SUPERARGO CONTRO DIABOLIKUS - Franco Pisano - "SUPEREXCITEMENT" (1966)

"Good evening everyone! It is of considerable pleasure that I present the most stupendous and unique event of the season", "Superargo Vs Diabolicus!" This film was made in what some people consider to be the best year ever in history, 1966! It's also time to give another shout out to "The Trash Palace" for providing us with this tasty bit of killer tiramisu! Thanx Brian!!!

Here he is in all his glory, Giovanni Cianfriglia as the amazing Invincible Superman, the masked wrasslin' champion of the world, Superargo!! In this, and many of his other films, Giovanni chose to be credited as Ken Wood! Ken has had the role of an uncredited thug in more movies than most actors ever appeared in! Quite the athlete, Giovanni has worked as a stunt man in a number of movies too!

In this opening scene Superargo is putting his undefeated record on the line against another undefeated wrassler named El Tigre, but something goes horribly wrong in the script, and El Tigre dies after being tossed out of the ring and cracks his head open on the hard concrete floor!

That series of events throws Superago into a mental tailspin, because El Tigre was his friend!

Superargo has an array of interesting powers, he can hold his breath underwater for at least 7 minutes, and swim down to a depth of 300 feet, and he also drinks like a fish!!

Aha, The Argophone, and to think I thought I was the only one with a two-tone phone!!

This is Gérard (Baraka sur X 13) Tichy as master henchman Diabolicus! Unlike a lot of European actors, Gérard was able to make the international crossover, and had roles in some major movies like "Doctor Zhivago" and "El Cid!" Diabolicus has his own island, and big plans to take over the whole world!

Diabolicus basically kills Superargo a number of times, but one of his powers is that Superargo is tough as Hell! He can take a lot of heat, and in this case, get frozen, but it doesn't have any effect on him. You also can't stab him, and the secret service provided him with a costume that is bulletproof, so it's pretty difficult to dispose of him!

Diabolicus's posse kidnaps Superargo's girlfriend, Mónica Randall as Lidia and takes her to the island! Mónica's God-given name was Aurora Julià Sarasa and she made most of her films in Italy and Spain in titles that translated into things like "Ringo and Gringo Against All" or "A Fistful Of Knuckles!"

Superargo is hot on the trail! Never once does he take off his mask during the course of the film. With his back to the camera, he does have it yanked off by Diabolicus, and him and his girlfriend gasp, put the mask back on and say something like, "I don't get it, he looks normal enough to me!"

The action is continuous except for a series of underwater scenes, and the music is fantastic through the whole movie. One of the coolest themes ever was composed by a guy we've never mentioned before, Maestro Franco Pisano! Franco has only 16 credits, but one of them is the even rarer superhuman flick, "Goldface, Il Fantastico Superman" made in 1969!

Diabolicus and his crew try to stall off Superargo's imminent attack with an attempted barbecue of Lidia. Diabolicus's main squeeze is portrayed by the dynamic Loredana Nusciak! Loredana was in some whack titles including "Revenge For Revenge," "God Will Forgive My Pistol" and "Something Is Crawling In The Dark," and she fleshed out her career in sword and sandal epics!


Nothing is going to keep Superargo from his love, as he fights fire with fire, and freakin' melts the house down!!

Despite all the carnage, there's always time for a short, but tender moment!

Diabolicus's mistress shows her true colours! Can't anybody be trusted anymore??

They really thought they got him this time, but another thing that Superargo can do is take a tremendous electrical licking, and still come out ticking!! That Superargo is one tough cookie!

Superargo was given a set amount of time to save his girl, and get off the island before the military comes in and blows the living Hell out of the whole damn place! Aloha Muthafuckahs!!!

Most heroes could only hope to be half as cool as Superargo, and even though it's over for now, Superargo comes back again in 1968 and another earth shaking battle with a different mad man and his army of robots, in "L'Invincibile Superman"

ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN / Universal International - 1951

It's Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is a fun little comedy with, at the time, my favorite comedians. My Aunt Edith had a collection of 8mm shorts we used to watch, one was where Lou drove a sprint racer, I loved it!..

Hey!.. Eegah!! made a soundclip for our listenin' pressure, sooo, push the big red 'GO' button, there next to the mutton, now, Rufus The Gnat! Here's some audio from... ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN!

As you can hear in the soundclip, Bud and Lou have just graduated as detectives from a crime school, notice the official diploma and 'detective' attire. Heaven help us all!

Arthur Franz was in a lot of cool fifties monster flicks which includes this impressive line-up... FLIGHT TO MARS, INVADERS FROM MARS, BACK FROM THE DEAD, THE FLAME BARRIER, MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS and THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE!! Here, he plays boxer Tommy Nelson, who's been framed for murder. His girl's dad, a doctor, has perfected an invisibility formula and Tommy just injected himself with it. All chased with a typical reaction by Lou!

What a beautiful shot!

