour dramatic infomercial for the Conn (appropriate name) Music Company. Instead of inspiring anyone to purchase a musical instrument, this movie could convince people to gouge out their ears with a screwdriver so they'd never hear another thing again. Films of this ilk helped to put the death seal of eternal dorkiness on anything of any cultural value. Just listen to Mr. B. Natural describe the instruments of an orchestra. It would make any sane youngster think you'd have to be a pathetic, hopeless uncool, loser to want to even touch one, much less play one.All this said, I must confess I found this grotesque film mesmerizing as I watched Mr. B Natural prance around Buzz's room, knocking him over at one point. The poor kid who played Buzz looked obviously intimidated by Ms. Luster (how inappropriate a name here!)as the demonic fairy, Mr. B Natural. One almost suspects if Buzz had rejected Mr. Natural, he/she would have dragged him by his hair into the fiery pits of hell, like the statue of the Commandatore did to Don Juan. In a way Buzz was smart taking up an instrument: he got rid of Mr. B Natural and at least wasn't as lonely as he was at the start of the film.

Torgo_Approves (r#21)When Betty Luster was born, her parents had no idea that she, along with the writing "talents" of Marvin David, would one day give birth to the indisputably worst fictional character created in the history of mankind. How awful is the character of "Mr. B Natural"? Let me count the ways.1) There is absolutely nothing natural about a freakish, psychotic man-woman-child jumping around and laughing at nothing.2) Mr. B Natural achieves the impossible: being a more annoying man-woman than Chris Tucker's utterly hate-able Ruby Rod from Luc Besson's Fifth Element.3) Mr. B Natural hurts children. She happily throws little Buzz (played by Forrest Gump look-a-like Bruce Podewell) onto his bed, almost breaking his arm. Buzz, too scared to move, can't protest and smiles desperately, hoping for his mother to come and rescue him, the poor guy.4) Mr. B Natural is a commercial a-hole. The entire short is just a marketing campaign for Conn, an instrument distributor.5) Mr. B Natural is clearly one of the incarnations of the devil, the eighth sin, the last sign of the Apocalpyse. I swear, this man-girl has "666" tattooed in the back of her neck. She's the bastard son of Freddy Krueger and Anton LaVey (yes, they're gay). Chuck Norris avoids her like the plague - he's too scared.In conclusion, Mr. B Natural is a disturbing and absolutely worthless short. If you're going to make a commercial, why make it this disturbing? If I was a kid and saw this, I'd be scarred for life. Jaded as I am, I'll probably just have emotional problems for the rest of my life. Thank you, movie.1.0 out of 10 - the absolutely lowest rating a movie can get. And Mr. B Natural deserves it. No one should have to be subjected to this. "Natural" is the 'Manos': The Hands of Fate of short films, only more painful. Avoid!

icehole4 Conn instruments probably wanted to distance itself from this trash so bad after it was released. Why they didn't title this Miss B Natural is beyond me. Betty Luster, playing a man(?) takes the school loser Buzz and turns him into a hepcat by having him play the trumpet. What really shoots this down are three things: 1. A severe lack of reality, especially from Mr. B, 2. Mr. B's obscene cheerfulness, and 3. bad acting from Buzz and several other people. Avoid this one unless you're watching the MST3K version. Joel and the bots skewer this one in one of their best performances on a short.