TOTO' ALL' INFERNO - Pippo Barzizza - "Totò In Hell" (1954)

Italian actor and comedian Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis of Byzantium, His Imperial Highness, Palatine Count, Kinght of the Holy Roman Empire, Exarch of Ravenna, Duke of Macedonia and Illyria, Prince of Constantinople, Cilicia, Thessaly, Ponte of Moldavia, Dardania, Peloponnesus, Count of Cyprus and Epirus, Count and Duke of Drivasto and Durazzo, and,or, aka, Totò, for short was arguably Italy's biggest box office attraction of all time and is still to this day almost a saint to many people, as someone like Elvis is, in the U.S. Yes, he was that popular!!!Totò had puppet-like features and a tendency to lean toward the more risque side of the comedy genre, which got him into quite a bit of trouble with the authorities at times!!

I think you get the idea!!!

Then, this guy comes on and sings this incredible song, & I already spent too much time trying to figure out who he is, and my Italian ain't that great!!!

It's almost impossible to explain how indifferent the crowd is to the whole scene!

Let's just say, he gets a sitting ovation before Totò comes out dressed up in a standup bass outfit!!

Totò made over a 100 movies, many with his name in the title, that found him in a number of different odd circumstances, and in this particular film, he ended up in Hell!! When he really died in 1967 at the age of 69, the rubber-faced comic, poet and songwriter was so popular, they had to have three separate funerals!

The terrific score by Pippo Barzizza is swingin' hard and also sounds like some of the best 50's cartoon music you've never heard with liberal use of the swizzle stick! So, here you go, bask in the glory of the genius of the man known as Totò and all his friends in Hell!!!!

FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS / E. Germany, Poland - 1960 / Music by Andrzej Markowski

Hello everbloody!! Tabonga taking you into space tonight. To planet Venus. Original title, DER SCHWEIGENDE STERN from Iron Curtain past. Great flick with international crew!!

Polish music man Andrzej Markowski making mucho interesting space sounds! Okay, step inside THE FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS!

Eegah!! need some praise for put together sound clip like tonight, so give dude credit!

And, title card not bad neither, Nancy! Sci-Fi font style seminal!

Here space travelers checking health before piling into spaceship!

So, all guy and gurlz go into space, then dude get smack in head!.. Nice bandage job!!

Seriously, awesome sets of Venus! Surrealistic, last pic show weird ancient building!

More great sets, Venus fight back with creeping sludge! So, Earth dudes take big powder and get back in spaceship and head home!

When land back on Earth, 'A' dudes have to hold back happy crowd!

PREHISTORIC WOMEN - Raoul Kraushaar - "Savage! Primitive! Deadly!" (1950)

Any time they have ever used the word 'prehistoric' in a film title, you can pretty much count on it being a piece of crap! 'Prehistoric' is a fancy theatrical name for 'loser!' Like, what are we going to do this time?? Oh, I know, something prehistoric!!! But, for some reason these types of films usually turn out to be a yawn fest for the viewer! This 1950 title "Prehistoric Women" is definitely no exception, because this is really a 'Bad' movie, but we'll give them a break, after all, it is 1950 and that really was a Great title card!!! The best parts would have been the dance numbers, but the copy we have has almost zero contrast during any 'night' scene, and is there is virtually almost nothing there you can see but a few shadows!!

So, this film is titled "Prehistoric Women" but it's really about these guys, I mean, check them out, this is what they do all day, lounge around while the women fight over them!!

Mara Lynn as Arva, the usurper decides to give Engor some chow, and boy, does that piss off Tigri, who was portrayed by the 34-24-35 Laurette Luez!!

Allan Nixon as Engor, the object of their affection, watches on from his prime box seat!! Allan would go on to be in box office smash, "Mesa Of Lost Women" as Dr. Tucker!!

The other girls and 'the wise one' cheer them on!!

Later, a giant shadow passes over and Tigri looks up in fear!!

Wow!! As it turns out, the 'Scourge of the Skies," Korax the Dragon with the massive wingspan, is what appears to be a pelican in one scene and a mad duck in another attack, and even the music of genius Raoul Kraushaar can't save Tigri, Engor, Lotee, Eras, Arva, Nika, Tulee, Ruig, Adh, Kama and Tana from the extinction they so rightfully deserve!! Way to go "Alliance!"

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE / MGM - 1958 / Music by Buxton Orr

Well, we're finally getting around to this great classic of classics! Cinematographer turned director Arthur Crabtree directed this film and another Dungeon fave, HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM!

Our friend Buxton Orr didn't do that much, but, check out this nice lineup of movies he supplied the music for: THE HAUNTED STRANGLER, CORRIDORS OF BLOOD, FIRST MAN INTO SPACE, DR. BLOOD'S COFFIN and THE SNAKE WOMAN! Not bad! So, here's FIEND WITHOUT A FACE!

SOUNDCLIP NOT AVAILABLE

Look at the cool high-tech crap they had in 1958!! There's an atomic radar screen there (Cheney would be jealous!) and the power station supplying all the juice!

But, locals are starting to die whenever they run the machine, so, the American military is being blamed, naturally. They're in Canada. The doc explains to the brass that given there are puncture wounds in the back of the neck where the brain and spinal cord were sucked out, he thinks it is some kind of "mental vampire!"

Kim Parker has no idea that Marshall Thompson has let himself in as she bolts out of the bathroom after her shower! That image was used in the poster!! Anyway, Marshall doesn't seem to mind!

The invisible thing is super creepy as it slithers across a rug, and, if you survive an attack, is it really worth it?!!

They finally narrow the perpetrator of the terror down to Kim's boss, the weird old Prof. Walgate, who's been experimenting with brain waves and who's also been stealing atomic power for the station!

The damn things become visible, so, Marshall and Kim get to watch as three of the monsters attack the professor after he escapes from the house!

Marshall hoofs it to power station while the rest of the gang have to try and defend themselves against the fiends. The real hero is Constable Gibbons, look at him peel off those hellish demons!! The middle shot shows one as it leaps onto Kim!

Marshall finally blows up the power station, and, well... It gets pretty disgusting!

THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS - "Fred & Lucy" (1959)

"The Monster Of Piedras Blancas" is one of them 'love it or hate it' flicks!!! It's just a little boring, but has an interesting cast of characters, and a cool original looking monster that was created by the guy who also produced the film, Jack Kevan!

This film also had Don Sullivan of "Giant Gila Monster" and "Teenage Zombies" fame as "The Boy" Fred!!

And, this movie was also lucky enough to have the ever so charming Jeanne Carmen as "The Girl" Lucy!! Jeanne was also in the cult flick "The Devil's Hand" and the 1957 JD classic "Untamed Youth!" The voluptuous Arkansas native left home at the age of 13 and went to New York and became a dancer off-Broadway. In the 50's she ended up in Las Vegas and developed quite the talent on the golf course as a barefoot hustler and a trick-shot expert, before she came to Hollywood, and the story goes on and on! She just passed away less than a year ago!!! What a gal!!!

If you've ever been to the sleepy central coast of California, you'll notice without a doubt, this film was shot mostly in Cayucos, Calif, just a couple of miles up the beach from Morro Bay!!! I'm not really sure why more movies have not been made in this beautiful area!!

Jack Kevan was also responsible for the creation or co-creation of some of the coolest monsters of all time, like "The Creature Walks Among Us", "The Mole People", "Monster On The Campus", and the Mutant from "This Island Earth!" Nice credits!!! Jeanne looks pretty impressed!!!!

Speaking of credits, just in case you were wondering, there are no musical credits for this film, probably all stock!!!