Like the all-macrame wardrobe, the all-sock puppet feature may be a concept irresistible in abstract yet doomed in execution. At least that’s what’s suggested by “The Lady From Sockholm,” a brief yet tiresome low-budgeter which spoofs film noirs in a manner likely to bore adult and child viewers alike. Scattered amusing ideas fail to sustain a pic whose invention with a retro technique falls infinitely short of “Team America,” due to the script’s lack of imagination, not the latter’s larger budget or more-grownup target audience. Novelty alone, however, might carry pic to limited fest and sell-through DVD exposure.
Intertitles inform that “Wool War II” rages, dividing the fabric-critter universe into loyal cotton and acrylic types vs. old-world wool “axis.” Sam Spade-like gumshoe Terrence M. Cotton, dissipated on bootleg bleach, gets lucky when he is hired by “high-end hosiery” Heelda Brum to investigate her husband’s disappearance. There are funny ideas, like the literal depiction of cops as “The Fuzz” and a nightclub chanteuse take on “This Little Piggie Went to Market.” But the dialogue’s podiatric/laundry puns fast wear out their welcome, while basic puppet and set designs lack wit.
