Monday, September 28, 2009

UNKNOWN ISLAND - Ralph Stanley - "So I Knocked Their Heads Together Like A Couple Of Coconuts" (1948)

Now, THAT is a title card, they knew how to make things right back in 1948, if you know what I'm talkin' about! 61 years ago, imagine that!! It's really not hard to imagine dinosaurs back that long ago!! And that's what "Unknown Island" is all about, dinosaurs, well, that, and Barton McClane!!

Yep, yer right, it all starts in this funky little joint, the "Port Of All Nations Cafe!"

Where the bullshit flies and the booze flows freely.....and swingin' music brought to you by the man of the hour, Ralph Stanley, aka Maestro Raoul Kraushaar, a composer we've written about many times before for his work on "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter," and "Billy The Kid Vs Dracula" just to name a couple!

City slickers Phillip Reed as Ted Osborne, and the charming Virginia Grey as Carole Lane happen onto the scene, slumming as it were! Virginia is looking pretty dang good for somebody who had already been in the business for 21 years! Her first acting gig was in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" at the age of 10! You might also remember Virginia for her work in "Target Earth!" No slouch himself, Phillip Reed had been acting since 1933, but this would be his solo appearance in a scary movie!!

That's Dick Wessel as Sanderson the 1st Mate on the left, and the one and only Barton MacLane as Capt. Tarnowski on the right, taking in the view!! The same year Dick was also in "Two Nuts In A Rut" as wrassler Horrible Higgins! Tough dude's got almost 300 credits as cab driver, moving man, blacksmith, henchman, roughneck etc.

Whack job Fairbanks is played by Richard Denning, who went on to do some of THE coolest films ever. "Target Earth" again with Virginia Grey, "Creature From The Black Lagoon," "Creature With The Atom Brain," and "The Black Scorpion!"

Kinda like a cross between "Gilligan's Island" and "Jurassic Park" only with Barton Mclane playing both the part of The Captain, and his little buddy....

Here he sneaks up on First Mate Sanderson, and scares the crap out of him, gets a gun pulled on him, and laughs like some freakin' maniac the whole time! You're gonna love this guy!!

Here we go, once again, proof positive of the existence of dinosaurs just a mere 61 years ago!!

Did you hear what I heard?

Did you see what I saw?

That's right, it's none other than Ray "Crash" Corrigan himself, filling in some spare time, as The Beast Monster!!

Go Crash, Go!!!!!

The tyrannosauruses are the weakest part of the special effects, they just kind of waddle around and look dumb, but the closeup with smoke looks pretty good!

Barton has one last smoke before he gets what's coming to him in quite a bloody fight between Crash and whoever was in the T-Rex outfit. Looks like they used lots of raw meat!!

"Target Earth"! together! Okay, you won't hear from me again until this Halloween Countdown starts, we've got a couple of surprises for you, so stick around!!

7 comments:

  1. 1948 best year ever! Happy BDYOF!

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  2. i'm pretty sure Barton MacLane is in an episode of The Monkees. i'd look it up, BUT!...

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  3. He's a bit heavier, but in some shots Barton looked a lot like George Bush!

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  4. It was so hot inside those 'dinosaur' suits that it caused serious fainting spells with some of the 'actors.' There's probably footage somewhere of one of them taking a nose dive.

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  5. Hes in a monkees and The Munsters.alot of TV..alot of classics films going back to The Marx Bros. first, Coconuts

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  6. Wow! Never saw anything in color from this film before, on b+w TV prints. Thanx!

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  7. Barton MacLane was in a bazillion movies as tough guys (usually villains), but he may be best known as a semi-regular on "I Dream of Jeannie," where he played an Air Force general.

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