IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA - Mischa Bakaleinikoff - "Deep Island Swing" (1955)

Tonight we get another chance to tout the fabulous talents of composer Mischa Bakaleinikoff in this classic film, "It Came From Beneath The Sea"! Mischa could write orchestrated classics to stand the test of time or swing with the best of them, and you know it's the swing we appreciate the most around here!!  

 

It cracks me up the way Commander Pete just flops his arms over and hangs on the periscope handles! 

 

Kenneth Tobey and Chuck Griffiths! Funny! One guy goes on to be in almost every TV show of the 60's, and the other guy never acts in the movies or TV again! Crazy!! 

 

The guys in the sub are getting island music pumped in, but the captain knows they are going to start wanting Mai-Tais any minute, so they change the music to some big band beat, and what do you know, now they all want Martinis!! 

 

I don't think this is the kind of sushi they were expecting for dinner! It's big, and it's still alive!!! Must have been beyond their comprehension, and we can all thank the king of stop-action animation, Ray Harryhausen, for that!

THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE - Irving Gertz - "I'll Kill You Alligator Man!" (1959)

Well, while we're hanging out in the swamp, we might as well continue in the same vein, albeit, the music herein this time is a lot more esoteric than in "The Dead One!" "The Alligator People" is a fairly lame motion picture, but it is also very creepy! Composer Irving Gertz's contributions to 50's and 60's monster movies is almost unsurpassed when you consider some of the titles he's composed for. Besides "The Alligator People" and "The Deadly Mantis", there's "The Monolith Monsters", "The Thing That Couldn't Die", "The Leech Woman", and "The Incredible Shrinking Man!" The crazy thing is, those are just some of the titles, there's also a slew of western, war, and detective flicks in Irving's portfolio!!! 

 

This is a very nice shot of Bverly Garland when she hears the haunting melody on the piano, and starts descending the stairs!!! 

 

Who'd a guessed? It's her husband, the scaly, but still handsome Richard Crane, but she still just can't quite figure it out! 

 

Oh, No, Lon's drinkin' again!! He's got girlie pictures hanging on the wall of his shack, and when he's lonely, the evil Lennie side of him comes out! 

 

The acting by Beverly Garland and Lon Chaney Jr. is solid. 

 

I still wince every time I watch the scene where he punches her, especially knowing Lon had a reputation for being a pretty physical guy!! Bam!!! 

 

"I'll Kill You Alligator Man!" Too bad they didn't combine the best parts of this movie and the best of "Manfish" and come up with one solid movie, instead of two that just barely make it!

THE DEAD ONE (Blood Of The Zombie) - Joe Burton - Joe Jones Orchestra - "Bourbon Street" (1961)

Back in 1964 we created the first issue of "Dwrayger Dungeon!" It was a run of approximately 18 copies and was mimeographed in my Mom's office at the school where she worked. It was all but dead after one issue until we came up with this online version last year! One of the articles in that first issue was, "Ralphie's Reviews - Twenty-Five Worst Movies." #13 on the list was "The Dead One," and I quote the review, "The Dead One" is dead. Ain't that a relief?" 

 

Now, like 44 years later, things are a lot clearer! "The Dead One" is still alive and well, and has some of the coolest jazz that you will ever find in any release of the time and probably ever. The movie opens on Bourbon Street in 'Nawlins, and "The Joe Burton Trio" is hot!!! It's truly amazing how one of the worst movies ever made could also have some of the best music. This is pure gin and tonic jazz, and is great from start to finish! They just forgot one thing, it's 1961, kids like rock, not jazz, kids go to these monster movies, not adults, what were they thinking? 

 

There's some crazy music and they play it loud down at the 500 Club, when I said Joe sent me, some one laughed out loud, down at the 500 Club!! 

 

There's some smokey honkin' sax music and crazy dialogue going on down at "The Dream Room!" 

 

Nice honeymoon!! This dude just gets married and where does he take his new blushing bride? Bourbon Street jazz bars and strip clubs!! 

 

Ah, Bella Bella, "Come on boys, she'll really work for you if you applaud!" 

 

Then we move on down the street to see the ever so talented "Joe Jones Orchestra" blowing some of the hottest Dixie around, guaranteed!! 

 

Meanwhile, you almost forgot we had this whole other story going on! "Kill, Kill, Kill!!! 

 

And then the Michael Jackson impersonator, aka the zombie, shows up!!! And who is responsible for all this madness?? From Bakersfield, Calif, Barry Mahon wrote, directed, and produced "The Dead One" before going on to produce scores of early 60's nudie cutie peepshow movies, with titles like "Hot Skin, Cold Cash" and "Hollywood Nudes Report." This is the same Barry Mahon who was held prisoner during WWII, and was the basis for the character portrayed by Steve McQueen in "The Great Escape"!! Whew!!!!! Too bad Barry passed away in 1999, because I'm sure he had some great stories still left to tell!! Barry was an artiste of the highest caliber and we're lucky to be able to see just this little bit of what was inside his mind!!

