TARANTULA / Universal - 1955 / Music by Henry Mancini & Herman Stein

This is a great movie! Best blue screen effects of the monster movies produced in the US. Japan always had the best effects overall, though. So, the music is by an uncredited Henry Mancini & Herman Stein. Mancini did it all in his amazing career, including the soundtrack for THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE!! Stein did tons of uncredited music, many are Universal horror and sci-fi classics from the '50s! He did TV stuff like LOST IN SPACE, THE TIME TUNNEL, and, the last music he did was for... BLAZING STEWARDESSES! Here at DD, we think that a lot of the Universal monster movie music was way too orchestrated, devoid of any real 'hip' or 'youth' element. Because of their unwillingness to experiment, we just consider them some of the less interesting pieces. We're not complaining, just saying... Here's TARANTULA MUSIC! Oh, sorry about the photo quality, sometimes you gotta use what you have! 

 

Never pass up a chance to show a '55 Fairlane convertible driven by John Agar! Actually, he just got out of his airplane, too!! Not bad for a country doctor! 

 

WOW!.. This make up by Bud Westmore is the best!! Freakin' weird, man!.. You can see the resemblence in two other Universal movies Bud did, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS! 

 

After destroying the lab and letting the tarantula escape, Paul gets ready to shoot up the doctor with the deadly serum, right before he, then, keels over and dies!! 

 

Hey, Mara's back!.. And, John's totally slick as usual! 

 

Mara gets to work with Leo, or 'Topper' as we knew him from TV. 

 

Cigarettes were nothing but cool back then!!.. Oh, and, hats too! 

 

Symtoms from the shot are starting to appear!.. Shocking!

 They find some pools of slime in the fields after cattle and horses were horribly slaughtered by the unknown killer!.. So, what does John do?!.. That's right!.. HE TASTES IT!!

 After exposing the whole story to John, Leo is really feeling the effects of the serum... He sums up the success of the 'nutrient' experiment as... "All's lost!" 

 

The ultimate 'peeping Tom!' *I know, crappy still, but, that is the Tarantula staring into her room!! 

 

I saw this movie at the theater in 1956 with THE WEREWOLF!.. This image of Leo almost made me faint, I'm not kidding! The make-up job here is unbelievable!! 

 

Yep, we give the last line tonight to our pal, Clint Eastwood!! He also appeared with Agar in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, which, we've already posted. 

 

Somehow... Humans win again!!

THE BRAIN - Kenneth V. Jones - "Song And Dance" (1962)

"The Brain" is a 1962 German remake of the 1953 film "Donovan's Brain" which was a remake of the 1944 film, "The Lady And The Monster. They are all based on the same original Curt Siodmak story. The awesome original music is by Kenneth V. Jones! 

 

This is a portrait of The Boss, Mr. Holt done by his son Martin! 

 

"The Brain" is directed by Freddie Francis, so that automatically makes it the best version. I'm sure they're out there, but I've yet to see a Freddie Francis film I didn't like! I just like the man's style!! This film is no exception!! Oh, yeah, this is all that's left of The Boss! 

 

"The Brain" has a trio of beauties that includes Ellen Schwiers who plays the Doc's assistant! 

 

The stunning Anne Heywood as Anna Holt, The Boss's daughter! Five years later, she would pose in Playboy! 

 

And Maxine Audley as Marion Fane, The Boss's lover!! 

 

Stupid blackmailer should have known better than to sneak into the lab!! 

 

Is this a great still or what?? Martin's style combines what appears to be a cross between 50's pulp covers and Hieronymus Bosch or Francisco Goya!! Neat stuff!! 

 

Martin became a painter just to make his Dad mad!! Using his father as monstrous subject matter probably did the trick!! 

 

Bryan Pringle on the left as the MC, had a long and sterling career as actor and singer himself, but right here the swingin' side of Kenneth V. Jones stands out, and is used to perfection when Peter van Eyck as Dr. Peter Corrie is running all over the place trying to find out what's going on and avoid being killed, and ends up at this dance, where he grabs the first girl he sees so he can get out on the dance floor and blend in. Well, of course, it's a spotlight dance, and he and his partner are chosen, and he has to go up and get their prize! 

