RAUMPATROUILLIE - DIE PHANTASTISCHEN ABENTEUR DES RAUMSCHIFFES ORION - Peter Thomas - "Space Patrol" (1966)

"Raumpatrouille - Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion!" The name alone commands your attention, but you gotta admit "Space Patrol" rolls off the tongue a whole lot easier!!

I hit the end of the road while searching for a copy of this series, and there are just enough snippets on Youtube to entice any diehard Sci-Fi fan into taking a European vacation, just so they can see it, because it's readily available in Germany, but you're not going to find it in the U.S except on a way overpriced VHS tape, and that's if you're lucky! It's quite the damn shame! Wirklich!!

What got me going was this trailer brought to you by IMDB and Moviemaze auf Deutschland, and you can see it right here: Raumpatrouille, and only wonder for yourself why it's not available in the states! I thought about buying a DVD player that plays Region 2 DVDs, and found out that they are not as expensive as you would think, but it seems like an extreme length to have to go, to watch a freakin' TV show, but then again, the music IS by Peter Thomas, it just might be worth it!

In this vision of the future, the human civilization had to move "Under the sea, Under the sea, Darling it's better, Down where it's wetter, Take it from me!"

So after you hear the short intro, the music kicks in for this scene where these people are dancing, and this is the main reason, I wanted to see this series! Suddenly, it does seem like the future, cause I sure as Hell don't see anyone dancing like this around here!

It's kinda like an open session of the Hokey Pokey crossed with the Tango, and anybody can just join in! Number 37, come on over !!!

D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y got some Funky Chicken thrown in the mix!!

Not even them kissin' cousin line dancers from West Virginia can hold a candle to these future people. I wish I had some better pictures for you, but at least you get the idea, go check it out on Youtube, until something better comes along!!

WANTED: BABYSITTER / France - Italy - W. Germany / 1975

Hello everbloody, welcome to last post of January, 2010... Loaded in today' breech is weird little convoluted Euro flick from 1975, 'La Baby Sitter.' Other alternate title are L. A. BABYSITTER, 'Das Ganz Große Ding,' THE RAW EDGE and SCAR TISSUE!

Rather than try to explain story as Tabonga go along, Tabonga gonna explain story now!.. Here go... Ahem... Okay... Long time ago... Wait, no... Start over... Group of loser actor with financial problem decide to kidnap boy of wealthy film producer and hold for ransom, so, they need babysitter to take care of him, so, they run ad, get it?.. Oh, yeah, some people get hurt and plan fall apart at end! Actually, the lawyer steal the money!!.. Director René Clément shock everbloody when he abruptly leave film forever, after making this one. Flick also have interesting, eclectic cast of actors.

Nice soundclip here, music by Francis Lai... Francis have 112 composing credit with flick like THE BOBO, HOUSE OF CARDS, HELLO GOODBYE, LOVE STORY, CAT AND MOUSE, STRIPTEASE and ASTROLAB 22.

On wif' da' show!.. Here, now, ready to push big red 'GO' button wonst again is Tabonga' lil' pet Tarantula, Ralphie!.. And... HE DID IT!!.. WANTED: BABYSITTER, DEAD OR ALIVE!

Not until Tabonga was doing stills a few hours ago did Tabonga realize that, this gurl here, who has hot nude scene at very beginning, is so freakin' beautiful!! Unless you already know, this is Miss Sydne Rome from Akron, Ohio. Then, Tabonga find out she born on Tabonga' birthday three year later on March 17, 1951!! OH, HELL YEAH!! She still working today in Italy!!

Ann is part of local high-falutin' acting group, who all recently living outside their means...

Ann also have angst from too much prior party fun! Camp time for Robert (TEENAGE CAVEMAN) Vaughn!

Here is Nadja Tiller being sneaky!

Here is kid riding scooter in house! Hmmm... Scooter, thing that go 'scoot' ~

Here is Maria (The Baby Sitter) Schneider eyeballing her bro' sculpture in museum.

Here is 'nother nice shot of Miss Sydne! She make Tabonga' bark curl!

Here is Sydne forcing kid to drink knock-out drop, to make kiddnapping go easier...

Tabonga just like these two pic! Both show Maria Schneider, bottom one with flooded hallway of old abandoned house she forced to babysit kid at.

Sigh!.. Yawn!.. Okay, Tabonga ready to hit the ol' sack!!

Nadja taking off her ski-mask disguise...

Maria and kid try to give neighbor a note via dog carrier.

But, Vic Morrow, ex-stuntman, see what happen and have to deep-six old neighbor lady!

Vic creep around wearing weirdest mask ever!

It kinda complicated, but, kid make it back to pops!!

