ON THE THRESHOLD OF SPACE - "No Monsters!" (1956)

Welcome to part II of my version of this week's spontaneous and combustible tribute to Guy Madison down in The Dungeon!! I love how busy the sky in this poster is, especially around Virginia's head, and also how they managed to get each and every one of the main features of the movie all in one poster! Phenomenally amazing!!

"On The Threshold Of Space" was made in 1956, the same year "Forbidden Planet" was released,  and the key word here is "Threshold," because as fascinating as the topic of space is, not quite getting there can actually be quite boring!

"On The Threshold Of Space" comes across as combination drama, documentary, and military training film, and is so unexciting that Dan C. Ogle's monotone monologue is even causing  him to go to sleep, but that doesn't mean it's a bad movie, because scientifically, it's historically quite interesting, but entertainment wise, it's just not!

Guy Madison is Captain Jim Hollenbeck, a Doctor of Space Medicine! It's going to be his job to figure out why stuff goes wrong at higher altitudes! It's going to be a trial and error process, and the guinea pig is going to be him!

In a storyline that's slower than a soap opera, Virginia (The Brain That Wouldn't Die) Leith is Captain Hollenback's main squeeze, an engaging, intelligent and very understanding woman!!

This would have been a good place to inject some cool surf music, but that ain't gonna happen since surf music wouldn't really exist until at least five years later!

Despite everything, balloons will never be as cool as rockets, and if you don't believe me, stage a backyard barbeque debate between a clown and an astronaut, and I think you just might change your mind!

Do you see that, he's so far up there we can't even see him anymore!

The viewer is given the treat of seeing Guy Madison in his cool space suit in a number of scenes!

Back on the ground, this high-tech table has to take responsibility for whether Captain Hollenbeck lives or dies!

When you're having major technical glitches, I don't think it's the best idea to have the Captain's  girlfriend around so she can worry her ass off!

Although it's not even from the same movie, this shot reminds me of the cover of the first issue of Spaceman magazine back in 1961!

You might not know it, but balloons don't exactly touch down with the grace of some magnificent bird! The Captain gets banged around a little, but he'll be back for another round!

This is REAL, not Science Fiction, and that's why it makes such a terrific sleeping pill! The miracle of modern science is a beautiful thing!

I absolutely love this poster, but sometimes a poster for a movie is just not enough! "On The Threshold Of Space" is an interesting historical document, but it's missing one thing that would have given it bona fide cult status for all eternity, a monster or two!!

CUBAN REBEL GIRLS / Exploit Films - 1959

It's &$#!*@ Up Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Blogger lost it's freaking mind this morning and it pushed my (don't push that!) button and I got real mad and did a quick, mean spirited post, so, I'm redoing some of it. Errol Flynn plays himself as The American War Correspondent, in Cuba to help Fidel Castro overthrow dictator Batista, and, the movie was authorized by Castro himself!! Also, this was Bakersfield's own Barry (THE DEAD ONE) Mahon's first full length movie he directed and produced!

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip from this movie for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the atomic guerilla suit, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's a taste of... CUBAN REBEL GIRLS!

If I tried to fix a photo, it only made it worse, so, pics are what they are...

Here's Errol, landing in Cuba in his own plane. Check it out, Blogger tinted this one sepia a bit after I had desaturated all of my photos!

These are two American gals who are on their way to become Cuban Rebel Girls!

Love that wall, the girls meet with their contact in Cuba.

This is how you keep Batista's soldiers off the rebels' trail!

This was the very best part of the flick, naked bathing Rebel Girls!

The rebels like to sing their song as they march along here and there.

There are plenty of gun fights, enough to make Wayne Lapierre's loins quiver in ecstacy!

Here's a blonde Rebel Girl running through a vintage power plant trying to get away.

There's actual footage used from the real war too.

Here's a wounded Errol Flynn getting some medical attention from a Rebel Girl Nurse.

Look at all the people that loved Castro back then!!!.. Wha' hoppened?!

The last photo of Errol shows that Blogger turned my photo sepia! Sadly, this was Errol's last movie, he died the same year...

Tune in tomorrow when Eegah!! posts a movie I saw back in 1956 with a girl friend of mine after school got out!

DEVILMAN STORY - Patrick Leguy - "The Devil's Man" (1967)

Welcome to Wapenshaw Wednesday down in The Dungeon! And how is tonight's feature going to evaluate your readiness for combat you ask? It's quite simple really, if you get it, you're ready, if you don't, you're not!

This movie was made in 1967, and the original title was "Devilman Story" but it was also released as "The Devil's Man!"  That's an important fact to know! On second thought, no it isn't!

This the hard working team of The Professor and his daughter, Christine Baker! The Professor is a brain surgeon!  Christine is played by Luisa Baratto of "Bloody Pit Of Horror," and "Superargo And The Faceless Giants" fame! Next thing you know is, the Professor has disappeared!

Christine goes out looking for her Dad, and I'm seriously not kidding, finds Santa Claus instead!  That's what kind of movie this is!

Manly man and one of the Lords of The Dungeon, Guy Madison shows up as journalist Mike Harway to help Christine track down her Dad! I forgot to tell you that Gail Russell who I just wrote about in "The Uninvited" was married to Guy Madison for five years. That must have been a real interesting couple!

