LURED - "Killer Bait" (1947)

 

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is a fun and very interesting film from 1947 that features Lucille Ball in a non-comedic film noir, with an all-star cast!

 

"Lured" was directed by Douglas (Written On The Wind) Sirk, and that in itself should be enough to make you want to see it, and I seriously doubt you will be disappointed when you do!

Lucy is an American named Sandra Carpenter who has come to London searching for a better life. She works as a hostess in a dance club full of lonely men willing to pay anything just to dance with a woman.

She doesn't really like her job, but then, who does? One of her fellow dancers has just become a victim of a weird serial killer who meets his victims through the personal columns, and then sends the police cryptic Baudelaire styled poems before each murder happens, just to mess with them!

 

So Sandra is enlisted as bait to try and flush out the killer. She is to be watched all the time by members of the force to guarantee her safety.

Sandra has to meet all kinds of strange men under strange circumstances in strange locations.

One of her first encounters is with a very odd old dude named Charles van Druten as played by Boris Karloff. I've seen a lot of films with Boris Karloff in them, and I'll tell you one thing........

............I think this is one of the most bizarre roles Boris has ever had!

Charles is a fashion designer, and this is an outfit from one of his finest hours!

He has a mini-theater set up in his flat with a dog and a mannequin as his audience.

Sandra decides that Charles is off his nut a little, but is not a serial killer by any means!

The mood changes quickly, and it appears that Charles night be a little more than just eccentric!

Sandra is saved by a stranger who has a big tussle with Charles who then falls down some stairs and we never see or hear from him again!

Sandra is then shuffled off into a car with another weirdo in it!

The weirdo turns out to be George Zucco as Police Officer H.R. Barrett, who was also the one who saved her from Charles. It was really refreshing to see George Zucco in the role of a quasi-comedic crossword-puzzle-junkie police officer instead of some dour and menacing villain!

After that, every one of the gentlemen that Sandra meets has the potential to be the killer, and if they are not that guy, they are usually into something equally against the law, or just losers in general.

Alan (Terror By Night) Mowbray is the creepy butler Lyle Maxwell who is up to his elbows in graft, but he's not a serial killer!

Sandra is sent a note and a ticket to a concert by an admirer called Music Lover, and in a pretty funny scene she waits for the seat next to her to fill up. When this guy sits down she slyly tries to find out if he's the guy, but it turns out he's in the wrong seat!

 

I should be showing you shots of some of the other great actors in this film like Charles (Around The World In 80 Days) Coburn as Inspector Harley Temple, and the star of the film, George (Village Of The Damned) Sanders as Robert Fleming, and Sir Cedric (Uncle Simon, The Forms Of Things Unknown) Hardwicke as Julian Wilde, but there's not room for everything, and I just really like this shot of Lucy and George better! It's such an odd pairing!

Joseph (Touch Of Evil) Calleia as Dr. Nicholas Moryani is an extremely likely suspect, but despite all the nefarious activities he's into, he's not a serial killer! Joseph was in two very cool gorilla movies, "The Monster And The Girl," and "The Gorilla."

It's very mysterious that Lucy was 5' 7½" but Sandra's I.D. card shows that she was only five foot six.

Sandra is just about to get married to Peter Fleming when she finds this photo of her dead friend who had been abducted in the drawer of her future husband's desk, so they finally have a suspect. Too bad he's not the serial killer either! Tanis (Spook Busters) Chandler had the role of Lucy Barnard.

In the end, the serial killer makes a move on Sandra Carpenter, but Police Officer Barrett is there too, and the case is finally solved, the murderer is revealed, and Lucille Ball gets to go on to entertain us for years in "I Love Lucy!"

THE ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER- "Evil... Beautiful... Deadly" (1957)

This Saturday Night Special is a Sci-Fi classic called "The Astounding She-Monster," and I can't believe we didn't already do it years ago, but I guess not. How ridiculous, the poster is even part of our header collage!

"The Astounding She-Monster" came out in 1957, and is not nearly as bad as people say it is, and a lot more watchable than at least 50% of the crap made today! It had an estimated budget of $18,000, or the equivalent cost of lunch for the crew of a film today.

The cast consists of six actors, period, and stars Dungeon hero Robert Clarke!

Pin-up model Shirley Kilpatrick had the role of the She-Monster. Shirley died in 1971 at the age of 35, but I cannot find out why or how, but what you can find are lots of cheesy photos of her with a quick search of her name!

Here's what's happening. This trio kidnapped a rich heiress with plans on making a lot of ransom money and are heading for higher ground.

 From left to right we have perennial heavy Kenne Duncan as Nat Burdell, who had 273 credits including Dr. Acula in Ed Wood's "Night Of The Ghouls." Nat was also a good drinkin' buddy of Ed's and made him executor of his estate!

 Next to him is Marilyn Harvey as the gagged kidnap victim Margaret Chaffee. The next woman is Jeanne Tatum as the drunkard girlfriend of Nat, Esther Malone, and driving is Ewing Miles Brown as the other thug, Brad Conley. Ewing's nickname was Lucky, and he lived to be 97, so I guess he was compared to most of the rest of the cast.

Driving along, Brad suddenly sees what he thinks is an apparition, and crashes the car.