This is a great part, where Tommy drives the car as Bud and Lou have to sit in the back. This motorcycle cop pulls up beside the 'driver' to pull him over, but, ends up at the psychiatrist's office instead!

But, the best part has to be here, where Lou impresses the crowd with his super dexterity on the speed bag! Tommy, who's invisible, is actually the one doing the work, as Lou pretends. It's freakin' hilarious!! Anyway, Louie The Looper introduces himself to the world... That's Sheldon Leonard there on the left as local crime boss, Boots Morgan.

This crazy comedy wouldn't be complete without scenes like these, the card game and dinner at a restaurant. Their waiter is played by Syd (the malt shop owner in THE CRAWLING HAND) Saylor.

Here, Adele Jergens puts the make on Louie. She plays Boots Marsden, Boots Morgan's scheming partner. Adele played Ruby in one of our favorite fifties flicks, DAY THE WORLD ENDED!

Bud and Lou have to carry an inebriated Tommy back to their room! William Frawley plays the bewildered house dick.

Rocky Hanlon is Tommy's arch enemy in the ring and works for Morgan. Louie and Tommy have Rocky wondering what the Hell's going on around here!!.. Gremlins?!

At one point, Tommy gets knocked out and Louie has to defend himself against Rocky, who's really pissed!! But, in the end, Tommy knocks Rocky out for the count and Louie wins the bout.

Tommy gets Boots to confess to framing him for the murder.

The doctor's giving Tommy a blood transfusion in order to save him after one of Boot's men tossed a knife into his chest, and, the transfusion's causing him to turn visible again!

Wouldn't you know it, Lou was the only one with the same blood type as Tommy.

Of course, the procedure causes Lou to turn invisible, making for the perfect ending!

HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLAN - "Wouldn't You Be Better Off Dead?" (1970)

"How Awful About Allan" is not really that exciting of a movie, but it just might be the only thriller with three consecutive 'A' words in the title, and that counts for something, doesn't it? Director Curtis Harrington was the man responsible for bringing us such classics as "Night Tide," "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet," and "Queen Of Blood," and statement and question titles like "How Awful About Allan," "What's The Matter With Helen?" and "Who Slew Auntie Roo?" before drifting off into a long career in television!

Jeez, for a moment there, I thought that was the "Psycho" house burning!

Basic premise: The family house burns up, and Allan feels responsible for not saving his Father and his sister. His Dad died in the fire, and his sister was horribly disfigured, at least for a TV movie anyway!

8 months later, Allan is scheduled to get out of the mental hospital, and go home, but there's just one problem..........

..........Even though there's nothing wrong with his eyes, Allan can't see!

Allan is kinda welcomed back home by his scarred sister Katherine played by Julie (East Of Eden) Harris! Katherine has all kinds of problems, the least of which is probably her brother!

Allan's fiancee before his big burnout was Joan Hackett as Olive! Joan had the role of Esther Fortune in the "Twilight Zone" episode entitled "A Piano In The House!" Most of Joan's career was on TV, and she left us way too early at the age of 49 back in 1983!

He might not be able to see, but Allan's Spidey senses tell him something is not right! It's hard to believe that Anthony Perkins has been gone since 1992! One of my favourites of his many crazy guys roles was that of the great baseball player Jimmy Piersall who suffered mental problems in "Fear Strikes Out!" Almost a documentary, I always remember the scene where Jimmy's on first, and he picks up sand, and puts it in the first baseman's pocket! The first baseman had no clue on how to react. Jimmy Piersall was a regular Till Eulenspiegel, and Anthony Perkins was cast perfectly for the role!

The music in "How Awful About Allan" isn't anything that special! Allan's tastes ran towards classical not rock or jazz, after all it was a TV movie!

Olive convinces Allan to get out of the house, but when she leaves him alone for a little bit, he freaks out and tries to drive away despite his vision problems! As would be expected, it doesn't work out very well!!

Allan is haunted by dreams and visions of his sister and his overbearing father, or as Tom Smothers would be expected to tell his brother Dick, "Dad always liked you best!"

Here's a great example of the genius of Curtis Harrington, out of the 73 minutes of runtime for "How Awful About Allan," I'm guessing 20 minutes is seen through Allan's blind eyes! Roll camera, shoot anything, it doesn't matter, he's blind, who cares if the boom mike is in the shot?

Allan spends another 15 minutes of so of the movie, hanging out dazed and confused!

Even though he's blind, Allan sees what's going on all around him, that nobody else seems to notice! The truth is that his sister is really a vindictive lying bitch! She was burned, but she had it fixed a long time ago, and wears the fake scar strictly for sympathy!

After the truth is finally told, Allan's vision is returned, and him and Olive get married, and live happily ever after!

Well, almost, after it's all said and done, there's no time for a happy ending here, as there are still more ghosts in the closet, and Allan's vision leaves him once again!

It truly is sad, "How Awful About Allan!" How awful that it was released as "Psycho 2" in Italy! Pass me another Giallo Shot, per favore!