THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD - Dimitri Tiomkin - "Playing Cards Jive" (1951)

Four time Oscar winning child prodigy Dimitri Tiomkin is one of the best known and beloved composers in Hollywood history. If composing the music for "It's A Wonderful Life" wasn't enough by itself, Dimitri did everything from three films with Alfred Hitchcock, to "Mad Love" in 1935, "The Dude Goes West" and "Tarzan And The Mermaids" in 1948, this film "The Thing" in 1951, classic westerns "The Alamo" and "Rio Bravo" and the list just goes on and on! Although most of his scores are orchestrated, Dimitri was well versed in jazz and swing, and used it occasionally like in this scene to great effect. Coupled with some great dialogue, here's a killer scene from "The Thing", a classically brilliant film on multiple levels that should be mandatory viewing in classrooms around the world! Period! 

 

This shot is so amazing, it looks like an Edward Hopper painting!! 

 

The club is swingin' when journalist Scotty arrives! 

 

It's rumored that James Arness even scared himself in this film!! 

 

I believe it!

EVA, LA VENERE SELVAGGIA (Kong Island) - Roberto Pregadio - "Opening & Lab" (1968)

No, not two, but three stars presents: 

 

I really think Roberto Pregadio wins some sort of prize for composing music for movies with very bizarre titles. Maybe it has something to do with "getting lost in translation," but let me know, if you think I'm wrong. Besides this film which is also known as "King Of Kong Island,"(even though there are no big monkeys in it), you've got titles from the 60's like "Hole In The Forehead", "A Devil Under The Pillow", "Twisted Girls", the ominous look into the future of "Our Men In Bagdad," and the ever so cheerful, "A Place In Hell!" So here, while you're thinking about that, for your listening pleasure, the opening credits from..."Kong Island"!! 

 

And right after those oh so tropical sounds, we go directly into the lab, which was pretty much commonplace back in 1968, you know, two bedroom apartment, with kitchen, dining room, one bath and laboratory! I think it was about right about 1963 when everybody starting getting rid of their fallout shelters & getting laboratories to prepare for the future! 

 

Then, we are transported off into the jungle, with some great Lounge-Jeep-Mai-Tai-Safari music. No monkeys yet, but lots of bad dialogue! 

 

Cruisin' In The Jeep with Diana and the guys!!

MY WORLD DIES SCREAMING (Terror In The Haunted House) - Darrell Calker - "Psycho-Rama" (1957)

I used to own the poster from "Terror In The Haunted House," and I always thought it was a shame that the poster was much better than the movie. This was the first ever movie filmed in "Psycho-Rama" using ultra-scary subliminal pictures flashed on the screen randomly in an effort to drill into the viewer's mind and permanently destroy their spineless souls forever. It didn't work, but it was a decent effort!! A better movie would have helped a lot!! Boogie Woogie Calker, who you will remember from his work on "Voodoo Woman" once again comes up with a fairly odd, but almost completely orchestrated score. So, for all of you with nerves of steel, here's the opening credits from.....My World Dies Screaming in Psycho-Rama!!! Yeah!!! 

  I don't quite get what's scary about having a little furry animal in your mouth! Some kind of rodent, but it also looks like a little bear! 

 

It's okay, it's only a dream, nobody's trying to trick you!! 

 

And then comes our favorite part, Shiela Wayne is laying in bed freaking out in a cold sweat, and then she opens up her bedroom door & this guy goes flying across the room & over the banister. It's a crack-up, thank goodness for rewind because you'll want to watch this scene over and over! 

 

How would you like to have ole 'Demon Tongue' etched on your psyche for all eternity?? Ponder that one, why don't you!

THE MAN WITHOUT A BODY - Albert Elms - "Nostradamus" (1957)

Albert Elms was the esteemed composer and conductor for this 1957 film, "The Man Without A Body." Albert went onto bigger and better things, as music director on TV's "The Benny Hill Show" and cult favorite, "The Prisoner," on top of a wide assortment of crime and adventure movies and other television shows.

The man working continuity on this film was named "Splinters Deason," and anytime there's anybody named "Splinters" working on a project, you can count us in! Splinters was born in 1913 and left us in 2001. I'm sure he was a very cool guy!

Nostradamus sez "I have always lived in the future!", but do you think his vision was clear enough to know it was only going to be his head?

OMG, Nostradamus, Dude, No, you can't go out like that!!!