Great stairwell shot! Besides this stairwell, the music in "Devilman Story" is also pretty cool and was written by some guy named Patrick Leguy in his only film credit! Here's just a taste to tantalize your tastebuds!

Christine finds this dead guy, and figures out that her Dad has been taken to Africa! Now it's up to Mike Harway to find him! Why it's his responsibility is hard to say! The editing, if you want to call it that, is so choppy, sometimes it's easy to lose track of what's going on!

Guy Madison's horseback riding skills work to his advantage in the Italian job market!

I'm showing you this still just so you can see now sneaky Mike is!

Mike takes out the guard, and puts on his duds! I don't think I've ever seen Guy Madison look more uncomfortable, and yet, somehow, someway, he finds a way to blend in!

Out in the middle of the stinking desert, Devilman has his secret laboratory going day and night to find a way to swap his brain out for a better one!!

These are the eyes of one of Devil Man's zombies!

This is just one of Devilman's uncanny instruments of destruction and torture!

Here are a couple examples of scientific procedure gone wrong!!!!

The Professor is totally under Devilman's mind control now, and is about to operate on his own daughter as if she were some kind of lab rat!

This is the artificial brain that Devilman thinks will make him the most superior person in the room!!

One last shot of he who calls himself Devilman before he goes to his final resting place in Hell!

Everything goes kablooey, Baba Looey, and one less Devilman the world has to deal with thanks to Guy Madison!

After Devilman's death, the Professor snaps out of it, Mike saves Christine from the brain transplant, and everything is peaches and cream once again back in the neighborhood!

~ 13 OF TABONGA'S FAVORITE SIXTIES MONSTER FLICKS ~

It's another Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We have a special request from our pal, Paul, all the way from Sydney, Australia, for 13 of Tabonga's favorite Sixties Monster Movies. So, here we go, Eegah!! and I saw a number of these in the theater when they came out, way back when, movies are listed in alphabetical order.

13 GHOSTS - 1960 / Eegah!! and I loved William Castle's 13 GHOSTS, especially Ghost #13! We still had our 3-D glasses from the show until a few years ago when we sold them on Ebay, also had the Punishment Poll cards from MR. SARDONICUS.

ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE - 1963 / After seeing this freaky little Toho flick on TV in the mid-sixties, it became a real favorite of mine, what a roller coaster of a horror show!

THE BRAINIAC - 1962 / I have a real fetish for Sixties Mexican Monsters, there's nothing like them! Yeah, they're schlocky, but, that's what makes them so damn cool! I dig his suckered, two-fingered hands and that crazy, 18" forked tongue!

THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE - 1962 / At the time, this flick was on the 25 worst movie list in our original DWRAYGER DUNGEON Magazine from 1964, I even wrote a letter to the editor of FAMOUS MONSTERS panning it that they published in issue #22!.. Love it, now!!

THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS - 1963 / We saw this one in 1963, I think we had both read the paperback novel before the movie came out, we were really into horror and science-fiction! Back then, my favorite book was SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury.

FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH - 1967 / The original English title is QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, where, Martian insects were buried in their spaceship and dug up during the construction of a tunnel. This movie and QUATERMASS 2 aka ENEMY FROM SPACE were both first done as a four hour mini series on British TV, and, proudly have those on DVD, too!

THE FLESH EATERS - 1964 / Wow, what a freak show, this movie is whack in so many ways!! Look at all that happens before you even get to see the freakin' weirdsville, tentacled, cyclops monster at the end! I also have clips of the censored Nazi nude swimming pool experiments, which are extra creepy, plus, the beautiful Barbara (INVASION OF THE ANIMAL PEOPLE) Wilson has a topless scene at the beginning!

THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH - 1964 / Then, there's this thing, schlock horror at it's very best! Music was by the non-existant band, The Del-Aires, and, check out that publicity photo, looks like it was shot before the completion of the actual monster suits!

THE HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND - 1962 / This was a lost movie for years and the best print is lousy, but, those sexy Euro chicks and freak spider make it one wild 'n' weird flick to love!

ISLAND OF TERROR - 1966 / I saw this one when it came out, a real terrorific flick! My mom and younger sister saw it together and it freaked them out but good!! Directed by Terrence (ISLAND OF THE BURNING DAMNED) Fisher.

THE MASK - 1961 / Eegah!! and I also saw this one at the theater, a real shocker! It was unique with its dream sequences and was in 3-D with free glasses! The Mask itself was just creepy to look at!

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD - 1968 / It's hard to forget this one the first time you saw it!! The one part that really got me was when the little girl turned on her mom, jeez!!!

THE TIME MACHINE - 1960 / Another great flick Eegah!! and I got to see at the time, Rod Taylor was perfect as time traveler, H. George Wells. Those Morlocks were simply, teriffic!

Next Monday I will be posting ~ 13 MORE OF TABONGA'S FAVORITE FIFTIES MONSTER FLICKS ~ then ~ 13 MORE OF TABONGA'S FAVORITE SIXTIES MONSTER FLICKS ~ the following Monday, tune in for those!!