UPPERSEVEN, L'UOMO DA UCCIDERE - Bruno Nicolai - "The Man Of A Thousand Masks" (1966)

Welcome to another Super Spy Saturday Night and tonight's edition, "Upperseven, The Man To Kill!" I love that hand in your face shot!

"Upperseven" is not only about a man with many faces, it's also about a movie with many titles! The original Italian title is "Upperseven, L'uomo Da Uccidere," but it was released in English as not only "Upperseven, The Man To Kill," but also as "The Spy With Ten Faces," and/or "The Man Of A Thousand Masks!" It's kinda got that "Zelda" thing going on for it!

You see, it's like this, Upperseven is not only a secret agent, he also is a master of disguise, and he wields a seemingly harmless but lethal cane, and he's not afraid to use it!

The seriously bad guy is Nando Gazzolo as Kobras! Nando did a lot of Italian TV up until about 10 years ago. I'm not quite sure why he never became a bigger star, he's really good at being bad!! Kobras' main squeeze is played by Vivi (Bullets Don't Argue) Bach!

This a beautiful profile of a classic Ford Thunderbird!

This is a beautiful profile of the goddess Rosalba (Lady Frankenstein) Neri! That alone should be enough to make you want to see this movie!

And if that wasn't enough, Rosalba sings Upperseven a song after they have sex! Paul Finney, the Upperseven was  played by Paul Hubschmid! Paul was the professor in "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" in 1953, and he was almost 50 years old when he got this gig! Go Paul!

Too bad she was setting him up to be killed! He turns the tables and sacrifices her instead! Upperseven has no shame!

Kobras and Birgit examine some of the different faces that Upperseven has used!

I love this still! I can't exactly explain it, but I think it's the composition that is so fascinating!

This shot looks like an Edward Hopper oil painting!

Upperseven dons one of his many masks!

This is something I had never seen before! To abduct the gal, this thug reaches down and pulls her dress up over her head!

Is this a great shot of our hero or what?  Besides being a great movie to look at, "Upperseven" has a great soundtrack by the remarkable Maestro Bruno Nicolai and a very cool theme sung by Nancy Cuomo!

Proof of how good this film is, we got this far without even mentioning co-star Dungeon Homecoming Queen, Karin Dor! That was Karin also getting her dress pulled up over her head! We love Karin because she was looking good in a slew of Edgar Wallace flicks, "The Face Of Fu-Manchu," and James Bond's "You Only Live Twice!"

In the ultimate 'Take That Kobras!' scene, Upperseven escapes from being held captive wearing a mask that looks like Kobras! He then proceeds to screw Kobras' girlfriend, by turning out the lights and then removing the mask!

Karin Dor was capable of even looking hot with Devo glasses on!

One thing I like about "Upperseven," no bullshit political correctness! You cross the line and get caught, and you pay the price! Sorry for the spoiler, but Kobras gets his ass handed to him!!

Does this poster have much to do with the movie? Not really! Do you care? I doubt it!

DIE BANDE DES SCHRECKENS - Heinz Funk - "The Terrible People" (The Gang Of Terror) (1960)

Just got back from seeing Steely Dan in Vegas, what a great concert!! I highly recommend seeing them if they come to your area, you will not be disappointed, but now it's time for another edition of the Saturday night Edgar Wallace Special, this week featuring "Die Bande Des Schreckens!"

"Die Bande Des Schreckens" basically translates to "The Gang Of Terror!" How that ever got changed into "The Terrible People" is way beyond my comprehension! Terror = Terrible I guess! Somebody call the Marketing Department!

Otto Collin as Mr. Shelton is about to pay for his sins, but even as a dying man, he threatens the lives of all those who brought him down! One by one, they all must pay, and pay they will, dearly with their lives!

But first, it's Mr. Shelton's turn to face the the music, and that music was composed by Heinz Funk! Most of these German Edgar Wallace films had music by the great Peter Thomas, but Heinz Funk filled in on a couple of them quite nicely! Besides this film, Heinz wrote the score for "Dead Eyes Of London," and "The Green Archer!" Heinz Funk passed away in March of this year at the ripe age of 97!

Can it possibly be true? Does the claw still live?

The chief inspector in charge of putting all the pieces together is once again played by Dungeon Fave Joachim Fuchsberger! Normally I'm totally gone over anything that Joachim does, but in this movie, I'm not really fond of whoever they got to dub Joachim's voice into English, so it's kind of a deal breaker, but I got over it, and so will you!

Eddie Ardent is back on board for the comedy relief as Anthony Edwards, the photographer with the weak stomach!

Here's the revenge shopping list with the names of all those who are pegged for removal!

What a super bad ass clock!

Dungeon sweetheart Karin Dor is Nora Sanders! You have got to admit, she could be channeling a little bit of  Lucille Ball with this look and outfit! Karin is still working today, and is in a movie in production right now called "Triple WixXx!" 

Nora Sanders works for the extremely wealthy Mrs. Revelstoke as portrayed by Elisabeth Flickenschildt, who was also in a number of Edgar Wallace films like "The Inn On The River," "The Indian Scarf," and "Das Phantom Von Soho!"

