MUSIC BY THE MAESTRO BRUNO NICOLAI YOU CAN ACTUALLY OWN!

 

With everything that's going on in 2020, it seems like it's stacked up to be one of the worst years ever, but there is still at least one good thing about 2020, and that is that in this day and age, if a person wants to, you can learn about almost anything, and in this case, actually listen to it.

It's an extra special Weird Wednesday with a cherry on top!

Welcome to just some of the recorded work of renowned composer Bruno Nicolai that is available!

 

Many of the movies that Maestro Bruno Nicolai wrote the music for can be found on Discogs or Amazon in the format of CD or vinyl, and the 1975 film "Eyeball" or "Gatti Rossi In Un Labirinto Di Vetro" as it is also known, is good place to start! 

The blood splattered vinyl is too cool.

Along with Ennio Morricone, Piero Umiliani, and Riz Ortoloni, Bruno Nicolai was a brilliant Italian composer, and many times like on this LP, he worked closely with Maestro Morricone.

 This album was from the James Bond spoof "OK Connery," that starred Sean Connery's real life younger brother Neil Connery!

 

All four of those amazing composers are no longer with us. Nicolai passed away in 1991,

Umiliani died in 2001, Ortoloni left in 2014, and we just lost Morricone a couple of months ago.
On 1964's "Il Pelo Nel Mondo" or "Mondo Inferno," Bruno shared writing credits with Nino Oliviero.

This album, like some of the other ones I'm going to show you, can be bought on Discogs. Some are very reasonably priced like this LP for $9.99, and some of them are hundreds of dollars! 

Bruno also composed the music for a ton of films that weren't Giallo, and one of the coolest and free things you can do is check out this link on Discogs to the music of Bruno Nicolai, and it will take you to a page where you can magically listen to four hours and freakin' ten minutes of Bruno's music taken from various records of his! It's what I'm listening to right now!

 

I promise if you buy all these records, you would have one of the coolest collections in town!

It would be "Fenomenal!"

 

Not long ago, you couldn't find this movie anywhere, but now you can even buy the soundtrack for as low as $4.99, you inscrutable lucky dog!

 

There's only one of these Italian CD's for the soundtrack of "A Virgin Among The Living Dead" on Discogs, and somebody is asking $58.82 for it, but follow the link and you can listen to it for nothing!

The 1971 soundtrack from "The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave,"

is also available but will cost you around $45.00. 

 

The soundtrack from "99 Women,"  a Jesus Franco film from 1969 about a woman's prison run by a sadistic superintendent, is less popular, and can be had for about eight bucks!

The soundtrack for Argento's "The Bird With The Crystal Plumage" was written by Maestro Morricone in 1970, and Bruno Nicolai was the conductor!!

 

Also from 1970 and starring Sir Christopher Lee was "The Bloody Judge," or "Il Trono Di Fuoco," and it can be found on a German CD starting at $9.41.  

If it's bloody soundtracks you like, then look no further than 1972's "The Case Of The Bloody Iris!"

Not one of my favorite movies, so I'm not likely to shell out $63.33 for a 10" UK record! 

 

And while we're on the subject of cases, here's the album cover from the soundtrack of the 1971 film, "The Case Of The Scorpion's Tail."

 

This 1966 film titled "Upperseven, The Man To Kill," is the most expensive one I found. They're asking $383.10 for this Japanese CD, and unfortunately, it's one of the few there are no musical links to.

 

This 1970 Jesus Franco sex romp called "Eugenie De Sade 70," commands about $45.00 for a CD and up to $193.00 for a vinyl album. 

The bummer is most of these LPs and CDs are in Europe, so you're looking at maybe at least another $20.00 in postage on top of the prices I've told you about.

 

"Il Conte Dracula" or "Count Dracula" if you prefer, came out in 1970, and was directed by Jesus Franco and starred Chris Lee as The Count! This one is a bit pricey for my meager tastes too!

"The Red Queen Kills Seven Times" came out in 1972 and is another album that commands a fairly high price of  $105.88 for a CD but you can hear two tracks right here!

 

But if none of that interests you, and you just want to have a good time, then grab yourself a copy of this 2015 transparent red record titled "Mondo A Go-Go!" It's full of good garage rock and even includes a couple of covers composed by Bruno Nicolai!

"In Go-Go We Trust!"

 

Now it's on to THE COUNTDOWN!

ULTRAMAN / "Ultra Operation #1" - 1966

This is the very first episode of Ultraman, in it, a heroic patrolman from the planet M78 crashes on Earth and revives a pilot from the Science Patrol and gives him the power of Ultraman just before the being dies. The power will enable Science Patrolman Hayata to be well equipped to battle the forces of evil on Earth and from space.

