THE ISLAND MONSTER aka (Mostro dell'isola, Il) / Italy - 1954 / Music by Carlo Innocenzi

It Tuesday night, so, Tabonga cue up obscure Karloff flick for you... It have the term 'Island,' it have the term 'Monster' so, it make it for us here at dungeon!! Give big listen to... Island Night Club Keep in mind, 1954 Italy! US version release 1957. Music by Carlo Innocenzi. Guy born in 1899! and do over 130 movies!!! Wow, tons sword and sandal to boot, one is ATLAS AGAINST THE CYCLOPS! 

 

To prove flick about island, here boat! 

 

Boris very bad boy here, into kidnapping, poison, extortion, murder. Hero the other guy, undercover fuzz! Look at silly girl in background that keep looking at camera! 

 

Hero try to find lead at night club. 

 

Tabonga not smoke anymore, since, start nose on fire!!

 Something about gurl on left Tabonga like! And, look, bartender like other something! 

 

Boy, dance moves totally mezmerize rocket surgeons!! 

 

This one still save whole flick! See!.. Tabonga workin' hard for you!! 

 

MOM!.. Boris being bad again. 

 

Not long now, and Boris get his!!

THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD - Bernard Herrmann - "Theme & Fight Scenes" (1958)

"The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad" is kind of like the "Forbidden Planet" of sword and sorcery films. I mean, for me, it just doesn't get any better, and in fact, it really should be presented as a Sunday Night Classic, but there just ain't enough Sundays, and we do have to get to the end of this thing sometime! This particular film has been written about so many times, all there is left for us is to present you with this piece of music and a couple of pictures! So without further delay, here's the jackhammer theme from "The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad" combined with some interesting bits and pieces from a couple of other scenes, and it's all brought to you by the master Bernard Herrmann, who, yes, also composed the music for Hitchcock's "Psycho" among his many, many fantastic accomplishments!!! Stand back, because the theme alone will knock you down! If you've seen this film, it should be pretty obvious what scenes the rest of the music is coming from!!  

 

Kerwin Mathews and Kathryn Grant are perfect the whole way! 

 

Kerwin lands a nice right in this well choreographed fight scene!

 I've probably seen this film 300 times and Torin Thatcher as Sokurah the Magician still creeps me out!!

 The Ray Harryhausen designed cyclops alone is enough reason to see this movie, but there is so very much more!! 

 

50 years later and the skeletons and other animations in this film still look great!!! Thanx Ray!! 

 

I don't know Sinbad, are you sure we're going the right way??? 

 

This is an excellent shot of the dragon!!! 

 

So, they're really in a pickle, and Princess Parisa rubs the lamp!!

 

Out pops child actor Richard Eyer as The Genie in one of the best uses of hot and cold lighting you'll ever see! Richard had enough of Hollywood and retired from film making in 1967, but is alive and well today!

 

Even "The End" looks good!!! What a great movie all the way, truly a classic!!!

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!!