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

THE DEADLY MANTIS - Gertz/Lava - "Miss Blaine Dance" (1957)

In this swinging little number by Irving Gertz & William Lava, from the classic 1957 feature, "The Deadly Mantis," it had got so bad for the poor guys, that they had been forced to jitterbug with each other, since there were no females in the vincinity! 

 

SOUNDCLIP NO LONGER AVAILABLE

 Paul Smith Was in almost every TV show from the 60's you could think of! 

 The very fascinating former Miss Georgia, Alix Talton, as Marge Blaine shows up, & relieves some of the built-up pressure these guys were suffering from! Great song, wish it was longer!!

FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE (1956) -- THE MAZE (1953)

Initially this was going to be a comparison of two of the most ridiculous dance numbers ever filmed in monster movies, then after looking at the stills, I started thinking that as bad as the music was, the dance sequences looked great together, so like any up and coming Jerry Warren or K. Gordon Murray, I decided they should be just one piece. If you look real hard, you will notice every other picture is from either "The Maze" or "Fire Maidens From Outer Space," including the monsters & the screams! 

 

If they had just used some rock or swing music in these dance bits, these films would have been a lot more interesting & popular today!!! 

 

The music from the Cannes club scene in "The Maze" is bad enough, but it's 10 times better than the drivel they used in "Fire Maidens Of Outer Space," so instead of the dance music, here's the sound/music from the guys in the spaceship! Space Sounds

 And let's don't forget that in "Fire Maidens Of Outer Space," this dude was using an adding machine to calculate their trajectory, this might be part of the problem....13

THE EYE CREATURES - Ron Stein - "Recycled Rock" (1965)

Larry Buchanan was the ultimate recycler. He recycled the "Invasion Of The Saucermen" storyline into "The Eye Creatures." He recycled the monsters for this film, and here's an example of how he recycled some of the music in this movie. You gotta figger, back in the day, no videos or DVD's, you could easily reuse something from seven years earlier and no one would notice. Maybe some of it was regurgitated instead of recycled, but that's what Larry's job was, he was real good at it, and the bottom line was, he got away with it!!! 

 

Eye Creature Style Just for comparison, here's the version from the 1958 classic "Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman" that we put up back in July we when we first started this thing.

 

50 Foot Style

GAMERA TAI DAIAKUJU GIRON (Gamera Vs. Guiron) - Shunsuke Kikuchi - "Opening Credits" (1969)

Whew! What a day, but even after a crazy day like this, there is always time and space for some more Gamera! This time in the guise of "Attack All Monsters" or "Gamera Vs. Guillon" or even "Gamera vs. Guiron" or whatever you want to call it. This composer, Shunsuke Kikuchi, who we also know about from his work on "Goke","Dragon Ball Z", "Kamen Rider" and a string of other Gamera films, is an inspired composer whose works are far ranging and complex. There's so many titles, we have to track some down ourselves just to see what musical wonder they might contain, and you should probably do the same thing too! Here's a taste of his talent with some interesting narration!

 Gamera Vs. Guiron

 

SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS - Milton Delugg & Roy Alfred - "Hooray For Santa Claus" (1964)

Composer Milton Delugg went on to have a very distinguished career working on some of our favorite TV game shows, "The Jan Murray Show, aka Charge Account", "What's My Line?", & the all-time classic Chuck Barris production, "The Gong Show" among a slew of other things, and was still composing music for films in 2007 !! Thanks Milt!! There's really nothing else new or unique to say about "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians," except, here it is!! We would like to take a moment & say Merry M-Mas & Happy Holidays to all of you out there that have been visiting this blog & a special hearty thanx to all the kind folks, like our blog mentor Reverend Tom Frost (where are you Tom?), Buzz, Flinty, Elisabeth, Audrey, Ralph, Kate, Greg, Annie, Paul, Dennis, Max, Intoxicating, Ann O-Dyne, and anonymous, who have been kind enough to take the time to leave a comment or two. Cheers! 

 

Uh, Oh, Looks like time is running out!!! 

 

Who cares? Ha, Ha, Ha, Ho, Ho, Ho! Just sing along! 

 

Hooray For Santy Claus!!!