MORDNACHT IN MANHATTAN - "Manhattan Night Of Murder" (1965)

What I got for you tonight is the last of my Jerry Cotton movies, and it's called "Mordnacht In Manhattan" or................

"Manhattan Night Of Murder!"

If I ever had time to plan things around here, I would probably watch movies like this in chronological order, but since I'm a freakin' bozo, it's always a haphazard free form affair which causes things like this to happen! Since this was the last Jerry Cotton film I had to watch, I've been saving it for this special moment, only to be disappointed, because "Mordnacht In Manhattan" turns out to be my least favourite Jerry Cotton movie. All the right elements are there, but it's not that witty, and never really gets very exciting at all!

"Mordnacht In Manhattan was the second Jerry Cotton film released in 1965. The first film was "The Violin Case Murders," which also wasn't all that great, but I think it was a little better than this one! It wasn't til the third film, "Um Null Uhr Schnappt Die Falle Zu" also known as "The Trap Snaps Shut At Midnight," that Jerry Cotton really got cooking!

One of  "The Sweatles," the marvelous Monika Grimm was also in the next Jerry Cotton film!

Although the movie is set in New York, 90% of it is shot in Hamburg, Munich, and Landshut, Bavaria, Germany!

While fighting with Jerry, this gangster falls into a pit of coal, but it kind of looks like he's getting chewed up by Caltiki The Immortal Monster in this shot!

This is the 13th movie we've hosted with George Nader in it, what else can I say, except "which way did they go George!!"

Gangsters or sardines? Something stinks either way!

The music in "Mordnacht In Manhattan" is, as are all the Jerry Cotton films, by the genius mind and Dungeon fave, Peter Thomas! 

Jerry's a sneaky guy, and you get to see part of his Jaguar and part of the mobster's '67 Impala all in the same shot!

I'm sure somebody thought a fight scene in a bunch of cardboard boxes was going to be real exciting, but they were wrong!

It's a pretty bold move to be on your regular TV show when you've also been I.D.'d in a murder!

I found this Mexican poster for "Mordnacht In Manhattan" on a fellow blogger's site called Una Plaga De Espias, and the funny thing is I can find no other reference to this film with this title, but then that's just how these Jerry Cotton films roll! Those two cars are just too much!!

Thanx again to our man in Berlin, Lord Litter for turning me onto this series in the first place a few years ago, do yourself a favor, and go check out one of his Magic Music Show International radio shows. I guarantee you'll become just as addicted as I am!

STOLEN FACE - Sir Malcolm Arnold - "A Stolen Heart" (1952)

"Stolen Face" was produced by Hammer Studios the year before "Four Sided Triangle," a movie with a similar motive! In "Four Sided Triangle" a scientist duplicates his best friend's girl who he also loves, in "Stolen Face" a Doctor duplicates just the face of the woman he has been denied! Ironically, Sir Malcolm Arnold composed the music for both films!

Here's the Doctor driven mad with love, Paul Henreid as plastic surgeon Dr. Philip Ritter. Of course Paul will always be remembered for his role as Victor Laszlo in "Casablanca!" Paul also directed a lot of TV westerns in the 60's, and sometimes looks a lot like Richard Crenna!

This would be Mary Mackenzie as petty thief Lily Conover, a self-pitying convict in need of a boost of self-confidence only a plastic surgeon could bring her! Mary's career was cut short by a car accident at the age of 44!

Speakin' of freakin' car accidents, the Doc falls asleep at the wheel on the way back from the prison, and it's determined he needs a break!

So he heads off to the country for a few nights stay at the world famous "Dog And Duck!"

So's how's a Doctor supposed to relax in 1952? Well, with a cigarette and a bottle of Johnny Walker Red, what else? Smoking was so common back in the day, people would even be smoking at breakfast!

When the Doctor hears the person in the next room coughing, he decides he had better go check it out. Too bad, he doesn't have his stethoscope handy, he'll just have to listen to her chest the good olde-fashioned way!! Her name is Alice Brent, and she's played by Lizabeth Scott!

The British Doctor and the American concert pianist hit it off pretty good, both stay a couple of extra days, and since it's 1952, you can only assume they would, as T-Rex would sing years later, "go all the way!" They even go to a local pub, where she gets to show off her vast array of "musical skills", but then suddenly she leaves his life just as fast as she entered it, because it seems she's already engaged to be married! Okay, so it's not really that exciting yet, but...

Lost and alone again, the Doctor decides he can kill two birds with one stone, when he makes the decision to give Lily Conover the face of Alice Brent!

To make things right Dr. Ritter marries Lily after all the surgeries are completed, and he is one happy camper, except at this point, a minion of olde adages apply, like beauty is only skin deep, or you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink, or as Bo Diddley would so succinctly announce, you can't judge a book by lookin' at the cover!!!

