Monday, February 9, 2009

THE BLACK SLEEP - Les Baxter - "Dr. Cadman's Secret" (1956)

First off, how can a movie 'formerly' be something? It's still the same movie, they just changed the title!! I don't care what they say, this movie will always be "The Black Sleep"!!!! Kudos once again to composing Dungeon champion, Les Baxter!!

First class all the way, not a Biscayne, but a Bel-Air Production!! Impressive!!

Just look at that line-up, and they didn't even have room for Tor's name!!

Basil Rathbone gets a big hand from the lovely Patricia Blair(Blake) and Mr. Herbert Rudley!!

Lon Chaney Jr. doing what he did best, showing up and acting weird!!

This movie scared the living crap outta me when I was a little kid, and that thorny pyracantha plant scratching on my bedroom window screen in the middle of the night wasn't much help either, but after many nightmares, I learned how to deal with some of those inner demons, but I still don't like this movie!! Just to start, the name is "Black Sleep" and I don't see many ways to interpret that except death! Then there's the whole concept of keeping creepy freaky people penned up underground in vaults, chambers and cells just doesn't sit right with me. No wonder a lot of people stayed high on the likes of Doris Day and Lawrence Welk, who the Hell in their right mind would want to go this direction?? This is madness, what was that drug he was talking about again??

This is where it really starts to get uncomfortable, and you start fidgeting around in your seat!

So, what do you say, let's meet the rest of the gang!! Here's John Carradine, the life of the party, and a man capable of reciting perfect Shakespeare, even in a drunken stupor!!

The pirate with the cranium that looks like a badly repaired cracked egg is George Sawaya, a man with an incredible TV career! Out of all these characters, George bugs me the most!!

Damn it Herbert, I told you not to give him any peanuts!

Tor Johnson! That's it! Tor Johnson!! That says it all!!

Finally, they run into Sally Yarnell, the first normal person in the whole dungeon!

Oh, Yecchh, she's got the mange or something!! Have a nice nightmare! Yuck!!

2 comments:

  1. This one looks good.
    It is a pity that Netflix does not carry it. All they have of Patricia Blair is the Rifleman and Daniel Boone.

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  2. I give Netflix a lot of credit, but still, there's all these films that have just fallen through the cracks and are either really hard to find and expensive or not available at all, period! Thanx for all your comments Lacey!

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