Friday, February 28, 2014

THE FACE OF MARBLE / Hollywood Pictures Corporation - 1946

It's Freaky Face Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a rare low budget thriller about reanimation starring the great John Carradine as the fairly normal 'mad' doctor and involves a love triangle involving his wife and younger lab assistant. Throw in an old hag housekeeper with voodoo powers, a black butler, a huge Great Dane hound and director William Beaudine, well, you have a weird little flick!

Eegah!! sent over a lil' soundclip of the theme and some lab sound from this movie for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there in the noisy mad lab, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's a taste of... THE FACE OF MARBLE!

John Carradine plays Dr. Randolph, he's working in his lab trying to reanimate a dead sailor found washed up on the shore with his assistant, Dr. Cochran, played by Robert Shayne, who all of us that grew up in the fifties remember well as Inspector Henderson on ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. Robert was also in THE NEANDERTHAL MAN, SPACE PATROL, TOBOR THE GREAT, INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN, KRONOS, THE GIANT CLAW, SPOOK CHASERS, WAR OF THE SATELLITES, TEENAGE CAVEMAN, HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER and THE LOST MISSILE, that's just in the fifties!!

Even though the sailor opened his eyes for a moment, he is still dead after the experiment. The police inspector shows up, asking questions about the odd condition of the sailor after the doctors placed him back on the shoreline to be found.

The weird old housekeeper, Maria, likes to play with dolls... Voodoo dolls!!

The doctors experiment on a Great Dane, but, Maria puts a spell on the dog. Now, it's hostile to the others, bullets don't effect it and it can walk through walls and is only controlled by her!

Maria gasses Dr. Randolph's wife, Elaine, and puts her in a death coma, so, the doctors experiment on her to bring her back to the land of the living.

It works, but, now she's controlled by the evil Maria!

Maria commands Elaine to kill her husband, and so, she knifes him in the back!

Luckily, the butler, Shadrach, saw everything and goes to tell the Inspector what he has seen! Willie Best plays Shadrach, Willie was also in UP POPS THE DEVIL, THE MONSTER WALKS, THE NITWITS, MUMMY'S BOYS, MR. MOTO IN DANGER ISLAND, AT THE CIRCUS, THE GHOST BREAKERS, WHISPERING GHOSTS, A-HAUNTING WE WILL GO, THE MONSTER AND THE APE and HIGH AND DIZZY. Sadly, Willie died at the young age of 45 and is buried in North Hollywood.

Everything's calm when the police arrive at the doctor's home, and, Maria is dead by her own hand at the fireplace! Tune in tomorrow for another dose of Eegah!!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

UCAN DAIRELER ISTANBULDA - "Flying Saucers Over Istanbul" (1955)

Time for another wild and Weirdass Wednesday, and they don't get much weirder or cheaper than some of these 1950's Turkish movies, and that's just what makes them so good!

This movie is titled "Ucan Daireler Istanbulda" or "Flying Saucers Over Istandbul!" When the economy is bad, there's nothing quite as satisfying as free movies, and "Flying Saucers Over Istanbul" can be downloaded without guilt for free from The Internet Archive!

I'm just supposing that the mid-1950's was a weird time in Turkey. In 1955, they were having lots of violent riots! I'm sure mindless movies with a lot of cute dancing girls like this were a bit of fresh air at the time!  Here's just a small sample of what musically to expect!

This pair of buffoons are Zafer Önen as Sapsal on the left, and Orhan Erçin as Kasar on the right! Orhan also wrote and directed this film! Okay, is this bar and his camera really both made out of cardboard boxes? Amazing, but I think it's true!

You just have to hope this wasn't a beauty contest!

This group of rocket surgeons have a telescope that looks like it's made out of papier-mâché, but it might not quite even be material that high-tech!

This control panel is also painted cardboard! I thought our 90's "Offbeat" public access TV show was cheap, but it was "Star Wars" compared to this!

A flying saucer lands and out comes a giant cardboard Robot! They must have bought all the tinfoil in town to make this space ship! It wouldn't be until eleven years later that "El Planeta De Las Mujeres Invasoras," the Mexican version of female space invaders was released!

There's nothing quite as sexy as a space chick with a ray gun! This is Özcan Tekgü as Uzayli!

Nice cast shot!

Okay, not a whole lot of anything else going on, so let's bring on the next dancing girl! As you'll see when you watch this movie, they all have slightly different styles and techniques! I like this one, she's a little more subtle!

At one point even the Queen of the space cadets breaks out into a dance number herself on board the saucer!

Sapsal and Kasar are totally mesmerized, as you will be too!!

And then just when you think space Princess Uzayli is going to zap the guys with her ray gun......

.................She breaks out into another dance routine!!

Those Turks are tricky, and they save the best for last! It's some bleach blonde bimbo Marilyn Monroe wannabe! She's got a couple of pounds on Marilyn though, that's for sure!

This particular gal was so popular, they used her twice in one shot!!

There's nothing that turns me on quite as much as a chick with a big band-aid on her elbow, now that's sexy!!

I think I possibly left out a couple of dancers, but anyway, the guys end up getting launched into space themselves along with the girls, so nobody's got anything to complain about!

Monday, February 24, 2014

TERROR BY NIGHT In Color / Universal Pictures - 1946

It's Mystery Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots the real Sherlock Holmes, Basli Rathbone, and Dr. Watson, Nigel Bruce, in a great little mystery involving the fabled Star of Rhodesia diamond. When it's stolen on a London to Edinburgh train, the son of its owner is murdered and Sherlock Holmes' job is to discover which of the suspicious passengers is responsible, but, this time we'll do it in colour!

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip from the start of the movie, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the mysterious lady in black, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... TERROR BY NIGHT!

Renee (CITIZEN KANE) Godfrey is the mysterious woman, Vivian Vedder. Here, she's purchasing a coffin to take on the train journey, check out the kid in the background! Sadly, the beautiful Renee became ill and died of cancer in 1964 at the young age of 44.

Nice shot of the London train station, Dr. Watson and his pal are late and have to run to barely make it onboard.

Lady Margaret Carstairs, accompanied by her son, is the newest owner of the notorious Star of Rhodesia. It doesn't take very long for the son to die while guarding the diamond, which has now gone missing!

Miss Vedder plays coy when confronted by Holmes, Inspector Lestrade and Dr. Watson.

Watson thinks he has solved the case, but, when the man is asked to present the stolen item, it's just a silver tea pot!.. Oops!

In a tense scene, Holmes is kicked out the open door and has to hang on for dear life before breaking the glass to get back inside! And, who's that mystery man?

The baggage car attendant, who knew of the secret compartment in the coffin discovered by Holmes, is now found dead, with a poisoned dart in his neck!

Yes, the mystery man is none other than Skelton Knaggs! He's Sands, an accomplice (hiding in the coffin) to the real thief, Dr. Watson's pal, Colonel Moran.

Then, it's Sands' turn to taste the poison dart gun, can't have any loose ends, you know!

You really need to watch this one to get all the details, twists and turns, but, the clever Moran arranged for bogus cops to board the train and take him away, after being discovered with the diamond. Holmes has turned the tables once again, though... For one thing, he had the real diamond the whole time, everyone was fighting over a fake duplicate.

The second thing was that when Moran's cops take the cover off of who they think is Moran, well, it's Inspector Lestrade instead! Game Over, Man!!

Holmes presents the Star of Rhodesia and ends a very satisfying tale from the pen of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!!! Don't forget, Eegah!! will have something wild 'n' weird for us on Wednesday!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??