The cops are after them, and they need to lay low, so they get out and start walking.

Robert Clarke as geologist Dick Cutler and his dog Egan saw a bright light come down from the sky, and headed back to their cabin in the woods..............

..............When Nat and the gang show up, and start making trouble!

Esther is very thirsty and kills a fifth of whiskey almost all by herself.

Tough guy Nat likes to slap dames around, and it's starting to piss Dick Cutler off!

Brad sees the strange woman at the window, and decides to pursue her, and after emptying his pistol into her without any results, she approaches him, and her mere touch is enough to kill him.

When Brad doesn't come back, Nat goes out looking for him, but finds the space woman instead, and fires way more bullets than his pistol could ever possible hold.

Meanwhile Esther is left alone to keep her eye on Dick and Margaret. She has a bit of a problem staying focused!

Nat finds Brad's dead body and drags it back to the cabin. Dick explains that it looks like her hand print is charged with radium, and tells Nat that he needs to go see a doctor immediately since he came in contact with Brad when he brought the body back.

"The She-Monster" breaks in through the window of the cabin, and all Hell breaks loose!

They decide to douse her with gasoline and light her up like Dr. Danger, but that doesn't work either!

She chases Nat to the edge of a cliff, and he is able to sidestep her, and she plunges to her death, so he thinks, but she just shakes it off, and gets back up!

Probably the weakest part of the film is the poor use of day for night towards the end! I mean seriously, does this look like night to you?

 

Everybody except for Dick and Margaret get knocked off, including "The She-Monster," and the only thing left is her medallion!

 

Inside it, they find a letter that says that "The She-Monster" wasn't a monster at all, but more of an emissary sent to get Earth to join up with the rest of the civilized Universe. It was all just a big case of misunderstanding and miscommunication!

Because of a lot of similarities, "The Astounding She-Monster," and "Beast From Haunted Cave" would make a riveting double feature for any fan of 50's Sci-Fi, and I'm sure you would agree!

NOWHERE TO GO - "Except Onto A Woman's Couch" (1958)

 

Tonight's Weird Wednesday presentation is a great British film from 1958 entitled "Nowhere To Go." This film is weirder than Hell, has some amazing cast members, and the camera work is well thought out for each and every shot!

"Nowhere To Go" is about a con man played by George Nader who escapes from prison, tries to pull of a big heist, fails, and consequently has "Nowhere To Go!"

As you can see, "Nowhere To Go" is a very stylish and atmospheric film.

 

Dungeon Super Hero George Nader is Paul Gregory. He's a predator!

George Nader's list of credits is about as amazing as anyone's in the outright strange but awesome category, and you can check it out for yourself by following this link!

Just a couple of prime examples are "House Of A 1000 Dolls," "The Million Eyes Of Sumuru," "The Human Duplicators," "Robot Monster," and all the Jerry Cotton movies.

 

So much is so strange about this film, from the camera angles to the really odd cuts, it will really keep you wondering!

Even people just walking down the street are interesting!

This was Director Seth Holt's first film!

In 1971 Seth Holt passed away at the age of 47 before his last film, "Blood Of The Mummy's Tomb," was completed!

In one of her earliest roles, Dame Maggie Smith has the role of Paul Gregory's potential significant other, Bridget Howard.

Magnificent Maggie is well known these days for her ongoing role as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter series of films, and she's still working today!

 George Nader is another actor I absolutely cannot believe doesn't have a star on the stupid Hollywood Walk Of Fame. My word, they should be ashamed! I could give a list of at least 100 people less deserving, that do have a star.

Paul Gregory is up to his ears in trouble, and it's getting to the point where he has zero allies!

All that, and we haven't even got to the real reason I wanted to watch this movie yet!

So how do you like the entertainment in this club? It was hard to get a good shot, but the main act is a blackbird balanced on a soccer ball rolling it around in a little ring.

And her she is, everybody's favourite vampiress, Andree Melly, as Rosa the cocktail waitress who brings Paul home to her flat for the night! As quirky as ever, Rosa doesn't like the bird. 

Around these parts, Andree's most memorable role is that of Gina in "The Brides Of Dracula."

Rosa has a cat that makes it difficult for Paul to get any rest.

When the law is on your tail, it's always best to head to the rooftops!

Believe it or not, Snoop Dog, Snoopy, and Snow White have stars on the HWoF, but not Maggie Smith. I really think it's time to rethink that whole project!

For being a con man, Paul Gregory respects the women who help him out, and even sleeps on the couch in Bridget Howard's home. Bridget has one of the most interesting doors to her bedroom I have ever seen.

Not riding off into the sunset, "Nowhere To Go" is not one of those kinds of films!

There's no happy ending here.

Last, but absolutely not least, "Nowhere To Go" has got a killer jazzy soundtrack by Jamaican-born  trumpeter Dizzy Reece, with help from tenor sax player Tubby Hayes. I wasn't really that familiar with these players, so when I first read the name Dizzy Reece, it really confounded me, and I just figured out why. When I was a kid, I used to watch a lot of baseball on TV, and one the most famous pair of announcers at the time were ex-players Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese. Yeah, I know Reese is spelled differently, but that's still pretty weird!

Here's a damn fine reason this film is so good!

The Dizzy Reece Quartet - "Nowhere To Go"