Besides that very odd clock,  Mrs. Revelstoke's house is decorated with a fine assortment of weird masks and stuff!

Nora Sanders is a bit too trusting of some evil bastard who pretends to be a cop! Luckily Chief Inspector Young loves her as much as I do and will be there to rescue her in no time at all!

It appears that Mr. Shelton refuses to go away, dead or not!

This is one of the weirdest looking phones I have ever seen! I call it the low-profile cyclops, and I want one!!

When the address is 13, don't forget to knock three times and tell them Joe sent you, and if nobody answers the door, run like Hell!

In my humble opinion, nobody looks better tied up than Karin Dor!

I just couldn't leave out this portrait of Karin framed by the stairway bannister!!

Chief Inspector Young makes a daring rescue, and at one point it seems that indeed his goose is finally cooked this time, but yet another miracle of Edgar Wallace's writing allows him to escape certain doom and walk off into the sunset with the girl of my dreams! "The Terrible People" is available from Sinister Cinema directly or through Amazon! Once again all I can say is, what are you waiting for, the end of the world?

DAS GEHEIMNIS DER SCHWARZEN WITWE - Martin Böttcher - Belina - "The Black Spider" (1963)

    "The Secret Of The Black Widow" is without a doubt a curious movie, and there's a whole lot going on, so let's get this show rolling!

Seems like there was a treasure hunt to Mexico, and one of the members of the expedition was killed mysteriously! The rest of the crew came back to Europe and went about there merry ways until somebody starts killing them all off, one by one!

The weapon of choice is a black plastic spider loaded with fast-acting poison, and apparently fired from an air pistol! Even though black widow spiders are very common in the United States, they must not be in Europe, as it's treated here the same as substances like curare or black asp's venom!

The so-called hero of the movie is an odd bird, O.W. Fischer as investigative journalist for the local rag, The London Sensation, a fellow by the name of Wellby! Although O.W. was supposedly the best paid actor in Germany of the 50's, his place in Hollywood history failed when he was given a shot, and during the filming of "My Man Godfrey," it's said that he lost his memory!

The extremely lovely Karin Dor has the role of Clarisse, the daughter of the explorer who never came back from Mexico! Karin is no stranger to murder and mystery, and was in some great flicks like "The Invisible Dr. Mabuse," "The Carpet Of Horror,' and yet another spider movie, "The White Spider," before this one! Karin was also Helga Brandt in "You Only Live Twice" and is in a film in production this year called "Triple WixXx!"

When questioned why he drinks so much, Wellby tells Clarisse that it gives him courage, enough so, that he's going to ask her out on a date, even though he was much more her senior, and in reality, he really was 23 years older than her!

Nobody looks more stunning than Karin Dor in cashmere and pearls!

And that brings us to the music, and a very interesting little tune sung by Madame Chanson, folksinger Belina, titled "Die Schwarze Witwe," with music that was written by the genius Martin Böttcher, and lyrics by Ute Just and F.J. Gottlieb! Martin Böttcher is also responsible for the rest of the brilliant soundtrack too!

Wellby has brought Clarisse to this dubious nightclub, so that she can hear "Die Schwarze Witwe", a song he thinks will get some sort of reaction out of her, and a song that he believes is the basis for all the spider murdering that's been going down!

To read a full biography on Belina, head on over to This Site! The amazing Belina passed away in 2006 at the age of 81!!

One of the expedition members runs a cool arcade that has bowling, foosball, and vintage pinball machines!

Wellby is an interesting cat, and  when he drinks the magic elixir he carries around in his hip flask, he obtains almost Popeyesque powers in his ability to kick ass! He's a pretty tough olde bird! In this shot, he's taking a shot after getting knocked down, and before he gets back up!

In this car chase scene Clarisse is in charge of the flask!

After this fight scene, Wellby takes a drink, and Clarisse asks him why, and he tells her it's because he didn't have enough time to get a drink before the fight!

After the battle, Wellby strikes a suave and debonair pose!! You might have noticed that at the beginning of the film, he had a beard, but he shaved it off in an effort to look younger, and impress Clarisse!

This movie is filled with shots like this of Wellby stepping in on his boss and her wife, Mr. and Mrs. Shor! To thicken the plot some, besides being Wellby's boss, Mr. Shor was also one of the original expedition members who is now fearing for his life! Mr. Shor is Werner Peters, another staple in films of this ilk, and Mrs. Shor is Doris (When The Mad Aunts Are Coming) Kirchner!

Clarisse isn't exactly the sweet and innocent little angel she appears to be, and can be quite hardhearted and callous when necessary!

The killer strikes again!! This time it's Clarrise's boss who takes the hit!

Mrs. Shor isn't exactly so innocent herself.........

.........Nor is her hapless victim of a husband!

The only one who really know what's going on, is the forever creepy, and Dungeon Hall Of Famer Klaus Kinski, in a rare role as a good guy, Inspector Boyd of Scotland Yard!! Even in this role, he slinks around mysteriously acting like a weirdo, and the viewer doesn't know who he is for most of the movie!!