HANDS OF A STRANGER - Richard LaSalle - Red Norvo Quintette - "How's Your Mother" (1962)

What a great classic, and one of the few, that actually gave title credits to the individual members of the jazz band playing on one of the songs. The main soundtrack was composed by Richard LaSallee who among a minion of other projects, composed the music for the ever so obscure "The Day Mars Invaded Earth" and "Diary Of A Madman!" Yow!! 

 

"Hands Of A Stranger" has got a lot of good things going on for it, as if having the hands of a killer with a mind of their own grafted onto your body wasn't enough. My, how the recorded media that all you kids take for granted today has changed!! 

 

But then again, some things don't change, like sharin' a smoke, or sneakin' down the alley with Sally! Sweet! 

 

You've got this hot little scene with a 25 year old Sally Kellerman and a very lucky Michael Du Pont and a way killer tune by The Red Norvo Quintette called "How's Your Mother?" blowing in the background! As I said before, the Quintette was actually credited in the film, and included members Red Norvo, Jerry Dodgion, John Markham, Red Wooten and Jimmy Wyble. 

 

Okay, all you people that are scared of clowns might want to leave the room right about now, cause it's a "Psycho-Carny Freakout"

 More stinkin' clowns, this time in the guise of evil carnival games!! 

 

Very sweet diabolical carnival sounds, smells, and sights, the funhouse is merely the entrance into the madness and the house of wild delights!!

THE MASK - Louis Applebaum & Myron Schaeffer - "Put The Mask On Now" (1961)

For all our friends from "Like Dreamsville," here is another, and the final installment of "The Mask," a chilling 3D psycho-delic nightmare from the North!! We've written about it before, you can find it in the archive, but I will tell you this........ 

 

PUT THE MASK ON NOW!

 PUT THE MASK ON NOW!!

 Trust me on this one, this film would have scared the frozen snot out of you back in 1961, and it's still eerie as hell to this day! I get the heebie-jeebies just writing about it!! The combined musical composition skills of Louis Applebaum and the wacky electronic genius of Myron Schaeffer makes for a pretty heady stew. Be very careful listening to this stuff, we will not be responsible!!! 

 

PUT THE MASK ON NOW!!! 

 Sweet Dreams!!!!

SEDDOK, l'EREDE DI SATANA (Atom Age Vampire) - Armando Trovajoli - "Sister Scalpel" (1960)

The Italian soundtrack composer Armando Trovajoli is one swinging cat, as we've said before, and this spicy little number from "Atom Age Vampire" shows off his skills quite nicely! 

 

Don't be fooled by the heavy ominous opening, this is one smokin' club and dance scene, and we don't even have her name or her number! 

 

The coolest thing is, you can watch this movie for free on the Internet or search out a cheap DVD copy of your own and enjoy it over and over again!! 1960's monster kids would be very envious!!! 

 

"Scalpel!" 

 

"Atom Age Monster Dance"

DEVILS OF DARKNESS - Bernie Fenton - "Zora" (1965)

"Devils Of Darkness" starts off with an astounding musical gypsy dance sequence as good as any filmed just to get you going, kind of like an appetizer at a Basque restaurant!!

The simply amazing music for "Devils Of Darkness" is some of the most solid we've ever had a chance to listen to lately, but do a search on composer Bernie Fenton and your results will be this blog and a lot of blank links! He only has credits for one other movie that he did before this one, "Tomorrow At Ten!" Born in 1921, he worked with a number of bands as pianist, including Johnny Claes before joining Oscar Rabin in 1942. He was with the Tito Burns Sextet and played in the Johnny Dankworth Quartet with Joe Muddel and Laurie Morgan. In the 80s and 90s he was featured with the Glenn Miller tribute band!

The hipsters are just too much, and really stoned has always been very hard to capture on film, because nothing works as well as your own imagination!! Just wait til those bongos kick in!!!

Here's some super cool jazz with some Dave Brubeck stylings and some sexy conversation about scrambled eggs and non-stick pans!!

There's something unmistakably beautiful about British birds, like nowhere else on the planet except maybe Oildale!

Sometimes, I wish I could show you so many more of the great stills, and then I realize, oh, yeah, watch the movie!!! Is this a great smoking tiki still or what????

I LUNGHI CAPELLI DELLA MORTE (The Long Hair Of Death) - Carlo Rustichelli -"Heavy" (1964)

"Long Hair Of Death" has possibly the stupidest English title via translation ever, and you'd expect it to be an early heavy metal freakfest! 

 

Sounding totally tongue in cheek like it was from a lost Spinal Tap performance, the "Chanting Monks And Organ Theme" is always a surefire winner. 

 

My favorite part of this whole thing is that the composer, Carlo Rustichelli, who was born on Christmas Eve, 1916, and who composed music for something like an unimaginable 251 films, also worked using the names Joan Christian, Jim Murphy and on this movie.........Evirust! He had one acting role in a movie that was released Sept 28, 1973, called "The Three Musketeers Of The West" where, of all things, he played a hillbilly band leader!!! Carlo passed away on Nov 13, 2004, but left a legacy so immense that it would take another lifetime to try and catch up on all of it!! 

 

This film is another one of 9 million movies that the beautiful Barbara Steele made in the 1960's! Actually Barbara made about 25 films in the 5 years from 1961 to 1966! Busy woman and some short shoots!! She was having a bad day in this shot!

THE GREEN SLIME - Charles Fox & Toshiaki Tsushima "Battle Beyond The Stars" (1968)

"The Green Slime" is a Japanese film, but instead of a solo star like Raymond Burr or a Nick Adams, the whole cast is Caucasian. It's also a very cool film with horrific monsters and an equally horrifying love triangle! "You don't love Vince, you pity him! You love me!!" 

 

Classic case study in how because of circumstances beyond your control, like being in outer space with a bunch of monsters and morons, "sometimes you just have to get along!" The stupid too small helmets were a really bad wardrobe choice! 

 

This musical bit starts with some stupefyingly TJB loungey background music and a conversation from further out than space, that's followed by some squeaky squawky monster scenes with some more cool space music, and ending with, "Now, Lieutenant, take her down" followed by a short reprise of the amazing theme song, sung by the drummer for the surf band "The Challengers," Richard Delvy, delivering one of the best vocals of all time! 

 

Just look at them! These guys don't stand a chance!!! 

 

As anyone who has ever watched a Power Rangers episode knows, posing is very important!! Case closed! 

 

"After the Destruction of Space Station Gamma: Big Military Operation"

L'AMANTE DEL VAMPIRO (The Vampire And The Ballerina) - Aldo Piga - "The Vampire's Dead" (1960)

I keep saying that it just doesn't get better, or that this is the best yet, and just as far as pure music is concerned, this song by Aldo Piga from the 1960 Italian classic, "The Vampire And The Ballerina," is no exception, and it really doesn't get much better, throwing you a variety of styles and moods in just a little over 3 minutes of pure inspiration that only had to end because Louisa fainted!! 

 

This is probably the best choreographed and talented dance group since The Diane Nellis Dancers in "She-Demons." 

 

Stretching to the music, gazing pensively into the fire and thinking about how she wishes her boyfriend was hot like Tabonga!!

 

Besides the fantastic music, this movie is obviously worth seeking out for the dance rehearsal numbers alone! Here is "The Vampire's Dead!"