Lizabeth Scott does a fantastic job in both roles, taking on two personalities with ease! There were no real monsters in Lizzie's career, but she was in "Scared Stiff" with Martin and Lewis, and co-starred with Elvis in the 1957 feature "Loving You!" Also before Hollywood she toured with the "Hellzapoppin'" road show! Born Emma Matso, Lizabeth will turn 90 this year!

Lily talks the Doc out of watching the boring opera, and they head on over to one of her old hangouts, and the joint is jumpin'! Two thirds of his time on screen, the Doctor is smoking!

The one downturn in the whole film is that this is the worst shot I've ever seen of any band ever, but the good thing is, Sir Malcolm's music is swinging! It's funny to me that when Hammer went from film noir to horror, the music went from swingin' to very serious and orchestrated. It's hard to imagine what the soundtrack from "Horror Of Dracula" or "Curse Of Frankenstein" would have sounded like if the music had been created by somebody like Peter Thomas!

Lily has no wants, but she has needs! The Doctor would buy her anything she wants, but just like any addict, she can't stop stealing! She didn't exactly buy that broach on her throat, and she's proud of it!

Alice, in the meantime, has been on the road, wowing the public, and coming to the conclusion that she doesn't love her devoted traveling partner, and fiancee any longer, and seeks out Dr. Ritter. When she sees the picture of who looks like her on his desk, he spills the beans on the whole lowdown of what he's done, and what a loser he is, and what a loser his wife is too!

Doing his best impersonation of Godzilla, the good Doctor takes crap from Lily one last time!

Let's just say the two women finally meet face to face on a train, there's a catfight, and in film noir terms, there is a happy ending for some of the characters, almost, kind of, depending on how you look at it!

SOME NEAT ALBUM COVERS FROM MOVIES & TV SHOWS (1956 - 1987)

The original concept of this blog was to be 'music from the monster movies,' so I think it's about time I showed you some of the record soundtrack album covers to go along with some of those movies! Welcome to The Dungeon! Up first from 1956, is the wild electronic soundtrack by Louis and Bebe Barron for one of the best movies of all time, "Forbidden Planet." As cool and ahead of it's time as this music was, it's still hard for me to imagine anybody taking this record home and listening to it over and over. It was perfect for the movie, but it's just not that kind of music!

I was going to strictly do records from movies we've written about here, but I'm making the exception for these two "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" records, just because it's Mickey Spillane we're talking about here, not some ordinary chump!!

 "The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad" from 1958 had a magnificent score by Bernard Herrmann!

"I Married A Monster From Outer Space" came out in 1958, but this 'soundtrack' CD wasn't released until 2012. I still included it here since it's one of our favourite movies!

This LP was a 1964 release of music from the TV series "Burke's Law." The double entendre here is that the composer's name was Herschel Burke Gilbert. Tricky, right?

Piero Umiliani was a gifted composer we have featured here many times, and I'm sure this 1965 album for the movie "Operazione Poker" is a swingin' affair! Five aces in the deck, you gotta love it!

"The Satan Bug" came out in 1965, but this hard to find CD by Jerry Goldsmith wasn't released until 2007.

This fantastic record of music by Peter Thomas for the German Space Patrol, "Raumpatrouille" was released in 1966. I'm pretty sure that autographed CD's can still be purchased from BSC Music for a very reasonable price.

This seven inch 45 from 1966 by Nelson Riddle featured the "Batman Theme" written by Neal Hefti from the "Batman" TV series, and the flip side was another composer play on words, called "Nelson's Riddler!"

In 1967 "Bedazzled" came out, and this soundtrack LP came out the following year. Most of the music for the movie was composed by Dudley Moore himself. What a talented guy he was!

This is the cover for a 2016 vinyl LP they released of the 1967 film "Mad Monster Party" featuring music composed by Maury Lewis and Jules Bass, with some spoken word from Boris Karloff, and the title song sung by Ethel Ennis as can be heard right here!

This 1968 soundtrack from "Danger: Diabolik" is composed by Maestro Ennio Morricone and features the awesome song "Deep Down."

The prolific Bruno Nicolai is another Italian composer we've featured on these pages a number of times! This 1972 LP featured the music from the film "All The Colors Of The Dark!"

This CD for the 1973 film "The Satanic Rites Of Dracula" composed by John Cacavas, came back from the dead in 2011.

Sun Ra and his amazing Intergalactic Solar Arkestra came out with this movie and record called "Space Is The Place" in 1974, and is a must-see for any true fan of music!

"Suspiria" from 1977 is a Dario Argento movie we haven't got around to yet, but I wanted to include this cover just because I like the "Creepers" band called Goblin!

"The Monster Club" came out in 1981, with this very fun and listenable soundtrack featuring B.A. Robertson, The Viewers, Night, UB-40, Expressos. The Pretty Things, John Williams with the Douglas Gamely Orchestra, John Georgiadis, and Alan Hawkshaw!

Last but not least comes "Evil Dead II" from 1987, and music from Joseph Lo Duca!

Pretty Crazy, huh?