While a bunch of people are out camping by a lake, a big blue glowing ball comes in from the sky, it hovers there for a moment and disappears under the water.

Unfortunately, the big red ball chasing the blue one, well, it crashes into a Science Patrol plane piloted by officer Hayata, who has died in the crash.

Then, Hayata's body starts floating in the air and becomes surrounded in a red bubble...

The being inside will not recover from the crash, so, he revives Hayata and gives him a small wand to use when he needs to transform into Ultraman.

And wouldn't you know it, that damn blue sphere brought in a giant water monster with a blue ray shooting from its mouth. Ultraman is produced by Toho, the effects are decent.

In the meantime, Hayata has manned the Science Patrol's submarine to shoot torpedoes at the thing, but it looks like he'll just end up as an appetizer for the giant beast.

A Science Patrol plane comes in and hits the monster right on the top of the head with a missile! This pic cracks me up, looks like it's wearing a powdered wig. Over and over, they keep hitting him on the same spot! It get irritated and tosses the submarine to the ground.

After taking a bad fall to the ground in the sub, Hayata pulls out his wand, holds it over his head and says the magic words...

And viola, works like a charm! Now this wrasslin' match is a little more fair.

Hey, I thought this was a kids' show!!..

What else, after a few rounds, Ultraman disposes of the monster and throws it back into the drink where it goes under for the count.

Then, the big blue ball tries to escape back into space, but Ultraman has a little surprise for them, yeah, total annihilation!!

Hayata shows up after the Science Patrol gang thinks that he's dead, in the submarine. He tells them that it's a good thing Ultraman has arrived to save the day... He has the same problem Clark Kent has, hiding his real identity. Check in on Wednesday for out last post of September, here at The Dungeon!!..

THE DEVIL THUMBS A RIDE - "He'll Kill Until He Dies! " (1947)

This week's Saturday Night Special is from 1947, and titled "The Devil Thumbs A Ride."

While not literally The Devil, Lawrence Tierney as fast-talking and mean con man Steve Morgan is evil personified, no doubt!

I guess it wasn't too difficult for Lawrence Tierney to play the part of a nasty guy with a mean streak since he had a notoriously bad reputation for his off-screen antics that included drunken barroom brawls, and for being generally intimidating and uncooperative on the set.

In San Diego, Steve Morgan has just robbed a bank and killed a man in the process, and to get out of town in a hurry, he hitches a ride with this poor schlep named Jimmy Ferguson who is just trying to get back home to his wife after his friends threw him a party. Fergie as he is often called, was played by Ted (The Bride Wore Crutches) North.

In a quick stop at a gas station, Steve Morgan doesn't know it, but he's just gotten I.D.'d.

Jimmy Ferguson calls his wife to let her know he'll be home soon, and not to worry. Boy, did he get that wrong!

That just might be brimstone coming out of those flared nostrils!

Being a totally irresponsible individual, Steve Morgan gladly offers up a ride to these two gals without even consulting Jimmy. The blonde on the left is Peter Lawford's cousin Betty (The Monkey's Paw) Lawford as Agnes Smith, and the woman on the right is Nan (The Bamboo Saucer) Leslie as Beulah Zorn.

The local cops are kind of busy! To be only fair, they are on their time off!

So let's get this party rolling!

 

The cops are hot on the trail, and Steve Morgan just keeps coming up with one lie after another to explain it all to the other three, and they are gullible enough to believe him.

Everybody's tired so instead of going home, they go to the empty beach house of a friend of Jimmy's. While there, Jimmy calls his wife again, and Agnes turns up some swingin' music loud, and gets on the other line to let Jimmy's wife know that he's not exactly doing what he's telling her.

A night watchman shows up, so Steve challenges him to drink a whole big glass of booze in an effort to make him pass out and be out of their hair!

As the cops close in, Steve Morgan slashes the tires of the car, cuts the phone lines, and manages to drown Beulah, all the while explaining it away!

Finally, Jimmy can't take it any more, and goes out looking some for someone to give him a ride, but this guy sure isn't any help!

 

Agnes is like the stupidest and most desperate bitch on the planet. She tells Steve that oh, well, her and Beulah had just met, and weren't really friends,  so she doesn't car she died, and she's willing to lie or do anything to be able to run away with him, even though he was calling her Grandma when they first met, and only had the hots for Beulah.

 

This is a great lobby card from one of the final scenes before the end, when the cops, and Jimmy's wife all end up at the beach house in one massive fustercluck!

Steve and Agnes make it out of there in a stolen police car, but she's finally had enough and asks to be dropped off at the next bus stop.

As the Sheriff said, "They won't get far!"

So that headline just about tells the whole story!

This was probably the main sign on how to get to San Diego in 1947.