THE HEADLESS GHOST - Gerard Schurmann - "Ghost Dance" (1959)

This is yet another Herman Cohen Production, so it's no wonder that the music is once again by Gerard Schurmann, the same composer Herman used on "Horrors Of The Black Museum" and "Konga!" Unfortunately, "The Headless Ghost" is a rather droll little film with actors and a plot that's pretty hard to care about, and basically, it's one saving grace is this dance number that the ghosts share with the kids. 

 

The ever so stunning Josephine Blake dances up a storm as the ghost dancer, and Gerald's music rocks out like a George Martin production of "Aladdin!" 

 

London stage performer Josephine, definately had it going on!!! 

 

She shimmies............and....... 

 

She struts for the headless ghost guy, too bad he can't see her! After that, the dance is over and it's dullsville all over again!! Probably the low point of Herman Cohen's monster movies as far as we're concerned, but at least he has all those other classic killer titles to his name, so we'll forgive him for this one!!!

FANTASTIC VOYAGE - Leonard Rosenman - "Antibodies" (1966)

Big budget films weren't nearly as much fun as a Roger Corman or Jerry Warren film, but every once in a while they did something fairly intriguing like "Fantastic Voyage" that had a lot of interesting visuals, and music to go with them. "Rebel Without A Cause" and "East Of Eden" composer Leonard Rosenman, who, unfortunately just passed away a couple of months ago, had 50 years of contributions to Hollywood music, and that is quite 'fantastic' unto itself!! 

 

Hey Buddy, can you give me directions to the nearest Headshop? 

 

You know, it just ain't cool when the doctors working on you are all wringing their hands and look like this!!! 

 

Let's give a big hand to Craven Walker, the creator of the 'Lava Lamp' for his influence here!!! 

 

Who says Raquel Welch can't act? 

 

After Raquel is attacked, they are stuck on the horns of a dilemma trying to detach these little antibody beggars from every part of her body tactfully!!!

MANFISH - Clyde Hoyte/Richard Koerner- "Big Fish - Beware The Caribbean" (1956)

Well, first off, I'd like to thank my old buddy Tabonga for filling in the last four days while I wandered aimlessly in the desert. To be honest with you, I wasn't sure if that loghead could put a complete sentence together or not, but I think he did a great job for someone who has a turnip for a cousin! So, we decided to let him continue to do the posts on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting next week, and that will give me a bit of a break and help keep my burnout to a minimum and we can keep this thing rolling! So, let's celebrate and keep the party going with some 'Island Music' from a movie called "Manfish"!! Now, this is one movie I had never seen before, and I must admit, I was a bit disappointed as I was sure there was going to be some cool creature like from a black lagoon, but no, "Manfish" is the name of the boat! This is an 'Island' movie with Lon Chaney Jr. in it, and the story is based on two Edgar Allen Poe stories, "The Gold Bug" & "The Tell-Tale Heart," and that's about all that qualifies it as a horror movie! 

 

"Big Fish" and "Goodbye" were written and performed by the multi-talented Clyde Hoyte, composer and journalist as who else but, "Calypso!" Clyde passed away in 2003! 

 

Underwater skeletons are always scary! Drunk ones are even scarier!! 

 

Richard Koerner wrote "Beware The Caribbean" and is incredibly impossible to find any information about. I have no idea who the woman is or what key she is singing in. It's very hard to decide if she is a really good or a really bad vocalist. Listen to it and you be the judge!! 

 

This movie was filmed in Jamaica in 1956, and it is now in public domain. This was a transitional time in 'Island Music' closing out the years of Mento and Calypso and moving towards Ska and Reggae. Here Clyde Hoyte does a reprise of "Big Fish." 

 

I have been doing a lot of reading about Lon Chaney Jr. lately, and by the looks of it, I think he probably really enjoyed this shoot!!!

IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE - 1958 Vogue Pictures - (Music by Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter) (SOUNDCLIP NO LONGER AVAILABLE)

Tabonga's brother, IT!, star in tonight's flick from 1958. They use him again in INVISIBLE INVADERS! Music is by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter. If it sound like KRONOS theme, that because Shefter did that one! Sawtell has super long list of work! 

 

Same rocket from WORLD WITHOUT END and QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE! "Hey! What gives?!" 

 

See, space travel lots of fun and very social! 

 

HEY, BRO!!.. Keep up the good work! 

 

End with great lobby card!! BANG! BANG!