I do believe it's a fact that like every disembodied head movie from the 50's or 60's had cool music, and Albert Elms made sure this one was no exception!

THE CITY OF THE DEAD (Horror Hotel) - Douglas Gamley - "The Hour Of 13" (1960)

All Right, it might be 2008, but, oh, well, we're going to dive straight back into the past where we belong!! Australian born Douglas Gamley was a very talented and gifted composer, who stayed quite busy right into the 1980's. Besides composing the music for "Tom Thumb", "Tarazan's Greatest Adventure", and "The Ugly Duckling" in the 50's, and a bunch more interesting films in the 60's, he also was the composer for the soundtrack of Monty Python's "And Now For Something Completely Different" in 1971! From swing to extreme, his versatility stands out in this epic piece taken from different scenes in this 1960 wicked Christopher Lee flick! 

 

"You know I want to be with you!" 

 

You answer the door, I'll go put a record on! 

 No GPS, so getting directions can still be a major plot element.

  Aaahhh! This jazz is driving me crazy!!! 

 

This movie was the first release by Amicus when they were still known as Vulcan Productions! 

 

You can see this lady throw that sword for free over at the Internet Archive. What a talent!! 

 

"Wait For The Hour Of 13"

BLUE DEMON CONTRA LAS DIABOLICAS - El Klan - "Feliz Ano Nuevo" (1968)

On this eve of the new year we were looking for something fast, fun & festive, & this clip from "Blue Demon Conta Las Diabólicas" meets all the criteria. Just check out this band "El Klan" in their cool yellow suits, and what about that giant horn that cat's blowing! Wow! Kind of a cross between James Brown & The Famous Flames and Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, and it just screams Happy New Year!!! This movie is very difficult to find out much about, but what more do you need to know? Just enjoy it!! Sorry about the sound quality, but you have to take into consideration that this film was taped off of Mexican TV about 25 years ago in the LP mode, so it's not great, but better than nothing til something else comes along!! 

 

Happy New Year!

DER WURGER VON SCHLOSS BLACKMOOR (The Strangler Of Blackmoor Castle) - Oskar Sala - "Mixtur-Trautonium Music" (1963)

Here's yet another odd juxtaposition of styles. A grisly German killer thriller of a film with an electronic soundtrack that would have been very comfortable on "Forbidden Planet", but some how it all works! Why is that? It's because the man behind the music in "The Strangler Of Blackmoor Castle" was the very intelligent composer/physicist Oskar Sala, a man who was the master of the Trautonium, the first electronic instrument. The Trautonium was invented by Friendrich Trautwein in 1930 but taken to another level by Sala, and re-dubbed the Mixtur-Trautonium. Oskar Sala worked his magic on a number of movies besides this one, including Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." 

 

This movie is disturbing, but also quite funny, & the cool electronic sounds continue through the whole thing. Feel like something different? Put it on your list! Here's the fantastic music from the opening credits of The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle. 

 

Here's some amazing swingin' music from the two scenes at the "Old Scavenger Inn", and you will swear you hear a trumpet in there, and if you don't hear that, you will at least hear some very cool biting dialogue! 

 

Old Scavenger Inn

 Original Trautonium 

 

Mixtur-Trautonium

PSYCHO A GO-GO - Tacey Robbins - "My L.A." (1965)

This Al Adamson film is like the seven dwarfs of filth: Sleazy, Slimy, Gritty, Dirty, Grisly, Grimy, & Cheap, but, you know, somehow, you just gotta love it. Now, "Psycho A Go-Go" ain't exactly a 'Horror' film, but it's got some 'Psycho' characters that's for sure, and you would have been sadly disappointed if we had left it out. 

 

It's got another one of those quality 'brassy' soundtracks throughout the whole ordeal, and the kicker is, one of the main characters, Tacey Robbins as Linda Clarke is a singer, so the film fires right up with this first song, and trust me, after this, you have no idea what to expect!! 

 Once again Oscar winning Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond makes another el cheapo production into a work to behold, just like he did with some of our other favorites by Arch Hall & Ray Dennis Steckler. What a crazy rocket ride of a career! Thanx Vilmos!!!!! 

 

Too weirdsville for only one post, we'll touch on some of the other insanity in this film later. If this one song doesn't make you want to go out & buy or rent this movie, then you need to check your pulse! Psycho A-Go-Go