 

That's all fine, until these two girls walking behind his partner..... 

 

.....see the bloody fingerprints all over her back!!!! AAAaaahhhh!!!!! Wow, what a mug!! As you can see, "The Brain" is a great little movie on more than one level, and if you've got half of one yourself, you'll locate yourself a copy!!!

COSMIC RAY - A Film By Bruce Conner - Ray Charles - "What'd I Say?" (1962)

So, let's flaunt our independence and end this wacky week of cosmic capers with some classic music from a little known short film from 1962 by artist/beatnik/filmmaker Bruce Conner called "Cosmic Ray." It's a 4 minute collage of nudes, cartoons, dancing girls and bombs utilizing the music of one of Ray Charles' most memorable songs, "What'd I Say"!!! Bruce Conner went on to work with such musical notables as David Byrne, Eno and Devo, and is still alive and kicking today!! His films have been an inspiration to many an aspiring filmmaker searching outside the box for ideas!!

 

Not to be outdone, concept musician Cosmic Ray released his self-produced 12" single "We'll Be Together" in 1986. It's a crazy ass song written and sung by Cosmic Ray himself and driven by some killer guitar work by Steve Fister and some cool sax by Kerry Campbell! The band was rounded out with Mark Anthony on bass, Greg Bell playing rhythm, Terry Murphy on keys and Lita Davis doing the background vocals!! Happy happy!! Three decades of Cosmic Rays!! As an addenda, sadly Bruce Conner passed away four days after this was written!!

THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X aka COSMIC MONSTERS / British - 1957 / Robert Sharples, Conductor

So, Eegah!! want cosmic balls keep spinning!.. Fine!.. Go!! COSMIC MONSTER MUSIC (and at the pub) Sharples work in film from 1950 to 1981! Not bad!! Look like this only sci-fi he do tho! And, he was music director on Benny Hill Show 1955!! Do mainly Brit TV drama and work on one Hitchcock show! 

 

Hey! It Sgt. O'Rourke!!...... Oh, and a-hole science dude on right (get it?) who like to burn hole in atmosphere! 

 

Drunks in Britain go on rampage when TV go off unexpectedly!!.. 

 

Tabonga love this pic of Gil blowin' smoke!.. Cool, man, cool!

 Smoking mandatory to work on tonight flick! 

 

Here Gil checkin' out two facts and a figure!! 

 

Tabonga not sure that tobacco in Gil joint there! 

 

Sometime, dudes from Planet X all stuck up because they have UFO and little girls don't!.. WEIRD!!

 Hey! Look what I found!.. I'm gonna sit on it!! 

 

Gaby get trapped by giant cockroach in giant spider lair!.. Whoa!! 

 

Then, Army shoot and kill all bugs!!.. AWWWWW!.....

 GOODNIGHT EVERYBLOODY!! Tabonga job done here, now, get to ride in dude's saucer!!

UCHUJIN TOKYO NI ARAWARU (The Cosmic Man Appears In Tokyo)(Warning From Space) - Seitarô Ômori - "The All-Stars" (1956)

"Uchûjin Tôkyô Ni Arawaru" is a very trippy film to say the least, and it was also released under a number of different titles, one of which was "The Cosmic Man Appears in Tokyo", so, as Jay & The Techniques would say in 1967, the year this film was actually released in the U.S., let's just "Keep The Ball Rolling!" 

 

Seitarô Ômori was a memorable composer having written killer soundtracks for at least 20 years. The music here will show you his broad realm of skill from classic orchestral to Swing and even jazz with a Latin beat. It's totally out of control for 1956, and simply Amazing!!! 

 

"What's wrong with the radio? How many payments are you in arrears?" 

 

Hikari Aozora's poster from outside the Metropolitan Theatre looks Great!! Come on in!! 

 

Believe it or don't, but this was Toyomi Karita's only film appearance!!! 

 

Let's just check in with the this year's winner at the intergalactic hula-hoop contest! 

 

Hikari Aozora!!!

 What a dismal future!! Kind of as predicted whether the Star Guys are in charge or not!!