Sydne not make it to end of flick, but, still look damn good!!

Sour grapes for Vic, so, he let Maria go back to her dreary life and he disappear into the woodwork!

UM NULL UHR SCHNAPPT DIE FALLE ZU - Peter Thomas - "Jerry Cotton's Day Out" (1966)

There's a lot of fishy stuff going on here! A German film made in New York, and as far as I can tell, "Um Null Uhr Schnappt Die Falle Zu" was never released in America, so I do believe it was originally shot in English and dubbed into German, and if all that isn't basackwards enough, 87% looks like it was shot with Green Screen mixed in with a bunch of stock footage!! It is truly a marvel to behold, and the music by Dungeon superhero Peter Thomas is amazing, constant, and changes from scene to scene! Cheesy, Sleazy, Fat, and Greasy!! J, E, R, R, Y, C, O, T, T, O, N! Yeah!!!

No hesitation here, this film starts off with a Bang, and I'm not talking about Joy!!

I couldn't find on the credits who was responsible for spell checking!! I imagine that's one thing they'll pay more attention to when they bring Jerry Cotton back to the big screen later this year, and hopefully, they'll come up with a better title than "The Trap Snaps Shut At Midnight!"

Here he is, the man of the hour, George Nader as agent Jerry Cotton! George had a pretty amazing career! Signed and screwed by Universal, because they already had enough good looking guys, George was often given secondary roles, and spent a lot of time living in his best friend and lover, Rock Hudson's shadow! He started off in cowboy movies, starred in "Robot Monster," did a shitload of TV shows including a 25 episode run as "Ellery Queen" in '58 and '59, followed by 36 episodes of an ongoing role as Dr. Glen Bartok in "The Man and The Challenge," followed by yet another 36 episodes as Joe Shannon on a TV show called "Shannon," before landing this Jerry Cotton gig.

This is kingpin Larry Link portrayed by prolific German actor Horst Frank! Larry likes to lounge around in this wet room with his cigs, drink, and remote-controlled boat, get massages, and yell at his gang! It's really cool the way he chooses to talk to some person through one of his men, even though the subject he's talking to, is only a few feet away!

This is The Larry Link Gang, composed of Ricky Cooper as Pal, Allen Pinson as Harry, and Alexander Allerson as Husky! Allen Pinson also had a great career as a stunt man before passing away in Visalia, Ca. almost exactly 4 years ago!

It looks like they spent a goodly amount of the budget on Jerry's Jag!! Probably had a rental agreement that forbade the use of the vehicle on any actual roads!

Heinz Weiss had the ongoing role as Jerry's fairly useless partner, Phil Decker through thick and thin!!

It was a gentleman named Lawrence W. Butler came up with the concept of chroma key back in 1940 for the motion picture "The Thief Of Bagdad" starring Sabu, and ended up winning an academy award for "Best Special Effects!"

Lawrence went on to do everything from "The Giant Claw" to "Robinson Crusoe On Mars!" Green Screen aka Blue Screen has been used to create remarkable effects over the years, and these days, any 13 year old kid can do it at home, and tonight's feature is an incredible example of what you can actually get away with, using the process!!!

This whole Jerry as window washer scene is a freakin' gas, and Larry's hoods are starting to get a little uptight!!!

"I said, Beat it!!!"

All I can tell you about the Jack Palance with a bleach blonde wig lookalike Ricky Cooper, is that he was in a total of 5 flicks, and besides playing Pal(They say it Paul), he was Jeff, Ben, L'Américain, and Charlie! Monika Grimm as Ruth Warren makes this two shot complete, especially with that 'Garlic UFO' shaped lamp in the background!

Monika Grimm also had a short stint in the German girl group "The Sweetles," a Beatles tribute band that had a 1964 top forty hit in Germany, with the single "I Want A Beatle For My Birthday."

The lovely Dominique Wilms as Maureen, sells Larry her plan as he is attended to, by one of the guys!!

I just can't resist a good pinball shot, and can you believe that score?!?

Do you really believe there's a windshield in this car???

Larry's gang catches up with Jerry, and Boy, is he in trouble now??

But they still need Jerry alive, so they just tie him up instead of shooting him, and he manages to excape by burning through the ropes binding his hands with a cast off cigarette butt!

Amazing stunts are possible when you know how to use chroma key combined with rear screen projection to your advantage like these folks!!

My buddy in Berlin, Lord Litter, hipped me to the whole Jerry Cotton phenomena, but it was a bummer, because I could not find anything that wasn't region 2 until recently finding out that Sinister Cinema had released 3 or 4 titles that are quite decently priced. I'm going to get a couple more, and you might want to consider it yourself! Time's running out!!!