Morgan's Cake Movie Review

San Francisco Bay area filmmaker Rick Schmidt is the author of Feature Filmmaking at Used Car Prices and he isn't kidding about that title. The press kit for Morgan's Cake begins with a list of virtually every dollar that was spent on the movie, as well as informative tips on how he was able to make the best use of his time and money. Roughly, production expenses cost $3,700, salaries added up to $2,900, and post-production at Palmer and Monaco film labs totaled $8,400. Three investors contributed to the movie's $15,000 budget. The 87-minute feature took nine days to shoot and the plucky Schmidt wrote, directed, filmed, edited, and produced it all by himself. The results are occasionally touching and amusing but always lacking the creative energy and original insights that characterize the best rock bottom efforts. Morgan Schmidt-Feng, the director's son, is a cute kid, but both his story and his personality wear thin after 20 minutes. Ultimately, reading about the making of Morgan's Cake is much more interesting than watching the movie itself. Schmidt, who had made four films by 1990, admitted at the time that he hadn't found his voice as a director yet and I wouldn't care to argue with him. You can see Morgan's Cake if you can find it (it doesn't appear to be available on video) or buy Feature Filmmaking at Used Car Prices at used bookstores and make your own movie!

1988 87m/B Morgan Schmidt-Feng, Willie Boy Walker, Rachel Pond, M. Louise Stanley, Aaron Leon Kenin, Eliot Kenin, John Claudio; D: Rick Schmidt; W: Rick Schmidt; C: Rick Schmidt, Kathleen Beller; M: Gary Thorp.